Happy December! 

We went to a local museum that was sponsoring a presentation on the persecution of the Orthodox church in the Ural Mountain area. These events took place back in the Stalin era.  We have been fascinated by the history of this vast country.  On the way we passed many apartment buildings that have been started with great anticipation...

only to stand unfinished!

As we made our way to the museum, we passed Pizza Hot rather than Pizza Hut!

Just like any other large city, there are beautiful areas and others that are in such disrepair!  Much of the construction here is either thick walls of cement, or several layers of brick with a layer of plaster over the top.  Here you can see the results of the extreme weather erosion.  If you look closely, you can see where the plaster has chipped away and a whole layer of brick is missing as well.

We walk through this type of passage way all the time.  Mostly they are by construction zones or areas that are unsafe.  Eventually they will be removed and sidewalks put in...but we have one on the way to our church building that has been there the whole nine months we have served here.

At last we arrived at the museum...

The first part was a short film telling of the persecution of the Orthodox church.  It showed them removing the sacred icons and burning them.  Much of the museum was dedicated to the priests and bishops that served in the Perm area that were persecuted and martyred.  They were told that if they denied their teachings they would be spared.  All were killed, one was buried alive!  Most of them were shipped off to Siberia and died there.  They displayed artifacts from these men and their families.  The artifacts proved that these faithful men continued with their beliefs even while held in the gulags (labor camps).  This was at a time when Stalin did not want the people to look to a church for help but rather to rely on Communism to answer all their needs!

This is our friend, Al who invited us to the museum.  He told us that he was born in 1980 and when he was four years old, he remembers his parents hiding their Bible under their mattress and reading it to the family in secret.  That was only 28 years ago and things like that were going on in this country.  You see why their history is so important to them...many of these people have experienced what is in the history books!!!  If you look closely, there is priest (second from left) participating in the tour.  It was a very inspiring and touching exhibit.

On down the road from the museum was the delightful flower shop that we pictured on the November 16th blog.  We walked around to the back and look what we found.  Al explained that these characters with the claw-feet are all from a famous Russian fairytale.  I must find this story...and get it translated!  So imaginative.

Here Elder Pocock and I are in front of a giant birdhouse from the same fairytale.

In the courtyard, we saw this statue of Grandfather Frost...looks like home.

We continued on to meet some young adults.  On the way we stopped at a brand new, huge Cemya (family) supermarket!  This was started over a year ago.  It was a part of a huge mall in the central part of Perm.  The mall was completed and opened but the Cemya Supermarket was one of those buildings that stood unfinished for many months due to problems with a crumbling foundation.  Finally, just last week, they had the grand opening and it is wonderful.  Wish it were closer!  A huge bakery, an amazing deli with prepared foods of every kind, tons of fresh fruits and vegetables...couldn't find yams though!!!  We keep trying.  When we entered the store, I was asked to go to a certain counter and there they used a hot sealing machine to secure the plastic around my bag to prevent shoplifting.  We've got to go back when time permits...just had to take a quick peek.

On a little farther, we met up with Lena and Tanya for an ice skating competition.  It was young teenagers from Perm that were preparing for competition.  They performed free of charge.  It was so fascinating to watch.  Both of these girls are avid skaters...but they prefer the outdoor track.

After the exhibition they wanted to take a walk in Gorky Park, we've shown you this park before.  You would think that with winter blowing right at us that no one would go to a park.  WRONG!  With so much of their year filled with cold temperatures...the people just have to adjust and they actually enjoy walks in the cold air!  Lena and Tanya are the gals we went to the forest with on a previous blog.  They are very energetic...it's good for us if we can keep up with them!

It isn't very often you see children on a Merry-Go-Round with snow all around!

Look what they are building...SLIDES!  Three different levels that will be sheer ice in the coming weeks.  Can you imagine the fun kids will have on these?

We ended a lovely day at "Mother-in-law's Pancake House".  We had chicken filled pancakes for the main course and banana and chocolate filled pancakes for dessert.  Their pancakes are called blinis.  They are much thinner than ours and they wrap around the filling like a tortilla.  So yummy!

On our P-day this week, we had a rare privilege.  Our friend, Tanya, (second from left) is an English teacher at a police lyceum.  Some time ago, she asked us if we would come to her school and give a presentation to her classes.  They really like to have English speaking visitors come so the students can learn about other countries and understand the spoken language.  Here we are with the two English teachers as well as our two young guides for the tour of the facility.

The students that go to this police school live here all week long.  Some students that live close enough, go home on weekends...others just go home on holidays.  This is a typical dorm room...six students to a room.  There were at least six dorm rooms per floor.  Their bathroom and washroom is shared by the entire floor.  They have only one shower per floor! The boys and girls dorm rooms are right next to each other.

This is their closet.  Three people use this side of the closet for clothes and books!  There is a large closet in the hallway for bulky, winter coats.  A place for everything and everything in it's place!!!

A Russian Orthodox chapel and basketball courts could be seen in the distance while we were on our tour of the facility.

This is a picture that they presented to us at the end of the day.  They took it of this years graduating class.  These young people (all young men and one lovely young woman) will be finished at grade eleven.  They will then continue on with their education at a chosen university.  Many go into law enforcement, others to the military, still others into law.  They were delightful.

This is a pano of the classroom that we taught in.  We prepared a power-point presentation that told them about our life in America, where we lived, about our family, and what we enjoyed doing.  We were able to tell why we were in Russia but of course, we were asked to not wear out badges nor preach the gospel.  All together, we taught six 40 minute lessons.  We saved some time at the end of each period for them to ask questions.  It was amazing how much they know what is going on in America.  They asked about the elections, who we voted for, how old we were!!!, if "Sandy" was really as bad as the news made it out to be, if Americans respect policemen, and if we can remember all of our grandkids names!!! (have to say, they were amazed at the numbers).  They were very polite and we really had fun learning from each other.

Winter has hit Perm!  Our low has been -16 degrees F. so things are going to get much worse.  Here you can see our little friend from the apartment building across the way.  Every morning he is out there shoveling the snow out of a huge parking lot!  What a worker.

We have had some wonderful experiences sharing the gospel this week.  Sisters Robins and Tikhanova gave us the wonderful chance to share our testimony with Galena.  She has a permanent grin on her face.  Such a pleasant gal.  She was at church all three hours today.

How we love Anna.  We have had her on the blog before as well.  She was a mini-missionary, married out of the church, has two darling children and now struggles with her husband allowing her to come to church.  She is there when she can.  Here her little guy is wanting to wear a scarf over his head.  He is so fun to entertain.  The furniture behind Anna are beds that drop down from the wall.  This is the only room besides the kitchen and bath.  It is small but she keeps it so nice.  We love hearing her pray and hope that our visits strengthen her.

Anna lives about an hour bus ride away. We travelled back with the Elders and went with our Zone leaders, Elders Cook and Dugger, to their apartment for apartment inspection.  On the way, we passed through this tunnel under a busy roadway.  They have just recently finished this and the paintings are amazing.  You really do feel that you are in an aquarium.  By the way, the apartment passed with flying colors!

This week our testimony meeting was very spiritual.  Our little branch has very faithful members and their testimonies build and strengthen mine.  We were thrilled to have Tanya and Sasha Fadeev bless their tiny little Maria.  Tanya made the baby's gown and bonnet.  They are so thrilled...actually the whole branch is thrilled with another generation in the gospel!  We are so excited about a baptism this next Saturday...more about that next week.  President and Sister Rust were here this weekend for a visit and interviews.  It was great to enjoy their company as well.

Cara and Kyle sent this picture of the Christmas facelift that they have put on our home!  There's no place like home for the holidays...unless it is in the mission field.  Enjoy the season everyone!!!  Until next time...