Visa Renewal

The government here definitely likes to let you know who is in charge. One of the major problems for the Church in having missonaries here is that any visitor has to leave the country every 90 days and get their visa renewed to get back into the country. Just imagine the cost in dollars and time to do this for every missionary every three months. We are close to the border but, of course, many of them have to fly long distances to do this. In the past it often took a couple of weeks, sometimes longer, out of the country to get this done.

Recently, the Church has worked out a system that at least cuts down on the time it takes for the process. After each missionary arrives someone in the mission office applies to the US embassy for a second passport for them. This seems strange since ordinarily you can only have one passport at a time, but this is an exceptional, two-year passport. Then, having two passports, one can be sent to the Russian consulate in the country nearest the missionary 10 days ahead of renewal time. The missionary still has to go to that country but the turn-around time is only a day or two because the paperwork has already been done.

We had our first experience in this process last week. We were driven to Tallin, Estonia, about a 4 hour drive, and there picked up our new visas and came back the same day. Should have been a piece of cake -- but it wasn't. Driving out of Russia was no problem, but getting back in is something else. The cars get so backed up because of the time it takes to process each one at the border that they have you park in a designated parking lot and take a number. Our number at 2:00 in the afternoon was 643. Then we sat there in the hot car for the next 8 hours! Of course, it could have been worse -- it could have been cold! (And will be the next times we go.)

I believe I mentioned when in Lithuania that it seems every European city has its fortress, and Narva, Estonia, was no exception. (This was the border town.) Shown here at two forts exactly opposite each other on the sides of a not-very-large river. One is Russian and the other Estonian, but who knows what countries were in power when they were built! It seems that all their history was just continual warefare.

Friends, Rain and the Hermitage

Lunching with friends has always been one of my favorite things to do, but lunching with a friend from home when you are 10,000 miles away is really special, and yesterday we got to do just that. Our friend Portia Loosli from Ashton, and her daughters, were in St. Petersburg for two days on a cruise. She wrote me weeks ago and said that they were coming and would like to see us. She had picked up my comment on this blog that I couldn't find 'regluar' measuring cups and spoons and said she was bringing me some and anything else I wanted. What an offer! I did have her bring me some piano prelude music because I brought only organ music and there are no organs here so I play only hymns for every meeting. Anyway, we arranged to meet at one of the cathedrals and how good it was to see her. We loved visiting with her and her daughters, Michelle and Jane. It was just so good to talk to folks from home. We sent our love to all our temple shift workers with her. So thank you, Portia, for lunch and the 'goodies' you brought, but most of all for taking the time and effort to see us. I hope anyone else reading this who may be 'cruising' this way would do the same.

When we left them it was raining and we, rather inadvertently, took the long way home and walked for over an hour in the rain. But it was a warm rain and we had umbrellas so we just enjoyed it. It seems so ironic that we have had over a week of rain, just like you are having at home. And we just received an email from the Wades in Belarus and they said the same thing. I'd say this is a pretty wide-spread weather pattern. But we are happy to hear of full reservoirs at home. Haven't heard that for many years.

We recently had our first opportunity to visit the Hermitage, one of the most famous museums in the world for which St. Petersburg is especially known. It is a huge complex of mansions built by Catherine the Great and other of the tsars and houses such a vast collection of art, sculpture and lavish furnishings that it is said if you spent just 30 seconds at each display it would take 11 years to see it all. You certainly don't begin to see it all in one visit. The best-known part of the museum is housed in the baroque style Winter Palace of the tsars, built in 1752. This photo shows only a very small part of the palace but you get the look of it. I have to admit that neither of us are art conisseurs (can't even spell it), but being in the presence of original Rembrandts was a bit awe inspiring. This is where our missionaries do their service hours. Each missionary spends 4 hours a week working here. We are envious but the couples don't get to do it because we don't speak Russian.

Couples Conference in Lithuania

The Europe East area, of which Russia is a part, is the largest mission area in the church. (That should be no surprise considering how large Russia, alone, is.) In addition to all of Russia it includes the fromer USSR states and Armenia and Bulgaria. Last week we attended an area conference for CES couple missionaries, which was held in Lithuania. There were 11 couples there and 3 more couples in Ukraine who were not able to attend because of recent changes in their visa regulations. (Remember that this included only those whose calling is Church Education System or Seminaries and Institutes, as it is also called.) We flew to Lithuania, via Moscow, on turbo prop planes. Almost couldn't believe our eyes. Earlier a couple of our Russian friends had asked us which airline we were going on. When we replied they exchanged knowing smiles and one of them said, "Ah, that's the one we call Russian Roulette!" That was a bit unnerving.

We stayed in a very nice hotel in a quaint, old town which had the obligatory ancient fortress/castle, which you find in most every European city. Our conference was good -- very instructive and uplifting and inspiring. It is really good to rub shoulders with others who are out doing the same sort of thing you are doing. It helps to share experiences.

We arrived back in St. Petersburg around 11:00 pm and were met at the airport by our branch president, who moonlights as a taxi driver. On the way back to our apartment he drove us by this very unique church pictured here, and because we are now right in the middle of White Nights, I was able to take this picture at midnight with no special timing or lighting. This church is very un-Russian. It was built in the Neo-Gothic style for Catherine the Great just as a little, whimsical church where she could stop over on her way from one palace to another.

Yesterday we attended a baptism of a young lady who will be in the branch we attend. She has been taught by several sets of missionaries over several years and finally felt the spirit testify to her of the need for baptism by authority. A baptism here is a wonderful thing. They are rather few and far between in this country. (Our whole mission only had 44 baptisms last year.) The elders and sisters work so hard but find their greatest success in re-activating young members. One of our greatest concerns is keeping especially the young people active. Even many returned missionaries are inactive within a year or so because of the pressures of living in this culture. Hence, the great need for a strong Institute of Religion program. These young adults are where the future of the church lies. We found at the couples conference that our situation here in St. Petersburg was the envy of the other couples because we are just embarking upon opening a real Institute Center, which will be open for a portion of every day to attract the young people there. The only other centers like this are in Armenia and in Moscow (althought there is no couple there at the present time). We are excited about the opportunity ahead of us in setting up this Center and establishing a curriculum that will entice the young single adults to gather there for classes and social interaction. We keep being told that our main objective should be to get the kids to get married (in the temple, of course).

Things are happening

Boy, we have caused a stir around here. It seems the Area Presidency really wants the youth emphasized. So all of a sudden, two weeks ago in our church meeting, which meets at our intitute building on Sundays, the Branch President gets up and announces that the branch is moving to another building on June 14th because this building is to be a youth center. So we will now start having a family home evening on Monday, classes on Tuesday and Thursday, and the building will be open all week long for the youth to come and study, play games, socialize, and talk. This will begin in about two weeks. I thought they might wait until January when a new building is to be finished, but, just like that, they are gone. That means instead of a 15 minute walk to church, it will now be two twenty minute walks and a metro ride, but that is ok, as we now have our own building to decorate and supervise. We have about 70 active youth and hope to get that over a hundred before we leave. We are also going to work with the missionaries to contact all the return missionaries who have gone inactive.

Two weeks ago we started a family home evening for any youth who did not have a regular home evening they were attending. We had two Elders and two youth show up the first night. This past Monday we had two Elders, six youth and us, so it is progressing. One of the six was a non-member. We will miss the next Monday as we will be in Lithuania at our convention but another missionary couple will hold it for us.

I am constantly amazed at the many things there are to see here. Two weeks ago we went up north with the other two couples to the very old city of Vyborg. It was full of history and historic buildings including a fortress that was built to stop any invasion. The top of this place was 240 steps straight up. Sweden built the original town and then it became Finnish and now Russian, since World War II. The next Saturday we are going to Peterhof. It has famous fountains and is a palace. I am sure by the time we leave, there will not be a palace or cathedral we haven't visited. And there are a huge number of them around. The picture below is looking through an old, bombed-out building in Vyborg to the clock tower beyond, which still has a working clock. There was a young man dressed as a monk standing there showing people around and telling the history.

It is facinating to be around these people. To think, when I was in grade school we were being taught to hate the Russians and that they were going to bomb us at any time. Now we look at them with such different eyes and wish somehow we could get them all to listen to the message we have for them. That will get better for us as the language becomes better.

The White Nights

This photo is a typical street as seen from a boat on the canal. It made me feel like I was in Venice (not that I've ever been in Venice!). I like the way all the buildings are painted different colors. We are beginning our experience with the White Nights of St. Petersburg, which is from now until the middle of July. Following is a little blurb about them taken from a guide book:

"Although the phenomenon known as the "White Nights" is not unique to St Petersburg, in no other northern city have they received such poetic and literary acclaim. What could be more romantic than a walk along the banks of the city's rivers and canals in almost broad daylight, no matter what the time of day? No other major European city can rival this experience nor the atmosphere on the streets of St. Petersburg during the summer months - lively, friendly, romantic and bustling with people throughout the night as well as the day!
From late May to early July the nights are bright in St Petersburg, with the brightest period, the White Nights, normally lasting from June 11th to July 2nd. The White Nights (Beliye Nochi) are a curious phenomenon caused by St. Petersburg's very northerly geographical location - at 59 degrees 57' North (roughly on the same latitude as Oslo, Norway, the southern tip of Greenland and Seward, Alaska). St. Petersburg is the world's most northern city with a population over 1 million, and its stands at such a high latitude that the sun does not descend below the horizon enough for the sky to grow dark. In fact night becomes curiously indistinguishable from day, so much so that the authorities never need to turn the city's streetlights on!"

While visiting the elder's apartments the other day they showed us how to feed the pigeons. I had always thought them such a nusiance (the pigeons, not the elders) because they are under foot and flying up in your face everywhere you walk. But it was fun to make friends with them.

Photos of the Cathedral on Spilled Blood

These photos of the inside of the cathedral shown in our first post go along with Lou's comments below.

I want to make a comment about the challenges of cooking here. In the first place, we can't read any labels on the products. Even though we can sound out the Russian words, usually they aren't words that correspond with the English words. And you often can't recognize a product by sight. For instance, we hunted and hunted for mayonnaise and finally were shown to it in packets much like the kid's juice drinks at home -- but it tastes good. Vanilla comes powdered in little envelopes, as does baking powder, etc. (much like our yeast packets). We went to the Ikea store one day and I was able to buy some kitchen utensils. But even there the only baking pan I could find is a little smaller than a 9 x 13". No loaf pans, pie pans or cookie sheets. I'm still looking for more. And I was so foolish to not bring measuring cups or spoons (I was told you could buy anything here). Of course, the only ones here are in metric measurements. Anyway, I'm not doing much cooking and no baking, yet.

Two things I'm very thankful for -- filtered water and hearing. We just got a water filter last week and are so happy to not have to lug home big jugs of water every few days. (Okay, Lou did the lugging, but I commiserated.) The Church is very committed to providing all missionaries with good water filters on the kitchen faucet so they have good drinking and cooking water. But since ours is a new apartment for the mission, it took some time (and much difficulty) to get it installed. Be thankful for your good water at home (especially in Rexburg!). I think ours is one of the very few countries that has clean tap water.

And I'm thankful for hearing because while in the MTC I got an ear infection which caused my eardrum to burst. I lived on pain killers for the next week until it healed but then had no hearing in that ear. The doctor told me it would come back in a month or so, and it is now beginning to. It takes some time for the scar tissue to thin out so that the ear drum works again. It has been very annoying, especially when someone is always translating softly in my ear. I think I needed to learn patience.

Each week we get a better understanding of just what our work is here. Maybe we are slow learners!

Diane

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.