'MEET THE MORMONS' COMES TO MOSCOW

A bunch of Mormons gathered to watch

"Meet the Mormons.'

Saturday night, we had the privilege of watching the newly released movie, "Meet the Mormons."  Yes, even here in Moscow.  Of course, it isn't in the theaters but we were able to see a preview version of it in the Institute room with all the senior couples. Someone must have some pretty good connections to have been able to secure it. We were sure glad he did as it will probably be the only chance most of us will be able to see it until it comes out on DVD.  We all thoroughly enjoyed watching it and loved how so many different examples of 'Mormons' were shown from all over the world. 

It was a perfect way to end an incredibly busy day. It started in the morning as we left the apartment at 8:30 in the morning to head up to the mission office. President and Sister Borders were hosting a special meeting for all the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary presidencies from the outlying cities in the mission. It was a training meeting to help them function a little better in their callings and to show them how they can strengthen their branches. Our job was to provide a lunch for 30 and sack lunches for 25. Sister Borders approached me several weeks ago and asked if I would help her plan the food as well as prepare it. We decided on barbecue pork, green salad, and fruit for lunch and then simple sandwiches, fruit, chips, and wafers for the sack lunches for them to take for their train rides home. Because this ended being held at the mission office instead of our central building, Sister Borders had to do most of the shopping. (We are limited as to what we can haul up on the metro). We did prepare and bring up the pork, kaiser rolls, and brownies. Paul stayed around long enough to help make a green salad and cut up fruit.  When I started making the sandwiches for the sack lunches he took off for Ismylava mall, again, to buy one last stacking doll.  

This is the CTR shield in Russian.

In the afternoon, I sat in on the training of the Primary presidencies done by two sister missionaries. It was all done in Russian so I have no idea what was said, but those in attendance were taking notes and adding to the discussion so it must have been informative and motivating for them. Paul returned just as everything was wrapping up so he could help me bring things back home.


We came home, unloaded everything, rested for a few minutes, and then walked to the church for a Seminary/Institute training meeting taught by our supervisor, Misha. Again that meeting was all conducted in Russian but luckily Misha's wife, Sveta, was there to translate for us. When that happens we can contribute to the discussion and feel a part of the meeting.  As that meeting ended the senior couples were gathering outside the room waiting to start our 'Meet the Mormons' movie.  We got home just before 10:00....a bit tired but feeling good about the day.

Misha and Sveta in the center of all the Seminary and Institute teachers in the Moscow Stake.

Now for the rest of the week........

Our sisters all bundled up.

They look like they are straight out of

Siberia with their fur lined hoods.

woolen mittens and heavy boots.

On Monday, we got up to snow on the ground and bitter cold weather which lasted all week. Everyone is already bundled up in their winter attire. We have been told that this is the coldest it has been in October since 1982 and that this winter is going to be very cold. Last year we didn't get snow until into November and it wasn't much colder than Heber City usually is. In fact, quite often, we would compare the temperatures in Utah vs here and Utah would be colder. Don't think that will happen this year. We feel bad for our replacements who are from Arizona...what a shock an extremely cold winter here will be for them.



Tuesday was a skyping day. In the morning, we skyped with our CES area coordinator. It was supposed to be a group meeting with 3 other CES couples but no one joined in so it was just a 'one on one' meeting with us and Alexy.  It was time well spent getting to know each other. During district meeting the International sisters came by to skype with an investigator and then, after our meeting, our sisters skyped with Olya, a new member who lives 2 1/2 hours away.  We also sat in on a discussion (not on skype) with Adam from Sudan. He is a Muslim and comes from a family of 9 children. He is here working and going to school.  It was hard to tell how he felt about the first discussion, although he did accept a Book of Mormon.  

Sasha, Masha, and Luba - incredible women

That evening we attended a YSA council planning meeting.  We love the energy of our council.  At the end of our meeting (it was 9:45) they gathered at the piano to sing and dance.  We love these young people.

Lisa, at the piano, Alona, singing, and Sergei with the guitar.

Wednesday, we shopped for Saturday's lunch at the mission office and worked on our Institute lesson. Paul went home teaching with his friend, Vladimir. Vladimir is obsessed with wanting Paul to stay in Russia for many years. He has put Paul on a very high pedestal and thinks the world of him. Paul loves the family they teach. The family has a 3 year old little boy who Paul just adores.  Sunday, Paul was thrilled when this little boy came up to him to show him a truck and give him a 'high five.'

We titled Thursday's Institute lesson 'Putting Oil in your Lamp.' We talked about the 10 virgins pictured on our board. There is a beautiful description of the characteristics of each virgin, as depicted by the artist, which we had the students read.  We reviewed the history at the time sections 30 to 35 were given. We then discussed the 'drops' of righteous living, outlined in this scripture block, that would add oil to our lamps if we put them into our lives.  We showed a video of the 10 virgins that ended with modern day ways we can be like the 5 wise virgins.  A very effective way to conclude our lessons.  We love teaching our young singles especially when we feel the spirit in the room as we did this night.

40 Kaiser rolls ready for

Saturday's lunch.

Friday was the day to prepare all the food for the lunch at the mission office the next day.....making kaiser rolls and barbecue pulled pork and cookies and cream brownies.  When I went to put the recently purchased pork into the sauce to begin cooking, I noticed that one of the pieces didn't smell quite right. I was afraid to use it so we made a quick trip to our little local store and, luckily, found a similar cut of pork.  I had had a dream the night before about the pork being bad....maybe it was a warning for me to be extra aware when I opened the packages of pork.  The bad smelling pork was quickly taken out to the garbage.

While I was cooking, Paul went off to pay a few bills.  He had taken several coins with him to give away. (We are trying to get rid of all the change he has collected over this past 16 months.)  Because it is so cold, the band to which we usually give coins, was not playing so Paul walked to an area where little old ladies stand out on the street with their cups asking for donations.  Paul found one lady there whose cup had only one coin in it. He promptly poured a whole bag full of coins into her cup and filled it to the brim. He said the woman's eyes lit up. She opened up her coat and 'crossed' herself as a gesture of sincere thanksgiving for the gift she had just been given. It only added up to less than three dollars but to her it was a fortune.

Also on that day, we had a skype lesson with one set of missionaries and another lesson, in person, with Bazeel.  He is the investigator that needs to come to the church before he can be baptized.  This day he committed to come to church this Sunday. The elders were thrilled.  After the discussion, it was dinner, then off to game night where several young singles came and had a good time playing board games....bringing us, then, to our busy, busy Saturday.

Elder St. Clair, Sister Downing, Sister Shepherd and

Elder Kirdyapkin  (left to right).  They are assembling

several huge wraps containing crab, lettuce, corn, and

of course, mayonnaise.

On Sunday, we got to church to find out the ward was having a fast for a sister who has been in intensive care for weeks.  She was hit by a car. The sisters needed me to bring a can opener to the church. They were helping prepare the food for a 'break the fast' meal for the ward. There was an amazing spread of food laid out after church.  When the bishop asked us if we were going to eat something we said no because we had dinner waiting for us at home....which we did.  We felt bad, though, when he asked, "Don't you like Russian food?" We hope we didn't offend anyone by not partaking.



Our week ended Sunday evening with a discussion with Elders Shepard and Jepson and their friend, Samir, from Egypt.  His family is very important to him so the discussion centered around how the gospel can bless the lives of family members. Samir, who had met with the missionaries several months ago, called the elders out of the blue Sunday evening and wanted to meet. It was a good meeting.  We hope he will come back.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

We found out Saturday night that Russia was going on a daylight savings type program. We turned our clocks back so the sun would come up an hour earlier in the morning. Instead of getting light at 9:30 it will get light at 8:30.  Conversely though, it will get dark earlier in the afternoon (now 3:30 instead of 4:30). For some reason they instigated it now...no one really knows why it was done.  The government promises that it will not happen again...not even to turn the clocks forward again. Interesting.

This week, at the mall where we shop, we noticed two new things available for shoppers....a place to shoot a bow and arrow into a target and a large wooden train set for the children. For some reason Russians are really fascinated with the American Indian as evidenced by the shooting booth. The train area is huge and looks like lots of fun for the children.  It puts the little wooden train table at Dairy Keen, in Heber, to shame.

SUCH A BUSY WEEK ENDED -

BUT ALWAYS READY FOR A NEW ONE TO BEGIN

SATURDAY'S ACTIVITY A HIGHLIGHT OF OUR WEEK...........5 MURDERS, 15 RECIPES OF POTATO SOUP, AND 50+ COSTUMED YOUNG SINGLES

We must begin our blog for the week with the amazing young single activity held Saturday evening. It was advertised as a 'Night at the Movies."  Everyone was invited to come in a costume of a character in the movies.  The evening was advertised as a dinner followed by an activity and dance. It began at 5 with a light dinner of potato 
soup, bread and vegetables. (Yes, we made the 15 recipes of soup - enough for 70 bowlfuls). Over 65 young singles enjoyed the evening.

A spiritual thought was next on the agenda, as it always is at any activity. For this thought, a table was brought out that was filled with delicious treats - candies, cakes, fruit, etc. Someone was asked to come up who might want to sample these wonderful foods. Alona volunteered and, as soon as she came to the table, Masha and Sasha taped a bamboo pole to her arm so she could not bend it.  She was then told she could eat anything on the table but only using the arm she couldn't bend. She tried to throw grapes into the air and catch them in her mouth with no luck. A second person was brought up and his arm was also immobilized. Of course, he couldn't feed himself either but they could feed each other, which was the point of the activity....we all need each other.  Very clever.

Such clever costumes

At this point, everyone was given an identity of a person in a town. They were given things they should do during the the evening and 5 persons were told that, at a certain time, they would be murdered so they would need to pretend to be dead. After a few minutes of everyone getting to know each other's characters, the lights were turned down and the dance began. It wasn't too long before the lights went back up. Someone had been murdered and was on the floor, playing dead. A police officer was on the scene telling everyone of all the evidence found on the body. The young singles' job was to ask questions of each other to try to determine who the murderer might be. Throughout the dance, this scene repeated itself 4 other times (total of 5 murder scenes) and each time more evidence was given. After each murder, the people could bring accusations against individual town's people to a court judge, so everyone could hear the evidence presented in each case. It sounds a little confusing but it was so much fun. Of course, the murderer was announced at the end and the solution had quite a twist to it. It seems the delivery man's wife was angry with the baker's dog because the dog would always chase her. She decided to put poison in the dog's meat which her husband would deliver to the baker's shop. It turns out that everyone that had died had eaten something from the bakery. (Pastry with meat in them is a big thing in Russia, so can you see where this is heading?) The baker was using the meat, supposedly purchased for the dog, in the pastries she sold to the public. Interesting but very clever. You can tell it was a successful evening when, by morning, several young singles had posted pictures of the event on Facebook. We were amazed at how smoothly the evening went and even more amazed at some of the costumes worn.

Our fearless leader and his wife

Lena's looking a little like Johnny Depp

Just a few of the great costumes worn Saturday evening.

 

Stanislav is in the blue shirt and Dmitry is in the yellow shirt

Another highlight of our week was visiting the home of two of our Pathway students. They are brothers and have wanted us to come to their home and meet their parents. Sunday evening we boarded the metro and met Dmitry and Stanislav Dolgov at the end of the orange line, from which they walked us to their apartment. We had a wonderful visit with them and their parents and came away in awe of their dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It seems that all four of them were on a mission at the same time - the brothers in the Ukraine mission and the parents in the Baltic States mission. The parents left for their mission one month after the boys and served 23 months. The brothers served 24 months so they arrived back home about the same time. Once home in the Samara area, they decided to move to Moscow, as a family, so the boys could start the Pathway program this past September. They have been members of the church for 10 years and obviously know the meaning of sacrifice and consecration. We are so glad we had the opportunity of visiting with them in their home. Their mom served us a Russian cheese cake and a lemon tort. I took a plate of cookies to add to the fare.  It was a wonderful evening even though everything we said had to translated for the parents, who speak very little English.  We will invite them to our home before we leave.

Our International Ward Sisters.

Sister Miller with her beautiful red hair,

 has a new companion, Sister Grover.

They are both sister trainer sisters, now

Other happenings of the week included 5 discussions with investigators - three in our home and 2 at the church. The international sisters brought three different people to our home, each with with a different story. We met Gema on Tuesday. She is from the Philippines and has been here for 2 years but 6 1/2 years away from her family in the Philippines. Before Moscow, she was in Hong Kong but came here hoping for higher wages. So far it hasn't happened as she can only find part time work. Thursday we met Gerilyn, also from the Phillippines. She is a nanny here and has a strong belief in Jesus Christ. When she was younger, she was instrumental in bringing her family to Christ by introducing them to a church in her hometown. Before starting to go to church, her family was very dysfunctional and her father drank a lot. She has seen a wonderful change in their family since coming to Christ.  She seems very receptive to the sister's message. Friday, the sisters brought Jennifer to our home for a first discussion.  She is from Nigeria and is here going to school and working.

Paul was involved with the 2 discussions at the church, one on Friday night during our game night and one on Saturday during the YSA activity.  Both these gentlemen are from Africa.  Baseel has been to our home before and needs to come to church three times before he can be baptized. Maybe that will happen before we leave.

Tuesday was district meeting.  We got a kick out of one of the elders who spent the time folding these candy wrappers into little birds.  He speaks very little English so this was his way of passing the time as the meeting is always conducted in English.

That night we made dinner for Sasha, Vitally, and Artur. We told Sasha we would have him to our home, instead of taking him to a restaurant, as a way of thanking him for helping us pay our rent every month.  We invited his roommate, Artur, and Sasha wanted to invite Vitally. We served teriyaki chicken and fried rice and the boys said they were in heaven. You can imagine, three young singles, living on their own, and their eating habits. A good solid meal was very much appreciated.

Wednesday, we made what may be our final trip up to Metropolis Mall. We had heard that Stockman's would be closing the doors of 20 of their stores in Russia. They are a department store based in Finland or Sweden. We decided we needed to stock up on the things we buy from there....Rice Krispies, marshmallows, tomato soup, Bullseye barbecue sauce, and cheddar cheese.  We are sad for our replacements if they do, indeed, close that particular store.

Wednesday night was English group at which we taught about Jesus Christ as a role model to follow.  We handed out copies of the Book of Mormon and challenged the participants to read 2 Nephi 29 by the next meeting.  Quite a difference from the times when we could make no reference to the church or the gospel.  We are getting better each week monitoring how the discussion precedes.

Thursday at Institute we taught something we had never taught before. The scripture block was Secions 25 to 29 and included the second coming of Christ, the armor of God and the revelation given to Emma Smith.  Since the second coming of Christ will be taught in a couple of weeks, we decided to focus on Section 25 given to Emma Smith. We talked about what it meant to be 'elect' and then related that to Emma's life. We focused on the counsel she was given, including the call of selecting hymns. We related it all to our lives toady, specifically discussing the importance of women in Heavenly Father's plan and the worth of good music. We felt good about the spirit that was present and feel the students went away with something to apply to their lives.


Friday, we had a little extra time so we went back to Evonne's shop to pick up some gift bags for all the matryachka dolls we have brought from him. We also purchased a beautiful, hand painted tray. It will look wonderful in our home.

Evonne has many customers who come to his shop

because he will give them a good deal and he can 

communicate with them.  He speaks

fluent English and French and, of course, Russian.

Paul was such a good sport

to peel all those potatoes.

And then there was the soup.......lots and lots of soup.  We made 15 batches, starting with the first 5 on Wednesday then 5 on Friday and 5 on Saturday.  Paul was the chief potato peeler. He must have peeled, at least, 30 pounds of potatoes. We were both glad when that cooking assignment was over. The soup tasted wonderful and the young singles downed every drop of it on Saturday night. We will have to post the recipe on Facebook as many asked for the recipe that night.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

These don't look burnt but they are as

hard as a rock.  YUK!

Since we have been here, Paul has missed the thin and a crispy, hard and almost burnt cookies he used to get with his lunch every Friday at the temple. Well, this week, I accommodated his longing for such a cookie when I forget about setting the timer on one tray of cookies and our oven changed temperatures, all on its own, on a second tray. Paul has been in heaven......thank goodness I had enough decent cookies to take with us to the Dolgov's home Sunday evening.

We were walking to a restaurant a couple of weeks ago and saw this car climbing up the side of this building and then coming back down,  and doing this over and over again. It was obviously an advertisement for KIA cars. It sure caught our attention and several other people as they passed by.

ANOTHER WEEK HAS PASSED WAY TOO QUICKLY

OCTOBER GENERAL CONFERENCE BRINGS JOY TO OUR MISSION

In Russia, we are one week later than the United States in enjoying General Conference. It is available on line almost immediately after it is broadcast, but it takes a week for it to be translated into Russian so the words of the prophets can be understood by the people here. Paul downloads each session, including the Priesthood and Women's Conference.  He then sets up each session to be played in English in our institute room. This is done for the missionaries here in Moscow and anyone else who wants to listen to it in English. Most of the senior couples watch it in the comfort of their living rooms throughout the week, but we wait to watch it, for the first time, with the younger missionaries. It is a spiritual treat for all of us and adds much joy to our lives. We are always sad when the last talk is given and President Monson closes the conference for six months. General Conference is always a rejuvinating force in the spiritual lives of our missionaries and ourselves....and this October Conference was no exception. To listen to today's apostles and prophets speak to us is such a blessing in our lives. We always come away from conference weekends committed to be better followers of Jesus Christ.

Misha, our director, translating for

Brother Webb, on the right

Conference pretty much took up our weekend. Sunday night after the last session, we met as a young single adult council. We had a special guest with us from Salt Lake City.  Brother Webb, head of the CES department for the church, was here on his way to a CES director's convention in Turkey. He wanted to see a YSA council in action before he spoke in a fireside that followed the planning meeting.  He added much, in way of council, to our committee and the fireside was very inspiring. He is a marvelous teacher with an incredible command of the scriptures at his fingertips.  We especially loved the fact that he spoke in English as we could understand what he said. Of course, what he said was translated into Russian for the young singles in attendance. 




Our Sabbath day was full, as we left the house at 10:30 and didn't return until after 8:00. Our Sunday dinner consisted of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some potato chips. A far cry from pot roast, but it filled our hungry stomachs as we ate it before our YSA council meeting began. Note: I gave one of our young singles, Masha, half of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  She ate every last morsel and declared she was in heaven as it tasted so good.

Elder St. Clair, our new district leader, with

his arm around his new companion, Elder

Kirdyapkin, a native Russian

Tuesday was the day we met the new missionaries in our district. Elder St.Clair is our new district leader who has only been in the field for 12 weeks, 2 transfers. He has just finished his training and is now the district leader so he has to be pretty sharp. He was a convert of only a year before leaving on his mission and has a powerful testimony to bear. We are so impressed at his leadership.  He is the first district leader who has actually called us on a Sunday night to report how each companionship has done with their weekly goals. That's not required but he wants us to feel a part of the district.  He even gave us the names of 5 investigators for whom to specifically pray. We loved his including us in that way. This new district will do wonderful things under his leadership.

Sister Downing, on the right, is a new

sister trainer sister with our 

Sister Shepherd.

Elder Calderwood, on the right, joins Elder

Eliason as a new AP.  He will be an

incredible assistant to the President.

Tuesday night, we went out to dinner with Elder and Sister Hays. They eat out a lot and wanted us to try a Georgian restaurant which they had recently found.  They raved about the cheesy bread and the kebabs.  We tried them both and were impressed. It was very good food.

Wednesday, we had two discussions in our home, one on skype and one with Bazeel. He had been in our home one other time a few months ago. Hopefully it won't be months before we see him again. After the last discussion, we quickly jumped on the metro to go to an office supply store for colored paper. If the truth were known, though, we used that as excuse to get a Teriyaki twister from the KFC that is close to the office supply store. They are becoming our new favorite fast food item.

That night was our English group. Last week, we reported that it was a very difficult evening. This week was much better. We were responsible for the discussion part of the evening about the Gospel of Jesus Christ being revealed to us today. Paul did a marvelous job of controlling the questions asked and the direction of the discussion about prophets. After a few minutes we broke into smaller groups for some specific questions related to the topic in which the participant could practice speaking English. Being in smaller groups seemed to work well. After this, we showed a powerful video of Elder Holland testifying about prophets today. It was a good evening.

At our senior council, Thursday, each couple selected a favorite conference talk to share. It was a nice way to hear from each of us and feel of the special messages of the prophets. At Institute, we taught section 20 about the organization of the church on April 6, 1830. We rehearsed the events of that day, talking about the sacrament, baptism, confirmation, and ordination along the way. We were so grateful to see our special friend, Lada, in attendance. She has been quite sick since graduating from the Pathway program and staying with her mom in Ryazan. It was so good to see her again.

We love Lada!!!!

I was grateful Lada was well enough to come to our home on Friday to visit. Paul ran some errands for a couple of hours so Lada and I could have some time for girl talk. She has been through a terrible ordeal with her health and recently had an operation. The operation was successful so hopefully she will be able to return to full health, find a job, and start living a normal life again. She has been, and will continue to be, in our prayers. Before Paul returned home, I made the two of us a chicken fajita lunch. Lada had never tasted Mexican food before. I made sure it was not too spicy and she loved it. In fact, she had two fajitas. We had a great visit. She'll be staying in Moscow for the next few weeks trying to find a job, so hopefully we will see a lot of her before we leave for home.

It was game night that night and then our weekend of spiritual uplift started, on Saturday, as we watched general conference. A wonderful way to bring our week to a close. 

Two young singles who dropped by game night just as we were

getting ready to leave.  No one had come by 8:30 so we set up

the chairs for conference and were walking out the door when

Kristen and Cassandra walked in.  They are both from America

and are working here. Cassandra served her mission in Moscow.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

Guess what's coming to Moscow?  Pizza Hut. This is a first....at least that we know about. There was an Italian pizza place that went out of business in this same mall but hopefully Pizza Hut will fare better.

There was a park outside the restaurant where we had dinner with the Hays. We loved this climbing apparatus. We have never seen one like it. The children seemed to be really enjoying it. Parks are an important part of the life of a Russian family. They love getting out of their small apartment and being in the parks all year round.



It's October and everyone is in heavy coats already...even though the temperatures don't seem that cold to us. We think it's a date issue not a cold weather issue.

BEING ABLE TO WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE 

MADE OUR WEEK

AN ESPECIALLY GOOD ONE.

COOKIES, COOKIES, AND MORE COOKIES

Every day this week it was necessary to bake at least one batch of cookies or make some kind of a sweet treat....some because of assignment, some just because we wanted to spoil our missionaries. It started with the CES broadcast on Sunday where we always bring cookies or brownies and it continued all week.


Monday we did an apartment check and realized, at the last minute, we didn't have any cookies to take to the elders, like we always do. Luckily, we remembered about a half hour before we had to leave so I quickly made some chocolate M&M cookies. I assembled a nice plate of still warm cookies but, when we got up to the mission office to take care of some business before the AP's apartment check, Paul accidentally tipped the plate. The cookie display looked a little disheveled with a few broken cookies but the elders didn't mind. They were thrilled anyway. We were even sung to before we left. Elder Johnson and Elder Eliason have beautiful voices and love to sing. We thoroughly enjoyed their singing.


After the apartment check, we went to dinner with the Piersons and had a great time visiting with them. They are leaving in about a month for a trip to Europe and Israel and then home. An interesting thing happened to us while we were waiting for the Piersons outside the restaurant. A man, a little drunk we think, kept trying to communicate with us and we kept telling him we didn't speak Russian. He would even stop people passing by to ask if they spoke English. No one did. We left him to go up to the restaurant on the third floor of the building. We were seated at a table and were talking with the Piersons when this man appeared at our table side. Again, he kept trying to speak to us in Russian.  We just kept shaking our heads but he wouldn't go away until the waiters ushered him out of the restaurant. We couldn't believe he could find us until we realized we were sitting by a window that looked down on the platform where we had met him. That he came all the way up three floors to continue to try to talk with us kind of freaked us out. We were a little concerned when we left the restaurant that he would be waiting for us downstairs....but he wasn't.  Thank goodness.

The big cookie

Tuesday, we had a steady stream of missionaries at our home to use our computers. All three International companionships came over, at one time, during the day. Just for Elder Shepherd, we made snicker doodles. He is at our home a lot with investigators and always eats any cookie we set in front of him in one bite. We have this standing challenge that if he can't eat the cookie in one bite, he will bake us cookies. We had been telling him about the big snicker doodle we make, so we decided to make one for him so he could try and eat it in one bite. The pictures tell the story. He did eat it in one bite but he had to fold it in half. We had a good laugh watching as he completed the task - the whole cookie eaten all in one bite. 

 1.  Making a plan (left)
  
 2.  Getting ready (right)

 3.  Challenge completed
              (below)
                

Wednesday, we were assigned to bring the treats for English group so that meant baking more cookies. I had promised one of the English group participants that I would bring a chocolate brownie with M&Ms and coconut in them as those were his favorite. I baked those for him but he wasn't even there. Oh well, the others enjoyed them. English group, that night, was an interesting experience. This new program of teaching the gospel while practicing English is very stressful. All the questions of those in attendance were directed to the old people in the room...namely Paul and me. We were put on the spot many times but felt the spirit directing our answers. We need to talk with the elders and sisters about making a better plan for each lesson. We should be asking the questions and directing how the lesson proceeds, not the class members. If we can do that,the spirit will be present and the people will be able to feel, rather than just hear, what we are saying.  

Elder Davison bearing

his testimony

Wednesday morning was transfer meeting. (Boy, do they come around quickly.) Our dear Sister Simmons left for home as did Elder Davison. They had both served in our district for several months. We loved the advice Sister Simmons gave in her testimony. She said, "Do what the Lord wants and be happy about it."  Another happening at transfer meeting was the reading of a letter from the Area Presidency about mission policy. One of the new rules is that there should be no musical instruments in the missionaries' apartments. This is quite a sacrifice as several missionaries love to sing with their guitars and ukes. Upon hearing this new rule, our AP, Elder Elliason, who loves to sing and play his guitar, exclaimed "Good, this is something I can give up so the Lord can bless me even more." We loved his attitude about sacrifice and consecration....a great example for the whole mission. These elders and sisters are amazing.

Sister Simmons, on the left,

is going home

Sister Taylor, on the right,

is off to a new area and will be missed in our district.

Thursday, as always, was our Institute and Gatherings. We were talking about the worth of souls being great in the sight of God so we decided to make some rice krispie treats for our students as a way to tell them they were of great worth to us also.  The treats were greatly appreciated but that was the 5th day in a row for making a sweet treat.


Friday was a YSA night so that meant baking once again......this time mint chip cookies and an orange poppy seed bread. The activity was a very successful activity with about 40 in attendance, including 5 investigators. It was an evening of lots of laughter as a panel of young singles did a spoof on the news. We think there is a popular Russian television show where the hosts make fun of the news and this activity was a take off from that. Paul and I didn't understand anything that was said but it was fun just listening to their laughter and watching them having a good time. Two of the investigators we had met before.  German came again and really got involved with a couple of young singles who play the guitar and sing. German is quite talented in this area and fit right in. Lilia is a beautiful young woman whom we got to know in English group. When she walked in, she immediately came over to us for a hug and talked about how much she had missed us (She has been going to an English group in another area.) It was wonderful to see how the young singles included her into their conversations.  She stayed to the very end of the evening and walked to the metro with several of our young singles. We noticed that by the end of the weekend, she had befriended several of them on Facebook. That's way cool.

Several of our young singles went to Russia's first Comic Com event

before coming to the YSA activity-

hence the costumes.

Yummy food

Saturday meant making a dessert for a senior council get together. I decided to make Hostess cupcakes as an all American dessert to go a long with the all American Sloppy Joes that were being served.  Six couples met at the Pierson's apartment for dinner and to watch the BYU-Utah State game. We all knew that BYU had lost the game badly and were saddened by the loss of Taysom Hill, the quarterback, but the men enjoyed watching the replay of the game anyway. It was a fun evening despite the loss.

The men in one room watching the game.

The women in another room just visiting.

Sunday we opened our home to the YSA committee to have a planning meeting. Since it was fast Sunday, we invited them to share a 'break the fast' dinner with us. We had the makings for chili on chips with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and salsa. We were glad we could feed 12 hungry young singles. They loved dinner as well as the leftover cupcakes and the rice krispie treats I made for dessert. That completed the week - Sunday to Sunday, making a treat everyday.....and loving it.  

We love filling our living room with young singles

Just a few other notes about our week:

Paul pulling things from high cupboards

in our hallway.

Monday, we spent the morning cleaning out cupboards and closets. We hadn't really gone through things thoroughly since we moved in. We decided we needed to find out what was here and to throw out anything that would not be needed by our replacements. We threw away lots of things and found some things we wished we would have known we had. Tucked away in our coat closet was a great spatula for taking cookies off the trays, a crepe pan, a pasta fork, and a pastry bag. I could finally throw away the pastry bag I've been using all year that was held together with duct tape. Happy day!  We even found a mosquito net which we could have used this summer. Paul was getting bit almost every night. We reorganized all the closets and cupboards so that like things are now together in what are logical places, at least according to our way of thinking.

This restaurant makes a much 

better sandwich than Subway.

They make a better bread and 

use lettuce instead of cabbage

Thursday, we always go the the church to set up for our institute and pathway classes about 3:00 in the afternoon. This gives us time to go grab a bite to eat before senior council. Our usual place to go is a sandwich place close to us, called Glow Subs. The girls, there, are getting know us well. Without us speaking, they automatically pull out a whole roll and a half roll and even begin putting the ham on them. We are so predictable. They just smile as they do it. This time they even said an good bye to us in English, of which they speak very little.

A Happy Man!

After we eat we usually find a few minutes to work on the puzzle as we wait for Senior Council to begin. The 1500 piece puzzle we have been working on for a couple of months has been really challenging. Paul has almost become addicted to getting it completed. For two weeks, now, he has left the apartment early for English group to work on it by himself. Friday night, he finally finished it. YES! We can now say we have completed every puzzle in the institute cupboard plus 5 others that we have purchased or that have been given to us. We will probably need to go buy one more to work on until we leave. (Honestly, we only work on puzzles at game night and for a few minutes on Thursdays.)


Sunday, Paul had the opportunity to teach the High Priest group lesson.  Because all the High Priest speak some level of English, he was able to do it in English. He taught on the responsibility of being Fathers and Patriarchs in the home, taken from a conference talk in 2004. I wasn't there but he spent many hours preparing so I'm sure he blew them out of the water. He came prepared with a video and a handout which very seldom happens here, especially in High Priests.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

A couple of week ago, we were entering Red Square and noticed people standing on a plaque in the center of a circle. While standing there they would throw a coin over their shoulder.  We wondered what that was all about so we did some research. It seems the plaque marks 'Kilometer Zero,' from which all the distances in Russia are measured. People flip coins over their shoulders for good luck.  It was interesting to watch a little old lady picking up the coins and putting them in her pocket as soon as they hit the ground.  It would take a lot of coins to be worth much as most coins being tossed were kopeeks....worth way less than a penny.




We wanted to give you a feel for traveling on the metro during rush hour. We were coming home from dinner the other night and noticed this press of people trying to get onto the escalators leading up toward the exit. You can just imagine how crowded the train cars can get. The metro carries over 7 million people daily. 

LIFE IN RUSSIA IS LIKE EATING A BIG COOKIE - 

SWEET AND REWARDING!