One Year in Moscow

One year ago on Saturday, December 5, we arrived in Russia. The sun hid from us, the snow had not started to come but the freezing cold weather welcomed us with open arms! Since that time we have had the adventure of a lifetime!!! We have met great people who are the pioneers of the church in Russia (everyone is a convert - the Church is only 20 years old in Russia). We have seen beautiful Russian buildings, palaces, cathedrals, museums, towns, and cities. We have seen Soviet era buildings that are functional. We have ridden on Russia's finest transportation systems, the Metro, trains, buses, and marshrootka (and Denis' car that he drives from the right side). We have experienced the coldest winter (with ice everywhere) and the hottest summer (complete with thick smoke) that will go down in history, and the bombing of the metro (two stops were bombed - Jim was riding the metro at the time). We have been on visa and courier trips (to get new visas for the missionaries so they can continue to serve) to Prague (with a side trip to Freiburg Germany to visit the temple) and Riga. We have met and provided lunch to six General Authorities (Elder Perry and Elder Scott included). I have registered missionaries and processed blessings while Jim worked on many legal problems in Russia, Armenia, Ukraine, Lativia, Georgia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Kyrgistan, Tadjkistan, and Estonia. We have eaten borsch, pelmini, tvorg, beef stroganoff, blinis, shawshlick, sharma...and loved it all! We have walked everywhere (one and a half miles just to get to the metro) to see everything and had a few slips and slides and falls! (Jim and I have both taken our shoes to be repaired plus I have almost worn a hole in my boot - imagine that - holes in my missionary shoes!) We have listened to English whispered in our ears while Russian is being spoken in our church meetings (thanks to our wonderful translators). We have served with strong, wonderful, and dedicated missionaries (both senior and young) that miss their families but know that this is where the Lord wants them at this time. We have made omlets, pancakes, french toast, scrambles eggs, cinnamon rolls to serve the missionaries for breakfast when they come over for district meeting on Saturday mornings. I have also made a pot roast and cooked a turkey dinner for these great missionaries. We have participated in the missionary discussions in our home and helped with English club and institute classes. We have shopped in the renik where everything is weighed in grams and paid for in rubles. Jim has learned a lot of Russian words and can understand a few things. I have learned to use "sign language" to help me get by. (Jim's Russian words combined with the gestures of the merchant and myself alow us to get along great!) We enjoyed watching conference live on the computer (at 8pm, 12 midnight, and 4am - we felt we were experiencing it with our family) while our neighbors were sleeping. We have taken cold showers while the hot water was turned off for two weeks for matainance on the pipes. We have watched fireworks being set off from at least 8 different places (one of which is Red Square) from our balcony. We have watched the trees that were covered with frost and ice in the winter, get leaves on them in the summer, turn orange or yellow or red in the fall, and then float to the earth where the ground workers quickly sweep them up with "Harry Potter" brooms. We have checked into getting some Russian shoes that allow you to walk extremely fast on the ice and not fall down but they don't come in my size! We have not driven a car. We have shopped at Izmylova - it has everything we want but nothing we need. We have been on all 10 lines of the metro (red, green, blue, light blue, brown, orange, purple, yellow, gray, light green). We have been able to talk with family through Skype - priceless! We have visited with the young children in our building (they like to practice their English) as we ride down in the elevator together. We have made friends with Natalia, Evan, Katya, Ann, Vonya, Maxim, Katya and their dog Juila...

...and we are only into this adventure 365 days...

Celebrating a 1 year anniversary with a good old American dinner at Starlight Diner. Jim is eating a steak with mashed potatoes and a chocolate shake. I am enjoying fajitas (I know it is not really American but Mexican, however, it is what I wanted) with a blueberry shake!