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!