May Day

Yesterday was official May Day. All the Elders were told to wear p-day clothes and no name tags and they had to be in by 5:30. We went with two Elders on an adventure. The Branch Mission Leader had organized a clean up detail to go to a non-member house, actually his dasha, out in the countryside. So we got on the Metro and went eight or so stops north. Then we got on an electric train and went even further into the countryside. What a delight to be out of the city and out where there were pine trees and birch looking trees. Lots of water, though, and a few snow drifts still in evidence. We got to the place and I promptly started raking trees from last year. We worked for a couple of hours. The object of our visit, the husband, came and visited with me a couple of times and we seem to hit it off. He could speak halting English and I spoke my bit of Russian. His wife has wanted baptism for some time but he has refused to see the Elders or allow her to be baptized. The Branch mission leader is a cook also. He made these "shishcabobs" of pork and there was tomatoes cut up, cucumbers, and several other vegetables. It was quite a good meal. The apple turnovers were from the fellow's own trees as was the drink. I was quite wary of the drink as it was in these large, at least gallon jugs, and had things floating in it. Come to find out, the things were apple slices and it tasted quite good. Can you see this, Sister Clements and I out in the middle of nowhere, some twenty miles north of St. Peterburg, in this rural setting, having a bar-b-que. We got home in time for the curfew, but it was a bit of a challenge as we got lost at one point after getting off the metro too soon.
We have been to Dostevsky's museum, interesting but a little boring after the first half hour. We had English ear phones there and that was good. Two days ago we went back to the Cathederal of Spilt Blood that is shown above. We went in this time to look around. It is a spectacular building but the inside is not what I expected. It is quite open and there are mosaics covering every wall clear up to the 40 foot ceiling. The pictures are of all the Saints and Jesus in different parts of His life. Tremendous work went into this and it took many years. But it is not the kind of thing we will go back to as there is really nothing there but this big open room with all this intricate art. But as this is a major tourist attraction, there are vendors there who have all the traditional souveniors. We must have looked at thousands of "matyrusaka" dolls. We have our eyes on a few and will go back and barter. There is also a famous three bridges place there and it is a favorite for weddings. There were at least four wedding groups on the bridge while we were there.
We had District Conference this past weekend. Our General Authority visitor was Elder Paul and his wife. He is the 1st Counselor of the Europe East Area. The talks and training was great. We had the change to visit quite a bit with his wife and for a while with him as he interviewed and we discussed what he wanted us to do. Seems like they are quite worried about the return missionaries from Russia and want them to all be active in the institute.
We will have a set down with our area institute director in the next two weeks and figure out what is exactly expected. Right now institute is winding down and they don't seem to be able to plan very far ahead. The Elders tell us it is a Russian thing. They don't feel a need make plans very far ahead. In fact, they don't want to commit to an appointment till the night before or even the day of the appointment. Interesting culture.
So we have been out and about walking about the city. I am beginning to recognize many of the buildings and palaces. They are all the same architecture and drab paint, well almost all the same. But they have a lot of history. We did find the major market that is hidden inside a city block. We got some things there like a summer jacket for Diane and a cap for me.