It's gone from spring to the "summer snow" season.  If you remember last year, we were amazed at the number of cottonwood trees and how much "snow" they put down!  Well, here it is again.  We were actually thankful for a heavy rainstorm that temporarily stopped the falling seeds.  It comes at you with a vengeance!!!  This too shall pass...

Perm is thrilled beyond measure to hear from BYU Idaho that our area has been approved to receive online courses for both Associate and Bachelor Degrees and at incredibly affordable prices!!!  So thrilled for our youth.  We hold English classes every Saturday to help prepare our young adults for the exam that will qualify them to participate.  We have received interest from people in Ufa and Chelyabinsk that are wanting to come and get additional schooling...what a blessing for this area!  This necessitates a senior couple to help with facilitating the program.  Hence, Elder and Sister Smith from Ufa are moving to Perm.  Yes, even Senior couples have transfers now and then!

We invited Sergei, Katia and their children Daved and Deana over for dinner and Family Home Evening with the Sisters.  We gave a lesson on the importance of our choices.  Daveed is eight years old and is frightened of water...so he is scared to be baptized.  We found a great article in the Liahona...seems it was written just for him.  UNO is a favorite of all of our guests!  Our mission has been spent strengthening the members as much as it has been working with investigators.

I mentioned in the last blog about the "Sister Training Leaders" equal to the "Zone Leaders".  Sisters Shelline and Robins were in Perm going on splits with our sisters.  Sisters Patchett and Shelline came by for a quick hug!

Look what we did on our P-day!  Some time ago Nadya's Mela taught us how to make soap...so we borrowed the molds, bought the color and fragrance and started our own soap factory.  These are goodbye gifts for our amazing branch members.

It's time to celebrate...our beloved Perm is celebrating its' 290th Birthday!!!

It reads, "Happy Birthday, Perm"!

The city had a wide variety of celebrations and one of them was an amazing concert.  This is a picture of Nadya's son, Fedor and his balalaika.  Below is a short video clip of the orchestra performing with the guest performers on their balalaikas.  Such talent!!!

Warning: Hot water will be turned off from July 13 - July 27!  It is now the morning of July 28 and still no hot water!  We are blessed to have a little water heater in our main bath that presently provides showers that fluctuate between hot and cold! The younger missionaries don't have this privilege!  The rest of the taps in the apartment are all COLD!  Last summer the hot water was off for 6 weeks...we'll see what this adventure brings.

Perm has truly been blessed...two more baptisms!  Elders Henderson and Hope were able to teach Vera and her son, Dmitry, age 14.  This mother and son were prepared to hear the gospel...so willing, so anxious to read, to pray and to serve!

Our branch welcomes these faithful members.  Membership in this church goes far beyond baptism and Vera and Dmitry have shown already that they are truly converted!

Elder and Sister Huefner are serving in the auditing department for the Eastern European Area.  It was so fun to have them join us for a couple days.  They play an important role in helping the branches learn about budgeting,  balancing that budget and being accountable for all the money.  Their mission has been very different than ours...they have crisscrossed this vast country many times.  They figure they have logged some 93,000 air miles, some 10,000 miles by train...so far! There certainly are many, many areas where senior couples can serve.

This is a glimpse of the paper currency we use every day.  We get our rubles at an ATM just like at home.  We prefer getting multiples of the 5,000 when we have to pay our rent, but most of the time we use the smaller amounts.  Remember this is rubles, not dollars!  The 5000 is approximately $166, the 1000 is $31 and so on.  It takes 13 rubles each for us to ride the buses; Perm has the cheapest transport in all of Russia.  Smaller than a 10 bill, we use coins...they go as low as 1 kopek, which is comparable to our penny (a hundredth part of a ruble).  We have only seen two 1 kopek coins since we arrived.  The lowest coin we usually see is a 10 kopek.

Look who I walked to church with!  Elder Pocock has to go in early on Sundays for a variety of branch meetings...so I ride transport alone.  This particular day the bus stopped for pick up and there were Elders King and Porter with our dear Alexandria (R).  We haven't seen her for quite a while...so hard for her to get out in the winter snow and rainy spring.  What a joy to have her want to come to church.  As we were walking from the bus stop to the church...there was our faithful Nina (L) just coming in from her train plus bus ride.  Oh, how I love these gals!  The three amigos!

Russia is in the midst of the extended daylight months!  I snapped this picture showing 9:10 p.m. and see how light it is.  I wish we could stay out late enough to show you that it is just this light at 11:10 or 23:10 p.m.  Yes, sometimes it is hard to go to sleep!!!

Yes, it is warming up...20 degrees celcius is equal to 68 F.  It felt like 80 degrees!  In fact, this past week, we have had several 30 (86) degree days!  It isn't the temperature that kills you...it is the humidity!

This picture was taken out our balcony at 12:30 a.m.  We stayed up late to see it get really dark...didn't make it!

To celebrate this time of summer, Perm has what they call "White Nights".  This shows the maps of multiple events that take place in the center of town.  It is an intense celebration with visiting performers, artists, and craft displays!

I should have counted the number of artistic creations...there were many!  We checked them out and found that indeed they were crafted out of styrofoam and then a coating was sprayed on the finished product to preserve them.

At home, many of our water parks have a "lazy river" that you can float on an inner tube...this event had a long, lazy river that the children could float carved styrofoam boats.

This fountain was in the center of the festivities with food, craft and souvenir shops available in  the circle surrounding it.

The theme had a nautical feel.  Here they have wooden poles that have carved, wooden birds resting atop.

What would a summer celebration be without a pool?!

This is a panorama taken on an elevated landing with our back to the center fountain down below.

They don't have very cold drinks (McDonalds is the only place we've seen that puts ice in their drinks)...so we went for the ice cream bars to cool off!  Enjoyed seeing families having fun together.  The city literally parties day and night for the whole month of June.  We can hear the performers from our apartment.  The highlight of summer!

These five gals spoiled the missionaries this month with a delicious luncheon.  Kristina...newly baptized convert; her mom, Irina; our brand new convert, Vera, and our faithful core members Valentina and Ludmilla.

We so appreciate the TLC that our branch shows their missionaries!

Off to our last zone conference!  One more train ride from Perm to Yekaterinburg before we fly home.  I think we were feeling melancholy; just stared out the window as the train passed our favorite scenery...the villages!

Our Elders having some down-time on the train!

The mission home was in remodel mode...so we had the privilege of staying with Elder and Sister Godfrey, the new CES couple.  Loved looking out their apartment windows from the 26th floor.
Apartments as far as you can see!

On a nearby balcony, we could see the lake by Yekaterinburg.  So peaceful...

Loved being able to take a sunset picture from 26 floors up...you don't have other buildings to work around to get this breathtaking view!

Zone Conference was a spiritual boost!  Here is our Perm zone...but we found out after conference that Elder Hope (far right in the back) will be leaving us!  He is being transferred to Ekat to work in the office and help the new mission president!

"Calling all missionaries that have served in Perm"!  We were able to round up this great group of Elders and Sisters that we have served with over the past 18 months.  There are others in Ufa and Chelyabinsk as well as those who have already gone home.  It was like a family reunion to be with all these great missionaries again!

Had to get a picture of just the Sisters in the mission...in this conference...

And the couples...except for the Smiths in Ufa.

This was also President and Sister Rust's last zone conference.  Some time ago the senior couples put their heads together and came up with the idea of a farewell book.  Missionaries now serving, missionaries that were already home, parents...all were invited to share their feelings and a picture.  Sister Meng carried the bulk of the work and it turned out just priceless!!!  Sister Rust wrote me the next day and said that she had read the whole thing that night and cried from start to finish.  The Rust's have served the Yekaterinburg Mission well!!!

Alexandria is so paranoid that we are going to leave without saying goodbye.  She called up Elder King and he and Elder Weber graciously went with us to give her a spiritual message and more hugs!  In the foreground is her antique Russian teapot...called a samovar which literally means "self-boiler".   It is a heated metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water, typically for tea.  They usually have a faucet near the bottom.  The small round area at the top holds a teapot filled with tea concentrate.  They were an important part of the Russian household, especially in Alexandria's day. We have seen them in many sizes and shapes.

Birthdays galore...Elder Henderson's birthday was on June 23rd...Elder Pocock and I went to his apartment with homemade cinnamon rolls to celebrate!

Sister Galli celebrated her birthday on June 26th.  She and Sister Patchett had invited a non member...Natalia (L); a new member, Natalia; and our dear friend, Olga over for dinner and a spiritual lesson.  We celebrated Sister Galli's big day with her new favorite...banana brownies with burnt butter frosting!  It's been a busy and spiritual three weeks!  We have focused on the people...because they are what has changed us FOREVER!

We leave Perm, July 16th on a train for Ekat.  We spend one night with our new mission president, President Christensen and his wife, and then we fly home in the early hours of July 17th!  We'll post more before we leave, but our time has already started to fill up with goodbyes and farewells!  Bitter/Sweet Times!

I think I can officially say it is "spring" in Russia.  It has been very unsettled weather here the last two weeks, but this blog post will show you some of the many signs of spring in Perm.  We looked out our sixth floor window and across the parking lot to our neighboring apartment building.  Window washers were hooking up their cables seven floors up.

This gives you a feel for the many windows they have to clean...I bet they never look down!

Yulia started her spring off right opening her long-awaited mission call!  She has been called to serve in the Ukraine, Keiv mission.  In fact, she is there right now with the other branch members that have gone to the temple.  Here you can see her with her call and we skyped with "Sister" Denning (Yulia served with her on a short term mission) who is now home in Provo.  It was so fun to have Alyssa be a part of this special day.  Thanks for staying up until 2 a.m.!!!

Yulia with Nastya, her friend that introduced her to the church.

It is high school graduation time here and our branch has one graduate...Kristina.  She sang with the sisters in sacrament meeting not too long ago.  The girls have these special dresses they wear with banners draped across them.  Here she is with her mother, Ludmilla. They don't have a camera...so we loaned them ours so they could remember this special day and we got copies!

The missionaries presented another fireside for the branch, May 26.  It was all around the theme of the importance of the Book of Mormon.  We had members share their feelings about 1) Who brought me to the Book of Mormon? 2) What has studying the Book of Mormon done for me? 3) My experience with the Book of Mormon as a missionary 4) What is my commitment to the Book of Mormon?  These topics were beautifully addressed and then each of the approximate 40 members present were given a Book of Mormon.  They were challenged to take time right then to write their testimony of the Book of Mormon on it's inside cover and then to prayerfully select a friend or family member to share it with.  It was a great way to get the branch involved in the missionary effort.  These questions are good for all of us to reflect on.

The Busov family is moving!  This was their last Sunday at the branch.  Brother Busov has found steady work and the plus is that they will be closer to Lena's family.  How we hate having them leave.  They will be travelling two days by train with all of their belongings.  Can you imagine packing your household into boxes and then having to put it onto a box car to travel with you?  All this without a vehicle...they have to rent a small truck to get their belongings to the train station!  We are truly going to miss you all...especially Amelina.

Gorky Park is going strong!  A new attraction this spring are these inflatable balls that the children get inside of.  They run around and the ball glides across the pond.  Such glee...

Two young women were building a fence-like barrior along the pathway through the park.  You can see the logs that have been cut in various lengths.  They dig a hole with a small shovel, place the log in vertically and then pat the soil around it.  It was very hard work and the path went on forever.  We must get a picture of the finished project!

The cooking class continues!  This Saturday my friends taught me how to make a famous Russian salad...Olivier.  It is with sausage, eggs, potatoes, peas, beets, cucumbers and their delicious sour cream and mayo.  After we made the salad...I taught them how to make apple crisp.  What a yummy lunch and a delightful game of UNO.  Fun times...sharing in the kitchen!  Thanks Tanya for taking the picture.

This photo was taken after a wonderful lesson with Dmitry (center).  Elders Porter and King along with Stepan from the branch helped Dmitry with his preparations for baptism.  He is such a humble man.  It is so exciting to see the faith these people display and their desire to know the truth!

Despite the spring shower, we decided to visit the Renok...open market...and see what changes had come with the spring weather.  This woman is madly knitting socks for her stand.

There were lots and lots of beautiful plants for the home...

 and vegetable plants for the docha gardens.

Hats for summer...couldn't find one in Russian in this whole display!

On Elder Pocock's way home from branch presidency meeting, he came across an old rug beater along the path.  He brought it home and created his own fly-swatter.  Necessity is truly the mother of invention.  Flies...another sign of warmer weather, and remember we don't have screens on any of our windows!

 Dandelions are in abundance!  Yet another sign of spring.  Here you can see three men using weed-eaters to mow the huge areas of grass and weeds.  Rarely do you see a lawn mower.

This is a picture of what we pass each week to go to church.  Garbage cans and a rickety board pathway greet us after we get off the bus.

Another sign of spring is the attempt to clean up areas of the community.  The multiple trash cans have been replaced with one large receptacle and the wooden pathway has been removed and the area cleared for walking.  It all helps!

Friday, May 31st, Dimitry was baptized.  Yea!

Another reason for our little branch to celebrate...

June 1st at 6:30 a.m., Elder Pocock and I piled into a twenty seat mini van with 18 young single adults and headed out to Ekaterinburg to attend the Seminary and Institute Graduation exercises for the mission.  Lunch time gave us a chance to mingle with the senior missionaries.  On the far right is the newest couple in the mission...Elder and Sister Godfrey from Ammon, Idaho.  They are the CES couple that replaced the Coltons.  They have only been in the country a couple of days when this picture was taken...oh, what you have ahead of you!!!

Some of our kids enjoying food and friends...

It was so fun to be able to see our dear friends from Ufa at the graduation.  Sister Robins (second from left) served in Perm...and then was transferred to Ufa.  When Elder Pocock and I went to Ufa in January to do the branch audit, I was able to sit in on a lesson while she taught an incredibly sincere young woman, Gulea (between Sister Robins and Sister Rust). She joined the church and is now serving in the young women's program in her branch.  She came with her young single adults from Ufa.  It was a sweet reunion.  Since then, Sister Robins has been transferred to Ekat. There she is serving with her companion as a "Sister Training Leader".  This is a new calling that is comparable to Zone Leader for the elders.  The church felt this was needed with all of the influx of new sisters on missions. It is such a joy to see a new convert build on their promises and gain more knowledge and opportunities to reach their potential.  This is the real JOY of missionary work!

Ekaterinburg Seminary and Institute Graduation...2013

This is the mini van we travelled in.  We left Ekat at approximately 6:30 p.m.  On the way home, we were pulled over TWO times by police.  The first was for speeding!  It wasn't even 10 minutes later a police officer was flagging us over AGAIN.  I truly think not having a front head light is a big red flag to the police.  This time the word we got was that as the conversation continued... the driver was fined for not having his documents with him.  I am assuming that means registration, etc.  Between the police, the bad roads, and the multiply potty stops, we finally crawled into bed at 1:30 A.M.  It was a LONG day, but truly quality time with Russia's finest!

The Ekaterinburg First Branch building.  It truly is lovely.  The neighborhood is a bit rough but they have managed to keep the graffiti off the walls.  The other branch is meeting in a less than desirable facility...the mission is working on finding another location to rent.  Two buildings are needed due to the large area of the city.

One of the rewards for getting home so late...a gorgeous sunset.  Now that it is June...we are experiencing "white nights".  We go to bed at 11:00 p.m and it's daylight...we get up at 7:00 a.m. and it's daylight.  

Our little Mariya is really growing up.  I loved her beautiful crocheted head scarf! She went with her "momma" and "papa" to the Keiv temple this week.  The branch members are staying in a hostel near the temple and her parents will take turns attending the sessions.  Count your many blessings!

We went with our zone leaders, Elders Weber and Krivov, to visit the Motovilov family.  He serves as a councilor with Elder Pocock in the branch presidency.  Their oldest daughter, Mariya ...we call her Massa...is 12 and their youngest daughter, Anna, is one.  We were helping to celebrate Vladimir's 55th birthday!  How we love this family.

With warmer weather, Elder Pocock and I planned a picnic by the Kama River for our Family Home Evening last week. We had sandwiches, potato salad, chips, carrot sticks, fruit, snicker doodles, candy and drinks.  The kids thought is was a bit strange eating on blankets on the ground...but they were good sports.

After we played a variety of games...including frisbee.  The day was beautiful and being right along the river was delightful.  

Elder Pocock and I taught the kids how to play kick ball.  Unfortunately the ground was very uneven and Elder Pocock did a face-plant!  His glasses gave him a shiner.  We refuse to act our age.  How boring would that be!!!

Olga met us at the post office and we packed up two large boxes of coats, boots, gloves, scarves and hats to send back to America.  You know that the weather has to be pretty warm for me to do that.  Well, surprise, surprise...for the next three days the wind blew, the rains poured, and the temperature dropped drastically.  In the basement of the church, they have a rack of used clothing that people leave for others to use.  I borrowed a coat for a couple days!  Bait and switch with the weather all over again.  

There isn't anything more fun than to see dear friends on transport.  We were on our way to Nellie's for a meeting and there was Natalia and her grandson.  Love this gal.

Nellie was baptized almost two years ago.  She was just diagnosed with diabetes.  She wants to go to the temple but now with the added expense of the medication...she is finding it hard to make ends meet. We enjoyed a wonderful visit with she, Elders Hope and Henderson. Hopefully our lesson strengthened her and gave her some things to think about as she works through her challenges.

In Nellie's apartment, she has three different kinds of outlets in her kitchen.  She is prepared for any and all appliances.

We hustled home from Nellie's so Elder Pocock could help Igor complete his mission papers.  President and Sister Rust are coming this weekend for their last visit to Perm before their release.   Igor wants to have his mission interview while President Rust is here!  Can you believe it...another full time missionary from Perm branch!!!  We helped Yulia get her papers in, now it's Igor's turn.  When I think about what this young man has been through in his life...doesn't know his father, his mother died at a young age, he and his two siblings grew up in an orphanage until he was 18.  He has graduated with a degree from a university here in Perm, has served a short term mission, is now serving as our ward mission leader and at age 23 is preparing for his own full time mission.  Way to go, Igor!

Igor looks pretty amazing in Elder Pocock's shirt, tie and suit coat!  We wanted to get his picture as well so we could have everything complete for Sunday's interview.

Sister Galli wanted me to help her shorten a skirt.  We pinned and cut and then she did the sewing.  When I pulled out the camera, her comment was:  "This reminds me so much of my Personal Progress days!"  Her skirt turned out awesome.  The sewing machine goes back to the mission home when we go into Ekat for Zone Conference on the 20th.  It has become like an old friend.  It's been through a lot of sewing projects!

My dear Nina.  Here we are, the two grey-haired babushkas (grandmothers) of the branch!  I truly love this woman.  Such dedication as she rides a train for 11/2 hours each Sunday to attend...and look what she carried across the miles from her garden...

a beautiful bouquet of unique daffodils for me!  We truly are sisters.

English Conversation Group brings great opportunities for our missionaries to share their talents.
Elders Porter and King...

Elders Hope and Henderson...

Sisters Patchett and Galli...

Olga's apartment is almost completely done!  We have been working on this upgrade for close to ten months.  This week we finished the wallpaper around her new door.  It took forever to fill in around the bricks with mortar...let it dry...sand it...fill in some more...and sand it.  But at last the papering is complete.  The final major project was to put some kind of cover over the large holes above her closet and front door.  These couldn't be completely closed off due to the need for ventilation.  We debated as to what to do, but after a trip to a hardware store similar to Lowe's...we purchased two boards that are like peg boards but are finished in white on one side. Elder Pocock measured, cut and glued the boards for the covering.  

This is looking up from the closet...see why we wanted to cover it up?!

We had to use "Liquid Nails", a very strong glue, because we couldn't drill holes into the cement walls.  I wish I had a dollar for every time that Elder Pocock said, "I wish I had all my tools back home!"  We had to be creative to hold the peg board in place while the glue dried.  Where there is a will, there is a way!

The finished product.  It looks so nice...so clean...so complete!!!  Olga has purchased a new wardrobe for her clothes.  Now she is going to get a bookshelf and some shelves for her dishes and kitchen supplies and then she will be done.  We will post pictures of her lovely place when her new purchases are complete.  We're so thrilled for her.  She has been such a support to us so we have enjoyed this time working with her and for her!

Today our little Veka sang in Sacrament meeting the Primary song, "If The Savior Stood Beside Me".  She had all three verses totally memorized.  It was the sweetest experience and believe me, the congregation was in tears when she finished. President and Sister Rust were there as well as a large congregation.  This is a short video clip showing Veka practicing for her performance.

This post has shown you mostly pictures of the people that have enriched our lives while living in Perm.  So grateful for our Russian friends!