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!
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.
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