It's been another amazing week in Perm, Russia.  We are now having Russian spring weather...rain, rain, and more rain!  We have worked at cleaning up our branch directory and challenged each of our four sets of missionaries to have us visit a less active with them each week.  So this week, we started out with the zone leaders.  We were to catch a bus early in the morning and travel for about 55 minutes to the end of the route.  There we were to meet the Elders and visit a young mother and her children.  We were riding along and got a call from the Elders, "She's cancelled...get off the bus at the next stop and come back towards town. We've connected with Irena and we can visit with her...we'll meet you there."  We had just missed a bus stop so we rode to the next one and got off.  By now it was pouring rain (thank goodness I had an umbrella in my bag) and we had quite a hike.  We had been to Irena's before so at least we knew where we were going.  We had to walk past a prison (it is the large, white building at the botton of the hill and one of many locations where we are to remove our name tags when passing by).  As we walked several prisoners called out to us through their tiny windows.  This is the first time that I've been glad that I couldn't understand Russian!  Then we proceeded up a steep, muddy hill. Last time we hiked this trail, it was snow and ice.  I'm not sure which was the hardest.  We were sure that the missionaries were standing out in the rain waiting for us, so we really kicked into gear and made it to Irena's in record time.  We were debating which was the door that lead to her floor of apartments when we get this phone call.  It's the Elders: "Where are you guys?"  "We're at the front of Irena's apartment, where are you?"  "Wow, you guys are fast", they replied.  "We just got a call and she has company so she doesn't want us to come. Sorry."  Elder Pocock and I looked at each other and recalled a quote that the senior couples got at the MTC..."Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape."  It's all in a days work.

April 27, 2012 was the third anniversary of my Dad's death.  There is a large cemetery that we pass each time we ride the bus to the church.  We decided that this would be a great time to visit this special place.

Along the right side of the walkway, there are five huge metal wreaths that were lying on cement bases that are carved in the shape of 1941 thru 1945... representing Russia's involvement in WWII.

At the entrance to the cemetery, is a large statue of a grieving mother.  In the picture above, it stands on the white base in the center of the photo.

One section of the cemetery is dedicated totally to fallen soldiers.

You can see that all of the soldiers in this section died in 1942.

Another section of the cemetery is for the public.  There were wide variety of markers. Some were just wooden crosses, others stone, most were wire.  There is no grass but it appears that there is ground cover and a variety of perennials everywhere.  I am sure that it will be much greener later in the spring.  As you can see, some grave sites are surrounded by fences.

This shows the wire markers that often had vines growing up them.  The sad thing was that not all of the graves were marked very clearly.

At the end of the long path, this quaint Russian Orthodox church appears.  It is small and simple but well cared for.  The cemetery was so peaceful and a nice place to come with it's hundreds of trees.

On our way out, we passed this bell with wreaths displayed all around it.  Probably the most touching part of this monument was a wire "crown of thorns" at the very top.

We don't have a Young Men's President yet and we have been very concerned about several young men that are less active that need attention.  The Branch President and the missionaries put together a sports activity for the young men.  A few young women decided they had to crash the party.  A great deal of fun was had by all and the greatest part is that we had two less actives, and three investigators come!  Here they are playing basketball and believe me...the Russians are big into b-ball!  The young man on the far left is Shenya...he hasn't been out to church for some time.  He was born with his left arm developed only to the elbow.  YOU SHOULD SEE HIM PLAY BASKETBALL!  He was the Michael Jordan of our team.

Our Branch President had purchased mits, bats and balls and wanted the missionaries to teach the youth how to play baseball.  It was so much fun explaining the rules...and then seeing them actually play the game.  They caught on really fast.  Here is Shenya again...hitting the ball with one hand.  There wasn't anything that he didn't try, or couldn't do.  What a great sport.

Here is a blurry shot of the Sandlot crew.  The activity was a great success.  Even Elder and Sister Pocock got up to bat and played outfield.  I am sure that we will be having many Branch Baseball games this summer.  We even had people stop playing soccer to come and watch this new game!  After the game, we were walking back to the church and one of the young men said to me, "Sister Pocock, I got two goals!"  I said, "they are called runs."  Igor replied, "I think goals sounds better."

I've found me a baby to love...Darya, the President's daughter.  She is about 18 months old.  It helps when
I'm feeling homesick for those grandchildren back home!

Sister Eulia Ustyuzhaninov twisted her knee as she was running the bases.  Thank goodness we had lots of strong young men to help transport her to their nearby car.  She showed up in church on crutches. What she won't do for the youth of the branch!  Until next week....