2/21/2016 Rain, Dom, Saratov Lights, 44th Anniversary

We were surprised with rain Tuesday evening, and unfortunately did not have an umbrella. Suffice it to say we found out that my coat isn't waterproof, but at least it is warm when it isn't wet.

Dasha and Alyona - the ones who went with us on our walking tour of the Zavadskoy buildings - 

took us to see their room in the dorm - dom in Russian which means any kind of home.  It took me back to my Arizona State University days and living in Gammage Hall.  This is a common kitchen area to the floor they are on .. they can only use the stove top, not the oven, no microwave, but they do have in their room a small crockpot and one of those electric pitchers that heats the water fast, something I'd like to have when we get home, amazing how often that comes in handy.

 They were in a room for three which was more than double the size of this one.  They like having fun, but they are studiers and not party-ers, so preferred having just the two of them. They are the only members of the LDS church in this dorm - dom.  There was one other member in their university, but he is in the mission field now, serving in Moscow..

 Both like reading.  Alyona major is English which she loves, Dasha's is Political Science, which she doesn't like,but once they declare a major, they cannot change it unless they change schools or until move on to another level.

 

 It says have a happy day.

 With their "commandant" who is in charge of this particular dorm and went out of her way to be nice to us.  She really likes them - and even had the guard let us in without showing our passports.  When they go in to the dorm, they have to stop at the window where the guard is.  They give him their university ID and he gives them the key.

 We met one of the retired teachers from their school.  Her husband also worked there and their son now has been one of their teachers.  We were at the curb and she asked if they could help her across the street.  She, probably in her late eighties now, and her husband have devoted her life to teaching and preparing young people for living in the "real" world.  (whatever that is).    

These two and Laila (our member from Angola) and Yulia came again Saturday to help make sugar cookies for the Institute Valentine party.  Another day of the little tender mercies that make things so much better.  We had a similar project last year but this is the first time I had to make sugar cookies here and I'm grateful heaven listens even to silly prayers about cookies.   Everyone helped and they turned out just right.  Then the three girls frosted them - it would have taken me forever - they are good at it and all did theirs a little differently so it was more decorative.

The party went well although we didn't have as many as we expected and would have liked to have had, but the evening was well planned with food and games.  At the parties here, everyone seems to be willing to take part in whatever is going on, and enjoy it.  

They even had a game that used the glow wrist bands like we use at the 4th of July.

Some of the best pictures are of people taking pictures as you all remember from watching your children trying to make their children smile for a picture.

A member just sent us these pictures, the members love them and so do we.  They are pictures of the lights in the sky just before Saratov was made a Stake.   There certainly was a great feeling of peace that weekend, appreciated much more because there had been such resistance before.  Everything was in place for any "just in case's", but there were none.

 

 
 

Remember the board Mike did for the Saratov District Time Line -- which took us a very long time to put up at almost a piece of paper at a time.  It shows all the branches, when they began and the branch, district and mission presidents from 1990 through 2015.

We knew it wouldn't take as long but expected to spend a fair amount of time taking it down:

 

 Less than 10 minutes from start to fold and in the trash.  We tried to find that poem about taking longer to build than to demolish but couldn't, but did find this quote which will do - 

By definition, the process of creation has to be structured and logical in order that you have a useful end product. Destruction, however, can be random and incoherent. Actions which take little or no thought can be done much faster than those which must be carefully considered.

We are told to go somewhere exciting for our anniversaries - how many have been to Saratov, Russia.  And it was exciting and memorable to celebrate our 44th at a Zone Conference with President and Sister Schwab, their daughter Jenni and all these young missionaries we have become so fond of.  We do miss our family at these times, but in a couple of months we'll have that too.  We also celebrated February birthdays.  February 29 is an unusual birthday, and it has to be even more rare to have two sisters serving in the same mission who are leap year babies. They will be five years old this year.  (the two with their heads together).   

Mike picked up some Baskin-Robbins ice cream for our anniversary treat for everyone.  We went the day before to see what the had (and found some cranberry-raspberry sorbet that was yum - to me anyway).  With the Google Translate and the little bit of English one of the ladies there knew, we were able to make sure they would have what we needed, but one of the Elders went with Elder Waite to pick it up - just to be sure. 

It it always good to be together and to be taught.

   In closing, this from the Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults on January 10, 2016 at BYU-Hawaii, President Russell Nelson speaking of personal revelation:

   Revelation for the church from the Lord to His servants  is a sacred process, and so is your privilege of receiving personal revelation. My dear brothers and sisters, you have as much access to the mind and will of the Lord for your own life as we Apostles do for His Church. Just as the Lord requires us to seek and ponder, fast and pray, and study and wrestle with difficult questions, He requires you to do the same as you seek answers to your own questions.  You can learn to hear the voice of the Lord through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.  As helpful as Google, Twitter, and Facebook may seem, they simply do not provide answers to your most important questions! . . . you can know the mind and will of the Lord for your own life. You do not have to wonder if you are where the Lord needs you to be or if you are doing what He needs you to do. You can know! The Holy Ghost will tell you “all things what ye should do.” (2 Nephi 32:5)

D&C 9:8 .. you must study it out in your mind, then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that...you shall feel that it is right.

                                               

2/14/16 History, Saratov Buildings, English Club, Peace

The Elders were talking about counting their blessings at the end of the day .... well, he yelled at us, but he didn't swear; he swore a lot but he didn't hit us or spit at us.                                                                                      

 An entry on one of the Engels Branch history discs reminded us of a headstone in the Santa Clara cemetery Aaron Michael and his family saw when they were looking at family headstones:   

                            "Accidentally Killed By An Indian"                       

And, this is the entry from the Engels, Russia history:

"2005 March 9  Engels:  Marina Azarenkova baptized, given a calling in RS, dies in November" 

*   *  *

        Mike has been working on a history of Saratov, and one of the areas in that history is the buildings they met in.  Mikail, from Zavadskoy Ward was willing to take us to the buildings for that Branch/Ward, so we met him Monday at the church building.  Dasha and Aloyna (converts of about a year, Institute Youth, English speakers and good friends) came with us to translate.  We thought it would be fun for you to see the buildings and how many places they have met.  Only the first one would be considered easily accessible.  (You can tell that some of the notes are taken from Mike's journal.)

We took a bus and rode for a very long time before Mikail finally gave us the sign of only two more stops, and there we got off to a day of hiking on icy sidewalks.  One of the nice miracles is that, though we slipped several times and walked great distances between buildings, no one fell. We enjoyed his enjoyment, his talk of playing Santa Claus, his explanation of each building. After the first building (below), where they used the bottom floor and were in for about a year,

Mikail said we had a ten minute walk, which I’m certain was nearer thirty than ten.  But the day, though chilly, and the snow frozen hard, and the ice glassy, 
we liked the walk: 

once up over the tracks, 

once across the tracks. 

He wove us through complexes and across long stretches of tracks, but got us to four of the six—I think six—buildings.  This is building number two - the part you see here was just a huge room where they had sacrament meeting.  Where you see the yellow trim, the building extends over to the rooms where they held classes.  They were here four or five months, 

and this was where Mikail was Santa Claus.

The next three pictures constitute their third meeting place and they were there almost three years.  They had 170 members, with over 100 coming each week to Sacrament meetings.  Now they have a little over 50 each week.  As mentioned before, many faithful members from here and the other Saratov branches moved to Moscow for work, starting in about 1998 when the value of the ruble dropped.  Those that came to organize the stake here even joked that this was really the second Saratov Stake, the first one was organized in Moscow. 

The white and blue building below was where Sacrament meeting was held  The classrooms were in the parts of the building you see in the bottom two pictures.  

 

This is their fourth meeting place, and the most difficult to get to, we had another short bus ride and then walked around buildings and across empty lots.  They met here a year and a half.

When Mikail finally said it was the last building we would be visiting, not one of the four of us had any idea where we were. We had walked through nice wooded areas and into some “sketchy” streets, trash on the sides of the road, and it all was another world. 

We were still in Saratov, Zavodskoy section, but there was nothing familiar. 

Mikail showed us the tram to get on, told us when to get off, and the number of the next tram to catch, and the girls followed his directions, and after a long ride on the hard seats of the tram, 

and traveling by the most humble of homes.

 

 We ended up on Rockova Street, only  two blocks from our apartment (and that was only because by then Mike recognized where we were and had us get off.  The walk from where we had been directed to get off would have added four blocks - 
and their blocks are longer than Salt Lake blocks. ) 

 Рахова ул (Rockova Street)

 One of our Elders who is from Arizona, has a talent for cartoon type drawing, so when that companionship is in charge of English club, he adds his talent.  This first picture says:

"You didn't read the Book of Mormon?  Then, I am sad"  and was more effective than anything he could have said. 

In English Club they were doing phrasal verbs - so he illustrated - a big help to those 
that are trying to figure out English.

 Couple of close-ups

We went again to the game center that some of the wards/branches rent out on Saturdays.  This time, along with the sports participants, one of the scout leaders was there teaching this young man to rappel - not as good as a cliff but it is a good beginning.  I'm not sure what it was built for, but they have adapted it very well and it isn't far to fall if you make a mistake.

Friends from the Zavadskoy branch and the zone leaders ate with us last Monday.  He would like to retire, but is also known as the "idea man" and they don't want him to leave because what they want to build, he can visualize and outline; they just follow his lead.  She works as an engineer.  They are fun to be with,  they obviously enjoy one another.  They tell stories, actually she tells and he fills in details along the way.  Their first daughter had some problems in her legs when she was a child and when the doctors tried to fix it, they made a mistake resulting in the amputation of both legs. Not to be discouraged, they worked hard and taught her, along with their next two that they could do anything they were willing to work for, regardless of handicaps.  She had a good voice and musical ability, so they enrolled her in the best music schools here.  Now, with an amazing singing voice and prosthetic legs, she professionally sings and dances, does very well.  They are very proud, for which they have reason.  (If you study and do well, the state pays for your education - and their three did.)

A tender moment between the two of them as they were getting ready to leave and he knelt down by her to help her put on her boots.

This is the fiance of one of our Institute members.  Her smile and fun personality reminded us of Meresa Woods so we immediately liked her.  I think we expected her to speak English.

She is from Vladivstock, Russia and served a mission in Rostov Russia, which is where our Russian sister is from.  It was fun to see their reunion as they met in hall of the Institute office and spoke in rapid Russian as they talked of people and memories there.

 Her fiance - or his fiance - whatever you chose

 

Somehow peace has been a consistent thread through the studies recently.  The topical guide says:

       In the scriptures, peace can mean either freedom from conflict and turmoil or the inner calm and comfort born of the Spirit that God gives to his faithful Saints.

Since all of us have trials we have to face and things we have to work through, it seems the peace we are looking for is the inner calm and comfort that comes through the Holy Ghost.  As always, our Father gives us simple directions and another great promise if we follow them:  

 D&C 19:23 - Learn of me, listen to my words, walk in the meekness of my spirit 

and ye shall have peace in me.  

We are constantly touched, impressed, awed, amazed - what is the word - at the many, many things our Father in Heaven has given us - in our wonderful world, with the sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ and through the restoration of the gospel.  We are grateful.

2/7/16 Comfort, Russian Blue, Snow/Ice, Brownies, Blocks and President Hinckley

First - and thanks to Ned Mikkelson, here is the video we've been trying to post!  It is fun to see the respect the friends and family have for those who brave the cold water.

        As Mike has said - it seems that everyone has a story, and all of those touch our hearts and remind us of the personal care our Father takes of each of us.  Wednesday afternoon the elder's brought an inactive sister probably mid to late 50's who they think was somehow offended, and so has not been to church for about 6 months; yet she is one who comes every week to help clean the church, feeling correctly that you show your love for your Father in Heaven by the things you do.  Her demeanor at first was accusatory as she talked of those who "take the sacrament every week but don't help other people, and don't allow 'down and out bums' in church."  Not sure what makes her think that because we have all kinds of investigators.
      We had prayer and began talking again, but now she was quieted a bit and a better spirit was there as we talked of people not being perfect and most often not meaning an offense.  The Elders then talked of the importance of coming to church and taking the sacrament and by the time she left there was a peaceful feeling.  She even said she would try to come to church.  (Sunday note - she did come today and was welcomed by many.) We're hoping that leads to coming back to church for good.
          But, to her story.  She married young and  had her first baby at 19, a little boy.  The doctors told her the baby did not live, but she was never allowed to see the him so she always felt they had taken him and sold him, which apparently was not completely uncommon then.  Over her lifetime she had wondered and often,  she said,  "asked God to let me know if he was OK."  They had two more children and she and her son and daughter joined the church in 2000.  When her children were at the temple in Helsinki, Finland some years later - she was at home - she was praying and had a quiet confirmation and the comforting knowledge that her baby had died at birth, that he was fine and that she would see him again.

We are so grateful for the comfort the Holy Ghost brings.   From lds.org:

 He is the Comforter (John 14:26). As the soothing voice of a loving parent can quiet a crying child, the whisperings of the Spirit can calm our fears, hush the nagging worries of our life, and comfort us when we grieve. The Holy Ghost can fill us “with hope and perfect love” and “teach [us] the peaceable things of the kingdom” (Moroni 8:26; D&C 36:2).

   I had the Fun Fact for one of the District Meetings so went to that knowledge-filled source,  the internet (which the young missionaries can't use) for Russian Fun Facts and found The Russian Blue Cat, which we have only seen a couple of, but they really are beautiful cats.  They are considered a "royal breed" and as legend goes were kept as pets by the Russian Tsars who liked their "plush fur coats and vividly colored eyes."  They were considered to be a good luck charm and stories are told of a Russian Blue healing a sickly Russian prince and tsars placing the cats in newborns' chambers to ward off evil spirits.

                                                               
Their famous coat of fur is in fact a double coat.  It is thick and plush and shimmers with reflective light.  The undercoat is soft and downy.   The topcoat can be a soft black, but usually is a shade of blue with silver at the tip which gives it the trademark fur color.  Their eyes, another stand-out feature, are normally a vivid green or yellow in color.  They are also called Archangel Cats because they are believed to have come from the Archangel Isles in northern Russia, and in the late 1800's were taken, probably by sailors to Europe - specifically Great Britian.

   They are a natural breed of cat, not coming from cross breeding and also don't have many health problems.  But the best is .. in the Tom and Jerry cartoons, Tom Cat is widely believed to be a Russian Blue because of his blue-gray fur.  How fun if a fact is that.

The ice is starting to melt so it will begin to slip off the roof with the new snow on it.  It is quite pretty, also can be quite dangerous if there are chunks of ice mixed in with the snow.  This almost looked like a lace ruffle.

 The view from the sister's 9th floor apartment 

It is really fun to see what people here do to have fun with the not so fun weather - here someone has cut these stairs into the huge pile of ice and snow.

The two young ladies in the picture below, Dasha a member for about a year and a half and Alyona,   a little over a year was baptized since we've been here.  They attend university here and are roommates now.  They have been in and out of our apartment for various activities and for lessons with the missionaries.  They asked last week if I would teach them how to make cookies.  It is kind of funny that anyone would ask someone with my level of cooking skills how to do anything.  However, it is also true that, over here, the blessings for me in that area have truly been poured out, answers to prayer being the main source, with the internet and recipes and food from home other sources, and I'm grateful.  The other lady, Ulia, and late thirties is the one whose husband was in Moscow on business about five years ago and had a heart attack while there, I think we've mentioned her before. We used to see her quite a bit, investigator of sorts, just a good woman, with an absolutely delightful personality, but she hasn't been around for several months.  Just recently she has been more in our prayers, wanting to be able to make contact again before we left.  Dasha "just happened" to run into her, they knew each other from activities at the office, and Dasha emailed us to see if it was OK for Ulia to come too.  Amazing how prayers are answered.  It was a fun afternoon, we made brownies and are going to try to get together when we can on Saturdays.  Ulia is a very good cook and has agreed to teach us some of her special dishes. Dasha and Alyona speak quite good English, Ulia continues to get better. She and her 16 year old daughter often watch English movies with English subtitles so they can learn more.

 This is a good example of not "judging a book by it's cover."  These pears have splotchy green and brown skin - the brown is kind of rough.  We probably would never have tried them, but Ramon, the mission driver, picked some up a few months into our mission, and brought them with the other food to a Zone Conference.  They are the absolute best, imported from Serbia and we just figured out, are called a conference pear, interesting since it was at a conference we first tasted them.  The seeds are tiny and not very many per pear, but we're saving them for Mike to try when he gets home .. if it works, we'll make sure as many as can will be able to taste them.

Referring back to the story at the first, here, as everywhere else, we find people who have been offended for one reason or another - although sometimes they can just be excuses not to come.  There is one mother the elders recently talked to (our missionaries have been concentrating some of their time each week on inactives) whose last time at church was about five years ago.  The reason she doesn't come is because her son, about 5 at that time and in Primary, was hit in the head by a block that another child threw, so she determined it wasn't a safe place for her child to be.  (just for interest - the red letter that looks like an "A" on the bottom row is a D, the yellow letter next to it is an F, the spidery red image on the side of the top block is a "zhe" like in pleasure.

After finishing the Book of Mormon in the missions 65-day challenge, we started Jesus the Christ, reading aloud together 15 minutes each night.  It has been a "don't-have-the-words-for" experience.  It moves amazingly quickly, almost reads like a novel and the testimony we have of Him has deepened as have our testimonies of the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It has been a happy time, even though sometimes it is hard to be so far away from home and family but that is no different than so many others who serve.  Everyone likes President Hinckley's story of his father's reply .. "Forget yourself and go to work."  And the song .. "Because you have been given much, you too must give."  And we have been given much -- grateful to all of you who have added so much to our lives and the lives of our children and for the people from here from whom we have learned so much.

So closing with another favorite thought from President Hinckley: