This was the week of Zone Conferences, an opportunity to recharge spiritually.
But first meet Daniel and his mother Oksana with Sisters James and Alder. Their story is quite amazing.
danie
Sister Alder and Sister James have been on a quest to each talk to 10 people every day. They had 8 days in a row by Thursday, but one of those days, person #15 or so of their #20 was Oksana. Sister Alder was riding the Metro escalator next to her and they started talking. It turns out that Daniel (age 17) became interested in the LDS Church about three years ago when he read the first Sherlock Holmes book. It's about Utah and polygamy, and is not very complimentary to the Church at all, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had never even been to the USA, let alone Utah, so he was writing from rumors. Anyway, Daniel started looking up the LDS Church online and liked what he read, but he didn't know where to find us in St. Petersburg. When his mom came home and told him about her meeting with Sister Alder, he got all excited. So they came to church on Sunday and to dinner on Monday and the concert on Saturday and are reading the Book of Mormon and want to get baptized soon! They actually live in Nevsky Ward, so they will start going there tomorrow.
The Mission is growing again and we are back up to two Zones, so we had Zone Conferences on Wednesday and Thursday this week. We miss having everyone together, but smaller groups are better for discussions, etc. Our day was Thursday, but we got to join in for lunch on Wednesday, too. The Mission Leadership Council had voted overwhelming the week before to invite the Taco Truck people back again for lunch. It is a big favorite, for sure. Sue and Sister Peck made lemon bars and chocolate chip cookies for dessert, which were also much appreciated.
Elder and Sister Peck are now doing most of the apartment inspections, so giving good advice on keeping microwaves clean, etc.
They hand out the "Golden Sponge Award" for the cleanest apartment each Transfer. Elder Herrod is a proud winner this time.
Sister Rawson talked about dealing with discouragement. She showed an amazing video that can be found here. It meant a lot to Sue, who was often teased as a teenager about being ugly and skinny.
The Assistants, Elders Packer and Cummings, made this video to remind us to use all our time wisely. With the help of Elders Herrin and Fife they did the filming, and then Ken edited it for them. It's on Youtube, but private. You can see it, but please don't share the link anywhere.
The Sister Training Leaders taught a lesson about making friends, but this is also their last Zone Conference before they go home on 22 November, so they had the opportunity to bear their testimonies at the end of the day. We will really miss them! And Sister Bettinger is also leaving us, but she was at the Wednesday Zone Conference so we missed her testimony. Boo Hoo!
Maloohktinskiy Prospekt, our street, is narrow. People park on both sides and there is barely room for one car to drive down the middle. But it is not one-way. People drive both ways, and if you meet someone coming the other way in the middle of the block someone has to pull into a driveway or back up to a corner. Most people do it just fine. But not always.
Thursday night as we crossed the street from the church to our apartment, a car roared up behind us and then came to a halt face-to-face with another car. They just sat there. We walked over to our door, and up the long flight of stairs and out onto the balcony. Then we stood and watched. They were still sitting there facing each other. The car on the right couldn't back up because there are now two other cars behind him. Then the man who owns the car parked behind the two in the face-off came out and wanted to get his car out of the parking space. Then everyone starts honking at each other. The man in the parked car asked the man in the left car to back up, but he still just sat. Then the man from the parked car came again and somehow talked the left car into backing up. He moved back just enough to let the other cars squeak through. We were just laughing at the whole crazy deal. It's part of inner-city life, bringing back memories of our street in East Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1971-72. Eighth Street was about as narrow, but was marked One-Way -- that is One-way OUT on both ends! That was to keep commuters from cutting through our neighborhood to/from MIT. Those of us who lived on the street knew it was really two-way. :o)
OK -- we feel like we are really into Winter. Sue has been waiting for a night-time temperature below 32F so she could defrost our apartment freezer. Frost-free models are quite unusual in Russia. Ours has needed it for awhile, but it's so easy to just put all the food out on the balcony where it will stay frozen while the freezer does it's melting thing. Thursday night was the night. And the weather app popped up tonight and said snow would begin about 9:21 pm. We've had such a beautiful Fall. Sad to see it go.
The other sign of Winter approaching is the days are getting shorter fast! The sun is now coming up after 8 a.m. and by next week will go down before 5 pm. Each day is about 5 or 6 minutes shorter than the day before.
Freezing nights also meant it was time for Ken to pick the last of his tomatoes. We have a few almost red, and some really green. But it's been a fun project for him.
Friday afternoon saw us back at the Hermitage. After our service we went to see the Furniture exhibit we'd missed a few weeks ago. It was about the time of "Historicism" in St. Petersburg. Most of the pieces are from the Winter Palace collection and reflect the period from about 1830 to 1900 when the idea was to copy styles from earlier periods. There were a lot of pieces in the Pre-revolutionary French style, and a section with heavy Chinese influence. Sue really liked this small desk--beautiful wood, and an interesting style with drawers down both sides.
Saturday was the St. Petersburg Stake Music Festival. This is a fun event where talented people share with the rest of us. It starts at 3 pm with 90 minutes of classical and spiritual music in the Chapel. There were singers, a choir, and several pianists, including Sister Kosmynina. She's one of our volunteers from Samara/Engels, Russia. Her companion, Sister Bettinger, was her expert page turner. Sister Kosmynina played
After that part of the program was over there was a 30 minute break with sandwiches and cookies in the Cultural Hall, and then we all sat down in there for another 2 hours of Folk and Pop music. It was a terrific program. There is a lot of talent in this Stake!
But first meet Daniel and his mother Oksana with Sisters James and Alder. Their story is quite amazing.
danie
 |
| Sisters James & Alder, Oksana, Daniel, Sue & Ken |
The Mission is growing again and we are back up to two Zones, so we had Zone Conferences on Wednesday and Thursday this week. We miss having everyone together, but smaller groups are better for discussions, etc. Our day was Thursday, but we got to join in for lunch on Wednesday, too. The Mission Leadership Council had voted overwhelming the week before to invite the Taco Truck people back again for lunch. It is a big favorite, for sure. Sue and Sister Peck made lemon bars and chocolate chip cookies for dessert, which were also much appreciated.
 |
| President Rawson talking to the Petrovskaya Zone |
Elder and Sister Peck are now doing most of the apartment inspections, so giving good advice on keeping microwaves clean, etc.
They hand out the "Golden Sponge Award" for the cleanest apartment each Transfer. Elder Herrod is a proud winner this time.
Sister Rawson talked about dealing with discouragement. She showed an amazing video that can be found here. It meant a lot to Sue, who was often teased as a teenager about being ugly and skinny.
 |
| Sister Nestripke and Sister Alder |
Maloohktinskiy Prospekt, our street, is narrow. People park on both sides and there is barely room for one car to drive down the middle. But it is not one-way. People drive both ways, and if you meet someone coming the other way in the middle of the block someone has to pull into a driveway or back up to a corner. Most people do it just fine. But not always.
 |
| Russian Chicken |
Thursday night as we crossed the street from the church to our apartment, a car roared up behind us and then came to a halt face-to-face with another car. They just sat there. We walked over to our door, and up the long flight of stairs and out onto the balcony. Then we stood and watched. They were still sitting there facing each other. The car on the right couldn't back up because there are now two other cars behind him. Then the man who owns the car parked behind the two in the face-off came out and wanted to get his car out of the parking space. Then everyone starts honking at each other. The man in the parked car asked the man in the left car to back up, but he still just sat. Then the man from the parked car came again and somehow talked the left car into backing up. He moved back just enough to let the other cars squeak through. We were just laughing at the whole crazy deal. It's part of inner-city life, bringing back memories of our street in East Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1971-72. Eighth Street was about as narrow, but was marked One-Way -- that is One-way OUT on both ends! That was to keep commuters from cutting through our neighborhood to/from MIT. Those of us who lived on the street knew it was really two-way. :o)
OK -- we feel like we are really into Winter. Sue has been waiting for a night-time temperature below 32F so she could defrost our apartment freezer. Frost-free models are quite unusual in Russia. Ours has needed it for awhile, but it's so easy to just put all the food out on the balcony where it will stay frozen while the freezer does it's melting thing. Thursday night was the night. And the weather app popped up tonight and said snow would begin about 9:21 pm. We've had such a beautiful Fall. Sad to see it go.
The other sign of Winter approaching is the days are getting shorter fast! The sun is now coming up after 8 a.m. and by next week will go down before 5 pm. Each day is about 5 or 6 minutes shorter than the day before.
Freezing nights also meant it was time for Ken to pick the last of his tomatoes. We have a few almost red, and some really green. But it's been a fun project for him.
Friday afternoon saw us back at the Hermitage. After our service we went to see the Furniture exhibit we'd missed a few weeks ago. It was about the time of "Historicism" in St. Petersburg. Most of the pieces are from the Winter Palace collection and reflect the period from about 1830 to 1900 when the idea was to copy styles from earlier periods. There were a lot of pieces in the Pre-revolutionary French style, and a section with heavy Chinese influence. Sue really liked this small desk--beautiful wood, and an interesting style with drawers down both sides.
Saturday was the St. Petersburg Stake Music Festival. This is a fun event where talented people share with the rest of us. It starts at 3 pm with 90 minutes of classical and spiritual music in the Chapel. There were singers, a choir, and several pianists, including Sister Kosmynina. She's one of our volunteers from Samara/Engels, Russia. Her companion, Sister Bettinger, was her expert page turner. Sister Kosmynina playedAfter that part of the program was over there was a 30 minute break with sandwiches and cookies in the Cultural Hall, and then we all sat down in there for another 2 hours of Folk and Pop music. It was a terrific program. There is a lot of talent in this Stake!
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