I played kind of an April Fools trick on you...I'm late getting out our blog! Sorry! The following pictures are from the week of March 25 - 31, 2012...but I am just now posting them on April 3. I wanted you all to see the outdoor market: it is called the Renok. People rent these spaces and set up their merchandise every day ... snow, rain or shine. This is a close up showing the variety of things available.
Hopefully you can see that the shops are in long rows. They have large malls and modern stores, but the
people love to go to the Renok because the prices are better and they are negotiable.
Can you imagine putting all of this up every morning and taking it down and packing it away every night? The Renok is open seven days a week! It is an adventure every time we go there.
Tuesday, March 27, all the missionaries in Perm boarded a train and headed to Yekatrinburg for a multi-zone conference. We snapped this picture of a little village along the route. It looks like a winter landscape.
Our Perm Zion Zone with President and Sister Rust.
Elder and Sister Jensen, Kent and I, President and Sister Rust, Elder and Sister Schow, Office Couple, Elder and Sister Colton, CES. The Mengs arrived from Utah just prior to our senior couple conference.
Just outside of the mission office is a row of small, individual dwellings. Here you can see one of them and in the distance are the towering apartment buildings. We have seen very few homes in either Perm or Yekaterinburg. Most people live in apartments.
This is the Russian Orthodox church called "The Temple on the Blood" located in Yekaterinburg. It was built over the site where the Czar, Nicholas II of Russia, and his family were executed. This part of history is incorrectly told in the Disney movie, "Anastasia". It has been proven through DNA that Anastasia, her three sisters, her younger brother, her father, the Czar, and her mother were all executed. The bodies of Maria and Alexei (the son) were found sometime later in the Ural mountains. This may be where they got the idea that one of the girls survived. It is a sad but fascinating part of Russian history.
This is a close-up of a statue that is located behind the large cross. It depicts the Czar and his family.
In Russia, everyone is required to be married first by a government official. We are told that after the ceremony, the bride and groom go to various churches and prominent places to have their wedding pictures taken. While we were at the "Temple on the Blood", this bride and groom were having their pictures taken. They had rented a Hummer limo to carry their wedding guests from location to location for the pictures! Members of the church are also married civilly and then they are able to go to the temple and be married as soon as they can afford the trip to either Helsinki, Finland or Kiev, Urkrane.
As we travelled back to the Mission Home, we passed this very unique, historical building in the busy
downtown area. The conference was a great experience. We were energized and enlightened about our
duties. We all went our different directions but with one purpose...to love and lift the Russian people.
When we ride on the bus, we have to pay 12 rubles each = $.40. The conductor gives us a ticket. They have this thing about getting a 'lucky" ticket. When the first three digits equal the last three, you have a lucky ticket!!! We had to show you our first lucky ticket. There are no prizes, just the hope of a great day in Russia.
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