Monday –
Christmas Eve Day-was spent preparing for the BIG day on Tuesday. We had all the Elders and Sisters in our
District over throughout the morning to skype with their parents. Sister Webb of course fed them each breakfast
when they arrived at their designated times which to their delight included her
home made cinnamon rolls. It was a real treat for us to be able
to meet at least some of the families and to be able to say hi and Merry
Christmas to some of the moms. These are
wonderful missionaries and we love them all so much. All the calls went fairly smoothly throughout
the morning from 8am when the Sisters came over until around 1pm when the last
ones finished up. Then it was off to the
Mission Home for Christmas Dinner.
We had a
wonderful time sharing Dinner, some counsel from our Mission President, a
couple of musical numbers and a “happy” white elephant gift exchange. We all pitched in to clean up a bit and then
we were off to the Opera House to enjoy the “Nutcracker” - on Christmas
Day. Missionaries are permitted one
cultural activity every other transfer so everyone chose this one – since there
were 23 of us we had purchased tickets scattered throughout the opera house. It was a terrific evening.
The rest of
the week was pretty much business as usual except that Thursday the lock on the
office door froze and broke so we couldn’t get in. The office Elders and Sister Olga climbed
through the kitchen window so they at least were able to get in but Sister Webb
and I were not for that kind of activity so we waited patiently in our WARM apt
for it to get fixed. They came and took
the lock out of the door so we finally got in around noon and then by 5pm or so
they were back with replacement or refurbished lock sets and everything was
back to normal.
Friday
evening we spent with Elder and Sister Gundersen just visiting and having a
little gift exchange. We went over to
their place after our Districts Meetings were over. It is so fun to visit with them, compare
notes on our activities since the last time we visited, and just reflect
together on our experiences in Siberia.
We feel so blessed to have such close and wonderful friends serving with
us here to share these experiences.
Saturday it
was off to Barnaul, a city south of Novosibirsk about 5 hours by car. We travelled with President and Sister
Gibbons and Elder Guschin and Sister Guschina.
Barnaul was the only city in the mission which we had not yet had an
opportunity to visit so this was really a special trip for us as it gave us a
chance to be with the members in this wonderful city. They have just completed a new church
building in Barnaul and we went down for the dedication. The Holmes, a senior couple serving their 3rd
mission to Siberia and their 5th mission total are in Barnaul so
this was a great opportunity to see them as well. It will probably be the last time we will see
them before we finish our mission so it was a little sad as we bid them goodbye
and headed home to Novosibirsk.
We are not
too sure how the next couple of weeks will shape up. We remember from last year that this is the
time that Russia pretty much shuts down as they celebrate the Old New Year on
January 1 and the New New Year on January 7.
Everyone is on holiday from the 1st to the 13th so
things should be kind of slow which we will not mind as it will give us a
chance to get everything organized before our departure in February. We are so looking forward to seeing you all.
Happy New
Year to everyone and may the Lord smile upon you and your families and bless
you with a prosperous and joyful 2013.
See you soon.
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| Santa visited - left something for all the missionaries |
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| Ded Moroz (left) Snegarochka (right) and New Years Tree in front of our Library next door to our apt |
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| Christmas Night at "The Nutcracker" |
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| Sister Missionaries at Barnaul with Sister Gushina (middle) |
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| Elders at Barnaul with Mission President (right) and Area Seventy to his left |
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