Birthdays, Wedding, Babies & More

When we sit down at the end of the week and reflect on all the activity that takes place we wonder how we keep packing so many experiences into such a short time.  The weeks seem to just fly by.  We have decided that with so much sunlight it makes it a little easier to just keep going but we do get worn out by the end of the week.  The office stuff stays about the same each week – missionaries coming and going, visa problems, dealing with money issues in three currencies (dollars, rubles, & tenge) and just trying to keep each other up to speed so one of us doesn’t get left in the dust on one thing or another.  In addition to all the normal stuff this week we celebrated both President and Sister Gibbons’ birthdays, paid a visit to the Big Reenok, had a Sr. Couples conference, said goodbye to one of the regular employees (leaving to have a baby), held our district meeting, attended a Branch activity and prepared talks for sacrament meeting today.  Oh – and we attended the wedding and reception (by Skype) of our beautiful granddaughter Brenna and her husband Will.  Congratulations to the new couple – Mr. and Mrs. Davis!!

So how fun is this – President Gibbons’ birthday is the 10^th and Sister Gibbons is the 11^th of July.  We had a great staff meeting on Tuesday, as we celebrated both birthdays together and since it was transfer day several of the missionaries who were in the city stopped by to share a birthday wish as well.  They are so great and everyone enjoyed being with them on their special days.  We also sent two of our best missionaries home this same day which is always sad.  One was Elder Ortner who was serving as our District Leader – the other Elder Bounous had been our District Leader when we first arrived.

Then it was off to the “BIG” Reenock after work where we bought new shopkas (hats) for winter – it will be here sooner than we would like.  They are supposed to be cheaper in the summer but we weren’t sure they were.  Then Wednesday was our Senior Couples Conference.  We gathered at the Mission Home in the afternoon where President and Sister Gibbons shared a few thoughts with us and we each shared our testimony.  It was insightful to see what motivated each of us to serve a mission.  None of us ever dreamed we would be in Russia, let alone Siberia but here we are.  It was a strength to each of us to share our feelings of faith and the joys and experiences we were each having.  There were 4 Senior Couples in attendance – 3 of us serving our first mission the other couple was serving their 5^th mission together ( 1 in Scotland, 1 in Cambodia and this is the 3^rd time they have been to Russia).  Not sure we are up for that but they were amazing.  After meeting for a while we all went to dinner at the Mexican restaurant (Russian version) – It is really pretty good – not like home but it will do in a pinch.  Then after dinner we walked to the Opera House to see the Russian Ballet – Copillia – of all the performances we have seen there this one we think was our favorite.

Friday brought our weekly district meeting from 1pm to 4pm give or take.  One of the senior couples, the Holmes’, (the ones on their 5^th mission) was still in town so they attended as well.  We ended up with 15 counting us for our meeting and lunch.  Sister Webb fixed burritos which were a huge hit and then after we got everyone off we went back to the office for a farewell party and baby shower (sort of) for one of the employees and a welcome on board party for her replacement.  It was hard to say goodbye to Yulia, she is the accountant that works for the church and has been very helpful to both of us in helping us understand many of the procedures and much of the language as we have learned our way around things in the office.

Saturday rolled around pretty quickly and it was a hot one.  The humidity was high, the air still, the sky clear as a bell, and temperature around 90 - a perfect day for a boat ride with our Branch.  There were just over 80 who came and once we all got loaded onto the boat we took off upriver.  It was nice to be on the water.  This is third largest river in Russia and although it runs south to north we didn’t get far enough upstream to make much of a difference temperature wise.  It reminded us a lot of the Columbia River back home except for the color of the water!!  We enjoyed the afternoon ride, most of the folks got off the boat at a big island upriver for a couple of hours (they would catch the boat back on its next run) we returned with the Huffakers, a few of the missionaries, and our District President and his wife and new little daughter Sophia.  We all went to Carl’s Jr. for a hamburger before heading to our separate homes.

All we can say about Sunday is – it is great to have it over.  We both had to give a talk in church so we were greatly relieved when that was over and we could let go of the stress.  Speaking in church partly in bad Russian and partly through an interpreter and hoping that what you want to say is coming out okay is a very exhausting experience.  We think it went pretty well though.  The people were very nice in telling us we did well and are getting better (a little) with our language. Anyway, we did what we could and let the spirit handle the rest.

It has been a magnificent week for us (as we have discovered every week is) and we hope it has been for you as well.  We are loving our time together and taking care of each other as we go from day to day.  We know there will always be a piece of our heart here in Siberia. 

Gibbons' Birthday & Visitors

Mr & Mrs Davis

Yulia and Yaroslov

Boarding the Boat

Little Sophie on her first Boat Trip

Off Loading at the Island for a few hours of
water fun

Returning to Port

Sister Webb with Elder Ortner
getting ready to return home

Astana, KZ & home to Siberia

This week brought our trip to Kazakhstan to an end as we visited the capital city of Astana.  In 1997 the capital of Kazakhstan was moved from Almaty to Astana and since that time Astana has blossomed into a very beautiful and modern city.  It was amazing to us that in less than 15 years so much building has taken place in this city.  The new city is a model of urban planning and is so inviting in so many different ways.  From the indoor beach to the “Tree of Life” to the Presidential White House and on to the Pyramid and the “all seeing eye”, a five kilometer promenade, it is a remarkable architectural and construction achievement.

We were privileged to attend another founder’s meeting for the church in Astana.  It takes 50 people (permanent residents of the city) who are willing to sign the charter, and submit copies of their passports and financial records to the government in order to charter a church and apply for preaching licenses in that city.  There are only 25 members in Astana and 16 of those are either missionaries or ex-pats who work for the US Embassy or teach at the university.  This leaves less than 10 members to sign the charter or a shortfall of 40 people.  We were witnesses to a miracle as 42 people showed up to sign their names on the dotted line, friends of the missionaries and/or members or “friends of friends”.  The meeting was a huge success and the paperwork is now being assembled for submission to the government for the necessary charters and licenses.  The spirit was very present as people came and gave their support to a church they knew very little about.  Since the church is not chartered or licensed yet – no teaching or discussion about the church or our beliefs could be conducted.  The missionaries cannot wear their nametags or proselyte in any way.  They can only do service and teach English which is apparently enough to win the hearts of the people as was evidenced by the supporters who came to the founder’s meeting.  Overall it was an amazing and powerfully felt experience.  We were so thankful to have been a part of such an historic event for the church in Kazakhstan.

It was good to get back to Novosibirsk.  When we got back though, we hit the ground running.  There was a visa trip to send off (22 of our missionaries left for Kiev, Ukraine) and organize, Leadership training meeting for 26 missionaries, District meeting, (remember we feed everyone after the meeting is over) and a branch activity (commemorating the 4^th of July) organized by the missionaries with food provided by – you guessed it – the senior couple!!   It has been another fantastic week for us.  We feel so blessed to be serving here at this time and we know that the Lord sent us here to support and help the missionaries and members as they grow and strengthen the church in Siberia.  We have seen many exciting and miraculous things and expect much more to occur before we return home.  It is a great time for the Russian people, a great time for the Church in Russia and the perfect time to be here and watch as events unfold in the lives of the people we have come to love as our own family.  We wish you all a very exciting and wonderful week.  We love you all.

The Astana Shopping Mall
one end of the 5k Promenade

Looking down the Promenade from the Mall
Govt bldgs and visiting dignitary lodging



Inside the Mall
This tower is a free fall ride
around the top is a monorail as well
as a log flume ride behind me
the "Beach" and Pools are also on the top level

Krabby Pattie anyone?

The "Tree of life" stand in the middle of the
Promenade and is 97 meters tall

The Presidential Palace aka
"The White House"
We ran out of time so were not able to get a picture of the
Pyramid behind this building

A picture of some of the flower gardens in the Promenade
taken from the top of the tower

Back home
We went out in the Park next to the Church Building for
a closing Prayer after our Leadership Training Mtg

Music to My Ears

Shawsh-lik on P-day!!  We bought a little charcoal box, the Russian version of a Hibachi, and some skewers, wood chips, etc. and had a Russian BBQ on Monday this week.  We fed all the missionaries in the city for their P-Day activity as well as some church members and some non-members.  It was a blast.  Chicken, Pork, and Beef Kebabs and all the trimmings were featured.  It turned out to be a huge success judging from the comments made and all the people who attended.  Anyway, we had fun preparing for and putting it on for everyone.  Just like home except we sure missed the big gas grill.   Then it was off to the Metro and the Left Bank, and a 20 minute walk to Huffaker’s for the weekly Family Home Evening.  It was a great evening and well attended by the young people.  We even had a non- member father and his twin 18 yr. old sons who came to listen.  We all had a wonderful time. 

That was Monday.  Tuesday was our weekly office staff meeting with Pres. and Sister Gibbons.  Much planning and organizing was on the docket as we get ready to bring the entire country of Kazakhstan into our mission.  We received our first three missionaries from Moscow, slated for KZ over the weekend.  They are just great and as expected will be a great addition to our missionaries.  After our staff meeting and taking care of the normal business necessary for the day we headed out to a craft fair.  It was pretty interesting but not a lot different than what we can see every day at any of the neighborhood reenocks.  We think it was meant to be that we should go however, because after roaming around the booths for a while we noticed a KFC across the street and decided to get a quick bite.  While we were sitting there eating a man came by and said – “I heard you speaking English.  Are you from America?  The sound of English being spoken without a Russian Accent is like music to my ears.  I just had to stop and say hello.”  We had quite a discussion with him, met his Russian wife who teaches English and enjoyed a pleasant time filling a needed void in his life apparently.  He and his wife are in Novo taking care of her aging mother and have been here for 4 years.  Prior to that time they had been living in Colorado for 11 years.  Anyway, he is now coming to church and meeting with our missionaries.  So even tho’ we were feeling guilty for leaving the office for a couple of hours it was all good.  We made it back to the office, finished up a few items there and finally made it home.  That evening had our last Russian lesson with our tutor from the MTC.  It was a bittersweet parting.  We stayed up late baking cookies (see below), doing laundry and getting ready for our trip on Thursday.  Along, came Wednesday – exciting news – Brian and Barb Gunderson, great friends from Wenatchee, have received an assignment to serve a mission in Russia, Novosibirsk no less.  They will be arriving in September.  We are anxious to welcome them to SIBERIA!!  The rest of the day was spent playing catch up at the office.  Then we headed out for English.  We are doing the advanced group again this session but this time we had some help from the Sisters.  In fact they did the whole thing, very nice.  They did a fantastic job too.  We had a fairly large group with some amazing English speakers and some really interesting people.  It was fun getting to meet and know them all.  After English we shared Sister Webb’s Chocolate Chip cookies (5 doz) baked the night before (see above) with everyone who came.  They were a big hit as you might well expect.  We saved back 4 doz to pack for our trip the next morning.

Thursday morning it was off to Almaty, Kazakhstan.  What a treat it has been to be here.  The grass is green, the streets well paved, sidewalks are smooth, air is fresh and the MOUNTAINS are green.  We drove up to a ski lodge in the mountains, rode a gondola up another mountain to a spot where the country of Kazakhstan was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel, and spent the weekend with some wonderful Kazak people.  We held a fireside about Family History Saturday evening followed by a Founder's meeting which is necessary to register the church for preaching in Kazakhstan.  Today (Sunday) we attended church and heard some sweet testimonies from the faithful members of Almaty. Elder Webb bore his testimony - (in Russian) and time ran out before Sister Webb had a chance to do the same.  After church the Senior Couple serving here hosted us all for dinner and an afternoon of visiting and sharing experiences of church service.  This is their second mission; they served a couple of years ago in the Moscow West mission.  The 4 young missionaries serving here joined us for dinner as well.  It was a wonderful Sunday.

In the morning we leave for Astana, the capital of KZ for a couple more days and then back to Novo on Wednesday.  Almaty is a beautiful city and the mountains reminded us a lot of our own mountains back home.  Being from the APPLE CAPITAL of the WORLD it was interesting for us to learn that Almaty means “grandfather apple” and they say that all apples can be genetically traced back to Almaty!  Who knew!  Enjoy the pictures and be thankful for the blessings of life we are all privileged to enjoy.  Life is good.  Our love to all.

P.S.  We are posting this entry from Almaty but are unable to see it as all blogs are blocked inside KZ.  We are told that if you download Opera you can read blogs but they are working on making sure that gets blocked as well.  Anyway, please excuse any flubs you come across as we were unable to edit. 

Sister Webb w/Grandfather Apple

Joining us for the afternoon -
THE BEATLES

Looking over Almaty from the
Dedication site

"Trash Art" in the park
a short walk from our hotel

Going crazy in the "American Isle" at the grocery store

This just looked too much like our mountains
This is roughly 8000' tho & the bare hillsides
are from snow and avalanche damage - not logging

Most of the missionary force in front of the
Branch Building in Almaty

Off to Tomsk

Every week brings some new adventure for us and this one was no exception.  It began with the first of our Kazakhstan missionaries getting their official transfer to our mission.  These first 3, of a total of 12, we will be getting over the next couple of weeks, actually came to Novosibirsk the rest will be staying in Kazakhstan.  We are traveling to Almaty and Astana this coming week to meet the rest of the missionaries and transition all the record keeping and financing arrangements over to our mission as well as holding formal founder’s organization meetings in both cities.  We are going with our Mission President and his wife (President and Sister Gibbons) and our newly called Area seventy and his wife Elder Gushin and Sister Gushina.  Our trip will extend over a week and cover both cities where there is a congregation.  It should be a lot of fun experiencing another new culture and people along with the work we will need to accomplish.  We will report in a couple of weeks on our trip as we will probably not have a chance to post anything next weekend.  We’ll see how it goes.

Tuesday evening we attended a concert of the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Conservatory’s top graduating students, vocal and instrumental.  We heard an Opera soprano, mezzo soprano, baritone and bass vocal soloists as well as a mandolin, guitar duet, bassoon soloist, trumpet, cello, violin, piano soloists, and the hit of the evening an accordion (Bahn) duet.  They were all absolutely amazing.  Each performer was introduced along with their teacher.  The teacher then sat in a huge arm chair on stage while they first showed a short video clip of the teacher commenting on their student’s achievements and then the student performed.  Very formal and very nice!  This was a “culture nite” for all of the missionaries in Novosibirsk.

The rest of the week seemed to fly by as we prepared for our weekend trip with President and Sister Gibbons to the city of Tomsk.  It is about a 5 hour drive through some of the most pristine and vast range land, Birch forests, Evergreen forests, and farm land we have ever seen.  No fences, no farm houses, just thousands and thousands of acres of open land and farms.  Much of the farm land, I am sure, left from the soviet collective farming days.  It was breath-taking.  Along the way we passed a cemetery and stopped for a quick visit.  In an earlier posting we commented about how interesting their cemeteries are.  They are located in the middle of the forest (usually White Birch) and each grave has a little iron fence around it.  Each headstone has a picture of the person as well as the normal things you expect to find on a headstone.  It was a very reverent and calming feeling as we walked through the forest and grave sites.  On our way out we met Fyodor and his wife Olga.  They were cleaning up around her mother’s grave and painting the iron fencing.   She talked our ear off even tho’ she could only understand a part of what we were saying and we understood less of her she was talking so fast.  Fortunately, Pres. Gibbons understands pretty well and speaks better than the rest of us did so we got a little of what she was saying.  Fyodor was a little embarrassed by his wife’s carrying on but I was able to tell him no worries – men everywhere the world over understand.  The drive there and back again today (Sunday) was fascinating to say the least.

We arrived in Tomsk on Saturday (late afternoon) and took the 4 Elders and 2 Sisters to dinner then drove around the city and checked into our hotel.  Tomsk is a city of about 600,000, home to numerous universities, and truly the most European looking of any of the Russian cities we have visited.  It is the oldest city in Siberia being founded in 1604.  It was interesting to read that in all the years that the Czars ruled over Russia not one of them ever visited Siberia.   Surprise??!!

We attended church in Tomsk today.  It is a small branch with about 60 or so attending, all very loving and welcoming people.  By the end of our visit there we had been so warmly received we felt as though we had been a part of their group for years.  We both had to speak in Sacrament meeting - you would have been so amazed at Sister Webb.  She gave about ½ of her talk in RUSSIAN and then had an interpreter for the rest.  She then closed her talk with her testimony of Christ, his love for us, and the truthfulness of his gospel – IN RUSSIAN.  Amazing.  She is getting the language down pretty good. 

We arrived home this evening in the middle of the Novosibirsk Birthday celebration – 119 years ago the city was founded and today is populated by over 2 million.  Fireworks everywhere tonight. 

Everyone have a great week.  We love and miss you all.

The Conservatory graduating performers

 

Cemetery in the trees

Deeper in the forest

Happy 119 years
Novosibirsk

Sun setting (11:15pm)

Open farmland on the way to Tomsk
no fences/no farm houses

Rain in Siberia!

We seemed to stay quite busy here even though there really was not much going on this week.  It is still quite hot and very humid and we often get a light sprinkle of rain with frequent lightning on the horizon.   However, on Friday afternoon during our district meeting we had an amazing thunderstorm!  It was really close, the lightning was right out our window and the thunder was way loud coming right with the flashes of lightning, and it just poured and poured rain, huge drops with some hail mixed in as well.  We looked out our window onto the street below, and it was a river, clear up to the curbs.  It rained about 2+ inches in less than an hour and then it was over.  The elders thought it was great and everyone was taking pictures.  We haven’t ever experienced that kind of rain storm ever – it was pretty impressive.

We have a companionship of three sisters in our district, two who are brand new and being trained by the third sister.  They are doing great, and we really have come to love them.  Last week was Sister Barlow's birthday (she is one of the new ones).  Sister Sanford, her trainer, told her the night before her birthday that she could be in charge of planning the next day, and whatever she wanted to do they would do.  She said she prayed about it and came up with a strong impression, but was a little afraid to tell it to the other 2 sisters.  Finally they asked her and she timidly said--since my birthday is on the 13th, I thought maybe we could try to have 13 contacts!  They kind of gulped, but said okay, we will talk to literally everyone we see today--they also had three appointments to see and traveling from one place to another takes a long time.  That night they came to our apartment, because we invited them for birthday cake, told us this story, and then said—“so guess how many contacts we made?”  They had gotten 15!!!, and  were so excited.  They talked to everyone they saw that day!  They split up on the buses, talked with people in the Metro, and on the street--anyway they were so happy their joy rubbed off onto us.  They are amazing.

Not only did we share Sister Barlow’s birthday but Elder Webb also got a big Happy Father’s Day from all three.  Since we are so far from home and it was only Saturday back home anyway – it made his day to get that special greeting from these three sisters who are just like daughters to us anyway. 

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, filled with the usual daily tasks in the mission office, getting from one place to the other and attending the various meetings and firesides that come along.  This weekend we are going with President and Sister Gibbons to Tomsk, so will have to talk in their church meetings.  We are going to try to do at least some of it in Russian.  Wish us luck.  Everyone have a great week.   

Happy Birthday with Sister Barlow



Lots of Rain



A few minutes later and MORE water



Looking down the street

Back to the Task at Hand

We have spent this past week getting back into the swing of things after that wonderful weekend in Prague.  The visa renewal process went smoothly and we are now again safely in Russia with new visas and passports.  The work at the mission office is picking up a bit as we get ready for receiving new missionaries from Kazakhstan, securing new apartments for some of our Elders and Sisters, and preparing for the weeks ahead.  It is a marvelous experience to have this special time in our lives to work so closely together serving in our Heavenly Father’s work and to be able to do so in such a special land with some of the best people we have ever met.  This past week we celebrated our anniversary together very quietly at home and enjoyed recalling some of our life’s experiences.  We won’t tell you how long it has been (it is kind of scary) and for those who know or think you do – be kind!!!!  Life is grand and we have loved living it thus far.

This past Friday we had our weekly district meeting.  We have 6 Elders (the AP’s, our Zone Leaders, and the District Leaders) and 3 Sisters (one trainer with two newly arrived sisters from the MTC), plus ourselves.  We spent a good portion of our meeting sharing with each other a little about ourselves and why we were serving missions.  It was a very spiritual experience to hear the stories of these 9 young people and why they each chose to serve.  Each account was remarkably different from each of the rest.  We won’t recount each story for you but will just say we have one young man a little older than the rest (about 23 when he came out rather than the normal 19) who converted from Judaism about 3 years ago.  He was seeking entrance to law school when he was overcome by the impression that he should serve – He followed that prompting and submitted his papers.  He was called to serve in Siberia and will go home next month.  He just received notice that he has been accepted to law school with a full ride scholarship and will begin his studies in August.  Another young man also a recent convert because of the example of his friends at school who were LDS joined the church just over a year ago and is now serving.  One of our Sisters is serving because her brother left on his mission and she too felt the desire to serve.  Another sister is a college graduate and a Jr High math teacher for two years.  She felt there was something more for her and serving a mission was impressed upon her mind as that something.  With tears streaming from their eyes they each recounted the deepest feelings of their hearts and shared the strongest testimonies of Jesus Christ, his divinity, his love for us and the power of his atonement in each of our lives that we have heard from anyone.

Common to each of us was the uncertainty we each felt as our assignments to serve in Siberia were read and re read.  Shock, fear and momentary hesitation were the most universal feelings shared by each of us.  However, also apparent was the testimony that God puts us where he needs us and strengthens us with the ability to serve as we answer the call, put our trust in him and do all we can do to learn why it is He has sent us here.  We are still not quite sure about that last bit in our case but we certainly have seen and felt his blessing in our lives and the lives of our families as we have responded to Him the best that we have been able.  We know He blesses each of us in whatever we undertake to do as long as we do our very best to follow Him and when we make a mistake which we are all want to do He will pick us up and heal our hurts, our hearts and our souls as we recommit ourselves to Him. 

God bless you all this week.  All our love, Randy n Sue. 

The day as seen from our window:

5:00am

9:30am
and the Gardens keep growing!!

10:15pm

A Weekend with the President

Four new missionaries came in this past week, 3 sisters and 1 elder, and one of our sisters went home.  It is always exciting and a little hectic for a couple of days.  Everyone who can stops by the office to say their goodbyes to anyone leaving and since Sister Trottier was so loved throughout the mission many people stopped by to wish her well.  She was Sister Webb’s companion for a week last fall when I had to make that quick trip to Salt Lake so she has a special place in our hearts.  We will truly miss her.  After the goodbyes there are the hellos to new missionaries.  We give them a little training and acquaint them with the ways of Russia, the mission and a little of how to get around.  The basic do’s and don’ts of serving here. 

With training completed on Thursday morning it was time to begin preparations for our visa trip.  So when we got home we packed, got to bed early and then were up at four am to get ready for our flight to PRAGUE!  What a wonderful weekend we had in Prague with President and Sister Gibbons.  We arrived in Prague around noon on Friday, Checked into our motel and then got down to the business of exploring this marvelous city.  Although you can’t do much in two days we seemed to pack quite a bit into our time there.  Old Town Square, Jewish Quarter, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle were a few of the places we explored a little more in depth.  There are performances every night and most afternoons throughout the city, chamber orchestras, individual artists, and various ensembles.  We were able to attend two – a chamber orchestra performing numbers by Bach, Vivaldi and Dvorjak in the Prague Castle and 4 soloists (violin, organ/piano, soprano vocalist, and tenor vocalist) who performed in the Mirror Chapel at the Klementine.  Mozart performed in this same chapel many times.  The history and culture of this old city were a wonder to us and we constantly marveled at all there was to see and do.  Just when we thought we had seen the most breathtaking architecture we would walk around a corner and there was something even more spectacular.  It was a wonderful weekend.  The trip back not so much (another story, another time).  We now have only two such visa trips left – one the end of August and one the end of November.  Then we return home in February.  It is hard to imagine – the time is flying by so quickly.

This weekend also brought with it the passing of Sue’s mom.  It is so difficult for her not to be home with her sisters; our modern technology has greatly shortened the distance but is still not the same.  We have reflected much on all Roberta has done for us and the influence she has had on the lives of her family and friends.  We will miss her greatly but know she is in a better place, happy to be home with Gordon, her parents and friends who have been waiting for her on the other side.  Knowing where she is and who she is with brings much peace to an otherwise sorrowful event.   We are so thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves us all so much and knows each of us individually and how to help us bear up under all of life’s challenges.  Have a wonderful week.  Here are a few pictures from Prague.

Organ in the Mirror Chapel
Mozart played here!

Rub the Statue, Make a wish & you WILL return!
Guess we are planning a return trip

Cathedral Chapel at the
Prague Castle

Two Angels and a Saint

A wonderful weekend with
President and Sister Gibbons

Old Town Square