Wow! It has been a crazy couple of days in Dallas. We arrived on Monday night around 9:30. By the time we got home, it was 11:00. Our son Jason was the only one able to meet us. Everyone else has small children and it was a school night. So, they all showed up the next day for a pizza party. It was a great reunion. It was fun hugging and kissing our grandchildren. Only Lore in Alabama was missed, but we will get a chance to see her in a couple of weeks.

On Tuesday, we renewed our driver's licenses, re-registered our cars, got both cars inspected and an oil change. That was by around 10:30. Then I went on into Plano to buy some clothes and Chris headed for home to begin her magic with the house. With no suits and shoes, if I didn't get lucky, I could look awfully funny at church on Sunday! I did get lucky and will be able to pick up my suits on Saturday night.

The next stop was to the cell phone companies; Verizon and AT&T (located about 200 yards from one another. We ended up with one regular cell and one iphone. Then I went over to Best Buy (all of this shopping was done in the new shopping center next to the house) to purchase a computer. I was looking to buy a beefy laptop but it was quite pricey (an Apple, not a PC). Then I received a little inspiration and ended up buying a pretty robust desktop model (the same as the beefy laptop) and a smaller laptop (two for less than the price of one!). I have been working for the past two days to get my mind wrapped around the Apple world. It will take some time, until I am going to be really comfortable again. But just the time I save booting up will be enough to learn what I need to know. It is a pleasure to work on the Mac. I wish everyone could.

It took some time to get Chris' Land Rover to pass inspection. It seems that there are computer systems on the car, that don't kick in until the car is driven for some time, if it has not been used lately. So the computer kept telling us that two systems were not ready. If only one system failed the test we would get a pass, but not with two. So on the day we were to travel to my mother's in California, I had to drive around the neighborhood and put on another 35 miles on the car before I could try the test again. After putting over 100 miles on the car from the initial test, it finally passed. That was good, because if we hadn't been able to pass, my time would have expired and I would have had to pay for the inspection again!

The weather in Dallas has been very windy and a little cool, but much warmer than Moscow, so we are not complaining. I suspect that by the time we return from California, the cold weather will be a distant memory.

We have had many wonderful dinner invitations, so the reunion parties continue. By next week we will be yesterday's news, but for now we feel quite special. We enjoyed a day of church on Sunday. I have got to study the ward list for the names of all of the new people in our ward and to remember many of those, who I have forgotten! The good news is that I was able to download the names of ward members on to my iphone and I can study them on my way to California.

Our Last Day in Moscow

The house is just beginning to come alive. We leave in about an hour. The Gibbons leave about an hour after that. It is a perfectly clear day in Moscow. We can only hope that the sun is shining as brightly in Dallas.

This past week has been very busy and I just didn't get the chance to report on a couple of other special occassions. Earlier in the week we were invited to the home of our mission president, President Cranney. Sister Cranney out did herself again. The food was great with a chocolate dessert to die for. The best way to describe it is to liken it to chocolate being taken interveiniously!!

At the end of the week, we were invited to the Pages. Rick Page is the General Counsel for the Church in Russia. He has a beautiful family. We met four daughters and the newest of the grandbabies. That is until this week. I think they may already have a new one!

The expressions of kindness and appreciation for our service have been overwhelming. The EEA really appreciates the sacrifices made by senior couples to come and serve in their area.

To that point, I will finally say it, "We need more senior couples throughout the world." It really is not such a sacrifice. We have had a wonderful experience and have received far more than we have given. We have met and grown to love so many people, which would not have occurred if we had remained couch potatoes in Dallas!! Don't worry too much about leaving things behind. Just turn in your papers. The Lord will provide.

We tried to do our best. We hope the Lord is pleased with our efforts.

Our Farewell: The Search for the Russian Soul Completed

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then we ate lunch.

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

Here are a few pictures of the luncheon:

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

Then they sang a closing song which needs no introduction:

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

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

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

We'll Be Home for Easter

Continuing health problems are plaguing my mother. She has been diagnosed with blood clots in her lungs, as well as, a mass on one lung, about 1 cm square. She is beginning a regime of blood thinners and will need to be taken to the hospital every other day for next few weeks to monitor her progress. Cindy (my sister) arrives tomorrow. She will assist in the driving. We will leave our mission 5 days early, so that we can continue on to California and help with the driving thereafter.

The prognosis is good that the bloodclots can be dissolved and that she can regain her lung capacity. Once the bloodclot issues are resolved, a biopsey can be performed on her lung and surgery can be scheduled, if needed.

Of course, it is with mixed emotions that we consider leaving early. We are grateful that we will only be losing 5 days, but we are making great progress with our replacements, the Halls. They are very capable. We are working overtime each day to complete their orientation and training. We are available to work this Saturday, if needed. So in reality, we will only be losing about three days of planned training time.

On Monday night we went with the Elena and Vlad Nechiporov to a Russian Folk dance performance at the Tchaichovksy Concert Hall. It was absolutely wonderful. I was really impressed with the men, whose dancing is a phenomenal display of strength and endurance. The women were great, but the men's dancing took my breath away. We also, went out to dinner before the performance. I managed to get the bill for dinner, but I couldn't persuade the Nechiporov's to let us pay for the theater tickets. (They had already treated us to a concert and dinner a month or so earlier.) The seniors got wind of the dance performance and went the following night.

Tomorrow is our farewell luncheon. It will be hard to say goodbye to all of our good friends here in Moscow. We have invited everybody to come and see us in Texas on their next trip to America. We hope they take us up on our offer.

Dos Vandanya!!

Another Mission Miracle

We had just arrived and unloaded our bags at the Gibbon's home, on Friday the 13th, when President Gibbons got a phone call from Rodney Smith. Then he handed me the phone and Sarah was on the other line. Before she could deliver the message, she burst into tears, "Grandma Shepard has had a heart attack." I gave her a moment to compose herself, and then she gave me the details. They weren't promising. Sarah wasn't sure if she was going to make it, based on what she had been told.

I began to make some calls and soon I was connected to the nurse who was taking care of my mother. I got a pretty good summary of her condition from the nurse and then he asked if I wanted to speak to my mom. When she picked up the phone, I could tell that she was very weak and she related to me pretty much what I had already learned from Sarah. She had had a heart attack. The doctor was pretty sure that there would be some damage to the heart, based on the results of the EKG. My mother had gone in the day before to have a stress test on a treadmill but they decided not to do the stress test, but gave her an EKG showed that she had suffered a heart attack.

The next step was to do an angiogram. Unfortunately, she has already had two bypass surgeries in the past to help restore circulation in her legs. The doctor thought that the scar tissue from these previous procedures might prevent them from going through the groin area, which was the preferrable course. If the procedure could be done through the groin, they would have the option of improving the blood flow with a stent. If the scar tissue was too great, they would have to go with the second option, which was to go through the arm, which could only produce the diagnostics, but not a stent. If that was the case, then open heart surgery would be the only other available option.

To complicate matters, tests revealed some loss of function to the kidneys. There was talk of dialysis. The condition was thought to be degenerative and noncureable. There was no mention as to how long it would take for the kidneys to fail.

As weak as she was, it was great to hear her voice. What I didn't know is whether this would be the last time, in this life, that I would hear her voice. She was scheduled for the procedure in about thirty minutes. I offered my encouragement and said my goodbyes and then called mys sister Cindy, to give her the number so that she could call and talk to our mother. I had talked to her just moments before. She had gotten a brief summary from our dad, but she didn't know how to connect with our mom. She told me that she had called our sister, Julie, but that she was not able to make contact. So she hung up and called my mom. She got to talk for about 10 minutes.

Just as the procedure began, I called a few of the senior couples and explain our situation and asked them to pray for my mother. I then sent out an email to our Area Presidency, the Area Seventy and the Mission Presidents to ask them if they would pray with us. Then Chris and I knelt in prayer. Sarah was organizing a family fast and organizing prayers in Dallas and Alabama with family and friends.

Two hours later, the procedure was complete. I called the nurse back and she asked if I wanted to speak to my mother. That was promising already. As weak as she sounded, we were not sure if she would even make it through the procedure. We weren't sure if the dye that is used in the angiogram would shut down her kidneys.

When my mother answered, she was a new woman. She was bursting with energy, "We did it," she explained. It was such a good feeling to hear her feisty voice again!! She got the stent and blood was coursing through her veins. We are still a little unclear about the kidneys, but the nurse said, it appeared that tests on her kidneys were more near the normal range. Through 11 time zones in Russia, from Dallas to Utah, prayers were given and heard and blessings flowed.

The Halls (our replacements) arrived the next morning (Saturday). When Chris mentioned our experience from the day before, Sister Hall exclaimed, "You're not going home eary, are you?" "No." we said, "We will be going home right on time!!"

The Halls are a very wonderful couple who have already served their first fulltime mission as a couple in Mexico. They have also served, locally two to three days a week at their cannery. Sister Hall also served in Brazil, when she was younger. At that time there were just two missions in Brazil...today there are 28!!

David Nearon got the Halls to church on time, so they have had their first encounter with the bus system and the metro. They came back with us to the Gibbon's for dinner and we got a chance to become more acquainted. Elder and Sister Hall appear to be one another's best friend, just like Sister Shepard and I!!

Tomorrow will come early. We start the early regime, 5:30 to rise; at the office at 7:00 a.m.; day one of orientation.

Now its times for fun and games with the Gibbons! We will post again soon!

Happy Birthday Narene or The Name Game!

Last night we went to the Ireland's for family home evening. It was a hoot. First of all, we had Narene's year wrong. I think she would have been happy to play along with her newly assumed age, since we missed it by a year, in her favor!! Being the gentleman that I am, it will remain for someone else to reveal it to you.

Narene made a wonderful dinner; chicken and rice, macaroni salad, jello salad with colored marshmellows, and a fun carrot salad with white raisans seasoned with cumin, nutmeg, and cinnamon. All of it was very tasty!

Since it was a birthday party, Sam decided that we should just play a game so we dispensed with the lesson. It was a game made for seniors. Here is how it is played. I am writing this down, because if I don't I won't remember it!!

You will need 12 to 14 people to make it interesting. Place everyone seated in a circle with one empty chair. Place everyone's name in bowl and draw a name. If you draw your own name, draw again. Do not reveal whose name you have.

Designate three or four chairs as your target chairs. (We chose three, but more advanced players may want to try four!). Make one of the target chairs the empty chair and place a man and a women in the other two chairs. The object of the game is to get three women or three men all seated in the target chairs.

The game begins with one person seated to left of the blank chair calling out any name in the group. That person, whose name is called (not the real person but the person with that person's name), takes the empty chair and the person to the left of the new empty chair calls out another name. You can't call out the name you are holding and a name can't be called two times in a row.

After the game has been played for some time, and if you have been concentrating (which is hard to do if you are a senior), you can begin to call the names of people to move them the way you want to until you fill the three target seats with members of your sex. The challenge of course is memory, which is in very limited supply among our senior group. I cannot begin to tell you how hard we were laughing as individuals, who could win the game, if they called the right name, could not remember which name to call. This went on over and over. However, when the dust settled, the men had won both of the games that we played.

A Woman's Day Holiday Celebration--The Moscow Circus

Yesterday was actually Woman's Day, but they set aside today as the holiday. Sam had purchased tickets earlier to take Anna and Nastia, his and Narene's translators for a little thanksgiving treat. They invited us to go along.

The definition of circus is really different in a way and not so different in other ways. There were lions and tigers, but no bears. There were trained horses and trapeze artists. There were tumbling acrobats and little chineese girls that could bend like pretzels. There were clowns and a jester, who served as the MC. There was magic and illusions, women disappeared and tigers and leopards appeared. There was no sawdust, but the center ring (the only ring) was converted into a fountain and a pond. Lots of lazers, smoke, blacklights and dramatic music. It was very entertaining.

Before we went to the circus, we had lunch with the Irelands and the Masons. We went to the American Grill, on Tverskaya. Everybody loved their lunch and several of us had a real American chocolate milkshake!!

It snowed pretty good last night. Everything was white and clean and quiet. The temperature got about 32 degrees and the streets were full of puddles and the sidewalks were quite slushy.

We were going to go home with the Irelands to eat and play Rummycube, but by the time we got to Cokol, it was already almost 7:00. So Chris asked if we could beg off and come back tomorrow (the Irelands are hosting our FHE this week). So Narene is just going to invite all of the seniors who want to come early to join for a light dinner before FHE. Chris says we need to bring the dessert, because tomorrow is Narene's birthday!! We should be fixing dinner for her! Here a couple of videos from todays circus performance:

Lions and Tigers and no Bears...Oh my!!

This one just takes your breath away!

Was that a triple?!!

Inside the Kremilin

The one place on this planet I thought I would never see in my lifetime was inside the Kremlin. But never say never, because this past Saturday we took our first tour. Historically, here is quick summary I found on the internet:

The Kremlin is Russia's mythic refuge, a self contained city with a multitude of palaces, armories, and churches, a medieval fortress that links the modern nation to its legendary past in the ancient state of Kievan Rus'. As the dominance of Kiev faded and its empire fragmented under the weight of foreign invasion and internecine strife in the 11th and 12th centuries, regional princes gained power. In 1147, as Kievan Rus was experiencing its final death throes, a chronicler recorded that a feast was held at the hunting lodge of Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy, ruling prince of Rostov and Suzdal. The lodge was perfectly situated atop a hill overlooking the Moskva and Neglina rivers, prompting its development (in such troubled times) as a fortified town, or Kremlin.

Within a century, the town had risen to become an independent principality within the Mongol empire. By the middle of the 14th century, its princes had gained such pre-eminence that Moscow was made the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church. With Ivan the Great (1462-1505) at its helm, Muscovite rule extended over all of Russia, and the Kremlin became more magnificent, befitting its role as the seat of Russian power. By 1480 the once modest hunting lodge had become an imposing fortress city. Its stone walls were graced by the magnificent Cathedral of the Assumption, where Ivan defiantly tore up the charter binding Moscow to Mongol rule. Over the next two centuries, until Peter the Great transferred the capital of Russia to St. Petersburg, the Kremlin served as the central stage for the magnificent and occasionally horrific history of the Tsars.

We went with the Masons, Reeses and Irelands. Unfortunately, Clark and Renee were given tickets of lesser value (even though they paid for the same tickets that we did!) and they were not able to get into all the attractions. A few babuska's showed some mercy and got them into a few the exhibitions, but the men would not budge!!

For all that one reads about the Kremlin, a first time visitor is taken aback at the number of churchs within the walls. This tour is mostly of the grounds and churches. There were no tours of the government buildings. We did get to see a special display of rubies and emerald jewlery from India. I was impressed that the art was so intricately detailed; it was not just about how big the precious stones were(though there were a few of those too).

Here are a few pictures that we took along our tour:

Narene, Chris, Clark, Renee, Greg and Linda (Stephen and Sam are taking the pictures! This picture is taken on the main bridge leading to one of the many towers that surround the Kremlin.
First view after passing through the tower.
Looking back at the tower. On the left you can just see the edge of the Kremilin Theater. It looked rather grand from the outside, but we never had the opportunity to attend one of its productions.

The impressive bronze Tsar Cannon is one of the largest canons ever made and was cast in 1586 by the foundry man Andrei Chokhov. The canon is 5.34 meters long, weighs an impressive 40 tons and has an incredible caliber of 890 mm. It was originally created with the purpose of defending the Kremlin's Savior Gate, which leads to Red Square, but the canon was never actually fired and has remained on display in the Kremlin as a fine example of Russian workmanship ever since. Its bronze barrel bears a relief of Ivan the Terrible's son, Fyodor, and its enormous gun carriage, which was cast over 250 years later in 1835, is decorated with a lion and snake fighting on either side and a lion's head behind the barrel. The cannon balls lying in front of the canon were cast at the same time as the gun carriage, but are merely decorative as the canon was always intended to fire stone case-shot.


The enormous Tsar Bell is an impressive 6.14 meters in height, 6.6 meters in diameter and weighs some 200 tons, making it the largest bell in the world. The bell's bronze surface is decorated with relief depictions of Tsar Alexei and Empress Anna, who decreed the casting of the first Tsar Bell as well as the one on display today. The first version weighed 130 tons and was cast in 1655, but not hoisted into the belfry of the Assumption Cathedral for another 19 years, where it fell to the ground and immediately shattered in the fire of 1701. Almost three decades later, Anna ordered that the broken fragments be used to cast a second larger bell, which was executed between 1734 and 1735 by local foundry man Ivan Motorin, his son Mikhail and nearly 200 craftsmen.

While the bell was cooling off in its casting pit, a great fire began in the Kremlin in May 1737 and water thrown on the bell in attempt to douse the flames caused a chunk weighing over 11 tons to crack and break off. The bell lay in the great pit on Ivanovskaya Square for almost a hundred years until 1836, when the French architect Auguste Montferrand raised it and place it on a granite pedestal, next to its broken section.

On our way to the Kremlin from Ismayalova (we were searching for a few last minute gifts) we stopped at McDonalds for lunch and then stopped to take this picture of the latest fashions in Russian men's headgear.
Sam sporting his new mink Shaptka, Stephen with a sporty snap-brim hat, Greg with his classic rabbit hat from Hungary, Clark with his Cabella's sportsman cap and Dave with toughing it out without a hat!

Notice Sam's new gloves. On his way to the Kremilin he left his nice leather gloves on the metro (he was too busy chatting with Sister Shepard!). It was only now that appreciated the little angel selling homemade socks at Ismalova. He didn't really want any socks, but the little babuska could bearly speak and he felt compelled to be generous. Unfortunately, after arriving at a negotiated price, when he dug into his pockets he came up short, so the little babuska had mercy on him and she just settled for what he had. Little did he know that in a few minutes his new found treasure would be used as gloves--not socks!!

Earlier in the week week we were invited to dinner at the home of Lidia and Alexsey Samaykin. Lidia is one of our area office secretaries and her husband is the Materials Manager. Alexsey reports to David Stapley our DTA. They have a wonderful, but small apartment. They gave us a presentation of their makeover on the computer. It was quite an amazing transformation. Alexsey did some great finish work and Lidia pitched in too. They proved that a husband and a wife can hang wallpaper and still have a strong marriage!!
Sitting down for dinner in their kitchen. We had Borscht (beet soup), chicken, rice, salad, other meat slices, great Russian bread and we brought eclaire like pastries for dessert. It was all wonderful.
Their living room and bedroom.

Later in the week we celebrated Acia's birthday. Here she is holding her handmade card. Marina and Elena are the ones in our office that make these fantastic custom cards. Just another victory over Hallmark!!

Maslenitsa, also called Shrovetide

Today, the Russians celebrate their first day of spring. In that way a Russian is a little like an Oklahoma Sooner. They just can't wait to get past winter and begin their springtime celebrations.

Maslenitsa (Pancake week) is the only purely Russian Holiday that dates back to the pagan times. For seven days (February 23 to March 1) Moscow jingles with bells, sings with garmoshkas and glares with gaily-painted dresses. The people are letting the long-annoying winter out and the long-awaited spring in.

The counters in the Maslenitsa town are groaning with various dainties. There are the paunchy samovars with mellow tea, bunches of sweet-scented barankas, nuts and honey pies with different signs: "Whom I love - to those I give", "A present of the sweet-hart is the dearest". Salted foods, various fish, caviar - choose and eat anything however much you like!

But the essential elements, of course, are pancakes (blini). Pankacke is a symbol of sun. It is as round, gold and warm as the sun. Pancakes are served hot with either butter, or sour cream, or caviar, or mushrooms, or sturgeon - to any exquisite taste.

Where else can you take a horse-drawn sledge ride that will take your breath away? Or take a jaunty slip down an enormous ice slope? Or go round on a giant carousel? The Great Maslenitsa will reel you round in a dancing fairy-circle and your feet won't be able to keep still to the sprightly chastooshkas (gaily songs) and byword. Clowns and skomorokhs (histrions) will make you laugh to tears. The show goes on and on in the balagans (Punch-and-Judy shows) and theatres. And those who will not want to be simply a spectator can take part in the masquerade: to dress up beyond recognition or to muffle in a long fur coat and to drink a glass of vodka with a bear.

On the last day of the Great Maslenitsa the feasting and drinking ends up by burning down the scarecrow symbolizing winter thus saying goodbye to winter till the next year.

For the Russians Maslenitsa is like a carnival for the Italians, especially because the initial sense of festivals is the same: the Italian word "carnival" (carne-vale) means "farewell the beef!", and Maslenitsa that precedes the Great Lent, in old time was called "Myasopust" because it was forbidden to eat meat during this week.

The last day of Maslenitsa is called the Forgiveness Day. Everybody ask one another for forgiveness in order to redeem themselves from their sins before the Great Lent. They bow to one another and say, "God will forgive you". Maslenitsa is over and so is the winter giving way to the spring.

Everybody knows what the Russian Soul is! This is prowess, dare-devilry, and, of course, the famous Russian hospitality. Everybody is welcome to Moscow to see the Russian winter off!

Here is another take on the subject:

Shrovtide is an ancient Russian holiday which dates back to the 9th century. It begins a week before Shrove Monday, which is the last Monday before the 40-day fast period of Lent. Shrovetide is the most cheerful of all Russian holidays. Not to participate in this holiday means to live in poverty for the rest of the year.

Each day of Shrovetde has its own rituals. They are:

Monday: People set up stalls selling pancakes, toys and crafts. A Shrovetide dummy is dressed in a sarafan and seated on a sledge. The sledge goes along the treets, inviting people to join in and celebrate the festival.

Tuesday: People dress up in their best clothes and go out for toboganning and pancakes. Young men look for their future wives and people kiss, dance and flirt with each other.

Wednesday: Mother's-in-law invite their sons-in-laws to try delicious pancakes. The sons-in-law bring gifts and weet honey cakes.

Thursday: On this day there are more toboganning along with plenty of fun. People play at fistfighting and capturing snow fortresses. They go theater perofmrances, eat pancakes, drink and dance.

Friday: Sons-in-law invite their mothers-in-law to their homes for pancakes.

Saturday: Sisters-in-law recieve guests.

Sunday: The Shrovetide staw dummy is solemnly burnt as a symbol of life's victory over death. Ashes are scattered over the fields in order to have an excellent harvest in the autumn. In the evening, people forgive all offences so that everyone can meet the spring with a clear conscience.

Marina brought some wonderful pancakes to the office so that we could participate in their joyful celebration.

Acia, Marina and Lidia with the pancakes and home canned cherries from Marina's dacha.
The beautiful set table!
A culinary delight!!

On Saturday, we went to the Polytechnical Musuem of Science, just down the street from the old KGB headquarters, about 1/2 mile east of the Red Square. We had read that the displays were not too impressive, so our expectations were rather low. One article indicated that it would probably be closed by the summer. However, we thought it was one of the best museums that we have been too. It was certainly modest, but the displays of old cars, radios, tv's, satellites, chemistry, steam engines, etc. were quite interesting. We spent about 3 1/2 hours there!! Later, we stopped by a McDonalds for lunch, before heading for the Christ the Redeemer Church, which is on the other side of Red Square. On our way we saw the festivities associated with Maslenitsa, just on the southern end of Red Square, below St. Basils. There were many shops and bilinis for all. We didn't go in, because we were on our way to the cathedral and there was a very long line to get inside.

The cathedral was quite impressive, but kind of sad, since it really used more for show than for worship. The original Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built over 44 years to celebrate the 1812 victory over Napoleon. It was completed in 1883. Stalin had the church destroyed in 1931, but it was rebuilt using mostly private funds in 1999. The new church is a replica of the original. Note that it took 44 years the first time and only 4 years the second to complete the church! Isn't modern technology impressive.

One interesting tidbit is that it took three attempts to blow up the church in 1931. Stalin planned to build a huge Palace of the Soviets on the cleared land, but engineers determined that the land was too boggy. In the 60 years intervening, the space was used for a variety of things, including a year-round swimming pool!

Rendering of the Palace of the Soviets. This rendering is in basement museum of the Cathedral. I didn't take my camera today, but I will get some photos from the Irelands to post later.

It Ain't Over 'Till It's Over

The Mission Presidents' Seminar was smooth sailing, except for a few moments of technical failure (the radio microphones were interferring with the radio transmitters we use to broadcast from the translator's station). But it was infrequent and didn't last but an instant.

Everyone seemed to like the hotel and, of course, there was a very good spirit in our meetings.

The cultural activities were well received. At the Bolshoi New Stage Theater, we saw A Legend of Love. This was not a classical ballet performance. The music was much more modern and there were no tutus. The story was about a sister who sacrifices her beauty to save the life of her sister. Later in life, the two sisters fall in love with the same person. She, of course, is no competition for her beautiful sister. The ballet was just across the street from the hotel. With the exception of about 50 yards of solid ice, it was an easy walk.

The next day, we marched to the Kremlin to see the museum at the Armory. It was great fun and our guides were wonderful. Ours had quite a sense of humor and was very informative. Over 55 people attended both events. On Saturday, we were joined by our office staff (Acia, Lidia and Marina) and their families.

We ended up with an extra ticket to the ballet, so we were able to invite one of our patriarchs to go (Brother Gary Browning), who happened to be giving patriarchal blessings in the Moscow West Mission.

Immediately following the Mission Presidents' Seminar, we held an Area Council in the Tolstoy room of the hotel. The Tolstoy Room is on the second floor (our seminar had been on the first floor, in the Red Room.) We had no sooner gotten started than a rock and roll band started tuning up in the Metorpol Restaurant, for what we had heard was going to be birthday celebration. The Metropol Restaurant, the Mirror Room and the Red Room are all side-by-side. We were just above the Mirror Room (the room we used for our lunches and breaks), closest to the Metropol Restaurant.

I immediately exited the meeting to see what could be done to reduce the noise level. Across the hall, the door to a room had been left open, as well as a window that overlooked the restaurant. They were setting up lights and other equipment for the big extravaganza that was supposed to start at 5:00. (We were scheduled to go until 6:00). I closed the window and the door and that helped a great deal, but the thunderous sounds of the base were vibrating through the floor.

Every so often the sound levels would increase considerably and I would exit to find that someone had opened the door or the window again. I did find some of the workers who seemed to understand our problem and they did there best to minimize the sound, but it was not all that effective.

I then went looking for a room that we could move to, but no matter where I went in the hotel, the sound followed me. Occassionally, we would get about 10 or 15 minutes of silence and then it would start again. Given the circumstances, the Area Presidency shortened our meeting, and the ordeal ended at 5:00.

As I was leaving, Denise Smogluck, who was our translator for the meeting, noticed signs on all of the other suites on our floor. He indicated that they were rooms reserved for some of the most popular rock stars in Russia. It reminded me of time when I was directing a video shoot,for one of my clients, in Dallas and ZZ Top showed up to jam in the room next to ours. Fortunately, they only practiced for an hour, so we were able to complete our shoot.

Here are a few pictures of some our activities:

Marina, Linda, Chris and Acia making up fruit baskets with Russian Chocolates for the guests at the hotel.
A picture of our hotel room sitting area. A nice bowl of fruit was placed in the room of each member of the Area Presidency by the hotel. I was nice of them to give us one, as well.
The fountain in the middle of the Metropol Restaurant, where we ate breakfast.
The harpist, at breakfast in the Restuarant.
Our group walking under the street on our way to the ballet.
Inside the the theater.
The ballet, the Legend of Love.
On the way to the Armory Museum.

Sneg Idiot

All I'm really saying is, "It's snowing!"

And it is. We have probably gotten a foot over the past 24 hours or so. It is fun and it is warm, so we are happy. Lots of snowmen everywhere we walked today. The most we ever saw.

Today we went with Sam and Narene to their branch and then went back home with them for dinner. Narene made a wonderful stew and jello dessert. We always have a good time with Sam and Narene.

We are home now and we were quite impressed with just how light it was as we were coming home. It was still light until about 6:00. That is some progress since December 21, when it was dark by 4:00!

There is a hint of sun in the forecast for next Friday, the first day of the seminar, though it should be about 5 to 10 degrees colder. But this weather changes continuously. The five-, ten-, and fifteen-day forecast for Moscow is about as accurate as one for Dallas!

Jason Shepard for School Board, Allen Independent School District

Check out the new link on the right side of the blog, Shepard for School Board AISD. Let's get the word out; he needs all of the help he can get. He would love to receive an email from you, if you can support his candidacy.

Today is Valentine's Day and we are going to a Valentine's Party with the Seniors, at the Nearon's. It is also our group get together before we leave.

Next week is the Interim Mission Presidents' Seminar and then we get ready for the Hall's and they will be here on March 14. Wow! It seems impossible that our time is drawing to a close in Moscow. We have just a few Senior Saturday's left, because we will spend the last two weeks in Rosinka. However, I think we will figure out a way to get to town at least once or twice while we are there.

We have our plane reservations and have changed our seat from Row 40 to Row 26!! This is Delta flight through Atlanta to Dallas. We get home around 8:30 to 9:00.

Well, it's time to party. I can hear Linda in the Hall.

What Have You Got for Collateral?

A parable about banks.

The old native American wanted a loan for $500.

The banker pulled out the loan application, "What are you going to do with the money?"

"Take jewellery to city and sell it," was the response.

"What have you got for collateral?"

"Don't know collateral."

"Well that's something of value that would cover the cost of the loan.

Have you got any vehicles?"

"Yes, 1949 Chevy pickup."

The banker shook his head, "How about livestock?"

"Yes, I have a horse."

"How old is it?" "Don't know, has no teeth."

Finally the banker decided to make the $500 loan.

Several weeks later the old man was back in the bank. He pulled out a roll of bills, "Here to pay." he said. He then handed the banker the money to pay his loan off.

"What are you going to do with the rest of that money?"

"Put in tepee." "Why don't you deposit it in my bank," he asked.

"Don't know deposit."

"You put the money in our bank and we take care of it for you. When you want to use it you can withdraw it."

The old Indian leaned across the desk, "What you got for collateral?"

I think that about sums it up!!

Personal Revelation

God hath not revealed anything to Joseph [Smith], but what He will make known unto the Twelve [Apostles], and even the least Saint [you and me] may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them.--

Joseph Fielding Smith, the 10th prophet in the Latter Days.

Just how important is it that this statement is true?

Here are a couple of thougths on the subject.

If this statement is not true, then what we call testimony must be based on borrowed light, and faith is placed in a person, rather than Jesus Christ. While it is not uncommon to lean on another's testimony while you develop your own, it will not sustain you indefinitely. At some point, you must ask of God to know for yourself, just as Joseph did when he retired to the grove. Hope must yield to faith.

If this statement is true, then we become acutely accountable for all that we do. We become accountable for living our lives in a manner in which the spirit can speak to us. We must seek humility and seek our Father in Heaven with a broken heart and an contrite spirit. We must develop our faith, sufficient to approach our Father in Heaven in a spirit of repentance and seek his sanctifying power. We must do all that we can, to keep his commandments. We must serve those who stand in need of service. As we read and study the scriptures we will need to pray to our Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, our mediator, to increase our understanding. When our leaders speak, it is our responsibility to petiton our Heavenly Father to gain a confirmation that what was taught was true. Ask and ye shall receive, according to Boyd K. Packer, is one of the most oft referenced phrases in the Standard Works.

If personal revelation is not a true doctrine, then all that we have becomes unhinged. Revelation is to our spirit like blood is to the body. Without it, we become spiritually dead and we deny the power of our faith.

Fall 2

Saturday I stayed home to work on minutes, bank reconciliations and missionary expenses, while Chris headed off to Ismalya for, perhaps, the last round of shopping for the family. I reported on an earlier post that we had gotten through the entire winter last year without falling, until my fall (Fall 1), just a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday, Chris was walking off a curb and slipped and went down in the street as she was headed from the metro the shopping area. As reported, by those who were with her, great was her fall (Fall 2). She slammed to the ground, breaking her fall with her arm, resulting in a painful wrist. Her head hit the street, but, fortunately, the blow was cushioned somewhat by her knit hat. When she hit, she just laid there. Good fortune had it that Dr. Rees was part of the group going shopping. Immediately, he was able to check her out and found no evidence of concussion. With a little help from her friends, she was up to complete her mission...shopping that is!!

Chris stayed home last night and today to nurse her wrist and due to soreness in her neck. We are quite hopeful that she will be just fine in a couple of days.

I went to District Conference with the rest of the seniors and saw Dima Mikulin put in as the new District President for the Moscow District. Dima is the Family History Manager for the area. His father is a newly called Area Authority. He is a wonderful choice. We all wish him the best.

On Saturday night, Elder Paul told a story about his mother-in-law, who became a widow during WWII. Her husband had been missing for sometime, when it was eventually reportedthat he had died somewhere in Siberia. She never knew where exactly. She was left with 5 young children to raise on a meager government pension. She had been married just 7 years.

Sister Paul told President Paul that she doesn't remember ever going hungry and that her mother even managed to feed the missionaries regularly. (At that time, many people were starving.) She indicated that her mother attributed their blessings to the payment of tithes. She was threatened by the government that if she paid her tithing they would reduce her pension by the same amount. Her Branch President counseled her not to pay her tithing, but she paid it anyway.

She wouldn't know it at the time, but her little Helga would grow up to marry Wolfgang Paul who would become the first mission president in East Germany, when the iron curtain finally came down.

A Productive Week

We finished the Area Plan and the Area Presidency delivered their Area Committe presentation to rave reviews. It's amazing how much helpful information can be communicated effectively, in just 30 minutes, when you work and rework the material several times!!

Performance Appraisals and Salary Administration recommendations have been prepared. I will meet with the office staff next week to share their performance feedback.

Final details are coming together for the Interim Mission Presidents's Seminar. One small adjustment had to be made regarding translators and equipment. When the Area Presidency invites the Area Seventy to participate in the presentation, all of a sudden the all English delivery becomes English and Russian. That means that not only do the Russians need headsets to listen to the English being translated into Russian, all of the English speaking participants need headsets to hear Russian being translated into English. The number of pieces of equipment goes from 10 to 56. This is just one example of the type of changes that occur as we countdown to the last few days before the seminar. One must remain flexible!!

Next week we will make most of our final preparations for the Seminar. Sister Shepard will be busy putting together fruit baskets and chocolates to be put in each room as a participant favors for arrival.

I need to begin making preparations for new Mission President arrivals. Salt Lake makes the arrangement to get them to Moscow. We need to arrange for visas and travel to their missions. Also, it is time to prepare our meeting schedule for the Area Presidency when they go to General Conference. This involves making appointments with 8-10 different departments over a 2- to 3-day period. It ends up being a big juggling match, if you don't get your requests in early. Otherwise, you end up with all kinds of conflicts as these departments try to meet the needs of all Areas throughout the world!

I will meet with our landlord tomorrow to explain the process of transitioning the apartment from the Shepard's to the Hall's. They will take over our apartment on March 14 and we will move to Rosinka for our last 10 days with the Gibbons. At this point, we are pretty certain that we will fly out on March 28 and arrive in Dallas in the late afternoon.

We Skyped this evening with the Halls and discussed the upcoming plans. They are a wonderful couple. I am sure that we will enjoy the short time that we will have together with them.

The Nearons have already begun planning our farewell dinner, on Valentine's Day, Saturday, February 14. (I guess they are ready to get rid of us!!).

Tomorrow, I have Decisionpoint minutes to complete and I have to finish my preparations for the taxman. I hope that Sarah receives our new credit card (our replacement for the one that was stolen) and our HSA debit card. The HSA card has been sent three times and we haven't received it yet. Let's hope that three times is a charm.

Final shopping at Ismalya tomorrow, but we will keep those objectives a secret for now!!

Plans and Presentations

We sent out the Area Plan on Saturday and we are now devoted exclusively to preparing for our Area Committee Presentation. Write and re-write. Rehearse and then more rehearsal. It takes a lot of time to get it right, but each time it just gets a little better. The final presentation will be given tomorrow night.

I have completed the performance appraisals and salary administration recommendations for our staff and drivers, but I still need to review them with the Area Presidency. Once that has been completed, I can focus on setting up the Area Presidency meetings for General Conference and the Mission President's Seminar. We have been running hard but it feels great. We are making good progress. So far, everything is going according to plan.

Day Tripping in Madrid y Toledo

Our final visa trip in pictures:

Ruins in Retiro Park.
The Crystal Palace in Retiro Park.
Fallen Angel in Retiro Park.
This was a free museum we to see. The building next to it was a mosaic of shrubs that completely covered the end of the building. It was quite impressive. The museum itself is cloaked in rusty metal for effect. I have a picture taken form the inside of the museum that gives you a better idea. The rusty metal was purely artistic. It is not part of the structure of the building!!

During our visit, the museum was displaying an exhibition of modern Chineese art.

Another exhibit.The beautiful staircase.
The rusty facade taken from inside of the museum

Hundred year old carousel door at the Ritz.
Mickey Mouse stops by for a visit in Spain (just outside the park).
Interesting Church architecture on the way back to our hotel.
Chris steps out and has black spaghetti. She felt like she was eating worms!!
Chris and Narene on the bullet train to Toledo.
City Wall and Gate.
Our little group, the Reeses, Irelands, Shepards and the Perry's from Samara.
Inside a big cathedral, with an amazing view of the city.
View of the City.
Quaint rooftops!!
Couldn't quite get this entire cathedral in the picture, so I improvised.
Betty Boop strikes again in Spain. She must be very popular here!!
Sam pretending to be asleep!! Actually, I was trying to get the picture while he was "at rest," but I woke him up, so he posed for this one. However, from the natural state of the pose you can tell he really had nodded off!!!
A head in the Metro. Some sort of exhibition. Sam and I got our pictures taken there and were chastised for touching the sculpture.
Chris and Greg on our way back to the hotel after our travels. This is in Retiro Park.