THREE THANKSGIVING DINNERS TO REPORT

Thanksgiving is alive and well....even in Moscow, Russia.  We have seen several posts from our Russian young singles wishing each other a Happy Thanksgiving, having Thanksgiving parties with lots of food, and expressing thanks for their blessings.  And we thought it was only in America.  On Thursday, we taught institute and at the end of our lesson paid tribute to America's Thanksgiving by showing a Mormon Message called, 'The Spirit of Thanksgiving.' We then talked about how every country should have their own day of Thanksgiving, not to celebrate the Pilgrims, but to pay tribute to God for their many blessings.  Obviously, here in Russia some are starting to do just that. Also that night, we expressed our thanks for the opportunity we have had to serve this mission here and to teach them each week. I totally lost it and could hardly express my feelings about having to leaving these wonderful young singles whom we have come to love so deeply.  

As for the three Thanksgiving dinners....

Our Thanksgiving table all set and

ready to serve dinner

We held the first one on Tuesday with our district. They decided to hold it in conjunction with a zone training so those who live an hour away would only have to make the trip to this area once, instead of Tuesday for Zone training and Thursday for dinner.  We appreciated that decision as it made it much easier for us to be ready to teach institute Thursday evening.  We invited President and Sister Borders to come join us, which they did. We had a great time eating and visiting for the three hours allotted for the celebration of Thanksgiving. We served cordon bleu, baked potatoes, vegetables, jello salad, rolls, and  of course, pumpkin, chocolate and apple pies. We loved being with our elders and sisters in a dinner setting as we have missed not feeding them every week at district meetings as we used to do.

The elders and sisters enjoying each other in the kitchen.

They called it the 'kids' table.

We had President and Sister Borders all to ourselves

at the 'adult' table.  We enjoyed our visit with them.

Most of the sisters were able to sit at the beautiful dining room table

The senior couples all got together Friday night for another Thanksgiving dinner. It was a dinner with all the trimmings of a turkey dinner - dressing, yams, mashed potatoes and gravy, salads, rolls, and desserts -  without the turkey. Several chickens had been baked in place of turkey which is hard to find and grossly expensive here. We love getting together and eating and visiting as a group of senior couples so we appreciated the Burgeners for opening up their apartment to us. It was nice, for the sisters, to be able to sit at an actual dining room table. Very few Russian apartments have that luxury. The men, though, had to eat on their laps.  We were thankful that all of us could be together one more time before two of us leave for home. (The Burgeners leave the week before we do.)

Here are the men eating on their laps but enjoying the food just the same.

The third dinner wasn't one we ate but one the BYU students, who were here on an internship, put together. On Thursday, several of them, including a couple of their Russian friends, came to the Central Building and had a Thanksgiving dinner. They too had all the trimmings of a turkey dinner without the turkey. Their turkey was substituted with two buckets of Kentucky Fried chicken. Good choice! They seemed to have had a good time. We loved the fact that they planned it so several of them could attend our Institute class after their dinner.

Most of the other happenings of the week seemed to be connected to these dinners....shopping, baking rolls, making cordon bleus (Paul pounded out the chicken breasts while I stuffed and coated them), and making more rolls for Friday (a total of 128 rolls made and only about 20 left over from the two meals).  We also made pumpkin shaped sugar cookies to give to our Institute students on Thursday in recognition of Thanksgiving.


On Wednesday, we got hair cuts in the afternoon and then went to English group. We have such a good time at English group where Paul has a way of keeping everyone smiling with his comments and his many idioms. After the class, one of the participants came up and asked Paul what his profession had been. Paul told him he had spent his career as an accountant. The man looked puzzled and then commented, "you don't teach like as accountant." This brother is a member of our ward and has heard Paul teach in High Priest quorum as well as in English group. He has observed Paul's wonderful way of teaching with humor as well as with the spirit.  

Our lesson was on

'Establishing Zion.'

Thursday, we taught Institute even though the Pathway gatherings were not being held due to Thanksgiving in America.  We were thrilled that 13 students still made the trip to the central building to participate in our lesson.  We rewarded them with the iced sugar cookies, pictured above.  

Saturday was a lower key day. We had the morning and early afternoon pretty much free. We read our lesson material for Institute, answered emails and assembled Christmas gifts for our elders and sisters. We decided to give them each a mug with a bag of homemade hot cocoa mix, marshmallows, oreo cookies, and several packets of herbal teas. That should keep them warm on the cold Russian nights and, hopefully, it will warm their hearts as well, when they think about us loving them and missing them when we are home.

Some of the young women and their leader singing

'I Walk by Faith.'

Saturday afternoon we were invited to come and speak to the Stake Young Women at their YW in Excellence activity.  We were asked to speak about the importance of both secular and spiritual education. This was a perfect fit as we have served these past 17 months working with our young singles in both facets of their education - secular with Pathway, spiritual with Institute. We gave them lots of personal examples of education from our lives and challenged them to take advantage of every opportunity to learn in school and in church through seminary and, eventually, Institute. It was so fun to see that young women are the same all over the world. During the program they recited the YW theme and sang 'I Walk By Faith.'  It was amazing to hear these done in Russian.  

Stanislav, Dmitry and their parents

Sunday evening, we invited the Dolgov family over to our home for lemon cream pie. After they had so graciously invited us into their home a few weeks ago, we felt we needed to have them in our home before we left. The boys speak English quite well and the parents speak very little but we found things to talk about and enjoyed each other's company. They loved the pie and herbal tea which we served. Sister Dolgov brought me a pair of earrings and a handmade scarf that she had crocheted herself. We are amazed, as always, at how giving these Russian people are.




We began experiencing some 'lasts' this week. Besides celebrating our last Thanksgiving in Russia, we had our last hair cuts and we finished the last puzzle we will have time to complete. This puzzle was the first one we did when we arrived and now is also the last one we will do. As the next two weeks pass we will experience many more lasts as we wrap up our mission in Moscow.

The first and the last puzzle

we did while here

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

We were amazed when we passed this sign in one of the windows in a store in Metropolis Mall on Friday. Not only is Thanksgiving starting to be recognized here but also Black Friday.  When we asked someone about it they said they were familiar with that term as the day to begin shopping for the holidays......even in Russia.

It is tradition in Russia that you never show up to a person's home for a meal without bringing something to give the host. Usually one brings chocolates or flowers or a cake type dessert.  We have been the recipient of many such gifts. This also explains the gifts from the Dolgovs and the box of juice from Raymond when he came to dinner with the elders and an investigator a few weeks ago. It is a nice tradition.

Construction here is a slow process. We have passed this site many times as we have walked to Red Square. It has looked like this since we came.  We see workman here every time we pass but cannot detect much, if any, progress. We are assuming that someday a building will be constructed on top of this hole. It is prime property as it is right by the river and very close to Red Square.

There are many ways our missionaries try to keep warm. All of them have warm coats, gloves, and boots. They always wrap their necks, and sometimes their faces, with wool scarves. Most of the times, they don hats. We loved how these two favorite missionaries keep their ears warm.... we especially loved the knitted flower on the knitted headband.

Sister Grover and Sister Miller

And how about these tights!!!!!

TIME IS GOING TOO FAST....

WE HAVE SO MUCH WE STILL NEED TO DO

BEFORE WE LEAVE

STARTING THE PACKING PROCESS............A SURREAL EXPEREINCE

Because things are getting so busy and will continue that way until we leave, we decided to start packing some of our things. Saturday, we filled one suitcase with summer clothes and gifts for the family and started filling another one with other things we will not need in the next three weeks. We were anxious to see how much we could get in the suitcase with the gifts and were pleasantly surprised that we had room for most all of our summer clothes. We were grateful we had borrowed a luggage scale from a senior couple as now we can be pretty exact in the weight of our bags before we get to the airport. We are having a hard time believing our mission is really coming to an end but beginning the packing process is making it a reality.  

Frozen pumpkin resulted in this pie

Saturday, we packed more than suitcases, as we also packed a lot of things into our day. In the morning, we studied for Institute and, as Paul was working on the computer, I baked pies for Thanksgiving dinner we will have with our district next week.  Last year, to make a pumpkin pie I had to find half of a pumpkin and bake it down so the pulp could be pureed for a pie. Much to my delight, this year, we found frozen pumpkin pieces so all I had to do was steam them for a short time and then puree them. Much easier. There is no such thing a canned pumpkin here.  

One last picture in front of St. Basil

When the pies were done, we walked to Red Square, possibly for the last time, at least until our replacements get here. We needed the exercise and wanted to take a couple more pictures there. After taking the pictures, we had lunch at our favorite pizza place and then went in search of some baking potatoes for the district dinner. The stores where we shop often don't have good potatoes but we figured the expensive Goom's grocery store would.....not! Their potatoes didn't look any better than the ones at our local little store. We ended up finding some decent bakers at the fruit stand across the street from us. Because turkeys are not real easy to find, and if you find them they are upwards to $50 for a very small one, we are going to do cordon bleu. A baked potato will be just right to side the chicken.

Our night ended with us getting dressed for a missionary discussion with the International elders. The elders waited at the metro for over an hour for their investigator who supposedly got lost and never came.  So sad.

Monday, our week started out with Paul tearing our kitchen faucet apart to try and find out how to fix a leak. He bought a package of o-rings at the store but they were all the wrong size. He ended up having to call a plummer. We think it must be time for us to leave as in the last few weeks we have had to replace the shower head, the shower curtain rod and now the kitchen faucet. The plumber finally fixed it on Wednesday evening. A whole new faucet had to be installed.

Tuesday, our district meeting was held up at the mission office but we decided not to go all the way up there for it.  We were glad we didn't when we found out that the whole meeting was doing different kinds of role plays (in Russian). Our district leader was very clever, though, when he said that the investigator in each role play had to assume a cartoon character. Everyone said that made the meeting very fun. We spent the time, at home, putting together a DVD of all the pictures we have taken of the YSA activities from the past 17 months.  We will show it to the senior council and our young singles before we leave.

Tateanna's apartment is on the ninth floor.

We loved the bright lime green walls on this floor

of the apartment building.

That evening, I went out visiting teaching. I traveled about 45 minutes up north on the metro, met the sisters and my teaching partner, Tamara, at the metro station. We then boarded a bus for another 10 minute ride, then a 5 minute walk to the apartment of the sister we were visiting. We had a wonderful visit and felt she was grateful that we had come.  She is experiencing some stress in her life and enjoyed talking to us about it. She is trying to sell their apartment, move her mother into a new apartment, and find new apartments for themselves and their divorced daughter. I was so grateful the sisters agreed to met us at the metro and take my partner and me to Tateanna's apartment. We would have had a really hard time finding it on our own, in a strange part of town, and in the dark. When I got home, I told Paul that I hated being out on the town without him. We are very seldom apart and we like it that way.

At English group, on Wednesday, we did the commitment part of the evening and left the participants with two idioms - Mind your P's and Q's and bet your bottom dollar. The Russians were fascinated by these as they are with all the idioms Paul brings to them. Our special karate friend, Karina, attends each week and this week she presented me with a beautiful, hand painted, lacquered glass case. It is so beautiful and depicts a famous Russian fairy tale. Russians are such a giving people.


Our Institute lesson this week was titled, "Be Not Deceived."  It covered D & C Section 50, specifically. We loved teaching this lesson. We used this 'road of life' to show how Satan tries to lure us from the Lord's high road toward eternal life and onto his low road toward destruction. Afterwards, one of the young men came up to Paul and said that he loves all our lessons but that this one was the best. He said he had felt the spirit the whole evening.  


We did two of the four apartment checks this week, one on Wednesday and the other one on Friday. The sisters were involved in their morning studies when we arrived at their apartment. Sister Shepherd was wearing her language study hat. She is such a cute missionary.

The word on the hat spells Russia.  

Packages from home are so important to the missionaries. 

We noticed these pictures and notes on the sister's apartment wall.

They were sent to Sister Peacock from home.

Also on Friday, we took Sasha out to lunch as we do each month as a thank you for helping us pay our rent. This time we went to a restaurant close by that we have been wanting to try. It is a 50's type diner, upstairs in our neighborhood mall. We were so glad we had waited to try it with Sasha because the menus were only in Russian and our waitress didn't speak English. Sasha could read the menu to us and then we could order the food. We had hamburgers and fries, of course.  We ended our day at game night where we visited the evening away with Maxim and Alexey, while working a puzzle.

When we questioned Sasha about his beard, he said

it was a no shave November for him and a couple of other young singles.

This is Elder Cox.  He is new to our district and

is working in the office with Elder Stebbing.

Saturday came and went as described above which brings us to Sunday.  After church, we had a nice surprise when our door bell rang and and found it was four of our elders. We had mentioned that we had baked pumpkin cookies so they came by to try them. They had attended ward choir practice after church and had 3 hours to wait for the start of another choir practice for a stake Christmas choir. These elders live an hour away so there was not time enough to go all the way home between practices.  They ate the cookies and then spent the rest of the 3 hours, in different rooms in our apartment, doing their companionship studying and planning. We had enough of our dinner left over to give each of them a small plate of Parmesan chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, and vegetables. They were very appreciative. They would not be home until almost 8 in the evening and hadn't eaten anything since before leaving for church at 8:30 in the morning. 

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

While walking to the metro from one of our apartment checks this week we noticed this school.  It caught our attention because of the way it was painted......pastel circles on the pinkish beige walls and pink, blue and yellow fencing all around the grounds.  It was so refreshing and in such contrast to the drab grey or tan apartment buildings all over Moscow.



At several of the restaurants where we have eaten, we have noticed these smoking water pipes.  They are real popular here. We think some kind of smoking product is put inside the pipe with heated water. The people inhale and then exhale....like smoking a cigarette.  The only problem is that it steams up that area of the restaurant.  There is a definite odor involved, too.

Resurrection Gate - a replicas of the

original gate to the Red Square.

,

The two pictures I wanted to take, on Saturday, were of Resurrection Gate situated at the entrance of Red Square. I had done some research and found that this gate was torn down by Stalin who wanted to make a wider entrance to Red Square for the Russian troops during their military parades.  The gate was reconstructed in the 90's. On one side is the Icon of St. George slaying the dragon.  He is the patron saint of Moscow. On the other side of the gate is a little church which contains an icon to which many miracles are attributed.  It is a miracle in itself that the church and the icon survived Stalin's massive destruction of any signs of Christianity.

The mosiac on the left represents St. George.

On the right is the tiny church of many miracles.

AND THUS WE ARE ONE WEEK CLOSER

TO LEAVING BEAUTIFUL MOSCOW

YSA CULINARY COOK OFF AND CONCERT TOPS THE WEEK

Once a month the YSA council holds a major activity, usually on the third Saturday. The one for November was held on Saturday and was a fantastic success with upwards to 60 in attendance. The evening consisted of a culinary cook off, followed by a concert with our YSA band (see advertising posters). At 5:30, the participants were divided into three cooking teams - one to assemble and cook the borscht soup, one to put together the chicken Caesar salad, and one to make brownies and a layered pudding dessert. As each team was putting the final preparations on their creations, a fun, get acquainted game was played. Dinner was then served and all enjoyed what had been prepared.  
It was then time to assemble in the chapel/multi-purpose room for a musical concert. A group of very talented young singles have put together a band - three guitarists, two of whom sing, a pianist, and a female soloist. They have been practicing together for a few months and put on a wonderful concert on this night. It was advertised so well that we had several people who were not young singles come just to listen to them. It was a great conclusion to a uniquely fun evening. Sadly, it was the last Saturday night young single activity with which we will be involved.  The next one is a service project two days after we leave for home.  We will be coming face to face with many "lasts" as we experience these next four weeks.

Cutting pork and vegetables for the Borscht

Making the chicken Caesar salad

Sampling the desserts

 The YSA

 band

called

    Henry's 

      Mustache.  

   (We do not know the  significance of the name.)

As for the rest of the week........

Monday presented a little excitement.  In the evening all the Moscow missionaries got a text saying there had been an explosion and everyone was to go home, close all their windows, and stay indoors until otherwise notified.  Of course, Paul immediately got on the computer to find out what was going on.  From the U.S. Embassy, he found that there had been an explosion at a chemical plant in east Moscow and there was concern about dangerous fumes circulating in the air. We immediately closed our windows and hoped that the stay indoor order would be lifted by morning.

Just starting the process of making Plov

We were glad the next morning that the travel ban had been lifted because the sisters were scheduled to come to our home for a Russian cooking class. Our special friend, Lada, had agreed to show us how to make Plov, a special rice dish. Lada started out by cooking the rice and draining it. Then she made a patty of sour cream, butter, and flour.  After pressing that into the bottom of a pan, she put the rice on top. Into this she added more butter and the spice, tumeric.  Once she covered the pan with a lid wrapped in a towel, we waited several minutes for the dough patty to cook. When it was ready, we enjoyed her creation. The patty got a little too done on the bottom (I didn't have the right kind of pan) and the rice was a little bland for our American tastes but, with a little salt, it was tasty. We added fruits and vegetables and a dinner roll to round out our lunch.  We had such a good time with Lada being the master chef.  After a spiritual thought and a short visit it was time to say good bye. 

The towel around the lid trick...to absorb the excess moisture of the cooking rice and pastry

The finished look after stirring the butter

and spices into the rice

Pastry on the bottom.  Spices and butter

put into holes made in the cooked rice.

Sister Downing, Lada, Sister Shepherd and me

Elder Denkers 

It was transfer meeting on Wednesday and we said good bye to our Elder Jones. We were also sad that Elder Denkers was transferred.  He had been serving in the International ward for the past few months and we have come to really love him. Sister Downing and Elder Kirdyapkin were also transferred, surprisingly, after only one transfer with us.  We will miss them, too.

Elders Hayes (lt) and Elder Hoffman (rt)

Transfers bring several of the elders and sisters in from the outlying areas of our mission.  It is a time when we get to reacquaint with elders and sisters who have been transferred from our district. One of these was Elder Hoffman who paid us a surprise visit Wednesday evening. He and his companion had missed their train back to Voronezh because the transfer meeting went over time, so they needed to print out new tickets for a trip back to their area the following morning.  We were so happy to see him.  He is a great missionary and he and his companion, Elder Hayes, will be dynamite as zone leaders in Voronezh.

Thursday was our senior council where we were introduced to a new couple, the Smiths. He is a direct descendant of Hyrum Smith and had a power point presentation of several amazing artifacts of which his family had been in possession.  Before coming on their mission, Elder Smith had turned them over to the church historical division to be used in the new church museum, scheduled to be opened soon.  

Our Institute lesson was on the signs of the second coming. We had Misha sitting in our class to observe our teaching. When we met the next day he was quite complimentary of our lesson and teaching style. He suggested we try to get the students to express their feelings a bit more.  We have given them opportunity to do so but have found they are reluctant to express themselves. Many are not real confident in their English language skills. We sometimes have a hard time even getting volunteers to read the scripture verses out loud.

Sister Peacock (rt) with Sister Shepherd

They love the peanut M&M's and the nuts we

put out for them each week.

We got to meet the new members of our district at district meeting on Friday. This will be a great district. We felt instant camaraderie with this group. They set some pretty healthy goals for this transfer but also made some commitments, individually and as a district, that should help them be successful. Our assistants will be in town all month so they will be able to work their area which will help with the attainment of the district goals, as well. 

Elder Folkman (rt) joined Elder St. Clair.

We were amazed as to how much weight Elder

Folkman has lost since coming on his mission.

He is looking really good.

Saturday, Paul watched the BYU basketball game, delayed of course, and then we went on a quest to find pillowcases. We want to leave new cases for our replacements as the ones we have been using just won't come real clean, even with bleach.  It is time to retire them. We found what we needed and returned home in time to make a quick trip to the church in response to a last minute call from our young singles president. It seems they needed baking pans, a crock pot, big bowls, a can opener, and dish soap. It is a good thing we live so close so we could help them out. Soon after this, it was time for the super successful YSA activity.

Sunday was church as usual. As soon as we got there the High Priest group leader came up to Paul and asked if he was ready to teach the priesthood class. Paul had said he would bring a short video to show but had not understood that he was to conduct the whole discussion. Something obvious was lost in translation.  He read the lesson quickly and was ready to teach the Priesthood lesson by the third hour.

Andrey and  his daughter, Olya

For Sunday School, we attend the Gospel Principles class with our missionaries and their investigators and new converts.  At the end of the lesson on the gathering of Israel, the teacher asked if anyone would share their story as to how they came into the Church. Andrey, who was baptized a year ago, stood and told the following story. It seems he served in the military with a younger man who was a member of the Church. He noticed that this man was different....didn't drink, smoke, use bad language, was always kind, etc. Upon inquiring as to what made him different, Andrey was first introduced to the gospel. They talked about it a lot and then they were reassigned. Several years later, Elder Jewkes was serving in the area where Andrey's friend lived.  He told Elder Jewkes about Andrey. Through a series of little miracles, Andrey was taught the gospel by Elder Jewkes via skype.  Andrey immediately accepted everything that was taught to him, even the word of wisdom (giving up black tea is hard for Russians).  We knew that story at the time of his baptism, but it was good to be reminded of the miracles that surround this missionary work.

And that's it for another week.

LIVING IN RUSSIA SPOTLIGHT

One of the missionaries was asked why they did not use their first names while on a mission instead of all being called Elder. We loved the elder's response.  He said that missionaries left their names at home so they wouldn't be focused on home but on being here and doing this great work. What a great explanation.

Medicines sold here

A little lesson in the Russian language.  Notice the two signs. They are pronounced apteka and apteeka. (The A and the O sound the same in this case.) 

Glasses are sold here

You want to go to the apteka when needing medicine and apteeka when needing glasses. We had to learn that one fast when my glasses broke and we needed to find a place to get them repaired.





We don't think we have mentioned that at the fast food restaurants, especially in the malls, you do not clear your own tray.  Many people are employed to do just that.  It is one of the ways Russia keeps their unemployment rate lower.  Usually these jobs go to Orientals or people from the 'Stanian' countries.

A GREAT WEEK!!!