Finally Spring!

Bastion walls of Peter & Paul Fortress on the Neva River, across from the Hermitage. It is a favorite spot for sunbathers. It was chilly the day we were there and people were still standing out there trying to get a tan. We took this picture from one of the other bastion walls.

 

 

 Spring is here! Some days it is lovely and warm and other days it is chilly, rainy and blustery, but the trees are all leafed out and blooming. It looks great! Today, Saturday, it is blustery. We walked to the big grocery store last night when it was lovely because we knew it would be raining today and I hate walking in the rain for 30 minutes there and then back again. So instead of having to go to the store today on our Preparation Day, we sat around in our pajamas reading, studying, playing on the computer, doing a little housework, cooking, etc. It was nice and relaxing. At about 5 pm we drove the mission president to the airport. He is heading up to Murmansk, which is above the Arctic Circle. He wants to get a feel for the possibility of sending missionaries up there sometime in the future. Apparently, we have a couple of members up there and a few more in other places way up there.

Looking down inside the fortress from the walls. It is like a small village in there with factories, churches, cobblestone streets, old prisons, museums. It is really quite a neat place.

We are due to head home in four months (October 4^th). The bad news is that they don’t have a senior couple to replace us in the office when we go. The president has called Salt Lake about it, but nothing. It would be extremely difficult, but not impossible, to get someone called and over here in just four months. The Russian paper work to get here is a lengthy process, although it can be expedited. So does anybody know anyone who would like to come quickly to lovely, and I honestly mean lovely, St. Petersburg, Russia? Let us know. Seriously. The president is thinking about pulling the senior couple who is serving down in Kaliningrad up to the office just before we go so we can train them. Kaliningrad is a small Russian port area down by Poland. When he pulls the senior couple out, he will also have to pull the sister missionaries from there—he can’t leave them down there alone with a couple of elders. And he will probably have to pull in some missionaries into the office to help the senior couple. This will be interesting!

Peter & Paul Fortress. Looking through one of the inner walls to the interior towards the cathedral.

 But hopefully by the time we leave here there will be a stake! Everyone here is really pushing for it—we sure would like to see that before we go. That will make everything easier. We’ve put a lot into making that happen, Phil especially. One of our Twelve Apostles, Elder Christofferson, is coming to visit on June 10^th. Hopefully, what he sees here will help that decision along.

Peter & Paul Cathedral inside the fortress.. From across the river you can see the tower above the fortress. It is a major landmark. Really pretty at night, with the sun on it, and in the snow.

Elders Rasmussen and Read with "Mr. Binks."  Elder Rasmussen's mother sent him "Mr. Binks" for Easter. She sent it in a huge box with some other stuff. It cost her a very pretty penny to mail it. Elder Rasmussen was unable to eat the whole thing and didn't want to try to carry it on the Metro, so he had some elders, sisters and one of the senior couples, the Gardiners, help him eat it. Sister Gardiner chopped her share into tiny bits and made chocolate chip cookies--she was nice enough to share with us! You can't find chocolate chips in regular stores here.

Sisters Kavolenko, Boyer and Irion waiting to interview with the President.

A classic building (Art Deco, I think) on the main drag, Nevsky Prospect, that has been remodeling for over three years. They just opened an upscale delicatessen-type store on the main floor.

Decoration details inside the deli/cafe. It really is a beautiful building.

 We’ve been really busy with mission tours—general authorities from the church coming here to check us out and to do some training. Life in the office without the office elders is not as bad or as busy as I thought it would be. I was so busy before the elders left I couldn’t imagine how I could take on one more thing. But now I do my work and most of their work and I am not as busy as before in spite of the added work of the mission tours(some of their work was nice and helpful, but not essential, and I had to let that slide).  I seriously believe that the ease of the current work is due to one of the Lord’s tender mercies. We did what we were asked even when it looked almost impossible, and found that everything was even easier than before we took on the extra load. That is truly the Lord carrying your burden for you; when you take on His burden you can lay your burden at His feet and He carries it all, and makes it possible. Or in other words, when I follow the Lord’s plan for me even when it seems to not be very doable, it works out better than what I was doing in the first place. Truly amazing.

This is the back wall. The mirror reflects the window that faces out to the street. Incredibly fancy and expensive place.Those are chocolate waterfalls seen on either side of the standing chandelier. One is milk chocolate, the other dark. The tree-like thing that appears to be sticking out from the standing chandelier is actually a gigantic pineapple in the middle of the room. Little tables are set up under the pineapple. The place was loaded with people.

This is the back of a building near us that someone has been remodeling/building now for over three years. We think it will be a restaurant. We call it either the Taco Bell or the Olive Garden. It looked better when it was just white--don't like the orange. Don't you love the metal duct work on the outside? They could have boxed it in and hidden it. I wonder if they will bother insulating it from the nasty winters. Cracks me up. It takes them years to get anything completed here. Right after they put in landscaping, complete with lawn, shrubs, and brick sidewalk, the city came by the next week and dug up one whole area to lay pipe.

I drug Phil to another cemetery. I find them peaceful and fascinating. He says I'm morbid. This cemetery has a little stream running through a little draw in the middle. The old graves on the sides of the draw are caving in and falling into the draw just back to the right of where Phil is standing. It is an old cemetery and they are running out of room. New graves are put in the draw next to the stream where Phil is standing. Wonder how long they will last there.

The Hermitage or Winter Palace. The square was full of groups from all the armed forces waiting for some program to begin. While they waited the groups did Jody calls to each other and answered back. It was fun to listen to their deep, booming voices going back and forth.

Nevsky Prospect, 9th of May--the anniversary of the end of World War II. We call it V-E day (Victory in Europe). People carry flowers and give them to all the older veterans that they run into to thank them for their service in defending their country. This woman has her service medals on her chest and an armful of flowers people have given her. Two of the senior couples went downtown together that day and they all have white hair. People were coming up to them giving them flowers!