Sunday, August 16, 2009

Our Sunday morning picture after Sacrament and Testimony Meeting

Dad and I dancing the Funky Chicken Dance
President Softchur and I dancing.

A workshop on how to tie ties and knots.


Our dining room which was wonderful in comparison to the dining room in Ukraine for Youth Conference.









This is Shasha Drachov at his very best. He was leading one of the Seminars. His discussion was about the North Star and how we navagate by it. This was in reference to Jesus Christ and His role in our lives.

Dasha and Galya Softchuk in one of the props for the first nights dance with a theme of Pirates and under the sea.

The choir who are practicing for Sunday. The leader Anna had served a mission to Tokyo Japan, translated the words to Steady and Sure (the theme of EFY of 2008, into Russian).

One of the "families" working on their skit and banner.




A devotional on Sat. morning.



this is the "other old" people. The true owners of the spot kept walking past, waiting for us to leave.

This is the treasure box being brought out of the forest.

Carrying the treasure box out of the forest.


This is the final clue to finding the treasure.



Sergei, our Single Adult President. He had a class on the beach building kites.



This is the "old Peoples" spot at our Youth Conference camp. I will add the picture of the "other" old people who sat in these chairs later.

This is Yri. He is the only Deacon in our branch. We need to work with him a lot!




some of our girls swimming in the River Ob, in Siberia. You can probably notice they are covered in ducky bumps!




Look at the beautiful clouds over our camp. And notice the city across the river. Also, notice the kids are freezing!






These are the steps down to the beach. At the end of the games, all the groups were to find the "treasure box" which is hidden in the forest off to the right.

Monday, July 13, 2009

We have been having terrible problems with our water. One day it will be shut off for the whole day and then the next day we will have no hot water. But the latest, is that all we have is hot scalding water. And of course you cannot run hot water through the filter system.

We have hot toilet water which is very nice because when you sit on it it is all comfy and warm. But Dad keeps telling me we are going to break the toilet because the water is so hot. So we run the faucet until the water is a little cooler before flushing the toilet. We called our landlady and told her we were really worried about breaking the toilet and she said...not to worry!

So, this morning, I looked out the kitchen window and saw steam coming out of 3 manholes in the street right in front of our apartment.
This man in the gray jacket is being sent down into the manhole. That is all he wore. And no safety rope! But he did come out again.

Then they pumped steaming water out of the holes into the street.



This is the work crew. The man without the shirt is the one who went into the hole.


There was a little hot water down there because they pumped for 2 hours. And then!!!!! We had cold water! For 20 minutes. We thought our water problem was solved.
They had welding equipment down in the holes to fix the leak.
More adventures in Novosibirsk!


More pictures of the lake and trees at our picnic
President Softchuk and Dad taking down the tent that they had left the night before to hold the spot.
Oh, by the way, the two bottles you see on the ground are Kavac.


The clouds were wonderful looking and by the time we got home, we had a thunder and lightening storm.





More beach pictures.
This is the birch forest that surrounds the Ob Lake. It is man made for water storage. We went there for our branch picnic
Some of the young adults who are doing all the Youth Conference planning. Dasha on the left, Galya in gray are the Softchuk girls. We are going to bring this family back to the states with us. In the back ground is Sergei on the left who is the Young Adult counsel President and Zhenya on the right. He is leaving for a mission right after youth conference. Olga in white is a wonderful help, and she is always happy!


This is the picnic lunch on a piece of plastic on the ground. The main course was cucumber, parsley, potatoes, and onions chopped and then with Kavac (a bread drink that is the staple of Russia) poured into it to make a soup. Then we had something like a small hamburger (a bun with some questionable meat on it) cold. There was also sliced cucumber, tomatoes, bananas and apples. And for dessert.........Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies (2 batches of them!



A couple of the little ones playing in the water


Preparing the food.






Our bus ride out to the lake which is about an hour away. They hired the public bus, so it was nice with just us one it.


The ballet and opera house in Novosibirsk. It is just a very plain building after the one in Odessa, Ukraine.

We went to Swan Lake with all the Novosibirsk District for a culture night. The couple on the right are the Simmons, the office couple and the couple in the middle are non-member friends that came to visit for a week.
This is Dasha Softchuk who is 17 and in our branch. The girls are dancing at the dance we had after 2 days of counselor training for Youth Conference. We brought the Young Adults who are to be counselors for 2 days of training. Some of them traveled for 40 hours on the train


Here they are trying out one of the games that are going to be played. Inna (the second from the left) is a returned missionary, speaks fluent English and has been so much help with the conference
This is some counselors and some of our Young Adults. These people are incredible!



Here is early morning training in our apartment.


Tuesday, June 23, 2009

This is part of the park we walk through to get to church. You can see the poof (white) from the birch trees along the edge of the walk.

This is Sister Gorlava and Sister Tumochko after they had passed us on the way to church. They walk much faster than we can. Sister Tumochko is Ukrainian and went to the Youth Conference we had when we were in Ukraine. Sister Gorlava is Russian. The building on the R. is just another apartment complex with its little park in the center on the way to church.


This is more of our big park on the way to church. They just planted the birch trees.


This is our living room with a sofa in it now. Before we just had two chairs and the sofa was in the "library". But we don't have enough seating for the firesides, so I made Robert move the sofa. We also bought 20 folding chairs from Ikea and have 6 kitchen chairs, so we can squeeze in now.


This is piles of poof ourside our door to our apartment building.





This is poof in the park behind us. It looks like it has been snowing because it is about 3 inches deep. And when you look out there is snow flakes flying all over, and blue skies overhead. It is great!



This is the bullet train we took to Segovia when we were in Spain for our visa renewal. Ever three months, we have to make the trip somewhere. They go to Poland, Latvia, Mongolia, Kazikstan and Spain right now.