From Russia With Love

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Petrozavodsk Train Trip

Train Conductor panel

Train platform

Old train on display at the station

March 27 Joe and I traveled to Petrozavodsk which involved an all night train ride (9 hours). The train ride was quite an adventure. Not only was it our first train ride, but it also involved sleeping on it. (The trains are electric). When boarding the train we both commented that with the age of the decoration and train we expected to see Dr. Zhivago :) One missionary commented his train ride reminded him of a Harry Potter train. It still amazes us that despite the age of the public transportation the Russian people sure know how to keep everything operating quite efficiently.

Isleway - sleeper car doors on the right

Hot water heater for morning herbal tea or coffee.

One of the beds

Bathroom sink

Exterior of train

Joe trying on Elder Haggard's Russian hat

Views from the balacony of our hotel room. This city has quite the seaport. During the times of the year when this lake isn't frozen over it's used for large ships to dock and load/unload goods.

Elder Christopher Andersen and Elder Victor Braginetts who served in the city. March 30 Elder Braginetts went home but Elder Andersen has stayed with a new companion, Elder Steven Freestone.

Sasha from the branch met us and walked us through the woods to feed the squirrels. However, it was too late in the day and the squirrels had gone to bed. It was a nice walk though through the snowy woods.

Branch members

On our walk home from the woods we saw Elvis! (This is the 3rd Elvis restaurant we have seen depicting a rock and roll cafe.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Cooking Class at the Institute

Joe taught how to cook simple sauces and gravies to serve over rice and noodles. He begun by stating that a lot of missionaries come to him (particularly at the end of the month when they have very little money left) and ask what they can cook with rice or noodles.

The gravy and sauces were delicious and Elder (Chef) Luna was a success!

20-Year Relief Society Celebration

Saturday, March 19, the St. Petersburg Mission held a celebration for Relief Society.

It's amazing that the gospel has only been in Russia for 20 years. (That's as long as Joe and I have been married).

The sisters here are amazing and love the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. Most people in Russia don't even know that God exists.

Throughout the history of the Church here, the hymns begun as only a few songs on regular paper and there was no Doctrine and Covenants. It has only been just in recent years that the Doctrine and Covenants and Book of Mormon have been translated into Russian. A new triple combination (the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Bible Dictionary, and Topical Guide) in Russian is expected to arrive the end of this year. The first missionaries in Russia would translate the Doctrine and Covenants to the members because they didn't have a copy.

They do have a Bible in Russian.

Several sisters expressed their testimonies and stories of saving their money and having faith they would receive the necessary documents to be allowed to leave Russia to travel to the temple in Finland. In the early days of the Church, shortly after the Iron Curtain fell, it was still difficult to leave the country.

This reads "20 years in Saint Petersburg"

District President Klimash

The choir

Sister Efimova. Her husband was the first mission president and they served in Yekatinburg. They were also the first family baptized in Russia. (She has one son and one daughter). Her husband passed away 11 years ago.

Larrisa reading a poem from a sister in one of the first Liahona's published in 1993.

Choir director displaying the first hymn books

Group photo of most of the sisters in attendance.

Woman's Day

The office staff men in the mission office provided a wonderful luncheon for the woman on Woman's Day, March 8. The meat was cooked out on the church deck in the cold!

It was delicious!