Zone Conference

Christmas Day at the Mission Home. Ham dinner with green salad (!) and homemade rolls. The White Elephant gifts were FUN! Clever missionaries with lots of asides.

Merry Christmas

Elders Dial (SLC), Kimball (Mesa,AZ), Vierig (SLC), and Isenbarger (IN) pose with the Snow Princess and Father Frost on the streets of Almaty.

It appears to us that the commericalism of the season has found its way here, if not the Spirit.

For the Spirit, we can turn to the Church Members. Our branch is celebrating Christmas together on Christmas night.

Photos - Elders on visa trip

"So which hat do you like better? Elder Dewey's old hat or his new one?" They voted on the bus. No vote held on the shorts.

Since we were not authorized missionaries in Kazakhstan, we were very careful to respect their rules, which meant no teaching, no regular missionary attire or nametags, etc.

Sister Keleman (Provo) at the top of the 840 step stairway.

Elders in our District we're great, lead by Elders Kimball with back-up from Elder Isanbarger. Besides morning study time, they were able to use the internet, shop at the "reenick"--a type of swapmeet, and hike up the 840 stairs. In the mall they had pizza."I feel like I'm in America," one Elder said.

Waiting at the airport--without Elders Dewey and Campbell! Their electronic tickets were not accepted at the Almaty airport. Elder Kimball tried to work it out but had to leave them in Kazakhstan to take a later flight.

Random Photos - Almaty

Shortest Day

Today's the day with the least daylight.  We're "home" from Kazakhstan now.  We'll give details and pictures soon.

Dec. 20 in Khazakhstan

"Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?"

We've spent Sister McEvoy's birthday in Almaty where we've had a gentle snow fall this evening. In this humid climate, each tree branch is covered in white as we walked to the internet cafe. These Central Asian people are kind and helpful and quick to smile as we make our way about their busy, clean city.

We're supposed to fly out at 3:00AM tomorrow with 15 of our fellow missionaries, headed to Yekaterinburg via Moscow.

PS: Back home in Yekat, the office employees celebrated. The beautiful birthday gifts are "haklama," a traditional Russian art. More on that later.

Apple

Greetings from an internet cafe in Almaty (meaning "apple" because of the great fruit produced here). The lovely city sits at the base of a range of mountains that rival the Tetons. I can't download pictures so they'll come later.

Elders are managing in various apts. Everyone tries to keep up a study regimen, but in the afternoon they take off. Sometimes a service project is available, but mostly the time is spent sightseeing, hiking, etc.

It's cold here, but not as cold as Ekat.

The faithful Members are wonderful. Since missionaries from all the Russian missions have had to come out to get visas, the members pitch in and help. For instance, three members drove out to the airport to pick us up, a 40 minute drive. When they got there they learned our plane had been delayed/rerouted because of fog. They drove back home and came back out to get us three hours later! We're very touched by their goodness. They speak Russian and Kazakh. We really appreciate and admire them.

(Below, Oleg shows up at the Moscow airport with passports; in Almaty, members Pavel and Natasha were our patient drivers.)

Priesthood Training Mtg.

Elder McEvoy gives a short presentation on tithing after the satillite broadcast from Moscow. Elder Sergeev (St. Petersburg), translates

Coming and Going

We like our walk from our apt. bldg. to the office along this little road. Some autumn days it has been frozen, and we almost always are walking in the dark, morning and evening. Everyone tells us the hard winter has been slow in coming. However, as of today the serious snow is finally here, and it was 10 degrees.

The last view is of the neighborhood we walk through, taken from our apt. window in the fall.

Homeless Holidays

Our first VISA trip begins Monday with 14 other missionaries. We had all expected Prague, but a last minute change means we go instead to Khazakhstan . We may be there for a few days--or a few weeks. : )

Ask Moscow

When we have questions about Church programs or policies or supplies, we count on our leaders in the Europe East Area in Moscow to give us answers. It's not uncommon to hear, "Call Moscow and see what they say."

Today I emailed an order form to our Moscow offices with some ambiguous information, thinking, "Moscow will know what to do with this." I just got a phone call from a brother in Moscow, questioning my order. I explained to him my thinking and my hope that he would have answers.

He said kindly, in his Russian accent, "I'm sorry, but it was only during Stalin's time that 'Moscow' knew everything."

Holidays

Everyone here is looking forward to the holidays.  We gather that it goes something like this.

Each home has a "new years tree," decorated with this year's theme.  2009 is the Year of the Cow, taken from the Asian calendar, so cow/bull ornaments and toys are everywhere.  Lots of presents are under the tree to be opened New Years Day.  

On New Years Eve, five minutes before midnight the President addresses the nation--in each time zone, it sounds like.  Then they set off a million fireworks--more or less all night.

Father Frost and the Snow Princess visit in the night, bringing gifts.  January 7th is a holiday for the churches, a Christmas.

Of course, there's lots of good food and family visiting.  The city sponsors ice sculptures, actually a carved ice "city" which is supposed to be spectacular.

The holidays last for about two weeks, during which time work comes to a halt and imbibing is the order of the day.

Baby House #4

Elder and Sister Moulton, our Humanitarian Missionaries, invited Sister McEvoy join them Monday for a trip to Revda to visit

 this home for abandoned babies. The cheerful Director told us they had 12 babies right now, and they generally give up about 50 per year for adoption. She said, "I ask myself, would I let my own child go to this family?"

The Moultons distribute Church assistance where needed, then follow up to see that the gifts are in place.  They do not give cash but purchase the items requested and approved.  They gave various items in Revda--therapy toys, furniture, etc.

YW Skit

In this version of Cinderella, she gets more help from prayer than from a fairy godmother. It was darling!

Refreshments were the popular bread with salami. Not everyone is as interested in the cakes. (The cucumber doesn't belong there. A child had set it down.) We've been at four gatherings where refreshments were served and it has always been the bread with kilbasa, no dressing.

"We are daughters of our Heavenly Father..."

Young Women and leaders say the theme at
our Branch Activity

Yekaterinburg Zone

There were 14 of us for dinner. When assignments were being made one Elder said, "Oh, the centerpiece! I'll bring the centerpiece!" And he did.

Thinking of You

Love to everyone today! We can't help missing you all. As busy as we are in a foreign land, this family holiday brings out tender feelings.

We're having missionaries over this afternoon, after their turkey bowl football game! They're taking a 1/2 day P-day to celebrate.

We're cooking chickens, dressing from bread we have dried, and we made a passable pumpkin pie from pumpkin-like squash, and using whole cloves Elder Mac ground down. We even found fresh cranberries. Should be fun!

Geological Museum

Ana and Alexey, a dad and daughter who come to English class, offered to take us to museums to translate for us. Today we met them to go to the geological museum. Rocks are big business in the Urals.

Navigator

We depend on this map. Actually, Elder Mac has learned to read it well and can get us through the city on busses, trams, marshutkas (vans), etc. He can even call out to the driver in Russian when it's our stop.

Bread - Хлеб

When we first arrived we ate simple, familiar food: apples, cheese, bread, yogurt. Gradually we have branched out. The breads are abundant. To our surprise, people don't bake a lot, but are are more inclined to buy bread. The breads don't have preservatives so they dry our very quickly. Most you slice yourself. The dark one is so called Russian black bread. The cheesy Italian one is actually "focaccio" and not all that common but we rather like it.

Our little lunch pictured shows deli pasta and "plov," a popular rice dish that we liked from the start.