Womens Day at the Vetrans home

They invited us back because they had so much fun with our branch in January. This time we celebrated Womens Day. It is like Valentines Day and Mothers Day all together. Our branch sang a few songs and then Ksusha, a young 6 year old girl, gave a poem, and then the three men in our group, President Makarov, Alexander, and Jim, handed out a rose and a chocolate bar to the women.
Some of the women didn't come to the big "entertainment" room so we walked down the hall to their room to give them their flowers and candy.

One of the women, in her cute little room, holding her flower from Alexander.

Another lady getting her flower and candy.

Cathedral Bells

Natalia, our neighbor, met the Chief Bell Ringer for the Moscow Kremlin Bells and also for the Christ Our Savior Cathedral, Igor Konovalov. He invited her and a few friends on a tour and to watch them ring the bells on Sunday morning. We LOVED it!

There are bells outside on all four corners of the Cathedral. This is looking from one bell tower to another.

In this bell tower there are 14 bells. The clapper is attached to a wire and the bell ringer will push on the wire to ring the smaller bells. He uses a foot pedal to ring the larger bells. Igor Konovalov is the man in the brown coat, Natalia is in the blue scarf, Jim is behind her, Katya is next and her friend is behind the bells.

Ivan, Natalia' son, and Jim. Katya on the side.

I am standing underneath a bell and touching the one metric ton clapper. Notice my Babushka scarf! Katya and her friend are behind me.

Looking down from one of the bell towers I could see this wooden church on the grounds of the Cathedral.

sokolniki park and ice

We thought it would be fun to visit Sokolniki Park. At the park we saw rides for children, cross country skiing, skating, an ice museum, food, AND couples dancing on the ice! Ice sculptures like this are all the way down the plaza on the way to the park. Those are real gerber daisies inside the ice.

We heard music playing and saw all of these people dancing on the ice. YES, our group all danced on the ice and had a great time!

Before going into the ice museum, they had us put on these blue coats...to keep us warm?...we already were dressed for the freezing outside temperature!

Lynn & Paulette Patterson, Me, Linda, Budd, Jim, Leon Budd

Flying horse

Knight

handy man?

Castle Gate

ice bed - ice floor

mirror and dressing table with a bottle of perfume some books

fireplace - the only one I have seen in Russia and it isn't warm!

getting ready to ski

skaters

ПОНЧИК (donut)

We stopped for a fresh donut that had been deep fried and covered in powdered sugar...delicious!

and the doggie says...

If a dog has an owner, he will wear a coat in the winter.

homeless dog

homeless dog



Do Russian animals speak differently than American animals? I asked Denis to tell me what these animals "say." His Russian accent helped a lot.

A Russian dog says gaf gaf
- a sheep says baaay, baaay
- a bird says cheek, chee-reek
- a mouse says peep peep
- a Russian goose says ga-ga
- a rooster says ku-ka-ree-ku
- a duck says krya krya
- a pig says khru khru (хрю)
- a the horse says eeee go-go
- and a cow says moo.....of course!

YA Conference

The Young Adults in the Moscow area had a conference in February. The leaders want the youth to have opportunities to meet and have fun in a good atmosphere. They are also hoping that they will find eternal companions among each other. The conference was focused on dating and marriage. The couples were asked to help and serve them dinner (take the plates to them at the tables). Many of the young adults were surprised and felt a little uncomfortable that we (and Elder Neuenschwander) would SERVE them dinner. The District Council did not help, and did not feel that they should. We decided it must have been a culture difference.

Serving ice cream with heart shaped brownies.

Don, Jim, Joni, Marsha, Chad, Dennis

Anna Ashtoshova (blessing transcriber) and her baby - Olga dancing with Temr Kaderov

This room is the chapel on Sunday.

Temr Kaderov and another Olga.

Olga

Natalia from our Branch dancing.

Veteran House Service Project

Early Saturday morning, we left for a service project with our Branch down in Ramanskya. After the metro ride, we were picked up in a warm van driven by Alexander "Sasha" Zakarov, a member of our branch and the driver for the Russia West Mission. We drove for almost an hour and during our drive we saw first hand the devastation caused by the ice storm that had arrived over three weeks before. At lease one third of all the trees and branches were split and on the ground because of the weight of the ice. The storm had caused major power outages in this area that had not been fixed yet. Everyone heats their homes from the steam plants so the lights (candles?) and elevators (I don't want to think about it) and telephones (not cell) were not working. That makes for a long dark evening in the winter over here!

Jim was asked to write an article for the Liahona about our service project so I included it.

Members of the Perovo Branch of the Moscow Mission brightened the lives of the senior ladies in Ramenskaya, Russia, on a recent Saturday morning. Branch members met with the ladies in the Ramenskaya Veteran's Home for Women. When the ladies had gathered in their large common room, Branch President Makorov greeted them with his warm smile and gave them a beautiful Christmas message. Then, branch members, including missionaries, sang Christmas songs. Afterwards, all were invited to join in Karaoke singing, which the ladies greatly enjoyed as they sang the words shown on a screen, clapping enthusiastically at the end of each song. During the singing, some of the ladies were even invited to dance by branch members. After the singing and dancing, the branch presented a Christmas sack full of gifts to each lady. The sacks were delivered personally by the youngest member of the branch, 5-year old Ksusha. The gifts included warm stockings, hand and laundry soap, towels and other personal items. When all was done, the ladies exxpressed their gratitude with hugs and kisses and gave a warm farewell, expressing their desire for a return visit--which is already scheduled in the near future. One lady even promised to be part of the program and sing a solo. Everyone's heart was fully warmed on the bright but cold Russian winter's day.

Sisters Trunova and Perry with Nadeshda and Ksusha
Jim making notes for the article. Notice the new wiring for the lights - but the wires are not covered!
President Makarov, Irena, Sister Trunova, Nadeshda, Ksusha, Anatoli
Sister Perry teaching Kusha on the piano.

Irena translating so Jim can talk to the women.

some of the women

Sister Perry visiting with a lady.

Beautiful Babushka!

another Beautiful Babushka

dancing

Sister Trunova with a lady.

Jim sitting with the women.

Ksusha handing out the packages with Anatoli's help.

All of the women took their special sacks back to their rooms to open them.

Ice and Snow

As we were walking to church we saw a lot of ice cycles on the ground and heard cracking noises in the trees. A lot of trees were broken just like when an east wind comes through Davis county. There had been an ice storm the night before. From far away the trees looked beautiful!

The ice surrounds every twig! The ice is so heavy that the branches and limbs break off.

Amazing!

Walking home through the ice covered trees.

Jim and the Anderson's

We decided to walk across the ice (pond) instead of crossing over on the bridge. I don't know how thick the ice is or how long it will last but the cross country skiiers love it and the parents pull their children on it in their sleds and all of the Russians walk ON the ice instead of OVER the bridge...so we did too!

It is 12:00 noon. See the sun...it is just above the tops of the buildings. There are people sledding down a very fun hill onto the ice pond!

A closer look at the sledding hill and the beautiful trees.