Kazakh Countryside

Young Single Adults
We hosted a social for the young single adults in the branch, but most of them had to work or couldn't make it.  We had lots of fun playing games with (from left) Katia, Gosha and Alyona.  Gosha is leaving in September for a mission to the NY NYC Mission.  He and Alyona became engaged recently and she is planning to leave in January to serve a mission.  There were 9 YSAs from the branch who attended a YSA conference in Russia the week after this party.

Branch Lake Service Project/Picnic
The branch arranged for a large bus to take members, missionaries and non-members to a large lake (Kapshguy) about an hour and half north of Almaty so we could pick up trash and clean the beach.  There were about 30 people who attended.  Elder Nalimov, in the blue head kerchief and Sister Nelson, right, were good helpers.  They had already emptied their bags once.  As you can see, there were some pretty full bags after they finished this section.

Baktiar and Farida drag a full bag across the beach to be emptied.  Rick is on the right, just coming back from dumping our bag.  We all worked for over two hours and the difference was amazing to all who watched.

There weren't any picnic facilities, so we made do with what we had.  Beginning left, Sisters Nelson and Talakh, Elder Nalimov and Sister Blomquist helped prepare salads for the lunch.

Andrea (leaning over the pot), the Elders Quorum President was in charge of making plove, a rice/carrot/meat dish.  It was all done over an open fire in a huge cast iron pot.  It took about 4 hours for everything to cook, but was really worth the wait.  It was some of the best plove we've eaten.

We couldn't resist showing the innovative wind shield the brethren put up.  They found this old car hood and a piece of old rebar and were able to keep the wind from blowing the fire out.  Sister Talakh can be seen on the left.

At the end of a long, hot day, the group gathered for pictures.  There were lots of sunburns to go along with all the smiles and happiness we enjoyed together.  One of the sisters bought baseball caps which Rick and Anne were happy to use.  In addition, Anne used her rain umbrella as a shield from the sun, but still got some sunburn.

P-Day in the Mountains

The missionaries arranged for a tour of several interesting sites in the mountains east of Almaty.  The first stop was an ostrich farm.  Several branch members came and a former missionary and his family were visiting, so they came also.  Rick lifted Badar up so he could get a better look at the ostrich.

The next stop was near a raging river.  Elder Beckh couldn't resist climbing out on a limb over the river.  Anne was very nervous, but managed to take this shot.  We were all relieved when he was back on solid ground safely.

Another highlight was climbing up an unimproved, steep, steep path to view a waterfall.  Rick and Anne made it up about halfway (about a half hour climb) and then decided to take their time getting back down.  This little waterfall along the path was good enough for them.

The last stop was the beautiful lake nestled in the tops of the mountains.  We ate lunch and enjoyed the scenery and the peaceful surroundings.

This mama donkey came running down the road looking for her little colt.  A young boy had come by with the colt earlier.  He was training it for trail rides.  Her braying could be heard all over the valley.

A young boy came back up the road riding this donkey at a gallop.  On this trip, we saw several donkey carts hauling goods to market or taking people back home from the little towns we passed.

Before we left, we took a group picture.  It was a fun day for all of us.  The mountains were beautiful and cool and the company was the BEST!

Rick's Birthday!

The morning of Rick's birthday, we walked out the door for our morning jaunt and all these cute posters were taped around the doorstep.  The thoughtful sister missionaries remembered his day and wanted to let him know how special he is to them.  The Elders presented a creative birthday card to him later in the day.  We are so blessed to serve with these amazing servants of God.

All the missionaries joined us in the evening to celebrate Rick's birthday.  We enjoyed blueberry pie (Rick would rather have that than cake) and ice cream together and sang Happy Birthday with lots of enthusiasm.  This was the big 7-0 and will be a treasured memory.
(From left back:  Elder Brinton, Sister Nelson, Rick, Elders Hansen and Beckh.  From left front: Sisters Williams, Talakh and Blomquist.) Elder Nalimov had left that day after serving faithfully for two years.

Hodge Podge

Founder's Meeting

The Church's charter as a religious organization expires at the end of October,  therefore, we got involved in a rechartering process.  This involved getting 50 Almaty citizens, members and non-members, to sign a document saying that they favored the Church being in Almaty.  A Founder's Meeting was held with an announcement of officers and people came up afterwards and signed the document.

Imangaziev Family to Dinner

Myrat was the branch president here before President Dautov.  He now serves as 1st counselor.  This family was the first Kazakh family baptized.  Maxat, back left, is a returned missionary and going to school at BYU Hawaii.  He was just married here and then sealed in the temple in Hawaii.  Sabina, back right, goes into the MTC on Sept 4th and is going to the Temple Square Mission in Salt Lake City.

Sisters Help Bake Pinch-Me-Cake

Sisters Talakh and Williams wanted to come over and learn to make rolls.  After the dough was ready, they decided to make Pinch-Me-Cake instead.  Since it was P-Day, the Elders came also and it was all gone before they left for the day.  Wow, it was good!!!

Our Morning Walk

As we start out our morning walk, we are often greeted by one or the other of the security guards for the building.  Sultan (pronounced Sooltan), left, is the head guard and Islam is his assistant.

Next we see the maintenance man who sweeps up the street in front of our building.  He is very good with his long, straw broom. He always has a smile and is tickled to see us.  He often giggles when we talk to him.  We gave him an English Club flyer.  We hope to see him there some day.

Next, just on the corner, before we cross the street to Ramstore, is a dedushka (grandpa) who is selling his home-grown produce.  We buy from him frequently.  He also always smiles and waves to us.

This is one of our favorites.  This little babushka (grandmother) sells apples, flowers and booties that she knits while she sits there.  You can see them on the sidewalk.  We have bought several pair for baby gifts to be given in the branch.  We bought apples from her once and Anne baked an apple crisp and took her a serving.  She was very tickled and shared it with those that sell around her.  She waves at us with both hands and has a big smile for us when we walk by.  She tells us, "Thank you!" in English.

On the other side of Ramstore, as we walk down the street toward the park, we greet the grounds keepers, Ngman, left, and Balzhan.  Balzhan always shakes Rick's hand, both coming and going to the park.  We are only able to exchange greetings.  We alternate between Russian, Kazakh and English.  They were surpised the other day when they asked us in Russian, "How are you?" and we replied, "Jzuksa!" (Kazakh for "good").

On August 3rd, Balzhan stopped us and pointed to his passport with the date of August 3rd on it and saying something about Anglieskey Klub.  We weren't sure what he was saying.  So he pointed down the street and said Anglieskey.  So we followed him and met three ladies (two of them are pictured to the left).  The young one on the right graduated from university a short time ago and knew some English and was interested in coming to English Club.  She asked if she could bring her sister.  We told her, "Of course!"  She then told us that August 3rd is Balzhan's birthday.  We laughed and told him, "Happy Birthday!"  Later that day, we took him some dessert to celebrate.

After we leave them, we walk down through the park which we pictured before in the City of Flowers post.  At the bottom of the park is the entrance to the underground, brand new Almaly Mall.  It is beautiful.  As part of an opening promotion they displayed several trash art sculptures.  This one is a warrior on a horse.  If you look closely you will see that it is made out of old machine parts.  It is pretty cool.

Then, a little further on is this wire sculpture that is also neat to look at.

On the Way to Metro

One day, we missed our turn going to Metro supermarket (like Sam's Club).  No big deal, we decided to take the next turn.  It was just taking two legs of a triangle to get to our destination, instead of one.  Big mistake!  We had to drive through about 4 miles where rennicks lined both sides of the street.  This hadn't been a problem before because it was on a week day.  It was Friday and it was jam packed one both sides of the road.  It took us 30 minutes to make it through this area.

New Sisters

Two new sisters arrived in Almaty on August 2nd.  This is Sister Blomquist and she is  Sister Williams' companion.  She is from Holiday, Utah, and is excited to be here.

Sister Nelson arrived also and is Sister Talakh's companion.  She is from Riverside, California.  She knows Hebrew, is majoring in Ancient Near- Eastern Studies and minoring in archeology.  She has been on a dig in Israel and unearthed a jar herself and helped with an alter.

We feel like our family is now complete with 8 missionaries here in Almaty.