New Years Eve Russian Style

New Years Eve has to have games and lots of munchies right?...we thought so! We invited our cute neighbor, Natalia and her son Ivan to our apartment along with the Anderson's to celebrate and bring in the new year. Natalia said, "OK all of us together" and then motioned her arms as if to show everyone together. We told her to come around 8:00 in the evening. She came all dressed up and said that Ivan was still chopping up food...ok...the night is young.

Jim, Natalia, Mark, Fran eating...

chips and carrots with dip, 7 layer dip and chips, cheese and crackers, juice, cream cheese fruit salad, clementines, candy, pizza...

Natalia let me try on her REAL fur coat!!!

A short time later, Anna (8 years) and her brother Vanya (short for Ivan, 11 years old) came to our apartment with a picture of a kitten she had drawn for us. They told us to come to their apartment at 9:00. We asked them if they wanted to have some munchies and Vanya said, "no, not before the feast!" The feast?...
This is Anna with pictures she has drawn and painted.

Our neighbors Katya, Vanya, Maxim, Anna, and Juliet the dog.

THE FEAST!!!

We had been invited to their apartment for a traditional Russian New Years Eve! How wonderful! We must have missed something in the translation..but we were having an adventure of a lifetime (and glad to leave our munchies back at our apartment)! She served all kinds of mushrooms (pickled, garlic, regular), pickles, cabbage with carrots (pickled), bread, fish pies, sliced cheese and ham, lettuce and mayo salad, olivia salad (similar to potato salad), and a very traditional salad called (with the English translation) herring in a fur coat (made with fish, potatoes, beets, and cream). They also had many things to drink because we were making toasts all night long to the new year (out with the bad and in with the new). Natalia was very protective us us making sure that everyone knew that we didn't drink anything stronger than juice!

Natalia, Fran, Mark, Maxim, Katya, Vanya, friend, Anna

The evening was not over yet! At 11:00 we left and went over to Natalia's apartment where Ivan had been chopping up more food for us! He had made the olivia salad, the herring in a fur coat salad and Natalia had also cooked a turkey! It was delicious! I have to admit that I didn't eat the "fur coat" salad because of the fish...but Jim did! Natalia sat by him and dished him up a very healthy portion of the salad at both apartments. He said that Natalia's "fur coat" salad was much better and not as fishy. I loved the olivia salad and the turkey was wonderful!

Natalia and Ivan (21)

(another son Sergey, 26, is married and lives in Holland)

This is Natalia's apartment. We visited and watched President Medvedev speak at midnight and wish everyone a wonderful New Year. They had fresh berries (they were very small and orange) ground up in a blender and gave it to us to drink and use for our many toasts. Ivan and Natalia toasted with champagne. After the toasts we watched some fireworks from her window and then ate some more. However, the evening was not over yet! We put on our coats, hats, gloves, boots, and scarves and went out into the snowy night so that Anna and Vanya could go sledding! We walked to the park and watched the fireworks, sang songs, and had a snow ball fight! We had a great time. Natalia and Ivan had Santa hats on and that made it all the more memoriable! (fyi - President Sorenson told all the missionaries to be in at 6:00 - the secretary to the area presidency was with us and he forgot and we're glad he did!)

Mark, Fran, Me, Natalia, Ivan

Olivia Salad

Herring in a Fur Coat salad

and a Turkey!

It is Russian tradition to have a lot of food for this meal. Left over food means you will have enough food for the coming year.

Christmas 2010

Jim had the Christmas tree up about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving! He also had the Christmas music playing in August! He found some decorations in the apartment and put everything on the tree that he liked and then waited to see if I would add anything...like all of the ornaments that we have been buying at Izmylova! Yes, I did add some cute little wooden ornaments and would have liked to add lights to the tree but there wasn't an outlet on the wall by the tree...so we enjoyed it without lights!

Jim decorating the tree.

Our Christmas Tree!

Our Christmas day adventure begins with a visit to Red Square! All of our family was back home with the "children all nestled all safe in their beds" and their parents had "just settled down for a long winters nap" (and it was between Skype calls) so we took our picture with Lennin's Tomb, St Basil, the Christmas tree, the GUM mall, and the ice rink on Red Square!
Unforgetable!!!


Because no one was home fixing a Christmas turkey for dinner, we decided to go to a Chinese restaurant (Ra Ra Ra Ra Raaa, Ra Raa, Raa Raaa!)!
E/S Homles, E/S Gronning, E/S Overly, E/S Anderson, E/S Hatch, E/S Budd, Me

For dinner we had delicious noodles...

...sweet and sour chicken...

...and a surprise dish - mystery meat with red hot chilie peppers! It was all very good. The mystery meat had little bones in it (one piece had 3 bones). We thought it must be some kind of rodent or bird...I think we are better off not knowing!!

Memorable Christmas Day!!!

Mission Christmas Party

I really looked forward to the mission Christmas party this year. Sister Sorenson asked the couples if they would do a skit along with the other "young" missionaries. She had an idea for us and the best part is that we could learn it at the party! Great! The activity started at 10:00 in the morning with a short meeting and message by the Holmes about all of the humanitarian projects that have been happening in the EEA. We were all touched and impressed with the special projects that were/are happening. Movies, skits, food, games and a good time followed the meeting.

The meeting just ended and we are off for a delicious snack and to practice our skits.

Munching on cheese and crackers.

Elder Nickoliachev with a "cheesy" smile!
Elder Breedlove

Skits...with "little" missionaries singing...

Skits...with everyone thinking other thoughts...

Skits...going back in time and changing things (babushka with a beard)...

Skits...?...

and more Skits...a lot of missinaries had been hurt during the last month, this was in memory of them...

...and President Sorenson introduced our skit (of which he participated in too)...

...we did arm movements to a song from the Nutcracker...

...and foot movements...and we even turned around!

The missionaries all had a great time.

Later, we had a wonderful dinner and continued making great memories that will last a lifetime!

the childrens choir

We went to hear a childrens choir at the Catholic church. The children were magnificient! Their voices sounded wonderful in the big cathedral. They sang 22 songs... some in Russian, German, Spanish, and English. There was also a slide presentation about creches, decorations, lights, and treats. This was a wonderful treat since we were not able to hear our grandchildren sing or perform this year.

the childrens choir

It's snowing and we are standing on the snow covered steps outside the cathedral. We wore our coats inside too because it was so cold inside.
Jim, President Schwitzer, President and Sister Lawrence, Sister Schwitzer, Elder and Sister Anderson in the back

This time I am in the picture!

President and Sister Schwitzer, President and Sister Lawrence,

me, Elder and Sister Anderson

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!

our frozen park

Every Sunday after church we like to walk through the park on our way home (sometimes we walk through Red Square first.) It is about a mile and a half walk home after we get off the metro. This is the same park where we heard and saw the baseball game, the dog races, people flying their toy airplanes, the little amusement park, people fishing, and people swiming by the NO Swimming signs.

This is a beautiful path covered in snow hidden among the birch trees. We usually see mothers pushing their babies (even new born babies) in a buggy. If the children are older, they are usually in a stroller. The infants are all bundled up so only their faces are exposed to the freezing temperatures.

This is the pond all frozen over. There are little sleds for the parents to pull their children. Pulling the children in the sled is not just for fun, this is how the mothers take their children everywhere!...it is easier than holding them.

This is the same view where we saw the men fishing and the beautiful autum leaves. Everyone just walks across the frozen water instead of using the bridges...everyone except us...(so far.)

Someone is always "cross country" skiing around the frozen pond. The pond is VERY BIG. The dogs love it and the parents and children do too.

Notice the skier and the sign that says no walking on the ice. In the summer the sign says no swimming!

cookies, cookies, and more cookies...

Sister Packard had a great (BIG) idea. A lot of the Russian missionaries are the only members of the church in their families. Some of their parents are not very supportive of their missionary son or daughter. One day while making chocolate chips cookies with Sister Elistratova, a young sister missionary from Russia, one of the senior sisters asked if she thought her mother would like some cookies. "YES! and maybe my mom will be happpy for me." So, to make a long story short, each senior sister was asked to make 4 to 6 dozen cut out sugar cookies so the Russian missionaries could send some (18) home to their families and all missionaries could deliver some to their investigators. Great idea! The adventure begins! I do not have a rolling pin (and have not been able to find one thus far) so I used a can (of spray starch) to roll out the cookie dough! I could only bake 9 cookies at a time and my oven does not heat up to temperature but those were only minor obstacles to overcome. The cookies turned out great! The missionaries all came to the Central Building on their p-day, December 1st, to decorate them. The Russian missionaries each wrote testimonies to put with their cookies to send to their families. The testimony that Sister Elistratova wrote was many pages long - she wanted to share her feelings about the Savior and her love of the gospel and "it just took that much paper to bare my testimony to my family!"

Elder Larsen with his cookies for investigators.

Sister Johnson's snowman

cookies...
cookies...
and more cookies!
From the creative hands of Sister Barash, Sister Elistratova, Elder Bogdanov, Elder Bruev, Elder Nikolaichev, Sister Martyanova, Sister Trunova, Elder Baldakov, Sister Vizitiv, Sister Khmelinina, Elder Perfilyev - the Russian missionaries.