Today, January 7, 2013, is actually Christmas Day in Russia.  Believe it or not.  The following blog is dedicated to New Year's when Grandfather Frost came to bring the children presents!  If you're confused...join the club!  We were invited to Nadya and her family's home for dinner on New Year's Eve afternoon.  I snapped this picture of Grandfather Frost on the television.  He's wishing everyone a "Happy New Year"!

Here we are by the family tree with Mela and Feda, Nadya's children.  Needless to say, they were excited!  Usually they spend the holidays with her parents, but this year they decided to stay in Perm and have their celebration at home.  They were so thoughtful to allow us to join in the fun.  Nadya made the felt ornament garland hanging in front of the window.

An amazing dinner was prepared for us.  We had roast duck, baked with apples and plums...yummy!

A traditional Russian beet salad and shredded fried potatoes, both of which I really liked.  She also had their traditional New Year's caviar and sardines.  I am going to have to acquire a taste for caviar and the sardines...well let's say it was an adventure.  Nadya went to so much work and we loved sharing the afternoon with them. 

While dinner was being prepared, Elder Pocock and Feda engaged in a fierce game of "Battleship" that we gave the kids for New Year's.  

Look what Nadya and Mela created for us.  It's a candy tree...so tempting!

After dinner we rolled, cut, baked and decorated sugar cookies.  I can't imagine how many sugar cookies I've made this holiday and each time it has been such a joy to introduce this fun experience to my dear friends.  Mission rules were that we had to be in our apartments by 6:00 p.m. on New Year's eve and all day New Year's to prevent any confrontations with those on the street who were celebrating a little too much.  So when we had to go...we left the remaining dough and cookie cutters for Mela.  The next day we got a text from Nadya telling us that they had the neighbors and their children over baking and decorating cookies until 2:00 a.m.!!!  Now that's my kind of celebration.

As we left, Mela demonstrated the great ice slide outside of their apartment building.  The children come down the slide on a kind of snow saucer...and boy do they fly.  The ice goes from the slide clear across the playground until you hit a pile of snow.  I want to try it sooooo badly, but decided I better act my age!  New Year's eve and day were so incredibly restful.  We spent the day doing some deep cleaning and studying but we were also blessed with a great nap and the mission president loaned each companionship a copy of "It's A Wonderful Life" for our entertainment.  A nice quiet New Year's!

New Year's Eve and New Year's are BIG holidays and this is why we were asked to stay inside!

The day after New Year's we went to visit our dear friend, Olga at her mother's in Ugocomsk!  We have been there a couple times in the summer, but this was our first experience in the winter.  Before our adventure, we had to take a fun peek at the newly installed flooring in Olga's apartment.  Doesn't it look amazing?  This flooring is linoleum but looks exactly like laminate.  Her place is so clean and modern looking.  If you have been watching the evolution of this studio apartment, you are probably as amazed as we are.  Where there is a will, there is a way!  She is now saving up for some cupboards and a desk.  More pics to come...

An hour bus ride on icy roads brought us to this frozen lake at Ugocomsk covered with snow and the village nestled in the hills.  Looks like a Christmas card doesn't it?

Many in the little village, take the shortcut across the frozen lake to get to and from town.  It was sooooo cold here!  My nose felt frozen when we got from the bus station to Olga's mom apartment.

Olga's mom lost her husband when her two daughters were ages one and two!  She raised them as a single mom and taught school.  She is a workaholic at age 81!  We keep trying to help her understand 

how important the gospel would be in her life.  She is very supportive of Olga's newfound religion!  We are developing a lasting relationship with her...and oh, how we love her daughter.

During the holidays, many of the businesses, the city buildings, banks, schools, etc. close down...January 1 through the 9th.  During his vacation, Dima, our young single adult friend called and asked if we wanted to go on a tour across the Kama river and see what is on the other side?  It is amazing that we have lived here for eleven months now, and we have never been across this bridge.  We have several young single adults that live in that area because it was built as primarily university housing that is now open for anyone to rent.  There are also dorm type apartment complexes.  This is a picture that we took during the summer, but it shows one of the two bridges that span the Kama River.

As we crossed the bridge, it felt like we were in a very different world.  The area is so forested and the housing is nestled right in amongst the trees.  It seriously looked like we are driving over the Cascades in Oregon.

This is a picture from the car of Dima's apartment building, surrounded by pines.  

This country really believes in central heating.  This photo shows one of many huge plants that heats water and then circulates it around to all of the large apartment buildings in the community.  The hot water is then flushed through radiators in the various apartments to heat them.  Our apartment is very comfortable except when the outside temperatures are extreme.  The biggest downside is that you have no thermostate to control the temperature of your apartment.

This is a great picture showing the large pipes that carry the hot water to the various apartment buildings.  They have to go up and over the intersections of the community.

This shows the pipeline hooking into the dorms in this area.

Farther on down the northern side of the Kama river is a huge dam and power plant.  We stopped to take pictures of the ice fishing that was going on.

You can see the augers they use to drill the holes in the ice.  Some of the men had plastic around them to try and protect them from the wind.  Can you imagine sitting there waiting for a fish to bite in minus 20 degree weather?!

The little town that is by the dam is called Giva.  While we were driving through the community, we saw this small Muslim mosque.  Dima said that there are quite a few Muslims between Perm and the city of Ufa.  Our missionaries have to line up an interview for a Muslim investigator with the mission president before they can begin taking the missionary discussions.

Dima and I by a monument and eternal flame that mark pre-revolutionary history.  There is a lovely museum that is located near here and we hope to be able to get back on a P-day when we have more time.  We are finding Russian history most interesting.  Thanks Dima, for helping us to see what lies just across the river and out of the city!

Lessons, visits and now a birthday party at the branch for Val...he's turning 60.  Lim is his wonderful wife.  In Russian, it is the tradition that the person having the birthday puts on the party and it was a wonderful party.

On the wall behind our two comedians, is a poster displaying Val through the years.  It was so fun to get a glimpse into his life.  His sister attended along with his first wife.  Like Lim said, "One big happy family!"  This mother and daughter team, Ludmilla and Mariana,  did a fun comedy act to help Val celebrate!

Saturday, January 5, 2013 was an incredibly special day.  Last week on the blog, we talked of our visit to Lubova...an enchaning eight year old, that was anticipating her baptism right away.  Well it happened but not without the efforts of the whole branch.  It all started out early Saturday morning, when four of our elders and two priesthood holders from the branch walking through the snow, up and down the hills and into Laressa and Alexei's home.  They carried Laressa out to the road on a stretcher.   Laressa is paralyzed from the waist down.  Members of the branch that have cars met them at the road and took Laressa, her family and the elders to a members home that has their own banya...or bath house.  The elders chopped wood and they heated the water and Relief Society sisters lovingly bathed Laressa and washed her hair.  They don't have plumbing...so this was a luxury.  While this was going on...the branch had an incredible activity for all the children of the branch and their invited guests.  Here they have a traditional story that revolves around the Christmas tree, Grandfather Frost and the Snow Maiden (that is Grandfather Frost's granddaughter that assists him in delivering the children's presents.)  It was so well planned, so well attended, the children dressed in their Sunday best or a costume (not sure about that tradition).  They had a wicked witch, a rooster, and a fox all playing a large role in the story.  The children loved it and Lubova and her brother Yarik were at the party while their mother was being attended to.

At the end of the party, each child shared a poem with Grandfather Frost and then he gave them a stocking filled with fruit and goodies.  Some of the Relief Society sisters had made forty beautiful stockings for the children in attendance.  I can't begin to tell you how memorable they made this activity for the children.

This is our second counselor Valdimer, (Grandfather Frost), his wife, Svetlana, and their two daughters, Maria (the Snow Maiden) and baby, Ana.  She was in the hospital a year ago when we arrived because she was born prematurely and there were huge concerns for her survival...but as you can see she is a beautiful little gal.  They are a very faithful family!

Well, after the children's party (yolka), we were to have Lubova's baptism.  When we checked the font, to our dismay...the water pressure was down to a trickle and there was no way she was going to be able to be baptized!  Hoses were brought in and water from the basement lines was turned into the font...and the members, missionaries and even children were filling buckets of hot water from the kitchen and restrooms to fill the baptismal font.  Well, it was an hour late but it happened!!!

Three of the four members of this little family are now members of the church and Laressa was there to see it happen!  After the baptismal talk, the baptism and the talk on the Holy Ghost, the Branch President announced the closing prayer.  Elder Pocock asked to speak with him a moment and then the President announced that Lubova would be confirmed then and not on Sunday.  Elder Pocock helped him understand that convert baptisms have to be confirmed on Sunday, but children can be confirmed right after baptism and with the situation with Laressa...it was something that should be done right then.  In this branch...there are very few baptisms at age eight...most baptisms are taken care of by the missionaries because they are convert baptisms.  This is what this work is all about, helping each other to move the work forward in the best possible way.

Sasha, one of the young single adults that is preparing for a mission, baptized Lubova.  We were so proud of him.  CONGRATULATIONS LUBOVA!

Laressa loved being out of bed and at the branch with the saints.  The sisters greeted her warmly.  While we were waiting for the font to fill, several of the branch sat together and sang from the hymn book. Laressa loved that!  They served a light lunch after the baptism and you could just see the joy on her face as she enjoyed the food and the companionship.  How I wish that she lived in a home that was more easily accessible so she could come to church more often.  Every one of those missionaries expressed to us how much the experience of that day had meant to them.  Truly, when you are in the service of your fellowmen, you are in the service of your God...and they felt that.

It truly was a day that the Perm Branch will never forget, and neither will we.  A very special day in Perm, Russia!

Welcome to our Christmas celebration in Russia.  Elders Wimber and Holbrook were so kind to invite Elder Pocock and I to have lunch with them on Christmas Eve afternoon. They had heard of a great Italian/Japanese restaurant and we decided to give it a try.  So good and soooo reasonable!  Notice the size of the portions...Russian restaurants serve very healthy size portions...no super sizing here, not even in MacDonalds!

Our packages don't go directly to our apartments...in fact, we've never seen a mailman!  Not sure how the rest of Perm gets their mail, but all missionary mail goes to the mission home in Yekaterinburg and our zone leaders bring it back to Perm when they return from their monthly zone leader council.  So if a package doesn't reach the mission home before zone leader council...it sits at the mission home for a month!  This is what happened with our sisters' Christmas packages.  So as a zone, we decided that we would put together a Christmas box for the sisters.  The elders were so generous and thoughtful, many sharing some of their gifts from home...it added that special spirit of giving to our Christmas.  Elder Pocock played Grandfather Frost and we left the mystery package at their door.  It was so fun to listen to their squeals of delight when they opened the door and saw the package addressed to them!

Our wonderful sister missionaries...Sister Galli (L) from Georgia and Sister Tikhanova from Irkutsk, Russia.  It is always 20 degrees colder there than here in Perm!

Our Christmas morning started early (at 6:45 a.m.) with missionaries Skyping their families.  Our kitchen was a blur of activity as each companionship worked on their contribution to the meal.  Our zone leaders, Elders Duggar and Prestwich are busy making the rolls, and the sisters are creating an artistic veggie tray!

Here's our new zone gathered around the Christmas dinner table.  We had ham (couldn't find a traditional spiral ham or anything like it, but we found something that was very tasty)  cheesy potatoes, rolls, Elders Christiansen and Kaiser made a yummy chicken salad, and Elders Holbrook and Wimber provided delicious brownies to go along with my pumpkin pie plus the rolls and veggie platter.  We certainly didn't lack for things to eat!!!

It was a wonderful day where ten missionaries truly bonded as family.  Oh, we missed our loved ones at home...but celebrated having one another to share this holy holiday.

After dinner, we jumped into a service project.  Here some of the zone is busily threading popcorn for a tree garland.

Elders Christiansen (L) and Holbrook are tying ribbon on salt dough ornaments that the young adults painted earlier.  The garland and ornaments are for a tree to be given to a needy family.  You may think...wait it's already Christmas...what good are the decorations now?!  Remember, the Russian Christmas isn't until January 7 and they don't put up their trees until close to their New Year's eve celebration when Grandfather Frost comes.  Our celebrations just keep on going over here!

We gave every companionship a large jar of peanut butter...found it at the Metro.  Goodies galore...not that we need them, but we needed them!!!  Great comfort food.

After we finished with the tree decorations, we played some really fun interactive games and then watched The Nativity and several Bible videos off the internet.  Before we knew it, it was time to head to the branch for the annual Christmas party.  Our branch choir sang two Christmas numbers.  They really sing from the heart.

The Branch President's wife, Yulia and their little gals sang a beautiful song, part in Russian...part in English.  It was so well done and so touching.

This is a pano of the hall that is decorated beautifully and shows the great turnout for the lovely evening.  The program started out with President Monson's First Presidency Christmas message. We talked with the Relief Society sisters in the kitchen and they said that they fed approximately 80 people...that is just a few less than we have at church on Sunday!  They hadn't planned on that many attending but they felt that it was like feeding the 5,000...somehow there was enough for everyone!
This was a perfect way to end our Christmas celebration...mingling with the amazing saints from the Perm branch.

On a previous blog, we showed the stockings that we created for the branch members to sign for the missionaries and servicemen.  When we went to pick up the stockings to mail them...we found that the families had added goodies and gifts to be sent along with the stockings.  So we solicited the help of our zone leaders and dear sweet Lubov, her son is one of the servicemen.  They came to the post office with us to help mail the packages.  We wish all those away from home a very happy holiday season.

While we were waiting in the forever lines in the post office, Elder Pocock snapped pictures of the women in fur coats.  The following pictures show just a few of those we saw.  I would say that 50% of all the women's coats in Perm are fur of some kind.  They are beautiful.

I have to say that I love my long, goose-down filled coat.  It is perfect for the cold weather here, but when we are visiting inside of an apartment or a store...it gets sooooo unbearably warm.  A sister in the branch said that she loves her fur coat because it breathes with you...it's warm but never too warm.

On December 27, we had the most humbly experience.  We went with Elders Duggar and Prestwich to visit a family in their area.  We had to ride the bus for some time and then we literally hiked up and down several hills in about a foot of snow.  It was a beautiful night, not terribly cold because it had just snowed a great deal.  There was a full moon and the snow glistened from the glow.

Meet Laressa, the daughter, Lubova (age 8); under the covers is the son, Yarick (age 10) and the father, Alexei.  We had never met the mother...she is paralyzed from the waist down and can't get to church.  A beautiful young woman!  Lubova and Yarick come to church often.  Laressa and her son Yarick, are members.  Lubova just turned eight and was to be baptized this past Saturday, but her father had to work and wanted to attend.  We asked if we could go with the missionaries to meet Laressa and extend some love and attention to this little family.

Lubova is a very outgoing little gal.  She did a dance for us and told us that she wants to perform it after her baptism.  The branch is trying to figure out a way for Laressa to get to Lubova's baptism.  Now with all of the new snow... it is really going to be difficult.  We are hoping that something can be worked out.

Laressa has been bed-ridden for three years.  She has a wheelchair, but has to have help to get in it.  She was so vibrant...she asked many questions about our life, about America, about our family, about what we thought about this and that, how we celebrated the holidays, and on and on.  We could tell that she yearns to have people to communicate with. I am sure that she gets very lonely...we will definitely get back to see this little family SOON. The missionaries have been very attentive to them.

We took the children gifts and sugar cookies to frost and decorate.  It was so fun to be a part of their excitement.  One simple gift that we gave them was the Children's Book of Mormon Reader. Laressa was thrilled beyond measure.  She said that she so wants to read the stories of the Book of Mormon to her children, and she feels that this will help keep their attention.  When we walked out of their home that night, I thanked my Heavenly Father for a very sweet, spiritual experience. Indeed life is not fair...but it is what we do with what is allotted to us that determines who we really are!

Our dear friend, Tanya, the avid ice skater...invited us to go to a holiday ice skating performance.  The guests skaters were Perms very own 2012 European Silver Medal Champions...Vera Bazarova (age 19) and Yuri Larlonov (age 26).  They trained here in Perm until just recently.  They are amazing.  It will be very fun to watch them in the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  (She had the most elegant, white fur coat!)

 They were totally amazing.  It was thrilling to sit on the front row and watch their incredible routine.  Young students from the skating academy in Perm performed as well.  You can already tell that there are budding olympians here in Perm.  This was all offered free to the public.

Afterwards, we accompanied Tanya, her grandmother and friend to the outdoor skating rink where Tanya skates everyday.  She just recently saved up enough to purchase new professional ice skates.

She gave us her own performance.  Way to go, Tanya!  Tanya is the English teacher that had invited us to do a presentation for her classes at the Police Lyceum.

It's beginning to look a lot like WINTER!

For those of you who have been following the evolution of our poor steps...here is how they look now. Believe me, we hang on to the railing.

In order to make a pathway to our apartment...our skating rink is getting piled high with snow!

One day later...it is three times higher!  When we came home from church today, children were digging tunnels in the snow and loving it.  We yelled to them: "Snov-em Go-dem" (written phonetically) which means Happy New Year in Russian...to our surprise they yelled back, "Happy New Year!"

There isn't much decorating for the holidays here...at least not in our area...so we were delighted to watch this from our kitchen window.  There is a little fir tree by the apartment across the way, and there a grandmother, mother and little boy took the initiative to decorate and brighten many neighbor's lives.

Yulia's little sister has been wanting to come to our apartment for some time...so we decided to have a cookie fest!  We cut out and baked sugar cookies and she frosted and decorated to her hearts desire.  Yulia said this was a first for both of them...we had a great time.

...and while we were celebrating the holidays here, some of our family celebrated at Temple Square.  Wherever you are this time of year...hope your holidays have been meaningful and memorable.