Sunday, December 11, 2016

Dear Family,

This week has flown by. I went to Metro with Sister O. She was buying food for the Christmas Conference. We went to the new Bezimanski Branch building on Wednesday to check out whether it was viable or not to hold conference there. I should work great. Friday after district meeting we were all going to go to Stalin’s bunker but we found out it was only open on Thursday. Bummer.

Sister Thomas came into town yesterday. She will be leaving for home on Friday along with 10 other volunteers.  She is one special young lady. We’ve adopted each other as grandparents and granddaughter. She is sick and asked Dad for a blessing.

We ended up feeding dinner to 8 volunteers and one Russian today. I had a potato bar. I made a chicken and gravy mix, A chicken and spicy red sauce, and Chili for topping off their potatoes. I also grated some cheese and made salad and rolls and my sweet, buttery carrots. Two of the sisters brought cookies and I made a banana cake. Everyone seemed to love it and went back for seconds.

Dad went out Saturday while I stayed home and cooked. He took pictures of the Hover craft ferry that takes people back and forth to the Island. There is too much ice on the river for the regular boats. There are people ice fishing now even though some of the bank doesn’t look frozen solid. He took a picture of the market that we shop at when we don’t go to Metro.

President came into the office on Wednesday afternoon and sat down in one of the AP’s chairs (they had gone on splits).

Pres. O. “You know I’ve run into the darndest thing, I was talking to the AP’s and telling them we need to get together on Sunday (this was last Sunday) to talk about some stuff. I told them I wanted to get together that evening.”

AP’s, “President, we are really busy, that wouldn’t be a good time.”

Pres. O “We really need to get together.”

AP’s “We are really busy.” Pres. O just looks at them.

AP’s cave, “We are going to the Stewart’s for dinner.”

President just laughed and said Okay. Then he calls Elder Pacheco, who is the Branch President at the Bezimanski Branch and leaving for home on December 16^th.

Pres. O, “Elder Pacheco can we get together this evening (last Sunday) to talk.”

Elder Pacheco, “I can’t this evening, I’m too busy.”

Pres. O, “Elder Pacheco we need to talk about who the new Branch President should be.”

EP, “I’m really busy, well, I’m going to dinner at the Stewarts.”

We all had a great laugh over that.

After Jhonatan’s baptism program a Sister from Avrora Branch announced that there was going to be a concert at theater not too far away and Elder Kennedy was going to play for it. Watching Elder Kennedy’s face, I knew that this was news to him. The concert was last Wednesday at 1:00pm. Two volunteers, Sister O and I all walked there. We were sure where the hall was and it ended up being 10 blocks farther away than we planned. Well, only 4 blocks really but it felt like 10.

It was snowing sideways so we all bundled up. I should have known better. The Sisters were moving pretty fast and my pride made me keep right up with them. By the time we went up the 72 steps to the walking street and then went about 6 more blocks my hair looked like I had kept my head uncovered. It was soaked with sweat. I looked great for my first visit to this hall.

We were a little late and found Elders Kennedy and Dorius sitting near the back. He hadn’t gone on yet. There were several people singing, all in Russian. They looked to be senior citizens and performed well. My favorite was an old guy who sang “O When Those Saints” in English with a gravelly voice.

It was all over and gifts were given to the performers when Elder Kennedy was announced. He played Russia’s Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude in C# Minor, op3, No 2. Rachmaninoff wrote this piece when he was only 19 years old; he was a famous Russian pianist, composer and conductor. Elder Kennedy was simply brilliant. When he finished, the crowd erupted in applause and shouts.

One older guy stopped him. He had a military bearing and several medals pinned to his suit. We found out later that he was 100 years old. His hair was still dark but thinning. He was so impressed with Elder Kennedy that he gave him a kiss on his neck. He kept thanking him. Elder Kennedy told us that this man used to play both the piano and organ. The Volunteers made some friends that day.

Our Christmas zone conference should be awesome. The volunteers will get a home cooked meal, spiritual uplift, presents from home and then they get to go to the ballet and see Swan Lake!!

Love you all tons,

Mom