I'm posting at last!  Sorry I'm slow but these past few days have been crazy busy and that is always good in the mission field.  Our pictures this week will show a variety of activities, places we've never been and a few things that are unique to Russian life!  First, we introduce Elder Holbrook from West Jordan, Utah.  When we first came to Perm...Elder Holbrook was the companion to the zone leader, Elder Larsen.  Then he got shipped off to the Siberia Zone and now he is back with Elder Wimber.  Elder Weber was transferred to Yekaterinburg...we hate having these special missionaries leave but love having new ones come!

It's the sisters week to cook for zone class...if you look closely there is a huge plate of fresh scones.  We treasure this time to be together...to share, to motivate, to inspire...and of course, to eat!  The elders all hang out in the kitchen ready to sit up when they hear..."Come and get it!"

We are so excited because on October 21, 2012...Perm branch will have its first ever Primary program. The sweet sister in blue to your right is Tanya, the Primary President.  She works so hard to make Primary the best it can be with so few children.  We are excited to announce that Tanya is expecting a little girl in November!  Yea, more Primary children.  Lenna, in black, is one of our incredible teachers and such a support to Tanya.  I peeked into their practice on Sunday, and it was so sweet to hear those children sing.  Two of the older girls will soon be going into Young Women.

We love visiting the members of the branch and this week we went to visit our first counselor, Brother Valeri, his non-member wife, Auxana and their little girl Ona.  We rode a bus for approximately an hour then got off and walked and walked some more.  These are some of the unique things we spotted along our way.  This is a homemade television antennae that is suspended from a stick out the window of an apartment.  Pretty creative!

At first we thought this was a gigantic sink hole, but upon inspection we found that this crater at the intersection of this little village was dug on purpose.

Obviously, there are problems with the pipes!

Close-by we saw an uncovered manhole...you really have to watch where you are going in this neighborhood...especially after dark!  One the way home from institute tonight...I barely missed stepping into an uncovered hole.  Believe me, I now walk looking down!

We totally enjoyed the peace and quiet of this area out of the city.  Individual homes, narrow streets,
and unique architecture everywhere we looked.

This little home shows how they brighten up the wooden dwellings by painting the facia around the windows.  We loved how this home had its own tiny balcony.

Farther down the lane we came across this impressive neighborhood.  They use a lot of brick in the newer homes.  We have seen some homes updated with aluminum siding but this is rare.

This was a lovely home made of cement...it even has a garage, which is almost non-existent.  We have noticed that expensive homes and apartment buildings will use brick and then cover over the top of the brick with a cement or stucco-like finish!

Here is a perfect example of how they use contrasting brick to enhance an expensive home.

We couldn't help but notice this very nice home with BLUE accents!!!

We finally reached Valeri's apartment building.  Here is Brother Valeri with his 88 year old grandmother that he and his wife care for.  She served in the communication department of the military for 2 1/2 years during WWII. Valeri is displaying the medals she received from her country for her service.  She was given this apartment as part of her payment for war service.  She is very hard of hearing but so pleasant.  We had a wonderful visit.  We love this family!

On the way back out to the bus stop, we got a close up and personal look at the pipelines that carry the hot water for taps and the heating radiators.  It seems strange to us that the pipes are above ground wrapped with insulation rather than buried.

Every street has to have these raised pipes.  The government provides all of the hot water from a central location.  You may remember that during the summer, our hot water was turned off for six weeks.  Thank goodness we have a small water heater that hangs on the wall in our bathroom, providing a hot shower.  Our missionaries aren't so lucky.  This happens every summer so that the lines are flushed out before winter and the need for a consistent flow of hot water.

Here we see pipes carried above and across the driveway to a private home.

And here you can see the pipeline spanning a nearby river.

The hot water not only flows through the taps of the apartments for the sinks, but through radiators of various sizes and shapes for heating.

Behind the cover to the right of our curtains, you can see the outline of the radiator to our kitchen.  We also have a radiator in the living area and bedroom.  The hot water that flows through the radiators and heats up the apartments for a million people is controlled by the government.  They turn the water into the system when it is determined that it is cold enough outside.  There isn't such a thing as a thermostat! The heat in a room depends on the size and function of the radiator.

This is a unique radiator in an entryway of an apartment building.  As you can see, this has tiny pipes and metal slats that radiate the heat from the water that passes through it.

This picture is of Olga's radiator...remember her apartment is a studio room of about 14'x18'.  It is massive for a room of that size and when we go there to wallpaper...Olga tells us that she always has to have her window open.  This is one of the problems we face in the winter, because we dress warm...thermals, sweaters, coats, etc. to go outside but then when we get to the apartment of the family we are visiting...we nearly die from the heat plus all the clothing!  At least when we are back to our apartment...we warm up fast!  We found this all very fascinating and unique to Russia.

This is Katia, a young woman that is seventeen.  She and her sister, Alona, age fifteen, were baptized about two years ago.  Then the little rented facility was discontinued, the branch didn't have the needed man power to run it properly and the branches were combined.  We travelled with Elders Duggar and Smith on a bus for over an hour to visit with Katia and extend an invitation to come back.  Such a friendly, darling girl.  She said that she is in her eleventh year...the last year required here in Russia...and she will be the first in her family to complete this much schooling.  We're proud of her and hope to get back to see her soon!

This is what a typical bus stop looks like from the inside.  Because so many people depend on the public transit, the bus stop is the perfect place for people and businesses to advertise their merchandise and services.

Here you can see the thousands of notices that are glued onto the bus stop enclosure.

How are all of you enduring the campaigning in America?  We understand that you only have FOUR MORE WEEKS!  Hang in there. We went to the Ada County election commission before we left for Russia and they recently emailed us our ballots.  We printed them off...marked the ballot and then mailed them back to Boise.  We had to sign a waiver allowing our non-confidential ballot.  We are just glad to be able to participate and say..."may the best man win"!!!

Elder Pocock sporting his new Russia hat...ready for winter!

Talk about a small world...here we have a picture of our Nadya from Perm, Russia with our three Meridian, Idaho gals Erin, Cara and Kendra outside of the Boise temple...dated 10/10/2012!  Nadya is in America to attend conference and was able to get to the Boise area and spend the day with some of our girls and grandkids.  How exciting for us to see our two worlds embrace!  It was just three days before the official open house but as it turned out, the temple graciously allowed Nadya to have her own personal tour!  How many Russian converts of four months can say they have been to General Conference and inside of a temple??? !!!  Enjoy America, Nadya and we'll see you soon!  Thanks gals for taking such good care of her.

Welcome to Perm... Fall is definitely in the air, but another sign is that Institute and Seminary classes have started again. This past week the Perm branch held an opening social for the participating young adults. They have a forested area very close by that has an aerial course where the kids go from tree to tree about 3 stories up,  No, neither Elder Pocock nor I felt inclined!  Here are the braves souls...

Here we see them balancing and hanging on as they brave the course.  This was a participation object lesson.  The emphasis was on holding to the Iron Rod...or the course of scripture for this year: the New Testament.

This is Slava, our YSA representative.  You see him here the day of the activity in his full protective gear.  Slava and several other friends decided that it was just too much fun, so they went again later in the week.  Another object lesson was learned:  follow the commandments...down to the last detail!  Unfortunately Slava failed to attach one small safety clip and fell backwards from one of the platforms.  He is currently in the hospital with back injuries, but thank goodness he is doing well and will walk again!  We are so thankful and pray for his complete recovery.

We've adopted Mela as our grandchild away from home.  She had a school assignment to create something out of nature.  Nadya invited Elder Pocock and I over for a session in creativity.  Here Elder Pocock has created a cone and we glued on tiny pinecones Mela painted in fall colors.  It turned out really beautiful...we decided we needed to make Christmas trees out of the pinecones and spray paint them.  Here you can see Nadya's wonderfully supportive mother that we have a great friendship with.

Then we took larger pinecones and created a mama and papa hedge hog.  She has now entered her masterpieces in the school contest.  She's a winner, don't you think?

Speaking of winners...here we have our zone leaders!  That's right, our mighty zone leaders modeling their Russian athletic attire and their newly purchased fur hats for winter.  We accompanied them to the outdoor market on P-day and it was so fun helping them pick out the PERFECT Ushankas.  Literally translated that means..."ear-flaps hat."

 For Family Home Evening, Elder Pocock spoke on the topic of KINDNESS.  We watched some great clips found on Mormon Messages but translated into Russian on YouTube.  They were on civility and showing love.  He challenged the youth to report next week on some acts of kindness that they participate in.  This week was our branch president's birthday...so to show "kindness" we created a candy bar birthday card and gave it to him at Institute class.

Family Home Evening at a glance...

Yes, we are still at it!  Elder Pocock mudded and sanded Olga's ceiling this week.  Olga will then whitewash it.  Many times they don't use paint because it is so expensive so they whitewash..which is
basically watered-down paint.  It doesn't cover as nicely but it give a great, clean look.

Well, how do you like the difference?  We have started to hang the wallpaper.  It is a very light, neutral pattern that makes the room look so clean and much larger!  Olga is pleased and that's all that matters.

As we left Olga's apartment building, we took this picture of birthday greetings painted on the sidewalk for one of the tenants.

If you look closely, you will see a man with no legs below the knees begging from his wheelchair.
We see him often at rush hour, when the traffic is so intense it is scary.  He has it down to a science.

The blue sign on this home tells the name of the street.  On most every building they have a sign posting the name of the street and the subsequent number is the house or building number.  Every resident that lives in an apartment, which is 90% of the city dwellers, lists their address as...first the name of the street, the number of the building or home and then the number of the individual apartment.  Most apartment buildings have key pads at the main door where you punch in the individual apartment number and this rings the resident.  They can either accept your visit or reject you.  We get plenty of both!

On September 22, it was the autumn equinox.  In other words, on that date the night and the day were equal.  From then on, there is more night than day.  Remember how light it used to be here at midnight...well here is the sunset at 7:30 p.m!  When we get up it is really dark as well.  Are we ready for winter???

It is funny what you get excited about over here...this new Subway is located just below our apartment building.  We have watched it come together now we have got to give it a try.  What joy!  We walk past this Subway and around the corner every day of our lives here in Perm.  Welcome to our stomping grounds.

Tanya and I are hemming some of her missionary dresses.  She wants to learn to sew.  She has a hand-crank sewing machine that was her grandmothers.  She had never used an electric machine until this night!  She was so cute trying to get the perfect speed...she did well and wore her newly shortened dress at church today.  She has embroidered some Christmas scenes on quilt blocks and now wants to put the blocks into a quilt.  That won't be quite as simple of a project!

Olga, that just moved into Perm, is so enjoying her teaching assignments at the two universities here.  She invited us to go to a talent show at one of the schools.  The backdrop reads...Debut, Freshman
Festival. The entertainment was put on by freshman students representing various areas of schooling...Mathematics, Construction Management, and Circus Performance.  Yes, Perm has a huge
circus here and they have classes in the circus performing arts.  It was so well done, with a lot of humor
and professional talent...many instruments

some dancing and singing...

and an amazing young woman that did acrobats while spinning hula hoops!

Saturday was a great day at the branch.  The afternoon started with a monthly Relief Society meeting.
The sisters gathered together to learn and share in how to strengthen families.  Many shared on how they are getting their non-member family members to join them in family prayer, and family scripture study.  One sister told of how she and the children would have family prayer in the kitchen while her husband watched television.  Then a child suggested they have family prayer where dad was. They went in, and knelt down and her husband turned off the tv and knelt with them.  Now they have family prayer together every night.  Children can teach us a lot, can't they?  Suggestions were made as how to set the proper example, love the non-member, and pray that they will come to understand why this gospel is so important to you.  Each sister brought pictures of her family...it was so fun to see these family members that we never see at church.

A delicious and filling luncheon was served.  At six there was a missionary activity.  Many of the sisters were staying for that but there was an hour and a half before it started.  So the sisters asked if I would play the piano and they sat in a semi-circle and sang their hearts out!  It was so touching to see and hear them sing songs like..."Where Can I Turn for Peace",  "Because I Have Been Given Much", "How Great Thou Art", "I Need Thee Every Hour", "Let Us All Press On", "Lord I Would Follow Thee", "Our Savior's Love" and many more.  They sang for an hour and much of that with tears flowing freely!  They truly rely on each other and the Savior for the ability to endure well.

At six our missionary "Jeopardy" game started.  The group was divided into three sets...each getting a chance to select from four categories: Russian history, Russian geography, Russian music and a surprise question.  Needless to say, I wasn't very helpful to our group!  In fact our poor group consisted of five American missionaries, Michael, the Nigerian, and two Russians.  Poor Dymtry and Lenna.  Our success rested on their shoulders.  The crowd really got into it...Russians can get pretty competitive...just like Americans.  Dima graduated from the university in geography...so he really pulled off some amazing answers to questions like:  name the former soviet republics that were in the original USSR!  There were 15...he named them all...and we got a mere 100 points. Our acting mission leader came up with the questions.  Dinner was served and a great time was had by all.  We were at the church from 1:00 pm for an investigator meeting until the church was cleaned up at 9:30 pm but what a wonderful day.  President and Sister Rust were here for the weekend and were able to enjoy the fun.  We had three investigators attend.

Nadya had gone to her home town to attend the birthday of her good friend's father.  This friend and her husband have their own vinyl boot company.  They are making a bundle...especially this time of year where it rains some almost every day and we get to walk through puddles and mud galore.  Look what she brought back for me.  She met us at the church after the activity and insisted she give us a ride home.  When we got to the parking lot, she pulled out these colorful boots and two more huge zucchinis!  She's always looking out for us.

Being a MLS missionary is the greatest calling in the world...I hope that you can see from our experiences of this past week... we can give and give and never get even with the blessings the members of this branch pour out upon us!