THREE DAYS SPENT WITH OUR YOUNG SINGLES AND LOVING IT

Starting Saturday night at the Institute Opening and the dinner we served, we had the opportunity to spend three wonderful evenings with our young single adults.  What a marvelous beginning to a new week.

We were on a real high after Saturday's program and dinner, then came Sunday, another special day because of the YSA's.  After our block of meetings, the Young Single Council met at our apartment to 'break the fast,' and have a planning meeting.  There were about 20 of us crammed into our little apartment but no one seemed to mind.  A few of the young singles came early to cook the dinner.  We were grateful we didn't have to think about fixing another meal so soon after feeding 70 the night before.

Our meeting lasted until after 9:30 but a lot was accomplished in making plans for the next two months.  These young adults are such good friends that  it is sometimes hard for the council president to keep them on task. They sure have a good time together, though.






Before we started the meeting, the council Skyped another young single who was opening his mission call.  This group was so excited to see where he would be called.  He will be serving here in the Russian Moscow Mission.





Monday evening we had another opportunity to be with this great group of young people.  It was a Family Home Evening.  There were about 40 in attendance and after a video clip of Elder Holland's conference address about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, a challenge was offered for all the come to institute.  

The large group then broke into 3 smaller groups to attend 3 different classes.   It was a "share your talent" night so 3 young adults put on classes for the rest of the YSA's to teach them their particular skill.  Each group rotated to each class.

This girl is not a member of the

church but consented to come to

teach the group about her skill

of cartooning.

Masha taught about potato stamping

to make wrapping paper as well as

how to make paper gift boxes.

A box in progress by Valentina

This beautiful girl taught a cooking class on how to put together quick missionary type meals using whatever is in your cupboards.  She took pita pockets and had the class stuff them with sausage, onions, tomatoes and cheese.  She then baked them to melt the cheese.  They were quite good.  Her other trick was using any kind of macaroni.  She cooked it, drained it, then added the same ingredients as above.  She then tossed it all with mayonnaise. Again, a good quick meal.  What was made in this class was served for refreshments. Young singles love to eat. The crunch topped brownies we brought were gone in a minute.

 This young man (the one in the green) is from Pleasant Grove, Utah.  He is here on an internship and is leaving for home in a few days.  Paul and he had a great talk about their beloved Pleasant Grove Vikings.

We feel so privileged to be a part of the lives of these Young Single Adults.  They are an inspiration to us.  They are often the only members in their families yet come to everything offered them.  They invite their non-member friends to the activities, wanting to share the joy they have found in the gospel.  And boy, do they ever take care of each other, always making sure everyone feels welcomed and accepted. They take care of us, too.  During the spiritual thought at family home evening, Inessa left her seat, came all the way across the room to sit by us so she could translate what was being said.  Such caring.  

We must record an event that took place as we were cleaning up after the event. Masha came up to the institute room and stood in the doorway for a moment.  We acknowledged her and she said to us, "You two are amazing."  As she left she said; "Things just build up inside of me and I just have to say them."  We thanked her and told her that it meant a lot to us that she would share her feelings and that we loved her, too. Oh, the little things that make this adventure so worthwhile.



Earlier on Monday we had that third experience one must have while in Russia.  We visited a reenok.  It was an indoor one and was amazingly large.  There were rows and rows of jeans, sweaters, handbags, hats, coats and any other clothing item one might need.  We were looking for gloves for the winter,an umbrella, and some ties. Two of our missionaries, Elder Marks and Elder Bass, were with us to buy their winter coats. They appreciated our parental advice as to which coats to purchase and what sizes they needed.  They will be looking very sharp and feeling very warm when the winter snows come.

This is just the aisle of ties.  It seemed to stretch on forever.  Notice the man

coming toward us.  He didn't like the fact that I took a picture.  I thought I

might have to give up my camera but he just insisted I put it in my purse. 

I would have taken pictures of the elders buying their coats but I was a

little afraid to pull out my camera again.

I took this picture before I knew I shouldn't.  We got a kick out of

all the men on the bench here, probably waiting for their wives

to shop.  I know that's where Paul would have liked to have been.

This is the result of our adventure to the reenok.  Three ties

for the equivalent of 3 dollars each, two pairs of gloves and an

umbrella.  Our costs for all  this was less that $85.00. 

The elders helped us bargain for better prices.

Tuesday was our weekly district meeting and we made it easy on ourselves by serving the same menu we had served the YSA's on Saturday, even down to the brownie sundaes.  The elders and sisters loved it. The meeting itself was a safety meeting given by a staff member from the mission office.  It would have been interesting to hear but it was all in Russian so Paul and I spent the time doing the dishes.  We felt sorry for our Elder Bass who has only been out in the field less than a month.  He didn't understand too much more than we did. At the end of the meeting, one of the elders asked if he could have another brownie.  Of course we had to add ice cream and chocolate sauce to it.  Pretty soon we were serving a second round of sundaes to all the missionaries.  We love spoiling our elders and sisters.




Wednesday we did not have our weekly meeting with Misha, so the day was spent at home planning our lessons for our institute classes which will begin in a couple of weeks.  I washed sheets which is an all day project when I can only wash one sheet at a time.  Drying them in this wet weather (it rained all day) took a long time, too. The two sheets were barely dry by bedtime.

This was my baking project for the day....hamburger buns.

I can't find them in the store.  I want to serve the missionaries

pulled pork sandwiches sometime and have to have buns for that.

Wednesday night was English group and again we had a fun discussion.  The subject was on role models.  We had to explain the difference between a roll you eat, to roll a ball, and a role you play on the stage.  We gave examples of role models in our lives and they shared what characteristics they felt were needed in a positive role model.  We love this group and we think they love us.  As we were leaving, an elder came up to Paul and said, "I don't know what you are doing up there in your group, but the people are sure loving it."  We laugh a lot with them.  Our sisters were up in our discussion that night and afterwards came up to us and told us we were their role models.  So sweet.



Thursday was another rainy day with not a lot for us to do.  We spent the afternoon watching the Church Education training session that had been held in Salt Lake City in August. We decided to download one complete talk and use it in our introduction lesson for institute.  It was about using the talks of the General Authorities to supplement the teachings of the scriptures.  We are so grateful for this Ipad as we use it all the time.  Thanks Todd and Kailee.

It was also a good day to experiment with an Outback bread recipe.  I can't find wholewheat flour here, so I wanted to try a rye flour instead.  It turned out fine and tasted about the same.  Of course anything tastes good with honey and/or raspberry butter.

Thursday night was the night of a long planned outing with our senior council.  Six couples had all purchased tickets to an International Military Band Review held on the Red Square.  We met at the Mexican restaurant by our home for a yummy dinner and then walked to the Red Square......in the rain and wind.

The whole group, cold and wet, but happy to be there.

Taken from our seats.  The bands entered down by St.

Basil Cathedral and marched to the center of the square

to perform.

We'll never forget the lovely ponchos given to us.  We laughed 

so hard as everyone tried to get them on over their coats. 

 Mostly they just tore.  At least they were free.

At least 15 different military bands from all over the world performed. 

After each band had performed,  all the bands came together

 onto the square for the grand finale.

It was beautiful.

Throughout the night, the lighting on St. Basil and the tower of the

Kremlin continually changed.

From yellow and blue to blue and orange

then to pink

During the finale, St. Basil' became a kaleidoscope of  

changing colors.  It was an amazing effect.

The colors and designs changed often and seemed like they were 

dancing around the turrets

The performance ended with a magnificent

fireworks display.  

Despite the cold, the performance was great.  Lots of lively songs, including Rock around the Clock.  There were singers and dancers that joined a lot of the military bands to add to a most enjoyable evening.  When it was over Paul and I decided to walk home and, of course, that's when it really started pouring down rain.  We were drenched by the time we got home and it took all the next day to dry our coats and levis.


Friday brought more rain but we decided to brave it again to go shopping at Ashan's. I needed to see if I could get an Oreo type cookie to make mud pie for district meeting.  We have a lot of ice cream in our freezer that needs to be used and the missionaries would love a mud pie.  They did have a cookie that would work so it will be mud pie on Tuesday.

Friday night at our game night, we had scheduled interviews with our new Pathway students.  We wanted a chance to get to know them before our first day of class and make sure they were all registered.  It was also a time to answer any questions they might have.  We had delightful visits with each of them. We were amazed at their stories - most of them are converts within the past 5 years and often the only member of their family.  Their conversions stories were amazing.  They are also very talented.  Several play the piano. In fact, one is a concert pianist.  We look forward to getting to know these students as they attend our institute class and the pathway gatherings.  


I must note:  Before the game night, I fed Paul what our family calls 'beans in a bowl.'  He had been asking for them.  I hate them, but decided to make them for him anyway.  I found some white navy beans that had been left here in the apartment and cooked them, literally, all day with bacon, onion and brown sugar. Paul loved them. I had a salad.

OUR WEEKLY LIFE IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

Russians know how to package mayonnaise.  It comes in a bag.  It is so convenient to use as all you have to do is open it up and squeeze out the mayonnaise.  It also takes up less space in the refrigerator.  The ketchup comes the same way.  So clever.   It is a good thing Sister Pierson showed me mayonnaise in the store or I would have never known what to look for.

   

  We love the way juice comes packaged, too....in boxes.  Again, they are much easier to use and store nicely in the refrigerator, taking up less room than a can.  There are no frozen juices here, but there are many kinds of boxed juices.  If it is a fruit, it has been put into a juice.  The cherry juice is especially yummy.

Every night this week we have been privileged to watch a fireworks show out our living room window.  We live so close to the Red Square that we could see the fireworks being shot off at the end of each of the military band concerts.  It ran all week, Saturday through the next Sunday.  This is not the first time we have seen fireworks out our window.  Russians love fireworks and shoot them off on many occasions.

This is the best picture I could get with my little camera.

      Tonight, we are under a curfew.  The Mission President sent out a message to all missionaries in the Moscow area this morning.  He wanted all of us in our apartments by 5:00 tonight.  I guess there are protests scheduled tonight as a result of recent elections.  The police will be out in force to keep it under control. Being right downtown like we are, we think we would be especially vulnerable.  We have already heard a helicopter overhead, which is very unusual, and lots of loud sounds coming from outside.  This is not the first time for a curfew.  Whenever there is a Russian holiday we are instructed to be in our apartments by 6:00 as the people tend to celebrate quite heavily, especially with lots of drinking.  The President doesn't want to take any chances of missionaries getting into trouble of any kind.  Wise thinking.

ANOTHER WEEK, NOT AS ADVENTUROUS AS THE LAST (THANK GOODNESS), BUT A WONDERFUL WEEK ALL THE SAME.

FUN TIMES, REWARDING TIMES, AND SCARY TIMES - ALL IN ONE WEEK IN RUSSIA

They probably say you haven't lived in Russia until you've experienced rush hour traffic on the metro, gone shopping in the outdoor reenaks, and had the police pound on your door in the middle of the night.  As of this week, we've experienced two of the three..... Rush hour traffic and the police pounding on our door in the middle of the night.

HERE IS OUR TALE OF TERROR

 At about three in the morning, last Tuesday, we were awakened by our door bell ringing, followed by someone knocking on our door. Figuring someone had the wrong apartment, we ignored it.  About 20 minutes later it started again.  This time the pounding was much more intense.  I looked out the peep hole in our door and saw a little old lady.  She finally turned and went down the stairs.  I continued looking out the peep hole and noticed a man come out of the stairwell moments later and follow her downstairs.  Our first thought was that this had been a scam to try and get into our apartment to rob us.  By this time sleep was out of the question, at least for me, so I decided to read out in our living room.  Just as I was getting confident that all was well again, I was startled with the constant ringing of our doorbell along with a fierce pounding on our door.  Paul even woke up to that amount of racket.  We could hear someone yelling at us in Russian.  We went to the door (vowing not to open it as that is what we had been counseled to do) and saw two policemen in the hallway. I started dialing the emergency number we had been given as Paul started saying, "I don't understand," in Russian.  In English, we heard, "Open the door."  Paul responded in English saying, "What do you want?" They kept saying, "Open the door." I hung up when no one answered my phone call and then remembered the sister I was calling from the mission office speaks very little English and couldn't have understood our dilemma anyway.  Both Paul and I were saying silent prayers to know what to do when we heard, in very plain English, "There is a water leak downstairs and they need to check your apartment."  We had had a water leak just 4 days before in our apartment, coming from the apartment upstairs, so we knew the complaint could be legitimate. At that point, we opened the door. Two burly policemen, complete with what looked liked AK47's strapped across their chest, pushed their way into our apartment. We kept saying we have no water running but they still had to check our bathroom area. I asked who it was that had spoken English.  The young man who came into our home with the policemen said he had. We told him about the leak we had had just 4 days earlier and that it had come from upstairs.  With that they apologized and everyone, including the old lady who had remained out in the hallway, left.  What a night.

I still couldn't sleep so around 5:30 in the morning, I decided to get up and start preparations for our district meeting lunch that day.  I started cooking the apple pie I had made earlier and making the filling for a banana cream pie.  When I went to clean the dishes, I realized our water had been turned off. So much for any food preparation.  I went back to bed and finally feel asleep. About 7, Paul got up and discovered we did have cold water, just no hot water.  That would make fixing lunch possible so soon after that I was back in the kitchen making orange rolls to go along with the chicken and the broccoli we would be serving.  Just before our missionaries came for our meeting, the hot water came back on.  This is what came out of our faucets.

After letting the water run in all of our faucets for several minutes,

the water turned clear again.  We are so grateful we have filtered 

water for drinking in our apartment.

We were able to pull off lunch even after our terrifying night.  We enjoyed our sisters and elders and our meeting was wonderful, as always.  We were a bit tired, though.





We need to jump back to Saturday now............
        Paul and I were about ready to settle into another night at the movies, mission style, when our phone rang.  It was a member of our Bishopric asking me if I was ready to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday.  I didn't know anything about it.  He clarified the topic I was to speak on and I said I would come prepared.  Thankfully the subject was CES, most especially to talk about the importance of attending seminary and institute.  All during the movie I kept thinking about what I could say.  I went on line after the movie and the first thing I saw on lds.org was a video of President Monson speaking on the importance of attending seminary.  I based my talk on what he said in that video.  I was so glad I felt impressed to check that web site.

Our YSA leaders

My talk on Sunday was well received, even through an interpreter.  Immediately after our block of meetings, we went upstairs for a leadership meeting with our Young Single Adult council.  Lots of plans were discussed for the next couple of months.


We had a few minutes before a YSA fireside started so Paul and I sat down and finished the puzzle we had been working on for about a month.  It was a 1000 piece puzzle and many young adults had contributed to its completion over that time.

The fireside that followed was wonderful.  Our mission president and his wife, President and Sister Borders, spoke about missionary work.  They are so darling and gave great talks. What happened afterward was amazing.  The YSA council had been talking about having a missionary week where the YSA's would be paired up into companionships and try to live a missionary's schedule for a week.  They would get up at 6:30 in the morning, exercise, get dressed, eat, have individual and companionship scripture study, and then, during the day, complete at least one missionary related activity.  We wondered if their extravagant plans would ever really come about.  Sure enough they did, complete with companionships established and mission calls issued.  

One of several young men and women receiving their mission calls.

After the meeting two of these boys

came to our apartment for some

cookies.  We had a enjoyable visit

with them until 9:00.  They had to

leave then in order to make their

new missionary curfew of 9:30 pm

These young adults were so excited to receive a call for a chance to  serve a mission for a week. 

Monday started out with our weekly shop at Ashan's.  We came home and I decided I needed to experiment making refried beans for the Mexican dinner we would be cooking for a Saturday YSA activity. Not able to find pinto beans, I bought some small pink beans available here.  I was told they should work just fine.  I soaked them, cooked them, and divided them into two pans - one for chili and one for refried beans.  I seasoned both pans of bean just the way I do at home. Then I tasted the chili.  I could hardly swallow them.  I kept adding spices and sugar and ketsup to try to make them taste better but nothing worked so I started working on the pan of refried beans.  I seasoned them, mashed them and tasted them.  This time I about vomited when I tasted them.  They were awful.  I finally tasted an individual bean and found the bean to be extremely bitter.  So much for my plans for having chili and refried beans in my freezer.  It all went down the toilet, literally.  My first cooking failure in Russia.  This was followed by our wonderful early morning experience with the police banging on our door.  A most interesting 12 hour period in our adventure here in Russia.




Wednesday brought English group again and this time, I was kissed on the hand and we were given an apple. We had another lively discussion on Leaders.  Paul told two stories, one about a great leader in his life and the other about a not so great boss he once had. We compared leadership qualities of both men.  We concluded with the story of geese and how they function as a group and again pulled out leadership characteristics learned from them.  After we dismissed our group to go downstairs for the whole group meeting, an older gentleman came up to me, took my hand, and kissed it. Later another gentleman gave us an apple.  Oh, the rewards of being here.  


Thursday we started preparations for the Mexican dinner for 70 young single adults for Saturday.  Our first job was to go shopping for the food.  This took two trips to Ashan's, Thursday and Friday, as we can only carry that which we can get in our bob cart and in our hands.  

Our Friday shopping

Our Thursday shopping

Part of the afternoon was spent frying hamburger. It is a good thing I brought a great big bag of taco seasoning with me from America as you cannot find it here.

For some reason I packed this whole bag filled with Taco

Seasoning.  Now I know why....soft tacos for 70.

It was senior council again on Thursday night.  We had a wonderful speaker who told us of his many missionary experiences while serving in the special forces in Iraq.  It is quite incredible how the Lord puts people into the paths of those who can teach the gospel to them....even on an isolated base in Iraq.  A new couple joined us that night. We have been waiting the arrival of the Hays, a couple from Bakersfield, California. They know my Dad and Mom and are good friends with my sister and her husband, Deon and Gary, and my step sister and her husband, Kathy and Kurt.  Another small world connection.

The Hays from Bakersfield, California.  They will be serving

in the Perpetual Education and Self Reliance Office.

We came away from council with a valuable item - one I've been looking for all over Moscow, A KITCHEN TIMER.  The timer on our stove is not reliable so I have to sit right in the kitchen when I'm baking and watch what is in the oven.  One of the couples leaving at the end of the month closed down their apartment and brought items they no longer needed.  One was this timer. I was so excited....even for such a little thing.  It makes baking much easier.

Friday, after our second trip to Ashan's, we shopped at our local Atak grocery store and took that food to the church.  We took several more trips to the church to put the previously purchased food in the kitchen.  While there, we decided the kitchen area needed cleaning so we spent an hour or so washing dishes, wiping down counter tops and mopping floors.  By the time we left, the area was clean and table and chairs were set the way they needed to be in order to seat 70 people for dinner.

At game night Friday, the YSA council was there busy making decorations for the Institute Opening Activity scheduled for the next night.  

While the YSA council worked others played games.

Paul and I started another puzzle.  We're addicted to puzzles.

Saturday finally arrived and was, for sure, one of the busiest days we've had since we arrived.  We had to do some last minute shopping for watermelon and juice, get it over to the church, then go to a baptism at the South building.  It takes an hour on the metro to get there.  We met the Pierson's and went together to the South building.  Our walk to the building was doubled in length as we left the metro station going the wrong way and walked several blocks before we figured out we were going the wrong direction.  We retraced our steps and finally made it to the building with one minute to spare.  The baptism was beautiful and included a musical number by our district missionaries.  Wow, did it ever set a beautiful spirit for the baptism that followed. 

Lada was so excited to finally be a member of the 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.  

Our incredible sister missionaries, Sister Hawkins and Sister Carver

with Lada before her baptism

After her baptism, Lada was literally glowing.

By 4:00, we were back at the central building to begin preparations for the dinner for 70 young single adults.  We had two other couples there to help us so, in no time, we had the tables set, the lettuce and tomatoes cut up, cheese grated, and meat and beans heated. Yes, I had beans. A few weeks ago, I had found a package of pinto beans from America in our two week food storage here at the apartment.  I was hoping the beans I could buy here would work but they were nasty.  It killed me to use these pinto beans all up for this dinner, but you can't have soft tacos without re-fried beans.  Such a sacrifice.

While we were preparing dinner, the YSA's were in the chapel area participating in a program introducing the course of study for the institute year, the Book of Mormon.  Part of the program was the presentation of skits depicting heroes of the Book of Mormon. They were so clever.........and funny.

Samuel the Lamanite

Alma and King Limoni

We couldn't understand what they were saying because, of course, they were speaking in Russian; but we knew the stories well enough to recognize what they were acting out.

Tahir and Artur just having fun.

Taco Bell is missing a bet here in Russia.

These young people love

Mexican food.

By 7:30 they were lined up ready to eat.     

There were some happy young adults when they saw what we had for them to eat.  They loved the soft tacos and watermelon and adored the brownie sundaes we served for dessert.

 We came home exhausted, but well rewarded by the thank yous and expressions of love we received from these wonderful young adults.

 LIFE IN RUSSIA WEEKLY SPOTLIGHT

Here's the typical traffic jam.  This was taken right outside our apartment building. 

Lots of horns were being honked and you can see the man out of his car.

talking to another driver.  Wonder what he was saying.

Being on a mission, means being with your companion 24/7.  We love that, but it even means Paul goes grocery shopping with me. That has taken some getting used to. He often questions what I am buying and just this week was sure I was buying way too much food for this YSA dinner.  I had to ask him how many dinners he had prepared for 70 people in the past. The answer was none.

Only on a mission in a foreign country would you save your ziplock bags.  Good quality ones are a premium here, so the ones I brought from home get reused as often as possible.

Last, we think we have a friend.  Almost every day this bird comes to our window for food.  He is the only one who doesn't hesitate to come right through the bars onto the window sill in our kitchen looking for food.

ONCE AGAIN AT THE END OF ANOTHER WEEK, WE ARE SO GRATEFUL TO BE HERE IN MOSCOW.  IT IS AMAZING HOW THE LORD KNOWS WHERE AND 

HOW YOU SHOULD SERVE. 

 THIS MISSION IS SO PERFECT FOR US.