Arrival

It has been quite a week!  We came at a busy time.  This post is just about Saturday and Sunday.  We'll do more about the rest of the week soon.  [We keep thinking we'll get caught up, but we manage to stay a week behind.  Life gets in the way.]

We left Salt Lake City on Friday, April 14 at 2:30 in the afternoon on a beautiful sunny day.  The picture here looks clearer than it looked to Sue.  Things are fuzzier with teary eyes.  We were off on our first flight -- non-stop overnight to Amsterdam.

But Sue cheered up after a lousy night's sleep, because
Schiphol Airport has a restaurant that makes "Poffertjes"
which are the Dutch equivalent of our favorite
Danish Ebbelskeevers.  It was the best breakfast!

After a four-hour layover, we took the three-hour flight to St. Petersburg, landing there about 4:00pm.  It was another beautiful sunny day.

 We breezed through customs and were met at the arrivals by Konstantin, a long-time local LDS member, and Elder and Sister Archibald.  Konstantin took this picture.  The Archibalds are usually in Novgorod but came to St. Petersburg for six weeks to cover the gap between when the previous Office Couple left and we were able to come. They are now our trainers, and we have lots to learn.  President and Sister Childs usually come to the airport to greet new arrivals, but he was scheduled to speak at a special 6 pm Easter Fireside on Saturday night at the church.  With our late arrival he was afraid he would be late.  We drove from the airport straight to the church, and made it in less than an hour, so we were only five minutes late. We enjoyed meeting some of the local church members and volunteers and feeling the great spirit that was there. The Saturday-night program, our first Russian-language meeting, included talks, which we did not understand, and beautiful familiar music that reminded us of the eternal gift of Easter--the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the reason we are trying to spread the word and tell everyone how important His gospel is.  

Then we walked across the driveway to our apartment and crashed after our twenty-one hours in transit!  We were also truly grateful that church didn't start until noon the next day!

Of course we woke up early anyway next morning--ah, jet lag! We decided to walk and explore the neighborhood.  It was another bright sunny day, but it had snowed overnight and was quite brisk outside.  This picture is of the neighborhood Russian Orthodox Church. We stuck our heads inside. It has an amazing tall alter that goes all the way up to the cupola--all carved and painted.

This is the sign on the gate. It reads "Christos Vaskrece" which means literally, "Christ is Risen." That is the traditional Easter greeting in Russia. We say Happy Easter. They say Христос Воскресе.  

We attended church services in the afternoon. In Sacrament Meeting there were
 headsets with someone doing simultaneous translation. Later 
one of the young people sat behind Sue and Sister Archibald and 
whispered a translation in our ears. It really helped.

Sunday evening we were invited to the Mission Home for dinner with the Archibalds (left)
and President & Sister Childs (right). They are all wonderful people and we are
glad to be working with all of them. The plates in front of Sue and Ken
are a traditional Easter dessert. The white 'tower' is a kind of soft 
cheesecake made in a plastic mold that has Easter symbols embossed on the
sides.  The cake in front of Ken is called "Kulich" and is always eaten at Easter.

So, we are here, settled in--sort of. There are lots of things to do, and lots to learn, and lots to see. Other weeks we'll post more about our work, our apartment, the people, the city, etc.  We have two years to tell about that.

Here is a rough map of our area of responsibility, with California superimposed on top.  The western border is mostly Finland, with the Baltic States and Belarus along the southwest and southern border.  The northern border is the Arctic Ocean--but the only city up there is Murmansk, which is a naval base, and non-military personnel are pretty much excluded, so we have no congregations in the northern half of the area.  The little red circle at the bottom left is Kaliningrad.  That is a Russian City totally surrounded by Latvia, Lithuania, and the Baltic Ocean. There is a congregation there, but a small one.  This was the area of the German city of Königsberg until after WWII, which had a large German-speaking LDS congregation, and it still has a lot of German heritage.

To put this all in perspective, St. Petersburg mission has three LDS wards and six branches (small wards) in one Stake and one District. One hundred years ago, California was comparable, but today California has over 150 Stakes--that's over 1,000 congregations. The LDS Church here is young and new, and it is doing well. The Church has a good relationship with local government, and Russian LDS members are allowed to worship as they wish.

The volunteers, most of which are foreign, but many of which have Russian heritage, are excited to be in this place, and we are glad to be here with them. We know it's the Lord's work and know He loves and protects those who serve Him.