Sunday, December 7, 2014

Lenin Square, Freezing Volga, Saratov Museum 12/7/2014

It is impossible to imagine what the day of this post, 12/7/2014,  would have been like in the United States 73 years ago 12/7/41 after Pearl Harbor.  We are grateful for our country.
       It has been an extra busy week.  Yesterday was Saturday and we had some time mid-morning and early afternoon, so decided to become more familiar with Saratov.  This is at Lenin Square.   Freedom is important to every country and Russia is proud of their military.  This statue showing one soldier helping another, and the eternal flame in tribute to those who fought in WWI.
The statue of Lenin looks over the Saturday "farmer's market" where many come and set up their stands to sell - this time lots of honey and different kinds of meat - beef, chicken, turkey and fish.  They also have cabbage, clothing and bread.  They even had a skating rink set up for the children and you can see the row of flags that are opposite the statue.


Skipping now to the Volga part of our day, which, as a note, is a brisk two-mile walk.   "Here, a statue to another famous Russian stands, taking in the magnificent view. It is a 20 foot high statue of the world’s first human satellite, Yuri Gagarin, who studied at a technical institute in Saratov from 1951-55 and whose capsule came to earth not far away, on April 12, 1961, near the little town of Smelovka."  Elder Yorgasen is standing by your dad, they have been here 9 months and he has probably walked every inch of Saratov.  In a couple of weeks they are being moved into the office to take the place of the office couple who have already extended their limit.
 The Volga has started to freeze over, but there are spots where the water is still moving, it is fun to watch the changes in it, it really is beautiful in all its changes;
 and people have already started to fish - he is close to the bank and caught a fish when we were standing there.
 This is the ferry that goes between Saratov and Engels - probably not any more this winter. :)
There is a museum close that has historical things from Saratov from early until now .. it is well taken care of and fun to go through.  On the top floor they have a mock-up of Sputnik which some of you will remember - Russia was the first country to put a satellite into space.  It could be seen around the world and the radio signals could be detected.  It was a capsule 23 inches in diameter and they had a model on top floor of the museum where you could see the inside and outside, also a picture of when it landed..  We are at the door of of the museum, below is an old church building across from the museum.. and a bus like the ones we ride.



    That is all for now.  We are touched and our testimonies stirred and strengthened as we sit with the missionaries in discussions and talk to the members of the Church and hear their stories.  It has been 22 or 23 years since the Church came back into Russia and the saints here are praying hard and working hard to continue the growth.  We do miss family and friends, but feel very blessed to be able to be here together.  We go to Samara next week for a conference so if there is time we'll try to get pictures from up there too.  Mike is really excited to be able to travel, but we will have our first train trip on the way back.    Love you all    -



1 comment:

  1. I'm wondering if you have gotten to the point where you can understand the various signs that appear on the building?

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