PASSED THE ONE MONTH MARK IN RUSSIA

It's hard to believe it is time to start this week's blog.  The days and weeks are flying by.  We've been in Russia over a month now.  Amazing.

Sunday of this week started out with us going to church, and afterwards hopping on the metro to have dinner at another senior couple's apartment, Elder and Sister Jensen. They had invited two other couples so we had a chance to visit with and get to know some more couples serving in this mission.  One of the couples is going home in about a month and will be moving to Medford, Oregon.  They will be in the same stake as Ryan and Katie. Another small world connection.  

This is Elder and Sister Huffner who are moving
to Medford, Oregon after their mission.  They have
been working as church auditors in the East European Area.

The beginning of each new week is settling into a pattern.  Mondays are always getting ready to feed the missionaries on Tuesday.  It usually means going to the grocery store and then cooking. A lot of Tuesday's meal has to be done on Monday because the missionaries start arriving at our home at 1:00 in the afternoon.  That doesn't leave a lot of time for food preparation unless I get up in the wee hours of the morning.  This week we served Hawaiian Haystacks and homemade rolls. Paul and I had an on going debate as to how much chicken I should cook.  He thought I was cooking way too much when I put 8 chicken breasts in the pans to bake.  As it turned out they ate all but enough for one left over dinner for us. They also consumed the better part of 6 cups of rice (that is 6 cups before I cooked it) and 3 dozen rolls.  Dessert was cream puffs. Everyone seemed to enjoy the dinner. We have 2 new elders in our district....Elder Bass (a brand new elder), and Elder Ricks (the elder from Heber City in last weeks blog.

The find of the week was this celery.
I had asked where I might find celery and
was told it was very difficult to find.  I walked
into the store where we usually shop and there it was.  I was so
excited because you can't haystack without
celery....not in my book anyway.

Elder Bass is on the right.  He's is going to be
terrific missionary.  

 Tuesday evening we had the privilege to sit in on another discussion with Lada. She is an amazing investigator, soon to be member of the church.  She has a baptismal date for the 31st of this month.  The discussion was on tithes and fast offerings and was accepted well.  Lada said when she studied the Bible years ago, and read about tithing, she began to donate ten percent of her income to a local orphanage because she didn't have a church to contribute to.  She has always believed that we need to repay the Lord for all He has given us. The sister missionaries, who are teaching Lada, are amazing.  They teach so plainly and with so much love for their investigator and the gospel.  We enjoy seeing them in action.  Truly they are led by the spirit.

Wednesday is our weekly meeting with Misha, our boss.  He is very young but very dedicated to the Young Single Adult program.  He served a mission in Moscow three years ago, married Sveda, and has been here in this position since last September.  At our meeting, we were asked if we could do the food for the Institute opening activity, a week from Saturday. We will be serving between 60 and 70 young people and they want a Mexican dinner.

We think we will do soft tacos, watermelon, and brownie sundaes for dessert.

We've asked some other senior couples to help us set up and serve.  It'll be a crazy day because Lada's baptism is on that same day, but somehow we'll make it work.

Wednesdays are becoming our second favorite day (district meeting on Tuesday is still first) because of English group.  Once again we spent the evening with our English group.  We loved our discussion. This time the topic was family and the talk was very lively.  We were even asked why Mormons have such large families and if it was a requirement or a choice. Interesting.  We love our group and we think they love coming to be with us.

That's a barbeque sauce in
the back.  Needed for a
recipe I want to try. 

Thursdays have been our least busy days so far and will continue that way until we begin teaching Institute and facilitating Pathway gatherings on Thursdays.  On this Thursday, we decided to go back up to the big Metropolitan Mall and see what the newly remodeled grocery store up there was like.  We are always wanting to find good places to shop where we can buy what we need, especially food items.  At Stockman's department store, we found a few fun things including a juicer and popcorn kernels, not microwave popcorn. 

The grocery store was nicer than the one we normally go to (Ashans), but didn't have anything we can't get at Ashans and Ashans is more conveniently located for us.


That night was our weekly Senior Council.  We were taught by Elder and Sister Sutton who are leaving for home next Friday.  They will be missed. They have been invaluable working in the office.  

A great couple - going back home to the Boston area.

The Sutton's brought with them several boxes of brown sugar from America.  A box comes every month to one of the couple missionaries from a man who is unable to serve a mission.  He decided that his mission would be supplying this couple with things they might need that are not available in Russia.  Every month, he fills a box with things like shortening, cream soups, chocolate chips, fine grained brown sugar, and powdered sugar.  All these things are very difficult or impossible to find here in Russia (or are of poor quality like the powdered sugar that is very grainy, hence good frosting can not be made).  We were all given a box of brown sugar and, oh, how very excited we all were. Simple things bring great joy here in Russia.   The very next morning, I baked congo bars, a recipe that calls for lots of brown sugar.  I used half Russian brown sugar and half C&H brown sugar.  The cookies turned out perfect.  I'll take them to our YSA fireside on Sunday.

The rent on our apartment was due on Friday so our landlady, Angela, came by to pick it up.  She is a really nice person and we had a good visit.  She walked with us to the ATM where we pay our utility bills to show us how to do it. Earlier that day we tried to so it but we couldn't get the English version to work. She showed us which buttons to push in Russian.  Notice the pile of money.  This is how we pay our rent. There are no checks in Russia. Everything is done with cash or credit/debit cards. We have to draw almost 70,000 rubles ($2200) out of the bank and bring it home.  We don't like carrying that much cash around but we have no other choice.  

An amazing place

Later that day we decided to go check out the oldest grocery store in Moscow.  It was opened in 1901 by a millionaire who wanted Moscow to have the nicest and fanciest store in Russia (probably in the world).  Only the best of products were sold and this was where one could find the exclusive, imported goods from other countries.  Even during the Soviet era, when only the not so nice products of Russia were sold, people still frequented the store. It has been restored now to its earlier elegance. It is beautiful.  

Can you imagine crystal chandeliers in your local grocery store?

Of course,we had to have lunch while we were out and about and there just happened to be another Starlight Diner in the area.  We thought we needed to try their world famous hamburgers.  The patties of beef were almost an inch thick and came with all the condiments.  I loved mine. Paul did not.  He prefers Burger King and their thin patties.  Go figure.

Saturday was our P-day so we met another couple at Victory Park.  This is a park designed to honor those who have given their lives for Russia, most specifically in the Great Patriotic War (WWII).  It is a very sobering place to visit.  

 The entrance up to the park was impressive and

the park itself was beautiful.

The red flowers spell out Moscow in Russian.

An eternal burning flame in memory of the fallen

 In the park, we found a bronze sculpture that was haunting and caused us to spend much time there taking in the meaning of all we saw.  

This was the side approach.   Notice the wall in the background.
We thought this may be representing the tidal wave of war.

This is the front of the piece.  Notice the people getting smaller and falling backward.
As they fall closer to the ground their features become less and less noticeable.
About 2/3's of the way back their bodies begin to face downward, like they have finally surrendered to their fate.

As you follow the sculpture around toward the back,
the people become grave stones with inscriptions
on them in all languages.

These are representing all the personal belonging of the people
like their clothing, shoes, and weapons, obviously having
 been forced to lay them aside.

The most touching part of this masterpiece was this mother and father trying to shield their son from the horrors about to take place.  We couldn't stop starring at this and wondering about the millions of people around the world who have faced such tragic effects of war.

 We spent the majority of the day inside the Museum of the Great Patriotic War.  It was wonderfully done and again very sobering.  The first floor contained 7 beautiful 3 dimensional scenes of significant battles of WWII.  

Upstairs was the Hall of Heroes.  Every fallen soldier's name was listed under the city's name from which they came.

On the balcony surrounding this domed room, were war pictures and memorabilia of the war.  The pictures were blown up to fill from floor to ceiling and were very touching.  Our favorite was the one below of American and Russian soldiers together celebrating the surrender of Germany.  

A wonderful picture, especially after seeing all the
other pictures depicting the war.

Then there was the most touching room of all....the Hall of Tears.

Chains have been hung from a ceiling covering an immense area.  From 2,700,000 of these chains hangs a single crystal drop.  Each crystal drop represents the tears shed for the 27,000,000 soldiers killed in the war.

This is a close up of the statue at the end of the hall of tears.
It represents the mourning of all the wives, daughters and sisters
of those killed in the war.

A WONDERFUL DAY SPENT ENGROSSED IN HISTORY

On a brighter note....Here's our weekly spotlight on life in Moscow

There is a roofing job being done right across the walkway from us.  It started on Tuesday with the sounds of a tin roof being torn off.  We noticed it because it was taking place at the same time our district leader was trying to teach a spiritual lesson.  We had to keep the window open or it would have been too hot in our apartment with 12 bodies sitting in our rather cozy living room.

The man by the board was sawing it with a hand saw.  The board had
to be at least a 2 X 8.  The man in white was using a regular hammer
to pound in the nails.  Where is the nail gun and power saw?

Later in the day, these two joined the workers.  The one without
the shirt was barefoot and the other had on sandals.  Safety first?

We have to hand it to these men, though.  They are dedicated to the job.  They are working everyday into the twilight hours of the night to finish the roof. 

 This week we have been so grateful for modern technology.  Both Taylor and Julia celebrated their birthdays.  It was so nice to Face Time Taylor and Skype Julia to wish them Happy Birthday, almost in person.

One last thing to share.......
                 I think our apartment has a Phantom of the Glasses.  Monday morning I went to put on my sun glasses and the tiny screw must have come loose because one of the ear pieces fell off.  Tuesday, I got my brand new prescription glasses out, during district meeting, so I could read a scripture.  As I opened them up, one of the ear pieces fell off. This time two screws had come loose.  How often would that happen to two pairs of glasses in two days?

With the help of the sister missionaries who told me the Russian word for an optical shop, Paul and I found one right in our neighborhood the next day.  We went in to check it out and ended up buying a pair of sunglasses from them.  The next day, we returned with my regular glasses.  In broken Russian, I asked if they could repair them. They could and they did.  Now I have both sun glasses and reading glasses once again............at least until the phantom strikes again.

Once again, we can't express how grateful we are to be here on a mission in Moscow, Russian.  Every day confirms to us that this is exactly where we are supposed to be at this time in our lives. 

ANOTHER BUSY WEEK IN MOSCOW

We attended our first zone conference of our mission this week.  What an inspirational day. The mission president challenged us to set high goals and gave us many ideas as to how to accomplish those goals.  We all went away even more excited to do the work we have been called to do.  For lunch, Subway sandwiches were ordered by the branch assigned to provide lunch.  When Sister Borders went into the kitchen area to check on lunch, she realized there were not enough sandwiches for the whole group.  She came and got me out of the meeting and we proceeded to unwrap each sandwich and cut them in half.  It was a feeding the 5000 moment - everyone got fed with 2 sandwiches left over.  I'm sure the missionaries, especially, went away a bit hungry as there was nothing else to supplement the sandwiches, not even potato chips.  Sister Borders sent the office elders to the store to buy cookies, Choco Pies to be exact.  They were a big hit.  After lunch, the missionaries sang 'Called to Serve' as a thank you for the ladies who brought the sandwiches.  At the close of their song, an elderly sister from the branch began to sing a song back to us. It was such a sweet gesture.

The sister who sang is in the center.  After her song, she said:  "May all you sisters find good husbands
and have lots of children."   And to the Elders she said, "May you all find good wives......
and by the way, my two daughters (pictured next to their mom) would make good wives...."

IT'S A SMALL WORLD

Since we have been here in Moscow, we have found so many connections to home, both Heber City and Spokane.  At zone conference, we met a senior couple serving in an area outside Moscow, but in our zone.  Their names were Elder (Steve) and Sister King. When a reference was made of him having played for Coach Jud Heathcote from West Valley High School in Spokane, we knew immediately that this was the son of Mitch and Ada King of Spokane.  Paul was Mitch and Ada's bishop and I taught Steve's younger sister, Leslie, in Young Women's years ago.  

Our mission president, President Borders and his wife, are also from Spokane.  One other connection to Spokane comes with the mission call of our Young Single Adult President, Artyom.  He will be serving a mission in the Spokane Washington Mission arriving in October.

Artyom is a dynamite leader and will be a fabulous missionary.
He speaks very good English  and loves the gospel.

Elder Naylor and Paul

Now for the Heber City connections.  We have met two elders whose grandparents served with us in the Provo temple....Elder Davison and Elder Naylor.  Before we left, Elder Naylor's grandfather gave Paul twenty dollars to give to his grandson when we saw him in Moscow. We met Elder Naylor on our very first day in Moscow.  He was street contacting at the metro station by our apartment.  We met Elder Davison (not pictured) at church a few days later.
                      
This elder, below, is new to our district as of a week ago. He is now serving in the office and is from Heber City.  He moved there about the time we did and attended high school in Heber.   We drove by his home every time we drove to the stake center.                                     

Elder Ricks

ONE MORE CONNECTION..........


Just this last Sunday at church, a gentleman came up to us and introduced himself as Chad Bonham. He said he was told about us being in Moscow by Kristina Leavitt, our daughter-in-law Kailiee's sister.  Kailee had told us about him and by coincidence he is in our exact ward. Small world for sure. We'll have him over for dinner sometime next week to get to know him.



Right after zone conference on Tuesday, we administered an English Proficiency test to a young man and an hour later gave another one to an investigator with a baptismal date later this month.  We didn't get home until almost 10:00 that night, but it was a good day.  We are grateful, though, that we don't have a long metro ride to get home when we are at the church so late.  We just have a very short walk to our apartment.




Wednesday was English group.  This time we knew we needed to come prepared so we spent time reviewing what our discussion with the class would be. We had 17 in our room but many of them were not ones who had attended the first week.  We discussed Fathers and again had a real fun time with our group.  At the end of 45 minutes we went down to the chapel where a story about Fathers was told.  At that point, the atmosphere was still pretty jovial but as our Elders and Sisters began to sing a song together the whole atmosphere changed.  They had definitely set a wonderful spiritual tone for the spiritual thought and prayer.  Another great night.



The joke at the Missionary Training Center in Provo was that if you were a CES (Church Education System) missionary, you would soon find that CES really stands for Cooking Every Second.  I am finding that to be so true.  I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking. Thursday we were responsible for presenting a 45 minute lesson at our Senior Council night as well as providing refreshments.  It was lemon bars and peanut butter oatmeal bars that I baked that very day.

We hold these meeting in the high council room every Thursday evening

We decided to do our lesson on Pioneers in Russia.  I had been reading the July Liahona (the Ensign in Russia) and came across an article by M. Russell Ballard entitled Faith and Fortitude, Then and Now.  It spoke about the pioneers coming to Utah.  The caption under a picture caught my attention that said, "Any success we are having now is built upon the courage and shoulders of the humble heroes of the past."  That got me thinking about the Russians who must have sacrificed equally as much to join the church as did the Mormon pioneers in America.  We started to do some research and found several stories of true pioneers in Russia.  We shared those at senior council and then showed three video clips from Elder Todd Christofferson when he visited Moscow in 2012.   We used a quote from Joseph Smith when he referred to Russia as being attached to some of the most important things concerning the advancement and building up of the Kingdom of God in the last days.  We concluded with a couple of quotes from Elder Christofferson.  He said, "Eastern Europe is the frontier of the church and the Lord has a way of bringing together those who can provide a critical role in each moment of time."  He also said, "The Lord's spirit is brooding over this area and we will see things we could never have imagined."  Oh we are so grateful to be a part of this time here in Russia.

Every thing went well on this day, until we got home.  We immediately changed clothes and got into more comfortable attire.  Paul was sitting at his computer later that night when he got a Skype call from BYU Idaho.  (Their day is our night)  He answered it, forgetting how really comfortable he had gotten.  He looked at his image in the computer and realized he was sitting there talking to Vanessa from BYUI in his underwear.  Whoops!  He tried scrunching down so only his head showed but it was too late.  Luckily the connection was bad, so they hung up and Paul called her back on our phone.....not Skype.



Friday we didn't have a real commitment until 7:00 at night so after I did some cleaning of our apartment and ironing and Paul worked on Pathway, we took a walk.  We wanted to find out exactly where we are located so we started walking in the direction of the river.  We rounded a corner not far from our home, and this is what came into view.  We are only a 10 minute walk to Red Square. An amazing place to live...so much to do and see all withing walking distance.


Just over the bridge that crosses the Moscow river, we could see one of the walls of the Kremlin and then down the river, the Church of Christ the Savior.

We will be walking to this cathedral on another day as it is said to be
the most beautiful cathedral in Moscow.

Since we had already toured St. Basil's Cathedral we decided to check our RYM's (pronounced Goom's).  It is a massive mall in an very old and very ornate building on Red Square.  It houses all the high end, very expensive stores.  It was fun to walk through and see how the other half of society lives.  Yes, there is evidence of a lot of money in Moscow.

                                                                   

       This is the outside of rym's with it's beautifully manicured flower gardens.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Then there was the inside of the mall with the opulence and elegance of old Russia.

All the  aisles had artwork displayed - 

photographs of Russia scenes

Guess who we saw while walking around Red Square?  



Sponge Bob was also there but every time I tried to take a picture of him he would turn the other way.

We had to be to the institute room at 7:00 to open it up for game night.  We doubted anyone would come because most of our young singles were at an area conference held somewhere up north.  I met the missionary sisters for an investigator discussion while Paul worked hard on a puzzle.  Paul has come to realize that puzzles can be addicting.



This is the golden investigator I had the privilege of meeting with for a discussion.  She is being baptized on Saturday, the 31st.  She is also one of the ones we tested for Pathway and is in the application process.  A beautiful lady.

Lada told us of a miracle in her life.  She loves drinking tea but had

given it up once she learned about the Word of Wisdom.  One night,

it was late and she was tired and craving her tea.  She decided

 that if she drank green tea which she doesn't really like, it wouldn't 

be so bad because she wouldn't enjoy it as much.  She reached into her

cupboard 

for a package of green tea.  She read the label and found it was

herbal 

tea (ok to drink since it contains no tea).  She does not remember having 

bought 

that kind of tea but there it was in her cupboard.  She drank it and loved 

it.  Now she can have her herbal tea when she craves her tea.

Saturday was a P-day so a group of senior couples decided to go to Gorky Park.  It's a park that is in the process of being remodeled but has been around since the 1955. You will notice the hammer and cycle on the pillar of the massive gates, evidencing the communist rule of the day.  It is a beautiful park where Russian go to play.  There were so many things to do and ways to just relax.  

Giant beanbags were everywhere for people to lie on as were different kinds of lounge chairs all over the park. There were paddle boats, sand volleyball, ping pong, aerobic dancing, and much more to do.   

Of course the fountains and flowers added much to the beauty of the park

It was great day until we decided to go to a restaurant for a late lunch.  We were all seated and given a menu.  We ordered our food and about a half hour later the food started coming out.  At our table four out of six of us got our food. At the other table 3 of 6 got their food. About twenty minutes later, Paul's food was brought to our table and two from the other table were served. Another twenty minutes passed before  the last plate was brought to our table.  One of the elders at the other table never did get his food, after almost an hour and a half.  Obviously it is not understood that service is important to the success of the restaurant.  I don't think we will be going there again.  We understand that this is how it is in a lot of the eateries here. You also have to ask to have your bill brought to the table as it is considered rude if a waiter brings the bill without you indicating you were ready to leave and want it.


As if we hadn't done enough walking during the day, Paul and I decided to take another walk in our neighborhood to find a 50's diner we had heard about.

We ordered a shake to share between us.  The shake wasn't very big
 and Paul claimed half of it was whipped cream.  The cost - $10.00.
Pretty spendy but a fun experience. 

ANOTHER SPOTLIGHT ABOUT THINGS WE'VE NOTICED ABOUT MOSCOW

We've have noticed a shortage of parking in our area.  Lots of cars driving on the streets but few places to park.  This is how the Russians solve the problem.

Double parking is common.  Notice the car in taking up the
whole lane of a two way street.

Cars park on the sidewalks all the time so pedestrians have to
walk in the street.

And then when you can't find a place to park........
just squeeze in any which way.

Some day, I'll capture on camera the traffic jams happening all the time on the street just outside our apartment.  When cars are parked on both sides of the street, the street becomes very narrow, only wide enough for one car.  Often two cars meet head on and invariably one has to back up and out of the way for the other to pass. Often this doesn't happen until many horns are honked and sometimes some words are exchanged between drivers. We don't know what they are saying but the tone suggests the words are not so nice.  Interesting.

Life in Moscow is becoming the norm for us now after almost a month.  We find so many interesting things about living here and wouldn't trade this experience for anything else.....WE ARE STILL LOVING OUR ADVENTURE.