Siberian Winter

Because Siberian Winters are long and their apartments are small, the Russian people have learned how to have fun in the snow.  All over the city you can find these ice slides.  The children love to go and slide.  They are really quite fast, but they love them.

 They don't let a "little" snow stop them from having a fun game of soccer.

Starting the end of December you can find these ice sculptures all over the city.  They are really quite amazing.

We went with Randy and Sue Webb to a display down by the river.

 These stair rails are actually made of ice.  They are not there during the summer.

This was one of the bigger ice slides.  

They get going really fast and then crash into a foam covered barricade.

This river is a little bit bigger than the Columbia River and is frozen solid.

We have our hay mazes. They have their ice mazes.

 We had such fun with the Webb's.

This is the Year of the Snake.  We found lots of sculptures of snakes but this is one of the best.  They also believe that if they embed coins it will bring them luck.  Like throwing coins in a fountain.









Although the thermometer dropped to -50 F, and the wind would blow and we walked on ice everywhere we went, Siberia has been an amazing adventure.  We have come to love the people and their strength of character. We are so thankful to have this experience!

Nice break from Siberian winter weather

Ephesus - Church Education System Training

In February we went to Ephesus, Turkey for CES training.  That was a wonderful experience and a great break from the freezing Siberian winter weather.  During the training we found out that there are a whole list of things we should be doing but were not aware of.  So now our life will become even more full and exciting. 

Ephesus ruins

Renovation site

Floor tile made from marble chips

Beautiful home

Public toilets - good way get to know your neighbors

One of the main streets in Ephesus

My best friend and the greatest missionary companion

It was a neat experience to be in one of the cities where Paul taught.  Where he taught the saints that the church must be built on a foundation of apostles and prophets and that they are necessary until the saints become perfected.  We stopped in the ruins of the amphitheater and talked about some of the doctrines Paul taught.  We concluded the session by talking about how we need to put on the full armor of God as we go forward in doing His work.  These conference was great to recharge our spiritual batteries and inspire us to do more.

Coliseum where Paul may have taught

Notice height of snow

Notes from the life of a senior Siberian missionary couple

Another week has flown by.  We never thought a mission would be so busy.  Monday we did our normal shopping for the week, prepared family home evening and talked to our kids. 

Tuesday we talked to our kids, studied, had a 4 hour meeting with President Darchyov and Elder Guschin about SMYC and then went to English Club. 

Wedenesday, we had our language tutor for 2 hours along with our personal study, prepared for a fireside we were giving in Omsk on Thursday night and then for our district cultural night we went to watch the Locomotive professional volley ball team with Brat Savchuk.  This is Novosibirsk pride and joy.  They won the Eastern Europe league championship this year. 

Train Station in Omsk - very ornate

After the game we packed our bags and boarded the 1:00 AM train for Omsk.  We arrived at 9:30 AM, did some quick shopping for things for the fireside games and then met with a young couple for lunch.  After lunch we met with the Branch President, institute and seminary teachers for a couple of hours before the fireside to talk about ways to improve participation of the youth.  We played games to start and then held a fireside about the SMYC youth conference coming up and we talked about things they needed to do to prepare themselves spiritually for it.  I talked about who we need to follow and how to be prepared by using the spiritual 10 essentials.  We have been impressed with the strength and leadership we see among the members in Russia, both the adults and the youth. 

Church in Omsk

After the fireside we found out President Drachyov’s hometown hockey team was playing on TV, so we went to TGYF’s for a snack to watch the third quarter of the game. While we were watching the game I got a call from Brat Savchuk, 1^st counselor in the Branch presidency asking Barb and I to speak in Sacrament meeting Sunday.   After that we boarded the 1:00 AM train and headed back to Novosibirsk. 

Games with YSA

We arrived at 10:00, headed home and started getting ready for a district meeting and lunch being held at our apartment at 12:30.  Friday night and Saturday morning we worked on our talks and then went to a institute council meeting at noon.  We spent about 4 hours there and then went straight into a seminary super Saturday event, which is a combination of games and scripture activities. 

Our district

How high can you stack cookies

Easter Egg hunt at Mission Home

That evening we went home and colored 20 Easter eggs with the Sister Missionaries, pealed 20 potatoes and Barb made a potato casserole for Easter dinner with the Missionaries on Sunday at the mission home.  Sunday we gave our talks, attended church from 11 to 2 PM and hustled (shuffled on the ice) home to pick up the eggs and casserole in order to be at the mission home by 3:30 PM. The Easter dinner was great and we love being with the missionaries.  There is something truly magical about the young full time missionaries.  They truly reflect the light of the Savior in all they do.  By the time we arrive home Sunday night we were ready for a good night’s sleep.  Barb’s pedometer clocked our Sunday walking as 7.5 miles and 47 flights of stairs.  Not bad for one day. 

Young Adult Easter Fireside

We talk about what a busy week we had, but President Drachyov does this all the time along with being the Branch president, and working full time.  He is a very amazing young man, full of fun and enthusiasm.  He has such a powerful grasp of the scriptures and a deep understanding of how they apply to our daily lives and church administration.  The youth love him and so do we.  We are truly blessed to have the opportunity to work side by side with him.

Well that about wraps up our week.  Fun, fun, Fun!

Christmas in Siberia

Christmas, 2012 was one that we will never forget.  Who would have ever thought that we would be celebrating Christmas in Siberia, Novosibirsk, Russia.  But here we are and loving our experience.  We soon realized that Christmas is not that big a deal here in Novosibirsk.  Not that many decorations in the stores, or music streaming through the malls.   I realized that I missed that part of Christmas.  But thanks to our wonderful children, at least our apartment was decorated for Christmas.  They sent us cute snowflakes with the grandchildren’s pictures on them, and prints of their feet for Mistle Toes.  And some very creative decorations of Popsicle sticks and Q-tips

Our newest Nativity from Finland

Our Nativity from Kakistan

 On Christmas morning we had our District over for breakfast.  We consider them our mission family, so it was almost like being home.  That afternoon we all went over to the Mission Home and had Christmas dinner with all the Novosibirsk missionaries.  They shared their musical talents and then we all left and went to the Nutcracker Ballet.  It was amazing!  To think that we went to the Nutcracker presented by the Russian Ballet on Christmas Day.

Do you recognize the Sugar Plum Fairy?

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It was a Christmas to remember!

Bergst – New Group formed

There are a few members who live in a town about and hour outside of Novosibirsk, so the President decided to start a Group there.  He sent two missionaries there and assigned Elder Webb to be the Group Leader.  The Webb’s travel there every Sunday to hold Sunday meetings.  Elder Webb asked us to speak there the Sunday before Christmas, so we went out with them Friday night after the Branch Christmas party in Novosibirsk.  It is a town of about 500,000 nestled around a lake in a rural area.  While there we visited a historic church and snow sculptures we found on the way.  The city places large cubes of snow in some of the parks and the local people carve their snow sculptures from them.  It is a fun tradition.

Since they do not have Costco here I have not been able to find my favorite treat (animal crackers in the gallon jar) to fill my cookie jar.   So I have been testing every cookie I can find to fill that gap.  It is fun trying, but so far I haven’t found the perfect match.  Although I have found several that are good second choices.  Oh, the trials and sacrifices I am faced with.  I found some alphabet cookies that I hope will help with my pronunciation and vocabulary.  I figure if I eat enough of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet characters, when I speak, the correct sound will automatically come out of my mouth.  So far it hasn’t worked, but I will keep trying.

 

This is only a small sample of the different cookies I have tried.  I think the count has reached over three dozen types of cookie/crackers.  Still no match.

Happy Thanksgiving

One of the primary objectives here in Novosibirsk is to help this new district mature enough to become a self sustaining stake.  Since the Church is very young here, first started in the mid 90’s, the Priesthood leaders are inexperienced and need training on how to handle church affairs.  The mission President who is the presiding authority here has scheduled a series of training meetings to help these new leaders.  Since the President, Elder Webb and I have all had many years of Church leadership experience, he has asked us to help him do the training.  We take various scenarios and role play best how to handle each one.  I think this first session went well and the priesthood leaders appreciated the training they received.  If all goes well we hope they will be ready to create a stake during 2013.  We have loved working with the Russian members. They are wonderful and have strong testimonies.  

For Thanksgiving we spent the afternoon with the Novosibirsk missionaries in the mission home having the typical turkey dinner.  Between Sister Gibbons, Sister Webb and Sister Gundersen we had more food than 28 missionaries could eat.  We ended up having turkey leftovers for our next district meeting.  It is amazing about how talented these missionaries are.  After dinner we had a small program where some of the missionaries performed on the piano or song.  They are amazing.

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Each week a district meeting is held at our apartment, where about eight missionaries attend to report and receive training from the more experienced missionaries.  What tremendous people they are.  Of course after the meeting we serve them one of Sister Gundersen’s famous hot meals.  They love her cooking.  She has already gained a great reputation for providing the best meals in Novosibirsk.

It is hard to believe that four months have already flown by.  We are really enjoying our stay here.  Even the freezing temperatures haven’t slowed us down or damped our spirits.  However, the icy uneven walkways have slowed us down a bit.  I have fallen four times and Barbara twice.  Wherever we go, it is arm in arm.  We can’t count the number of near falls we have had, but thanks to our partner we have been able to recover before going down.  So far our coldest temperatures have been minus 52 Fahrenheit.  So we just dress up really warm and off we go.  We average about 3.5 miles walking per day. 

Life couldn’t be better.  Well warmer temperatures would be nice, but hey, we are in Siberia.

View from our kitchen window.  The white area above the houses is a frozen lake
Everything freezes and stays that way until April.  Our Winter Wonderland.