Thursday, March 2, 2017
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Dear Family,
How is Grace’s back? Did Britti get her license?
Has Dani heard about scholarships? Has Lauryn busted anymore toes? Has Joshua
built his own lego village yet? What about Nica has she turned her Jr. High
school on it’s ear yet?
This week certainly went by fast. The closer we
get to coming home the faster time seems to fly. We had the Bowlers and the
Bryson’s fly in on Tuesday and we met them on Wednesday. The Bowlers have lived
in Alvord Texas for the past three years before that they were in Southern
California. Elder Bowler is a retired train conductor. They are both super
people and know even less Russian than we do. They both are outgoing but Sister
Bowler is about double what Elder Bowler is.
The Bryson’s have lived all over the place but now
are from Central Arizona. He is a retired CEO of a hospital. This is their
third mission, 2nd one to Russia. Elder Bryson is the more outgoing
of the two. He talked to everyone in the Orenburg branch (where they are
serving). He reminded me of Dad. They volunteered to help out in Guatemala in
2002, I’m not sure what they did there but it wasn’t a mission. Then they
served a mission in Hong Kong. Then they went to Vladivostok. Their Russian is
better than ours but I don’t think it’s as good as Sister Ottesen’s.
They had two days of orientation. We were involved
the 2nd day because the Hancocks were giving us all Self Reliance
training. I had to leave several times to do stuff for President Ottesen. The
Hancocks are traveling all over and training Branch Presidents in
Self-Reliance. The program has to be run by the Russians but they need training
in how to do it. In the meeting, they told us that they wanted Dad and I to be
in charge of overseeing the Samara and Tolyatti areas. We kind of just listened
and didn’t say anything. The other three couples have assignments different
from ours so are more free to travel around for things. We need to be at the
office. Besides, that kind of assignment needs to come from the Ottesen’s, not
the Hancocks. That would be a change in what we were called to do. Anyway,
Sister Ottesen was in all the meetings and she doesn’t seem to be leaning
toward that. I guess we will wait and see, if it’s what they want us to do then
we’ll do it. Hancocks speak pretty good Russian. They served at the Kyiv temple
and took Russian for two years.
We all went to a Ukrainian restaurant on Thursday
with all the senior couples. It was really good. I sent you pictures of mine
and Dad’s meal and pictures of the restaurant.
Friday was the night of The Ball. I was expecting
something more formal and more than what we had. Keshenya was encouraging
everyone to come is church dress and ball gowns. I found out that Ball
translates to Dance in Russian. It was pretty packed with people and Volunteers.
We taxied over with the Bryson’s. It went from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. They had
cartoons for the kids upstairs and the volunteers and the members had shifts
watching the kids. The kids could come and go how they wanted. They were all
dressed in ball gowns, the girls anyway. I’ll send you a link to my google
drive so you can see all the pictures.
Saturday morning at 10:00 am Dad and I left with
the Ottesen’s and Bryson’s to take the Bryson’s to Orenburg which is about 6
hours away. This is where the Bryson’s are staying for a while. They live in a
brand-new apartment, located above the Elders who are there, Elders Smith and
LeBaron. The apartment was supposed to be furnished and complete. Well, it
wasn’t. President stayed over another day to help them shop. They went on
Saturday but the furniture store wasn’t open.
While they shopped Elder LeBaron took us
sight-seeing. We went to a bridge where half was in Asia and the other half in
Russia. You’ll see a picture of it with Asia and Europe spelled in Russian. We
taxied there and after we were done there we walked up the Orenburg walking
street. We went several blocks and found a Burger King to eat dinner at. After
that we started walking back to our hotel. We ran into a park that was filled
with ice sculptures. It was pretty neat. There was an ice maze that led to a
wishing well.
We were almost to our hotel and the sidewalks were
getting icier and icier as the temperature was dropping. Elder LeBaron was
leading the way and I was walking beside Dad. I was up and then I was down. I
couldn’t catch myself. Dad said my head made a cracking sound when it hit the
cement. They both helped me up and I was grateful that no one was around other
than Dad and Elder LeBaron to see my gracefulness. I felt fine, just a little
head ache. We made it to the hotel room. The Elder had to hang with us until
the rest were done shopping.
My neck was a little sore and it felt like my head
ache was getting worse. I took some ibuprofen and got ready for bed after the
Elder left. I told Dad if I threw up on him in the middle of the night then I
probably needed to go to the hospital. It was strange because before going to bed
I was trying to find the sore spot where I hit my head and I couldn’t find it.
No goose egg, no sore spot, nothing. I think Heavenly Father was watching over
me and must have cushioned my fall. By the next morning, I just had a slightly
stiff neck.
Orenburg is small like our NovoK branch. It was
good to meet new people. They all greeted us as warmly as NovoK does. The
Bryson’s, Us and the Ottesen’s were all asked to bear our testimonies. There
was a great feeling in that room. A young man named Evon was doing the
translating for us. We found out that he is sort of their perpetual
investigator. He started coming to church because of wanting to practice his
English with the Elders.
Toward the end of their 2-hour block, (that’s how
long their church is) President O opened things up to a question and answer
period. Evon, who was translating asked the final question. He asked how a man
could stay with one woman for 37 years. That’s how long the Ottesen’s have been
married. President talked about the Temple and commitment. We started talking
to him after the meeting and told him we’d been married 46 years. Dad told him
that I tried to take care of Dad’s needs and he tried to take care of mine.
Then I told him to marry his best friend.
After everything was over they had what they call
a Tea Party. It’s more of a pot luck lunch. Salad, meat and cheese sandwiches,
fruit, cookies and juice and tea. During that whole time, Dad was in the chapel
talking to Evon about this and that. Someone took them a plate of food but they
stayed in there to eat. I walked in to tell Dad we were leaving in 10 minutes
and he was inviting Evon to be baptized. Evon told him he’d think about it. He
seems grateful for the time Dad spent with him.
So that’s our week.
Love to you all.
Mom
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Dear Family,
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed their Sunday. I’m
glad Lauryn (in AZ) Britti (NV) and Nica (NV) are having a great time playing
soccer in the President’s Cup. Dad and I miss being able to travel with you
guys.
This week has really been slow with President and
Sister O gone. They’ve been in Turkey for a Mission President’s conference.
They got back last night. I did another power point for President while he was
gone so I’m sure things will pick up around the office when he comes to me with
changes for it.
The AP’s and the Avrora Elders came to dinner
today. We had meatloaf, corn, carrots, rolls, salad, and cupcakes. I found a
Chocolate cake recipe on the end of a romance novel I read. It is really good.
There was also a recipe for peanut butter frosting. I frosted some cupcakes
with the peanut butter frosting and some with orange frosting. It was split for
which frosting they all liked best. Elder Buchanan said this was only his third
time having meatloaf. He said he took a good sized chunk because he didn’t
realize how dense it was. Dad immediately jumped on him J for calling my meatloaf
names.
It was
still light outside when they got here. The days are getting longer and we have
a heat wave going. It’s got up to 37 degrees F. today but it felt like 30.
Things are really starting to melt. It was weird, while it was the third hour
of church I was in the Primary room. It started hailing and it was like a
blizzard then ½ hour later the sun was shining.
Dad and I are betting that one of the AP’s will be
transferred next cycle. The ones we have now both leave for home in July. Elder
Buchanan has been an AP longer than Elder Quarnberg so he will probably be the
one moving. I always hate losing my AP’s but I get just as close to the next
ones.
Next week will really be busy. We will have our 2
new senior couples come in on Tuesday night. We are getting together on
Wednesday, the 4 Couples and President and Sister O. We are going to do some
self-reliance training. Because of their positions and responsibilities both of
these couples will be able to travel to do some training. Dad and I are really
bound to the office.
Then we have the Ball coming up on Friday, the 24th.
That should be fun. They are giving out invitation to lots of people, not just
members. This Thursday and Friday are Russian holidays. Its Defender of the
Fatherland Day. Then on Monday, the 27th it’s Special Operations
forces Day, another holiday. March 8th is International Women’s Day,
also a holiday.
Last Friday was a beautiful day with lots of
sunshine. Dad and I were planning on going out to the Volga to take pictures
and go for a walk. Well Saturday turned out to be overcast, windy and snowy. We
crossed the street to the Volga and then went to the market and back home.
I did laundry on Friday and then on Saturday I
washed a blanket. The thing was almost totally dry in 2 hours. In the summer,
it probably would have taken 2 days.
I found ants on the floor Friday when I got home
from work. I left early to start the laundry. I spayed them with Windex which
did the trick. Dad and I picked up bug spray on Sat. while at the market.
March 3-7 there is going to be a Mission tour by
Elder Martino. He is the Europe East Area President. He will be in Samara for our
District conference and then he will be heading up our Zone conference. He gave
us all some things to do to get ready for our conference. Dad and I have
already done them. (I know, I know, over achievers)
Well, Hopefully I will have more to write about
next week. Love you all!!
Love,
Mom
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Dear Family,
I told you all about going to get my blood tested.
I sent the results to Dr. David Hansen who is our new mission doctor plus I
told him about the testing I do for blood sugar. This is the message I got back
from him.
From: David
Victor Hansen
Subject: Re:
Blood Tests
With your
blood sugars running as you describe, that is excellent. 6.8 is mildly high but
if you continue to just adhere to your diet awareness and exercise and so forth
you should do just fine until you get home in seven months. Please don't
hesitate to contact me with any further questions.
I read this response to you Dad while rolling my
eyes and he burst out laughing. Right now we are more or less hibernating and
not doing much exercise at all. If by continuing to adhere to my diet he means
a couple or a few mini candy bars a day that is exactly what I’m doing.
For dinner today I’m making Hawaiian Chicken,
potatoes, rolls, corn, salad and orange rolls for desert. The AP’s and Zone
leaders are coming over.
We were never so happy as when the Patriots won
the Super bowl. If they would have lost I’m not sure Elder Buchanan would have
been able to survive. So for his sake Dad and I turned into Patriots fans.
Last Monday I got ready with Dad and went to the
office. Monday is the Volunteers P-day so there are several that come to the
office to write home. My stomach started hurting so I decided I’d rather be
home. I drank some real coke which we’ve been told will kill the germs. It
started working and by the afternoon I was fine. Sometime after lunch I got a
text from the AP’s that said to look outside my door. Elders Quarnberg and
Buchanan had left a bag of candy along with a sweet note on my doorstep. Their
Awwww factor just went up.
Although in the office Elder Buchanan is telling
Elder Quarnberg that I said that Elder Buchanan was my favorite, and that I
like him more than my grandkids. Elder Quarnberg loudly proclaimed that Elder
Buchanan was lying. It gets a little wild in the office.
Tuesday was our Visa trip. We got to the office
just after 4:00am. We planned on getting on the bus at around 4:30am. The
sisters were being picked up by the bus before coming to the office. They couldn’t
see it anywhere. We waited and waited then called the driver. He said he’d been
out there for a while. So the sisters went looking again and found it.
Apparently they didn’t know to look for a mini bus. There were 12 of us going.
The trip went really smooth this time, except it was freezing. It was around
-14 at the border. The Russian boarder you stand outside, in line, as they go
through your papers, slowly, one by one. Then the Kazakhstan boarder had a
building you go in. The trip down takes about 2 to 3 hours and we were going in
and out of the border for another 2 to 3 hours and then 2 to 3 hours to get
back home. By the time we were done standing in line my toes and finger tips
were going numb. Thank heavens they only interviewed one of us. I made some
blueberry muffins and some orange muffins for everyone.
I’ve produced another PowerPoint for President O.
It’s for a Branch President training. Sasha translated it into Russian. Then he
gave me another one to do on tithing. I’ll start that this week but there is no
hurry on it. President and Sister O are going to be gone next week for a
Mission President’s training.
Friday I went to the store, Metro and went to the
pharmacy to get some glucosamine. I asked for two and when I got home I
discovered it was in powder form in individual packets. I wish I knew enough Russian
to take them back. Oh well, I just mix them with Juice in the morning.
Our district meeting was on Friday and I was about
½ hour late because I had been at Metro. Dad had to give my spiritual thought
for me. It was about looking to the good or being positive.
On February 24 the Samara district is having a
Ball. You can wear clothing from all eras. They will have to be okay with what
I have because I’m not buying a Ball gown.
Dad and were sitting in the living room today and he
says to me, “Have you prepared your talk?”
I said, “What talk.”
Dad, “The one we might get asked to give today.”
I looked though some things but couldn’t settle on
anything so just went back to my study. Dad thought about it and came up with a
few ideas. We walked into our Church and the Branch President asked Dad to
speak. Wow, talk about listening to the Spirit!! You certainly don’t have a lot
of time for your talk when you use a translator. He got to bless the bread
during the sacrament today also.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, we just didn’t get
out and do anything. Dad did take some great sunset shots.
Happy
Birthday to Kelly and Britti.
First date
and a driver’s license coming up for one of them.
Love you all,
Mom
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Just a note
Sunday, February 05, 2017
Dear Family,
Well, the Elder’s moved our dinner back an hour so
I’m starting my letter early. Usually I sit down to write after they all leave
for home after Sunday Dinner. Today our AP’s are out traveling with President
and Sister O. They really hate missing Sunday dinner, so I kindly sent them a
text with a picture of the apple crisp I made. Elder Buchanan, in particular,
loves apple crisp. But I did make a crock pot chicken pot pie that you spoon
over biscuits. He has a phobia about things made with a white looking sauce. (not
the taste, just the color) So since he was going to be gone I decided to go for
it. We also have some roasted vegetables and salad.
Monday we got to see a lot of the Elders and
Sisters. This is their P-day so they write one. Several of them use the
computers in the office. President O came in with some changes to his power
point presentation for me to do. He is always apologizing to me and I keep telling
him it isn’t a problem. Changes are easy. Then he came in on Tuesday with a
couple more. Wednesday was our zone conference where he was going to show the
PowerPoint so by Tuesday the changes were finally done. Dad has some editing
software on his computer so he is in charge of getting the pieces of video or
audio that President wants and then puts them on a thumb drive for me, then I
put them in the PowerPoint.
Wednesday the Volunteers got to the New Bezi
building early so they could have breakfast together. Dad and I went with
President and Sister O. Ramon drove us. We had three Russians at zone
conference. Pasha from our branch in NovoK, Dema from Orenburg and Jonathan
from Avrora. Jonathan will be leaving soon for a mini mission to Penza. I think
he will be gone for 2 to 4 weeks.
President is trying to encourage Dema and Pasha to go on a mini mission.
You’ll have to see if you can pick them out in the picture I send to you.
The zone conference was awesome. President focused
on Repentance. There are so many of our Russian brothers and sisters fall away
soon after baptism. President thinks that some of that may be because they did
something wrong and then think they are a failure. Dad and I were talking to
him about this and he wonders how many of the Volunteers truly understand this
gift. He hopes that through learning more and teaching it they will understand
it better.
One of the assignments we had to prepare for the
conference was to read an Article from the November Liahona (Ensign) from 2011 titled
“The Diving Gift of Repentance” by Elder Christofferson. One of the things he
said that hit me was “Pretending there is no sin does not lessen its burden and
pain. Suffering for sin does not by itself change anything for the better. Only
repentance leads to the sunlit uplands of a better life. And, of course, only
through repentance do we gain access to the atoning grace of Jesus Christ and
salvation. Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our
faces when we speak of it. It points us to freedom, confidence, and peace.
Rather than interrupting the celebration, the gift of repentance is the cause
for true celebration.”
Another thing that really struck me was when
President Ottesen told us that taking the Sacrament after repenting makes us
just as clean as coming up out of the waters of baptism. I hadn’t thought of it
that way. Who of us doesn’t need to repent each week, each day? Who hasn’t got
mad at a sibling or loved one. Who hasn’t had uncharitable thoughts toward
another during the week? To be able to repent of those things each week as we
partake of the Sacrament is one of the greatest gifts our Father in Heaven has
given us.
We combined Zone Conference and Zone Training so
the AP’s each spoke. Elder Quarnberg talked about being diligent. He had
everyone stand and line up and come by and look in a box. He said, in there we
would see what effects our diligent the most. In the box was a mirror.
Elder Buchanan spoke about Desire. His definition
of desire was “An emotion strong enough to make us do something we wouldn’t
normally do.” They both did a terrific job. The elder and sisters who were
leaving for home this Tuesday bore their testimony at the end of conference.
Sister Howe said one of her favorite quotes was “When you hit rock bottom out
find out who your rock is.” All of gave wonderful testimonies but that just
struck a cord with me.
Sister Warnick said during hers that one of her
life changing experiences was when she was serving in Avrora with Sister
Thomas. Shortly after coming there the Avrora Branch President apostatized. He
and his wife were visiting all the members and trying to take as many with them
as they could. President Schwab told those two sisters that they needed to get
out and talk to the entire ward member they could.
One of the wonderful Sisters in the Avrora branch
is named Kreshenia. She has dreads and colors them blue. She is the one who
plans a lot of activities, like the snail races. Anyway the former branch
president went to talk to her. He talked and talked, showing her all the
anti-Mormon literature that he had. She just listened and didn’t say anything;
they were friends of hers. Then he asked her how she could just sit there and
say nothing after listening to everything they had to say, all the proof they
gave her. This was her response: The only
way I would EVER not believe in the church and its teachings is if God himself
would come down in the flesh and tell me it wasn’t true. Nothing else would
make me leave the church. Sister Warnick said she felt, right then and
there, that she wanted a testimony as strong as Kreshenias. It was a wonderful
conference. Who thought that Dad and I could sit in a meeting for 6 some hours
and love it?
I give my NovoK Elders a treat every Sunday and
today I have them a chocolate bar filled with mint. Elder Miller told me I was
the best Grandmother ever!! It has snowed all day today. As we were leaving
Lilya put on her fur coat and hat and reminded me of a teddy bear. She is
short, round and her smile lights up the room.
For the last while I’ve been helping out in
Primary on Sunday. I came in on the 3rd hour to just sort of watch
the kids play. They were having a combined meeting of the Priesthood and Relief
Society that Maria went to. There was a disagreement between Veronica and
Deanna. Veronica was speaking to me in Russian. I kept telling her I didn’t
understand. She kept trying, using hand motions but I still didn’t get it. They
got mad at each other a little. Then Deanna accidently made her sister fall
into the Lego thing she made and ruined it. She cried very loudly. Her Mom
finally came in and made her feel better. I felt bad but she didn’t want me to
help her. I finally got them all to play a matching game.
Saturday, our branch president invited Dad and I to
their home for lunch. He was in Samara so picked us up. We told him to go by
McDonalds and bought lunch for everyone including happy meals for the kids.
They never do that or hardly ever go to McDonalds but they love it. We take so
much for granted and they have so little. The kids all got Batman masks and
were super excited. They put up a jungle gym sort of thing in the kids room. It
is super cool. I’ll send pictures.
Tuesday is going to be fun (not). We are going on
a visa trip and they plan on leaving at 4:30 AM. The earlier we get to the
boarder the faster we make it through.
I love you all,
Mom
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Dear Family,
I love Sunday’s!!! I love going to our little
NovoK branch and feeling all the love they have for Dad and I and each other.
They are truly some remarkable people. Sister Vera’s daughter is in the
hospital because of a problem with her eyes. She told me Doch (daughter),
hospital and pointed to her eyes. I said, Ya, which is I only it looks like a
backwards R, then I made the sign of praying with my hands and she said
Spaseeba, which is thank you. Vera’s husband, Lavon came today. He is a less
active that has become good friends with our mission president.
President and Sister O came to NovoK today and
took part of the second and third hour and did their family home evening about
putting on the armor of God. They have actual full size fake armor. I went into
the primary so Maria, President Krievov’s wife could go into the meeting. Dad
came in a little later and helped. This is tough because of not speaking the
language. I heard Deanna complaining that I didn’t understand Russian. They all
had a snack and then we got out a memory game that Sister Krievov brought. Her
daughter, Deanna, was laying out the game. Three other kids decided they didn’t
want to play so started playing a different game. Deanna got mad and she and Veronica
were arguing and Deanna hit Veronica. Veronica went out to tell her mother. I
was surprised I wasn’t fired.
Meanwhile, Camilla, Deanna and I started on the
memory game. We had a great time and eventually Veronica and Madison started to
play with us. All was quiet for a while. I had brought a treat, marshmallows.
The kids loved them. They continued to play pretty well together, so it was
quiet when Maria came in to help clean up.
Elder Buchanan, one of our AP’s, is a diehard
Patriots fan. He is trying to get Dad and me to support his team. I finally
told him that I was rooting for the Patriots just because I didn’t want to hear
him cry and complain for a solid month if they didn’t win. He was okay with
that.
This week was a busy one. President is getting
ready for zone conference next week and I’ve put together two PowerPoint
presentations for him. The last one was 62 pages long and there are pictures
and also 3 different videos embedded in it. It’s on Repentance. We had some stuff to read to prepare for our
zone conference on Wednesday. One of the things was a talk given by D. Todd
Christofferson titled “The Divine Gift of Repentance” from the November 2011
Liahona. One spot that really hit me was this:
When prophets come crying repentance, it “throws
cold water on the party.” But in reality the prophetic call should be received
with joy. Without repentance, there is no real progress or improvement in life.
Pretending there is no sin does not lessen its burden and pain. Suffering for
sin does not by itself change anything for the better. Only repentance leads to
the sunlit uplands of a better life. And, of course, only through repentance do
we gain access to the atoning grace of Jesus Christ and salvation. Repentance
is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it.
It points us to freedom, confidence, and peace. Rather than interrupting the
celebration, the gift of repentance is the cause for true celebration.
With our Mission goal of becoming a Stake in
Samara, repentance is a big message. So many new converts will fall back into
an old habit or do something that makes them think all is lost and quit going
to church. President is hoping by helping our Volunteers to really understand
this principle they will be able to pass it on to members, less actives and
non-members alike. We need to have 99 Tithe paying Melchizedek Priesthood
holders as one of the conditions of becoming a stake. We need to bring back our
less actives and support our members by encouraging them to pay tithing and set
a goal to go to the Temple.
Dad and I both feel very blessed to have the
knowledge and skills to be able to help and support President and Sister O and
all of our Volunteers. It’s like I spent the last 20 years working to get ready
for our mission. I know they don’t look forward to our leaving. Dad and I have
both put together a How To Handbook to help the next Office Couple or
Office Elders transition in.
Also this week I found, enhanced and printed off a
lot of Kyiv temple pictures. Sister O put them in frames. They are going to
give them to the Volunteers to leave with the members of their branch. I also
helped her with some primary stuff she wanted done.
This week we had the AP’s, Elders Quarnberg and
Buchanan to dinner today along with the Avrora Elders, Elders Nedelev (Russian)
and Kennedy. I made Taco soup, cornbread, I fried tortilla chips, and banana
cake. Also some sliced cucumbers in vinegar, well, Dad made that.
I heard a few cute things this week. At church
today I gave my NovoK Elders a treat. (I bring one for them every Sunday) I
brought each of them two, frosted, banana cupcakes. Elder Miller was eating one
of his and he looked at me and told me, very intently, that he would die for
one of my banana cupcakes. I just laughed and told him he needed to raise his
standards a little.
The other one came from President Ottesen. Last
Sunday the AP’s had a meeting with President O after our dinner. President told
me that his conversation went something like this:
Elder Quarnberg, “You know President, I’m kind of
a Mama’s boy, and being there with the Stewarts, with Sister Stewart for Sunday
dinner almost brings me to tears.”
President said he looked a little choked up. All I
could saw was AWWWWWWW.
I was up in the second apartment that is by the
President and Sister O apartment, helping Sister O go through stuff that had
been left in it as Sisters and elders come and go. Anyway while there I found
some letters that Elder Johnston left there and one was addressed to Dad and I.
He was telling Dad and I how much he loved us and what a blessing we had been
in his life. It was a beautifully sweet letter. I don’t know why he didn’t give
it to us himself. If I hadn’t gone up to help Sister O I would have never found
it.
It was time for me to head to the walking street,
last Tuesday, by myself, to get my hair cut. I jokingly told Dad he needed to
come with me and he said he would if I wanted him to. Part of me wanted him to
and another part of me scoffed and said to get a grip and go by myself. I went
and got back just fine. I showed her a picture of what I wanted my hair to look
like and she gave me a shorter version of it. Oh Well.
I love you all greatly; keep those emails and
Facetiming/Skyping coming!!
Love,
Mom
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Dear Family,
Another week has flown buy. We just finished
dinner with 5 Volunteers. We had our normal two, the AP’s, Elders Quarnberg and
Buchanan plus Sister Howe, who is going home on February 7th and two
Russian Sisters, Sisters Grishina and Sister Petrova (I think). Sister Grishina
will be going home to St. Petersburg on April 25th. Sister Petrova
is a mini missionary who is only here for one week. She is here from Saratov.
She said she always wanted to go to an American Home and felt like coming to
dinner at our apartment was like that. As she was leaving she did tell Dad that
her brother was as big and round as he was but he is only 17 (Dad just
laughed).
Sister Howe has to eat Gluten and Dairy free. She
can’t have eggs but she can have mayonnaise. I made her my roast and I cooked
the carrots there instead of in brown sugar and butter. I made corn but didn’t
butter the pan or cook the corn in butter. I used Gluten free flour to make
gravy. I have a French bread recipe that doesn’t have dairy in it so I tried to
make that with the Gluten free flour and it didn’t rise. I thought maybe the
yeast was bad so I tried it again and it still didn’t rise. So I made it with
regular flour and it did just fine. I found a recipe for Gluten and dairy free
cornbread so I made that. It turned out okay. Then I also made a pasta salad
and a green salad and had some canned pears as well as some fresh ones.
For dessert I found a recipe for peanut butter
chocolate chip cookies. It doesn’t have any flour or dairy in it. The biggest
ingredients are Powdered sugar and peanut butter. You do bake them. She seemed
to like them. I also made regular Chocolate chip cookies.
Last Tuesday I went to
the hospital/clinic. Our mission doctor thought I should have my blood sugar
checked so we can keep track of it. The insurance company made an appointment
for me and Elder’s Buchanan and Rasmussen came with me. It was a really nice
facility. You had to put booties on (like you wear at a temple open house) when
you come in. I’m so glad the elders were there with me. We figured out where to
go and the doctor was waiting for me. She asked me my height and weight and I
told the elders to plug their ears. After filling out paper work and asking me
some question she took me into an exam room. The Elders stayed out. I took my
top off and she felt my arms and neck. Then I was asked to lie down on the exam
table. (Mind you this is for a diabetic check) She did an ultrasound on my
neck. I couldn’t figure out why they were doing that but of course I couldn’t
ask her.
After getting dressed I
went back in the other room and she told me that everything looked great. Then
she sent us out the door and Elder Buchanan said we were supposed to come back
Tuesday for the blood test. I told him my email said I was supposed to have my
blood checked that day and that they asked me to come in fasting. So we went
back to the deck where we showed our papers and they had us call our insurance
company who gave permission for the blood test. We went back upstairs for that.
I signed something giving them permission to give my information to Elder
Buchanan. He will pick up my results from them. Anyway I was pleasantly
surprised at the conditions of the hospital/clinic.
Dr. Taylor called me to
follow up on my experience and he explained that the Russians love their
ultrasounds and they probably looking at the blood flow in my neck. I was glad
to have that question answered.
Elder Briggs (Wendy’s
co-workers son’s best friend) came to the office for splits with the AP’s. I
sat as asked him how things were going. So he told me about an experience he
had (he’s been out since October). Several months ago he pulled a muscle and
just kept going. It just wasn’t getting better and after several weeks. It was
decided that he needed to go to a clinic and have it looked at. While there he
met an English speaking worker. He said he spoke almost perfect English. They
talked quite a bit. Within a week of that visit his problem started to clear
up. He kept thinking about the person he met and he and his decided he needed
to go back and talk to him again. That person is now his investigator. It is
simply amazing the lengths the Lord will go to get to his people. Elder Briggs
said he would have preferred a still small voice instead of pain.
So that was interesting. Eventually they left and we made sure we saw
who ever came to the door. They are going to install a camera so we can always see
anyone coming to the door. Right now if they get past our window without us
seeing them we can’t tell who is at the door, so this will help.
Dad and I Skyped with Elder and Sister Bryson who are a senior couple
coming on February 21st. This will be their third mission and the
second one to Russia. They are doing a Leader support mission. Our other Senior
couple, the Bowlers will also being arriving on the 21st. They are
an Education couple. Dad and I are praying that some senior couple will be
inspired to come to Samara to take mine and Dad’s place. I don’t want to leave
them without help or have to call two Elders to work in the office.
We had a birthday party on Friday which I was supposed to make a cake
for. I was saying my morning prayers Friday and it popped into my head that I
forgot to make the cake. So I made a cake and got it frosted. Dad and I bought
pizza for the office. Friday was President Blinkov’s birthday but early in the
month it was Sister Anna’s (housing), Sister Lena’s (accountant) and Monday
will be Riesa’s (cleaning lady). President Blinkov’s wife made cake too and the
Elder’s brought drinks. They all seemed to really appreciate it. We sang Happy
Birthday to all of them.
The AP’s finally remembered to bring their Christmas socks with them to
work and we took pictures. They bought us socks for Christmas. They are so
sweet. Dad and I went to KFC just off the walking street for lunch on Saturday
and then Dad got his hair cut. I made an appointment to get mine cut on
Tuesday.
President Krivov, our branch president came to the mission office on
Friday. He was telling me that the Ottesen’s were babysitting for them while he
and Maria went on a date for the first time in two years. He told me that his
oldest, Deanna said she didn’t want to stay with the Ottesen’s she wanted to
stay with Sister Stewart. She hardly talks to me at church but I guess, at
least I’m someone she knows.
We had Zone training on Wednesday. The training was put on totally by
our zone leaders and Sister Training Leader and it was one of the best I’ve
been to. They gave us three goals which we later voted to adopt. 1.) Help build
the Samara Russia Stake. 2.) 10 baptisms in the first 100 days of the new year.
This one was voted to move higher because we’ve already had 2 with another 2
scheduled. 3.) Commit to talking to people on transports. The interpretation of
the law has changed somewhat so now our Volunteers can talk to people on the
street and in their homes if they are invited to.
Elder Miller, our NovoK Elder was asked to do a little training. He
talked about asking questions so you can learn about people and situations. He
had us move our chairs in a circle and did an exercise where two people stood up
and you could only talk in questions. If you paused or made a statement you
were out. It started with Me and Elder Lytle. He started by saying “We should
start, which was totally a statement so I told him he was out. Then I made it
through a few more Elders. We didn’t understand that the questions needed to
build on each other so a lot of our question were random. When Dad was up no
one could get him out. His comeback question was always “Why do you want to
know.” Anyway it was pretty fun.
Sister Howe, our Sister Training Leader did part of the training also.
She asked us why we need stakes and told us it was for refuge, defense, and to
strengthen each other.
I’m sending you Christmas sock pictures and pictures of us heading to
the walking street.
Love you all,
Mom
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Dear Family,
This week started out great. Monday Morning Sister
Taylor Thomas, who went home Dec 16th skyped Dad and I. It was so
fun talking to her and seeing her face. She told us that she and Elder Drake
Oldham are dating!!!! Elder Oldham was one of our AP’s that ended up getting
deported. We were all in the same district for a while. He would say something
really nice and appropriate about Sister Thomas and she would say something to
me about him. I got the inside scoop when I was talking to Sister Warnick
(former companion to Sister Thomas) about Sister Thomas and she told me that
Taylor was going to Utah. So I pulled a mom trick and pretended to know more
than I did:
Sister Warnick – “Sister Thomas is going to Utah
this week (she lives in California).”
Me – “Ya, she’s coming up to see Elder Oldham.”
SW – “Oh you know about that do you.”
Me – I just grin at her. Meanwhile my mind is
running amuck. I can’t believe two of my favorite people like each other.
Then I emailed Taylor and told her what I did with
sister Warnick and to spill the beans or I’d be emailing Elder Oldham (empty
threat). She didn’t answer me for two weeks, then she skyped us and told us
everything!!!!!!
Then I found out that Sister Graham, who went home
in December, is emailing Elder Pletig, a German Elder who went home in
November. They even mentioned the M word. Wow! Then today at church I was in
the Primary with Sister Howe, who goes home Feb 7th, and we were
talking because she has a boyfriend who just returned from a mission and is
sort of waiting for her. She is kind of hoping he dates others before she comes
home. She is kind of interested in Elder Hemrick who went home in December.
It’s like Wendy’s South Carolina mission group when they came home. Most of the
time these Elders and Sister don’t form attachments until their Mission is over
or at least they don’t act on them. We did have an emergency transfer because
of that situation a couple of weeks ago.
Thursday morning, around 6 AM or so the power went
out in our apartment. It probably lasted around 2 hours. I was just starting to
think I’d have to gather my things and get ready at the office, assuming they
had power. The lights next door to us were out but the street lights on the
Volga were on. The power came back on and Dad and I got to work on time.
It’s amazing how much static is in the air. The
humidity stays high but everything dries out fast. My hair is always flying
away if I don’t coat it with hair spray. It’s a good thing we have wood floors
because if it was carpeted you’d be constantly giving each other static shock
and it would probably be enough to stop your heart. In the summer it takes all
night and all day for the clothes to dry after washing them. Now they are
almost totally dry in a few hours. The air just sucks out all the moisture.
The static also causes other problems. Imagine me trying
to sneak a candy bar while everyone is working away in the office:
·
I open my candy drawer and take a snickers.
·
I quietly open the wrapper. Not really trying to
hide yet not being too obvious about it. (Okay, embarrassingly enough it’s my
third one (fun sized)
·
I reach quietly underneath my desk and put the
wrapper in the trash. Well try to.
·
The wrapper seems to be attached to my skin.
·
I flick the offending wrapper into the can, it
refuses to cooperate.
·
Another Flick, not successful.
·
Now I’m practically dancing with all the arm
flapping I’m doing, it will not come off.
·
After a wrist cracking flick it finally leaves
my fingers.
·
Wow, that was difficult
·
10 minutes later I look down and notice the
wrapper didn’t make it in the can but is resting on the floor.
·
I pick it up and start the whole process all
over again and I have to ask myself, “Is it worth it?”
Dad and I left work an hour early to go to the
market; I’m out of so many things. Sister Ottesen is traveling so we haven’t
been to Metro. The market that is closest to us is undergoing a remodel and
they haven’t stocked their shelves. Anyway the other small market is like three
blocks away and when you are carrying your own grocery bags it’s two blocks too
many. Anyway we went there and just finished checking out when our clerk yelled
at someone trying to go out the door. She pushed this man and was yelling. She and
made him open his coat and pulled a large bottle of alcohol out of his inside pocket.
She then locked the front door so he couldn’t leave. We figured we would be
there until the police came. About 10 minutes later a woman wanted out so they
unlocked the door. Dad and I grabbed our stuff and went out at the same time. I
was worried we get caught up in everything and since we don’t speak the
language we wouldn’t know what was going on.
Since we didn’t go to Metro this week I didn’t
have anything planned for dinner. I ended up cooking some beef and potatoes in
a BBQ sauce in the crock pot. I made corn, homemade French bread, some canned
fruit. For dessert I made some cake cookies. I took a cake mix and put less
liquid than it called for. I wanted to make a sandwich cookie. I flattened a
piece of dough and then put a piece of chocolate fudge on it, then flattened
another piece of dough. I cooked it but the chocolate melted out all over. The
next batch I sealed the top and bottom together. The Elders really liked them.
Elder Buchanan bought himself a cheap Taser. He
said he was going to try it on himself. I asked him how that went when they got
to our house for dinner, but he said he totally forgot to do it. That’s our
Elder Buchanan. I did ask him what he’d do if being tasered made him lose
control of his bodily functions. I also told him it could stop his heart. I’m
having Dad call him and read the dangers I found on the internet to him. His
companion wasn’t too sure about it so maybe he’ll talk him out of it.
Church was great today. We had our RS president
bring her son. I’ve never seen him there before so I don’t know if he is a
non-member or a less-active. Then Levon was there. He is Sister Vera’s husband
who is less active. Dad counted about 25 of us including 6 Volunteers.
Well, I love you all.
Mom
Sunday, January 08, 2017
Dear Family,
I just wanted to take a minute to tell you thanks
for all you did for Grandma’s funeral. Kelly, reading my message, Wendy and
Stacy, working on the video and Brian, making sure we were a part of
everything. We love you all so much and I knew that you all would take up the
slack for me. Stacy asked how I was doing since Grandma died, in an email the
other day and I told her that mostly Dad and I are okay. I spent the day after
Grandma died being mad. I tried not to let it show but later that night Dad
asked me if I was okay and I told him I had been mad all day. He just said,
yea, I know. Anyway by the next day the anger was gone and the gratefulness was
there. Heavenly Father gave Dad and I some peace and what a blessing it’s been.
This week was extremely quiet. The Ottesen’s have
been gone; they were daring and took a train to Saratov. They had a compartment
to themselves. The AP’s were traveling until Thursday. It is a holiday week for
Russia so none of our Russian speakers were in the office. We didn’t have any
deliveries either because of the holiday. In fact one day this week, I hadn’t
slept well, so I didn’t go into the office until noon. Friday we had district
meeting and so the office filled with voices again.
The Avrora Sisters had their assignment change a
little so they are going to come to NovoK twice per month on Sunday and every
Thursday. It will be nice to have some sisters. Tell Dani to keep practicing
her hymns on the piano. If she goes out of the states they will be in desperate
need of piano players, possibly in the states as well, depending on where she
is located. I know our branch is always very grateful to have a Volunteer who
plays. If we don’t have one, we sing acapella and sometimes that goes way
wrong. We have a little CD player but that takes so long to set up they don’t
usually use it for the songs just the prelude music.
Dad and I went for a walk on Saturday along the
Volga. It was a relatively nice day. It wasn’t windy and it was about 25
degrees when we went out. It was snowing, small little tiny crystals. It’s been
snowing for about three days straight but finally seems to have stopped. Looks
like you guys had it worse than we did. Joel Facebooked a temperature in
Brigham City that showed -18 plus tons of snow.
Today Dad got to bless the sacrament in Russian.
He’s been working on blessing the bread. He got a thumbs up from President
Krivov on his first try. This was a pretty wonderful experience for both of us.
The Avrora sisters came today.
Sister Shumway is training one of our new sisters
but she doesn’t need help with the language because she is a native Russian.
They came to help Maria in Primary. Dad suggested that I go in with them
instead so Sister Krivov could actually attend Sunday School and Relief
Society. She was pretty excited about it. She has been in the nursery/Primary
forever. There were just her three kids today. I definitely had a headache when
it was time to go home. I played with the little boy for a bit. Then we all
played Foo. One of the girls has a soft ball. She throws it to someone and says
something and the person who got the ball either pretends to eat it (if it was
something edible) or says Foo and throws it back to them. Mine was a chocolate
book so I ate it.
After I write this letter I will start dinner. We
are just having the AP’s over today. I’m making a chicken casserole. I can’t do
anything in any sort of white sauce because Elder Buchanan has a phobia about
that. He said one day he went in the kitchen where his Mom was cooking dinner.
She was making an Alfredo sauce. He looked at and thought it looked disgusting
and has not been able to make himself eat it again. So I always make something
in a brown or red sauce for him.
I decided to make a pear cake using a cake mix I
already had. It was a fruity cake. I mixed it up but I was finding these things
that looked like balls of paper in the batter. I started pulling them out. I
couldn’t figure where they all came from. Then it dawned on me that they were
blueberries. I was happy it wasn’t balls of paper. Anyway after mixing the
batter I sliced some canned pears and laid them on top. Then I put on a topping
that is flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter. It sort of makes an apple crisp
topping. You bake the whole thing. It tastes pretty good. This way I don’t have
to frost it. I also made some homemade French bread.
I’m really ticked at the little market we always
go to. They have been remodeling for months now. Slowly thing are disappearing
from the store as the remodel expands. Saturday we went in and there wasn’t any
butter, eggs or sour cream. Most of the produce was gone. Workers were inside
and making what looked like new cases for the stuff. Mean while we can’t get
the stuff we were used to getting. I hope they finish up soon.
Love,
Oma
Sunday, January 01, 2017
I
wish you all a Happy New Year. I hope
yours was great. Just think, by next New Years Dani will be celebrating
somewhere new and exciting.
Hi,
we only had Sacrament meeting today for church. Instead of doing that on
Christmas Day our branch decided to do it on New Years Day. For Russia that is
the main holiday. All of the volunteers last night and tonight have to be in by
6:00pm because of all the alcoholic celebrating that occurs.
This week has been really busy. We had 8 new
sisters come in, Volunteer transfers and a visa trip. There were tons of Elders
and Sisters in and out. The AP’s are amazing to be able to coordinate all of
the comings and goings. On top of all that they have to make sure everyone has
a companion at all times.
With
so many new Sisters and 6 sister’s that left in Dec, even our younger sisters
have to train. Sister Holley and Shumway, who came in last July, will be the
oldest sisters in the mission by April 1. Even Sister Clark, who came in
October, is training.
This
week should be quiet. The Russians have a long holiday that began today and
goes to the 9th, for both New Years and the Russian Christmas. I’m
not sure who all will be in the office.
Elder
Nedelev (native Russian) was asking me about whether or not it was possible to
move a button on his hat. I just told him sure but that he’d have to sew
through the fur. I didn’t think any more about it until I saw Sister Howe with
the hat. She was going to Sister O’s to get a needle and thread. He was
probably hoping I’d fix it for him but he didn’t ask me and I didn’t think
about it.
Our
Landlord was in and out this week rebuilding our shower. There is a shower and
tub combo but they also have a stand-alone shower. Dad noticed a crack in the
floor of that one. He took it all apart a couple of weeks ago and ordered a new
base. Fortunately we had the shower in the tub so we could still get clean. The
people plumbing the shower reversed the hot and cold water. We told his wife
(she speaks English) but we will probably just leave it because it would be too
big a project to change.
Okay,
a couple of interesting things happened to a few of our volunteers. Elder
Buchanan was super gluing something and managed to glue two of his fingers
together. I looked like he was flashing everyone the OK sign. He asked for my
help and I told him he needed some sort of solvent. I googled it and found out
he needed finger nail polish remover. I called Sister O and she had some. It
was a successful separation.
Over
on the other side of the mission are Elders Wickman and Reusch. Elder Wickman
is one of my former NovoK Elders. Well they were cooking something on their
stove top and when it was done they went to turn off the knob. It turned past
the stop point so instead of going out the flame went higher. They turned the
knob and it came out along with the stem. In trying to get the knob back where
it was supposed to go they were taking the front part of the oven off. The gas
flared higher and started the stove on fire. Some of the counter top was
burning. They were a little panicked and didn’t know what to do. They went and
got their neighbor and he turned off the gas shut off valve. So the fire went
out but they are now minus a stove. Plus I’m sure everything probably smells
like smoke. Dad and I are so grateful that no one got hurt and they didn’t burn
down the apartment complex.
We
are having the AP’s and the Zone leaders over for dinner. One of the zone
leaders is new, Elder Vandermark. He was once one of my NovoK Elders. The Zone
leaders have moved into their apartment in Bezimansky which is a lot farther
away. They used to live with the AP’s in the second apartment. This apartment
is right next to President and Sister Ottesen. This used to be empty but they
moved a couple of Elders in when they couldn’t find an apartment.
The
Zone leaders used to come to dinner every Sunday but will probably only come on
Fast Sunday. It’s about an hour’s bus ride away so it really takes too much
time to come every week. The AP’s are moving to a new apartment when they can
locate their apartment keys. But it is only a few blocks away. It’s hard find
apartments for the Volunteers because of when we get new Visa’s or transferred
to a new apartment they have to get re-registered and the landlord had to be at
the registrar’s office to do this. So when they find that out many of them
won’t rent to us.
Yesterday
Dad and I stayed home most of the day. We did walk out on the frozen Volga
River. The wind was really blowing out there so we didn’t go far. Dad went on
to the market but I was too cold so went home to our apartment. We heard
fire-works going on until late at night. I even heard some at 4:00 AM. We did
see our first Russian ice bather. Well we didn’t really see but hear them. They
had a shield of cardboard around them. I guess they have a tradition of cutting
a hole in the ice and taking an icy plunge. I think it would get worse or
colder when you got out. The wind was blowing so I hope they made it back home
without getting frost bite.
Fast
and Testimony was great at Church today. Our investigator, Mike came just as
sacrament meeting was over. He didn’t know we only had that today and was
disappointed. Elder Miller told him that they had talked about a shortened day.
There
will be pictures of us on the frozen Volga and other various pictures.
We
love you all,
Mom
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