Talgar Orphanages

The Ark Orphanage Service

The three elders came with us to do service at The Ark orphanage.  We spent 7 hours there cleaning, painting and clearing weeds and debris.  When we moved a large storage cabinet away from the wall, it was covered with black cobwebs.  Rick spent time cleaning the wall off with a traditional straw broom.  He's just finishing the job here.

Elders Beckh, top, and Brinton had to cover the storage cabinet with plastic before we started painting.  They were pretty innovative getting high enough to cover the top.

Elder Hansen had to use some elbow grease to pull nails out of the walls.  Since there wasn't a good tool to help him, he used what was available.

The elders found an old bike and couldn't resist a little fun during a break.  Elder Brinton became quite proficient, even doing wheelies.

One of the elder's jobs was to clear marijuana plants.  We see it growing wild everywhere here, even in peoples yards and around businesses.  Elder Hansen had a helper, Medet, who lives at the orphanage.

One of the jobs the elders had was to move this side of beef from the truck into the kitchen.  It took all three to lift it and Elder Brinton ended up with it on his head.  They were pretty grossed out by all the blood on them.

We were invited to have lunch with the children and each missionary sat at a different table.  The boy on Elder Brinton's left invited him to come back to his room to take a nap after lunch.  The missionaries were just darling with these adorable little children.

Medet, on the left, insisted that Rick and Anne sit at his table.  We also enjoyed having Sasha, Antone, and another Sasha.  They served us homemade chicken noodle soup, carrot salad and fresh bread.

Each child is assigned responsibilities each day.  These two little boys helped prepare and serve lunch and then cleaned up their assigned tables after lunch.  They are all very well behaved and polite.

One of the most inspirational things we saw was this painting by Vova.  He's lived at the Ark for several years and is completely wheelchair bound.  His hands are very crippled, but he paints wonderful pictures by holding the paint brush between his ring finger and little finger.  He wanted to show us this particular painting because he said he saw it in a dream.  We couldn't help but see the resemblance to the Tree of Life, with the river running beside it and the walls of Jerusalem in the background.  We were all very touched.

After lunch, we all finished our projects.  The elders had to be innovative again to haul the clippings and weeds to the dump pile.  They used a large plastic woven bag and a screen framed with wood.  They said the screen was heavier than the stuff they hauled on it.  Rick and Anne finished painting and cleaned up the room.



The Nur Orphanage

Elder and Sister Anderson, humanitarian missionaries, came to Almaty from Astana to spend a few days evaluating humanitarian projects.  We drove them out to Talgar to visit The Ark and Nur orphanages.  The Church has provided equipment for Nur in the past.  They were proud to show us the professional stove and ovens they received from Salt Lake.

When we arrived, these boys were happy to have their picture taken.  The orphanage houses 100 children in dorms.

After meeting some of the staff and the head of the orphanage, we were treated to a lovely lunch.  All the food is cooked on-site and was really good.

"Big Mama", the founder, was so gracious, helping the young girls who served us.
They had prepared scones, flat bread, rolls, turnovers, blini (Russian pancakes), salad, roasted chicken, vegetables and cookies for us to enjoy.  We were all very full when we finished.

Azamat, "Big Mama's" son, interpreted for us until the woman on the left came from her teaching job to take over.  They were both very kind and answered our questions.

This stack of flour will last about 20 days.  They use a bag a day.  It was stacked in the hall because the storage room kept it too warm in the summer weather.  Part of the remodeling they are doing is to improve this room so it can stay in it all year long.

One of the girl's dorm rooms.  There are twelve beds in the room which is used just for sleeping.  The Church provided beds they needed last spring.

These are the wardrobes in one of the girls' dressing rooms.  Each girl has one side of these little closets to store all her possessions.  I hope our grandchildren realize how fortunate they are!

Across the courtyard at the back is the bath house.  It is being renovated right now, but is where the children go to shower and bathe.  Eight can go in at a time.  I can't imagine how miserable it is during the winter months.  It gives me chills just thinking about the cold after a warm shower.  The gardens were lovely in different areas of the complex.

Elder Anderson arrived from Novosibirsk, Russia, to be Elder Beckh's companion.  He had served for several months as President Gibbons' assistant.  He is truly an asset here and we are grateful for him and his wonderful leadership abilities.  He's been studying the Kazakh language and is all ready quite proficient.  In fact, he helped develop a book on learning the Kazakh language and brought it with him.  We feel like our family is complete again.

Miriad of Activities

 Sunday Dinners

Two Sundays during the month we have the missionaries to dinner and the other Sundays we invite branch members.  This is Nurzia (on right) with her daughter Mira and Mira's daughter Merey.  Djastalap, Nurzia's husband, didn't come because he was helping our Elder's Quorum President do some projects in his apartment.

This is the Vanner family.  We rent the car from them.  We had them to dinner in July and they returned the favor and invited us a few weeks ago.  Gosha (on the right) was to be in the MTC on the 4th of September, but the Church is having problems getting his visa.  Alyona, Gosha's fiance', is waiting for her call.  We understand it's in the mail.  Sergey, the father, is not a member.  Ina, the mother, is a little dynamo.  She is early morning seminary teacher (over the  internet), Primary President and Choir accompanist and leader.  Masha is 14 and a delight.  Seva is the youngest and a fun little boy.

 Picking Apples
The first counselor in our branch presidency has an apple orchard in addition to both he and his wife working.  He came to town early Saturday morning and took some of the missionaries and we took the rest and went out to his orchard, about an hour and a half away.  Sisters Talakh and Nelson had gone to Astana to help them with registering their branch with the government.  We picked the golden delicious apples, emptied them on the ground and then put them in crates later.

 Young Women Activity

The YW had a cupcake decorating activity.  From the left are Masha, Astique, Nursulu and Armenui.  Astique and Armenui are sisters.  The YW had weekly activities during August.  Now that school has started they will have them only twice a month.

 They did a beautiful job on these cupcakes.  Anne has been doing training with the new YW presidency and they invited her to the activity.  At the end they presented her with two cupcakes and a card expressing their appreciation for all her training efforts.

Sabina was set apart for her mission and asked the two of us to be there since her parents couldn't because they were working.  We were honored to provide support for her.

First Music Night

Sister Blomquist came up with the idea of having a music night.  We have a very musically talented group of missionaries in Almaty right now.  The following pictures are of our missionaries that participated in this first event.  Here Sister Williams is playing the guitar and singing.

 Sister Nelson played a flute solo and accompanied several others on the piano.

 Elder Beckh and Sister Blomquist sang a duet.  Both |Elder Hansen and Sister Talakh have wonderful voices and will be presenting at the next music night.

 Murat, one of our guests, got up and danced to "Let it be" doing some Elvis type moves.  Then, he extended his hand to Anne and got her up and danced some swing with her.  Rick is so sorry that the video of Anne's dance with Murat didn't turn out.  Anne was very relieved.  The woman on the right was also a guest and had her young daughter with her.

 Alexey, another guest, is pictured here with Elder Beckh.  He works basically one month on and one month off.  When he is off, he spends a lot of time with our missionaries.  He lived for 3 years in England and speaks with a British accent, which Rick really enjoys.  He came to our English Club when we were able to have it.  He's also an amateur photographer so we have him take pictures of branch activities.

 Birthdays

It was not only Anne's birthday on Sunday, the 9th, but it was Elder Hansen's as well.  When Anne opened the door, she was so pleased to see what Sisters Williams and Blomquist had left for her.

 Sisters Talakh and Nelson came by later in the morning, surprised her, and gave her these three, very large, long stemmed roses.  She had to shorten the stems because we don't have a vase to put the long stems in.

 Rick also bought flowers for her and gave them to her Saturday night.

 Elder Hansen's Birthday

We celebrated Elder Hansen's birthday on Sunday night by inviting the missionaries over for cake and ice cream just before they went in for the night.  Anne secretly found out that Elder Hansen really liked German Chocolate cake.  She couldn't find German chocolate so she baked her very good chocolate cake and put the typical coconut, pecan special frosting on it.  Elder Hansen was very happy!  After three tries to blow the candles out, the other elders helped him.

Elder Hansen turned 20 and said he felt old.  Anne turned 71 and said she felt young again.
















Anne's Birthday Celebration

 Anne asked to take the missionaries to dinner for her birthday present.  On Monday, we took them up the gondola ride to the hill overlooking Almaty, next to the TV tower (in the background) is a restaurant overlooking the city.  Most of them ordered steak and said it was the best they'd ever had.  Starting with Rick in back, Anne, Elders Hansen and Beckh, Sisters Talakh, Nelson, Williams, Blomquist, and Elder Brinton.

Sister Blomquist made a very good chocolate cake and the sisters filled the top with candles.  Anne blew them out with one try.

The elders gave Anne this two hump camel and the sisters gave her the Kazakh female to accompany the male that Rick had been given for his birthday a few days earlier.  Now Rick thinks he can say he's ridden a camel.

    

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.