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