For Sue's retirement present, the Ravenswood Tech Department gave her a 360-degree camera. It's very cute--not very big, and it has no viewfinder because it takes everything all around. It has a fish-eye lens on each side. She's been taking pictures with it all along but is finally trying to figure out how to post them to this blog so they work right. It's not hard, but finding the directions on how to do it was hard! Step one was getting the 360-degree photos of St. Isaac's from last week posted. Look at last week's blog, and towards the end of the post you will see St. Isaac's in the round. Scroll around and enjoy all the view.
Last Sunday Ken was looking at his news feed from the US and saw the announcement that the LDS Church is closing down the mission offices in Vladivostok and combining it with Novosibirsk Mission. (Article is here) Because Russian law is so anti-religion, except for Russian Orthodox, this is a difficult place for LDS members and the volunteers trying to support them. But in St. Petersburg the work goes forward, and we are glad to be here serving.
We have our Preparation Day (P-day) on Saturdays, but the young volunteers have theirs on Monday. It's usually the day for grocery shopping, laundry, etc. Also for some sightseeing. This was the last week of the Transfer, so they wanted to have a special outing, and President Childs said we could close the office for the afternoon and go with them. The destination was Peterhof Palace. It is an amazing place along the coast west of St. Petersburg. It was built by Peter the Great and is called the "Russian Versailles."
The palace is built along a bluff above the ocean, and below it are the lower gardens with stunning fountains everywhere. They all operate without any pumps--because when this was built in the early 1700's there was no electricity for pumps.
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| Center District, May 22, 2017--bottom to top: Elders Jorgensen, Belnap, Adams, Allen Sisters Allen, Everitt, Spilker Elders Gerratt, Jensen, DeVol |
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| And just us |
It was a beautiful day. We enjoyed the sun and greenery and fountains. Ken was a bit red in the forehead from the sun by the time we got home!
The fountain behind us is Samson tearing open the jaws of the lion--symbolic of Russia winning their war over Sweden, which has a lion on its flag. All the fountains have gilded statues!
Unfortunately the palace is always closed on Mondays, so we enjoyed the gardens and fountains. We'll come back another day and see inside.
OK--here are the 'round' pictures. Enjoy!
Center District at Peterhof, May 22, 2017. Sister Allen, Elder Belnap, Elder Devol, Elder Jensen, Elder Allen, Elder Jorgensen, Elder Gerratt, Sister Spilker, Sister Everitt, friend, Elder Adams. - Spherical Image-RICOH THETA
Center District at Peterhof, May 22, 2017. Clockwise: Sister Allen, Elder Belnap, Elder Devol, Elder Jensen, Elder Allen, Elder Jorgensen, Elder Gerratt, Sister Spilker, Sister Everitt, friend, Elder Adams.
Sister Spilker and Sister Everitt. Farewell photo. Sister Everitt went home on May 25, 2017. This is about half-way between the Palace and the Gulf of Finland shore-- Spherical Image - RICOH THETA
Sister Spilker and Sister Everitt. Farewell photo. Sister Everitt went home on May 25, 2017. This is about half-way between the Palace and the Gulf of Finland shore.
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| FHE at Toolson's Ken & Sue, Jessica and Ryan holding twin girls Remy and Marlo (don't ask which is which) age 3. They are dressed as Bat Girls. Son Asher, age 6, is a Ninja. Also Sisters Spilker and Everitt, with Elder Jensen (standing) and Elder Jorgensen. |
On Monday we were invited to Family Home Evening with Ryan & Jess Toolson and their three children. It was fun to be in an American home, eat "real" Mexican food, and enjoy their cute kids. Ryan plays professional basketball in the Russian league. For more info about that, see this article:
Utah players in Foreign Leagues. You'll have to drag about half of the way through the article to find Ryan with the Utah Valley University players. There you'll find a fun video about him.
Utah players in Foreign Leagues. You'll have to drag about half of the way through the article to find Ryan with the Utah Valley University players. There you'll find a fun video about him.
TRANSFER WEEK!
As we mentioned last week, usually every six weeks, there is a "Transfer." New volunteers arrive on Tuesday. If they are from Provo MTC, then they are severely jet-lagged. This week we just had two new Sisters who had been in Spain MTC. They had short flights and only a one-hour time difference, so no problem! They were taken to the Mission Home for dinner and overnight.
Wednesday morning Ken and Sue do the "Office Orientation." The newbies have to sign a bunch of forms for passports, visas, and so someone else can pick up their mail. Ken explains how all the money stuff works. Then we send them to the local Russian who gives them the safety and security lecture.
Wednesday afternoon anyone who is moving to a new city or getting a new companion comes to the Mission Office. They meet up about 1 pm. At least half of them are hauling all they own--usually two big suitcases and a smaller roller bag. Most of them wait upstairs up in the Church Cultural Hall, but the ones going home are down in the Mission Office with us. There we have the luggage scale. :o) They weigh and discard and weigh again and discard some more. The Church pays their flight home and their basic luggage fees, but a bag over 50 lbs can cost up to $300, and that has to be paid by the volunteer him/herself. Then the leaving volunteers head up to the Mission Home where they have dinner and spend the night--what little of it they get. This time, and usually, the plane leaves at 5:45 a.m. That means leaving the Mission Home at 2:45 a.m.
Those upstairs find their new companions, exchange SIM cards, and head out to their areas of work. Exchange SIM cards??? Yes, each volunteer has a basic mobile phone that takes two SIM cards for two different phone numbers. One is a card assigned to them for their entire time in Russia--their personal number. That's so the Office always knows how to reach them. The other is a card that belongs to the Area in which they are working, so that one has to be traded with whomever is taking over that area. This is so the local church members always know what number to call to reach the volunteers, and they don't care who comes and who goes. A volunteer may be in one area for as short as six weeks, or for many months.
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| Visa Trip, May 26, 2017 Sisters Eaton, DaLuz, Mohlman, Camano, Wilson, Gregory |
The other thing that happens for each volunteer every 90 days is a "visa trip." To religious volunteers, Russia will only give 90-day visas. After that they have to leave the country and come back in again. This week we also had a visa trip for six Sisters. It means leaving the office about 7 am and driving about two hours to the border with Estonia, then walk through Russian passport control, then through Estonian passport control, spend 15-20 minutes in Estonia and walk back through both borders, getting stamped and verified along the way, then drive the two hours back to St. Petersburg in time for lunch. The mission has an 8-passenger van and a driver who makes the trip. We are scheduled for a first visa trip on July 12.
We heard fireworks a few nights ago. We face away from the Neva River, so can't see them. It's the start of "White Nights" when it never gets dark here. The sun goes down, but not very far below the horizon, so the sky stays light. On May 26 sunrise was at 4 am and sunset almost 10 pm, and there is still a month until Summer Solstice. On June 22 we will have 18 hours and 50 minutes of daylight. Here's a fun website if you want to follow our day/night saga. Sunrise - Sunset in St. Petersburg
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| Ryan Toolson #10 shooting game-winning free-throws. |
Ryan isn't a starter (they are all Russians), but he was the star of this game, being the high scorer of the game with 24 points. The Zenit were behind most of the game--at one point 20 points behind! But they rallied in the second half, tied it by the beginning of the fourth quarter, and then won 92-89 thanks to four free-throws and a tre' by Ryan in the last 12 seconds! (He is a near-perfect free-throw shooter.)
The mascot is named "Lion"--in English. This photo is for Keith--our son the former school mascot.
And Sue had fun taking more "round' photos.
SPB Zenit vs. Moscow Khimni in the second of best-of-five for Russia League semi-finals of the championship series. Player #10 is Ryan Toolson--LDS, played for Utah Valley University. His wife behind Sue in blue shirt. May 27, 2017 Spherical Image - RICOH THETA
St. Petersburg Zenit vs. Moscow Khimni in 2nd of best-of-five for Russia League semi-finals of the championship series. Player #10 is Ryan Toolson--LDS, played for Utah Valley University. His wife is behind Sue in blue shirt. May 27, 2017.
Ryan Toolson #10 for St. Petersburg Zenit, May 27 2017. Ryan's wife, Jess, in blue behind Sue. Two little boys--one is Ryan's son, Asher. The other is Roman, son of Konstantin sitting next to Sue. He works for both the Toolson's and the Mission. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA
Ryan Toolson #10 for St. Petersburg Zenit, May 27 2017. Ryan's wife, Jess, in blue behind Sue. Two little boys on the stairs--one is Ryan's son, Asher. The other is Roman, son of our mutual friend Konstantin sitting next to Sue. He works for both the Toolson's and the Mission as driver, translator, general helper.
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Sue did have one disappointment for the evening. On our way home from the game we went to Okhta Mall to pick up the dry cleaning and a few groceries. The mini-bus from the subway took a different route and dropped us at a back door to the Mall, but that was OK. The game had been at 5 pm and we hadn't had dinner, so we went up to the food court and had double bacon chesseburgers at Burger King--it had just opened. We did our shopping and came out the front door to find a carnival and a whole bunch of food trucks! And one was called "Bros Burritos!" We'll hit this on another Saturday night soon, for sure. [Ken reminded Sue that she hadn't written anything about his gardening! That will have to wait for next week, after he recovers from the stinging nettle.]
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