Another great week in Siberia!

Wonderful experiences meeting new people in our city of Berdsk, Russia. This week we were heading to a bus stop in the center of the city to catch a ride to a member’s house to visit with them. On the way, we noticed another bus stop so we decided to wait at that one. While there, vans called Marshrutka’s were coming and going and we weren’t quite sure when a bus with correct number pulled up. As we were discussing with the Elder’s if we should get on it, a nice young lady standing by us who had noticed us talking in English told us that she was getting on that bus and that it was going to where we were going. While standing on the bus she noticed our name tags and immediately started asking questions and asked: “would you please tell me about your church” J To make a long story short, the next day she came to our apartment and we had a wonderful visit. She had lots of questions and as we were talking she asked: “can I come to your church meeting” J It just so happened that is was District Conference in Novosibirsk on Sunday and sure enough she came with us. It was probably about a 45 minute drive by taxi to the conference. She had a wonderful time and is such a pleasant young lady.

That is only one of three great experiences of recent. The week prior as we boarded the “Lectrishka” electric train, we for some reason kept running from one door to the next and then the next before we boarded. That car was full also, so we went to the next forward car which had open seats and found a place for the two of us next to a young lady. It just so happened that she also speaks very good English and was headed to our same city. (Very lucky, as very few speak English in Berdsk) Well, we have met with her several times and have a wonderful friendship with her. We invited her to come with us to Novosibirsk to the District Conference on Sunday also and she said: SURE. What a wonderful young lady she is, that we are looking so forward to getting to know better. She is so very helpful to us.

One more experience to share for this week. Right after we first arrived, the Elder’s met a young man that is 18 years old. They invited him to our apartment and have taught him on several occasions. He also traveled with us to church on Sunday. He is very interested in joining… So we filled up three taxi’s and headed to the city; the three wonderful members in our little group, our three new friends, the two Elder’s and the two of us. It was a great day. It was fun to see Sister Beck take out her notebook to take notes in the meeting, as she always does, and see at the end that there was not even one note taken.  It just so happened that the meeting was entirely in Russian.  We just sat there and smiled and moved our lips during the hymns, but it was a super great day.

It’s a blast trying to talk with the kids on the Marshrutka’s when we ride them. The kids are required to take English in school, so they know the basics: how are you – I am fine - what is your name – my name is… That’s about it. But it is fun to see the glow in their eyes as you start to talk to them. Most of the older generation won’t even look at you when you ask them. We have found that the golden question for us is to ask in English: “do you speak English”.  We’ve learned not to ask that question in Russian… We think that English is the door to open up relationships for us. We are going to meet with some school teachers here in Berdsk this week and see if we can volunteer and assist with some English conversation classes. We’ll let you know how that goes.

Better close for now, but what a Great experience this is. We love being together 24/7, we love the young Elder’s that are with us, we love all the study time and we love all the special people we have met so far. Each week is a new chapter and we look forward to it.

Borscht "very tasty"

A very common type of boot in Berdsk... (Yes, on all of this ice)

Looking out of our apartment towards the city center

Looking across the street from our apartment - Will the little shed frame survive??

We live on the top floor of the apartment with turquoise color

Park bench downtown showing sidewalk ice...

Spring is coming... We think??

We had a great week this week. There was a zone conference we went to in Novosibirsk. We left on Tuesday afternoon on the “Lectrishka” (electric train) and after about an hour train ride we arrived in Novosibirsk, and also had our first experience on the Metro (subway) of that city. We have been trying hard to find someone who speaks English, so on the train I asked the man next to me in Russian if he spoke English. His answer was in very plain English, “I don’t speak English”. So much for that conversation.  We had a great meeting with many Sisters and Elders from the mission. There was a lot of energy in the meetings. Also, their singing of the hymns in Russian was very enjoyable to listen to. We kind of move our lips and pretend that we are singing the words. Still have a problem singing and making the “P” come out as “R”. Zone conference took up the entire day of Wednesday, after which we found out that we needed to stay overnight again because one of our Elders serving in Berdsk wouldn’t be back to the airport until 5am the next morning. A story for another time, but an unbelievable story of God’s hand in the lives of our missionaries, a tender mercy from above for this dear Elder. Anyway, there were no rooms left at the hotel, so we ended up staying the night on an air mattress at another senior couple’s apartment who are serving in Novosibirsk. It was fun to get to know them. They are the Gundersen’s from Washington State.

On Thursday we took the electric train back to Berdsk and an interesting thing happened on the way back. We sat next to a young lady that SPOKE ENGLISH. We can share more of this story later, but so far we have been in contact with her several times and what a sweet young lady she is. Unbelievably smart and very pleasant. Her English is very good and she is also studying French. We hope to be able to meet her parents one of these days also. She is a joy to talk to.

The Elders have been having people that are investigating their message come to our apartment to be taught. It is fun to sit and listen to them. It is also a challenge to try to figure out what they are saying. There is a young man that has been here several times and he is feeling very good about what they have taught. He is wanting to attend the region conference this next weekend in Novosibirsk, which is similar to a stake conference. He seems to be a very fine young man.

There have been a couple of days that it has been in the 30’s and things get wet in a hurry. I think there is going to be a real problem when is does warm up, as the driveways and sidewalks are deep in ice. The driveway around our apartment softened up just enough for the ice to allow the cars to sink. In many places the sidewalks will be up to two feet thick of ice and snow build up. We have been told that spring is just around the corner though. Looking forward to seeing this place when it’s green.

Church on Sunday was very enjoyable. We had our three members attend plus the husband of one of the members who is investigating. It’s kind of fun holding the meetings in the living room of our apartment. We will be helping the Elders look more this next week for a building that can be rented for a place to hold our meetings and for them to meet with investigators. However, we don’t mind having meetings in our apartment.

We also realize how nice it is to have Skype and Facetime to talk home, in addition to being able to text from iphone to iphone. Technology is great.

 Our little group in Berdsk, Russia

 Novosibirsk clearing of the sidewalks of the buildup of ice.

 Missionary zone conference in Novosibirsk. Headed out to take a group photo.

 Looking down from our apartment window of the cars sinking in the ice.

 Downtown Berdsk business district.

 Siberian stroller.

 Siberian stroller in action.

A manhole cover exposed showing the ice buildup on the sidewalk.

First week of our mission in Siberia

What an amazing week…  After three days of traveling we're happy to have made it to our destination of Berdsk, Russia on Wednesday. When we arrived in New York we met up with the office couple, the Palmers, that will be serving in our mission.  It was nice to have someone else to travel with.  In Moscow we also met up with Bryce Carr, from Mt. Pleasant, who served a mission to Russia a while ago. (He's going to school there now, working on his master's degree).  He took us to Red Square where the Kremlin is and showed us around a bit. (The Kremlin is where the government leaders meet).  We're glad he was there to help give us directions and help us use up some of our 12 hour layover time. It was also very cold!

We arrived in Novosibirsk, which translates to “New Siberia”, about 5 am on Wednesday morning and were given a warm greeting by our mission president, President Gibbons, Elder and Sister Gunderson from Washington and Elder Gushin, who is the driver and is also an area Seventy.  It was cold and dark!  They took us to see to the mission office and we then dropped off the Palmer's at their apartment.

After about a 40 minute drive to the city of Berdsk, we arrived at our apartment.  President Gibbons and Elder Gushin gave us each a nice blessing and told us goodbye.  We were very tired! We had about a five hour nap and still were tired and could hardly wait for bedtime.

The two Elders serving in Berdsk had made us a fun welcome poster and had bought some basic food for our cupboards! They are a fun couple of Elders! Elder Bunnell is from American Fork and Elder Leonhart has lived several places, but most recently Tremonton. They were sooo excited to see us!  They came and took us to an authentic Russian restaurant for dinner.  They had also made some cookies for us.

About the apartment.....   We're on the sixth floor of an apartment building.  It's a nice size apartment.  It has a very large bathroom with an extra-large tub! Large enough to probably be used as a font!... We haven't quite figured out how to use the shower yet. It's a bit strange.  It's decorated mostly in red and white. 

The kitchen is small with small everything...small sink, small cupboards, small dishwasher about the size of our trash compactor at home, small microwave.  But it's great!

The front room is a bit larger than ours at home.  Just right for holding church services here. We have a small bedroom and office room with a sofa sleeper.   So come and visit!  The floors are tile and laminate wood with a large area rug in the front room.  We also have a little sun room or something like that with a heated tile floor.  We can look out from there and watch people come and go, slip, slide and fall on the snow and ice :)

Though it has been a very cold week outside, our apartment is very warm. It’s not uncommon for us to open the windows to cool it down, even when it is below zero outside. We hear that will change when they decide to turn the heat off. The whole city is heated by a central boiler system. Hope they wait a while…  it’s been below zero a good part of the time.

On Sunday, we had the little group of members from Berdsk come to our apartment for church. This is a new city for the church to be in. The city was just opened up to the church a couple of months ago. There have been the two elders here getting things going, finding an apartment for us and looking for a building that can be leased to hold meetings in. That is coming along, but it’s not quite there yet. We did have a very nice meeting with the two elders, three members and the husband of one of the members. We both talked and had the elders translate for us and that took up the meeting. We hold a two hour block here, Sacrament meeting and Sunday School. Brother Vitali, one of the local members, taught the lesson, which we understood about every 20^th word, but hopefully that will change. Sister Beck fixed a nice meal for all, which we ate after the meetings. Yep, she fed all of the members of the church in Berdsk, in our living room!

We are now getting a little better at figuring out what food is what at the grocery store. We need to have a dictionary to figure out what the food is. We have also learned that you can’t buy too much at once, because you have to pack it all back to our apartment in bags on a public transportation van called a Marshrootka. It’s always an interesting ride… Did we mention that we haven’t found anyone yet in Berdsk that speaks a bit of English. We try to ask what we think is a Russian question and they just look at us weird and shake their head. Hopefully that will change when we get a little better feel for the language. It is kind of weird to not be able to communicate.

Here are a few pictures from this first week in Siberia and from our trip here. The one cathedral with all the snow in Berdsk is just a short walk from the shopping area where we buy our groceries.

 Cathedral in Berdsk (Just a tiny bit of snow)

President Gibbons and our welcome home poster made by the young elders.

 Moscow Red Square

 Moscow

 Spelled just like it sounds :-)

 Moscow

 Moscow

 Home to our apartment after a grocery shopping trip

 Berdsk cathedral

Berdsk