Week 34 - May 15, 2018

Dear Family,

Sunday was Mothers' Day, and it was so special to be able to talk and see so many of you by Skype.  It really made Mothers' Day so special for both Gpa and me.  I hope all of you mothers had a wonderful day, too.  I showed on Instagram that darling card Gpa George made me on lined paper because he tried so hard to find a card in the stores, but there was nothing but Russian ones.  This card he made me will be treasured forever because he was so thoughtful and made it so special! 

 Kevin and Connor are in Australia.  

Kade got to call home from Ecuador, but it was in the middle of the night in Moscow, so we didn't get to talk to him.

Alison, Tyson, and Rosco

 Kyle and Kim's family connected us in to talk to Carter in Scotland.  He only has until July and then will be finished with his two-year Mormon mission.  

Harley didn't get in the first family pic.

 Jeff and Amy's family.

Cameron and Anne's family.

 Kent and Natalie's family

Craig and Cassie's family (Little Marlie was asleep.)



And even my dear friend who taught with me for a few years in Florida called.  Although she is the same age as my oldest child, we made a pretty great team, and we have kept in touch.

Mothers' Day was really a beautiful day!  Walking the bridge without snow makes it much more doable!

And seeing the Moscow River without it being iced over is indeed a beautiful sight!

A soccer tournament was going on in the stadium where some of the World Cup Games will be held.  We pass it every single time we go to church.

  

One of George's Russian friends at church walked with us back to the bus.  He is getting better English--or at least we can all understand each other more now!

I just wrote last Thursday, so as you know, when we returned from being gone on a training trip for a week to Latvia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria.  There is always a lot to catch up on when you return, but we had such a great and successful training time, that we felt so good--plus we saw some pretty great places, too!  

On Friday, we met some senior couples for a BBQ dinner at a place down by Red Square.  Where is Sonny's when we want some great BBQ?  But, we enjoyed being with the others.  We took along one of the Senior sisters whose husband was ill--so many of us get terrible coughs and cold after just arriving in Moscow, and the same thing happened to him.  Anyway, Gpa George was so patient and showed her the metro system and we walked her to the exact place she needed to get on and where she needed to go because it is pretty confusing when you're first here.  We DO remember those first few months of frustration!  After dinner, we walked over to the Kremlin Palace for the Sleeping Beauty Ballet.  The grounds were absolutely beautiful with literally hundreds of tulips in perfect bloom and all the fountains turned on after the long winter.  It really was magical!  

The ballet was three hours long--Gpa George had a few nods of sleeping in Sleeping Beauty, for sure.  But, he was a great sport!  I have tried to always attend sporting events that he loves, and he has done the same with me to musicals and cultural events.  Now, we both have a pretty big interest in what the other loves doing.  Actually, I might be just as competitive as he is in sports, for sure, after watching all of these boys and grandsons (and grand daughters) in their sports activities.  One of Brady's friends gave me the biggest compliment when, after we all had a big conversation about some of the basketball teams, he said, "Gosh!  How do you know so much about sports?  Usually Grandmas don't know that much about sports!"  I really did take that as a compliment!  Hah!

On Saturday,  we left about 10:00 a.m. for our Saturday "Adventure."  As Senior Volunteers, we are encouraged to get out and mingle with the people.  So, we left for first Sokolniki Park, which we had heard had amusement rides and was a place for families.  We are really trying hard to do our "due diligence" to check out everything we can before many of your come here.  After arriving at Sokolniki, we took a little open-air tram ride around the park and found it very disappointing.  It wasn't well kept and the rides (cheap carnival rides) were so expensive!  I saw many parents allowing their children to ride for 250 or 300 rubles a ride, which is over $4 a ride.  It is priced like Disneyland, but is certainly no Disneyland!  

So, after only staying for about 45 minutes, we headed for the metro and went to the VDNKH Park, which was started in the 1930s by Stalin as a showplace for achievements of the Soviet empire.  Little did we realize how huge this place was and that they are working on everything to spiff it up--I'm sure as a showplace for the World Cup later on in June.  The roads, the buildings, everything was torn up and no transportation could be inside, so we had to walk through, around, and literally thought we were going to die before we got back to civilization--where we could see cars and hopefully a Metro entrance.  Sadly, the Metro entrance was closed after we had walked eight miles.  So, we called Yandex Taxi and spent 522 rubles--best $8 we ever spent!  However, with over 250 mammoth buildings, statues, and fountains, it really was amazing, and something that we were so glad we saw.  It, also, has a huge aquarium with live shows like Sea World, and a fantastic space museum like Kennedy Space Center.  We will have to go see them on another day!

Sunday  was nothing about Mothers' Day because it isn't celebrated on the same day as the U.S. does.  But, it is always something of a challenge to attend because sometimes the headphones don't work and sometimes we have no interpreters in class, but we just smile and say our few words and study conference talks.  And of course, the main thing is, we are mingling with the people and taking the sacrament--the real reason we go to Sacrament Meeting.  One of the Russian men asks Gpa George every single Sunday we are there to help pass the Sacrament.  He just loves Gpa George and asks if we can stay for 25 more years!  Hah!  Anyway, he gave George the challenge to be able to say the Sacrament prayer in Russian soon, so that certainly gives him more incentive to learn it.  That will be a big day, for sure!  And yes, we know the alphabet pretty well, I'm proud to say.  (Do I sound like a kindergartner?  Hah)  Everywhere we go, we sound out the letters.  The trouble is, we still don't know what the word means after sounding it out unless it's a word we know.  We can now sound out McDonalds!  

Monday, yesterday I was asked to play the music in a devotional that is held each Monday morning in the Area Office, so we definitely had to get up pretty early to both be ready and walk the bridge to be there on time.  The Perrys (a Senior couple from Richland, Washington, too!) are a Humanitarian Couple here and gave the message.  I thought it was really powerful.  They played and showed a portion of a talk about a man whose group thought they would really help out in Africa and decided to go show them how to plant and raise crops so that they would have fresh food.  His group went and saw the beautiful fertile valley and thought, "Why aren't they growing more food here?"  They started showing the villagers how to plant the seeds and care for them after they were planted.  The villagers weren't too interested, so they had to start paying them to care for the plants.  Soon the tomatoes were huge and ripe, the zuchinis were perfect for picking, and the night before they were going to pick them, a huge herd of hippos came through and ate every single plant or trampled it down.  The man's group was horrified, but the villagers didn't seem a bit fazed.  They asked the villagers if this happened often and why were't they informed about this possibility.  The villagers said, "Because you never asked us."  Their point was when we think we are helping people the way we think they need to be helped, it is from our perspective, but we need to get their ideas on the ways they need help.  We are slowly learning this for ourselves.  I think Gpa George and I are getting so much better at our training than when we first came and thought we made it so logical, but it just wasn't for them.  I appreciate the lessons I am learning--I feel like a child starting all over in my life, really!  The Lord is still trying to "teach an old dog new tricks," as the saying goes!  

Love to you all,

Gma Laura