4-Day Weekend!!

It's official. We have four days off. What will we do with all of our free time? I know I have three checkbbooks to reconcile, but other than that we are free! The senior couples already are planning for Friday and Saturday activities. What they are I have no idea as of yet. But the sun is still shining. We just went big grocery shopping and now we are about to fix dinner.

I checked out a website today that converts your blog into a book. I tried it and it would not work with Blogger, so I sent in a technical question (there were three identical to mine on the internet). Hopefully I will hear back tomorrow. I saw the demo online and it was great. I just hope I can get it work.

Today was my day for the devotional. I shared the poem IF by Rudyard Kipling, focusing on the theme of filling the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run. Then I finish up with the story of the old woman who never felt like she had a chance to do anything, until she was encouraged to study bricks and then ants. I think both of these two stories helped me make my point that men and women should be anxiously engaged in a good cause.

Easter Surprises

To join in the Easter celebration with our Russian neighbors, we made up a little gift pack: The special March addition of the Russian language Liahona Magazine (in the states, the Ensign)devoted entirely to the what we believe about Christ, a CD by the Moscow Choir, the group we went to see in December, a choir made up of mostly members but also a number of nonmembers, an invitation to English Club, an invitation to church, and bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies. These we distributed from Saturday to Monday, by the time we got to all of them. Each responded in a very friendly manner. They are curious about our beliefs and we saw our friend who provides security on the ground floor, actually reading the magazine as went off to work on Monday. She gave Christ a book that contain full color picutres of some of her favorite Russian icons and then grabbed another stack of about 300 pictures for us to take upstairs to look at. We will return them tomorrow. All the rest responded in just minutes with treats for us. We recieved the special bread from two of our neighbors and dyed, hard-boiled eggs. They gave us fresh bread stuffed with cooked cabbage that was very tasty, and some herbal tea made from the flowers which grow around Lake Baikal, the largest fresh water lake in the world. It is more than a mile deep. I think it is just north of Mongolia.

One of your neighbors sent their two little kids with their goodies. About 7 and 4. They were so cute. The little girl was beaming to accompany her big brother on such an important assignment. As we said our Spaceebas, they were quick with, "You're welcome." (They all know a little English.)

The people in our apartment building are so kind and generous. Just think if we could go to the negotiating table with them and leave our governments on the sideline!!

Well, today was just as beautiful as Saturday and Sunday and there is nothing but blue skies in the forcast, for as far as a weatherman can see!!

This week is just a three-day week for us. Thursday and Friday are holidays. Next week is only a four-day week. We love the Russian holidays!!

Easter Morning in Moscow

It is just another perfectly beautifully day in Moscow. It is sunny and warm (around 60 degrees). Next week is supposed to be more of the same. Yesterday, we went out to a park for a picnic lunch with the Masons. A church is located in the park and hundreds of people were lined up to take their flowers into the intersanctum! Why or where they put there flowers we are not exactly sure. And the lengths of the lines getting into the church was greater than our curiousity!!They also bring in bread (a special Italian-like sweet bread)to be blessed.

I also did a little photo essay on our commute to work. I had to go in to the office this morning to set up the video conference for the Coordinating Council, which ended up being a complete disaster. We tried for about an hour to connect Vladivostok into a three way connection with the Area Presidency's office and Novosibirsk, but to no avail. Then when we tried to just connect with Novosbirsk (our original plan) their internet connection failed, so both Novosibirsk and Vladivostok were only able to participate by telephone conference. And even that didn't work that well. Right in the middle of the conference, the Meridian building shut off the power to the building. It was restored quickly, but not before the telephone connections were lost. Luckily, our technical people were on site and got them back up and running. I was already on the metro headed for the park!! Here are a few pictures: First the commute, then the park.

Our new path...with green and read bricks
The end of the line...for now
What we have been walking on for the past 6 months
Behind the store
Through the woods
Down the street to the Easter flower stand next to the Russian Orthodox Church
Across the street.
Down Smolnaya.
Past the rennock.
Up the driveway.
At the office.

And now a view from Sparrow Hill:


The Bunny Hill (Ski Jump for beginners) located atop Sparrow Hill. There were at least 5 or 6 levels of ski jumps. The landing surface is made of fiberglass fibers so that it can be used year around. Of course, based on its condition, I wouldn't recommend it.
The Big Mamma!!

A Beautiful Day in Moscow

We had a great day yesterday...all sunshine. Today is even better...about 5 degrees warmer...about 59 by the end of the day. We are going out this morning with the some of the seniors, but we first have to stop by the office and help set up the video conference for the Coordinating Council. This is our first attempt to connect more than two sites. Today we will try to connect Moscow, Novosibirsk and Vladivostok.

We got word on Nick's assignment...Mobile Alabama. We will be about 10 hours away. We had hoped for Dallas, but that is not all that bad. At least he will have some nice beaches and ocean.

We will check back in later today, hopefully, with a few pictures.

Success!

We did get a chance to talk to Benj yesterday and he is doing well. The police did catch the guys who hit his car. Only time will tell if he is able to squeeze any blood from the proverbial turnip.

Last night's presentation to the Council of the Twelve and the Area Committee was a big success. Elder Packer's generous praise of the work being done by the Area Presidency was very much appreciated. There is a good sense of understanding of just how difficult it is to operate and grow the church in such a challenging environment. The presentation generated a lot of discussion among the group in Salt Lake, long after we left the office. So, it was certainly worth all of the effort.

We got to sleep in this morning. We got to work just a little past 9:00 a.m. Marina, our Liahona Local Pages Editor returned for the first time after her wonderful trip to the U.S. It is great to see these wonderful people have such an opportunity. She and her group loved every minute of it. The only sad note was that inclement weather kept them from hugging a redwood tree in the Mariposa Grove. So Marina, this picutre is for you. I can't access the hundreds of pictures that I have taken in redwood forests all over California, so this one that I lifted off the internet will have to do!

I wonder how long it will be before I get to stroll through a redwood forest again!!

We got pretty well caught up again today after the last fews days working on the presentation. Chris made up some chocolate chip cookies and some cranberry and chocolate chip cookies to take into the office. We also sucked on a See's sucker that the Price's sent back with Marina.

We had a question about a decison the area presidency made a few weeks ago. President Pieper tried to stimulate my memory (that's a little like putting air into a leaky tire!!), but he gave me enough clues that I was able to query Decisionpoint and brought up the exact minute with the key points of discussion and the decision. We all felt pretty good about that!!

we left the office a little early today and took a wonderful nap this afternoon. Chris made some sweet and sour pork over rice. It was great!!

We are looking forward to getting out and about this weekend with some of the other seniors. We do have another video conference on Saturday that I must make sure comes off, but I don't have to be there for the conference. So I will probably just swing by the office for a few minutes, get things set up and then head for the metro to meet the other seniors!

Got a nice B-day greating from the Price's. Thanks Al and Barbara!

Best to all of you.

Fender Benjer

Today, we got an email from Benji boy that said that his car had been broadsided by a group of individuals in a car who apparently didn't wait around to see John Law. He put a rag to his head and walked home. Unfortunately he was not wearing his seatbelt and his head hit the windshield and broke it (the glass that is). Mom said she thought he ought to go to the doctor and have his head examined. He said he was checked out by an EMT who said he was fine. We haven't had a chance to talk to Benj yet, but we are going to try tonight (his midday).

Be careful when you are driving. Drive defensively. It takes only a second to change your life. The next person may not be as fortunate.

At the office, we are very busy. Monday was a great day. I got to go through all my notes and catch up on lots of little things that had been building up over the past week. Then today, Tuesday, we began our second effort on a presentation the Area Presidency will make to members of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. This is a once a year "State of the Area" message. I left the office tonight just a little past nine. Tomorrow, is when the presentation will be given, but we still have alot of daylight to make changes and polish the report. It's not always like this, but we have been burning the calendar on both ends for a while now. Once this presentation is behind us, Chris and I will get onto the final preparations for the New Mission Presidents' Seminar in June.

The Russian tradition is that you treat everyone in the office to a cake or pie on your birthday. Since my birthday was last Saturday, we were going to celebrate it on Monday, but we got too busy and didn't get the cake made. So we made it Monday night and brought it today. We made pineapple upside down cake from scratch (less the Betty Crocker yellow cake mix!!) But we did make our own caramel sause! This is not a common cake in Russia, though most people have heard about it. I think everybody liked...a lot!!

Greg Begins the First Day of His Sixtieth Year!!

Well, this has been some kind of week on the back of non-stop meetings last weekend. On Tuesday we began our slate of monthly meetings. I woke up at 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning wondering when I would ever get back to my minutes (Decisionpoint), so I got up and worked until 6:00 a.m. and got caught up. Day two became a very long day!! I would have done them right after dinner on Tuesday, but the Shepards were hosting FHE for the senior couples. On Wednesday afternoon, a sister in our office approach Sister Shepard and said, "Elder Shepard doesn't look too good!" At the end of day two, I did get to the minutes right after dinner and finished by about 10:00 p.m. Day three was a lot easier, having had a full night's rest. When I got home at the end of day three, I was decided to complete the third and final round of minutes. But I couldn't quite get the energy. By 8:30 p.m. I was fast asleep. On Friday, we began putting together a Powerpoint presentation for the Area Presidency. We completed the rough draft, emailed it to SL, had a video conference to review it. President Pieper and I left the office at around 8:30 p.m. We have Monday and Tuesday to "polish" the presentation. Saturday morning I completed my minutes from Thursday. Next week, I will try and catch up on everything else!!

I got a call this morning, from our visa and travel manager, indicating that they had no translator for the Coordinating Council being conducted today in Moscow. This was really my first one (other than the special one we arranged last December), so I didn't know about the translator requirements. Apparently, it had been communicated on the bottom of a spreadsheet showing travel arrangements for all of the Mission Presidents and District Presidents that were attending. Unfortunately, I never saw it. But we get a chance to redeem ourselves next week, when the second round of Coordinating Councils begin. The good news is, that in most councils, there are people who speak enough English to translate for those who don't speak Russian. It's just an extra burden we would rather they didn't have to bear.

In the afternoon, we celebrated my birthday. We did see a little sun. We went to the store. Chris made some yummy meatloaf. We watched a movie/took a nap (man can we multi-task!). Chris gave me a hand-carved, hand-painted Russian box to keep my keys, wallet, etc. I get a little treasure and it keeps the apartment picked up!! We both win.

I have a lesson to ready for tomorrow. Chris is working on the final steps to organize the branch library. It's supposed to rain tomorrow.

I thought I would post a couple of pictures from the concert we attended a couple of nights ago.

Qaunte Volte Ti Ho Cercado

Andrea Bocelli is gift to us from our son, Nick, who discovered him while on his mission in Italy. Today, after recovering the internet (they shut us down due to an error in their billing records, but with a call from friends in high places it was quickly restored)and restoring the external speakers to the computer (the power source for my old set of Sony speakers finally gave up the ghost!), I began to listening to Andrea Bocelli's album, Andrea. I heard a song that I had heard several times before, but today, enhanced by the cold and dreary weather that just rolled in, it had the power to carry me into a cross between nostalgia and melancholy. I listened to it several times. I couldn't put my finger on where the melancholy came from. Just minutes before I had no such feelings. After I had absorbed all the song could give, the following song, When a Child is Born, brought me back from the spell that had been previously cast. Isn't it great how men can just compartmentalize their feelings. It was fun, in a strange sort of way, but now it's gone. If you like a great tenor, this is an album I would recommend.

Sunday Night

We finished our training for our new Area Seventies on Saturday and today we held an Area Conference. Everything went well. Great discussions from their General Conference experience. Nobody was stranded. Everybody was on time and had a way to get home!!

Chris and I had dinner (I ate my first 1/2 cup of rice since I started my diet). It was great. I made some pork chops in pepper sauce, while Chris took a nap. It isn't often that she gets to eat a meal she doesn't cook. She really enjoys eating food she doesn't have to cook!!

Tonight we have been on the phone with Sarah, Jason and Nick. I plan on calling my mom later tonight. We will get the rest of the kids through the week.

We really appreciate all that is being done to help Sarah. Zack, it sounds like you are the breakfast/morning lifesaver. Thanks for your efforts.

I have been reading the book, Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns-Goodwin. It's a great read. I'm just getting into it, but it is about those who competed with Lincoln for the presidency, who, later, became members of his cabinet. (Can you see that happening today?!!)I inherited the book from our friends the Prices.

It was another warm day in Moscow. We have had sunshine for 14 out of 15 days, though today there wasn't as much. We are supposed to get colder weather and rain through the next week. It's been more like Summer than Spring. So I guess we can't complain about a little Spring.

Next week is my week of big meetings. These are all consuming days. I will probably not surface again until Thursday or Friday. In my spare time I will continue to work on the Articles of Faith in Russian.

All the best to all of you.

Why I am Here in Moscow or What You Were Promised Before You Came to Earth.

This is the 101th post on our mission blog. To commemorate the first of the next hundred posts, I thought I would share a project that I have been working on for a few weeks now; to write a proclamation of what I believe and then research scripture to support these beliefs to make sure I am on solid ground. It's a facinating process. You must understand that this is a work in progress. Currently, I am researching scriptures to support each statement. Then, after the research, I will rewrite the document in a final form. So, here is the first draft.

What You Were Promised Before You Came to this Earth
Before you were born you made a decision of your own free will, to come to this earth to gain experience, and learn principles in this life that would lead to true happiness. You were told that you might suffer greatly here, but that it would be worth it because of what you would learn and that adversity is necessary for you to develop and become all that you can be. You were promised that your afflictions would not be greater than you could bear.

You came to this earth because you knew that you had a Heavenly Father who loved you and you wanted to become like him. You knew that he had traveled a similar path to develop into what he had become, a perfected, glorified being.

You knew that by coming to this earth, you would be tempted to make choices that were contrary to principles of happiness. While you came with a desire to make correct choices, having not yet been perfected, you knew that you would make mistakes. You knew that these unwise choices would keep you separated from your Father in heaven, forever, unless a way was provided for you to become, once again, without sin. So a plan of redemption was provided that would allow mercy to swallow up the demands of justice and enable you to be cleansed, and one day return to your Father in heaven. You understood that God would never interfere with your choices. This was his gift to you—your moral agency.

You also knew about an alternative plan that was presented that would have allowed you to avoid the suffering of this world. It would have produced a world without temptations and protected you from pain, suffering and sorrow. So convincing was its author that one-third of your brothers and sisters chose this alternative plan. But you understood that without adversity, no matter how painful it might be, you could not progress. This other plan would have eliminated your right to choose, which you knew was contrary to the will of God. With the alternative plan you would have remained sinless but innocent and, therefore, you would have experienced no progress.

We are here today because we chose to come here. We cannot remember these things for a wise and noble purpose—so that we could develop faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ reveals things as they were; as they are; and as they will be. Our responsibility is to learn and grow and to partake in the plan of redemption, so that we might return to our Heavenly Father, and live with the other members of our earthly family as an eternal family.

We must discover for ourselves if the doctrine outlined here is true. If we find that it is true, then we will spend the rest of our lives learning the doctrine and exercising the principles that will lead to true happiness, in this world and in the world to come. In doing so, we will learn about faith, repentance, and the Holy Ghost, by which we may learn the truth of all things.

It is through the Holy Ghost that God reveals his will to men. As we endeavor to unravel the mysteries of this world with righteous pure intent, God inspires man, from the discovery of electricity to the invention of the computer. These “technologies” when used wisely provide benefit for man and provide the means to accomplish God’s purposes. For our own sake, we hope to discover early in this life that success is not measured by the size of our bank account, or by the size of a ring on our finger, but in the patience we develop, by our capacity to love our fellowman, and in the gratitude we acquire for all that our Heavenly Father has given us.

Thus, we can learn the purpose of life. Everything that we study in our scriptures leads to a greater understanding of the doctrine and the principles that we must learn to be truly happy. Everything that we do, all that we feel, can be explained as a result of learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the solution to the world’s problems, one person at a time. Putting your faith in anything other than Jesus Christ will only lead to heartache and disappointment. He is who He said He was, the Son of God, the truth, the way and the light. There is no other way.

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).