4/21/2016

Wednesday the Schwabs, Waites and us visited two more Russian Orthodox churches. They were simply glorious. The Priest from the white church took us all the way up to the bell tower with me in a skirt and Lynn in his suit.










I wonder if any of Dad's suits will fit by the time he leaves?!


Our own Babushka!  I'm not switching from OMA!

4/17/2016

Mine and Dad’s Russian vocabulary is increasing thanks to the AP’s, Elders Oldham and Porter. They are giving us a word of the day. The first one was Sabawka (phonetic spelling) which is dog. Then Sakoondu, which is second, in case I have to tell a delivery person to wait a second while I go and get a Russian speaker. Then there is Deeairiva which is tree and karta which is map. Now you can all say a few Russian words.

I found out about a study that Dr. Taylor in Moscow (doctor to the missionaries) ran. Apparently he was worried about all the foot and knee problems the missionaries in Russia were having. So he put a Fitbit on all the missionaries in Moscow. He figured out that our missionaries were logging about 50 miles per week. Thank heavens that doesn’t include me, my knees wouldn’t be able to take it.

It’s raining its pouring!! We took the bus to church today and it was late coming and full. We both had to stand for the ½ hour ride into NovoK. That is after standing for about ½ hour waiting for the mini bus. Then as we walked to the Branch it started to rain. We both had our umbrellas but the big fat drops were causing the mud on the sidewalk to splash on us. We ended up being late for church by about 15 minutes. Elder Peterson called us just before church was starting to check on us. I told Dad that was good because if we disappeared we knew someone would look for us. We figure we walk for about an hour on Sundays. 10 minutes to the bus stop and 20 minutes to the Branch then back home again. And just think I couldn’t ever seem to walk the ½ block to church at home.

Here's a pic of another ornate church

It is really starting to get light here early. I’m usually awake before 6:00 am. The internet says that sunrise is at 5:34 am and sunset is at 7:44 pm. So it starts to lighten up well before 5:30 and is still a little light outside at 9:00pm. I wonder how early the sun will come up in another month or two. The internet says that right now we have 14 hours and 8 minutes of daylight.

Someone in our apartment keeps plants and flowers in the windowsill in the stairwell. They really add some beauty to a dark and dreary place. 

Here is a picture of some stairs. They all have rails on one side for people who are pushing strollers. Pretty amazing.

We took the mini bus to the City Park Mall that is across from the Avrora Branch in Samara. We ate lunch at McDonalds again. I’ve included a picture so you can see what McDonalds looks like in Russian.

  

Last Sunday Dad and I ran into our first Gypsies. I guess there are a lot of them in Moscow but not so much in Samara. They did approach us for Money but the investigator, Mike, that was walking us to our bus stop told them no.

Last Wednesday we had zone conference. It was awesome! I can say this because I spent from 9:00am to 6:30pm at the conference and enjoyed every minute. President and Sister Schwab ran it in the Morning and the AP’s ran it in the afternoon and evening.

President Schwab went over the MY PLAN – The Standards of Excellence. What all the missionaries are striving for:

1.     

Sister Schwab talked about Gospel Gladness; about turning negatives into positives. Moods can be too much at the mercy of men and circumstances. Make your mission and your life positive.

President Schwab told about the statue that stands along the Volga River. I’ve included a picture of it in this email. Wikipedia says it is taken from a painting of the Barge Haulers on the Volga. It’s an 1870–73 oil-on-canvas painting by the Russian realist painter and sculptor Ilya Repin.

The work depicts 11 laboring men who wear a harness that is attached to a barge and they are dragging it up the Volga River. The men seem to almost collapse forward in exhaustion under the burden of hauling a large boat upstream in heavy, hot weather. Although they are presented as stoical and accepting, the men are largely defeated; only one stands out: in the center of both the row and canvas, a brightly colored youth fights against his leather binds and takes on a heroic pose.

President Schwab asked the missionaries not to become defeated by their burdens but to know, beyond any doubt that they were called of God by a Prophet of God to come to Russia because Heavenly Father knew they were strong enough to handle it. Things aren’t always rosy here but we are among God’s children spreading His message.

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven. He asked the missionaries to be as the armies of Helaman.

Alma 56:44-49, 55-56 (Armies of Helaman)

44 Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle?

 45 And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites.

 46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.

 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

 49 And it came to pass that I did return with my two thousand against these Lamanites who had pursued us. And now behold, the armies of Antipus had overtaken them, and a terrible battle had commenced.

55 And now it came to pass that when they had surrendered themselves up unto us, behold, I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain.

 56 But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war.

President Schwab went on to tell the missionaries to put their whole heart and soul into their work. He told us that we had the happiest message on earth. No one wants to hang out with someone who acts like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Choose to be positive. It was a wonderful message.

Lunch time and they ordered Papa John’s pizza for everyone. I was in heaven. Then the AP’s, Elder Oldham and Porter were up for the second half of the day. They talked about Unity.  They wanted the missionaries to see the vision of our mission in front of them. 

We broke for root beer floats. There is no root beer in Russia. Sister Schwab got some root beer flavoring and mixed it with sugar and water to make syrup. Then she added carbonated water to it to make root beer. We poured that over vanilla ice cream and had a real treat. It was messy but wonderful. I couldn’t believe how fast the day went. Dad and I both managed to stay awake (a real feat). 

  Sacrament meeting and staying awake was a problem today. Every time I’d open my eyes after resting them for just a bit, Anatolli the 1^st counselor was looking at me and writing something in a book. I wonder if he put a check mark under my name every time I closed my eyes.

Well I guess I’m kind of rambling but I love you all and hope your lives are full and happy. 

We think about you all and pray for you every day!!

Love,

Mom

Interesting Fact!

The Catholic, Russian Orthodox and the Greek Orthodox churches are all very beautiful and ornate. I’m attaching a picture of a Catholic Church in NovoK that is gorgeous. You can tell the Russian Orthodox churches by their cross on top. This is what I was told and read about that:

The Russian Orthodox cross

The Russian Orthodox cross differs from the Western cross. The cross usually has three crossbeams, two horizontal and the third one is a bit slanted.

The top bar symbolizes the sign that was hung above the head of Christ, it was written: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews"

The middle bar was where Christ's hands were nailed.

The lower bar is the foot-rest. According to the Russian Orthodox tradition the feet are depicted as being nailed not at one point but individually at the two sides of the footrest.

The slanted line reminds us of the two thieves on both sides of the cross. One of them to the right of Christ ascended to Heaven, while the other one sank to Hell. Thus bottom bar of the cross is like the scale of justice and its points show the way to the Hell and Heaven.

Another interesting fact is that the upper point of the slanted beam always show the way to the North. Thus a church cross can serve as a compass.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

We made our own way to church this morning on another marshrutka. It’s about a 10 minute walk, uphill, from our apartment to get to the pick-up place. The bus wasn’t over crowded this time so that was nice. It takes about ½ hour to get to NovoK. We walked to the Branch which took about 20 minutes. It was 50 degrees and sunny so a perfect day for a walk. Probably when it’s 90 degrees and 96 percent humidity we won’t be thinking, “what a nice day for a walk.” Dad and I didn’t wear our coats.

Dad downloaded the audio for conference to our phones so when we got there we started those and they started conference in Russian. I worked pretty smooth. People brought food and we ate lunch between sessions. I made Dad and I sandwiches and I made some for the Elders too. We brought Pringles and choco pies (like moon pies) to share with everyone. The Elders had only brought candy to eat. Elder Peterson said he owed me some food but I told him no, that as a grandma it was my job to feed him.

After conference we headed home the way we had come. An investigator, Mike, walked with us to the bus station. He has some interesting thoughts on religion. He was saying that he didn’t think young men in the army needed church. I told him that I thought everyone needed church. Anyway, he is very nice but very much using his head and not his heart when it comes to religion.

I really enjoyed conference and it was fun being able to sing out when they had a congregational hymn. Everyone but Dad, Elder Allred and I sang in Russian.

A lot of people still go around bundled up here even though it was almost 60 degrees when we left to go home. I don’t see how they stand it. I think Dad and I were the only ones on the bus that weren’t wearing coats.

Hey, here’s a fun fact: Russia’s Volga River is the longest in Europe, with a length of around 3690 kilometres (2293 miles)

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 Russia is bigger (17M KM² in size than Pluto 16.6M KM². It covers 1/7th of the total land of our planet and neighbors more countries than any other country on earth.

Russians never shake hands over a door way, they believe it leads to arguments.

 Matryoshka or nesting dolls are typically created from lime or birch trees.  The first matryoshka crafters were already skilled making nesting Easter eggs.  Knives, chisels and a lathe are needed to form the wood into dolls.  Finished dolls are then painted and coated with varnish. The earliest dolls were featured in 1900 at the Paris World Expedition where they became highly popular.

Well, I love you all

Mom

Saturday, April 09, 2016

  Another week has gone by. Time is really flying. I am working on an assignment given to me by Sister Schwab. Missions around the world are putting together some ABC books using gospel related pictures and a short explanation. We have the Russian translated ones and the got printed off by one of the office Elders. 

  No dinners out with anyone this week, but our cleaning lady did make some Borscht for everyone for lunch during the week. The Russian’s don’t pronounce the T on the end of Borscht. She is the sweetest lady and has been a member of the church for about 23 years. I couldn’t hurt her feelings so I came in to eat it and found that I liked it as well as the Shchi (Shee) soup I ate last week.

The cleaning lady’s name is Ryeesa. She is a doctor but I don’t know what of. She is not practicing medicine and I guess she gets paid very well to clean. Even our driver, Ramon, graduated as a rocket scientist years ago but couldn’t find work in that field. He makes good money as our driver and it gives him free time to pursue his love, sand volleyball. He is supposed to be an excellent player. He is a non-member and has been driving for us for years.

  Friday we went to the Metro, which is like the Costco like grocery store in the US.  All four wheels on the shopping carts can turn a 360. Sometimes I’d get going with the cart, trying to spin around the corner and I’d run into the metal bar that runs around the frozen food container. Thank heaven I didn’t cream another person. It’s like it goes where it wants to and not where I’m trying to make it go.

  We took a marshrutkas (like a large van or a mini bus) to our NovoK branch today to watch general conference. It cost us 50 Rubles which is about $.70. The bus was full but for a seat in the back. I squeezed in but Dad had to stand. I think I could sit in two of the seats and be comfortable but not one. We made it to the Branch without anyone to show us the way.

  We did warn Elder Peterson that we were on our way and that if we didn’t show up to the branch in about ½ hour to come looking for us. We got off at the end of the route and several people on the bus were helping us out and telling us what we needed to do. We had the address of the NovoK branch on a laminated card (thank you elder Affleck) and they all told us we needed to take a taxi. So we bravely walked over to a group of taxi drivers and one said he’d take us. We paid him 100 rubles or $1.50.

We made it to the Preehod (long o), which stand for “Branch” in Russian, with time to spare. We were starting at 10:00 am. We had figured we’d listen to the talks using headphones while watching it with the branch. President Krevov told us, as we walked in, that the WiFi was down all over NovoK. We didn’t want to ask anyone to interpret for us for 6 hours so we just stayed to the first session. Thank Heavens I can already read the talks on line.

  Once outside, heaven hit us square in the face. It was warm and sunny. We invited the Elders to lunch and once again we felt heaven close by. They told us there was a McDonald’s in town. Dad and I had, what was called a big and tasty, which is a hamburger, cheese, lettuce and tomato and, of course, pickles. We also had fries and a drink.

  Dad and I still have a desire to learn the language but are having trouble doing it. When we get home from the office my mind doesn't want focus on anything hard. I asked the AP’s to give us a word of the day. They chose sabawka,(phonetic spelling) which is dog or sabawkie which is dogs. I got that one down and now I’m ready for the next word.

As we were coming out of our apartment on Thursday we met a neighbor who lives above us. These are the most  sound-proof apartments; I never hear anyone else unless they are outside and that’s only if the window is open. I saw a lady once, run up our stairs with a baby in her arms. The neighbor we met was coming down the stairs as we were locking the door. He said Hello to us and did speak a little English. We talked for just a second then we parted at the door.

More Tomorrow!

Sunday, April 03, 2016

  Anatoli came to pick us up at about 7:20 am for church. He and Dad still talk to each other the whole way and understand just a little. I was in the back seat reading the Ensign. Church doesn’t start until 9:00 am so Dad helped set up the sacrament table and then we read for a while. President Krevov brought his oldest daughter with him early to church and Dad entertained her for a while with his iPad.

  Dad and I go to church and hear voices. I know, you are thinking that just because we are on a mission that we shouldn’t be thinking that we have a direct line to the powers that be. Well, I guess we do and not because we are on a mission, we all have a direct line to God, its called prayer. 

  Anyway, we have a microphone and headsets that we use for translation. So I do hear voices, it’s just the Elders. The person doing the interpreting can sit anywhere and whisper to us what is being said. It works very nicely. Apparently last week I neglected to turn off the microphone and the battery for it was dead. It was back to whispering in our ear today.

  To break our fast today Dad and I decided on gourmet pizza. It came from the freezer and I thought I had picked out a pepperoni one but it turned out to be sausage. The crust was a little tough but hey, it’s pizza!! No bread sticks though.

  Testimony meeting was great. Elder Allred kept us up on what was being said. I did go up and asked him to interpret for me. He has been out about 5 months so wasn’t sure of everything I asked him to say but he did a good job. He and Elder Petersen went shopping last week and ran into a suit sale. It was buy one and get another one for one Ruble. So they got 4 suits for about $20 a piece. The weather is a killer on the missionary’s shoes. It’s always wet and muddy so holes develop quickly. Elder Allred says he has a pair with a hole and dirt keeps accumulating in them and the shoes are getting tighter. My black shoes look like I’ve worn them for 6 months. I had to wear them to and from work for about 3 weeks before I bought my boots. Dad and I don’t wear ours much now because We’re both wearing boots to and from work and then slippers once we are at work or home.

  The Russian people are a very honest and hard working group, at least the ones we met. A couple of store clerks and given us back money when we paid too much. They love their country and are very proud of their soldiers. They really don’t make eye contact with you on the street or in stores so we don’t get many opportunities to smile at people. The missionaries don’t go knocking on any doors because that doesn’t work here at all. They don’t wear their missionary badges outside of the office or church. They mostly do street contacting and with the no eye contact thing that turns out to be pretty hard. But one Area Authority told President Schwab that Russia was about ready to really take off, with people interested in the church, just as South America did. President Schwab then said that Russia was a lot further along than South America was in it’s first 30 years. I hope we’ll be here to see it.

  They rarely wash the cars here because as soon as they get back on the road it covered in mud again. The weather for the coming week or so gets up into the 60’s. I’m looking forward it, maybe Dad and I can start doing more walking. Although Dad’s heel is still bothering him so we’ll see. At least we can go for ½ hour or so. If we can find room on the sidewalk; sometimes it feels like everyone in town is walking along the Volga River, and they are bringing their kids and dogs.

Isaiah 62:6

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence,

I know the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I believe it with all my heart. I know that Joseph Smith was instructed by God to translate those ancient plates into what we now know as the Book of Mormon. I know that Thomas S. Monson leads our church today and that he was called of God. I have a strong and firm belief that I was sent to earth at this time to my earthly family because Heavenly Father knew that I would be taught the things I needed to know in order to return and live with him again. I was indeed blessed with goodly parents. I believe that each one of our children chose to come to our family and that we knew and loved each other in the pre-existence. God wants Dad and I in Russia and he has opened all the doors necessary for us to be here. I know that serving here will help us grow in the gospel and in our lives. I love all of you more than you can possibly know. I pray for my whole family every night and every morning. Please be safe, please take care of yourselves, spiritually, physically and emotionally.

Love to you all.

Saturday, April 02, 2016

Last Sunday, after I finished sending my letter, Dad and I went back to the office. Sergey our cook and the AP’s investigator had offered to make us a typical Russian dish. (Yea?) He made Shchi pronounced shee. It was in a red broth. In it he boiled shredded cabbage, grated carrots, potatoes, pork, onion, celery and tomatoes. When the potatoes were done he took them out and hand mashed them and put them back in. The pork was on the bone and he cut a piece of meat for each bowl. He added salt and pepper, dill and a dab of sour cream………………..And YES I ate it all. They also had bread with it. It was good and didn’t make me gag. I keep surprising myself. I think I’ve gone at it with a new attitude, that I would rather eat it than offend someone. And no kids, that doesn’t mean I will eat the same thing for you guys. I’m not afraid to try it. I think the Lord has either blessed me with courage or destroyed my taste buds. When they serve bread here they take a slice and cut it in half lengthwise. Most meals include bread.

  Dad and I got to sit in on a lesson after dinner. They were teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and specifically about repentance and the atonement. Sergey wasn’t sure about Christ. He felt he was a good teacher and person but not the Son of God. Dad added some good scriptures from the Bible. Then in the conversation Sergey was questioning why we needed church. Dad told him that obviously Christ felt it was important because he established his church when he lived on the earth. If he hadn’t thought it was important he wouldn’t have felt the need to do that. Dad was really good and used the logical as well as spiritual. He always amazes me at the knowledge he has.

  Sergey wondered about the atonement and Christ taking upon himself our sins, even his when he wasn’t alive and able to sin back then. The elders took turns teaching him in Russian and the other one would interpret for us. They had him look up many scriptures and talked to him about the need for repentance and reaching the Celestial Kingdom and since we aren’t perfect we’d never be able to live there with Heavenly Father but because Christ died for our sins he paved the way for us to live with Him again.

  I was able to testify that I knew, in my heart, that any problem, sin, sad feeling, depression, and guilt or whatever we have, that Christ understands it perfectly. He felt everything we have felt. He knows us. He loves us and he wants us to succeed. I told him that I felt that because he made such a sacrifice for me, for him (Sergey), for all of us that I needed to do everything in my power to make that sacrifice count for something. That I want to be the best person I can be so I can be worthy of that sacrifice. What a great opportunity it was for both Dad and I to testify. I don’t know if what we said made a difference or not but it made a difference to me.

  My hair hasn’t been trimmed in almost two months. My bangs are hanging in my eyes and driving me crazy. So do I get it cut at a Russian beauty salon like your father bravely did or just let it grow for 16 months and 11 days? Swooshing my bangs to the side, I plastered them with hairspray. It worked for most of church but by the time I got home I was looking at them through my eyelashes again. I need to get brave I guess. Except a lot of the women I see walking around have bangs cut halfway up their forehead. Their faces are still pretty but it looks like their little sibling took the scissors to their bangs.

  Wednesday was Dad’s birthday, it was a memorable one. One: he had it in Russia and Two:  he got birthday wishes from tons of people. Included in those were kids, grandkids, family, friends, Facebook friends and lots and lots of missionaries. It was a great day. I didn’t make him any cake because most of the office was gone. I made cupcakes later in the week.

  We went with President and Sister Schwab and their daughter Jenny to the Holiday Inn for dinner. Jenny has been serving the past few months as a service missionary with her mom and dad. Prior to this she had served a mission in Minnesota. They are due to go home in July and she will go with them.  Anyway, Dad and I ordered a hamburger and fries. I know, I know, why didn’t we order something Russian. Well, it’s been so long since we had a hamburger and that’s what we wanted. 

  Well, Friday was April Fool’s day and I couldn’t think of anything to pull on the Elders. But our AP’s got the sisters in our district really good. I guess the other elders were listening in like a conference call when Elder Porter and Oldham called them. They told them there was an emergency transfer going down and they need to get ready to move. They weren't sure whether they believed them or not but when Elder Porter told them goodbye and said they’d see them on the next day for the move. Sister Thomas and Sister Johnson were wondering if they were serious or not. I guess they didn’t make them wait too long before telling them “April Fools”. The sisters were giving the elders what for, for the trick, at our district meeting.

  District meeting is every Friday at 1:30pm. There are three sets of missionaries in our district, plus us. It’s kind of different because they all go to the Avrora branch here in Samara and we go to Novo-K. So they are planning things that we aren’t involved in. The sisters asked me to go with them to visit with an investigator on this coming Wednesday. The appointment is at 3:00pm, so I will leave work early. I guess the investigator is 85 and thinks that it is easy for the sisters to believe because they were raised in the church. Anyway I’m going to tell them that my Mom is 85 and that she believes. I am certainly grateful to grandma for being such a good example for me over the years.

 I made some cupcakes for the meeting. The sisters are staying away from sweets so I left 4 without frosting. I told them that the frosted ones were cupcakes and the unfrosted ones were muffins. I passed them out to the people in the office too and ended the day with only one left out of the 28 I brought.

  Cooking is different. I bought a cake mix and from the picture on the front I figured it was orange. I bought another one that I thought was chocolate. Lynn took a look at both to decide which one he wanted, which made us look closer at the chocolate one. It turned out to be a wheat bread mix. So we decided on the orange cake mix. Most things don’t come in boxes here just a sealed bag.

Dad had to turn grams into ounces and ounces into cups for me. It called for 100 grams of butter and 160 grams of milk. I made about 15 cupcakes. Then I made my banana cake recipe and did cupcakes with that one too and got about 2 ½ dozen more.

  The frosting started with a cloud of powdered sugar clogging the air.  The mixer doesn’t have a very low speed. I had to wing it with the recipe because I couldn’t get to the internet. After pouring in the powdered sugar I added butter, milk and a granulated vanilla. Vanilla comes in a small bag; they don’t have the liquid variety here. Anyway when I was done I had Dad taste it and he said that it had a granular texture to it. It tasted ok so I did frost the cupcakes. Everyone at the office enjoyed them.

  After staring at my grey roots for a time I decided that this morning (Sat) it was time to go back to my almost natural color. Although some would argue, and probably will, that my natural color is now a mix of colors, predominately grey, I can’t go along with that thought.  The only box dye I brought with me from America is history now. I moved all the rugs out of the bathroom just in case I wasn’t as neat and I wanted to be. Next time the grey calls for me to hide I will have to buy something from here.

  Saturday morning was busy with folding clothes and cleaning the apartment. Dad had done some cleaning the previous night. 9:15 am. came and Anatoli rang the bell to come in. We grabbed the vacuum hose and made our way to the table where the children’s book, he is using to teach us, is laid open and ready. He took a break partway though and ate some fruit. He eats every few hours. Through sign language and the few Russian words we know and the English he knows he let us know he’s lost a lot of weight. Not through running or weight lifting but through diet. He is really a kind man and we are really grateful to him for helping us.

Carbonated Horse Milk