FIRST INSTITUTE CLASS TAUGHT THIS WEEK

Since we've been here, we have been working toward the starting of our English Institute class and our Pathway gatherings.  This week it finally began and was a great experience.  Our course of study for this semester is the Teachings of the Living Prophets.  We are excited about this course.  We spent our first week introducing the subject and helping the students understand the importance of studying what today's prophets tell us.  We focused on a quote by George Q. Cannon when he said that studying the standard works is important but only by adding the teachings of the prophets will we be able to make it to the celestial kingdom. That's a paraphrase, of course, but it is quite a significant thought.  We had about 20 in attendance and they all seemed excited about the 7 lessons in the course and then getting involved in studying the most recent conference talks for the remainder of the semester.  Such a timely course for all of us.  It was a great experience to team teach together.  We love the study and preparation time as well as the actual lesson presentation.  

For a while, I began practicing the piano thinking I might have to

play the piano for institute.  I was greatly relieved when we

found out that one of our students was a concert pianist.

After the institute class, we took a short break with cookie pizzas for a treat. (Of course, they all got eaten. YSA love American type sweets.) We then began our Pathway gathering.  Eight other students joined us for this meeting. We met together for an opening song and prayer.  We, then, had three third semester students bear their testimonies about the Pathway program, especially the first course of study.  We wanted to encourage our new students to stick with the program as it seems overwhelming at first.  They all bore strong testimonies of the benefit the class had on their lives and the expected benefit to them in the future. At that point, we broke into our two cohort groups.  I took the third semester students who are working in a writing class and Paul took the first semester students who are in a life skills course. It was great to interact with each of our students and to feel of their spirits during our gathering time.  They are so sharp and are so busy.  We admire that they have found time to do these courses in order to further their education.  Most of them hold down full time jobs or are studying at a local college too.  Many are also married with children but still willing to spend the 15 hours necessary to complete each week's assignment. They understand what a great opportunity this program is for them and their families.

**************************************

Now for our week.....Sunday was a busy day as usual, but for the first time since we've been here we were able to sit down to a nice Sunday type dinner.  Our meeting after church lasted only an hour which gave us time to cook a dinner when we got home. Usually we just have a quick snack because we get home so late.

Monday, we had the opportunity of going to a Russian ballet with our district.  They had earned a cultural night by getting five perfect weeks.  A perfect week was achievable by earning 100 points each day as a companionship.  Certain activities were given a point value and the companionships were on their honor to keep an accurate record of points earned each day.  They were encouraged to report their weekly totals to the mission president in their weekly letter to him.  

The inside of the restuarant.  It was a buffet with lots

of dishes from which to choose.

For our outing to the ballet, we met at our metro station and walked to a local restaurant for dinner.  It was a buffet and all the elders and sister knew what to take as they could read the signs. Paul and I just guessed. We ended up with a roll stuffed with a cabbage mixture. Paul took it thinking it was a plain dinner roll.  I took a chicken ceasar salad but the chicken tasted like fish and the dressing was just plain mayonnaise.  Our pork on a skewer, broccoli spears, and fried potatoes were edible. Probably won't go back there again.

Our wonderful elders and sisters

Elder Ricks inside the Kremlin.

The grand palace is on his

left.

After dinner we took the metro to the Red Square. The ballet was in the Palace theater which was inside the Kremlin.  It is a theater meant for the common people so the prices are kept somewhat affordable.  We spent about $10 each whereas tickets to the Bolshoy theater begin at about $50 and can go up to several hundred dollars. Our district wanted the ballet experience without depleting their personal funds.  

Of course, it was raining so we were grateful to get inside the beautiful theater and check our wet coats and umbrellas.  As we were waiting for everyone before we went to our seats, we ran into Dr. Smart and Dr. Sonda of our mission.  They are the mission doctor and mission mental health specialist. They met online, married and came on this mission. They are a wonderful resource for all of us. 

Our Assistants to the President, Elder Crawford and Elder Ebling

with Dr. Sonda

Inside the theater, anxiously awaiting the beginning of the ballet.

For many this was their first exposure to a ballet.

The ballet was Giselle, a story of a duke who disguised himself as a commoner, met a country girl and fell in love.  Upon finding out he was royalty, Giselle, the country girl with a weak heart, dies from a broken heart.  The second act was all danced in a graveyard where ghosts of women who had been jilted at the altar gathered each night to kill the men who came into the graveyard.  Of course, the duke comes to mourn Giselle and it is Giselle's spirit that pleads for his life.  In so doing, she not only saves her true love, the Duke, but saves her own soul.  It was a beautifully portrayed story.  We all went away amazed at the performance and the talent displayed.  Now we all can say we've seen a Russian ballet.  

We were so grateful to be able to spend that evening with our district as transfers were coming up on Thursday. This was a wonderful opportunity to be together one more time, as a district, before the changes we all knew were coming.

The following afternoon was our district meeting.  It would be our last one all together as a district.  Chicken alfredo, ceasar salad and garlic toast was the fare for the day.  Better than anything caramel cake was the requested dessert by one of our sisters.

Our wonderful district - Elders Melchor, Ricks, Bradford,

Ebling, and Marks on the back row.  Elders Crawford, Hermansen,

Bass, and Sisters Carver and Hawkins sitting in the front.

The elders and sisters in the mission who were being transferred were notified on the weekend as to where they were going and who would be their new companions. We knew by Sunday that we would be losing Sister Carver and Elders Bradford and Hermansen.  Those three bore their testimonies at our district meeting.  They are great missionaries with strong and abiding testimonies of the work they are involved in.  They love the Lord and know they are representatives of His true church.  They will be missed.

Our week was filled with much preparation for our institute class and gathering.  We took time on Wednesday to facilitate our English group but the remainder of the day and night was studying, making bookmarks with the weekly lessons outlined on them, and preparing the different forms and sign ups needed for our pathway gathering. We were glad we had spent time earlier in the week in preparation as Thursday turned out to be a day spent at the central building.  It was transfer day so everyone involved met at the church at 11:00. We don't need to go to these meetings but love hearing the words of our mission president, the testimonies of the new elders and sisters, and seeing the willingness of the elders and sisters to do whatever they are asked to do. As always it was a spiritual meeting.  We spent another couple of hours in a meeting because the AP's needed the projector system set up so we hung around til Paul could take it down and put it back in the institute room.  When we got home we only had an hour to get everything ready to teach.  We had some last minute scurrying to do as BYU Idaho changed the proposed gathering agenda at the last minute.  It all went well, though, despite that.  We were finally home by 10:30 that night, tired, but well rewarded for our efforts and very grateful for the Lord's help in carrying out our responsibilities.

The camera man setting

up his lights in our office.

Friday was a chill out day.  We read the next week's lesson, cleaned house, and went for a walk....in the rain.  That night was game night.  We had agreed to meet a photographer early so he could take some pictures of us as a senior couple here in Moscow.  He is involved in a church sponsored video that will be released on the internet for missionaries and members to use as a way to let others know about our church.  He took pictures of us working in our office, helping a young adult on the computer, talking with a group of YSAs, and planning with two of our elders.  It will be interesting to see the final product.  

Out with the puzzle completed

During game night we put out a new puzzle and got started on it while our young singles played board games.  It is hard to be involved in their games as they are all conversing in Russian.  It is fun to just listen to them.  They know we are there for them and often they come work with us on the puzzle.

In with the new.....1000 pieces!

LIFE IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

Typically, not much thought or care is put into the entryways of apartment buildings.  For the most part they are very drab.  Ours, being an older building, is even less attractive then most.  It's poorly lit with chipped paint and exposed wires up the walls.  The other day we noticed that someone had added a piece of furniture to the area.  It was a perfect fit.

In the stores here, you can not find canned soups.  They have soups in packages but they are usually chicken or beef broth based soup.....no creamed soups.  This past week I have been into making creamed soups.  I experimented with a potato basil soup that was to die for. One night, after our meetings, we were hungry so I decided to try making a broccoli soup.  It was pretty quick to make and turned out to be delicious.  Of course, cream of chicken and mushroom soups must be made from scratch, too.  Thank goodness for chicken and mushroom bouillon cubes.

The cream of broccoli soup

We are continually amazed at the amount of rain here in Moscow.  We think we must have moved to Seattle, Washington or Eugene, Oregon.  We take our umbrellas with us everywhere we go.  Every time I am walking with my umbrella and Paul is walking behind me, he calls me Mary Poppins.  It must be the cloddy, but very comfortable, shoes, the black tights, long skirts and, of course, the black umbrella.

THAT'S IT FOR ANOTHER WEEK........AND A GREAT ONE AT THAT.

ANOTHER GREAT WEEK

This is a picture I took the week before

when Nastia told her best friend, Nadea, that she was

going to be baptized.   Such joy!

This past Saturday was a special day.  It was the baptism day for Nastia, a beautiful young woman. She announced her decision to be baptized just the week before. We were so excited when the sisters told us.  They have been working with her for several weeks.  She has also been coming to our English group for the past four weeks.  She wanted to limit who came to her baptism because she wanted it to be a more intimate affair. We were thrilled she wanted us there. 

Sister Carver, Nastia, and Sister Hawkins

                                                                 
It was a very special day including two great talks and a beautiful song sung by a few of our missionaries. After the baptism, the sisters and elders set out lots of good food for everyone to eat. Nastia's mother came and, while we were eating, gave a toast to our church. She thanked the church for having such a positive influence in so many countries around the world.

We must record a comment Nastia made to the group right after she was baptized.  She was speaking in Russian about her feelings about her baptism.  Toward the end, she paused and began to speak in English.  She said she needed to speak in English out of respect for Elder and Sister Millar. At that time she said that we had been one of the reasons she had decided to be baptized.  She said she loved watching our relationship as a couple and wanted that someday in her life.  We had no idea we were influencing her other than just loving her and being her friend.


We woke up Sunday morning to some good news.......BYU beat the Texas Longhorns in football.  Paul would have loved to have stayed home and listened to the ending of the game, but we had a commitment to attend an early morning meeting to hear one of our young single adults, Rebecca, give her missionary farewell talk.  Her talk was wonderful. She will make a great missionary.  We were also privileged to hear a talk from President Borders. We love his testimony of missionary work and his own conversion story.  

This picture of Rebecca was taken at the 

Institute Opening and dinner.  

We came back to our ward for our meetings and were privileged to hear from two general authorities.  Elder Evans is in the 1st quorum of seventies and is the director of the missionary department.  He was here for a meeting with all the mission presidents from Eastern Europe.  We also heard from our area president, President Lawrence, of the 2nd quorum of seventies.  President Lawrence gave his talk in Russian.

Rebecca set up a get together for some of the YSA's for Sunday night.  We stayed after church long enough visit with Rebecca and some of the other young singles. When they got out Apples to Apples to play, we excused ourselves to go home after a very long day.

Paul talking to a couple of young singles that night.

  He is so good at making everyone feel loved.

Our sister dropped in to say their good byes to Rebecca, too.

It was a good day...............and BYU won too.

I had to enlist Paul's help on this dinner to get everything

done before one o'clock.

We spent our typical Monday preparing for district meeting......shopping, baking bread, making mud pie, and cooking rice. Tuesday brought district meeting and a Japanese themed lunch of teriyaki chicken, fried rice, a vegetable medley, and Outback bread with honey and raspberry butter.  The elders and sisters loved it and ate every bit of what had been prepared.

A few of our district members dishing up their plates. 

Our Elders and Sisters loved dessert.  We were excited when we found

a type of an Oreo cookie here so I could make this mud pie

About halfway through the meeting, everyone was getting quite sleepy so they all stood up at the request of our district leader.  It was suggested everyone get a partner and do a chant taught to the office elders by President Borders.  They held hands while facing each other, jumped up and down, swinging their arms in and out while saying several times...."If you feel enthusiastic then you'll be enthusiastic."  We chuckled as we pictured little President Borders teaching this to our much taller office elders. About two minutes after our elders and sisters finished jumping and chanting, our doorbell rang. We all immediately thought it would be our downstairs neighbor complaining about the jumping.  It wasn't.....it was another set of elders needing something.  Thank goodness...wouldn't want the police coming to our door again.

Lada and her mother at

Lada's baptism

We were told, at district meeting, that the mother of the sister who was baptized two weeks ago, Lada, was going to be baptized in October.  After Lada's baptism, her mother agreed to have the missionaries visit with her in her hometown of Rizzan.   At the end of their visit, they asked if she would commit to baptism.  She said, "I've been waiting for two years for someone to ask me to be baptized." Apparently, both she and Lada had had some contact with the missionaries a couple of years ago.  The seeds had obviously been planted by them two years prior and the result now is that two beautiful people have accepted the gospel.

Wednesday, we had no meetings until English group in the evening so we decided to go to the Metropolis Mall to look for some plastic inserts for Paul's shoes.  He is having a terrible time with heel pain caused by plantar fasciitis.  We were unsuccessful finding inserts (we found one plastic one but in a size 13) but we did stop in at Stockman's and found garlic powder, paprika and penna pasta.  I had to look up the Russian words for the spices and then search the shelves until I found them.  I was almost out of garlic powder so I was thrilled to find it.  

English group was another fun evening.  We talked about opposites.  There was good discussion and we introduced a lot of new vocabulary words to them.  It's fun when the people come with paper and pencil ready to write down any word they don't know.  They especially like the idioms we give to them at the end of each discussion.  Sayings like 'kick the bucket', 'tie the knot', 'have a chip on your shoulder', 'loaded for bear', 'lend me your ear,' and 'pipe down' brought lots of laughs as we explained what they meant.

There was a new girl who came to class.  She spoke English wonderfully well as she had spent her junior year of high school in Idaho as an exchange student.  She said she had been to the temple grounds in Salt Lake at Christmas time to see the lights and heard the tabernacle choir.  At the end of the evening she came up and said the evening was just what she had wanted when she came.....a chance to speak and listen to English.  She then said, "I am so happy. Can I have a hug."  Such a darling girl. During the story time and spiritual thought she sat with one of the sister missionaries from our zone and again expressed her happiness.  She told the sister she gets such a warm and happy feeling every time she comes into a church building. Sure hope she comes back next week.

Gohar cutting Paul's hair in our entry way.

Can you believe our hair dresser comes to our home.  Getting our hair cut here was one of those concerns.  How do you express what you want done and how you want it done when you don't speak the language.  We had taken pictures of how we would want our hair to look after the haircut, but we knew there would still be a language barrier.  Then how do you know where to even go for a good cut.  Luckily, the sister in the office had this sweet girl cut her hair the whole time she was here in Russia (She left just last week).  The sister told us her hairdresser was good and would come to our home.  She gave me Gohar's name and contact information so we asked her to come to our apartment and cut our hair.  So convenient and her hair cuts were really good.  One stress eliminated.


Friday was a wonderful day. It started out at 8 a.m. in the Central Building for a full mission meeting.  Elder and Sister Evans and President and Sister Lawrence came to speak to the whole mission.  What a privilege for the mission to hear from a couple of general authorities and their wives.  President Borders held an hour long meeting to discuss some mission business and then around 9:30 our guests arrived.  They all gave wonderful talks to motivate us here in the mission field.  Elder Evans told us all that now is the time the Lord would have us serving here in Russia.  He also said that Moscow is the center of strength for all of Eastern Europe, so we must be actively engaged in inviting others to come unto Christ.  Such an inspiring meeting. 

Afterwards we decided to try another big mall to see if we could find some arch supports and tape for Paul's foot.  Another senior missionary has had this same problem. He told Paul that once he started taping his foot a certain way it finally got better.  Now we are on the look out for plastic inserts and tape.  We looked everywhere in the mall and around the mall but with no success.

Our first formal sit down dinner with guests

Friday evening, before game night and more Pathway interviews at the central building, we had two of our elders and one of their investigators over for dinner.  The elders want to have Marina get to know some other people in the church.  We have had her to our home one other time just to get to know her, but this time we suggested she come for dinner. We just served spaghetti and a salad but it was appreciated.  The elders were then able to read a few scriptures with her before we all had to leave.  

Elder Bass, Marina, and Elder Marks

We were back at the church Saturday morning to set up the video equipment for another ward's missionary activity.  (Paul has become the video go to man.)  We had also committed to helping the Piersons with the lunch they were serving for the same activity.  All were pleasantly surprised to have about 20 ward members show up to learn how to be more effective in doing missionary work.  Lunch was delicious.

Afterwards we took off to, once again, look for things for Paul's foot.  We had asked Marina, last night, where we might find what we were looking for and she gave us directions to an orthopedic store.  She wrote down the name of the store and the address and told us which train to take and where to get off.  We were encouraged that such a store even existed in Moscow.  Many tender mercies from the Lord, led to our success in finding what we needed that day.  We got off the metro and followed Marina's directions but couldn't find the store. We went into an Apteka (a drugstore) to ask for more directions and the clerk pointed us down the street from which we had just come.  Knowing the store must be in the area, we walked down the street for several more blocks (in the rain, of course) but couldn't find it.  On the way back to the metro station, we stopped into a sports equipment store we had passed and were so excited to find athletic tape and an ice bag.  We bought those things plus a heel pad.  Thinking that would be the best we could do, we headed back to the metro.  On a whim or out of sheer determination, we passed by the metro and went down a different street looking for the orthopedic store.  There it was.....in plain sight of where we got off the metro.  We found a plastic arch but they did not sell tape.  Had we seen this store first, we would have never walked farther down the other street and found the tape we especially needed.  We went home with everything we had set out to get.  Now we are praying it will work to lessen the pain Paul is experiencing.

This is Paul icing his taped foot with the

 new ice pack while watching a replay of the

 BYU vs Texas Longhorn game from

last week.

One happy man here.

Saturday night and BYU football...

all be it, one week delayed

A

GOOD ENDING TO THE WEEK!

WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT OF LIFE IN MOSCOW

This must be a big city tourist thing.....big, red, double decker buses
These are seen quite often around the city.  We just may have to take
a tour on one to see all the sights we can't see on the metro.

When we went to the Metropolis mall this week we noticed this beautiful grass as a decorative motif along the walkways.  It was so green and lush and weed free.  We don't have a picture of this, but the way they will cut this grass is with a weed wacker type instrument.......not a lawn mower, one of which we have yet to see.

THINKING THIS IS A GREAT PLACE TO BE ON A MISSION.  

WE LOVE THE CITY AND WE LOVE THE WORK.

THREE DAYS SPENT WITH OUR YOUNG SINGLES AND LOVING IT

Starting Saturday night at the Institute Opening and the dinner we served, we had the opportunity to spend three wonderful evenings with our young single adults.  What a marvelous beginning to a new week.

We were on a real high after Saturday's program and dinner, then came Sunday, another special day because of the YSA's.  After our block of meetings, the Young Single Council met at our apartment to 'break the fast,' and have a planning meeting.  There were about 20 of us crammed into our little apartment but no one seemed to mind.  A few of the young singles came early to cook the dinner.  We were grateful we didn't have to think about fixing another meal so soon after feeding 70 the night before.

Our meeting lasted until after 9:30 but a lot was accomplished in making plans for the next two months.  These young adults are such good friends that  it is sometimes hard for the council president to keep them on task. They sure have a good time together, though.






Before we started the meeting, the council Skyped another young single who was opening his mission call.  This group was so excited to see where he would be called.  He will be serving here in the Russian Moscow Mission.





Monday evening we had another opportunity to be with this great group of young people.  It was a Family Home Evening.  There were about 40 in attendance and after a video clip of Elder Holland's conference address about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, a challenge was offered for all the come to institute.  

The large group then broke into 3 smaller groups to attend 3 different classes.   It was a "share your talent" night so 3 young adults put on classes for the rest of the YSA's to teach them their particular skill.  Each group rotated to each class.

This girl is not a member of the

church but consented to come to

teach the group about her skill

of cartooning.

Masha taught about potato stamping

to make wrapping paper as well as

how to make paper gift boxes.

A box in progress by Valentina

This beautiful girl taught a cooking class on how to put together quick missionary type meals using whatever is in your cupboards.  She took pita pockets and had the class stuff them with sausage, onions, tomatoes and cheese.  She then baked them to melt the cheese.  They were quite good.  Her other trick was using any kind of macaroni.  She cooked it, drained it, then added the same ingredients as above.  She then tossed it all with mayonnaise. Again, a good quick meal.  What was made in this class was served for refreshments. Young singles love to eat. The crunch topped brownies we brought were gone in a minute.

 This young man (the one in the green) is from Pleasant Grove, Utah.  He is here on an internship and is leaving for home in a few days.  Paul and he had a great talk about their beloved Pleasant Grove Vikings.

We feel so privileged to be a part of the lives of these Young Single Adults.  They are an inspiration to us.  They are often the only members in their families yet come to everything offered them.  They invite their non-member friends to the activities, wanting to share the joy they have found in the gospel.  And boy, do they ever take care of each other, always making sure everyone feels welcomed and accepted. They take care of us, too.  During the spiritual thought at family home evening, Inessa left her seat, came all the way across the room to sit by us so she could translate what was being said.  Such caring.  

We must record an event that took place as we were cleaning up after the event. Masha came up to the institute room and stood in the doorway for a moment.  We acknowledged her and she said to us, "You two are amazing."  As she left she said; "Things just build up inside of me and I just have to say them."  We thanked her and told her that it meant a lot to us that she would share her feelings and that we loved her, too. Oh, the little things that make this adventure so worthwhile.



Earlier on Monday we had that third experience one must have while in Russia.  We visited a reenok.  It was an indoor one and was amazingly large.  There were rows and rows of jeans, sweaters, handbags, hats, coats and any other clothing item one might need.  We were looking for gloves for the winter,an umbrella, and some ties. Two of our missionaries, Elder Marks and Elder Bass, were with us to buy their winter coats. They appreciated our parental advice as to which coats to purchase and what sizes they needed.  They will be looking very sharp and feeling very warm when the winter snows come.

This is just the aisle of ties.  It seemed to stretch on forever.  Notice the man

coming toward us.  He didn't like the fact that I took a picture.  I thought I

might have to give up my camera but he just insisted I put it in my purse. 

I would have taken pictures of the elders buying their coats but I was a

little afraid to pull out my camera again.

I took this picture before I knew I shouldn't.  We got a kick out of

all the men on the bench here, probably waiting for their wives

to shop.  I know that's where Paul would have liked to have been.

This is the result of our adventure to the reenok.  Three ties

for the equivalent of 3 dollars each, two pairs of gloves and an

umbrella.  Our costs for all  this was less that $85.00. 

The elders helped us bargain for better prices.

Tuesday was our weekly district meeting and we made it easy on ourselves by serving the same menu we had served the YSA's on Saturday, even down to the brownie sundaes.  The elders and sisters loved it. The meeting itself was a safety meeting given by a staff member from the mission office.  It would have been interesting to hear but it was all in Russian so Paul and I spent the time doing the dishes.  We felt sorry for our Elder Bass who has only been out in the field less than a month.  He didn't understand too much more than we did. At the end of the meeting, one of the elders asked if he could have another brownie.  Of course we had to add ice cream and chocolate sauce to it.  Pretty soon we were serving a second round of sundaes to all the missionaries.  We love spoiling our elders and sisters.




Wednesday we did not have our weekly meeting with Misha, so the day was spent at home planning our lessons for our institute classes which will begin in a couple of weeks.  I washed sheets which is an all day project when I can only wash one sheet at a time.  Drying them in this wet weather (it rained all day) took a long time, too. The two sheets were barely dry by bedtime.

This was my baking project for the day....hamburger buns.

I can't find them in the store.  I want to serve the missionaries

pulled pork sandwiches sometime and have to have buns for that.

Wednesday night was English group and again we had a fun discussion.  The subject was on role models.  We had to explain the difference between a roll you eat, to roll a ball, and a role you play on the stage.  We gave examples of role models in our lives and they shared what characteristics they felt were needed in a positive role model.  We love this group and we think they love us.  As we were leaving, an elder came up to Paul and said, "I don't know what you are doing up there in your group, but the people are sure loving it."  We laugh a lot with them.  Our sisters were up in our discussion that night and afterwards came up to us and told us we were their role models.  So sweet.



Thursday was another rainy day with not a lot for us to do.  We spent the afternoon watching the Church Education training session that had been held in Salt Lake City in August. We decided to download one complete talk and use it in our introduction lesson for institute.  It was about using the talks of the General Authorities to supplement the teachings of the scriptures.  We are so grateful for this Ipad as we use it all the time.  Thanks Todd and Kailee.

It was also a good day to experiment with an Outback bread recipe.  I can't find wholewheat flour here, so I wanted to try a rye flour instead.  It turned out fine and tasted about the same.  Of course anything tastes good with honey and/or raspberry butter.

Thursday night was the night of a long planned outing with our senior council.  Six couples had all purchased tickets to an International Military Band Review held on the Red Square.  We met at the Mexican restaurant by our home for a yummy dinner and then walked to the Red Square......in the rain and wind.

The whole group, cold and wet, but happy to be there.

Taken from our seats.  The bands entered down by St.

Basil Cathedral and marched to the center of the square

to perform.

We'll never forget the lovely ponchos given to us.  We laughed 

so hard as everyone tried to get them on over their coats. 

 Mostly they just tore.  At least they were free.

At least 15 different military bands from all over the world performed. 

After each band had performed,  all the bands came together

 onto the square for the grand finale.

It was beautiful.

Throughout the night, the lighting on St. Basil and the tower of the

Kremlin continually changed.

From yellow and blue to blue and orange

then to pink

During the finale, St. Basil' became a kaleidoscope of  

changing colors.  It was an amazing effect.

The colors and designs changed often and seemed like they were 

dancing around the turrets

The performance ended with a magnificent

fireworks display.  

Despite the cold, the performance was great.  Lots of lively songs, including Rock around the Clock.  There were singers and dancers that joined a lot of the military bands to add to a most enjoyable evening.  When it was over Paul and I decided to walk home and, of course, that's when it really started pouring down rain.  We were drenched by the time we got home and it took all the next day to dry our coats and levis.


Friday brought more rain but we decided to brave it again to go shopping at Ashan's. I needed to see if I could get an Oreo type cookie to make mud pie for district meeting.  We have a lot of ice cream in our freezer that needs to be used and the missionaries would love a mud pie.  They did have a cookie that would work so it will be mud pie on Tuesday.

Friday night at our game night, we had scheduled interviews with our new Pathway students.  We wanted a chance to get to know them before our first day of class and make sure they were all registered.  It was also a time to answer any questions they might have.  We had delightful visits with each of them. We were amazed at their stories - most of them are converts within the past 5 years and often the only member of their family.  Their conversions stories were amazing.  They are also very talented.  Several play the piano. In fact, one is a concert pianist.  We look forward to getting to know these students as they attend our institute class and the pathway gatherings.  


I must note:  Before the game night, I fed Paul what our family calls 'beans in a bowl.'  He had been asking for them.  I hate them, but decided to make them for him anyway.  I found some white navy beans that had been left here in the apartment and cooked them, literally, all day with bacon, onion and brown sugar. Paul loved them. I had a salad.

OUR WEEKLY LIFE IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

Russians know how to package mayonnaise.  It comes in a bag.  It is so convenient to use as all you have to do is open it up and squeeze out the mayonnaise.  It also takes up less space in the refrigerator.  The ketchup comes the same way.  So clever.   It is a good thing Sister Pierson showed me mayonnaise in the store or I would have never known what to look for.

   

  We love the way juice comes packaged, too....in boxes.  Again, they are much easier to use and store nicely in the refrigerator, taking up less room than a can.  There are no frozen juices here, but there are many kinds of boxed juices.  If it is a fruit, it has been put into a juice.  The cherry juice is especially yummy.

Every night this week we have been privileged to watch a fireworks show out our living room window.  We live so close to the Red Square that we could see the fireworks being shot off at the end of each of the military band concerts.  It ran all week, Saturday through the next Sunday.  This is not the first time we have seen fireworks out our window.  Russians love fireworks and shoot them off on many occasions.

This is the best picture I could get with my little camera.

      Tonight, we are under a curfew.  The Mission President sent out a message to all missionaries in the Moscow area this morning.  He wanted all of us in our apartments by 5:00 tonight.  I guess there are protests scheduled tonight as a result of recent elections.  The police will be out in force to keep it under control. Being right downtown like we are, we think we would be especially vulnerable.  We have already heard a helicopter overhead, which is very unusual, and lots of loud sounds coming from outside.  This is not the first time for a curfew.  Whenever there is a Russian holiday we are instructed to be in our apartments by 6:00 as the people tend to celebrate quite heavily, especially with lots of drinking.  The President doesn't want to take any chances of missionaries getting into trouble of any kind.  Wise thinking.

ANOTHER WEEK, NOT AS ADVENTUROUS AS THE LAST (THANK GOODNESS), BUT A WONDERFUL WEEK ALL THE SAME.