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!