VICTORY DAY

Happy Mother's Day to all of you, those who are mothers as well as those who have mothers.

The two biggest holidays in Russia are January 1 and Victory Day on May 9. Everything shuts down for those two days, even buses and many stores that operate 363 other days during the year. Victory Day  commemorates the day Russian forces marched into Berlin and defeated Hitler.

In the past May 9 has been a lock-down day where the missionaries went to a central location (like the senior couple's home in cities where there is a senior couple) and spent the day watching movies, eating, and visiting, and then going home about 7:00. This year it was a regular working day, but we were asked to avoid crowds and especially drunks. We did have all the missionaries come over for a couple of hours to celebrate Elder Прокопцев's birthday but other than that they were busy with missionary work. However, all the missionaries were asked to be back in their apartment by 7:00.

We've been told that spring hits, the weather starts getting warmer, and then always turns cold for Victory Day. This year was no exception. We had originally planned to go watch the parade, but it was snowing when we woke up so we changed our minds (since we've already sent our warm clothing home). We found out later than President Gibbons texted the all the missionaries that morning and asked them to stay away from the parades because of the crowds, so we were obedient and didn't even know it. Fortunately it was televised. It was the first time we've watched TV in Russia and we had to figure out how to hook up the cable to the TV, so we missed the first few minutes. It looked just as cold and miserable on TV as it did out our window. Looking at the crowds along the parade route, we weren't the only ones who stayed inside!

The parade was very different from our Days of '47 parade, and not just because Utah doesn't get snow in July. It was very much a military parade with lots of military groups (some goose stepped, others marched), tanks, jeeps, motorcycles with sidecars, bands, and flags. We think it lasted about an hour, and then ended with a program that included speeches by this memorial arch. This picture was taken the next day, and life was back to normal, like nothing special had happened the day before.

They released bunches of helium balloons with short banners attached (of course we couldn't tell what the words on the banners said). There was also a program with kids singing and dancing, and lots of video shots of what we assume were vets and widows of vets. At the end of the program the parade retreated, and lots of people filed by the eternal flame and placed flowers by it.

Many cities here have an eternal flame and war memorial.

One thing we've learned here is that for births you give an odd number of flowers, for deaths you do an even number. From what we could see, most people were putting down an even number of carnations, roses or other flowers, but occasionally we saw one flower set down.

That night there were lots of fireworks. The fireworks don't go very high (or maybe it's that the buildings are taller and we're not on a hill like at home), so we only saw the tops of a few of them, but we could see reflections on some of the apartment windows down the street. They shot off one right after another without pauses between. The show lasted about 15 minutes. Unlike New Year's Eve, there was only one fireworks show and no individuals shot off fireworks.

This week's Russianism:
Russians LOVE their heat in the winter. They walk around the stores (which are often heated to what feels to us about 85-90) wearing their warm hats and coats. They looked at us funny when we took of our coats because we were SO hot. I asked someone why they like things so hot, and he said they're afraid of freezing. Believe me, there is no danger of freezing inside their buildings. Now that the weather is getting warmer (except for Victory Day), we're hoping the buildings will be a little cooler.

NOT DR. ZHIVAGO

With the weather warming up, a lot of people are heading to their dachas now so we thought this would be a good topic for the blog. The dachas aren't as romantic as the one in Dr. Zhivago. In general, people don't use them much in the winter because they're not very accessible. Also, they aren't as big or as nice or as remote as the one in the movie.

Last summer before we left Barnaul, Dave jumped at a chance to go with an investigator, Pavel, and do some upkeep at his family's dachas. Many families have a dacha. Pavel's family is the only one we've heard of with two.

Dachas are often located 5-20 miles outside the city, sometimes even farther. As you can see in the pictures, the dachas are one right after another after another. Each lot for Pavel's family is approximately 50 X 100 feet with a small structure in one corner

and an outhouse in another

The buildings are for shelter, not comfort. Usually there is no running water or heat, but most have electricity for lights (the stoves are wood burning). Some gardens have flowers, other have vegetables, and some have both mixed together. Pavel's family has one of each.

Pavel's family grows the flowers and the vegetables for their own use, but many people will take their ripened crops to the city and sit on the sidewalk and sell their corn, zucchini, tomatoes, peas, cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, flowers, etc. Many of these people are older Russians who are supplementing their small pensions.

Church attendance suffers with this weekend migration, but it is a family tradition that is hard to break. As you can see, it is not for relaxing in luxury but to get out of the city. (This is the nicer of the two dachas)

This week's Russianism:
We've found it interesting the way the post office in other countries is used for lots of things besides mailing letters and packages. Here we make deposits at the post office, not at a bank. We're not sure what they use banks for. They also sell a variety of items like newspapers, magazines, greeting cards and coloring books in addition to laundry soap, some cleaning supplies, film and DVDs.

This & That

More bits and pieces this week.

Yuri Gushin drives a BIG van for the Church (if you spent much time in N'sibirsk you'd know how invaluable he is!) All hours of the day and night he picks up new missionaries, drops off departing missionaries, handles luggage, shuttles the missionaries who are going on visa trips between the train or bus station and the airport, provides transportation for the senior couples and the mountains food they'd fixed for a variety of conferences--and that's just what we've seen. There's a lot more behind-the-scenes work we're not ever aware of. He's a great guy. On our visa trip 4 months ago we noticed that he'd shaved his mustache, and asked A) why and B) how long he's had a mustache. He didn't really say why, just that he'd had it for about 25 years. We were told about him before we came to Russia because we have some mutual friends. Yuri's daughter also lives in Utah. We knew he was going to go visit her and be gone for several weeks, but we were still surprised to hear his name at General Conference. Of course, we were pleased to be able to sustain him as a Seventy. We haven't said anything about it until now because we wanted to make sure that Elder Gushin is our Yuri. If you want to see what a Russian Seventy looks like, click here (http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62265/New-Area-Seventies.html) and scroll down to the third one. Their spelling is a little different, but our spelling is pronounceable. With his mustache he looked like Mario, but now he looks like a Seventy!

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We have a young man in our branch, Kirill, who L.O.V.E.S. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Whenever the missionaries go on visa trips, they know to bring some of them back for him. We've given him Butterfingers and other peanuty-type treats, but he always says he likes Reese's better.

We're always trying to find new and different things to fix for FHE refreshments each week. We can't make some of our favorites because the ingredients are available here. A few weeks ago Dave was looking for some different recipes and found a recipe for no-bake cookies. He checked through the ingredients and saw he could get everything on that particular recipe (it's different than the recipe we usually use) and made them up a few weeks ago. Kirill tried one and promptly named them "Goodbye Reese's" (although he still wants us to bring Reese's back from our next visa trip). He loves it when Dave makes them.

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A few more miscellaneous pictures:

We've told you in the past a little about our visa trips to Helsinki. This is the view out of our hotel room--a very busy (but quiet) bus plaza. We've seen anywhere from 3 to 17 buses there at the same time. Buses are constantly pulling in or out. They enter the plaza on the road at the lower right corner of the picture, circle around the building in the center (there's only foot access on the other side of the building, no road) and exits back at the lower right again. The building on the left is the train station. Usually there are people scurrying around on the plaza.

People always take off their shoes at the door to a home. On Monday evening, our entry way often looks something like this:

or this

Spring is definitely here again. We love the way everything greens up so quickly. It's fun to watch them spruce up the town after a hard winter. Last week we watched them repainting all the crosswalks up and down our street. A couple of days later other workers painted a low fence.

They've also started painting curbs all over town. We have to watch out when we cross the street so we don't step on wet paint.

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We've had another baptism. Pavel (Paul) was baptized a few weeks ago. He was sustained today to team teach Gospel Principles, the Sunday School class for investigators and new members. He and Галя (Galya) will do a great job together.

Dolphins

After looking at this week's title, you may be wondering what dolphins have to do with Siberia. A few years ago our family had the opportunity to swim with the dolphins, and Siberia is too cold for that sort of activity. After that experience, naturally, we were intrigued when we heard there was a dolphin show in town. When our district leader, Elder Прокопцев (Prokoptsev), asked if we'd be interested in attending, we gave him a resounding yes! Every quarter the missionaries are supposed to do a cultural activity where they get to know more about the area where they're serving or experience local culture, and this was part of what we did for this quarter's activity.

There was an inflatable arena on the same plaza as where the snow sculptures were a few months ago. It was very sturdy.

We got there a little early and watched some of the activities going on now--kids on bikes, roller blades, or just feet were having a lot of fun on the ramps.

Inside there were seats for just over 400 people. This is a view from where we sat. The seats on our side look just like these.

We'd been told we might get wet, so we decided it was a dress down day. It was the first time since we got to Novokuznetsk that we've dressed in casual clothes. Маша (Masha or Mary) also joined us.

Маша, Elder Прокопцув, Elder Воронков (Varankof), Elder Marcy, and Elder Howard

The announcer kept up a fun patter all the way through. We didn't understand any of it, but we had no problem understanding what the dolphins were doing.

We were a little surprised to see they had one dolphin and two other . . . somethings. We couldn't figure out what they were. The dolphin was having an off day and didn't do much at all, except hang around the platform waiting for food. Its trainer was clearly disgusted. However, the other two, um, mammals put on a great show for us. When we got home we checked it out online. They are finless dolphins. They have flippers, but not a dorsal fin.

Here are some of the things we enjoyed. Some of the pictures are more focused than others--we couldn't always judge exactly when they would be jumping, and it's hard to suddenly focus mid-jump, but at least you can get good idea of how they entertained us.

Waving at the crowd

In addition to the dolphins, they had a seal come out for a while. It was amazing how he walked around and easily jumped up and down from the table.

 

Have you ever seen a seal do the hula hoop?

Back to the dolphins--he flipped the ball into the audience with his tail

 They even danced for us!

The trainer was very affectionate with them

And of course, they took the trainer for a ride

After the show the young missionaries headed to the fortress. Since we'd already seen it and had food to prepare for a branch activity the next day, we headed home.

This week in Russia:
Today at church we witnessed a very touching scene. Yuri joined the church about a year ago. He's an older gentleman--75, which makes him one of the oldest people in Novokuznetsk. We've enjoyed getting to know him. He's got a cute sense of humor and the ability to laugh at himself and invites everyone to join in. Some days he's more lucid than others. As a result, he hasn't been given a calling beyond being ordained a priest. For the first time since we got here (so probably first time ever), they asked him to pass the sacrament today. One of the missionaries stood at his side and helped him all the way along. He was so gentle with Brother Yuri and sweetly guided him. Tender isn't a word I normally would have used to describe any of the Elders, especially this one (he's a wrestler), but today he was very tender with Yuri. Life is full of little surprises. To all you you parents of missionaries who are reading this, know that there are many little acts of kindness like this being done regularly by your sons that you will likely never know about.

Tax Time

It's really nice not to have to worry about taxes this year--we hope our accountant is doing that for us.

In Russia they don't worry about taxes. When employers offer to pay someone a certain wage, that's what they get. The employers then pay taxes, but nothing is taken out of a person's paycheck. People don't file or get refunds or have to pay extra. In stores and restaurants there's no additional tax added onto a bill. It's all included in prices. Simple. But no one really has any idea of how much money goes to the government.

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Yesterday and today we got to watch General Conference. The Church sends DVDs with the various sessions in Russian and English and it takes this long to get them to us. The Russians watched Conference in the main room and those wanting to watch in English went into the smaller room. Two Russians who speak pretty good English joined the two American Elders and us. The Russian and Latvian Elders watched with everyone else. Several investigators came. We had a total of 23 different people watching Conference. It's been a nice couple of days.

Kirill and a friend made this flag a while ago. We thought it fit in perfectly with some of the talks--the corners represent the Telestial and Terrestrial Kingdoms, the center is the Celestial Kingdom.

Two weeks ago we stayed up to watch the two morning sessions live (11 pm-1 am in Russia), but didn't get to see the other sessions. We could have watched them later online, but got busy with other mission things and didn't worry about it since we knew we'd be watching them this weekend.

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Since winter is over, we thought this week we'd clear out all our old snowy pictures.

Instead of using strollers on the snow, parents pull their kids around on sleds in the winter. This picture was taken after it started to warm up so this child isn't dressed quite as warmly as some we've seen. The missionaries call these kids "starfish babies" because often they're dressed so snugly that their arms and legs stick straight out and they resemble a starfish and can't really move around much.

No matter how cold it gets, when someone leaves (a missionary getting transferred or someone moves away), we gather at the train station to say goodbye. The best connections for a train from here to Novosibirsk leaves at night around 9-10.



The Томь (Tome) River running by the city freezes over. We've seen tire tracks in the snow, so it freezes pretty thick. Ice fishing on the rivers is very popular in Russia.
There's a small river running through town that doesn't freeze. When we asked why, we were told, "it's magic."

The snow here is gone. It melted just as quickly this year as it did last year. The walkway we could see from our window was a big lake and we wondered how long it would be like that. Every day it got smaller and within about 4 days it was all gone. There are some muddy paths that will take a little longer to dry out, but for the most part, things have melted and dried up.

Happy Easter, or Novokuznetsk's got Talent

Russian Orthodox Easter is next week, but we had a mini celebration today after church since today is when most of the western world celebrates Easter. Several people brought hard-boiled eggs, some decorated, some brown ones embellished with a sticker. A few people also brought treats. After our meetings, we visited while we munched. We broke eggs, as opposed to broke bread :)

Novokuznetsk's got Talent:

Last night we had a talent show at the branch. Mary organized it as a YW project. She really did a super job! She had decided on a spring theme. In some of the pictures you'll see the "leis" they made last Wednesday at YW for people to wear.

She wrote on the sidewalk in front of the building to invite people to come to our talent show. That netted us three 10-year-old boys. We did a group shot before we got started. This is most of those who attended. Mary is the one in the purple dress.
The evening started off with dressing two people with newspapers again, and they stayed "dressed" the rest of the night, at least as much as the newspapers cooperated.
The missionaries sang, both as a group and individually. Elder Воронков (Vah-rahn-kove) played the guitar and sang "Love Me Tender"--with no trace of an accent! The Young Women had learned a new hymn--"As Sisters in Zion"--and sang it.

In between talents she had activities, like the two American missionaries taught them how to sing "Row, Row, Row your Boat" and it actually sounded pretty good! She also called people up out of the audience randomly and told them to do something to make others laugh. Our Latvian Elder who is rather formal suddenly started rapping--so out of character it worked--we laughed AND cheered. Another activity was for one person to try not to laugh. Here three adults copied every movement Данел made, and it took them a while to get a giggle out of him.

Some other highlights of the evening:

Данел, one of the young boys who dropped in, is a GREAT break dancer and was willing to show us his stuffMary's friend is an incredible beader. We got pictures of about half of the items she brought, all beautifully beaded:

The Russians recognized and could sing along with "We Will Rock You"
There was a race to see which team could move the M&Ms from one plate to the other the fastest

We reenacted a Russian folk story where it takes everyone to pull out the turnip. Arline was the turnip, Dave was the old grandpa, and one by one we had a grandma, granddaughter, dog, cat and mouse pulling.Three of the Russian young single adults did a dance about the Russian Mafia that kept us laughing--a gypsy, a fighter and a king.
The evening ended with our talent--refreshments. Dave made his fabulous cinnamon rolls and Arline made banana bread (at Mary's request), cookie dough brownies and sugar cookies. Before we came to Russia we had been told that Russians don't like sugar as much as Americans do, but always seem to enjoy all of our sweet treats.

IT was a very fun evening.


This week's Russianism:
Bus, train, and plane tickets are always printed with Moscow time. People have to be aware of this and know the time difference between where they are and Moscow. This causes some confusion and yes, even Russians sometimes miss flights/connections. Most flights in and out of the country go through Moscow.

April Fool!

If we were clever like Arline's mom, we'll pull off some fantastic story that you'd believe because you don't know enough about Russia to know it's not true. But we're not, so we won't. Mom and April Fool's Day were made for each other--she comes up with great tricks. For example, one year she bought several extra newspapers and held on to them. The next year she went out very early in the morning and swapped out the papers at several homes, so her friends reread year old news.

Instead of trying to match her talent for pulling pranks, this week we'd like to talk about another legacy she's given us.

Just before leaving on our mission we found out we're the fifth in a line of senior couple missionaries, all through the women. What a great heritage! Here's a brief synopsis of the service given:

Mary and James Davis were called to settle the San Juan and were some of those who went through Hole in the Rock. They were mentioned in the book Undaunted.

Their daughter Emily Ellen Davis Wallentine and her husband Robert Wallentine served two missions, both in California. Her daughter wrote this in her journal about it:
"In the last three years of Mama's life her health became increasingly worse, yet she went uncomplainingly on two short term missions to California with my father, always saying she wasn't really capable of doing much good, but if she went Papa could go and she was sure he could serve capably and well. I am sure he did, but that is not to belittle her service. After she passed away we visited both areas where they labored and heard glowing stories of her influence in gathering up children and getting primaries started. Her love for children was the key to many doors."

Emily Wallentine Brewer and her husband George Stanley Brewer also served in California. They lived in a small trailer home in Clearlake Highlands and were well loved by the the people the served.

Maralyn Brewer Johnson and her husband Frank Johnson filled a humanitarian services mission. They worked out of the regional church headquarters in Frankfurt but were responsible for relief efforts in the former Soviet bloc countries. After returning home they served two more part-time missions, one at the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake and another for the 2002 Olympics as the liaisons between the Church and the Olympic committee.

What a great heritage! Thanks Mom and Dad for setting the example to continue the legacy.

This week in Russia:

Mary continues to come up with fun ideas for FHE. After the lesson last Monday she divided the group into two sections, passed out newspapers, tape and scissors, and had them "build" a suit for the missionaries. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. And Dave made cinnamon rolls to die for.

Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures this week. Something has happened to our camera.