Russian Language

Tonight we met with our language group. We are studying the Articles of Faiht. Our goal is to memorize them in Russian. I have the first one down and nearly second and at least the pronunciation down on the next two. I have made that much progress, because I have had some free time in the office. Today, I received a call from the Area President and my to do list went from 10 to 15!! They get back from conference tomorrow; we have a few hours to make final preparations for our meetings this weekend...then Katie bar the door!!

We walked this morning in cool crisp weather. It had rained last night, but by early morning the sun returned in all of its glorious wonder (10 out of the last 11 days!!). Today it had to be 70 degrees (even though CNN says 68!). All of our windows are open. A green hue has fallen upon all of the trees. The birds are singing. It is springtime in Moscow!! Our office collegues say that this has been a very pleasant spring, if not highly unusual. They did say don't rule out snow until the 7th of May!!

They have been busy cleaning up outside, from raking leaves to paint. They paint everything: the curbs, the dividing lines in the street, cross walks, benchs, fences, buildings,and trees. It would be boomtown Sherwin-Williams if we were in the states!

In and around the apartments the weather really brings the people out. More children. People on park benchs. More dogs!! People lingering about in conversation. Something that was unheard of just a few weeks ago.

Tonight I hope to get pictures and videos from the Irelands. If so, I will post some tomorrow, of the concert we attended Tuesday night. They should be here soon, so I will have to close for now. Dos Vadanya!

Family Home Evening

Today is Tuesday (FHE) and we have been invited to a concert. Tickets have been provided for all of the senior missionaries. We are going to meet a few of the other couples for dinner. We hope to meet at Moo Moo's, a Russian buffet, I am told.

It rained last night, but it was clear this morning and it is supposed to get to 65 degrees today. It is overcast now and a little breezy, but we are not complaining. We walked to the office today in real shoes and no coat, no gloves, no wrap, no hat!!!!! I felt like I was floating!

I can sense the calm before the storm. We are just about caught up on everything, but things should start heading our way in the next day or so. We have meetings all this weekend and then the week of meetings begin.

Got a fun voice mail from Jason yesterday. He turned on his phone during the rest hymn in the Priesthood session of conference. We could hear him and the rest of the congregation well. Thanks for keep me involved in our family tradition.

Saturday, we sustained a new Apostle, D. Todd Christofferson. He is a lawyer, by profession, and has been a Seventy for 15 years. He seems to have a great spirit about him. I think I remember hearing him speak before, but my recollection is a little remote.

Well, it's time to head out. We'll check back later this week.

Just a quick note to say that the concert was fantastic and the facility was awesome. More later. I will post some videos and picts that we took with the Ireland's camera, because I left mine home!!

A Visit to a Russian Graveyard

Located Southeast of the center of Moscow is the Novodevichiy Cemetery. It is adjacent to the Novodevichiy Convent, pictured above. This is not my picture. I pulled this off the internet. My camera cannot do justice when wide angle lens are needed. This is what it might have looked like a month ago. In the 16th century when "Moscow's Kremlin was reinforced as a protective citadel for the city center, a series of fortified monasteries were constructed as an outlying defensive chain to the south. The most famous of these is the beautiful Novodevichy Convent, founded in 1524 and situated along a prominent bend in the Moskva River. The convent's fame, however, has less to do with its role as a protective fortress than with its aristocratic and political history, for Novodevichy was the favored destination for high-ranking women banished from court. The most famous such inmate was Peter the Great's elder sister Sofia, who had ruled as Regent during his minority. After Peter came of age and--with some difficulty--claimed his throne, it was to Novodevichy that he banished his Machiavellian sibling in 1689. Nine years later, as Peter was returning to Russia after his travels in Europe, Sofia engineered an attempted coup from the convent. The coup failed, and Peter reached home in time to participate in the mass execution of the rebels. Although Sofia was not to be harmed, she was apparently driven mad when the bodies of her supporters were strung up outside her window." (From a travel guide) We didn't get into the convent buildings today, we saved that for the next trip, so we just walked through the grounds but we did discover some ducks that were given to the City of Moscow by Barbara Bush in 1991.
A little Diovicka (girl). (Barbara Bush's Ducks!)
Sam as a bolshoy Malcheek (boy)!!
The Convent is quite impressive, but the graveyard is quite unique. The momuments to their dead are like vines clinging to a wall. They don't want to let go, but in the end, they must. For them, mortality was all there was. To me, their monuments represent their desparate efforts for immortality. There are very few religious symbols, verses or anything other than a very few cross to symbolize Christ. Mostly, this is about men, who have distinguished themselves somewhat in this life and want to be mourned and not forgotten by their wives and daughters.

Women mourning and laying flowers on the grave of military officer.
An Actor in one of his roles.
Typical portrayal.
Lots of Busts.
Kruschev
Our little Group. Sam is taking the picture.
A Fallen Angel.
Church inside the Convent
Chris and Narene.

Preterm Labor

We received news today that our daughter Sarah has been ordered to bed for the next 6 to 8 weeks. She began having some labor pains and after a doctor's visit it was confirmed that she had had actual labor, not the painless and infrequent Braxton Hicks contractions. So the family is rallying around Sarah for the next few weeks. It is such special moment to see so many helping hands ready to serve. We just went through this with Chris' sister in Utah, except Veda had to be hospitalized because her water had broke. Veda came through with a healthy baby and we are hopeful that all will work out for Sarah and Armando. I know Sarah will feel like a fifth-wheel, lounging about, but just get over it and stay in bed. Nothing else could be as important. We love you and miss you and will pray for you daily.

While we had a little cloud come over us today with the news about Sarah, the more common types of clouds returned to Moscow at the end of the day. That means we experienced 6 days of uninterrupted sunshine. We haven't had that much sunshine in the last six months. We have really enjoyed it. It really does lift your spirit.

On Tuesday we particpated in a Seniors Couple Conference with our Mission President and 6 other senior couples. We rolled out a program to help fellowship returned missionaries and were oriented to the new family search website recently posted on the internet by the church. We had a marvelous lunch, provided by Sister Cranney. She is not only always willing, but she is such a good cook. Not many leftovers I am afraid.

Wednesday we practiced our Russian, using the Rosetta Stone software. That was fun and a nice change of pace. We all wonder when we will ever remember what we learned from one week to another. Nevertheless, we keep trying, no matter how slow the process seems!

We have been working like crazy on our files in the office. We are getting very near to the end. In the process of reorganizing current files and deleting and archiving old files I managed to delete two important files which I shouldn't have, which, with a little help from our computer support person, we were able to retrieve today, for which I am very thankful.

This afternoon we went shopping at the Metro store. It's our once a month or every three week splurge. It's not quite as fun when you are on a diet!!

This weekend is the Church's Semi-Annual General Conference. We will watch the proceedings on the internet. The rest of Russia, for the most part, will watch the tape recorded version next week for their conference weekend.

Chris talked to Sister Price this morning from SLC. She and Al seem to be doing very well. He is responding very well to his treatment. They have had a few visitors from Russia this week due to General Conference. I am sure they have enjoyed that special reunion. Wish we were there with you.

Well, it's getting late here, so I will close. Hope all is well with you, wherever you might be!

Losing Weight in Moscow

My sister-in-law and I started the Aktins diet two weeks ago (actually this is day 16). We are both down about 10 pounds. I have at least 10 pounds to go, but the way this diet works, you are so pleased with the results, you keep it up because you like the thinner look. You are convinced that you will never go back to your old eating habits...until you do. So you make the most of it while you can. (The thought of starting over is just too much to bear!) I make games of it. My latest idea is go window shopping...for chocolates. Imagine how many times you have eaten a delicious piece of chocolate...a little self-talk and you can have a virtual experience. Can you taste it?

The person who had the position of executive secretary before me lost a lot of weight. I had hoped for the same result. I had hoped that all of this walking would keep the weight off, but Russia is just too big on chocolates and sweets of any kind and I think we adopted their habits too quickly. I have found that I am not walking enough (only two miles a day). I have to control the intake!!

It is another glorious day in Moscow. The sun is shinning. It will get to a high of about 44 degrees. When the wind (which is slight) is still, you can feel the warmth of the sun on your face. It is a great feeling. We will be heading out with some of the other senior couples today. We all have Spring Fever so we are ready for sunshine and an excursion!! I will try to post some pictures later today.

The troops are off to General Conference, so we are holding down the fort. Yesterday, we started a couple of projects that will about a week to complete. One is organizing electronic files (Greg and Lidia) and the other is organizing binders of correspondence (Chris and Acia). We made considerable progress on our first day (Friday) and should finish it up by Friday of next week.

Next on my schedule is to organize travel for the new mission presidents and their families. This is a very special, if not anxious time, for many of them. Coming to Russian is quite a challenge with children. So we want to do everything we can to make their transition as comfortable as possible.

Time to get ready to go. I'll be back later.

We are back.

We went, with the Irelands, to see the Peter the great monument today and to the Asian Market. We found an unexpected pleasure, as we were walking from the bridge to the monument, we found an art exhibition. About a 50 or more booths selling orginal art. Some great stuff, reasonable prices, except there is real difficulty getting this stuff out of Russia and the duties are generally as much as the painting!! So we window shopped.

The monumemnt to Peter the Great did not disappoint. It must be bigger than the Statue of Liberty. Next to Peter was an art museum of fallen statues, a lot of old soviet monuments that were removed after the Soviet Era. It was fun and of course as you can see by the pictures it was another beautiful day, about 45 degrees and clear skies.

Next, we ate lunch at Red Square at Sbarros. I had chicken and salad. Chris had a cheese pizza and salad. We then got back on the metro and went out to the Asian Market. It is like the Grand Bazar in Turkey. Hundreds of shops laid out in a maze of sorts. The girls had fun trying on fur coats!!

We got home around 6:00 p.m. I had a nap and then we ate dinner around 7:00. Now it is time to finish the blog, study my lesson for tomorrow (I start teaching a Temple Preparation class), update our missionary expense log.

I will post a few pictures and a few video clips to give you an idea of our experience in the metro.
Peter the Great from the art exhibition
Peter the Great, up close and personal



Sam and Irene with a fallen hero!

Take a Memo!

This morning I sent an email to Sister Shepard regarding an audit that I wanted her to conduct on three filing cabinets worth of records that we maintain in the Area Office. Here is the request:

Sister Shepard,
Here is the spreadsheet that you can use to go through the files. I will present this to the Area Presidency when we have completed the audit. It shows the questions we should answer for each item. If you have suggestions, please let me know.

Your Executive Secretary for Eternity,

Elder Shepard

Now, I am thinking what a sweet closing I created...how affectionate I am being.

Here is Sister Shepard's reponse:

Thank you and lol (laugh out loud) [she has to translate this new hip saying, because she knows I don't speak the new language very well!]. Then she continues...Gosh, does that make ME your ASSISTANT for eternity? Sheesh!!

It struck with such force and lasted so long that my sides are now aching. Oh, we are having fun!!

Five Weeks until Easter

Even though we went in an hour early today, the sun was shining brightly. However, there was quite a glaze on the pavement. We tried to take our shortcut behind our grocery store which is a little uphill, but we couldn't get any traction and just slid backwards, so we walked on the sidewalk, which was just as glazed over, but level!! But it was sunny and just at freezing...so not so bad.

The Russians have an Easter tradition that we didn't get to see demonstrated because they don't celebrate Easter for another 5 weeks. When you greet someone you say, "xpactocb bocrpece (Christos voskres)," which means Christ has Risen! The person receiving the greeting says, "воистину bocrpece (Voistinu voskres!) or Indeed he is Risen! At which time you kiss each other on the cheek three times! What a civilized customer! We have a few weeks to get those expressions down pat.

Well, I am going to check out. It is time for some zzzzzzzzzz's.

We're not Dreaming...but Living a White Easter!!

Yesterday, nothing but blue skies. Today, cold, snowy and rainy. Happy Easter. Maybe that's why the Russian's don't celebrate Easter until April 27th. No plans for today, except to go to church and to eat some homemade chicken soup. We did manage to put three quarts in the freezer. I am sure by the time we get home today, that soup will look awfully good. Too bad, I can't eat a half loaf of fresh bread and a cube of butter with it. This diet stinks, but I am making a little progress. I am at least headed in the other direction!!

It Was a Glorious Day in Moscow: SUNSHINE!

It was a glorious day in Moscow. It was close to 40 degrees, clear skies, accented with a few puffy clouds just for aesthetic purpose. Today, we went to the Tretyakov Museum, only to be diverted from the main museum, dedicated to Russian artists, to a special exhibition of Toulouse Lautrec paintings and sketches. So we will have to come back to the Tretykov to see the standard exhibition. We walked from the Tretykov Museum toward Red Square, which are separated by the Moscow river and a tributary of the Moscow river. So there were two bridges to cross. On the first river, we found the locks that brides and grooms put on a "tree" of sorts on their wedding day. Russian tradition says that newly weds should place a pad lock on Luzhkov bridge to lock their love, as long as the lock remains on the bridge, the couples love will remain locked.

Then we stumbled onto another haunting sculpture that had all of the impact of the WWll sculpture that I posted a few weeks ago.

In 2001 Mr. Mikhail Shemyakin donated his masterpiece called “Children are the victims of adults’ vices” to the city of Moscow. The vices are labeled under each charactor as they encircle two children, who are blindfolded, in true innocence. The thirteen deadly sins are:
· Drug Addiction
· Prostitution
· Theft
· Alcoholism
· Ignorance
· Irresponsible Science
· Indifference [the centrepiece*!]
· Propaganda of violence
· Sadism
· For those without memory
· Child labour
· Poverty
· War
I posted a video after the pictures.
Greg on a bridge over the Moscow River wearing his new knit cap he got while he was in Tallinn. Cathedral of Annunciation, within the Kremlin walls taken from the Tretyakov Museum. Chris on the banks of the Moscow River with the Kremlin in the background Bride putting a lock on the tree on the bridge over a small tributary of the Moscow River The Children's Sculpture
The Children's Sculpture
The Kremlin
Another Glorious photo from the bridge looking to the East.

We also went to our Gastrome No. 1 deli for some really good italian salami. It is a great snack when you are on the Atkins diet (which I am!!).

We came home finished making chicken soup that we started in a crock pot before we left, and then made chicken murphy, with Sarah's recipe. The murphy was great and the chicken soup will make a great Easter Sunday dinner.

Talked to Nick, Jessica, and Jason today. Will try to reach out to a few more of you by tomorrow. If we miss you, have a happy Easter Sunday. The following is a pretty lousy video, but it was the best I could get, since there was a fence keeping us from getting any closer to the exhibit.

Back from Tallinn: Visa Renewal

We got back today from Tallinn. We have new visas and are ready to go for another 90days. We will back in the office tomorrow. It was as cold in Tallinn as it was in Moscow. Snowed in both places. Spring where are you!! It was back to below freezing today. This time we took the train both ways...30 hours total. They kept waking us up last night. The first time was to offer us water at about 11:00 p.m. We had just nodded off to sleep after our two one hour border checks. Then they came back just as we were nodding off again. This time the steward was upset because we had moved to a different compartment(we had already been approved to move rooms, because they couldn't get the russian rock 'n roll station to turn off). As it turned out she was upset because she thought we had used linens and pillows from both compartments. We hadn't. Of course our lack of language skills only escalated the situation. But in the end, she figured it out and we were able to get to sleep.

We went out with two missionaries from the Moscow mission. We challenged them to a few games of Rummikub and the beat us soundly. (Hurrah show) Elders! Meaning, "good job."

I am back on my low protein diet. My sister-in-law is also on the diet. She is down 6 and I'm down about 4, through the first week. It's a little hard for me this time in Moscow, because the beef, beyond hamburger, is pretty tough and doesn't have a lot of flavor. So you eat a lot of salads, pork chops and chicken and cheese!!

It's good to be home (in our apartment that is).

Take Another Little Piece of My Heart

I don't think Janis Joplin had this in mind. This is a story from an unknown author that was shared in our devotional today.

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said "Why, your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but it was full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.

The people stared -- how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed. "You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine. Mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."

"Yes," said the old man, "yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared."

"Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges -- giving love, is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.

The message I think is clear. If we don't learn to love service, we won't learn how to love like Christ. For myself, there are certainly many times when I don't feel like doing service, but that is really my problem. I can only pray that as I serve more, I will grow to love it more, and hence become more like my Savior.

Sunday Morning

Sunday mornings are kind of quiet and nice since we don't have to go to church until1:00 p.m. We leave at 11:15 to get there on time, so that leaves us some time to catch up or just sleep in a little later. Of course, my bio-clock got me up at 6:00 a.m. But it was nice to see the sun come up. We have a partly cloudy day, but little breaks in the clouds give way to some blue sky.

Talked to quite a few people yesterday. I caught Nick about 20 outside of Roanoke, Virginia. He was about 5 hours from D.C. where he will stay with a friend for the night, then go to church in the morning, which is about 1 hour south of D.C. along the Potomac River.

I got to talk to my niece, Lindsay who was home from college on Spring break. I got to say hello to Cindy, my sister, but only for a minute; she was heading out to get her hair done.

I talked to Stan Martin and his wife Jewel. They are doing well. Jewel is a stake presidency widow, but she is used to that. She was a bishop's widow before that!!

I called Bob Crouch and Gil Kirk and my other sister, Julie, but they were all out. I will try back today. It's Julie's birthday, so I hope to make contact with her, especially.

I also tried to contact Sarah and Armando, who are coming back from their trip to Mexico, but their cell phones were in message mode!

I also tried to call my granddaughter, Courtney, but she was not in either. That one is hard to imagine. I thought teenagers sleep with their cellphones!!!

So, all in all, I wasn't too successful, but it was fun connecting with those I did manage to talk to.

Not to long ago we were forwarded a slide show showing the Metro in only what could have been opening day. They don't really look like that. Well, let's just say they don't keep them up like that. Below is evidence of the birds that live in the Metro and gum paved walkways you get to travel on.

This one is a picture of clock in the Armory Museum. I believe this one belonged to Catherine the Great. The only part of this that is the clock, is the tiny white circle in the middle.

Barbara and Chris in one of the nicer the Metro stations.

A Foggy, then Sunny, then Cloudy, but Warm Day in Moscow

The weather in Moscow changes continuously. When we woke up this morning we couldn't see anything outside our window it was so foggy. Then the sun came out, then it went away again, several times. Other than the first couple of weeks that we were in Moscow, we haven't seen such weather. The temperature on our balcony, showed 22 degrees C., which is about 77 degrees F. Don't believe it. That was just because the bright sun was shining directly on the thermometer. The sun went away and it was down to 5 degrees C. above freezing. Not that we are complaining. The snow is all but gone except for some big ice slabs (between 4 to 6 inches thick) that were formed in the winter under the trees. They may be there for a while. That doesn't mean the snow won't return, but I think we are through the worst of what can only be called a moderate winter.

Today was hair day. Chris cut my hair then colored her own. It's quite a project, but the results, for me at least, are quite favorable. It beats going to the barber and getting scalped!! Her hair color, while perhaps not as good as when she has it done in Dallas, looks pretty good. Of course, most wouldn't consider my opinion worth much on such matters.

Friday was a quiet day in the office. The Area Presidency was on the road. Chris stayed home with a bit of a fever and I played catch up. And I almost caught up!!

I can hear the washing machine but no hair dryer. That must mean that Chris is almost ready to take a walk through the neighborhood. So I guess I will sign out.

Because of the Color of the Wheat Fields

Greg put this story from "The Little Prince" on the blog for a special purpose. Please read it to the end; it's for our dear friends Alvin and Barbara Price.

It was then that the fox appeared.
"Good morning," said the fox.
"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.
"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."
"I am a fox," said the fox.
"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."
"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."
"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.
But, after some thought, he added:
"What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"
"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"
"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."
"'To establish ties'?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."
"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."
"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."
"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.
The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On another planet?"
"Yes."
"Are there hunters on this planet?"
"No."
"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.

But he came back to his idea.
"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.
"Please-- tame me!" he said.
"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."
"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me..."
"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day..."

The next day the little prince came back.
"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."
"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."

So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added:
"Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."
And the roses were very much embarassed.
"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you-- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.

And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

"To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes." And so they were, Alvin and Barbara Price, just like a hundred other missionary couples serving in Russia, until the "taming" process began and we began to "establish ties." We also "established rites." How we anticipated our Friday night Rummikub games and our Saturday adventures through the streets of Moscow. And oh, how they became unique in all the world.

It is with regret that we were informed today that Al and Barbara can't return just yet to Moscow. Al's condition is a little too advanced to be treated here. So we will have to yield them back to their family who will take care of them and nurse Al back to health.

What a blessing they have been to us. How we came to love them so quickly and deeply. They have been refined by the fires of the Holy Spirit. After 5 missions you cannot remained unaffected.

Now our hearts and prayers go out to the entire Price family. Find comfort that our Lord and Savior has already suffered as you are suffering this day. Lean on Him. Have faith that he is in control. Know that Grandma and Grandpa were sent to Russia for a purpose. There mission was shorter than most because they were able to accomplish already, what the Lord had expected of them.

So now we have a reunion to look forward to. When we show up, we will need two parking spaces to accommodate our RV. We will have a lot of Rummikub to catch up on, so we may be there a while. Better check with your HOA and get an exception on overnight parking!! Just kidding.

Keep reading the blog. We will keep you informed. We will call you from time to time just to make sure Al is behaving and following the doctor's and Barbara's orders. We love you guys. Keep looking for blue sky. It's out there. I promise.

The Role of the Executive Secretary

It has now been 5 months that we have been on our mission and next week will mark the beginning of the 6th month, as the executive secretary. It has been quite a journey. In the beginning, most of my attention was given to learning the 14 missions and gaining some basic orientation to geography. The language was a considerable barrier, because it is so foreign...no latin roots!! So when you hear a word, it is just that much more difficult to remember. Examples would be Dniprepetrosk, Novokuznyetsk, Vladivostok, and Novosibirsk. Now convert these to their Cyrillic equivalents and you have quite a challenge. It seems that the Russians can't live without words that are at least 4 to 5 syllables long. Next, as the executive secretary, you receive about 20 to 40 emails everday. Many of these are questions that people send in regarding procedures. How do I...What form do I use to ....etc. Many of them are just fyi sorts of things, but things you need to be familiar with, in case the Area Presidency asks you to follow up on an item. Of course, as the new kid on the block, I knew less about the answers to these questions than the person submitting the querie. Finding things in the computer files was the next great obstacle (we are currently in the middle of a process to reorganize all of our computer files). Next, are the tasks that are assigned directly to the executive secretary, such as faciliating all boundary and leadership changes throughout the area. This involves receiving requests for new unit creation or boundary changes, reviewing, modifying and correcting recommendations that come in from the missions. Once the paper work is completed properly, including maps to show the old and new boundaries, these items are taken to the Area Presidency for their review. If all is in order and if the recommendation is approved, the paper work goes to the Boundary and Leadership Committee at Church headquarters and the mission is advised that their recommendation has been sent forward. At any given time, there may be 4 or 5 of these requests in process. So a log has to be kept showing where, in the process, each proposal is. When units are created, a unit number is assigned and that has to be communicated to the mission. Then the mission can proceed with the creation of the unit and new leaders are called (another review process). The final step is gathering record of the creation of the unit, the new leaders and their contact information so that that information can be put into the Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders.

The executive secretary also processes all recommendations for new district presidents, counselors and mission president counselors. There are forms, approvals and notifications associated with these activities as well.

As the executive secretary, you are the office manager. So the drivers and secretaries report to you (these are full time church employees). You are responsible for their work assignments and performance evaluation and salary administration. Job evaluation and grade changes are also thrown into the mix.

Three times a year we (Chris and I) are responsible for hosting a Mission President Seminar. These, like the one just completed in Sochi, involve arranging travel for approximately 50 people, hotel and conference accommodations, group meals and activities. Once a plan is in place and arrangements have been made, the continuous process of change begins. It does not end until you are actually back to your home base. On the last seminar, we were actually changing travel for one mission president and his wife, while participating in the final leg of the event, an Area Council.

Just to spice things up a bit, I have been involved with the development of an employee website, which involves learning a Microsoft based software, called Sharepoint. We refer to the website as LDS Teams. While a considerable amount of effort was put forth in creating this website, it does not work that great for an Area Office, since our communication needs are mostly centered with mission and district presidents, who are not employees, so they ended up having no access to the site. We discovered that after we developed it.

The newest piece of software is DecisionPoint. I may have described this briefly in a previous post. DecisionPoint is proprietary software developed by the church to support the PBO or the Presiding Bishopric Office. Here is where all of the big temporal decisions of the church are made, about 20,000 a year. The software program provides a way to manage agendas, minutes and action items that come out of the meetings. We started using DecisionPoint for the Area Office about a month ago. Up until that time, whenever the Area Presidency met, I would take notes, jot down a few that I thought were important enough to be called a minute and log action items, all on LDS Teams. Now, this entire process is managed with DecisionPoint. Instead of having about 10 to 15 minute items a month, we now capture approximately 100. These minutes must then be distributed to those who submitted items that made it to the Area Presidency's agenda, along with action items that tied to the minute. This is a whole new world.

The software was developed based on the processes used in the PBO. These are highly refined processes for making sure that each discussion point, conclusions, decisions and next steps are carefully recorded. The Lord's house is a house of order. We are endeavoring to put ours in order. Of course, the software is new, so somethings still need to be tweaked, but there are no bugs. Everything works, everytime. That is a blessing.

This has radically affected how I consume my available time. At the present, I am quite overwhelmed and feel the pressure of many time sensitive documents. Most items the executive secretary works on takes a week or two to get through the system, so you need another system to keep track of where you are with your tasks. Thus, my little To Do list that I created and described on a previous post.

So it has been quite a journey up to now. I think I have probably gotten my arms around 80 percent of the job. The "deer in the headlights look" is less frequent these days. The days go fast. I am looking forward to when I can do more executing than learning. But that day should not be too far off. Hopefully, for the next executive secretary these process will be better defined and the learning curve not as steep.

Women's Day Celebration

Today was the girl's day out. It was Women's Day. So they all went shopping and to lunch, without the men!! They are all wearing their new hats!! Pictured starting from the far left is Rene Mason and next to her, Narene Ireland. Today was also Narene's birthday. Elder Ireland bought a wonderful cake at the market next to our house. The men had come up earlier.

Both couples stayed for dinner. We had homemade Okie macaroni. It turned out great, even though I had to substitue a few items. For Rotel tomatoes I used diced tomatoes with some chili sauce. For elbow macaroni, I used a corkscrew macaroni. I couldn't find really sharp cheddar cheese, but it turned out fine.

Below is a watercolor that Chris purchased. It is a sweet picture of Russian children playing in the snow. It looks just like the kids we see when we go to and from our office and on the metro.

Alvin Price: Indefagitable and Incorrigable

I just got off the phone with brother Al Price. He called to say that the connection between the arriving flight from Moscow and the departing flight to Salt Lake City is an impossible connection, not helped by the fact that his flight was late, due to severe head winds. The result being, that he and Barbara arrived in Salt Lake City at midnight. The next day, he was at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. for more tests (blood tests and a CT Scan), before being wheeled into surgery.

He reminded me that the most painful part of a surgery is not the cutting, but that lousy tube they put down your throat for oxygen. He sounded a little gravely as a result.

He will meet with a specialist on Wednesday to review the analysis of the biopsy. The current thinking is that he has level two lymphoma, which is very treatable, but he will not know exactly what the treatment will be until Wednesday.

He also told me, with great delight, that he was laying on his gurney or bed faking that he was alseep (probably trying to easedrop on the conversations of the family and the doctor), when all of a sudden he sat upright and stated, "Holy, Holy, God loves Alvin!!" Then fell back down. He was sure he really gave them a fright!!

He was in rare form and seemed to have good energy, despite his gravely voice. Thanks brother Al for the update. Barbara we are glad you have the entire family to help you with that wonderfully incorrigable husband of yours, but even they may not be enough!!

Shrovetide and Women's Day

We learned of a new holdiay today in Russia. Shrovetide. Not new to them, but to us. At the end of winter Shrovetide (a pancake week) comes. In Russia, Pancake week is called "Maslyanitsa". Shrovetide is an ancient festival dating from pagan times. The Christian historians say that those were really "mad" days in the past. People wore funny masks and costumes, sometimes, men wore women's clothing and vice versa. Such masquerade anticipated a merry festival, when delicious food and a lot of wine was consumed. At first it was a festival that celebrated the arrival of spring and the start of work on the land. It included many rituals (burning a man of straw symbolizing winter, lighting fires, leaving festival food on the ancestors' graves) and feasts, the main food at which were blini. The feast fighting was one more great fun that helped to get warm on cold winter days. Later, the Orthodox Church included Shrovetide among its festivals. Shrovetide has lost its ritual significance and has become a symbolic festival of saying good-bye to winter and welcoming spring. At present special performances are held during Pancake week. Throughout the whole week people cook pancakes (blini).

On Saturday, the celebrations conclude with Women's Days--Not Mothers Day, but Women's Day. One of the Pieper's daughters, in her second year in Russia, was quick to discover the merits of Women's Day when she told her dad she wanted breakfast in bed. She was 6 years old!!

Some new converts, friends of the Piepers, were in the office on Friday and they brought blini for everybody. We ate them warm with honey. Very tasty.

We bought chocolates for all the women in the office. Flowers are coming on Tuesday. In Russia flowers is the most appropriate gift for a woman, but you should never give an even number. That number is saved for furnerals.

The Prices flew out on Thursday in the most beautiful weather. Clear skies. We walked to work on dry ground. Almost all of the snow was gone. We wanted to believe that Spring had actually arrived (the Russians celebrate the first day of Spring on March 1), but the snow returned the next day, about 4 inches and we were back to sloshing to get to work!!

On Friday, we went home with Elder Paul who dropped us off at the Gibbons. We went out for Italian food with the them and the Piepers. We played games and had dessert back at the Gibbons, where we slept. We got up early the next morning and went shopping at Metro. Then the Gibbons dropped us off at home.

On Monday, the girls are going shopping in the Arbat district and some of the guys will hang out together. I am going to try to make macaroni and cheese, but there is no sharp cheddar in Russia and it is white cheddar to boot! No Rotel tomatoes, but I do have diced tomatoes and a little chili sauce that might make up the difference. (We are not in Kansas any more!!)

Mom discovered today that what she thought was fabric softener was actually just another brand of soap. Our towels are very stiff!!

The dollars decline means that it costs more dollars to purchase Roubles. The other day, I was trying to get Roubles so that we could pay our rent. I normally try to get 24,000 on a given day. Usually that is about 950 dollars, which is below my daily limit of 1,000 with Schwab. But on Tuesday, it gave me 8,000 Roubles twice, then shut me down. I was over the limit. At first, I thought that the machine was not working properly. It was a little while later that I discoverd that the weak dollar was my real enemy!!

Our Dear Friends the Prices: Homeward Bound

Al and Barbara Price are heading home tomorrow after just 4 months into their mission. The Prices are on their 5th mission, their third to Russia, the other two were in China and Romania. Al has been diagnosed with a form of Lymphoma.

Lymphoma is a type of cancer involving cells of the immune system, called lymphocytes. Just as cancer represents many different diseases, lymphoma represents many different cancers of lymphocytes—about 35 different subtypes, in fact.

He will have some lymphnodes removed on Friday, which will be biopsied to determine the type of Lymphoma he has. If all goes well, according to our own Medical Director, Dr. McCune, he could be treated and return in a month, if he is found to have a less aggressive form of the disease. A more aggressive form of the disease would take 8 to 9 months to treat. Regardless of which form he has, our doctor, who by profession is a hemotologist, and who is a Lymphoma survivor himself, indicates that this is a very treatable situation. We will know the results of the test by next Monday or Tuesday. Our prayers are with Prices and their wonderful family, who we were just beginning to know.

Al and Barbara are the type of people everyone just loves to be around. They are so capable, kind, generous, positive and spontaneous. And can they play a mean game of Rummikub. Now you know why we spent so much time with them last weekend. We needed a good charge to last us until they return.

Chris and Barbara became fast friends. Chris looked forward to the little breaks from their office duties where she and Barbara could share a story or two about their grandchildren and the other stuff girls like to talk about.

Al and Barbara were serving in Public Affairs, with Elena Nechiporova. They had met Elena and her husband Vlad when Al was serving as a Mission President in Vladivostok. As I have indicated in previous posts, Public Affairs is a very important function here in Russia. I know Elena and Vlad are doing their best to pray them back to Moscow.

When I was a kid, I saw one of the first versions of Peter Pan on TV. If you saw it, you will remember Peter (Mary Martin) asking all of the children, if they believed in fairies, to clap their hands for Tinkerbell ,who was very sick. Soon all of the children in America were clapping their hands like crazy and Tinkerbell recovered!! Well, we can do better than that. If you believe in a kind, wise, loving heavenly father, how about a prayer for our friends. Let's pray them back to Moscow.

Barbara, you'll be back in Utah and Al will have recovered from his surgery before you read this post. But that doesn't matter. Just know that we love you two. You are already missed. Have a safe flight and a grand family reunion. Don't get too comfortable there! We still have plenty of snow and ice to share and so many more things to explore in Moscow. We'll see you in April!

Spending Time with Friends

A guy strolls up to me and starts creating this charcoal sketch. He tells me he is a famous artist that paints in the Arbot district. This is a high end shopping district in Moscow. He tells me that he does these sketches for about 1800 roubles. He tells me a little more about his life and offers me a deal that I can't refuse...only 1200 roubles. Then he continues with his well rehearsed approach and says he doesn't know who he is sketching...maybe this sketch is worth a lot more...maybe some day it will be worth a million! I just smile and he smiles...He knows I am on to his little scheme. Then he asks me what I would be willing to pay. I just shake my head no. I tell him my wife is spending all of my money. OK, he says, 800r. I just shake my head no and start to walk away. This goes on until I we reach an agreement of 200 r. or about $8. This is about half of what a sketch like this might cost at Fisherman's Wharf in SF, with no better likeness. Why did he pick me out of the crowd? I am sure it was my hat!!

So today we were back to Ismyloftski to pick up a few things for the grandchildren. We have just over 13 months left on our mission, but you mother is concerned that they might run out of stuff!!

We were with the Prices and they were performing similar duties. We ate dinner with them last night. We were supposed to eat turkey, but Barbara decided to cook it in crock pot and it was not done in time, so being the resourceful person that she is, she whipped up some chicken and gravy, corn, bread and fruit salad. We topped that off with Baskin and Robbins Ice Cream, after a few games of Rummikub. This is fun game. It is like playing rummy with domino like pieces.

After Ismyloftski, we went back to the Prices for the Turkey!! We had great turkey sandwiches on the best french bread. Earlier we went to Palace of Catherine the Great, but it was closed for construction. It was closed for construction the last time the Prices were here on their mission!

Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to church with the Prices, who travel to a very small branch that meets in one of the Moscow mission offices. They will then follow us back to our apartment for dinner and maybe a little more Rummikub.

That makes three days in a row with our great friends. They are a great example for us. As we have shared in the past they have been on many missions. They have a great spirit. They are always up, always positive and always spontaneous. We love to hear about their adventures.