Notes

• We were sorry to hear about the Russian train.  It happened a thousand miles from here on a route none of our missionaries would ever need to take, but it's a tragedy none-the-less.
• We were grateful to talk to family members this Thanksgiving weekend.  We are full of thanks and gratitude.
• Another visa trip coming up.  We go to Helsinki again.
  

Giving Thanks

The Yekaterinburg Zone took half a day to celebrate with dinner at the Mission Home. The other Zones had their own gatherings. (Pictures from them later). Russians don't have a holiday like it, but our one Russian in the Zone, Elder Yazvinsky, was a good sport about it all.

Sister Nuzman, Pie Baker Extraordinaire, helps President and Sister Allcott while President carves one of their two five-pound turkeys imported from Germany. Jello and canned pumpkin were brought from America; dressing made from scratch.

Since this counts as P-Day, Elders relax and play Settlers of Catan, and "Pounce" with Rook cards. After dinner, Elder Isenbarger tells a story about his former companion, Elder Campbell.

After Dark

Winter nights are surprisingly friendly here. Our little camera doesn't do it justice.

First of all, it's never really dark. Of course, the snow reflects, but the lights of the city shine against the overcast sky, so everything has a pink glow. One Elder called it "warm." We carried a flashlight at first until we realized we never used it.

Lots of people are out and about, often even walking babies in carriages or strollers.



(Elder McEvoy with Lydia and Elders Smith, Cutler and Holden a the Botanika Church door after a meeting; the roads we walk near the Office; holiday lights on the tram stop near our apartment building.)

Fast Food

After a baptism, missionaries stopped at Subway before heading back to work.

FYI, the other familiar franchises are McD's, KFC (called Ros-teeks') and Cbarro, that pizza place in all the mall foodcourts in the US.

When we eat out, we like trying something Russian, but once in a while the American missionaries like good ol' fast food.

Holidays in the Air

It used to be when Thanksgiving was over, Christmas got the green light. Now it's more like Halloween. They tell us that here, the first snow gives everyone permission to think about the holidays--the 10 day New Year celebration which has Christmas rolled in with it--so the lights and decorations are going up in stores.

If you're mailing to your missionary, we're having consistent success with USPS Priority. Packages arrived today that were mailed from the USA October 30-November 4. As for normal letters, a Pouch with letters arrived today that left SLC via DHL on Nov 17. It's not always that fast, but it's not uncommon.

South of the Border

Stani workers come from the south, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, etc., to do a lot of the menial labor. Cheerful, friendly people, they send their earnings to family back home.

Crews work non-stop in the malls mopping floors during winter and the muddy seasons.

(Pictures last month just before the snow fell.)

Tram Window - 5:00 pm

This is what we saw out of the frosted window panes as we rode the tram-vye to the Mission Home one evening last week.

New Elders

Five new Elders came last week. We were holding out for better pictures, but we're going with what we've got:

Elder Fife (AK) eats dessert; Elder Hanson (Draper UT), at dinner with his trainer, Elder Shreeve (AZ), and sisters; Elder Lunt (VT)meets his trainer, Elder Krogue (Alpine, UT) while Elder Cordon (LA) looks on; Elder Pearson (Park City, UT) at a baptism on his third day here, and heading out with his trainer, Elder Isenbarger (IN).

Couples

These WONDERFUL young marrieds have an uphill climb.

Krill and Inna (by the elevator) and their pre-schooler have lived with his parents in their apartment since they were married some five years ago. As a furniture designer, he makes 12,000r per month ($400). They just moved to Ukraine to live with her family to see if things can improve.

Nina and Vasilevy, married less than a year, live with her mother. She tells about meeting him at a young single adult activity. "I knew he was my prince," she says, smiling confidently. Nina was alone the first six months while he worked out of town. He's an electrician.

Masha and little Katia are so happy to have papa, Vladimir, back from Latvia where he worked for the last year in computer programming. Masha stayed here in their apartment--her mother's actually. The babushka, bedridden for several years, needs them. To make a little extra money, Masha rented one of the bedrooms to a mother and her three teenagers for the summer.

The average apartment generally measures roughly 1000 sq. ft.; to rent one costs between $600-$1000 or more. The older generation owns the apartments that the Soviet government gave away in the 50's or 60's. (Edit: Apt. size may be closer to 800 sq. ft; we're approximating).

(We like inviting members in for dinner when we can. Elders Smith (Spokane WA) and Cutler (Draper, UT), both here for just two months, did a great job translating during one dinner meeting.)

Homeward Bound

Elders Dial, Finch and Murphy head to the ostenov'ka (bus stop) for their last "transport" ride to meet with the Mission President, en route home. First the requisite final pictures, and a farewell from Elder Mac at the Office door.

WELL DONE, ELDERS!!

"Sisters, Sisters.There were never such devoted sisters..."

New Missionaries!! All the sisters in our mission were gathered because we had six new missionaries arrive, so ALL the current sisters were made trainers--including some who have been here a short time.

Great Elders came, too. More on them later.

(Sisters after late arrival and no sleep, listening to orientation with President and Sister Allcott; ALL our Sisters in the Mission.)

Talent Night

A sample from the YSA talent night here last year. Anya performed her favorite pieces on the domya, similar to a balilaika.

What's for breakfast?

With America's current interest in international and specialty foods, you might wonder what gourmet foods to expect here. In reality, Russians seem more sensible. Let's start with breakfast. GRAINS are their mainstay. Yes, they love other foods, but they have survived on whole grain cereals. They call it porridge or "kasha."

BUCKWHEAT
We see a variety of cereals here, such as oats, rice, and mixed grains. However, most importantly, Russians eat gretchka. гречиха or buckwheat is prepared like rice and served for breakfast, lunch or dinner. (It's the flour in America's buckwheat pancakes or Japan's soba noodles.)

A popular missionary breakfast is Super Gretchka: Scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, and sausage or kil' ba-sa, mixed all together with cooked gretchka. Really filling and healthy.

MILLET
Another common cereal here is millet. One Russian sister says, "During the 90's when the shops were empty we ate it," but she thinks it's less popular now. Once we were served millet cereal for breakfast and we really liked it. You cook it like any hot cereal, but stir in milk and a very little sugar at the last. You serve it with butter--no milk.

The fruit picture is cute, but when we showed it to our Russian sister she just chuckled. it may be Russian but it's not typical.




















(pictures from purcell mountain farms; thisfoodthing.com; healthhomehappy.com; FB note.php...75009733)