The soft-spoken widow volunteered to serve as a senior sister anywhere the Mormon Church needed her, and the church took her at her word.

So the 64-year-old Aiken widow will report Tuesday to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, to prepare for an 18-month assignment in Yekaterinburg, Russia, a city on the edge of Siberia.

Mrs. Lynes is undaunted. ``I thought `OK, I can do this,''' she said.

When news of the assignment arrived in a Jan. 29 letter from the denomination, her friends and relatives were as shocked as she, but none of her eight children had the nerve to tell her not to go, she teased. ``They are just thrilled and really happy for me,'' she said.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormons, fields some 60,000 missionaries throughout the world each year.

Most are college-age men who give two years to proselytizing. About 7 percent are seniors. Women serve 18-month assignments. Volunteers raise their own funds to support their missions.

Mrs. Lynes left Aiken Thursday with a brand new passport, her first. She spent the final days leading up to her Provo training saying goodbye to friends and relatives.

At the center, she will spend about two months learning Russian. ``I won't be perfect. I won't be real good, but I will learn a lot more when I get there,'' said Mrs. Lynes, who studied Latin for a year in high school.

Mary Pierson (left) and Connie Livingston give Ms. Lynes a warm reception during the open house. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF

Yekaterinburg, named for Catherine, wife of Peter the Great, is the fourth-largest city in Russia, with a population of 1.5 million. It was there, in the central Ural Mountains, that the last czar, Nicholas Romanoff, and his family were killed by communist revolutionaries. About two years ago, vandals in Yekaterinburg blew up a statue of Vladimir Lenin on the communist hero's birthday.

The Urals are the spine of Russia, making the city a transportation hub. The area is mineral rich and strong in manufacturing, engineering and chemical production.

Before the communist takeover, the Russian Orthodox Church was the traditional faith of the people. It is still dominant. The mission is a relatively tiny outpost of the Mormon Church. The closest temple is likely one in Sweden.

Mrs. Lynes said she will teach English, the gospel and the Book of Mormon at the mission.

She has already been in e-mail contact with the head of the mission and other missionaries in Yekaterinburg. She discovered an old friend from her days in Charleston, S.C., serving there.

Charleston and its environs were her home until three years ago, when she moved to Aiken to be near son Jack Lynes and his family.

Mrs. Lynes worked in the family's property-insurance business in Aiken as an in-house inspector. Some would describe her as a timid person, but Mrs. Lynes is excited and willing to go, said daughter-in-law Mary Ann Lynes. ``She just needs a pair of winter boots.''

That last detail will require a shopping trip in Provo on Monday. Mrs. Lynes was able to find everything else to weather the Siberian winter before she left Aiken.

She is also taking an 18-month supply of medicine to treat her diabetes, a tape recorder and a laptop computer. She plans to stay in contact with her children and numerous grandchildren via e-mail. ``I am expecting my 40th grandchild in September and my sixth great-grandchild in the summer,'' she said.

Two grandsons are serving on their own proselytizing missions, one in Guadalajara, Mexico, and another in Cordova, Argentina.

Mrs. Lynes said she will miss talking with her family while she is gone but believes their seeing her serve on a mission will be one of the best things that could happen to them.

``When you get older you think about setting proper examples. I don't know a better way to serve the Lord,'' she said.

For more information, visit the Mormon Web site at www.lds.org.

Reach Virginia Norton at (706) 823-3336 or vanorton@augustachronicle.com.