Our Farewell: The Search for the Russian Soul Completed

"It is a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma..." Sir Winston Churchill

I am going to write a little bit more on this subject later, but suffice it to say for now, that I have solved the riddle, unwrapped the mystery, and de-sphinxed, to my satisfaction, the enigma called Russia. I have discovered the soul of Russia, and in doing so, may have discovered a little about my own, as well.

Yesterday was our farewell luncheon. What a special occassion. I am always amazed at how the Russians we know, give such attention to detail. There is always an extra effort to make everything special. Every element (and there were many) of our farewell luncheon will be treasured throughout the eternities.

Our Farewell began with a skit. See the video above. The cast of characters (and I do mean characters!) were Alexander, from our legal department, as the Turnip; Vladimir, also from our legal department, as the grandfather; Sister Linda Rees, senior missionary and patrriarch blessing coordinator extraordinaire, as the Babushka; Marina, our Liahona Local Pages Editor and Farewell Coordinator!, as the granddaughter; Lidia, our area office secretary, as the dog, Elena, our Public Affairs Director, as the cat, and Acia, our other office secretary and receptionist, as the mouse.

The skit was based on a children's fairytale. Then they gave us the book, to read to our children (in Russian). Even today, Elder Pieper dropped by to give us a set of matrushka dolls that depicted the story of the Turnip!

The Skit came to a resounding conclusion with the Smolnaya Singers presentation of the chorus from "Follow the Process" our theme song for the area office staff. (The lyrics to the song are found elsewhere on this blog.) You would have to be a regular follower of the blog to understand the significance of the song and the deeper meaning behind the skit!!

Then we ate lunch.

What a feast! Chicken from the Renik (my last official duty was to carve the chicken!!), a marvelous Russian salad with tomatoes, peppers, cheese and herbs, bread, a fresh fruit platter, wonderful Russian fruit juices, more yummy blinis, with Marina's homemade cherries in their own juice, and three marvelous desserts. The 3-layer chocoate cake was made by Sister Rees (I have already described this gastronomic pleasure in a previous post). Elena made her 12 layer (we lost count around twelve) Russian crumb cake (also mentioned earlier on another post), and Acia made her wonderful fruit and chocolate mountain cake (which we enjoyed earlier on our mission when we celebrated her birthday).

Here are a few pictures of the luncheon:

Two of our favorites: Marina and Elena!! (Of course, we have many favorites!!)

Elder Paul with Lidia, Acia and Marina. Great friends; extraordinary examples of faith and charity.

Sister Paul, Denis, Alexander and Elder Paul. Sister Shepard and Sister Paul were truly kindred spirits.

After lunch they sang a song of Russian farewell. It is called Moscow Nights.



Here are the words from the first verse of the song:

Not even a whisper is to be heard in the garden,
Everything has calmed down until dawn.
If you only knew how dear they are to me,
The evenings near Moscow!

Somewhere along the line, they presented us a gift with a laser picture in crystal of Chris and I standing in front of St. Basil's Cathedral located in Red Square, which was taken this last Christmas. And we got another beautifully handmade farewell card. The card has lots of images of us in and around Moscow, with farewell remarks. I have just finished reading the card, for the first time. Oh my, but what friendships we have established in this distant land.

Then they sang a closing song which needs no introduction:

Bolshoi Spaceba (Big thank you) doesn't seem to say enough. Our sentiments may be best summed up in the lyrics of the song, Nature Boy, published in 1947:

"the greatest thing... was just to love and be loved in return."

Thank you for your kindness and your friendship. We testify that it will endure beyond this life and into the eternities. You will not be forgotten.