Welcome to Perm... Fall is definitely in the air, but another sign is that Institute and Seminary classes have started again. This past week the Perm branch held an opening social for the participating young adults. They have a forested area very close by that has an aerial course where the kids go from tree to tree about 3 stories up,  No, neither Elder Pocock nor I felt inclined!  Here are the braves souls...

Here we see them balancing and hanging on as they brave the course.  This was a participation object lesson.  The emphasis was on holding to the Iron Rod...or the course of scripture for this year: the New Testament.

This is Slava, our YSA representative.  You see him here the day of the activity in his full protective gear.  Slava and several other friends decided that it was just too much fun, so they went again later in the week.  Another object lesson was learned:  follow the commandments...down to the last detail!  Unfortunately Slava failed to attach one small safety clip and fell backwards from one of the platforms.  He is currently in the hospital with back injuries, but thank goodness he is doing well and will walk again!  We are so thankful and pray for his complete recovery.

We've adopted Mela as our grandchild away from home.  She had a school assignment to create something out of nature.  Nadya invited Elder Pocock and I over for a session in creativity.  Here Elder Pocock has created a cone and we glued on tiny pinecones Mela painted in fall colors.  It turned out really beautiful...we decided we needed to make Christmas trees out of the pinecones and spray paint them.  Here you can see Nadya's wonderfully supportive mother that we have a great friendship with.

Then we took larger pinecones and created a mama and papa hedge hog.  She has now entered her masterpieces in the school contest.  She's a winner, don't you think?

Speaking of winners...here we have our zone leaders!  That's right, our mighty zone leaders modeling their Russian athletic attire and their newly purchased fur hats for winter.  We accompanied them to the outdoor market on P-day and it was so fun helping them pick out the PERFECT Ushankas.  Literally translated that means..."ear-flaps hat."

 For Family Home Evening, Elder Pocock spoke on the topic of KINDNESS.  We watched some great clips found on Mormon Messages but translated into Russian on YouTube.  They were on civility and showing love.  He challenged the youth to report next week on some acts of kindness that they participate in.  This week was our branch president's birthday...so to show "kindness" we created a candy bar birthday card and gave it to him at Institute class.

Family Home Evening at a glance...

Yes, we are still at it!  Elder Pocock mudded and sanded Olga's ceiling this week.  Olga will then whitewash it.  Many times they don't use paint because it is so expensive so they whitewash..which is
basically watered-down paint.  It doesn't cover as nicely but it give a great, clean look.

Well, how do you like the difference?  We have started to hang the wallpaper.  It is a very light, neutral pattern that makes the room look so clean and much larger!  Olga is pleased and that's all that matters.

As we left Olga's apartment building, we took this picture of birthday greetings painted on the sidewalk for one of the tenants.

If you look closely, you will see a man with no legs below the knees begging from his wheelchair.
We see him often at rush hour, when the traffic is so intense it is scary.  He has it down to a science.

The blue sign on this home tells the name of the street.  On most every building they have a sign posting the name of the street and the subsequent number is the house or building number.  Every resident that lives in an apartment, which is 90% of the city dwellers, lists their address as...first the name of the street, the number of the building or home and then the number of the individual apartment.  Most apartment buildings have key pads at the main door where you punch in the individual apartment number and this rings the resident.  They can either accept your visit or reject you.  We get plenty of both!

On September 22, it was the autumn equinox.  In other words, on that date the night and the day were equal.  From then on, there is more night than day.  Remember how light it used to be here at midnight...well here is the sunset at 7:30 p.m!  When we get up it is really dark as well.  Are we ready for winter???

It is funny what you get excited about over here...this new Subway is located just below our apartment building.  We have watched it come together now we have got to give it a try.  What joy!  We walk past this Subway and around the corner every day of our lives here in Perm.  Welcome to our stomping grounds.

Tanya and I are hemming some of her missionary dresses.  She wants to learn to sew.  She has a hand-crank sewing machine that was her grandmothers.  She had never used an electric machine until this night!  She was so cute trying to get the perfect speed...she did well and wore her newly shortened dress at church today.  She has embroidered some Christmas scenes on quilt blocks and now wants to put the blocks into a quilt.  That won't be quite as simple of a project!

Olga, that just moved into Perm, is so enjoying her teaching assignments at the two universities here.  She invited us to go to a talent show at one of the schools.  The backdrop reads...Debut, Freshman
Festival. The entertainment was put on by freshman students representing various areas of schooling...Mathematics, Construction Management, and Circus Performance.  Yes, Perm has a huge
circus here and they have classes in the circus performing arts.  It was so well done, with a lot of humor
and professional talent...many instruments

some dancing and singing...

and an amazing young woman that did acrobats while spinning hula hoops!

Saturday was a great day at the branch.  The afternoon started with a monthly Relief Society meeting.
The sisters gathered together to learn and share in how to strengthen families.  Many shared on how they are getting their non-member family members to join them in family prayer, and family scripture study.  One sister told of how she and the children would have family prayer in the kitchen while her husband watched television.  Then a child suggested they have family prayer where dad was. They went in, and knelt down and her husband turned off the tv and knelt with them.  Now they have family prayer together every night.  Children can teach us a lot, can't they?  Suggestions were made as how to set the proper example, love the non-member, and pray that they will come to understand why this gospel is so important to you.  Each sister brought pictures of her family...it was so fun to see these family members that we never see at church.

A delicious and filling luncheon was served.  At six there was a missionary activity.  Many of the sisters were staying for that but there was an hour and a half before it started.  So the sisters asked if I would play the piano and they sat in a semi-circle and sang their hearts out!  It was so touching to see and hear them sing songs like..."Where Can I Turn for Peace",  "Because I Have Been Given Much", "How Great Thou Art", "I Need Thee Every Hour", "Let Us All Press On", "Lord I Would Follow Thee", "Our Savior's Love" and many more.  They sang for an hour and much of that with tears flowing freely!  They truly rely on each other and the Savior for the ability to endure well.

At six our missionary "Jeopardy" game started.  The group was divided into three sets...each getting a chance to select from four categories: Russian history, Russian geography, Russian music and a surprise question.  Needless to say, I wasn't very helpful to our group!  In fact our poor group consisted of five American missionaries, Michael, the Nigerian, and two Russians.  Poor Dymtry and Lenna.  Our success rested on their shoulders.  The crowd really got into it...Russians can get pretty competitive...just like Americans.  Dima graduated from the university in geography...so he really pulled off some amazing answers to questions like:  name the former soviet republics that were in the original USSR!  There were 15...he named them all...and we got a mere 100 points. Our acting mission leader came up with the questions.  Dinner was served and a great time was had by all.  We were at the church from 1:00 pm for an investigator meeting until the church was cleaned up at 9:30 pm but what a wonderful day.  President and Sister Rust were here for the weekend and were able to enjoy the fun.  We had three investigators attend.

Nadya had gone to her home town to attend the birthday of her good friend's father.  This friend and her husband have their own vinyl boot company.  They are making a bundle...especially this time of year where it rains some almost every day and we get to walk through puddles and mud galore.  Look what she brought back for me.  She met us at the church after the activity and insisted she give us a ride home.  When we got to the parking lot, she pulled out these colorful boots and two more huge zucchinis!  She's always looking out for us.

Being a MLS missionary is the greatest calling in the world...I hope that you can see from our experiences of this past week... we can give and give and never get even with the blessings the members of this branch pour out upon us!

Every missionary lives for packages and senior couples are no different.  THANKS to our family for the special box of necessities, surprises, and treats.  Our family had a great get-together this summer and they prepared this box of love.  The grandchildren all made us the greatest pictures and letters.  We have them posted all over our fridge and kitchen window...how we LOVE our family! The gifts arrived the day before Elder Pocock's birthday...great timing!!!

Yes, they are masters at growing zucchini here too!  Our dear Nadya has friends that grow amazing gardens and she has given us so many vegetables and especially zucchini.  These monster veggies have prompted me to research every possible recipe that can be made with zucchini.  We have had brownies, muffins, zucchini bars, cookies and a variety of casseroles and soups and I still have six more waiting for me on the balcony!  Thanks Julie West for your great recipes.  I am converting the entire branch to
become lovers of zucchini.

Our dear Olga from Ugocomsk has purchased an apartment in Perm!  We are thrilled to have her closer  to us and the branch.  She bought this one room studio apartment.  There is a large window about three feet behind me and this picture shows approximately two-thirds the width of the room.  The room is in
dire need of repair so Elder Pocock, Olga, the sisters and I are taking on the project.   Olga has had the entire room rewired so now we are scraping old wallpaper, plastering in large holes and evening out the walls in preparation for hanging wallpaper.  Elder Pocock has removed all of the rotting baseboards.  One morning a week, we are working to help Olga get her home in good repair.  Service is an integral part of missionary work.

Here Olga and Elder Pocock are mixing the plaster in preparation for patching the walls.

Olga insisted that she feed us lunch, so we went to the common kitchen where all of the tenants on this floor of the apartment building share cooking space.  Here we prepared a delicious lunch of grilled open-face sandwiches and fresh veggies.  There is also a common washing area with washing tubs and washing machines and a common restroom with toilets and showers.  Many people live in studio apartments like this because they are so much more reasonable.

Here Sister Robins is helping Olga prepare our herb tea that is a must with lunch. (I've never been a tea drinker, but I must say that the cold weather truly makes you want to have a warm cup of tea.  Russians drink hot drinks all year around.) We are so excited because next week, we will start hanging the wallpaper and you will really see this studio apartment take shape. Because many apartments are built with cement, the wallpaper that they use is very heavy.  This works to our advantage because it will cover up many of the flaws in the construction!

Our sisters, Robins and Denning, are teaching two lovely ladies that are dear friends, Marina and Tatiana.  This was taken just after a discussion.  We have invited Olga (next to me) to the discussions because it is wonderful to have a Russian convert bear testimony to other Russians.  Tatiana was at church this last week, and it was great for her to have Olga there to greet her and sit by her.  You'll never guess what I served them after the discussion...zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting!!!

Yes, the weather is turning cold.  One day this past week, the low was 43 degree F. and the high was 46 degrees F. !!!  YIKES, I'm not ready for this.  As you can see, there are others that put on a coat, but just can't give up their summer skirts!  The Russian women dress up a lot.  Rarely, do you see jeans...especially during the week.  Most women wear dress pants, pant suits, or skirt and tops. They take a lot of pride in their appearance.  One of the most amazing things is the shoes they wear...

Look at that spiked-heel!  You see these everywhere...on dress shoes, boots, and sandals!  I honestly don't know how they can walk in them let alone run to the buses!  The amazing thing is that they wear these on the icy sidewalks in the dead of winter.

Despite the cooling temperatures. Perm still holds many functions outdoors. The Russians have to be hardy people.  If they only had activities in the summer...it would be limited to seriously less than THREE MONTHS!  Here you can see the beginning of Perm Sports Day.  They had a wide variety of events...including a marathon, soccer tournaments, bike races and even...

three on three basketball tournaments!

One thing missionaries don't get to do here in Russia is drive!  And I would dare say that there's isn't one missionary that would want to.  I thought you might like to see how the missionaries get around this city of a million people.  Here we have the traditional bus.  There are bus stops everywhere.  This is the transport that most people use.  It only costs 12 rubles...I have heard that Perm has the cheapest transport in all of Russia.  Elder Pocock has an app that helps all the missionaries figure out what bus to take to get to a particular area.  Love that IPhone.

During the summer months, many people would walk, but when the cooler temps hit and the rain starting to fall...the buses got crowded.  Can you imagine being the lady that has to weave in and out from person to person collecting the bus fare?  Think of keeping track of who paid and who hasn't?

This is called a marchutka.  It is like a large van.  It carries up to fifteen people in cramped quarters.  This also has set routes and stops at the regular bus stops.  This costs 15 rubles because you are guaranteed a seat...no standing room here.

This is a trolley bus.  It has large, rigid cables that are attached to overhead electrical wires.

The tram-vie bus is also powered by overhead electrical wires, but the difference is it runs on tracks.

Perm recently purchased some new tram-vie buses.  There are a lot of cars but the majority of the people in Perm rely on one of these forms of public transportation.  Parking is a real problem and the other concern is the way people drive.  I can't tell you how many times I have looked out the window on a bus and dropped my jaw at multiple near miss accidents!

We continue to visit the less actives in the branch.  There are many wonderful people on our rolls that we will keep searching out.  Elders Flitton and Riddle introduced us to Lubov and her non member husband.  She lit up when she spoke of the sister missionaries that introduced her to the gospel.  Some time later, the two branches were combined and the building we use is a long way from her apartment.  So many challenges, ... so many great visits.

More signs of Fall....

We can't quite figure out why these trees are striped in multiple colors.

For those who follow the evolution of our steps...here is our latest picture.  We pray they will last through a long, harsh winter!  Another great week in Perm.

Monday, September 3, 2012 we piled into the train and headed to Yekaterinburg for a Zone Conference with three of the five zones in our mission.  Elder Pocock took a pano on his Iphone of all

of us in our coupe'.

Welcoming us to the train station is this arch...if you look closely you will see "Yekaterinburg" in Russian.  It was freezing cold in Ekat.  They had been having sunny days but stormy weather and wind followed us from Perm!

We stayed with the CES couple, the Coltons, while at the conference.  They live on the 26th floor of an apartment building.  This pano shows the unbelievable number of apartment buildings they can see from their living room window.  I loved the view but the thought of living up that high didn't sound appealing!

Our zone was asked to provide a musical number for the conference.  Both President and Sister Rust spoke of the need for sincere prayer in our lives.  Just think of the opportunity we have to speak with our Father anytime we need Him.  They shared a beautiful quote from Ezra Taft Benson: "Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side, than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us."  We sang, "A Child's Prayer".  (in Russian!!!)  Elder Wimber led us and Elder Duggar accompanied.

It was an incredible conference.  Elder and Sister Lawrence (Europe East Area President and wife) added a special spirit to the conference.  Sister Lawrence has been a seminary teacher for years and her knowledge of the scriptures is amazing.  She helped every person there realize that as descendants of the House of Israel, we have a foreordained responsibility to share the gospel.  She spoke of how there are remnants of Israel living amongst Gentile nations and that the more blood of the House of Israel...the more apt they are to believe and accept this gospel.  She spoke of this earth being "Satan's Headquarters" and how difficult this calling is but we have to search for those that were prepared in the pre-earth life.  It was the the spiritual uplift that we all needed.  I kept thinking of the quote we have on our mirror here in our apartment by Elder Holland, "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience.  Salvation never was easy.  We are the Church of Jesus Christ, This is the Truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head.  How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?"  We received a wealth of information to sustain us in this great call!

We had Subway sandwiches for lunch.  What a treat. We are excited to report that we have a Subway restaurant coming just below our apartment.  YEA!

 Because this week's P-day was used up travelling to Ekat...we were given a half day on Wednesday to get the cleaning, shopping, and emailing done.  The sisters and I went looking for a winter coat...since we can feel winter in the air!  We had fun in the fur section of this store, trying on some gorgeous coats.
Needless to say, we headed to the Renok (outdoor market) in search of something more practical!

This week we went to the Russian version of Costco...called Metro.  We rarely go here because it is so far away and because it is difficult to carry the bulk items on the bus.  Nadia came to our rescue this week.  I cook so much, that it is much more reasonable to buy larger quantities rather than make a trip to the grocery store every other day!

We continue to have such wonderful visits with our branch members.  We go to their apartment, they come to our apartment or we meet at the church.  This is Lubov...her name means "love" in Russian.  She is our Family History consultant and she organizes all of the branch temple trips  She is a faithful sister with one 19 year old son that is in the military.  In Russia, every young man that is physically capable is required to serve at least one year.

This family is gathering for a big celebration.  Not too long ago I put a picture of Stepan (center) and Olga (I teach her piano) on our blog.  They are getting married on October 12 and will go to the Kiev temple on the 13th.  This is a picture of Stepan, his 82 year old mother, two of his five sisters and his brother.  Stella, to the right of Stepan, lives in Armenia.  When the Soviet Union broke up, there was a conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia.  Stella's husband was killed in that conflict around 1991.  She has raised three sons on her own. She is presently investigating the church.  We have been able to go with our elders and be in on the first two discussions. She is a wonderfully kind woman. She only speaks Armenian...so it makes for a very interesting discussion. The elders teach...then translate for us and Stepan translates for Stella!  The older sister is a member but the only brother has no interest.  They are a close family.  It has been so great to get to know them.

The church purchases a filtration system for all of the missionary apartments.  There are three cylinder filters that need to be changed.  The first one is changed every two months...the second, every fourth month, the third...once a year.  This week it worked out that all three of ours had to be changed!

As you can see, the filter on your left is the one that we change every two months and from the color...it is doing the job!!!

Missionary coordination meeting is held each week on Saturday.  Here the missionaries report on their
investigators progress, talk about their lessons, plan activities and call upon the branch for help.  Elder Pocock loves his Iphone panorama app.

This last Sunday, I caught two dear sisters of the branch helping each other to the bus.  On your left is Ninna...you have seen our visit to her home.  She is the one that travels by train (27 stops) then by bus to get to church each Sunday.  Just found out last night that two brethren are taking the train out to Ninnas today to help repair her water heater!  This branch is so good to each other!  The sister on your right is named Lubov also...she is the Relief Society president.  Every member of her family belongs to a different faith.  She is devoted to the sisters of this branch.

This is Maria, the grandmother, and Natalia, the mother of a young sister missionary from our branch.
The missionary, Lenna, was already in St. Petersburg when we arrived here.  They are so very proud to have a missionary serving and we are excited to meet her.  These women are at church every Sunday.  The three generations live together.

Here is our dear Peoter.  If you look closely, he has a bandage above his right eye.  The brakes on his bike failed and he had quite the accident.  He was taken to the hospital by ambulance, receiving several stitches and a concussion but we were so glad to see him back at FHE.  He is one of many from here that I would love to stuff in my suitcase and bring home with me.

Here Alexandria and I are walking home together from her bus stop after church.  If we do nothing else, we are helping the Russian people come to understand that Americans care about them and that we aren't the enemy but rather their friends with many things in common!

This is a view from our sixth floor stairway balcony.  We pass this way many times a day.  At the very bottom of this picture and to your left is where we enter our apartment building.  Just beyond the top of this picture and to your left are the crumbling steps that we have had on the blog.  We climb the steps, walk along the flower beds and across the large cement area.  This is the only place that children in this apartment building have to play ball, ride their bike or have a birthday party...as you see here.  In the back of one of the parked cars is a sound system playing music and the children are dancing and playing games.  If you look closely, you will see a large mascot.  The blue roof at the bottom right is a small refreshment stand set up for the children to get treats.  It was great to see so many children having so much fun!

 Another human interest photo: we were able to capture this interesting funeral procession.  A large military tank was parked in front of a building.  A casket was carried out and then placed on top of the tank.

 After it was secured, flowers were placed on the casket and the tank, casket and pallbearers proceeded through the streets of Perm.  It would have been interesting to know if this is tradition or if this person was of high military rank.  Another interesting sight in our adventures in Russia.