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.