Week 15 - January 2, 2018

Dear Family,

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to my sister, Beverly!  Hope you have a great birthday, Beverly!  I truly admire your positive attitude and willingness to help others no matter the difficulty!  You are amazing!  

 (Beverly is the middle of us three girls.)  

This past week was a big week leading up to New Years.  On Saturday, we went with the young Elders and three of the young adult Russians in our ward to Izmaylovo.  I know you have heard me talk about this place before, but you can buy any Russian handcrafted item there, plus it is like the biggest outdoor flea market in the world, I would guess.  It goes on forever!  Sometimes it breaks my heart to see little old men and women sitting by their items in that terrible cold, trying to sell things right out if their houses.  But it goes on there week after week.  Sometimes I just think they sell to each other and then sell the items again the next week.  Anyway, the young Elders and three young Russians were so much fun.  In order for the young Elders or Sisters to go out there, they need to go with a Senior couple.  Not quite sure whether they're there for us to help us speak Russian, or whether we're there for them as chaperones.  Hah!  Anyway, we always have an interesting time there.  We took them to the outdoor BBQ place where we bought them all lunch consisting of skewered meat, salad, bread, and soft drinks.  They were thrilled!  The Elders told us we didn't need to pay for it all, but we told them we were just trying to pay back for all the people who fed our five sons when they were on their missions. 

After we finished there, they all went on back, but Gpa George and I went to Red Square to see all the lights before the major crowds arrived for New Year's Eve.  Really, their biggest celebration here is New Year's Eve and  Day.  This is the day where fireworks and concerts mark  this special holiday, and it is also on this day that the Russian Santa, (Father Frost) and his granddaughter (Snow Maiden) visit children to pass out gifts.  

What those in the West would call a Christmas Tree is considered a New Year's Tree in Russia, and because the first Russian New Year comes before Christmas in Russia (which takes place on January 7), this tree is left up in honor of both holidays.  Since I LOVE all the Christmas decorations and the beautiful feeling of Christmas, I LOVE that we get to enjoy all of this for a couple weeks longer than usual!  Red Square didn't disappoint!  They just keeping adding more lights, Christmas booths, and places for entertainment every time we go down there.  It was just beautiful, and if you haven't seen my post on Instagram, you'll have to take a look.  It really is like a Disney World for sure!

That evening, we had a birthday party with some of the Senior couples at one of their homes, where we had a wonderful dinner and played games afterwards.  We really enjoy getting together with everyone.  Since all of us are pretty isolated when we go to our homes at night, we enjoy getting together when we are not busy working at our callings.  

 

Sunday, we only had one hour of church because that was New Year's Eve (which is like Christmas Eve to many of them), so it took us an hour to get to church, an hour at church, and then another hour to get home!  But, it is so important to go partake of the Sacrament every week, as we all know.

Monday, New Year's Day - we invited another Senior couple to go to the Crocus Aquarium with us.  We pass by it so often, and I've always been curious as to what it's like, so we went there.  We laughed because it was filled with kids and their parents on New Year's Day--which they really make a family day here--and us four Seniors!  But, we had a great time!  It was beautiful inside and absolutely spotless. They have it so well taken care of--which I LOVE to see! 

Then we came over to our apartment--we showed them how we do that every time we go to work--and I had fixed a big lasagna, with tomato and cucumber salad--a must here in Russia that we have all learned to really love--and made chocolate chip cookies (with the brown sugar and chocolate chips Kyle brought to us that Kim had purchased), and of course, ice cream with chocolate topping.  It was quite a few notches up from our Christmas dinner of four cheese Rice-a-roni and Sloppy Joes!  Hah!  Anyway, afterwards, we played Five Crowns and the Carliles loved it!  Great day!

Well, that's been our week.  This place really shuts down this week in Russia--even many of the stores are closed, so it is a time for everyone to just enjoy.  We hope all of you had a wonderful New Year's Eve and that we will all strive to make this a great year!  Gpa George and I would like to make a challenge to all of you to read the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the 2018.  I know that all of you already probably have a way of studying your scriptures, but I love using bofm365 on Instagram.  Each day it tells you what you should be reading for the day and gives a thought question.  You can read any of the responses or none of them--whatever you desire.  Sometimes I get ahead of the reading, sometimes I am a little behind.  But it is a great way of pacing yourself so that by the end of the year, you have finished reading the entire book, which now I have done for four years straight.  I never read out of the Book of Mormon without finding just what I need for the day, the week, or the year to make me think and ponder a new idea or give me a reminder about something.  Just a suggestion of how to study, but however you do it, we hope all of us can stand together at the end of 2018 and say that we finished reading the Book of Mormon as a family.  

We surely love you all and again, thank you for your continued support and love you constantly give us.

Gma Laura

 (Riding the Metro, you see something different at every Metro stop.  For instance, some people will not ride on the Metro until they have touched this dog's nose for good luck--that's the reason the nose is so shiny.)

(Although the fireworks around our apartment weren't nearly as fantastic as the ones at Red Square, we still had a great vantage point living on the 18th floor--and the noise was definitely deafening until about 2:00 am on New Year's Eve!  They started again when it was dark outside on New Year's Day, too!)