Sunday, June 12, 2016

Dear Family,

  Well, we never did find our camera so we bought a new one. Saturday we took a 2-hour bus ride to a huge mall that includes Ikea to look for a new camera. We found one that we similar to the one we lost. When we got it home, Dad opened the box and low and behold, there was a charging cord for both Russia and America. We were worried we wouldn’t be able to bring it home and use it.

  As we wandered the mall, we watched a classical music concert going on in the center where the food court was. They did an excellent job. We ate lunch at Ikea’s cafeteria. We both had meatball, fries and I had a couple of rolls.

On the way to the mall, there was a huge stretch where it looks like they are adding on to the subway. I’m sure they are trying to get ready for the Soccer World Cup games, some of which are taking place in Samara. They are building a new stadium out by the Ikea.

  The whole week was great! Dad and I were invited to go see a children’s fairy tale at the Samara Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre with Sister Schwab and her daughter Jeni. We watched a performance of Pinocchio. It wasn’t Disney’s Pinocchio but one called The Golden Key.

I looked up information on the story on the internet, “According to Tolstoy, he had read Pinocchio as a child, but, having lost the book, he started re-imagining it many years later in an attempt to come up with a series of bedside stories for his own children. The resulting story turned out to be so original and became so loved by the writer's children, that he decided to put it to paper and publish it.”

The theatre itself was outstanding. It sits on one of the biggest squares called, Kuibyshev Square, in all of Russia. The Theatre is called the Samara Academic Opera House. According to the internet, “The theatre was opened on the 1 of June, 1931 with the Mussorgsky’s opera “Boris Godunov”. Its institutors were outstanding Russian musicians: Taneyev’s and Rimsky-Korsakov’s pupil, conductor and composer Anton Aikhenvald, famous Russian conductor Isidor Zak, director jf the Bolshoi Theatre Iosif Lapitskiy.

  The scenery was colorful and the music incredible to listen to in that theatre. At the end, during the bows, children came up on stage to hand several of the actors’ flowers. Sadie would have loved it and would have definitely gone up on the stage.

  Tuesday night after the fairy tale, we were picked up by Pavel and Maria and they took us to the Staraya Kvartira restaurant. We ordered a Russian meal. Mine was Chicken with potatoes and Dad’s was pork. Dad had already told Pavel that we didn’t drink. They just had fruit juice and water with us. You hike down some steep stairs and are met with some old time memorabilia. A lot of it was World War II era stuff. The ceiling were all curved and made of brick. There were little cubies all over with tables in them. It was a unique setting and very fun to be there.

  Pavel is a very outgoing, talkative person who makes a great taxi driver. He is a former military lawyer. His wife Maria works for the government in the tourist industry. She brought us a bunch of brochures for places to go and see in Samara. They have a 6-year-old daughter who was staying with grandma and grandpa. Their parents are younger than Dad and I. Pavel is around 30 and I don’t know how old Maria is.

  We bought dinner and we are making plans to go with them again. We told them we couldn’t go on Sunday so we are planning for a Saturday in a few weeks. I think we are going to go to Toliatti, which is a few hours away.

  Dad and I are still walking on the Volga 5 mornings per week. We are there somewhere between 5 and 6 AM. Dad saw his first naked swimmer the other day. We figured we were safe coming out as early as we do but I guess not. Last week 4 men stopped us and asked us to take their picture. Dad took it and they started to talk to us. We told them we didn’t speak much Russian. We said we were from America and that we live in Samara. We said we were here for our church. They wanted to know if we were Russian Orthodox, Protestant, and Christian etc. We told them we were Christian. With a little more discussion, we explained that we were Mormon Missionaries. They seemed interested and impressed. The conversation was done in broken Russian and broken English. They turned back to the river and we continued our walk.

  I didn’t get to see Svetlana this week because she was sick.  I dyed my hair on Saturday and now instead of Russian Red it’s almost black. I hope that after a few more tries I’ll get the right color.

  Our district meeting on Friday was good. Elder Anderson gave our training and he did great. These missionaries are amazing with their knowledge of the scriptures and just their willingness to give everything to the Lord.

  Your Dad is amazing, while we were in the van waiting for the Schwab’s so Ramon (the mission driver) could drop us at church in NovoK Dad just stood there and talked to Ramon. Even if the other person doesn’t fully understand, he talks to them. He makes an amazing missionary. I got in the van and he stayed out with Ramon. At the close of our Sacrament meeting, today they sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again, for the Schwab’s. It’s hard for us to let them go. We feel very close to all three of them. I’m going to really miss them. They told us they’d be at our homecoming. It’s funny to think that we will be with the Ottesen’s (the new mission president) for more than a year.

  I forgot to tell you last week that Sister Vera in our branch was excited to show me her Temple recommend. She was excited and through sign language, she let me know the she wanted to know how to fold it. I took mine out to show her. Today as I got to church both sister’s Lyudmila and Vera gave me huge hugs and at least three kisses on the cheek. This is such a sweet, kind branch. Both Dad and I feel that they love us and want us here.

  We have zone conference this coming week. Toliatti’s is on Tuesday, Samara’s (ours) on Wednesday and Saratov on Friday. These are usually all day meetings. I picked up a couple of Apron’s for the missionaries to sign to give to the Schwab’s. The AP’s are going to all three zone conferences this time so I will have them get them signed. The Schwab’s are down to just a couple of weeks.

Sunday and Monday are holidays here so none of our Russian nationals will be in the office. It’s Russia Day. “In the past few years, Russia Day became an occasion for national pride, when many people pay tribute to prominent Russians. But many others still see this holiday as an extra day off.” ” Russia Day, annually celebrated on June 12, marks the beginning of democratic reforms in Russia and is one of the newest holidays in the Russian Federation.”

Love,

Mom