On the last post, I wished you all a Happy Thanksgiving! The very next day we headed out to the Central Renock...a huge outdoor market with some buildings that house produce and meats of all kinds.
We were in search of many things to make our Thanksgiving a little more "like home"...
We found a wonderful pumpkin for our pie...there's no such thing as a can of pumpkin! Alas... NO yams, NO pecans for our yam souffle, if we could find yams, NO turkey, and NO sage for dressing if we could find a turkey!!! It's okay, we'll go to plan B...to be continued!
Nadya and Mela are going to make sure that Elder and Sister Pocock get into the holiday spirit. After our discouraging trip to the outdoor market, it was just what we needed. We made Christmas decorations for our apartment. We glued various lengths of green garland to gold spray-painted pinecones and then attached those to gold garland. Mela cut off tiny green balls from the garland and glued them to the pinecones. Nadya is the the holiday decorating queen and Mela loves to help! We made homemade pizza and had so much fun together! We are grateful to have Nadya and her family in our life!
Here we have Elder Pocock doing a balancing act as he hangs the garland. Mela and I are holding the back of our sofa in place against the wall, so Elder Pocock stays in one piece!
Overland Ward nursery leaders...this will make you green with envy! This is our little nursery in the branch. We have one little girl that comes all the time...sometimes we are lucky enough to have two children! I was asked to spend the two hours with the nursery leader to show her a suggested way to break up the block for the nursery children. It was fun and brought back so many memories. Dasha loved "Once There Was A Snowman" and "Ring Around The Rosies". They haven't been teaching the little lessons to her and it was so sweet how she responded even when she had to have what I was teaching translated. I kept thinking...no wonder Christ loved the little children so much!
Our Yulia is back! This amazing young single adult is back from her mini mission She served in Chely and Yekaterinburg for a total of 6 weeks while the mission was short a sister missionary. While she was serving, we received word at General Conference of the change in age for elder and sister missionaries. Needless to say, she is delighted and has begun to fill out her papers for a full time mission. This will make the fourth full time missionary serving from this little branch...cheers for our youth!!! We had to have her over for dinner after church so we could hear all about her experiences.
Monday morning, November 19, we left early for Metro...Russia's version of Costco! This is the Plan B, I was referring to earlier. I just knew that I would find everything I needed at Metro. I had to take a picture of the front window... just like in America, they have skipped over Thanksgiving to Christmas merchandising...WAIT THEY DON'T HAVE THANKSGIVING!!! We came home with two small turkeys...I was thrilled, but NO yams and NO sage for dressing. NO, they don't have Stove Top! Some things you just have to do without! You would never know that we were doing without, we carried in four huge IKEA bags of groceries from Nadya's car. Never could have done it on the bus. Thanks a million, Nadya!
Well, shopping is over...time to get busy. Here Elder Pocock is scrapping the pulp from our cooked pumpkin. I wanted pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread or else!
NO pie pans, so I made two pies in one 9x13! NO shortening so I made the crust with butter...I might consider doing this all the time! I don't have a blender but one of the elder companionships let me borrow their hand mixer to try and whip up the pulp from the pumpkin a little bit more. I have to admit,
it was a labor of love that I loved doing. It was enjoyed by all, especially me! Ahhhh, a taste of home.
This is the group of Young Adults that we shared our Gratitude Night with. Each has their own very unique story to tell. It was a treat for us to spend the night with them and tell them in word and deed that we are GRATEFUL for them!
Wednesday, we had a fun day of visits. This picture shows our new Russian Sister Tikhonova who has taken Sister Denning's place to serve with Sister Robins. They invited us to visit Nastia, a less active sister in their area. She has two children, was very active at one time and then when the branches were combined, she hasn't been to church because of the distance she would have to travel with two young children. We challenged her to pray with her children, have Family Home Evening and bring the gospel into her home on a daily basis. She is such a good mother...such a good woman. Just wish that we could build up the membership here and again have more than one branch to help support the various areas of this large city!
Saw this on the way home from our visit...it is called a "Babushka cart". It is to help grandmas carry their groceries home from the market. You really don't think about the need for one of these because in America, we just empty our shopping carts into our cars and drive home. Here you either walk, or take a bus to your home...hence the need for a "Babushka cart". If we didn't have our little grocery store just below our building, we would definitely have to get one of these!
Later that evening we had a discussion with Denis. We are excited about this young man that is investigating the church. He came to church on Sunday, and is very willing to met with the missionaries. We truly hope that he will read and pray to get the answers that will enable him to progress.
Thursday, November 22, 2012...THANKSGIVING DAY! The companionships showed up early...excited about Thanksgiving dinner and just being together when thoughts of home are so strong. Sister Robins is patrolling the snitching going on before dinner begins...some things never change!
Cinnamon rolls in the works....
Elder Pocock creating creamy, garlic, mashed potatoes. Most of the potatoes in our little store are about the size of a plum, thank goodness Metro had closer to "Idaho" sized potatoes!
Our new zone...L to R...Sister Tikhonova from Irkutsk, Russia, Sister Robins, Orem, Utah, me, Elder Wimber, Roseberg, Oregon, Elder Dugger from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Elder Cook from Highland Utah, Elder Kaiser from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Elder Riddle from SLC, Utah and Elder Holbrook from SLC, Utah. Another great group to serve with. Each companionship helped with the food...we have great cooks in this zone and as you can imagine they like to eat!
After the food and the clean-up, we played some fun games. After 2 1/2 hours, it was back to work! NO football for these guys! This church is blessed with great young people!
These next two pictures are to show you what it looks like at 10:00 am in the morning. It was so dark that my flash went off and made it look much brighter than it really was.
As you can see, automobiles and stores still have their lights on!
Well, Thanksgiving is over. All of you should be home from your travels and into high gear for the Christmas holidays. Nadya's son, Feda, took second place in an International Competition in Perm performing on his Balalaika. We were not able to attend his performance so we wanted to congratulate him with some pumpkin bread with pieces of a chocolate bar cut up for chocolate chips...NO chocolate chips here! When we got to his apartment...we found that Mom and Mela have been at it again. The neighbors had gotten new children's furniture and the cardboard boxes the furniture was in were decorated red with white polka dots. Nadya rescued them from the trash and she and Mela created a snowman
and Christmas tree to help decorate their home for New Years. In Russia, the big holiday is New Years. This a when families gather, presents are exchanged, and Grandfather Frost brings the children their presents. Excitement is in the air...
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