FHE Family Home Evening

Fun night tonite!  Made paper airplanes, flew them, then added paper clips so they didn't fly as well and tried again - object lesson on the atonement and repentance - carrying the entire weight of sin, etc.  Was a lot of fun.  Then we played Reverse Charades.  One person leaves the room and then the rest of the people act something out when that person returns and they have to guess.  I have pictures of bobsledding, golf, dentist, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Russian dancing.  Also a picture of Valentina (Valya) with a bunch/group/gaggle of Elders. All of the young adults at FHE tonite were not members of the church.  

First Language Night

The youth decided they want to learn English.  So, we had our first language night Friday.  Here's a couple of pictures.  The bestest part is they stayed after the lesson for a couple of hours and played games.  This is what we have been hoping would happen - it is their activity, they planned it and it was fun.

I also have a picture of a recent snowfall - if you look closely you can see snowflakes.  They were huge.  Things are warming up - in a few weeks we will probably put away our boots, he said, hopefully. It will be so nice to walk without a coat and hat and scarf and boots.

The Ballet

We went to the ballet today - to see Snow White = along with 100 bazillion children.  Here's a couple of pictures of the ballet and kids getting their coats at the coat room afterwards.

It was a beautiful production...no Russian because they don't talk in ballets they just dance AND I know the story!!!  They lived happily ever after!

Even better - we got home at 14:30 and at 15:00 two Elders had a lesson with one of the dancers in Snow White who has set a baptismal date!  We didn't know that before we went...sorta cool.  She was one of the evil queens evil bats/servants/whatever.   They even had a dancer who was the mirror - she had shiny mirrors all over her costume and sparkled a lot.  Very neat show.

The 30th we are going to see The Nutcracker.  Life is good.

Institute Council

We had a planning meeting for institute activities before our institute class tonight - then the usual soup afterwards.  First planning meeting we've had while we've been here.  A few of them want to come over Friday evenings and learn English.  Maybe we can learn a little more Russian, too!  Keep in mind when you look at these pictures that you're looking at the future of the Church in Russia.  These are great young adults - incredibly hard-working.

Sniff - It's Going To A Good Home

I gave Miraslov my one and only Jerry Garcia tie  That's love!  He is such a great guy.  What a blessing to baptise him and be his friend.  His older friend...I told him he couldn't wear the tie on the street because the women would attack him.  Funny, he says he doesn't understand English but he laughed when I said that....

Butter Week aka Pancake Week

We had a YSA activity - celebrating Butter Week or Pancake Week - we've heard it called both.  It's a Russian end of winter celebration.  The neat thing about this activity is that it was completely planned by President Markelov - who, we found out, can cook! -  and students.  We have been impressed and were taught at the conference that the only way to progress is for the local leaders and students to make it happen.  That's frustrating because it's much easier just to do it.  I think we are beginning to see the fruits of the foundational efforts of the past months.

Attached is a picture of President Markelov mixing some blini (pancake) batter.  Sherry also made a German pancake which is like a sweet Yorkshire Pudding - all made in one pan and baked in the oven.  Everything was tasty...seven students and one investigator.  Fun night.

Weird Elder Parody

In a parody of a parody I have parodied "Another One Rides The Bus".  My Elder friends like it...not sure if it's a positive contribution to their missions, though.  It's just REALLY true!  I rode the bus to our branch building today and we were "packed in like sardines".

Riding in the bus down Chapaeva
And the place was pretty packed (Yeah!)
Couldn't find a seat so I had to stand
With the drunk guys in the back
It was smelling like a locker room
There was junk all over the floor
We're already packed in like sardines
But we're stopping to pick up more (look out)

Another one rides the bus
Another one rides the bus
Another comes on and another comes on
Another one rides the bus
Hey, who's gonna sit by you?
Another one rides the bus

There's a purse poking me in the ribs
There's an elbow in my ear
There's a smelly old guy standing next to me
Hasn't showered in a year
I think I'm missing a contact lens
I think my passports gone
And I think this bus is stopping again
To let a couple babushkas get on (look out)

Another one rides the bus (ow)
Another one rides the bus (hey hey)
Another one rides the bus (hey-ey-ey-ey ey ey eyyyyyy)

The window doesn't open and the fan is broke
And my face is turning blue (Yeah)
People are squished up next to me

I just don't know what to do

Well I should've got off a couple stops ago
But I couldn't get to the door
There isn't any room for me to breathe
And now we're gonna pick up more (yeaaah)

 And in case you're not sure about Weird Al....here is a little demo...

FHE

Fun family night - four missionaries and three investigators and two members.  Played Uno and Phase 10 as well as a game with Uno cards that is pretty fun...we'll teach it to you when we get home!  
The picture of me and two elders and a girl is - left to right - Elder Bateman, our district leader; Katya, a member; me and Elder McClure my Oregon home boy.  Elder McClure was a little reluctant to keep his hair cut but it keeps getting shorter and shorter.  You know how much I like outward signs of conformity...!  Much easier than actually BEING obedient!

These missionaries and members we associate with are incredible.  There is absolutlely no doubt I could not do what they do every day.  I have great respect for them.

By the way - I get to train the new branch clerk in the branch we live in.  Sweet. 

Super Saturday and Women's Day

Saturday we enjoyed two activities - first was Seminary Super Saturday.  Seminary students and teachers and leaders gathered - I got to give a short spiritual thought and then we watched a video and did some scripture chase stuff.  A few refreshments afterwards and then off to the next activity - Women's Day district talent show.

Our district president and his first counselor MC'd the event...his first counselor is the one in the picture dressed up as "the feminist movement leader of Russia."  Various performances were presented by members - I have pictures of the missionaries singing and of Elders Stevens and Owens performing "O, My Father".  We also had everything from dances to guitars to accordions to plays.  Really fun activity.  Many of the local members love to perform - this is the third talent night we've attended.  russians certainly have a rich history of the arts.

We displayed our talent by helping fix the refreshments...typical open-faced Russia sandwiches - a piece of bread with a slice of meat on it.  I am definitely serving in the right mission!

Visa Trip

Just got home from our visa trip.  Totally exhausted. Here's a picture of us in Kiev airport with Elder Davydov's parents and a duffle bag full of salo, other meat, Ukrainian cheese and Ukrainian sweets.  As we all know EVERYTHING is better in the Ukrainain!  Nice to meet his folks even if it was a short visit.

Saratov to Moscow to Kiev to Moscow to Saratov.  Up at 04:00, home at 22:30.  Yuck.

We're taking a P-Day tomorrow.

Saratov Pictures

The other day we took a tramvi - which is a bus that runs on electricity on overhead electrical lines.  There are also trolleys which are electric but runs on tracks like a train...and regular buses as well as marshutkas which are like big vans that carry maybe twenty people...and taxis.  We've now sampled all of these transportation options.  Anyhow - we took the tramvi to the bridge to Engels and got off to look around a shopping area.  As you travel across the bridge - a famous bridge built many years ago and, at the time, one of the longest bridges in the world - the big Saratov sign greets you.  It's spelled CAPATOB since a C is pronounced S, a P is pronounced R and a B is pronounced V.  Once you figure out the new sounds each letter makes and the many different letters unique to the cyrillic alphabet I'd like to say you can read Russian.  Sorry - I still can't read Russian...unless you give me a little bit of time.  We walk down the street and I can figure out the names of the stores if I stand in front of the sign for a couple of minutes.  Same with singing a hymn - if the hymn is a slow one I can almost keep up.  Almost.

Anyhow again - I did take a picture of this cute babe I saw by the CAPATOB sign. Ended up sitting next to her on the tramvi and taking her home!!! :-)

There are two pictures of the mighty Volga River - which is covered in a sheet of ice.  If you look closely you can see some ice fishermen out on the river.  One of our mission rules is no walking on water - frozen or otherwise!!!

Today is a beautiful snowy day.  We walked a little in it and ate in a Russian cafeteria.  My chocolate pie was covered in marshmallow instead of whipped cream.  I really don't like marshmallow.  I decided to share my pie with Sherry and gave her half.  The top half.  So, nothing has changed...!

Patriarch Rogers

The last week Sister Stevens and Sherry have been assisting Patriarch Rogers as he gives blessings to the saints here in Saratov.  For those of you who don't know in each of our stakes there is a patriarch called who gives blessings to members.  I received my blessing on November 18, 1973 - which, incidentally, "happened" to be Sherry's 18th birthday.  I hadn't met her yet.  The blessing indicates the possibilities the Lord has in store for you if you keep His commandments.  They are sacred experiences to us. We treasure our blessings and consider them the voice of the Lord to us.

Only stakes have patriarchs and since the church in Saratov does not have enough members yet to be a stake a patriarch travels here once a year.  Patriarch Rogers was mission president in St. Petersburg 18 years ago and was a professor of Russian at BYU.  He lives in Bountiful, Utah. He's an awesome guy...in his late seventies.  His stamina is amazing.  To try to protect his strength the local leaders scheduled him to give about six blessings a day which meant that many who wanted blessings were not able to have them.  When he got here he said he would do as many as necessary so everyone who wanted a blessing could have one.  Consequently he is spending an extra day here and giving ten belssings a day.  Each blessing takes about 30 minutes total.  As you can imiagine the process is taxing.

Sister Stevens has the priviledge of being in the room as he blesses each sister.  Even though she doesn't understand all the Russian words the spirit is awesome.  Sherry has kept everyone waiting organized.  The patriarch has two digital records which both record each blessing and Sherry has made sure they get downloaded to Dropbox and sent to Moscow for transcription.

It's been a wonderful experience for them...of course, in order to get to the church building by 8:30 Sister Setvens has to leave her apartment at 6:30 and Sherry at 7:30.  Long days.

Off to Kiev tomorrow for our last visa trip.  With the change in the law we now will only have to travel every six months instead of every three months and we no longer renew our visas - just our immigration cards which is much less expensive and much less paperwork.  We leave our apartment at 4:30 tomorrow morning and get back about 23:00 after flying to Moscow and then Kiev and back again.  Exhausting...

Pipes!

The title of this post is for all you old Bill Cosby fans.  It's one of his old stories...

Anyhow - all the buildings I have been in are heated with hot water radiators.  There is a central water heating plant - or maybe several - and the water is delivered via pipes all over the city.  Here's a few pictures of said pipes.  It is usual to see stray dogs sleeping near these warm areas...