This week there are a ton of pictures...

FHE is one of our favorite nights of the week.

Nadia (baptism set for June) her son, Feorda and daughter, Mela have been on vacation.  We missed them so much.  We celebrated by having them over for dinner and an investigator lesson for Feorda.  He gave us a mini concert that we cut way down in hopes that you can enjoy.  Sorry about the Russian singing video that didn't work last week. Let's hope this one does.

This week we took an hour and a half trip to Ugokomske to visit a wonderfully active member, Olga.  She comes all that way most every Sunday to church.  We went with our wonderful sisters who only have
days left on their mission!

We saw another side of Russia!  It was so beautiful...rolling hills, farmland, villages nestled in the hills as you can see below.

We even got into a forested area.

Welcome to Ugokomske.  As soon as we got off the bus, we walked to the nearby reservoir and breathed in the fresh air...free from smoke and pollution.  It was so refreshing.

This is our dear Olga.  She was married for 25 years to a man that would not allow her to participate in her new found religion.  They didn't have any children and so she left the Ukraine and moved five years ago...back to her home town to live with her mother.  She is a teacher of English in a small school here in her community. She served us a delicious lunch.  It was a cold soup (for hot days)...tasty!

Meet Olga, her 80 year old mother and her sister.  Olga's sister is married with two children and a new grandchild.  They live about 3/4 mile from Olga and her mom.  They have a large backyard (which is very rare in Russia) where the 80 year old mother works day in and day out.

Now this family is serious about gardening!  They built this hot house, and the oldest of the three women walks the 3/4 mile a minimum of twice a day to cover and uncover her vegetables.  She spends the day "weeding, picking the bugs off the plants and watering the plants with warm water" that she collects in a variety of old bathtubs in the yard and lets the sun heat it. Absolutely no pesticides.  She said that it is much better for the newly sprouting plants to have water warm.  From the looks of the garden...I think this is better than Miracle-Grow!

Here Grandma is watering her tomato plants that she won't put out until the end of May.  She started these from seeds in March.  We participated in a lesson for Olga's Mom.  She has been a widow for over 50 years!  We talked of the Plan of Salvation. What a sweet lady. Olga is retiring from her teaching job and moving to Perm sometime this summer.  She is wanting to be closer to the church and be able to participate in more of the activities.  She will have to find another teaching job because even after 30 years teaching...her pension is not enough to support her.  Olga promised me that she would come to America and visit us!  It was a delightful visit and such a treat to see what lies beyond the hectic city life!

While walking with the Elders to visit an inactive...a man ran across the street and asked for help with his car.   All in a days work...

Meet Lenna and Tanya.  Tanya is the ice skater that has appeared on our blog early on.  These gals are also English teachers.  They took us on a walk Sunday evening down by the Kama River.  The city Perm follows the Kama. We had a thunder storm, but it didn't stop us.  These two gals participate in our English Conversation Group each week and also attend FHE.  They have been so helpful in showing us around and introducing us to many cultural activities that Perm offers.

We have been here almost four months and this is our first visit to the banks of the Kama.  Two large bridges take many across to Komske, where we have several members of our branch.

In the distance, you can see the sea port that is still in use.  We saw some barges travelling the river.  They also have large tourist ships that give daily rides in the summer.

On the way home, we passed Gorky Park.  If you have followed the blog at all, you may remember the pure ice slide at this park.  Now we will show you the fun they have in the summer...

Meet Slava...our fun, red-headed investigator (on the far right) with a baptism date!!!  Here he is with some of the youth at a FHE activity.  Thanks for patiently enduring our weekly adventurers.  The weeks pass quickly and we are getting so attached to the wonderful people we are meeting here.  They carry a heavy load helping this little branch; they are valiant spirits!  I am proud to have them in my life.