At the beginning of the summer, we thought August would be a low key, relaxing month as our Institute/Pathway classes were over until September. How wrong we were. Right after the children left on Monday, our busy schedule started again with lots of deadlines and appointments. Our five days with our children will be the only break in the action now until we come home in December. Let us explain.....
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Justin with Elders Burton and Shepherd
The elders are holding out their ties to show they are both wearing
their P-day polka-dot ties - gifst from the sisters in their district.
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We put our children on the airplane Monday morning and by the afternoon we were shopping in preparation for district meeting on Tuesday and a dinner party on Wednesday. We came home, put groceries away, and baked some treats just in time for a Family Home Evening with Elders Shepherd and Burton and Justin. They had called Sunday night to see if we would be available to meet with them. Justin had mentioned he hadn't seen the Millars for a long time and would like to visit with us. We were thrilled to share the evening with him and the elders. It is always fun to talk with recent converts and feel of their joyful spirit which always follows baptism.
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Elders Jones, St. Clair and Johnson in back.
Elders Hoffman, Welsh, Eliason and Sisters
Shepherd and Taylor in front.
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As I mentioned, Tuesday was our weekly district lunch and meeting. It would be our last district meeting before transfers the next week so we were glad we had a chance to spoil this group of missionaries one more time before some of them leave our district. We served chicken alfredo over penna pasta, olive garden salad, and herb rolls which were a big hit, but we think they especially loved the strawberry icebox dessert made using graham crackers brought from America. Many of them asked if these were real graham crackers. We were sure this was the only graham cracker crust they have had since coming to Russia. Oh, the things we take for granted while living in America.
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Elder Hermanson was our district
leader when we first arrived.
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We had two extra elders join us for our lunch and meeting as they were on splits with one of our companionships. It was good to have Elder Hermanson back in our home for lunch.
An hour before district meeting was to begin, our AP's showed up thinking our meeting started at 12 instead of 1. We were privileged to have them sing for us while they waited for the others to come. They were rehearsing for a ward presentation.....Such talent!
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| Elder Johnson and Elder Eliason singing "If You Could Hie to Kolob" for us. |
Tuesday evening, we attended a YSA council. Just before our children came, we received a call from Misha, our coordinator, who is out of town until the 22nd of this month. He asked if we would get the council together and plan the Institute opening social to be held August 30th. He made some suggestions as to what we could do, but left it in our ball court to get the plans rolling. We met with the council Tuesday night before the children came and they made a basic plan for the social. At this week's meeting they invited more YSAs to be on the planning committee so we had more thoughts on how to carry out the plans. We came away with much more on our plate....find music and directions for the Virginia Reel so we can teach it that night, prepare dinner for 70 to 80, and look up pioneer activities to incorporate into the evening's plans. So much for a relaxing August.
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Nastia and Lyndsi (the once Sister Tolbert)
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Wednesday, we were excited to have one of our former missionaries, Sister Tolbert, and her family come to dinner. She returned with her parents and sister to see this beautiful city as well as the other cities in which she served. We were so glad she would take time to bring them to our home for dinner. She is definitely one of our favorite sister missionaries. We wanted her parents to experience a typical district meal at the Millars so we served Hawaiian Haystacks and Outback bread, buffet style. We all ate with our plates on our laps in the living room, just as we do every district meeting. We were also thrilled that Nastia could come join us for dinner. She was baptized about a year ago and she and Sister Tolbert had become very close while she served in our district. We were so excited when Nastia announced that she would be leaving at the end of the month to go study at BYU Idaho for at least a year. That is the best thing for her to be able to do at this point in her life. It also means we will get to see her again when we return home as Rexburg is only about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Provo.
We had to cut our conversation short with Sister Tolbert's family as we were conducting English group at the church at 7. It all worked out great though, as Sister Tolbert and Nastia wanted to also go to English group. Sister Tolbert's mother made this colorful apron as a gift and presented to me before we all left. Paul always dons an apron when he washes dishes so Sister Tolbert suggested he could wear it too.....NOT!
We experienced our last haircut by Gohar on Thursday morning. She left for America the next day to join her husband. Much to our surprise, she has been married to a man in Wisconsin for a year and a half and it has taken that long for her to get a visa to go live with him in America. We are happy for her but sad for us....her haircuts are the greatest and she comes to our home. Such a luxury. Now we will have to find another hairdresser somewhere and take our chances on getting decent haircuts. Gohar left me a sweet gift to say good bye....lipstick, lip balm and mascara. So thoughtful.
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Sister King, on the left, is leaving her mission next
week. We will surely miss her.
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Later in the afternoon, Sisters King and Miller brought a darling investigator to our home for a lesson. Her name is Emeko and she is from Japan. Neen, a recent convert from Vietnam, came too. We had a good discussion reviewing her study of the Restoration pamphlet and her reading of the Book of Mormon. She did commit to be baptized once she comes to know of the truth of the gospel. Elders Genys and Denkers dropped by to make a copy of a paper and enjoyed cookies with all of us. I had made cookies with Ande's mint chips (from America) and they were a huge hit. Elder Genys seems to have a sixth sense as to when I have freshly baked cookies in our home as, more often than not, he and his companion show up at our door for some legitimate missionary reason just after I have baked.
That night we went to senior council for a meeting to plan the rest of the year's council meetings and activities. Paul left the meeting early to administer an English proficiency test to another potential student. His name is Valdimir and he is presently a member of the Stake Presidency. He has been a mission president and has several educational degrees from Russia. Why he wants to join Pathway we do not know, but we welcome his interest in the program.
Friday we did our quarterly check of Elders Hoffman and St. Clair's apartment. They had just moved into a new apartment so it was fun to see their new living quarters. Quite a lot nicer than their previous place, though not as convenient. Elder Hoffman has been on his mission for over a year now and said this was the first time any senior couple had done an apartment check with him. Some districts in the mission don't have senior couples to be responsible for that, but it is our understanding that senior couples assigned to a district should do quarterly apartment checks. We really enjoy doing them as we get to see how and where the missionaries live as well as get to know them a little better. Of course, we always take treats with us for them.
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Buzio, Elder Genys, and Elder Denkers
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We came home to a lesson with Buzio, an investigator from the Ivory Coast. He is here studying economics at a university in Moscow. We watched the Jesus the Christ video with him and then each of us had an opportunity to express our feelings about our Savior and bear testimony of Him. This is his sixth discussion with Elder Genys and Denkers of the International ward so we hope a baptism is just around the corner.
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A beautiful but very hard 1000 piece puzzle
finally completed!
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We left for game night at 7 and quickly finished the puzzle we have been working on for the past month or so....a pretty hard, glow in the dark one. While we were there, Maxim showed up. He hasn't come to game night for months but he came that night. It was as if he was an answer to two of our prayers. My computer's AC adapter cord has been acting up and not charging my computer properly. Maxim works with computers at his place of business and could make some phone calls to find a place we can buy a new one, if needed (Prayer #1 answered). While he was there we started talking to him about Pathway and wondering if he wanted to start it again. He started last January but quit after a few weeks because of work commitments. We had asked him many times before if he wanted to start Pathway again and he has always said no. This night he again said he wasn't interested but, then after we left him, he called and had changed his mind. He is even willing to take the English test again to become eligible (Prayer #2 answered). We have been praying that more students would contact us wanting to join Pathway so we can start a new cohort in September. The deadline for registering is in 10 days.
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Helena and Yvonne
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Saturday was no less busy. Baking cookies with two investigators from the International ward was the highlight of our day. Sister King and Sister Miller brought Yvonne and Helena to our home for another baking session. We baked chocolate crinkles and congo bars, both of which they loved. While the cookies were baking, the group watched President Monson's conference talk on courage. It was an effective way for these girls to feel of President Monson's spirit and to learn from his message as a Prophet of God. These two girls have been golden investigators for several weeks but announced last week that they had found a Lutheran church here in Moscow to which they would be going to from now on. They said they feel more comfortable there because that is the church they attended at home in Africa. We were all sadden by their decision but we will just continue to love them. Hopefully, the sisters can stay in touch with them. We asked them to come back to our home and the girls said they would, so maybe all is not lost.
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Ready to take home the finished product
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Sunday, of course, we attended church and then after church the sisters brought Tateanna and her son, Alexey over for a discussion. They have been out of town for the past 6 weeks so it was wonderful to have them back in our home. Tateanna has been reading the Book of Mormon and said she loves the feeling she has when she attends our church services. It was a great discussion even though it lasted 2 hours. Sunday evening was finally that time of rest and relaxation....a welcome thing after such a busy week.
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| Sister Shepherd, Alexey, Tateanna, and Sister Taylor |
LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT
While walking on Arbat street we stopped to watch an artist create this amazing picture using spray paint. It was a most interesting process....such talent.
Twice now on Arbat street, we have seen this man playing this strange instrument. I finally took a picture of it. He makes beautiful music with it but we have no idea what kind of an instrument it is.
Summer must be the time to dye your hair red. It seems like everywhere we go we see bright red colored hair on girls. Don't know if it is a Russian thing or a new world wide trend.
IT WAS GOOD TO BE BUSY THIS WEEK SO WE DIDN'T HAVE TIME
TO BE TOO SAD ABOUT OUR CHILDREN GOING HOME
We returned to that same street the next day thinking we could see more dancing. The tents were down but ping pong tables were being put up everywhere. As we monitored the days activities, we heard music and announcements coming from around our metro stop. There were lots of people playing ping pong and eating Baskin and Robbins ice cream. We later found out that it was a ping pong street tournament with a couple of world ping pong champions signing autographs and playing ping pong with the people. It looked like lots of fun and continued into Sunday. Obviously the newly completed street was closed off to traffic and the road became a walking plaza for the many people milling about. Saturday evening, we sat on a bench in a nearby park and enjoyed just talking and watching people pass by.
