There is a big difference between Moscow and Western Europe. We could feel it as soon as we left the airport. The cab driver was lively. It was still overcast and cool, but not cold. There was no snow on the ground. There were no throngs. Hardly any cars. Only 600,000 people in the whole country!! When you stepped onto a crosswalk, every car stopped. Pedestrians were no longer targets. They actually had the right of way.
Every street in the old town is pristine. They obviously have a lot of pride in their heritage. Be sure to click on the pictures to appreciate the detail. From this first pic you can see the ocean and the cruise ships that frequent their harbor! Old Town from above the city wall! Russian Orthodox Church Dadd standing in one of the many interesting little alleys that provide shortcuts from one street to another.
After about 4 hours on our feet the first day, we checked out a movie: National Treasure 2, or whatever the name was! Don't faint, but your father paid $12 dollars apiece for tickets!! I'm not sure I have still recovered from that experience.
Over the next couple of days we checked out the Maritme Museum and the Occupational Museum. The Occupational Museum was my favorite and tells the story of occupation by, first, Russia, then Hitler, then Russia again, until 1991 (They actually raised their flag in 1989, but it took a couple of more years for the communists to acknowledge their independence.
The last night we ate at a nice little Italian restaurant and strolled through the city at night. Here is a picture that shows the city square at night. The square was set up like a little village, with portable, but quaint little buildings or merchants to sell their wares, and a stage for local talent to entertain us. I will post some video a little later.
The next day we spent some more time in Old Town, after we got our new visas and our passports back from our travel agent. We must have spent a couple of hours just in the book store. Earlier that morning we bought some food for dinner and breakfast for the long (16 hour) train trip back to Moscow. Here is a picture of our deluxe accomodations.
I will tell you more about the adventure on the train later, but I am out of time now. Happy New Years, if I can't get back to this later today!! We are on our way to the Truman Madsen Fireside tonight.
We woke up this morning and opened our cards from our family and what a joy! We read and cried. What special children and family we have. To actually have kisses sent to us by mail! Wow! Such sweet words and beautiful pictures. And Ashley, you looked like a rock star in your Halloween picture!! I guess that's OK once a year. We enjoyed the precious notes in our grandchildren's own handwriting. And Cameron, we haven't forgotten you are working toward becoming a member of Grandpa's 10,000 page Reading Club! You will be number 4! What a legacy you young readers are going to leave for your children someday.
We missed Zack and Daniel yesterday, because they were both working when we called. But Zack, your present was the best we received, a little bit like deja vu when Nick stuffed his missionary papers in your mother's stocking! I am sure we will all be blessed just the same. PS: Don't forget the RV!!!!
We enjoyed seeing all of you yesterday. What a marvel technology is, even with a little feedback on the microphone. But when we finally realized that we could call on vonage while watching the video, everything was perfect.
We had a great time with all of the missionaries and the senior couples yesterday. We were planning on going to the mission conference for a little while and then going out to dinner as a group, but after talking to our mission president, he seemed a little disappointed but supported our decision nonetheless. So we reconsidered our plans and stayed through the whole program, and we were so glad we did. Who wouldn't trade a steak dinner for the spirit of Christ? We watched "It's a Wonderful Life." We played games, sang songs, listened to poetry and sweet testimonies. Sister Cranney, the mission mom, had spent weeks preparing handmade meatballs and chicken nuggets. The senior sister missionaries, helped by making up four big sheets of seven layer (walking taco) dip. There was plenty of fruit and a wonderful fruit dip. Lots of other stuff and some great desserts. A few missionaries playing UNO with Elder Monson looking on. Mom with Mary Monson Sister Cranney
Today, we are headed for Rosinka for our day with the Gibbons and the Madsens. Mom is baking brownies with a recipe she got off the internet. She is missing vanilla, but will throw in a Snicker's bar to compensate!
We didn't get any of our packages, but not to worry, nothing could have been better than the cards and your sweet expressions. We will probably get the packages when we get back from Tallinn.
We didn't get much of a white christmas. It sleeted on us a little as we made our way home last night, but it looks more frosty outside than snowy. Again, it doesn't matter, because we have been enjoying the snow, most of the time, ever since we got here.
Mom bought me a pair of slippers and I am going to give her some money to shop in Tallinn.
We have had a wonderful Christmas season. Talking to all of you was like having a great feast set before you and getting to take only a few bites. It is so good that all you do is talk about how much you would have liked to have had more!!
On a sadder note, I talked with my friend Bob, in California and he has been diagnosed with colon cancer. He has already had his surgery and seems to be doing fine. The doctors are very optimistic that they discovered his cancer in time. He had 17 lymph nodes taken out, only one had any trace of malignancy. He is and will continue to undergo chemotherapy for the next four months. Remember him in your prayers. Bob and I have been best friends since we were freshman in high school, two skinny little kids running cross country. He is a wonderful person and a great friend.
Our good friends the Monson's were back from Nizhney, for the conference. They were our next door neighbors. Unfortunately, on their way to the conference, while on the metro, he had his wallet stolen. Interesting that I just mentioned this possibility a post or two ago. He was able to cancel his cards, but lost about 5,000 rubles or $200 in cash. It didn't kill his indomitable spirit though, he was our Father Frost.
The sun is shining. No clouds, but 10 degrees colder. Just enough frost on the ground to make it interesting. We have been to church and are home in our WARM little apartment. We are having a variation of "slop" for dinner! We are going to watch Miracle on 34th Street this afternoon, read, look for emails from our family and friends, etc. Hope you are all well.
Yesterday, was a big day with our hospital visit (all elderly women) and the Moscow Choir concert. Our hospital visit was very nice. Music, gifts and tears. One resident made a vigorous sign of the cross (several times) when she discovered our purpose. They thanked us individually for coming all the way from the United States for this special occasion and one asked when we would come back. We sang serveral Christmas carols and even managed to sing one song in Russian!
It was very special to tenderly take each of them by their hands, look them in the eyes, and wish them a happy new year (snowbim godom in Russian). Some of them, who were not entirely grasping what was going on, were still very polite and always said Spaceeba (thank you) each time they were offered a gift (We had two packages for each, chocolates and personal items), but there were several others whose eyes were just sparkling; their countenances were enough of a "thank you." It breaks your heart to realize that these are Heavenly Father's children too. He loves them just as much as he loves us, and mourns for them more. Sad isn't it, that with all we have, we can sometimes only find an hour to give, once a year.
Coming on the metro (18 stops), we arrive at 3:59 in foyer, with four youth from the international branch. We were supposed to be there at 4:00! We were finished by 4:45 and were off to the choir.
Elder Price hamming it up with Acia our new secretary Our group with bags in hand on our way to the rest home; one other senior couple met us there (The Abrams) The next few pics are of the group on the metro and in the metro station; these pictures in the metro station are very unusual in that only our group was in the metro at the time we took these pics; seconds earlier or later it would have been filled with traffic. Here are few more pics. The first is of our group again as we were leaving the rest home, with the four youth who joined us. On the front row left is Elena Nechiporova, our Public Affairs Director and to right, is the Relief Society President from one of the branches. The other two pictures are of the inside the hall where the choir concert was held. The choir was a lot of fun. Two from our office staff sang in choir. To really appreciate this choir, you must understand the time and distance that must be overcome, just to have practice. These pioneer saints are Moscow's future. Here is a video clip:
Then it was off to MacDonalds for dinner and we finally arrived home at about 10:30 p.m.
We were going to try to get out today, but I think we will probably just stay in, since Monday and Tuesday are completely filled up with activity, with Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Then we are off to Tallinn. We ended up with an extra day in Tallinn, because our visa date was put off a couple of days and we couldn't change our flight out, but we did manage to change our train coming back. There is not a lot of flexibility with dates around the New Year as you get to the last week of the year. We will be back in time for New Years in Moscow. This past week we have already seen many fireworks from our 18th floor vantage. It sounds like machine gun fire. Sometimes you can't see the rockets but you can see their reflections on the buildings nearby.
Christmas Eve is a fun and games day with the Moscow Mission. The we will meet up with the seniors for dinner, probably TGI Fridays. Christmas day we are going to the Gibbons for dinner. There other guests are Truman Madsen and his wife Ann. They are visiting with Larry and LaDawn until New Years.
We will try to call home on Christmas eve at 2:00 a.m. our time, about 5:00 p.m., Dallas time. We will try to call each family on Christmas Day after we get back from the Gibbons, which will be your early afternoon. If you're at the movies have a good time, but we may miss you.
We fly to Tallinn about 10:00 a.m. on the 26th. You probably won't hear from us until the New Years eve. We won't be hauling the computer with us. But we will take a lot of pictures while we are there, so stay tuned.
Monday, we had family home evening with the Gibbons, Simon (he in charge of buildings) and the Pages (he is our OGC). We had pizza and played games. We had some adventure getting out there. President Gibbons picked us up at a metro station sort of near his house, but not until we had already gone to the wrong metro stop. The name of the station is Tushinskaya, the stop before is schuskinskaya. Both are spelled exactly the same except that one starts with a T in the russian version and the other does not. We didn't think we heard the T sound, but thought we just missed it with all of the noise of the metro, so off we went looking for a McDonalds and a flower shop. We found these two landmarks not particularly helpful, since there is a McDonalds at nearly every metro and flower shops galore!! We will be more careful next time. The good news is that we were about 30 minutes early to begin with and ended up being just in time!!
On Wednesday, we went to the symphony. I can't tell you what we heard or who conducted it, but it was lots of fun. The music had a lot of energy and the conductor was quite a personality. The Gibbons came to our house for dinner before the theater. It was there first time to see our apartment.
Today, we made final preparations for Christmas gifts to all of the emplyoyees in our office (9) and our three drivers. We made up cards and bought chocolates for each. The AP will give them out tomorrow.
Tomorrow (Friday) we will lug about 30 pounds of candy and about 60 pounds of personal items to the hospital for our visit with the elderly. We will be met by some of the youth from the Moscow Mission, visit for about an hour, pass out our presents, sings some carols and then head to the Moscow Choir (made up of church members) for a concert which begins at 6:30 p.m. Then, I think the seniors will head out for a late dinner.
We have no plans for Saturday at this point. It might be nice just to sleep in!! Monday is our last day in the office and then we are off for Tallinn to renew our visas. Our visas won't be ready until Saturday now (we were supposed to get them on Thursday), and we are struggling to put our travel together to get home. Hopefully, by tomorrow we will know for sure. We would like to be back in Moscow for the New Year celebration.
Today we went to the Pushkin Fine Art Museum. It was a beautiful day with full sun!! Still cold, but the sun was great. It is quite a museum. Many of the masters, including Rembrandt, Matisse, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, (a whole building dedicated to French Impressionist paintings). Another few floors were filled by an artist you may not know...Plastorini Castore...or so says Elder Price. These floors are full of life size plaster casts of a number of the great works, such as Winged Victory, and Discus Thrower. I guess for so many years people in Russia couldn't travel outside the country, so they decided to create facimiles for all to enjoy. I guess that's not really so different from going to Las Vegas to see the Eiffel Tower. Despite, the fact that they were not the real thing, we enjoyed it nonetheless.
Here are a few of our favorites that require no explanation:
After 7 years of working in employment it is still in my veins. I found the image to be quite poignant. It is called, Unemployed.
We worked a half-day today and then went to the Area Presidency's Devotional. We caught a hamburger with our friends, the Prices, then snacked at little at the devotional and headed home by about 5:00 p.m. Your mother just indicated that she is not having good luck with the popcorn, so I had better check it out. We thought popcorn and movie tonight, but it may just be a movie!!
Today, marks 37 years of marriage. Hard to believe that two kids just barely in their twenties, could have traveled so far (literally!) in what seems, like your mother told me today, like a blink of an eye! Six children, almost 12 grandchildren and we have traveled about as far as one can get from our hometowns (13 time zones). Life has been very good to us. We have enjoyed so many blessings, my favorite being my little babuska. This should serve as an early reminder to all of her kiddos, to send an email to her today. Hard to believe...37 years!
Today it is snowing and about 10 below freezing...so were back to normal after our heatwave!!
Yesterday, we went home with the Prices for dinner and then they hosted FHE. We discussed an idea that we had, to do a service project for about 60 elderly babuskas in a state run rest home. I came home with about $400 dollars in contributions from the Seniors, to buy some personal items and chocolates. Our PA Director made up a very nice gift set of personal items and chocolates for about 150 rubles, about $7. She did a great job. I will take a picture in couple of days to show you what she came up with. We are going to visit them in one week from this coming Friday, with some youth from the Moscow and Moscow West Mission. We will do this in the afternoon and then we will take off to a choir concert being given by the Moscow Choir, a choral group made up of church members. I think they would like to become the Moscow Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
I am still trying to catch up from last week. By tomorrow, I should be caught up. We did get some reservations for Tallinn. The airlines fly there only on Mondays and Wednesdays. So we will fly out on a Wednesday and take the overnight train back to Moscow on Saturday. More later.
You may have noticed I did not make a lot of postings this week. That's because we have really been putting in a lot time getting ready for a Russian Mission (8 missions) Coordinating Council that was held in Moscow yesterday. It was conducted by video conference from two locations, Novosibirsk and Moscow. Six mission presidents and 13 District Presidents were in Moscow and two mission presidents and their distric presidents were in Novosibirsk. There were three Seventies (the Area Presidency) and two Area Seventies in Moscow and one seventy (Elder Neuenschwander) in Novosibirsk. With a number of staff members from Moscow, DTA, General Counsel, Public Affairs, CES, Welfare/Humanitarian, translators, technical support personnel, office secretary, and others, we had about 45 people who participated in total. We managed to get hotel reservations for those in need and drivers for all of the out-of-town guests who were arriving at any one of three airports and other trains stations and got them back as well. We had headsets for each person and arranged for two translators, both for English and Russian. We fed them and prepared a number of handouts that were in both English and Russian. We also arranged the music, which included a portable keyboard and a pc with speakers and a DVD for our prelude music.
We had some anxious moments, but in the end, everything came off on time and worked perfectly. You never know with technology, but it was a blessing when we saw there smiling faces from Novosibirsk on the two monitors we had set up.
By the time I got back, I changed my clothes and headed back in the same general direction with the Monsons, to attend our branch Christmas celebration. There were about 12 types of soups or chili beans, great bread and about 20 types of desserts. We had a good time. It was a special moment to see the three wisemen bow to the boy holding the star, instead of Mary and Jesus!! You could not have scripted it better.
I am getting ready this morning for an Area Coordinating Council which will be held in downtown Moscow, which will be attend by the Area Presidency and the two Area Seventies. Next week should be a breeze!!
That's all the time I have for now. Talk to you soon!
The Area Council was great. We spent about an hour of our meeting just studying the scriptures together. You would be amazed, but not surprised at the command these brethren have with the scriptures. I was trying to act like a sponge, but I was at full capacity in just the opening moments. I took lots of notes though to study later.
We paid our rent today. It's a curious process. The landlord comes to your apartment to collect the cash then goes out in the hall to read the electric meter. There are two readings, one for the day and one for the night. Then, they multiply the killowats used by a factor to come up with your payment. Next, they fill out a form to submit with the payment. Our day payment was 602r and our night usage was 30r for a total of 640r or about $26.00 for the month. That beats $500 or $600 in Dallas!! Or does tell you a little more about the size of your apartment!!
We had a very nice FHE last night at the Monson's (just about a 100 yards away).It was probably their last one with this group, as they are going out to the hinterlands, where they will be the only senior couple for hundreds of miles. It will be very different out there. Quite remote to say the least.
We sang Christmas carols and shared family Christmas traditions. We talked about having Santa come and reading the Other Wise Man. Sister Price told about a special Christmas that she and her husband had one Christmas when he was serving as the first Mission President in Vladivostok (near the Pacific Ocean on the far east side of Russia). She and her husband spent the day traveling with a group of members to a hospital for the mentally ill and an orphanage. Elder Price knows how to blow up balloons and tie them into hats, dogs and such, so that was his contribution. She told about how they gave away brand new sweaters to all of the children. Then she described their reaction to receiving, for most of them, their very first new sweater. There was not a dry eye in the house. So today, I floated the idea with a few people, and if we get lucky, we may try to provide a similar service on this year's Christmas Day. We will keep you up dated on our progress.
If you are looking for the map from the previous blog, I had to take it down, because it was messing up the rest of the blog. I guess it was a little too much for the blog. It wouldn't show any of the pictures I had posted previously. When I took it off, everything began to work as it did before the post. Oh, well.
Here goes nothing. Below you will see a map of our neighborhood, from Google Maps. I am going to try to give you directions from our apartment to the office, so that you can get some idea of our commute, or if you want to be our first drop-in company! First, close the ballon that is covering the map. Now, start where the green arrow is. The green arrow marks the street that apartment building is on, but not our apartment. Viewing the map in the "map" view, pretend like you are drawing a line parallel to the bottom of the map at the green arrow about an inch or more in length (go to the East). You should run into a building that looks like an E. Above that building you will see our apartment, it looks like an L. (If you click on see larger map view, below the map, you will be taken to Google Maps. If you go to "sat" view, and zoom in you will see the apartment numbers, ours is 10K3). So, we walk between apartments to get to just above the green arrow and cross the street. Directly across the street and north just a little you will see a building complex with three towers (look for the three little towers with shadows, in "sat" view. We stay north of those buildings and cut through and behind the store which is on the corner (if you go directly north on our street until you get to the next first intersection). That's where the store is, but we go behind the store, through part of the parking lot and go West through the trees (the green area on the map) until you get to the next street. We jaywalk directly across the street at that time and stay at the same angle until work our way up to the main street which is called festivalnaya. We proceed West on this main street until we get to the first street that comes from the north at a 90 degree angle. Then, we proceed north on that street and walk completely around two towers that are running parallel to the street to this street. It looks more like an H in the "map" view. It is three buildings north (more or less)from Festivalnaya. Our tower is the East Tower. We could cut off a 1/4 mile if we could just walk straight to our building, but the gate is locked in the morning. But we do save that distance when we go home at night. Good Luck. I hope you don't get lost! Because it is really cold out there! Mom wants to know who really cares? She says my own mother won't care, but I have faith in you mom!!
Dadd haming it up on an old ship docked in the middle of Ismaloftsky (the market). This is how the video conference looks from Moscow
The temperature dropped quite a bit overnight. It got up to about 15 degrees today. You can feel the cold settling into your body. It just penetrates. Our real test is still 4 to 6 weeks away, when it gets to 20 or 30 degrees below zero!! I think about 15 or 20 minutes is about all we could take. However, it already feels quite balmy when the temperature reaches freezing. Maybe it will feel the same when it goes from -30 to -20!!
We went to church today with the Irelands. They have been here two weeks now. They are from South Dakota, on the 13,000 acre farm!! We walked from the Metro Station to church so that they could get a feel for the neighborhood. After church two members offered to drive us back to the metro, only three stops away from our home stop. That was wonderful (that saves one transfer). When we got there, Sister Ireland and Sister Shepard did some window shopping in a mall, while Elders Ireland and Shepard made their way to the church's Service Center building. The Service Center is where all of the church employees work that do not work directly for the Area Presidency. I have a meeting there on Monday and did not know how to get there. We traveled the circuit (up and back) in about 35 minutes. Then the Ireland's walked back to their apartment and we continued on the metro to the end of the line.
Mom made spaghetti and a tossed green salad and garlic bread. It tasted like home!! Then we ate some fudge (more like carmel chews with chocolate). We had some sweet and condensed milk we had to use up, so Chris whipped up this little concotion with a chocolate candy bar we had. It was sticky, but very tasty!!
This next week is going to be very busy. Three straight days of meetings, one right after the other. And this week I am in charge of setting up two video conferences, which I have never done. That is the purpose of my meeting on Monday. I also have a new secretary to orient and train. Talk about the blind leading the blind!
Hope you are doing well. Drop us a line, when you get a chance.
Oleviste Church (Tallinn) the tallest building in the world...in the 16th century! We found out that we have to go out of the country at the end of December to get our visas renewed. We will be going to Tallinn, in Estonia. From what I have heard, it is a charming little town. Since we will be going in the last week of December, we should be able to back it up to our New Year's holiday and maybe take off from there to St. Petersburg for the weekend. Already, all the trains are booked to St. Petersburg, for New Years, but since we could actually travel on New Year's eve, when everyone else is already there, we have been told that the train tickets are discounted by 75 percent, because they are virtually empty. We'll see!
Friday evening we entertained the Browns, Irelands, and Prices at our apartment. Sister price made up a Russian salad that consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, onions and a special cheese (a little like rocotta) and I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches on fresh baked bread and mom made brownies. We just ate and talked. We had games, but mostly people talked about their families (we are still getting to know each other). We found out, that serveral years ago, the Irelands and the Prices went to the Holy Lands on the same trip with a BYU excursion, but didn't know it until last night. We discovered that the Brown's son served his mission in Padova, Italy at the same time as Nick. It's a small world in the church! The Irelands also own a little farm in South Dakota...13,000 acres!!
President Gibbons shared a joke with me that is going around in Dallas, that seems appropriate to share, given the Cowboy's drubbing of the Packers on Thursday night. Brett Farve, it seems, was in Heaven being taken to his very nice but humble abode. It had a small flag in the front yard with a Green Bay Packers flag. He thought it was a nice touch. But to his chagrin, he noticed a 3-story mansion just down the street with a silver and blue driveway, silver stars in every window and huge flagpole with a Dallas Cowboys flag. God noticed that Brett seemed to be troubled, and ask Brett if he was OK. He said he was a little disappointed when he saw the huge house that had been built for Tony Romo. Then he indicated that he was, after all, the National League's number one rated quarterback, hall of famer and had won the world championship, none of which had been accomplished by Tony. Then God smiled and said, Brett, that's not Tony's house, that's Mine!! [Sorry Cody. I know how much you like Brett and so do I, but when it comes down to the Cowboys or the Packers, I have to go with the Cowboys!!) By the way, did you get to go to the game?
Today, we are headed out to Ismyloftski, the renock (market) that we went to a couple of weeks ago when your mom got her hat. We are going with the Gibbons this time. They will be by at 9:30 a.m. with a driver to pick us up. I'm not sure what else we might do, but since we have a driver, maybe we will explore a few other places as well.
Elections in Russia tomorrow. This is their parliamentary election. The Presidential election is sometime in March, I think.
It's been snowing nearly every day. The temperature has been hovering around freezing most of the time, but it has not really been too cold or windy, so the 'commute' has actually been quite pleasant. We enjoy our walks through the woods and snow. However, the other other day, I was standing to close to the curb and I am sure the driver had more than a little fun when he splashed me when his car sped through a puddle. I did see it coming and moved back, but he still got me, though just a few drops.
Yesterday morning (Tuesday), in our devotional, we met Elder Dennis Neuenschwander, the former President of the Europe East Area, who gave our spiritual thought. Elder Neuenschwander was released has about a year ago, when his wife became terminally ill. She has sinced passed away and he gave a poignant summary of his life during these last days and moments with his dear wife. It was one of the sweetest recollections, I have ever heard. In sharing these private moments with us, he said something that I thought was particularly profound. Somehow the conversation meandered to, not a discussion of, but of an acknowledge of the mysteries of God. Then he made this statement. To me, he said, the mystery of God is how he builds a testimony in man. He went on to talk about experience and how God gives us experience to help us develop, but keeps just the right balance so as not to abridge our agency. Think about that for a moment. Not only is that a mystery, but it is also a miracle. As we have discussed previously in our family, who would trade their troubles for the troubles of another man? Who would take away the trials of our pioneer saints, to have made their lives easier? Who would have relieved Joseph of his suffering, or the Savior's? Not even God. Recall, the Savior's prayer in the Garden of Gethsamane. Each day is gift. Each trial an opportunity for growth.
It's snowing out there today and 5 degrees below freezing. Yesterday, it was dry, no snow on the paths and a balmy 35 degrees or so. We're not complaining, it is easy to walk in new fallen snow. It is a day or two after, when it turns to ice that it gets a bit dicey!!
Tonight was FHE at the Shepard's. Our lesson was on the music. I introduced the group to the Church's interactive music player. If you haven't played with it, try it out at lds.org>gospel library>music> then drill down to the interactive music player. We sang hymns and started Christmas carolling with I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day and Come All Ye Faithful. We ended the evening with Cherry Cordial ice cream ala Baskin Robbins and mom's cranberry NUT bread! It was fun.
A Russian Turkey When we went shopping the other day we bought a 5-pound turkey (a chicken on steroids!) and it turned out to be a real turkey! It tasted like turkey. But it looked like a chicken! We had cranberry jello and cranberry dressing and cranberry bread. (We like cranberries!!). Anyway, it was as close as we could come to a real thanksgiving dinner. The turkey had no fat on it so it didn't look much like its American counterpart. So, as you can see by picture it looked pretty sad. (The blue plate that it is sitting on is a just a little bigger than a salad plate, to give you some perspective. I'll say it before you do: A Russian blue plate special!) However, with the benefit of a couple of hours in the oven, it turned out looking pretty good. When we woke up this morning, it had snowed about 5 to 6 inches again, but it was very warm. about 38 degrees when we took off for church. By the time we got out of church, almost all of the streets and walkways were slushy or clear. This was our first time to go to church by ourselves. We took the bus to the metro and then switched lines in midtown and then walked about 3/4 of mile from the metro. No mishaps. We got up at 6:15 and were in our seats by 9:20. Sacrament meeting starts at 9:30! We were home by 3:00 p.m. Mom near our apartment.Mom with Church behind her.
On Saturday night, we reciprocated with Natasha, one of our Russian neighbors. They had brought over a platter of shrimps the night before and last night we took them some warm cranberry bread. I hope they liked it.
We were going to watch an old Hitchcock movie this afternoon, an original of the "Man of Knew too Much." Forget about Doris Day and Que Sera Sera! Well, forget about the whole movie, because the two of fell asleep watching it. Not that it wasn't good, we just fell asleep.
It is overcast today, but a little warmer. More snow is melting from the walking paths and the streets. We took a pleasant little walk to the Brown's apartment to pick up some items that they were giving away. (They were kicked out of their apartment with just three months to go. But they found another one and are moving in today). We got an oscillating fan, some baking pans and a glass pitcher. We walked for about 10 minutes in the wrong direction, then made the course correction and probably walked about 1 hour in all. We washed sheets (as you can see from the pictures), mopped the floors, had lunch, and now mom is making cranberry nut bread and I am going to start on some church stuff (that I didn't get done Friday, because we left at noon to do some shopping). Mom eating lunch next to our sheets on the drying rack Our new fan
We cancelled our trip to Rosinka. It was just going to take more time than we had. Remember it takes about and hour to one and a half hours to get anywhere. If we stay a hour or two, that can take 5 hours or more.
But we do have a mini turkey defrosting that we hope to have for tomorrow. Its only 5 pounds. It looks like a chicken on steroids!! I hope it tastes like a turkey!
An example of your mother's resourcefulness; using her scarf as a tablecloth
Today was gorgeous. Brilliant sunshine...all day. Cold, but sun!! We have no complaints. Chris's luncheon was a huge success. We had two tasty desserts, roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, a fruit salad, grandma dorothy's chicken caserole, bread, and juice. A lovely time was had by all. The Russians liked our holiday. Elena, gave as the topic for the morning devotional, thanksgiving. It was great. She was very moved and moved us as well with her sweet spirit. On another occassion I will have to tell you about the spirit of the Russians with whom we work. It is quite remarkable.
Tomorrow night we celebrate Thanksgiving with the senior missionaries and on Saturday, we are invited to join the Rosinka crowd for another Thanksgiving celebration. So while we don't have family, we do have family, and they have been very generous to include us in so many activities.
I almost finished the first cut of the annual calendar. Just a few more entries and then tomorrow we will try to reconcile the conflicts created by two many good things scheduled on the same days. It will be good to have that behind us.
Walking is getting to be a little treacherous, due to the melting and then freezing of the snow. However, this past snowfall is just about gone from the paths that we walk on to the office because there are many crews who have cleared and shovelled the roadways, parking lots and walkways, except for one 50-yard stretch. That one section is still about 3-4 inches thick with ice. Snow is still on the ground everywhere else.
Well, we hope you all have a great Thanskgiving and remember to give thanks for all of our many blessings. I hope its not too much to ask for a blessing to be on our Cowboys. The boys are back!! Go Tony Romo!!
I am just finishing up working on the Area calendar for the night. I'm only on February, but I am beginning to move faster than I certainly was when I started. The challenge is working on a calendar where the data resides on a server, not your laptop. It is sloooowwww. But it will be good when it is complete.
Not much time to reflect on the fact that this is Chris' and my first Thanksgiving away from the family. No family, no turkey. But I can smell pumpkin bread in the kitchen!! Mom took it upon herself to organize a Thanksgiving celebration with our Russian collegues tomorrow at the office (lunch). All the trimings but no turkey, but we will have grandma Dorothy's chicken caserole. It should be good. We will miss not being with the family, but we will connect by way of video conference.
We celebrate with the seniors on Friday night (Thai food!(mom's favorite!)), so don't feel too sorry for us. We have lots of fun things to do...but no turkey??? Bah Humbug!!
We have been called to serve in Moscow, Russia on a mission for our church. We will serve for 18 months. We are also proud parents of 6 children and 12 grandchildren which includes our latest grandson, born since we left on our mission. It is with some difficulty that we leave our family and friends behind but we know that we are going where the Lord wants us to serve. We are excited about the opportunities that await us and the reunion that we will have when we return some time in 2009!!
Old Town from above the city wall!
Russian Orthodox Church
Dadd standing in one of the many interesting little alleys that provide shortcuts from one street to another.
