PATHWAY GATHERINGS AND ENGLISH GROUP BEGIN AGAIN THIS WEEK

We are so excited that our weeks will, once again, be filled with Pathway Gatherings and English group discussions. We miss these meetings when we are on semester break for Pathway and the usual 4 week break between English groups.  Both began again this week.  We are truly back to work.


English group was on Wednesday and, for the fourth time since we've been here, the curriculum has been changed. The change this time is so exciting but so surprising. At our previous English groups, we could not mention the church or gospel principles at any time during our English discussions. Only after it was announced that the English group was concluded could we give a spiritual thought and close with prayer. 
Our discussions centered around travel, family, community, etc.....very generic subjects. It has now been approved by our legal department that we can discuss the gospel. In fact, English group will now be 16 weeks in length and the discussion topics will be based on the gospel.  We will be using The Restoration and Plan of Salvation pamphlets, reading from the scriptures, including the Book of Mormon, and asking our participants to give the prayers.  We basically will be conducting a missionary discussion each week, in English, of course. The participants will also be invited to church on Sundays and to any activities sponsored by the church. Amazing!!  The church legal department cleared this with the idea that recruiting for English group is done with full disclosure of the discussion topics involved in practicing their English skills. Our missionaries are so stoked and did a wonderful job introducing our new English curriculum to those in attendance for sign up night this week. It was very well received. In fact, in our group, the Restoration pamphlet was handed out with the assignment to read the first two pages and to come next week with a Bible.  We will have Book of Mormons, both in English and Russian, for them each week to use. We will be interested to see how our missionaries use us in this new discussion format. 

This is Constantine

A little side note: One of the gentlemen whom we met on Wednesday serenaded me after English group. We ended our group in the chapel area and he sat down to play the piano.  As I said good bye to him, he said, "Aren't you going to listen to me play?"  I said, "Of course." He proceeded, not only, to play the piano but to sing to me, too. He was so sincere and sweet. He was still playing the piano when we left for home.



We have been teaching Institute for two weeks but our Pathway Gatherings began this week, in conjunction with Institute on Thursday. We meet at 6:45 for Institute and then at 8:15 break into our gathering meetings. It was so good to be back in gatherings with our Pathway students as of this week. We have two cohorts - a third semester English class and a first semester Life Skills class. Paul and I conducted this first week's discussion in each class to set the stage for the students to lead the next 12 lessons. This is such an amazing program for the people here and we are glad we can be a part of it for one more semester.

These are two students, new to Moscow and new to Pathway.

They recently were released from their missions in Ukraine.

They are the Dolgov brothers - Dmitry and Stanislav.

They contacted us from their missions in order to make

 arrangements to join Pathway.  They were able to take

a different English test in Ukraine which their mission

 president's wife administered to them.

Institute, this week, was very well attended. Twenty were there by the end of class. We taught how the works of God will not be frustrated as illustrated by the loss of the 116 pages of translated manuscript of the Book of Mormon. It always strengthens our testimonies when we read how Nephi was told to make a second set of plates and then Mormon was instructed to include Nephi's second record in his abridgment, for a 'wise and glorious purpose,' of which neither prophet knew. The Lord knew, of course, that the 116 pages of manuscript would be lost and provided a way for the same period of history to be included in the Book of Mormon without re-translating the portion that was lost. 



Another little side note: Both our Pathway and our Institute success is because of Paul's dedicated effort of almost every day keeping in contact with our students. He has helped them get registered and pay their tuition. He is in constant communication with them via email and phone calls reminding them of deadlines in their studies and encouraging them to attend our Institute class.  I am so glad he takes care of all that. He is a blessing to me and to our students.

Other happenings of the week include the following:

Monday, we took the Ropers shopping with us to Ashans. They had been there once before but wanted us to show them where certain items were located. Sister Roper was interested in the kind of pork roast I have used successfully and what a package of ground beef looked like.  In the stores, there are several kinds of ground meats and they all look somewhat like ground beef.  We showed her the word for beef, as well as what to look for in buying ground beef. Shopping is quite a challenge until you find the right products. There are several kinds of cottage cheese type products but most are real dry. I showed Sister Roper one that is creamier so her lasagna should be more moist. Whipping cream, tomato sauce, parchment paper and baking cocoa were others items they wanted to know about buying. We also helped them learn how to manage the crowds in the store....you never take your cart down the crowded aisles. Instead, you park your cart at the top of the aisle, go get what you need, put it in your cart, and move to the next aisle.  We can make quick work of our shopping even in the busiest of times.

Our worthless purchase

One thing Paul and I were looking for was a new bathtub mat. We found this beautiful one at Ashans. We brought it home, threw the old one away and enjoyed the look of the new one...... until we tried to take a shower with it. The suction cups didn't hold to the bottom of the tub so we slipped around worse with the mat than without. It also was hard to stand on because of its bumpy surface. That one is now in the garbage as well. We have looked at two other stores to find another mat with no luck. You would think a bathtub mat would be easy to find but not so in Moscow......at least not where we shop. Where is Walmart when you need it?


One more side note: The next Monday we checked out the bathtub mats at Ashan's again and found a better one.  It's clear, smoother, and it even sticks to the floor of the tub.  Happy Day!!!

Monday afternoon, we participated in a new member discussion with Justin from the International ward.  The elders brought him by to teach him about family history and temple work. Justin 's grandmother recently passed away so he was excited to know about the gospel being taught in the spirit world and that he can someday arrange for her to be baptized.  After this discussion we were supposed to meet with a new investigator from Bangledesh but he was a no show.....again. That is two weeks in a row now.  That started out our week of many canceled discussion appointments. We always feel so sorry for the elders and sisters when this happens.

Left to right - Elder Ortega, Sisters Taylor and Shepherd,

Elders Hoffman, Stebbins, Jones, and St. Clair.

We held our last meeting Tuesday with our current district. It is Zone Conference next week and the following week is transfer week.  We won't hold another district meeting until the Friday after transfers.  A couple of our district members are thinking they will be getting new assignments so we decided to take a picture of this group....minus our two assistants, who are always traveling now. This has been a great district, especially with our district leader, Elder Hoffman. His training lessons have been so well planned and delivered in simple humility. This week's lesson was on consecration of which he is a wonderful example.

Our young singles enjoying the rice krispie treats we brought

For one of the first times all summer, our regular game night on Friday was well attended. We had two investigators there along with about 10 young singles and two sets of missionaries. It was good to see them having fun being together, playing ping pong, pool, and board games.  The evening went by very fast and soon it was ten o'clock and time to close up the Institute room. 

German with Elder Anderson

This young man's name is German.  He is investigating the church.  He spent his entire evening talking with us as we worked the puzzle. We had a delightful conversation with him. We had him promise to have the elders bring him to our home to hear a special message about the gospel.  We hope that will come to pass.

That brings us to Saturday......

We had a pretty free day....at least until late afternoon when we had an appointment scheduled for an investigator discussion. It was a beautiful Indian summer day so, after some studying, we decided to visit Sokolniki Park. We had read about it but hadn't seen it yet.  We saw some fun things.


There was a playground for young people which blew our minds. It was a challenge course, in mid air. Our grandsons would have loved it. Thankfully, the kids were hooked up to a guide wire so if they missed a step it wouldn't be disastrous.

Amusement park rides for the little one, too

For the littler children - much safer.

This park had a beautiful rose garden which we enjoyed walking through. We took pictures so we can implement some ideas into our yard back home.

Every park has to have a fountain and this one is no different,

though not at impressive as some that we've seen here.

The other thing we got a kick out of was the dance floor located just as we entered the park. There was 'oldie' type music playing and lots of 'oldie' type people dancing...some by themselves, some with partners.  They were having such a good time and attracting a large crowd of observers who enjoyed watching them....Paul and I included, watching not dancing.

The man in the orange and his partner in the black were having a great time.

This man was dancing all over the dance floor,

by himself.

We loved watching this woman really

get with the music

Our discussion appointment was a no show so we settled into a movie to pass the time while Paul waited for the BYU football game to begin, live at 11:30.  He listened to the first half and was happy, when he got up to check the score at 3 a.m., to see that the Cougars had won yet another game.

Sunday brought with it church and an investigator, Michael, presenting Paul with a gift...a book entitled 'Energy of the Future.'  It was written by his uncle and Michael was so excited that it was printed in English so we could read it. It must weigh 10 pounds and is extremely technical. Probably won't be on our reading list but it was such a sweet and thoughtful gesture. As for the rest of the day, we knew we would have no missionaries calling us to bring someone by for a discussion because they had all been advised to avoid the center of the city, except for going to church. It seems there were several anti-government demonstrations scheduled to take place around here. We obviously stayed in our apartment the rest of the day as we live in the center of the city.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

We noticed this on a walk to the bank the other day.  It's Moscow's answer to  7-11 convenient stores, minus the gas. That sign says mini market. (A little lesson in Russian.) That's the first time we have seen a small store called a mini market.

While we were at the park on Saturday this man in the yellow suit caught our attention. It was the brightest, canary yellow we have ever seen.  We are wondering if he was just out for a stroll with his friend or if he was in some kind of performance. We will never know.

THE WEEKS ARE PASSING BY SO QUICKLY....

HAS TIME SPED UP LATELY? 

 

-----A GRANDDAUGHTER'S BAPTISM AND A BYU FOOTBALL GAME---------------------------------- WHAT COULD BE BETTER!---------------------------

The highlight of our week was the baptism of our granddaughter, Julia. We were invited, so we attended....via Google Hangout. We are so grateful for modern technology that allowed us to be present at Julia's baptism even though we were a half a world away. We were even able to say the opening and closing prayers from Russia.  

What a wonderful day for our sweet Julia.  We are so proud of you, Julia, for the decision you made on this special day

The BYU football season started three weeks ago and for the first time this year the game was rebroadcast on BYU television on Friday morning this week. Paul could watch it in its entirety and he was in heaven. Much to his dismay, but to my delight, he saw the score before the replay began. He doesn't like to see the score before he watches a game but I was grateful he had. Because of the flow of the game, Paul would have been so distraught and probably would have done a lot of yelling at the TV had he not known the game's outcome. The cougars let down their defenses at the end of the first and second halves to let the score diminish to only an 8 point lead. Paul loves BYU football and is so glad they are 3 and 0 this year. 

The rest of the week was filled with the usual things like shopping, studying, and lesson preparation. We also had a couple of discussions in our home that had a common theme to them.  Amazingly, both sets of elders were suggesting to their investigators that they postpone the dates of their baptisms.  That sounds strange but with Elders Shepherd and Jepsen, they felt like Abel needed a little more time to come to a better understanding of the commitment he was making.  Elders Hoffman and Jones (on splits with St. Clair and Stebbins) felt like they wouldn't have enough time to teach Olig everything they would want to teach him unless they met everyday between now and his baptismal date scheduled for the 27th. We really appreciated the fact that these elders were into the investigator's needs rather then their own baptismal statistics.  Hopefully Olig and Abel will be ready sometime in October.  

Tuesday was district meeting as usual. The sisters came with a large, bright red umbrella. I asked them if they expected rain on this very sun shiny day and they said no but that they needed to return the umbrella to a couple in our ward who had lent it to them. A few days earlier, they got caught, unprepared, in a rainstorm as they were leaving this couple's apartment.  Can you guess that the couple are newlyweds....first hint - a heart shaped umbrella. Darling.


That night we went to an early dinner with the Ropers.  We met them at our metro stop and took them to our favorite pizza place here in our neighborhood - Pronto Pizza.  We had a delightful visit and upon  hearing their story, we realized that our lives have been easy compared to the trials they have faced.  They are so dedicated to be out here on a mission. 

We have a threesome in the office for a while now, 

Elder Ortega, Elder Junes, and Elder Stebbins.

They loved the cookies we brought - pumpkin chocolate chip.

We found frozen pumpkin pieces at the store this week so

I had to experiment with it.

Wednesday we traveled on the metro for an hour in order to check the apartment of our office elders. The last time we were there (last quarter) the apartment was not clean at all. We were pleasantly pleased when we enter the apartment this time to find it spotless.  A different set of elders makes all the difference in how apartments are kept. Later that day our sisters came over to use our computer.  They had presented a power point at MLC last week and now had to tweak it in order to present it to zone conferences in a couple of weeks.  They wanted to get started on it as they knew it was going to take them a several hours before it would be complete.  They returned Sunday afternoon after church for another work session....3 more hours.


Thursday was senior council and our institute lesson. At senior council we watched a talk that Tad Callister gave at a CES broadcast earlier this year. It was entitled 'What is the Blueprint for Christ's Church?'  It is a fantastic talk where Elder Callister outlines the church that Christ established when he walked the earth. He shows how our church today parallels, in every way, Christ's ancient church.  Quite a testimony builder. It was interesting that later that night both Paul and I realized we had had the same impression while listening to the talk...that we needed to send a copy of it to a friend who is struggling with her testimony.  When we got home, Paul immediately found it online in Russian and downloaded it.  We will make sure our friend gets it right away.

Our institute lesson was focused on the first 65 verses of Joseph Smith's history. We entitled it, 'Lessons Learned Through the Restoration.' In those 65 verses we found 14 important principles to discuss. We would read the verse and have the students find which principle applied to the verse. We then discussed each principle as to why it was important and how it could applied to their lives. We felt the spirit was there in the classroom. Attending our class for the past two weeks is a non member who is investigating the church. His name is Renat. He is so dedicated. Every week he comes dressed in a suit and tie and is so eager to participate in class. We told him he already looked like a missionary and he said that someday he hopes he can be one. He is to be baptized at the end of the month.....a choice young man.


Friday afternoon, we met two couples who had just flown into Russia to begin their missions. The Pierson's picked them up at the airport and brought them to our home so we could meet them and then go to lunch together.  The couple's names were Elder and Sister Lowe and Elder and Sister Shumway. They were both called to a CES mission like Paul and me, so the Piersons wanted them to be able to ask questions of us about our responsibilities. The Lowes are staying in the Moscow Mission and will reside in Nichney, a city to the north of Moscow.  The Shumways boarded another plane later Friday night to fly 8 more hours to the Novosibirsk (Siberia) Mission.  We were impressed with their excitement to be here and to begin serving. We had lunch and then walked them to Red Square. We stopped on the bridge just across from the Kremlin to take the picture below. At that point Paul and I left them as we had a missionary discussion scheduled in our home. We loved their continual taking of pictures as we walked. It reminded us of ourselves when we first arrived and everything was so new and so different. This may be the only time these couples will get to see Moscow, so it was good the Piersons could spend time exploring with them in downtown Moscow.

Next to us are the Piersons then the Shumways then the Lowes

Saturday, we woke up not feeling real energetic. We both just wanted to crawl back into bed. We had probably pushed too hard during the week. We stayed inside for the morning, but the day was such a beautiful day, we decided to take a walk. Can you believe we walked back to Red Square...this time to have lunch and buy a some Krispie Cream donuts. It felt good to get out and walk in the beautiful sunshine. 

Note the red orange lacing up the back and

the red orange under netting.  The

groom is carrying her red orange shoes.

 Along the way we saw some fun things like this bride.  We had never seen a dress quite like hers...a beige with red orange trim.  As is the tradition of Russian brides, after their marriage ceremony they take pictures at lots of historical sites.

A strange looking mini van

Check out it rear design

We also went into the GUM department store to see the fall displays - old cars and a watermelon filled fountain

Usually this is a beautiful fountain of water.

For the Fall it is filled with watermelons.

They were selling cups of watermelon pieces 

(about 5 small pieces in each container)

for about $1. 30.  That's making lots of money on each watermelon.

And that was our week...........very rewarding.  We love being missionaries.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

All above the elevator used

 to be exposed wires. They

have all been covered up.

A very nice change, too.

We think the workers have finally finished the painting and sprucing up of our apartment building. It has made quite an improvement in the looks of it, especially in the entryway.....tile instead of an old rubber mat over concrete and new paint make so much difference. Now, we just hope someone has been assigned to keep it clean.  Already there has been paint tracked in on the tile floor and it has yet to be cleaned up.  

The Shumways  intently watching
as the artist creates his masterpiece

When we were with the two new couples walking to Red Square we came across this artist.  He was painting St. Basil and the Kremlin, a popular subject for many artists. We were all intrigued watching him paint one of our favorite sites in Moscow.

On Sunday, Paul had kind of lost his voice due to the cold he was just getting over. His friend, Vladimir, came up to him and told him he probably lost his voice because he drank too much cold water.  Their traditions about anything cold run deep within our Russian friends.  We had a good laugh with him.

HEAD COLDS ARE GONE....BUT COLDER WEATHER IS HERE

TWO HOLIDAYS AND TWO BAD HEAD COLDS .

This was a week of holidays...Knowledge Day on Monday and the Day of the City on Saturday. Russians have lots of holidays and love every one of them. 

Knowledge Day is always the first day of September and is the first day of school for the children. The children all dress in their nicest clothes and the girls fasten big white bows in their hair. They always take flowers to give to their teachers when they meet them. The day is not a full day nor a regular curriculum day. The children come to school and assemble together to listen to songs, poetry and inspirational speeches. It also becomes a day when parents and guests can visit the school in an open house type setting. There is a tradition in each school that one first grade girl is placed on the shoulders of an 11th grade boy and they parade around the school while the girl rings a bell. This is to signify the 'first bell' of the year. As we were out shopping on this day, the malls were very crowded with children and their parents as well as teenagers just hanging out. We saw so many darling little children dressed in their school uniforms and girls with white bows in their hair. We wished we could have taken pictures of a few of them but, not speaking the language, we didn't know how to ask if we could....hence the above picture taken from the internet showing this day.

A group of very talented male singers

Saturday was the Day of the City. Every city in Russia has a special day that celebrates the birthday of that city. Moscow celebrated its 867th birthday on Saturday. We understand there were celebration activities taking place all over the city. In our neighborhood, as we were out walking, we noticed two different venues where performers were entertaining. The one in the picture was in the park, right outside our metro station. All night there were fireworks and lots of partying. Just outside our window, we could hear people having a good time and when we walked to church on Sunday, we could see the results of their holiday celebrations. That is why the missionaries were instructed to be in by 8:30 Saturday night....safety is always the first concern of the Mission President. 

On our walk to church there were liqueur bottles

and cigarette butts all over.

NOW FOR THE WEEK'S HAPPENINGS IN BETWEEN THE HOLIDAYS.......

At Metropolis Mall

Monday was our shopping day. We decided to go to two different malls to find items needed for the week. While we were in one of the malls, Elders Genys and Denkers called to see if Paul would talk with one of their investigators. It was Felix...a young man with whom Paul had visited in a park, a few weeks ago, with Elder Genys. It was a rather short but good conversation.  An interesting way to get a member present meeting. Clever thinking Elders! 

Later that night, after some institute lesson preparation time, Elders Shepherd and Jepsen called to see if they could come by with Neen and teach a new investigator from Bangledesh. An hour later than expected, they called to say their investigator didn't show up but asked if they could come by to teach Neen a lesson on callings in the church.  Of course, we agreed. Come to find out, Elder Shepherd was on a split with Elder Memmott so they taught Neen. Before everyone left Elders Jepsen and Hermansen showed up so we had a big group for cookies after the lesson. Elder Memmott was so excited. His comment was, "Oh a real cookie!"  This was the first time he had been to our home.

On Tuesday, besides district meeting, Paul was on the computer most of the day doing Pathway and institute things...some of which included reminding the four potential students of their English test for the next night and sending out 39 emails to potential institute students. We are hoping to have a few to our Institute class which starts on Thursday. This year we are starting institute three week before pathway. Our coordinator wants us to correlate our teaching schedule with his....teaching the same lesson in the same course of study in the same week. It might be an interesting year.  

Our sister dropped by our

home to work up a power

point presentation for the

MLC meeting the next day.

They really enjoyed the

rice krispie treats we shared

with them

Wednesday, we gave the English Proficiency Test to four potential Pathway students. We needed at least two of them to pass in order to be eligible to start a new cohort this semester. We could tell two of them were really struggling during the test and thought a third didn't do too well either. As we were grading the tests we got so worried as the first two did not pass as we expected. We graded the next two and to our amazement both scored passing marks. The one we thought may have been struggling got one of the highest scores on this particular test. The test is not easy. We tested 15 and luckily 10 passed. As soon as Paul entered the scores into the Pathway system, our students went from a waiting for more students status to admitted. Ten was the lucky number.

Issuing the last 4 tests for this semester and

praying the whole time that at least two would pass.

Bag and cart all packed

ready to haul lunch up to

the mission office

Thursday was the big lunch up at the mission office for the Mission Leadership Committee. All the zone leaders and sister trainers were brought in from the outlying areas for this meeting.  Along with the assistants and office elders, we served about 25. This was when we served what we called our 'miracle barbecue pulled pork sandwiches.'  We gave them that label because of the miracles we experienced finding the celery and the exact barbecue sauce needed to make the pulled pork. The elders and sisters got a kick out of our story as to how that meal came to be.

The mission leadership enjoying their lunch break.

Our Plan of Salvation display

That night we taught our first institute class for the year. Our new course of study is the Doctrine and Covenants but we were asked to include a review of the Plan of Salvation. We did it with the overall theme of choice...we chose to follow God's plan in heaven before we came to earth and, now, the choices we make in this life on earth will determine our destiny in the eternities. Our challenge was for them to choose to read the Doctrine and Covenants this year. It is the book revealed just for us in our day and contains directions on the right choices we must make. Much to our surprise we had 9 in attendance. We love being back into teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yummy way to 'feed a cold.'

Friday was when we both became rather miserable with head colds. We have been very fortunate to have had only one other cold since coming to Russia. After spending a pretty low key morning in our apartment, we decided to obey the old adage 'feed a cold and starve a fever.'  We fed our cold with a Shake Shack burger and fries and then a cup of Tuiti Fruiti yogurt for dessert. It felt good to be out and about for a while.

We loved this demonstration used by Elder Memmott

to show the line of authority in the organization 

of the church....the Starburst is the prophet,

the M&M represents the apostles,

the first line of peanuts are the stake presidents, and

the cashew is a bishop with the last two peanuts 

representing the ward members.

Clever use of what is available.

On our way home, we stopped at the grocery store and ran into Elders Hoffman and St. Clair. They were meeting another set of elders who would be passing them a new investigator. We asked if they wanted to come to our home instead of going to the church. They readily agreed so, 15 minutes later, we were involved in another missionary discussion. This was about the organization of the church, especially the importance of boundaries and attending the ward or branch in which you live. Olig was the investigator's name and he readily accepted the change when he said, "If I have to go to a different branch, then I will." 

When our young singles began this 

board game we took our leave.

Friday night we left for game night hoping to be there only a short time as, by this time, we really didn't feel very well. We got to the institute room and found that a YSA activity had been announced at Tuesday's institute class for this night to be held there in the institute room. When about 10 young adults had arrived, they had a spiritual thought, refreshments, and visited for a while. When they started playing a board game, we asked them to lock up the room when they finished their game and we left to go home and go to bed.

Saturday, we still didn't feel real well but couldn't just sit around.  We decided it would be a good day to go to Ismylava market and purchase a few of the things we want to bring home for ourselves. I am especially excited about a beautiful wooden, hand painted Santa which we bought. He will look wonderful in our living room with the collection of Santas we put out every Christmas.

Nasia gave me this Russian made

scarf as a gift.  She is such dear friend.

Sunday, Nastia came to church to say good bye to us. She is leaving to go the school at BYU Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. We are so excited for her. This is exactly what she needs in her life right now. We were glad she came by to say good bye to us. We had a short, by nice visit with the promise we would invite her to our home in Utah after our mission.

Paul quickly getting on his

missionary attire when

invited to participate

in the Skype discussion.

Later Sunday night, Elders Genys and Denkers came by for another Skype meeting. They invited Paul in on the end of the discussion so he could bear his testimony about the importance of reading the scriptures. Paul used a little different approach to challenge the investigator to be baptized. When Paul had finished his testimony, the investigator made the comment that Paul was his dad. Paul said, "If I am your dad then you are my son and you are supposed to do what I tell you to do."  Paul then told him he wanted him to be baptized. Everyone laughed and got a kick out of that baptismal challenge.

The elders enjoying chocolate chip cookies and milk

before leaving to go home for the night.

A super ending to a great week, even with bad head colds.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

On our way to shop on Monday we noticed the grassy area of this park was covered with pigeons. We then saw this man feeding them. He wasn't just throwing bread crumbs to them on the ground.  He was letting them eat right out of his hand.  We, too, love to feed our pigeon friends that come to our kitchen window.

Yeah for Burger King!!!

Burger King, at the mall where we shop every Monday, finally came on board with the American tradition of self dispensed soda pop. We have not found another place in Moscow that allows the customer to fill their own cups with soda pop. We felt right at home...as much ice as we wanted and the ability to return to the pop machine as often as we desired. We only filled our cups up once but at least the option was there. Way to go Burger King.  

IS IT TIME TO START THE COUNT DOWN TO COMING HOME?

15 WEEKS....CAN'T EVEN GET OUR MINDS AROUND THAT YET.