Discontinuing our Blog

We have been asked by our Area Presidency to make our blogs private.  I have spent a couple of days trying to input email addresses into Blogger's authorized readers list.  It continues to tell me that I have too many readers on my list.  I tired to add 115 and it allowed 65 of them.  I then deleted all but 38 and tried to add back 20 different emails.  It kept telling me I had too many readers.

Given the bad experience with this Blog feature we are discontinuing our blog.  We will instead create a document and send it out to interested parties.  If you don't receive an email in the next week with our substitute for the blog in it and you would like to receive it, please send me your email address at rickmcc@mindspring.com.

Blog going Private

Please read!

Because of security concerns for our missionaries we will be converting our blog from a public access blog to a private access blog.  If you desire to still view our blog we need to load your email address into this security feature of our blog.  All those who receive Anne's weekly update will be loaded automatically.  Anyone else who would like to be given access to our blog should send an email to me at rickmcc@mindspring.com.  If I don't know you please state your reason for wanting access to our blog.

Halloween

 As we drive back and forth to Talgar we almost always see someone driving a donkey cart down the side of the highway.  Anne had been wanting a picture of one, so when we passed this one on the road, just outside of Almaty, we pulled over and took this picture as he drove by.  They stay over to the side of the road, but sometimes they can cause a little traffic jam.  It is quite rare to see a white donkey.

 Halloween

Anne enjoys Halloween and goes all out for it.  It just happened that it was on Wednesday and we had district lunch that day.  She designed and made this witch cake.  Rick called it a Kazakh witch because she had dark skin.  The hair was made of string candy.  There were also two candy frogs on the brim of the hat and two white mice crawling around.  

 Anne collected glass bottles and painted them orange with jack-o-lantern faces.  She covered the placemats with some Halloween tissue paper.  (The gummy residue of the tape was very had to get off later.)  She painted jack-o-lantern faces on oranges for each missionary.  (She tries to encourage them to eat fruit and veggies as much as possible.)  She also filled surgical gloves with popcorn and tied them to the back of each of their chairs with the "Parable of Popcorn" tied to it.

 We had wonderful, festive food to eat.  There was a vegetable dip in a spider made of croissant dough.  The deviled eggs had a pimento stuffed green olive slice on top to make them look like weird eye-balls.  The Waldorf salad in the back had gummy worms in it.

There were also these beautiful hot ham and cheese sandwiches

 The missionaries modified their attire in the spirit of Halloween.  Elder Brinton, on the right, put his clothes on backwards.  (He said it was very uncomfortable.)  Elder Beckh put on three ties.  Elder Hansen put one of his ties around his head, but had a bigger surprise later.

 Anne was a black cat.  She dressed all in black and we bought some cat ears at a novelty kiosk.  At the same kiosk, Rick bought a top hat and a gray mustache.  Everyone said that he looked like the Monopoly Man.

 After we were all sat down, Elder Hansen took off his coat and revealed his concealed ties.  He became an instant tie rack.  The other two Elders didn't even know he had done this.  They remarked, "That was why you were in the bedroom so long with the door locked."

 Sisters Nelson and Blomquist creatively cut cookies to be served at a different event later.  Some of them spelled "Trick or Treat," and there were witches and skeleton parts as well as other Halloween characters.

 They surprised us at the door with mustaches on their upper lips and a super big one they made out of poster board.

 More Music Night

Olga and Surgey promised the first night they came that they would come back and perform.  They came back the next week and performed three songs.  Surgey played and Olga sang.

Norkent has been to several music nights and enjoys playing and singing for us.  He has  come to church a couple of times and stayed for all three hours.  It is sad that we can't teach him about the gospel.

Our branch registration was approved just before the October 26th deadline.  Out of 46 church organizations that applied, only 17 were approved by the government.  We were one of them.  Astana has also been approved and have some permissions to preach.  Almaty hasn't received any permissions yet.

One of the highlights was to have this young man finally agree to get up and perform.  He sang some songs in Kazakh and some in Russian.  Elder Beckh accompanied him on the bongo drums.  It's a fun video to watch.

Sister Nelson plays her flute each week.  We appreciate her musical talents.  She also plays the piano and accompanies others.

We bought the music stand for the branch so that it would be easier to read music either standing or sitting.  It folds down compactly to fit in a carrying case.

 Murat Maskeyev has been a member of the church for over five years.  He has never been married.  He is a university graduate in history and worked for the National Archives for 10 years.  Now he rents out an apartment he owns,  is one of the many gypsy taxis, and grows pumpkins.  He is 1st counselor in the Sunday School Presidency.  Last week he was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood and got his temple recommend. This week he is flying to Kiev to receive his temple endowments.

 Cooking Exchange
Arina, our YW President, asked Anne to teach her how to make rolls and lemonaid pie.  Anne agreed, if Arina would come and teach her how to make her Plov.  This is a very popular dish in central Asia and many take great pride in their own recipes, but we think Arina's is extra delicious.  It is a rice dish with meat, carrots and onions.  Arina's previous job was as a cook in an elementary school.  The sisters came and translated and also learned from both of these "world class cooks". 

 Deema's baptism
We don't have permissions to preach yet, but a miracle happened.  Deema walked into the branch one Saturday and wanted to know more.  He had been to church in Novosibirsk ten years before with his mother.  His parents have since divorced and he moved to Kazakhstan with his father and sister.  Elder Anderson couldn't get his six month visa and so has been in Novosibirsk for a while.  Deema was taught by Elder Anderson over Skype.  We took the missionaries and Deema out to dinner after the baptism.  It was a wonderful day.

Murat and Aleeya have been receiving English lessons and attending our music night.  He is a professional dancer and a business trainer.  The first time he came to music night he danced to some of the swing music.  He surprised everyone by grabbing Anne as his partner.  It was so fun.  We all wished we had taken a video of it.  One of our members told him at last Friday's music night that Deema was being baptized the next day and the two of them showed up at the baptism.  Murat also came to church the next Sunday and stayed for all three hours.  They are a sweet couple.

Branch Activities

 GOSHA'S FAREWELL

 At the social for Gosha, the branch choir performed.  They are a special group which includes the missionaries and they sound amazing!  From left:  Nurzya, Asktik, Sister Blomquist, Zarina, Sister Nelson and Masha.

The men's section includes, from left:  Rick, Elders Hansen, Anderson, Beckh and Brinton.
They practice every Wednesday afternoon and sing in Sacrament meeting almost every week.  Inna is their talented pianist and arranges the music to take advantage of individual solos.

RELIEF SOCIETY CONFERENCE

A drive to the mountains is always a welcome treat, but the weekend of the RS conference was especially beautiful with the fall leaves.  The overnight conference was held at a resort up in the mountains.  Rick and Anne waited until Saturday to go so they could take the sister missionaries who were not allowed to go overnight.


They used a meeting room for the group lessons and singing practice.  From left: Nina, Farida, Ludmilla, Arina, Tamara (RS President), and Marianna.

We took lots of pictures so we'll remember this special day.  Waiting for an activity to begin are from left: S. Blomquist, Alyona, Anne, Farida, Inna, S. Nelson, Guldonna and Elmira (the branch president's wife).

Marianna was in charge of this learning-experience game.  They sisters all lined up holding on to the person in front of them.  They were instructed to close their eyes and then Marianna walked in front of them and gave the first person instructions about where to go and what obstacles to avoid.  That person passed the message to the next and so on.

She lead them all around the grounds and through the children's play area.  When they returned to the starting place, she told them that this was an analogy to life.  We have to depend on our Heavenly Father to guide us even though we can't see Him.  She also explained that as sisters in the gospel we have an obligation to help each other through the trials we face.  A good message for all of us.

At the end of the scripture treasure hunt game the sister missionaries and I put together, we met in the amphitheater to discuss the idea of being a light to the world.  We gave them 3-D bookmarks of a lighthouse to help them remember how important they are as beacons of light and righteousness.  These sisters truly are a light to the world.

Guldonna, in the middle, is a non-member who loves the gospel and wants to be baptized, but her parents are very opposed to her being involved with the Church and the sister missionaries aren't able to teach her yet.  She is faithful in her attendance at all meetings and reads everything she finds at the branch building.  We are hoping that when we are able to teach her, her parents will be more open.  Sisters Nelson and Blomquist are on either side.

There were six buildings like this one at the resort and a large multipurpose building with a dining room.  All the meals were furnished and the cost was about $33 U.S. for each person.  It was a beautiful setting for inviting the Spirit and having a good bonding experience.

After a lovely lunch, we all assembled in the conference room for more spiritual lessons and a flower craft activity.  Here Zoya and Myra (new Primary President) work together to make a flower petal.

Kristina, 2nd counselor in the RS presidency, shows one of the flowers that were made.  They will finish all the flowers and make a new arrangement for the RS room.  It will be nice for the sisters to remember the great time they had and the testimonies that were strengthened.  The group included 5 non-members who were also touched as they felt the Spirit.

MUSIC NIGHT

 Each Friday evening, the missionaries host a music night for non-members and branch members who want to attend and participate.  It has been successful in allowing people to share their talents and enjoy good music.  We have some especially talented missionaries, so they set a good example as they allow others to feel the Spirit.  Sister Nelson plays the flute each week and also accompanies others on the piano.  She has also played the flute for choir numbers and when the RS sisters sing.

Elder Hansen shares his musical ability at one of our music night activities, as he sings "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables" from Les Miserables.  Sister Nelson accompanies him.

One of the enjoyable experiences we have here is welcoming visitors who have area assignments.  We first met Brother Nabitnikov when we served in Russia.  He is responsible for seminaries and institutes for Kazakhstan.  He visited recently and spoke in Sacrament meeting and later presented a very effective fireside on strengthening marriage.  There were about 20 people there and he kept it very interesting sharing his own experiences and cute little tidbits of information.  We always enjoy being with him.

NEW BABY!

Christina and Rashid welcomed their new wee one on 10-11-12!  They were so thrilled to have little Alira join their family.  Funny thing, they were married on 8-9-10.  We enjoyed the experience also, since she reminds us of our great-granddaughters.  (Our last one, Anne-Renee, was born 10-24-12.)

Rashid's parents came to visit the week after Alira was born.  This is their first grandchild so they were anxious to see her, even though it's a two-day train trip.  While they were here, they had their 26th wedding anniversary.  We invited them, Rashid and Christina for dinner to celebrate.  Anne baked the cake and tried to write them a happy message in Russian.  They were quite amused by it.  We really enjoyed visiting with them and felt a really warm spirit.  We can see where Rashid gets his gentle nature.

ZARINA'S BAPTISM

We were all so happy when Zarina (center) was baptized!  She's the daughter of Natalya, the branch RS secretary.  She's a delightful young woman and will add so much to the branch with her lovely voice and her positive and happy spirit.  We love her!  Sisters Blomquist and Nelson were thrilled also.

October Activities

 Priesthood Activity
The priesthood decided to go to the mountains for a social.  We had one false start when the first place selected, out on the plain, turned out to not be acceptable.  We then, headed for the mountains close to Talgar.  We found a spot next to a stream up  a narrow canyon.  It took us two hours to get there.  Andre cooked plov again in the big pot you saw on the beach trip we took a while back.  We had one investigator there, Deema, an amazing young man.  We can't wait for our
permissions to preach so we can teach him.

Our New Friend
Nurlan is a maintenance man for Ramstore across the street from us.  We see him every morning when we walk.  He is always so happy to greet us and warmly shakes Rick's hand.  Anne baked him some banana bread a couple of weeks ago and he has been warmer ever since.  Last week, as we finished our shopping at Ramstore, he was right there to take our cart from the checkout stand and he pushed it all the way to our apartment building where he helped us unload it.  Anne says he will make a wonderful branch president some day.  The little dog on his right is a "neighborhood" dog.  He stays close to the store so people will feed him.  When we had our windows open at night, he would keep Anne awake with his barking.

Another trip to the mountains

 We decided to take another trip to the mountains to see if we could see the leaves changing color.  On the way up we saw this statue of a deer.  The man at the lower left is filling 5 litre jugs with water coming out of a pipe.  He had about 20 or so he was filling.  Many do not have running water up this far on the mountain and have to rely on fetching their water.

This collection of yurts along side one of the roads is probably for recreational use for overnight campers.  The leaves were just starting to change color and it was pretty hazy, so it's hard to see how vivid it was.

We didn't see very much color on this trip, so we'll have to go again in a week or so.  Since our trip, we've talked to some residents and they said there isn't much color when the leaves turn.  Mostly yellow and brown and then they fall.

Dinner with Kabdigaleev family
Nurzia and Djastalap invited us for dinner, along with President and Sister Gibbons and Ken Harvey.  Nurzia and Djastalap take care of our branch building and landscaping and she drives missionaries and visitors to and from the airport.

This is Besbermaak which Nurzia prepared along with, what we call, scones.  There were also several salads to accompany the meal.  Besbermaak (means 5 fingers and is usually eaten with the fingers) is the national dish of Kazakhstan.  It is usually prepared with horse or mutton, but was made with beef for us.  It is said that if a woman can't make it, a man may refuse to marry her.

Mira, at top of the picture, is the oldest daughter and wasn't in the picture above because she was taking it.  Also included is Mira's daughter, Merey.  Their youngest daughter was recently married in the Salt Lake Temple and is attending LDS Business College.

Ludmilla from Talgar
We take our sisters out to Talgar to visit Ludmilla almost weekly.  Ludmilla was baptized just before we got here.  Her 2nd son joined the Church first and is attending BYU-I at the present time.  Her other son, Alexey, is active in the branch and lives with her.  She teaches in the geology department at the Talgar University.

Dinner with Unbayevs, Vova, Nastia, Tamara and Marianna.
We invited two couples along with one of the couples' two mothers over for dinner.  Pictured to the left are Rashid and Christina Unbayev.  She is expecting a girl on October 15th. He is a returned missionary, math teacher, branch clerk and is studying for a masters degree.  She is from California and they met when she came to Kazakhstan with the Peace Corp.

Tamara Nazina (left), is the branch Relief Socity president and teaches finance at a local university,  Nastia Nazina (Tamara's daughter-in-law) and Marianna, (Nastia's mother).  Marianna is a famous journalist, TV show producer and first member baptized in Kazakhstan.  As we finished dinner, Vova's brother called and needed his help so he left before we took pictures.  You may remember this family from the wedding pictures we had of them in July.  Yes, Nastia is expecting with a due date of April 18th.

Mug Cakes
Anne had the missionaries do mug cakes on the last P-Day that Sisters Talakh and Williams would be with us.  They have been transferred to Novosibirsk.

Our zone leaders, Elders Anderson and Beckh, can't wait to dig into this scrumptous looking treat.

Sisters Blomquist and Williams are also anxious to dig in.  Sister Blomquist told us later that she was very surprised at how good the cake tasted.  She wasn't expecting it to be that good.

Sister Williams is going to be training in Novosibirsk.  The mission just received a lot of new sisters and trainers were needed.  She will also be orienting other missionaries in Russia to the Kazakh language.  She will go home in December.  We will miss her.

Elder Hansen mixing his mug cake.  Anne had all the directions put on slips of paper and the missionaries grabbed a mug (they got to take it home) and went around the table putting the ingredients into their mugs before microwaving them.

Elder Brinton is enjoying his mug cake and ice cream.

The last picture of our full district before the sisters left.  We had Islam, one of the security guards downstairs, come and take the picture.

Sister Talakh is going to Novosibirsk and will be companions with a mini-missionary from Almaty, Elena Obchenikova, for the last three weeks of her mission.  Her financee was released from the Novosibirsk mission two days before she flew up there.  They were engaged before they came on missions.

Construction in the Mountains
This was wild!  We took the sisters up the mountain to visit the Vardanians.  On the way up, there was some construction.  The road was cut down to one, very narrow lane for about 150-200 yards. The right side lane was dug down about 6 feet.  The wild thing was there was a bend in the road which made it impossible to see if anyone was coming toward you.  There was a guy in the middle trying to direct traffic.  However, it was getting dark so he probably would not be there long.  I wouldn't want to be on that road then!