Down to a Single Zone

This was a week of big changes in the St. Petersburg Mission, and it brought more visitors, too.

Elders Tribe & Houston take Ken to the 
magnificent Main Post Office

First, we have lost Kostya as the Mission Driver. He also was the one who would go down to the Main Post Office to pick up our mail that comes to the P.O. Box. But the Mission no longer has a driver. President Rawson and his two young Assistants are now doing their own driving. We also no longer have a Mission van, just the President’s car. So now Ken is the official mail-picker-upper. And 'official' is the operative word. In order to pick up the mail that was sent to any of the volunteers here, he must have a Power of Attorney from that volunteer. So last week, while we had everyone together for the visit from Elder Gong, we had each of them sign two POAs. One set for Ken’s original passport and one for his second passport. He only has one passport valid at a time with his current visa in it. The other passport is sent away to obtain a new visa. When he shows up at the Post Office they want to see the POAs and his passport--and they have to match. 

The Hermitage is not too far from the Main Post Office, so we will probably stop by there on Fridays after our Hermitage Service. If there are heavy packages, then the Assistants will drive Ken to the Post Office to pick those up with the car. Because getting all the POA's done is a bit of a nuisance, it was decided that the Senior Office Elder--that's Ken--should be that official because he stays in the City the longest. The Assistants can drive, but they come and go every few months.

Transfer and Visa Trip Day-a time to dress down

Wednesday was Transfer Day. Twelve of the young volunteers also went on a visa trip to Narva, Estonia. They ‘dress down’ for that trip so as not to attract attention going across the border and back. Once the visa bus is back, everyone meets for a few minutes in the Church building to exchange phone cards and companions for those being transferred to a new Area of the Mission. The phone cards stay in the Area. That way members of the congregation there know they can always call the same number and get whatever volunteer is assigned their ward. It works the same way in our ward in Palo Alto! A good system.  

Suitcases lined both sides of the
Mission Office hallway for all
those going home.

This was a hard Transfer for us. Nine young volunteers went home!! We lost five Sisters and four Elders. We get so attached to these wonderful young people. Nine isn't much for most other missions in the world, but with only two new ones who arrived, we are down to 26 young volunteers. That is teeny! When we arrived 15 months ago there were over 60, and we had three zones. Then we went down into the 40's and two zones. Now we have everyone in just one zone. We will have a 'Mission Conference' here in ten days--everyone here at once.

Back:  Sisters Bettinger, Karlsson, Monson*, Nestripke, Gregson
McColm*, Alder, Anania-Matafai, Pettit*, Allen
Front:  Pemberton, Baker*, Berge*, James
* = going home

We got one last photo of all the Mission Sisters before the five left. The only one missing is Senior Sister Peck. Elder and Sister Peck were on Hermitage duty on Wednesday afternoon while everyone else was involved with Transfers.

L-R:  Elder Fife, Elder Houston, Gennady, Elder McOmber

Saturday was Gennady Petrov's birthday. He is our well-beloved visa clerk. But Saturday no one would be in the office including him, so when there was a crowd around him on Thursday afternoon, just by happenstance, we stopped to sing 'с Днём Рождения тебя' or Happy Birthday: Same tune as English.







While we were doing our Hermitage Service at the entrance on Friday afternoon, who should walk by but Sister Monson! Her Mom came on Wednesday night and picked her up from her Mission. They have spent a few days touring St. Petersburg, and then they will go to Moscow. Sister Monson spent a few months living there as an English tutor before she came here as a Church Volunteer. She actually received her letter calling her to St. Petersburg while she was living in Moscow!





Friday while walking to the Hermitage we got SOAKED! We had umbrellas, but it was pouring buckets and the wind was blowing. It's about a 700 meter walk, so 6-7 minutes. Our shoes were wet through. Ken's pants were wet up to the thighs, and Sue's skirt was soaked all down one side. We've had thunderstorms like that all week. The temperature is mid-80's and humidity is 90% plus. We've now had to turn on the air conditioner in our apartment and in the office--to our great dismay. We're glad we have it, but would rather be able to just open windows like we do at home most of the time.  

Ken liked these Russian 'dogs as art' in the courtyard of the Hermitage. They look just like the Russian flag.

After Hermitage service, the sun was back out, and we walked down Nevsky Prospekt to The Literary Cafe near Alexander Pushkin's home to meet friends from California, Kim McCall and Virginia Field. They are touring around the Baltic area and stayed almost a week in St. Petersburg. Kim has been here a couple of times before and he even speaks some Russian. We all listened to recitations of Pushkin's poetry as we ate. We've known Kim for years as a wonderful musician in Menlo Park Stake. Virginia is now a new friend, but she lived for a long time in Los Altos Stake, just south of our home.  



We worked in the Mission Office on Saturday, in anticipation of a special P-day activity on Monday coming up. More on that next week.



But Saturday evening we went to the Nikolaevsky Palace to see a 'folk show.'  














This has been on our bucket list, and Sue kept forgetting to ask our favorite tour guide, Boris Leostrin, which was the best one.  

Don & Helen Nielson, Sue, Ken, Boris Leostrin

This weekend, we knew he was guiding more friends from Palo Alto, Don and Helen Nielson. They came through on a cruise for two days, and Boris took care of them and the other ten (10!) members of their family they had with them. They were going to the folk show on Saturday night, so we met them there. The show was great, and it was fun to see Nielsons, for sure.  

This is the ballroom, turned into theater, of the Nikolaevsky Palace. This palace was built in 1858-61 for the third son of Tsar Nicholas I.  















This plaque on the wall of the theater commemorates Vladimir Lenin speaking here to a group of workers in March 1919. During Soviet times this was known as the Laborer's Palace, and the small park at the intersection outside the palace is still called Laborer's Square. So, the palace was preserved during Soviet times, and it is now a 'reception center' (probably the best term for it). The various large public rooms can be rented for banquets by anyone--business conferences, wedding receptions, etc.



All the Russian folk dancing and singing was wonderful. The costumes were beautiful, and it was all accompanied by a live orchestra of balalaikas, trumpet, drums, accordion and percussion. Afterwards we said our goodbyes, had a good walk in a new-to-us neighborhood near the famous Mariinsky theater and caught a bus home. The sky was finally getting dim when we arrived home about 10:15pm.