We had a party at our apartment...Elder Pocock was such a good sport...all these women!  We asked Sisters Patchett and Patterson to invite their two investigators, Natalia and Nina, and our dear friend Olga over for a lesson and dinner.  We had a wonderful visit and continue to build bonds of love and understanding of gospel principles.

May 9th is Victory Day...probably next to New Year's, it is the biggest holiday in Russia.  They celebrate the victory of WWII in a BIG way!  Russia is very proud of their military and they still mourn the approximately 28 million men, women and children that died from military wounds, exposure, starvation, and disease during the course of the war!  The set up several rows of chairs along the parade route as well as blocks of bleachers for people to stand on.

I thought the work crews were out cleaning up the town due to the improved weather, but I soon realized that a lot of it had to do with the city of Perm getting ready to CELEBRATE.  This huge profile emblem of Lenin in the center of the town had been beautifully repainted!

Our friend Tanya, who teaches at the Police Lyceum, invited us to sit with she and Lena.  Because of her position at the military school and the fact that they were marching in the parade, we were permitted to sit on the second row along the parade route.  We felt like dignitaries!!!  We certainly mingled with men and women of distinction.  I felt a great deal of gratitude for these patriots.  I stepped out and took some pictures of those honored on the front row.

Look at those medals!

I read where 800,000 women served in the Russian military.  Here is a sweet woman that some young ushers helped seat.  Note her medals of honor!

The orange and black striped ribbons were passed out for all to wear in honor of those brave warriors.  After the parade, everyone received a red carnation!

Military personnel from various academies represented branches of the armed forces and lined the center square.  Moscow time is two hours earlier than Perm...so we witnessed a rebroadcast of Putin's remarks from Red Square!

Following remarks by Putin, the Governor of Perm region, and the Mayor of Perm...they displayed videos of Russian soldiers and their participation in the war...very moving!

This video shows some of the military academies that were represented in the march.  It was all so very proper and exact...very impressive.  So glad we could be a part of these events.  Thanks to Russia for their efforts on the Eastern front of the war!

Friday, Kristina had her baptismal interview at our apartment.  Her mother, Irina, and the Sisters came along for moral support.  She passed with flying colors...yea, another baptism for the Perm branch.  We invited them to stay and have zone dinner with us.  So twelve of us cozied around our dining room table.  Later Irina told me that her favorite part of the dinner was the wonderful family atmosphere that she felt with all of us laughing and sharing with each other!

Yet another group of wonderful sisters have spoiled the missionaries with a lovely monthly dinner. Katya (L) serves in the Relief Society presidency, Ludmilla and Nina serve in the Primary.  Such faithful sisters...none of their husbands are members and yet they are so committed to the gospel and the members.  Nina is holding the flavoring for the soup she made for us.  She brought it from the forest near her dacha...summer home.

When we asked about it...we found that it is literally translated "stinging nettle".  We asked how she could hold it without it stinging...she said that her hands had adapted to it!!!  The soup was delicious...didn't sting going down (thank goodness).  Nina gave us some extra makings for more soup.  Elder Pocock wanted to see if it really was what she said ... guess what? ... it was and his hands paid the price!  Our stomaches are getting Russified!  We read that if you pick the nettle in the early spring it doesn't sting as badly.  Keep that in mind as you make your soup!!!

What an incredibly spiritual experience...Kristina's baptism.  We have shown Vladimir and Irina on the blog at their baptism in early January.  The missionaries met Vladimir on the street...he embraced the church, brought Irina, his fiance', to the church and now Irina's daughter has joined. They are such a strong and loving family.  It is SO EXCITING to see a family altogether in the gospel.  This is what this church is all about...forever families!  What a way to end your mission, Sister Patterson.

Sister Patchett played a beautiful flute solo for the baptism.

...and the branch celebrated Kristina!

Kristina works three weeks in Perm and then three weeks away...the branch gave her plenty to read while she is working out of town.

Happy 21st Birthday, Elder Prestwich!

We joined Elder Prestwich to say goodbye to the Shlikavey family.  These young boys really love you Elder!!!

The Sisters and Kristina Perina, a young member of our branch with an amazing voice, sang a beautiful trio, "Beautiful Savior" for Sacrament meeting.  Elder Pocock caught us practicing...enjoy a short segment.

Guess who is back in Perm?  If you have followed our blog from the beginning, you will remember our adorable Masha.  She was the Primary president when we arrived in Perm, February 2012.  She was engaged to be married in May and she and I teamed up to make her wedding dress.  She and Slava had a delightful, traditional Russian wedding.  Then they moved away to the Black Sea!  How we have missed her, but she is here for a short visit...expecting in July.

Every branch needs a Masha!  How we love this gal.

May was birthday month for our zone...these great missionaries surprised me with a cake and roses. We had a wonderful birthday/farewell party.  Our four missionaries leave TOMORROW!

Elders Henderson and Prestwich...the long and short of it!

In March, we had the honor of meeting a renowned artist here in Perm...Stanislav Kovalev.  We posted on our blog many pictures of his work and the enchanting penthouse apartment where he and his sweet wife, Ludmilla live.  We wanted to repay them for their graciousness, so we invited them to our home for dinner and a spirited game of UNO ATTACK...a new version of Uno.  We had a really fun visit...shared some feelings about the gospel and invited them to church.  They accepted!  It was so interesting to find out that our Sister Patchett's father visited Russia a few years ago and purchased one of the fairytale books that Mr. Kovalev had illustrated.  When Sister Patchett saw this same book at our apartment, she was so excited to be able to meet the man that illustrated the book her father read to her as a child.  Indeed, it is a small, small world!

Vladimir and Irina were the ones that introduced us to the Kovalevs.  We invited them and of course, our dear Olga...our translator!  Vladimir brought this cake as a gift.  We took a picture of it to show how artistic Russian bakery cakes are...and besides that, they are delicious!  They average about $8.  Everything you see is edible...those are chocolate dipped prunes on top.

This is a great picture of our packed buses!  No, this is not a joke...we have experienced this.  One time Elder Pocock and I were the ones smashed against the doors and we had to get off in order to let people out at their stop and then we would hurry back on!  Truly an unforgettable experience.

One morning we looked out our kitchen window and there was a huge sign...we thought it was an advertisement.  We couldn't understand why someone would advertise only to several apartment building parking lots.

We looked closer and realized that a very creative young man went to a lot of work and expense to make a huge...probably 40 feet long...banner to ask his sweetheart to marry him.  The sign says: "Beloved, be my wife."  How romantic!

We pass this building every time we go to the church.  The entrance to the far left is a small store.  They have been patching the foundation and just this week they painted their entry.  You can see the distinct separation of businesses.  The improvement only extends to their boundary...and just to their flower box in front!

With the coming of summer...also comes the yearly departure of many to their dachas...summer homes.  They are usually quite a distance away so we miss seeing them on a regular basis.   Because many Russians rely on the fresh produce and canning from their dacha gardens, they spend weeks at a time tending their gardens.  Natalia has just completed all of her after baptism discussions and will soon be leaving for her summer home.  She doesn't know her summer schedule so we have already started saying our goodbyes!  It's HARD!  This is the sweetest, most faithful sister.  If ever there was anyone without guile, it is Natalia.  She is hoping to go to the temple in December, after she has been a member for a year.  She sits by me in Relief Society and  translates words of the lesson...she knows some English and is so willing to help me in any way she can.  A big heartache is knowing I probably won't be able to communicate with her once I go home!!!

Another May celebration...Happy 20th Birthday, Elder Hope!

With three missionaries going home and Elder Ashjian going into Ekat...our zone had a bit of a shake up.  Introducing the new Perm Zone:  Back row (L) Elder Weber, our new zone leader, from North Carolina.  You may remember that Elder Weber was in Perm this time last year...we are so excited to have him back in Perm!!! Elder King, from Malad, Idaho and Elder Porter, from Mapleton, Utah.  Elder King is Elder Porter's trainer.  We got to see Elder Porter on his third day in the country...a little culture shocked but he is already a great missionary!  We got to keep Elder Henderson, Elder Krivov, and Elder Hope!  Elder Porter looks shorter than our 6'5" Elder Henderson...but he really is the taller of the two.  We have the two tallest elders in the mission.  We are thrilled to have Sister Patchett still with us and our sweet Sister Galli is back.  What a great group...thrilled to serve here!

A close-up for Elder King and Elder Porter's parents back home!!!  They were in our apartment tonight with an investigator with a baptism date!  Great lesson guys.

Nadya spent the morning with me creating two little sundresses...one each for Mela and her classmate. They are the narrators for their lst grade end of the year program and Nadya hadn't sewn since Feda was a baby, 14 years ago!  We had a fun morning ... great job Nadya.

MLS missions are the best...how we love supporting our members and leaders here in Perm...and of course, our missionaries!  If you continue, you will see Elder Pocock's blog on the inside of Russian apartments...very interestna!

Dear Blog followers:  back on April 29th Elder Pocock shared some facts about Russian housing and urbanization.  This blog is the follow-up to that post.  We are going to go into the actual apartments that are most common in Russia.  This is just a basic representation of the different types of "flats" that are most often seen by the missionaries.  We are going to begin by seeing what it takes to reach the opening that actually gets you inside the "kvartera" as it is said in Russia.  The first video takes you from the entrance of the building to the apartment.  Notice how much security is in place to keep intruders out.

The first type of apartment is the Kommunalka.  This was developed after the revolution, when they nationalized all the housing.  They took spacious apartments that were owned by the wealthy and subdivided them into multiple living spaces.  This video was developed by a travel business but does a good job of giving you a view of communal life in Russia.  As stated at the beginning, many people have grown up with this lifestyle and consider it beneficial.  How would you like to try this?

The next type of apartment is called Obshchina which literally means commune.  These apartments were built to include the fundamentals of the Kommunalka of shared living space, but more like a dorm style arrangement.  You will see private rooms with a hallway that will join 28 or more apartments to a common kitchen, laundry, shower, and toilet facilities.  This video was made by our sisters in an apartment being remodeled for a branch member. The cleaning of common areas are shared by all tenants on a rotation basis.  I hope everyone is good about doing their share. In these representations, videos do a much better job of giving a feel for what the rooms are like.  

The next type of apartment is the Khrushchyovka.  It is the most common type of apartment we see because they built so many during the early 1960s.  The narrator of this video is a Russian who gives many insights to the Russian way of life.  I have edited down his rather lengthy explanation to a shorter clip.  My thanks to Sergey Baklykov for his tour.

The other types of apartments are much like one might see in America, most of which are built after 2000.  Our own apartment is an example of that type of construction.  The mission president is concerned about the missionaries privacy and security.  Most of the missionaries apartments are in newer buildings and the rent is in the area of $1000/mo.

The most amazing days on a mission are those when you see someone embrace the gospel and commit to baptismal covenants.  Leo is truly a special young man.  We had a picture of him on a previous blog where he was skyping with elders in England.  You see, Leo is from China...he speaks a little Russian...a little English... and whole lot of Chinese!  Great Elders from America that were called to serve in an area of Chinese immigrants in England, taught Leo the discussions over Skype!  He has the kindest heart and a very sensitive spirit.  His acceptance of the gospel was almost immediate.  He is excited to get the priesthood.  He is returning to China for the summer and will be able to attend an English speaking branch there in his city.  He will return to Russia in the Fall to continue his studies in dentistry.    

Leo had great support from the branch. At his baptism,  Elder Pocock welcomed him into his new branch family.

We opened our building for a poetry society gathering that some of our branch members belong to. Elder Pocock and I attended the program and although we didn't understand much at all...I have to admit that there was a very strong, spiritual feeling there.  These people love to write about their connection with nature and with God.  These two sisters are not members but regularly attend our Sunday meetings.  They love our hymns.  The sister on the left fell in love with the hymn..."As I Have Loved You, Love One Another".   Here she is performing the hymn which has one verse and then she sang two additional verses that she composed.  Several members commented on how beautiful the words were.

This lady is a published author who shared some of her works and gave away books of her poetry.  She had the most interesting dress on...the fabric was much like a shag rug!

Twelve of us gathered around our kitchen table for lunch this past week prior to Zone Meeting.  Our Assistants to the President made a visit and went on splits with our elders.  A great group of young men and women.

May is filled with Russian holidays.  May lst is equivalent to our Labor Day...May 9th is the biggest holiday of the year here in Russia, Victory Day.  This celebrates the Victory of World War II.  During holiday months, the nearby ice skating rink always puts on exhibitions to help celebrate.  Between meetings, Elder Pocock and I walked to the nearby rink and enjoyed their hour talent show on ice.

This is a short clip showing only a small portion of the talent at this event.  Ice skating is huge here and many young children participate in intense lessons and performances.  I loved this young girl's choreography... skating with a scarf.  She had to have been only about 10 years old.  The older students shown were of high school or early university age.

It's official...we're experiencing Spring!  It is amazing how quickly this town jumps into clean up mode once the weather cooperates.  Our favorite nearby Gorky Park has ground crews madly working at trimming, raking and sprucing up the grounds.

Despite the sunshine...temperatures are still VERY chilly, but not to the Russians.  You can see a couple here enjoying the rides in the amusement park.  Sunshine is in short supply so they enjoy it while they can!

The park is a prominent place for wedding pictures and gatherings.  This young couple is placing their "love lock" on an iron bar tree-shaped structure.  This is to symbolize their locked hearts and everlasting love.  After the lock is in place, they throw away the key! This tree is located in the center of  Gorky Park...we've also seen another much larger iron tree down by the Kama River.

This closer view shows that many enjoy this tradition!

May lst is a big holiday in Russia.  Since 1992 it has been designated as "The Day of Spring and Labour ".   They always start the celebration with a huge parade.  Groups of businesses, schools, bands, and labor departments march from different streets until they all converge and proceed to the city center.  Each group has a designated color of huge, helium balloons that single them out.  Adults and children alike march side by side.  This year the weather didn't cooperate and it rained through most of the parade, but that didn't dampen their spirits.  We walked to the 19th floor of our apartment building and video taped some of the parade.

Later that day, we went to celebrate this holiday with Nadya and her children.  Homemade pizza and green salad are a favorite of Mila and Fedya...and us too!

After lunch we learned a new craft...decorative soap making.  Mila and her friend demonstrated for us.  Here they are cutting the opaque and/or transparent soap blocks into small pieces.  They are melted, then the coloring and fragrance are added and the mixture is poured into molds.

It takes about 25 minutes for the soap to set up and then you can remove the finished product.

This really makes a beautiful gift, and so easy.  Loved doing this!

It had been way too long since we had been with this sweet family.  Fedya is really getting to be a young man! Thanks Nadya and kids for a wonderful time.

Some time ago we posted the site of a terrible night club fire where approximate 156 people lost their lives. This happened in 2009.  Right behind Nadya's apartment is the courthouse where the trial for this disaster was recently held.  It was so interesting that Nadya pointed this out to us because our daughter, Emily, had just sent us the posted article about the outcome.  See below...

Owner, 6 others get prison terms over Russian nightclub fire that killed 156
Published April 30, 2013
Associated Press
MOSCOW –  A court in the Siberian city of Perm has convicted seven people in connection with a nightclub fire that killed 156, sentencing them to prison terms of four to nearly 10 years.
The December 2009 fire broke out when a pyrotechnic show in the crowded club ignited plastic decorations on the ceiling.
Panicked customers tried to flee, but there was only a single exit, and many couldn't get out in time.
Club owner Anatoly Zak was convicted of creating conditions that violate safety regulations and sentenced to nine years and 10 months in prison.
The club's director and artistic director, the two fireworks technicians and two current or former safety inspectors were sentenced to lesser terms.

Olga had a birthday this past week.  It happened that Elder Pocock had a branch presidency meeting that morning so I went off alone to Olga's.  We had a lovely lunch at her apartment with her niece Tanya and then Olga and I took a walk in a nearby forest.  It truly was beautiful and only 5 minutes from Olga's apartment.  It is amazing how in the middle of a city of a million people, you can quickly connect with nature, fresh air and peace and quiet!  It was wonderful.

Not only are the grounds and streets getting cleaned up but also the buildings as well.  I could never hang from the side of a huge building with just large ropes and a pulley.  Many of the buildings have a tile exterior rather than wood or brick.  This is what these young men are cleaning.

Just when we thought Spring was here to stay...it started to snow...quarter sized snowflakes!  Thank goodness it didn't last long.

In our last post, we lost our sweet Sister Galli...so we had to get a new Zone picture with our new sister...Sister Patchett from Las Vegas, Nevada.  Sister Patchett brings with her a kind nature and a great deal of musical talent.  When Elder Pocock and I went to Ufa to do the branch audit there, Sister Patchett was serving there so we were acquainted with her before her transfer.  So excited to get to know her better.

LtoR Elder Prestwich, Sister Patterson, and Elder Christiansen...our three missionaries that have less than a week left on their mission.  Probably the hardest part of this mission is to have to say goodbye to our great, young missionaries, whether it is due to a transfer or to send them home.  These three have been such faithful missionaries...thank you for serving the Perm area so well!!!

May 5th is when Russia celebrates Easter.  Every year on the Saturday before Easter, the branch does a major cleaning of the building.  To them, this ties in with the RENEWAL...of the earth with Spring and the Resurrection.  The members love that they have their own meetinghouse and they take this process very seriously. The missionaries jumped in and helped wash walls!  On Easter Sunday, the building sparkled!

Everything was polished...

Galena is our branch librarian and she went through every cupboard of the library.  When she was finished, there were several boxes outside her doorway to be stored in the attic.  It's her home away from home...all organized, dusted and mopped!

I often play the piano for Primary and loved that I got to do it on Easter Sunday.  Our tiny Primary can really sing their hearts out.  I wish there had been another adult there to video tape these little ones singing..."If the Savior Stood Beside Me."  I love the hugs I get from these cute kids.

Just want to show you these unique trees...they are called Larch.  They are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere.  The thing that makes them unique is that it is a deciduous tree that bears leaves that are needle-like (2-5 centimeters long)...so it is a deciduous conifer tree!!!  I'll take another picture when they are totally mature.  I think they are fascinating.

This close up shows the sprouts coming off of the longer shoots.  Wikipedia tells me that the needles grow in dense clusters of 20-50 needles on the short shoots.  The little pink blossom-looking thing is really a cone. Truly an amazing tree...truly a sign of spring!

Just want to wish all the Mothers out there a "Happy Mother's Day".  No such thing here...but we will be celebrating as our Eight very excited missionaries will be using our two lap tops to make that long awaited CALL HOME!!!  We remember those calls with our missionaries and they are precious memories.  Enjoy your day, MOTHERS.  A special holiday greeting to our seven daughters who are wonderful mothers!!!