Ken got carried away taking photos and so the beginning of this blog is some Russian culture & history instead of Allen/Mission stuff. Please realize that these photos are all from the TV. We were not on the boat with President Putin!
Sunday was a big day in Russia and particularly in Saint Petersburg. It was Russia's Navy Day, which was established in the Soviet Union back in 1939. It has been celebrated on the last Sunday of July since 1980. The Russian Navy fleet, which was founded in 1696 by Emperor Peter the Great, founder of Saint Petersburg, marked its 322nd birthday this year. Over 40 warships and more than 4,000 sailors made up a spectacular Navy Day parade in Saint Petersburg, attended by Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin. Vessels representing all fleets of the Russian Navy moored along the Neva River, where a massive naval parade took place to commemorate over three centuries of its rich history. We witnessed the parade, the concert and the fireworks through the magic of many flying cameras on local television.
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| Navy Day concert crowd at Palace Square in front of the Winter Palace of the Hermitage looking toward the start of Nevsky Prospekt with St. Isaac's Cathedral beyond Admiralty Park. You can see by the crowd why we decided not to go in person. |
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| Drone View overlooking The Winter Palace of The Hemitage at the Neva River and the Gazprom Tower at sunset |
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| President Putin reviewing the naval armada parade on the Neva River |
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| Navy Day fireworks |
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An outing to the Oreshek Fortress
Oreshek was key to the defense of St. Petersburg/Leningrad for seven (!!!) centuries. It's a little island at the beginning of the Neva River where it first flows out of Lake Ladoga. The town on the shore is named "Shlisselburg" which means Key City in German. The Neva is only about 46 miles long, from Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland, but it is part of the system of rivers, lakes, and canals that links Moscow to the ocean! And for anyone invading St. Petersburg, this little island is necessary to get and hold the city. It has belonged to Swedes, Germans and Russians. But, most importantly and amazingly, during the Siege of Leningrad from 1941-1943, it never fell to the Nazis despite enormous effort!
We had been there about a year ago with President and Sister Childs just before they went home. (For more details about Oreshek see our post of 1 July 2017. Also notice we were all wearing coats! Last summer was cold!!!) We decided it was time to go back and share this interesting place with the Rawsons and the Pecks, especially on a beautiful warm summer day.
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| Peter I on the Shlisselburg shore facing Oreshek Fortress |
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| South bank and entrance tower to the impenetrable Oreshek fortress on Lake Ladoga |
A beautiful day at Oroshek Fortress where Lake Ladoga starts the Neva River near St. Petersburg. Sister & President Rawson, Elder & Sister Peck, Ken & Sue 30 July 2018 - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA
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| Elder & Sister Peck, Elder & Sister Allen, Sister & President Rawson on the eastern bank of Oreshek fortress. No coats this year! |
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| Completed fortress with cathedral in the center, which is now in ruins with a memorial |
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| Oreshek was originally three islands. The circle is the site of the memorial at the last cathedral and where the original medieval wall has been excavated |
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| Pan: South-West-North on the parade grounds. The ruins of the first cathedral are to the east. |
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| Pan: North-East-South on the parade grounds. The ruins of the first cathedral. |
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| Recess on a long day of fun in the sun |
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| Tank Museum facing the Nazi Leningrad siege line near Shlisselburg 1941-1943 |
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| The legendary Russian T-34 tank, the most produced tank in the world |
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| Okhta Mall overhead parking markers |
On our way home from Oreshek we stopped at Okhta Mall to pick up some items for Zone Conference (see below). Sue really likes the technology in the parking garage. Each parking spot has a little light hanging above it that shines red if the space is full and green if it's empty. You can drive down the cross-lanes, and look down a row all the way to the end and see if there are any empty spaces. It saves a lot of cruising up one aisle and down the next!
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| President Rawson, Gennady, Assistant Elder Houston, Sister Rawson |
This past Wednesday was an All-Mission Conference--it would have been Zone Conferences, but we are down to one Zone. We paid tribute to Brother Gennady Petrov, one of the Area's long-time visa assistants, whose position has been phased out after fifteen years due to reduced workload. Born in the Year of the Tiger, he received an oil painting of a tiger by our own senior volunteer Elder David Peck. IT was more appropriate than we realized.
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| All the Sisters in the Mission!! We are fewer these days. |
Sister Anania-Matafai taught a lesson about appropriate use of Technology. Here is a role-play of Elder Houston on the subway absorbed in his phone. The man on the right (aka Elder Cummings), being ignored, has on a headband that says "Golden Potential Investigator." Sister A-M has the "Holy Ghost" on a popcicle stick, which was hitting Elder Houston on the head, to no avail. Also being ignored is another passenger (aka Elder Packer.) We all got the point.
We didn't have a parade but we had floats, thanks to Ken's suggestion and obsession for root beer. Our afternoon snack was genuine root beer floats with a large chunk of vanilla ice cream. To accomplish this feat, Ken bought out the entire inventory of A&W, Mug and Barq's root beer at the candy kiosk in Okhta Mall.
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| 1 Aug 2018 |
Click here for a link to an unlisted YouTube video of "Rise Up All Volunteers"-- our Mission Song with lyrics by President Brent Rawson and his Assistants of 2018.
(As always please do not make a link to this blog, but you are free to copy the YouTube link and share with friends.)
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| Trinity Cathedral |
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| Elder Cummings & Elder Houston lead an English- language discussion while Sue runs the slide show and Elder Herrod looks on from the crowd |
Sue had helped the Assistants Elders put together a nice slide show about Utah, which gave them an opportunity to talk about the Mormon Pioneer roots of the region and the influence on the world, from religious impact and music and foreign-language language literacy of its people, to the former governor, now U.S. ambassador to Russia. Nearly forty people came to practice English and learn about Utah. The 90-minute session was capped off with a sing-along video of the Utah State Song. (Thank you, YouTube!) When it was announced that Game Night on Saturday would feature pioneer games, many said they would come to the Stake Center to join the fun.
Here is the presentation. If you read the notes with each slide you can get the bare-bones version of their presentation. They added a lot more as they talked, and Elder Herrod spoke about his family, too.
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| Oh, what an Evening! Sisters James and Bettinger; Elders Herrod, Houston & Cummings at the Library |
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| Elder Houston and Elder Cummings pull a [hockey] stick |
...and come they did! There must have been thirty people there for Game Night, half from the lecture. We played pioneer songs (that Ken had captured from the Internet) for musical chairs, and we played chess, stick pulling, hop scotch and a little volleyball.
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| Musical chairs in two groups |
Sue and Sister Peck brought homemade chocolate chip cookies, and the Sisters brought watermelon and homemade peach cobbler. Several people engaged in Gospel conversations and promised to come to Church services. One young man had looked up the Church on the website and had called. Elder Houston got the call and that night got to talk to him in person. One Buddhist man observed, "I can't explain the warm feeling I get in this building." (It wasn't because the air conditioning wasn't working right...)
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| Elder Peck looks on as Elder McOmber and three Russian friends play chess |
All in all, the lecture at the library had led to the most-well-attended Game Night activity in months. And it was on a hot August night when most everyone in St. Petersburg seems to have left town!
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