BUSY, BUSY WEEK....NO REST FOR THE WEARY

Our district just talking together for their activity.

No, we are not weary but by the end of the week we're a little tired. It was a crazy week with lots of deadlines. After the wonderful lunch with Sister Bednar on Monday, we opened our home to our district elders and sisters for a celebration. They were allowed 3 hours to get together for food and fun (missionary style) because they met their member present goal during focus week. They were going to watch a movie (a church produced movie only) so we popped some kettle corn. They ate the popcorn but never did watch a movie.  Instead they just talked....mostly about the feelings they had felt while being taught by Elder Bednar. That showed us the high caliber of the elders and sisters in our district.  They are the best.

Monday evening, Paul received a special email from one of his pathway students. He had given a spiritual thought about prayer at gathering last Thursday.  He talked about trying to pray for what would be the Lord's will.  Olga related that his spiritual thought was meant just for her as she had been praying for a specific job opportunity to come.  She was discouraged because she didn't get the job. After Paul's thought, she realized she needed to put her faith in God and that He knows what is best for her. Paul was touched by the email.

Our friend Sasha

Tuesday was district meeting. It was the last one together as a district before transfers on Wednesday. I fixed spaghetti...not a good idea on such a hot day. Boiling the water for the noodles really heated up the kitchen.  Thank goodness we all ate in the living room where it was a bit cooler.  We actually served 13 for lunch as Elders Beals and Grover came with the office elders.  It was so nice to feel Elder Beal's special spirit again.  He was in our district a few transfers ago and we have really missed him. He went home on Thursday of this week. We also had Sasha join us for lunch as a thank you for helping us pay our rent again.  He would rather come to dinner at our home than go to a restaurant with us. He is a good friend with the elders and sisters as he is in our ward, so it seems to work out alright.

Sweet Elder Beals.  He will be missed.

Our district showing off their muscles after a month

long work out program most of them completed.

That had been their transfer sacrifice.

Note Elder Friar and the bowl of nuts.  He loves them

and finishes off a bowl of them every week.

Elder Jewkes bearing his

final testimony to the

 other missionaries

Wednesday, after spending the morning preparing our institute lesson, we attended the transfer meeting at the Central Building.  Six elders said their good byes and bore their testimony before leaving for home the next day. Elder Jewkes was one of those going home and had a very dificult time saying good bye to his mission. He was with us as an assistant to the President for several months.  We will miss him a lot. His former companion, Elder Beauchemin said that he had received an email from Elder Jewkes who told him he had already been out on a date with his girl. He seems to be adjusting just fine.  

Every transfer meeting, the departing missionaries have to stand

and sing with the congregation, God Be With You Till We Meet Again.

  It is often very difficult for many of them.  

These are some very strong elders leaving our mission.

Wednesday night was our last English group for a month. We teach eight lessons then take a break for a month to motivate new people to come.  At the last minute, we found out that we were going to be one of only two companionships in our group. Elder Jordan asked us if we could conduct, do the vocabulary, discussion, and the activity, as well as the story. The Sisters did the thought and prayer. We loved doing it all. We used to be the only companionship in the advanced English group so it was fun do everything again. We felt like it was a good English group.

Thursday was Institute and Pathway Gathering. We taught about the prophets Nephi and Samuel. We reviewed their prophecies and warnings to the people before Christ appeared to them after his resurrection.  We related these to the warnings and prophecies our prophets have given us today about Christ's second coming.  It was a powerful lesson.  Jeff, a BYU student here on an internship, came and added much to the discussion. During gathering, Lada made an interesting comment that helped us realize the way it used to be here in Russia. The writing assignment was to compose a critical thinking essay where they selected an issue and stated their opinion regarding that issue. The essay had to include their reasoning for their opinion. Lada said it was the most difficult thing she has ever done because, as she put it, she "is a child of the Soviet Union."  When she was growing up, in one of her school classes, she stated her own opinion on a subject. The teacher told her it was an interesting comment but that she should only think the way she had been taught to think. These people have come a long way in the past 20 years.  

A new companionshiop - Elder Genys is now

serving with Elder Howard in the International Ward.

We love Elder Genys who served in our district for a

couple of transfers.  With his new assignment, we will

see him a lot as they often use our apartment for discussions.

Friday morning, they came by our apartment to skype a 

district leader's training session with the President and AP's.

Friday, we got ready for our seminary lesson with Isaac for the afternoon, and then took off to do some exploring. Todd and Kailee are coming to Moscow in August (yeah!!) and we went out to check out hotels for them. Kailee's sister, Cristina, may be coming with them and if she does they will stay in a hotel.  If not, they will stay with us. We took the metro one stop south, found one hotel in question, then boarded the metro again and traveled two stops north. We walked and walked and walked to find the Courtyard Marriott near Red Square. It is on a back street and it took a couple of detours on our part, but we finally found it. On the way back we clocked the actual walking time, and it would have only been about 15 minutes (instead of 45) had we not made a few navigational errors. We did see some things along the way that we had not seen before, so the time was well spent. It was also good exercise.

On top of an underground mall close to Red Square

A statue we have never

seen before.

A beautiful fountain 

An old building just across the street from the Courtyard Marriott.

We made sure we were home for our lesson with Isaac after which we had to go the the central building for game night.  Paul had to be there early so he could be a proctor for one of our former Pathway students.  He was taking a test in economics and needed someone in the room with him while it took the exam. We didn't mind as the institute room is air conditioned and our apartment was very hot.

Making crepes, without my

crepe maker.

Saturday, we cleaned and cooked to get ready for a small dinner party we were having on Sunday.  At 2:00, we met with Justin, a wonderful investigator. Elders Burton and Shepard have met with him a couple of times and he has been so receptive to everything they have taught him. They presented the Plan of Salvation to him and he was so excited to finally understand where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. As part of the discussion, I kept having the prompting to talk about Christ on the cross and the 2 thieves hanging on either side of him. As we were talking about paradise and spirit prison, I mentioned about Jesus telling the thieves that he would be with them in paradise.  As I explained that Jesus went to paradise to organize the missionary work that would take place in spirit prison, Justin's eyes lit up with understanding. He said that I had answered a question he and a friend had about who would go to heaven.  His friend quoted that very passage to prove that everyone went to heaven to be with Christ. That didn't seem right to Justin but now he understood that the thieves went to spirit prison and Christ to paradise, both part of the spirit world.  We were so glad we had the chance to be a part of that discussion.  We hope to meet with him again soon.

The name of the restaurant is

Amigo Miguel.  

As soon as they left, we quickly changed clothes and raced to the metro.  We were meeting the Piersons and the Hays for dinner before going to a circus. The Hays had found a Mexican restaurant that we all wanted to try, so we met at a specific metro station and traveled together to the restaurant.  It was great food....not like American style Mexican food but very tasty.  

At the entrance to the restaurant, with Elder and Sister Hayes

After visiting for a while, we boarded the metro again to go to the circus.  Moscow is famous for their circuses. They have two that perform year round.  We had gone to what is called the New Circus last winter and several of us wanted to see the Old Circus too. It was a much smaller arena.....very up close and personal. We liked it better than the new circus for that reason. We felt like we could almost reach out and touch the performers. The clown performing between acts was much better too. It was a very entertaining evening with many incredible acrobatic and animal acts. Our favorite animal act was the seals (maybe sea lions). There were 4 of them and what they could do was amazing. They were very well trained and so intelligent. It was a great evening.

The circus finale. 

We were not allowed to take pictures during the performance

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting.  Most of the testimonies related the Elder Bednar's visit and the feelings they had experienced.  So many people wanted to bear their testimonies that when the time was up there were still 5 people waiting in line. We were sad they didn't let everyone express their testimonies, especially the brother whose wife is getting baptized this weekend. During the third hour of church, both Paul and I were asked if we would be home teachers and visiting teachers, respectively. We've been here 11 months and they are just now getting around to asking us to be a part of the ward. Of course we said we would be happy to do that. Coincidentally, both of us were also asked to pray in our meetings, Paul in Priesthood and me in Relief Society.  

The finished crepe

We hurried home to get ready for a dinner at our apartment that afternoon.  We invited Garrett McClintock, the BYU student doing a internship here, and Vlad Boloshov with his wife and baby.  We also invited Alexey Vargin.  Garrett, Vlad and Alexey were all in the Missionary Training Center in Provo together before their missions. Vlad and Alexey were in our Pathway program. We totally enjoyed the visit with them and they seemed to enjoy the dinner and dessert. 

Garrett, Alexey, Vlad, Olya and baby,  Alisha.

After dinner, we all went back over to the church for a Seminary/Institute end of the year celebration.  Certificates were handed out for each seminary or institute course completed this year. Both Alexey and Vlad were in our Institute class so they received certificates for their attendance. Our supervisor, Misha, surprised us by calling us up to present us with certificates for teaching two courses - Teaching of the Living Prophets, and Book of Mormon. That was a sweet way for him to say thank you to us.  

The Institute and Seminary students. 

 Our seminary student, Isaac, is in the white shirt and bow tie.

Yes, we were tired at the end of the week. 

Sunday night we watched a movie and just relaxed.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

My grandma cravings were satisfied as

I was able to hold this darling little girl.

The first baby I've held in 11 months.

Vlad asked me an interesting question while I was holding his 5 month old baby. He wanted to know if we sat our babies (like on our laps or in any kind of seat) before they were 6 months old.  After he explained what he meant, I answered absolutely.  He and his wife, Olya, explained that Russians do not let their babies sit on their bottoms until after they are 6 months. It has something to do with back problems and health issues. We found that quite strange. We also found out that they never let their children sit on the floor (or the ground) at any age. They were amazed that in kindergarten, children in the U.S. spend half their time sitting in a circle on the floor. Different traditions are interesting.

Paul got caught in the Metro again this week.  He is just too polite and lets everyone, especially women, get in first.  One has to be very aggressive when getting on the metro in order to get into the car before the doors close.  That is especially true during rush hour.  It is a good thing we have an emergency plan if he doesn't make it onto the same train I am on.  If that happens, I get off the train at the next stop and he gets on the next train and looks for me at the next stop.  It worked once when we first got here, so it is a good plan.

Once again, we are so impressed with the goodness of people here.  Two times this week we have been helped. A gentleman helped Paul up the stairs in the metro with our bob cart again.  At Burger King a nice man stepped up to help Paul as he ordered. He ordered what we always get but the woman kept asking him questions. Not speaking Russian, Paul didn't know how to make her understand that he only wanted a whopper without cheese or onions. The nice man next to him moved over and spoke to the women to help get our order right.  Paul was very grateful.

The next act of service wasn't to us but for Alexey.  His wife just had a baby two days before he came to our home.  (He is one excited father but hasn't seen the baby, except in photos. His wife went home to Ukraine to have the baby.)  When people in the stake found out about the baby, they brought all sorts of baby things for Alexey to take home with him on Sunday.  That is just what Russians do. If someone has a baby, they willingly share their baby things with them.  That certainly helps these struggling new couples.

VERY BUSY BUT VERY HAPPY