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

Hot Shower Anyone?

 Notice posted on the door to our apartment building – “Hot water will be off 21 May to 25 May for work on water line” – or something very close.  At least we got the part about no hot water for 5 days essentially correct.  Remember we told you that our hot water is supplied just like cold water?  The advantage is that you have a never ending supply of hot water.  It is metered so you pay for standing in the shower all morning but hey some things are worth every ruble.  Disadvantage – when they turn it off at the source you can wait for days to get a hot shower.  And so it has been.  This morning being the 26^th we were all excited to get our hot water back.  It never happened!  Apparently, if they find that some repairs are needed on your line it could be many more days.  I guess the notice is more like a minimum time the water will be off.  We do have cold water and a teapot (chineek) so the morning routine has been interesting to say the least.  Still no hot water tonite and who knows when we will get it back??!! 

Also this week our elevator gave up the ghost a few times (both of the elevators at once) so we have done 9 flights of stairs more than once.  No heart attacks yet but by the time we get to the top you begin to wonder.  One day I pushed the alarm and a voice came over the speaker in the elevator, rattling off a bunch of Russian of course which there was no way I was going to understand, too fast, too loud, and coming over a scratchy intercom.  I assumed they wanted to know why I pushed the button so I shouted back “Leeft net ra bo tat” or the lift won’t work.  The voice hollered back something else (a question of some kind)  a couple of times, then the lights went out ( for a few seconds which seemed like minutes) then the elevator whirred and buzzed and started working again.  That only worked one time though.  The other times we have not been so fortunate so have had to use the stairs.  Sorry to “whine” but it was HARD.

We sent 25 missionaries (over 1/3 of our missionaries) out on visa trip this past week and this was nearly a catastrophe.  As it was it turned out to just be a disaster, 2 of our elders and three sisters having to spend nearly ten days in Finland before we can get them home.  Visa renewal problems again, they have a new guy in the Moscow Embassy in Helsinki who is now processing our visa renewals and he is causing us untold amounts of grief.  We did manage to get everyone else home but for a moment it looked as tho’ they would all be spending the 10 days.   Anyway, crisis resolved, as best that we could for now.

 We leave for our visa trip on Friday and will NOT be going to Finland for this reason.  We are excited tho’ because we will be flying to Prague for the two day trip.  Pres. and Sister Gibbons will be going as well so we are looking forward to our time with them as much as we are to the two days in Prague.  We will also be traveling to Kazakhstan in July sometime with them to meet the senior couples and missionaries from there who will be part of our mission starting the 1^st of July and we look forward with anticipation to spending more time with them.  We feel blessed to have these opportunities to travel and visit and learn from them.  They are both just wonderful people and love and care for the missionaries so much.  They are dearly loved by all the missionaries and the members as well.  We know they are the absolute best and are heaven sent to lead this mission at such an exciting time.

A short recap of the rest of our week – we have participated in three missionary discussions (2 at our apt and 1 at the church), helped with a missionary fireside, attended the symphony and choir concert, hosted our weekly district meeting and spent Saturday attending and feeding 120 people at seminary & institute graduation.  Now that was event we should tell you a little about.  It began with grocery shopping for potatoes on Friday, enough for 140 (we needed some for our district meeting as well.)  Trying to communicate my request to a local farmer was interesting.  He couldn’t believe that anyone would want 140 potatoes to EAT, plant maybe, but eat never.  I finally convinced him and he sorted out some nice ones for us.  When we got them home we of course need to wash them all.  They looked like russets to begin with but once washed turned out to be red potatoes so they were really dirty.  Next we wrapped them all and put them in the oven (two layers on each of our racks).  We left the oven door open and the kitchen window open, it is right by the oven so the potatoes would stay sort of cool overnight.  Then we got up at 4:30am and turned on the oven and took our shower? (refer to paragraph 1) got ready for the day, did some other housekeeping, boxed up the potatoes when they got done (2 hours in our oven!!) and headed out for the church on the other side of town.  Pres. and Sister Gibbons met us at the corner and we rode over with them arriving at 8am.  I attended a District Council Training meeting for our new District Councilmen while Sister Webb helped in the Kitchen.  Then it was 11:30 and the graduation began.  A little after 2 it was over and the rush for dinner began.  Ham, salad, bread and baked potatoes were served.  Then clean up and an activity.  Each of the cities put on a skit and they were all tremendous.  Even tho’ we could only understand a little of what was being said we were still laughing so hard.  We got a couple of great ideas that may come in handy some time down the road.  Then we packed up and got home about 6pm.  A very long and tiring 14 hour day but today is Sunday, we had a great night’s sleep, the sky is blue, the weather is warm, the gospel is true, we are all the children of God, He loves each one of us and life is good.   Have a great week.  We love you all.

Have to run - the hot water just came back on. Think I'll hit the shower!! Hooray!!

Our Entire Mission
2 Zone Conference

Sun on the Mission Homes Two Towers
"Eye of Sarron"?
5am

Across the street again
Can you notice the blossoms and gardens
alot has grown in just the few days since taking the last pic of
The Neighborhood

Symphony & Choir
We were on the 4th row so I could only capture 1/2 the choir
and part of the Orchestra
Mezzo Sophrano facing front on left
She was amazing
Conductor just behind her also amazing

Missionaries, Meals & More!

A wide variety of events kept us busy this week.  Monday is our shopping day and this week we had plenty to shop for since the other Senior Couple serving here left Friday for a week (a long story).  Anyway, they are the CES couple (Church Educational System) working mostly with the 18 to 30 year olds with an occasional seminary (14-18) activity thrown in there.  This couple is the best and the kids absolutely love them so we have had some big shoes to fill.  They have told us many times that CES really stands for “cook every second” and we now believe it.  Seems like we have had something every day for which we needed to furnish food.  They are a pretty active group and when you throw in the various missionary activities and meetings as well it takes a lot of food.

After stocking up on Monday the cooking began.  But first we had Leadership meeting for the mission on Tuesday.  This involved about 30 missionaries and all the Senior couples in the mission (there are two other couples besides the two couples here in the city).   The Mission President decided to turn the evening into a mini Senior Couple conference so he took us all to dinner at the new TGI Friday’s which just opened in Novosibirsk.  It was great to have a chance to visit with the two remote couples in our mission and I know they really enjoyed the time together. 

Wednesday we had a two zone conference.  There are only two zones in our mission so it turned out to be a Mission wide conference with all the missionaries and couples serving in Siberia.  There were about 68 of us and we of course did some food for that lunch.  We had some great training and enjoyed a great meeting and time together.  That evening all the couples went to the ballet – Don Quixote.  It was magnificent.  We feel really blessed to have so many opportunities to enjoy such great entertainment.

Thursday evening was our last English group for a while so we made banana bread for that (more cooking) but had a great time reviewing with all our students some of things we have discussed and learned over the past 8 weeks.  We handed out words and asked them to describe the word so the others could guess without using the word.  One of the words was spoon.  Think how you would describe this to someone and then catch this description which was given by one of the students – “something you use to help you eat more accurately”.  They got it right off!!??

Friday brought with it our Missionary District meeting and since the other couple was gone the missionaries in their district decided to join our district meeting so we had 15 for lunch – more cooking.  After our district meeting we had a missionary meeting in our apt with a young couple, Daniel and Anya they were really nice and although they spoke no English we had a great time getting to know them and helping with the lesson. 

The missionaries had planned an “after English BBQ” for Saturday and we (of course) got the assignment to furnish and cook the meat and bring a salad or something.  This was to take place at 6pm so we had plenty of time to attend the baptism being held at noon and take treats to that – still more cooking.  The baptism was great, the BBQ was fun and well attended and Saturday ended on a good note.

Sunday, a day of rest, brought with it the CES fireside in the evening for which we needed to bring refreshments – more cooking.   Monday evening we hosted Family Home Evening for the Young Single Adults (filling in for the CES couple again) – more cooking.

We are glad to have this all behind us.  Actually, the cooking isn’t the worst, it is doing the clean-up and all the dishes so many times that wears you out.  We had a great week though and it has been a lot of fun for us to see how much a little service is so appreciated.  We should add that they turned off our hot water this morning for the coming week - we'll let you know how that goes next time.  It was not good this morning so not sure how it could get better until Saturday when it comes back on.

Everyone out there have a great week and take a nice hot shower every morning for us!!

Getting ready for Zone Conference

The neighbors across the street
Gardens are growing
The little tool sheds - are not!
No sewer hook ups here!

Playing with the Pigeons
(sorry for the shadows of you know who)

This is only one of several libraries in town
We did find time for a walk one evening
It was around 7pm but still lots of
people with their kids hanging out in the park

Happy Mother's Day

We would like to wish our moms a very special and happy Mother’s Day and to all the moms out there here’s hoping it was a special day for you too and that all the kids called home.  The missionaries in our district (2 sisters and 6 elders) all called home, we know, because they came to apartment in shifts and used our computers to skype with their moms (and family).  This is only one of two times they get to call home each year, the other is at Christmas.  It is a pretty big deal and I am sure more for the moms than the missionaries.  It was fun though to have them all come by at their appointed time and call home.  We were honored to be given a moment with some of them to meet their parents over skype.

We didn’t notice any special Mother’s Day tribute here but we remembered that just a short time ago, March 8th, we celebrated “Woman’s Day” which is pretty similar just more inclusive.  You didn’t have to be a mom (just a female) to get flowers and chocolates and the day off.  Apparently, there is something pretty universal about chocolates, flowers and females??!!  Go figure.  Oh, we should mention that even though it was a day off from work – everyone worked the Saturday before to allow for the “time off”.  We thought it interesting in light of the fact that there are so many other holidays and days off work.  Like the 2 week hiatus over News Year and multiple other days throughout the year,  including this past week which was a 3 day holiday ending with a big “Victory Day” celebration on May 9^th.

We were impressed with the solemnity with which the people remembered those who served and gave their lives in defense of their country during World War II.  The day was filled with memorials and celebration and of course as the day wore on the celebration became a little more “lively” ending in a big fireworks display – which we watched from the safety of our balcony.  28 million Russian soldiers and civilians lost their lives in World War II and it is memorialized like it was just yesterday in every city across Russia.  Each city has their own “Eternal Flame” which burns in that city’s memorial park in remembrance of those who lost their lives.  In Novosibirsk there are six monolithic walls containing all the names of the people of this city who died during the conflict.  It is much like our own memorial wall in Washington D.C. except that every city has one and with 28 million names it is easy to see why there isn’t just one such memorial.  Anyway, it was very impressive for us to attend the ceremony and see how close it remains to the hearts of these people.  We saw a procession of surviving veterans, wives, children and grandchildren walking to the Eternal Flame of Novosibirsk many of whom were carrying pictures of their lost soldiers.  World War II is called the “Great Patrionic War” in Russia.  Someone in the crowd gave us a memorial ribbon to wear which we were honored to do.

On our way home from the Memorial Park we met an older lady on the metro who was very friendly.  When she discovered that we were not Russian, which I am still not sure what gave us away, (maybe it was our accent), she wanted to know why we were wearing the Russian Memorial Ribbon.  We shared, as best we could with our limited language skills, our feelings and impressions with her and told her that our fathers had also been in that conflict.  She seemed to understand and I know at least felt of our sincerity.  We hope to be able to see her again sometime.

Everyone have a wonderful week.

The Eternal Flame of
Novosibirsk



Two of the six walls
The names are just those from
Novosibirsk



Statue of Mother Russia
(sorry for the angle)



Russian Orthodox Priest
Head Man in Novosibirsk
He led the procession



Memorial Wreaths to be placed
at the Eternal Flame



White banner says
In honor of those who served 1941-1945



More of the procession

These are a few of the things we saw.  It was all quite impressive for small town folks like us.  This is still a very big deal for the Russian people.