Until We Meet Again - Yugo Zapadnaya Branch and the Service Center

26 April 09 - The morning after returning to Moscow from our Area Humanitarian Conference in Armenia, we took the metro for our last time to attend church in Moscow. Our mission had only three days left before our flight left on Wednesday morning.

The previous Sunday, I had taught my last Relief Society lesson in our Moscow branch, which is now being referred to as the Universitet branch since the Yugo Zapadnaya branch moved to the Universitet metro stop. At the end of the lesson, I had taken the opportunity to tell the sisters how much I loved them and enjoyed our relationship in the branch.

Now, on this last Sunday, we had brought bookmarks with Greg Olsen's "Children of the World" picture and our personal printed "goodbye" message for the branch members. There were hugs and tears as we said our individual goodbyes to these good people who had become an important part of our lives. I will post a few pictures here taken that Sunday.

Posing after Relief Society on our last Sunday
in Moscow at the Universitet branch
(formerly called Yugo Zapadnaya branch).
The sweet lady in her 90's with white hair in the
middle row, left, is among the first
members to be baptized in Russia.

Sam (left) is approaching the entrance whereYugo Zapadnaya members now attend church
in this recently remodeled building.
Two more members are by the entrance
ready to enter the building.

Sister Lydia, a faithful member of about a year,
always gave me such a warm welcoming hug and
kiss on the cheek each Sunday. Our weekly
conversations were understood by the heart if
not by the ear; she spoke only in Russian while
most of my words were in English with
an occasional translation by one of the
young missionaries.

Lena (third from the left) helped with the
Primary this Sunday and was not in Relief Society,
so we took another group photo. Lena had given
tickets to us for several musical events.
Sister Natalya (second from the left) continued
to be the Relief Society president when the two
branches were again united. Her warmth always
made everyone feel comfortable and loved.

On our walk to the metro after church, we
passed one of the numerous flower stands. Russians
love flowers, and you never had to go very far
before you would come to a place where flowers were sold in a kiosk or by a lady on the street
or in the entrance to a metro.

We are on our way home from the metro.
Sam is carrying his scriptures and is
nearing the crosswalk that leads to the
entrance to the park we walk through
on our way to our apartment.

This day there is a child riding a horse in the park.
The trees will soon be leafed out,
and there will be lots of flowers planted,but that has not happened yet.

When we entered our apartment this Sunday,
we were pleased to be greeted by Valentina,
our favorite of the ladies who watch
the front entrance. We love this lady and
regret the language barrier that prevented us
from having any real conversations beyond
the greetings and repetitive phrases we
always exchanged with smiles and hugs.
She is a real sweetheart.

27 April 09 - We put in a long day at the office after having been in Armenia for the conference and wanting to have things up to date for the Burtons when they would arrive May 8. I had been putting together an instruction book with details on my various responsibilities addressing what, where, how, and when. In addition, I went through my electronic files and Outlook Inbox files wanting to have them meaningful and helpful for someone new.

On our way to the office each
day we passed this sign with the
Sokal insignia. Yes, it says
"Sokal" in Russian, which is the
district where we lived and worked.

This statue of a sokal bird is at the
corner of the block before we
reach the Service Center.

Sam has reached the gate to enter the Service Center.

The man sitting at the gate recognizes us and unlocks the gate for us as we approach. His name is Semyon Milner. We always wave at him as we pass by his window. It is usually Semyon in the booth each week-day morning. There is someone guarding here 24/7, so on days when we stay late or on a Saturday if we come to work, there is someone else on duty.

Of course, people stopped by to visit us in the office one last time; and we appreciated these visits. We had our printed goodbyes and the Greg Olsen bookmarks to give along with our favorite Russian candy that tastes similar to a Snicker's bar. Here are a few photos taken on our last full day at the office.

Tatiana was the person who
communicated with us regarding
our rent, as our landlady lived in
Siberia and we only saw her once.

Because Tatiana spoke very fast using both Russian and English in the same sentence, we sometimes were unsure what she had told us; but she was always helpful and kind. While we were in the Moscow West Mission, Tatiana was the one who made sure we were properly registered each time we re-entered the country after a visa renewal or training meeting outside of Russia if we were gone more than three business days. Luba took care of us when we became part of the Moscow Mission, and she always gave us a cheerful greeting as she went by our door.

Zhanna in Finance was so nice to work with, and
she was the person I took Payment Requests to or
my questions regarding invoices.

Dmitry was also in Finance, and
he was the one I took the
Russian expense logs to and provided him
with information regarding the
JPMC account balances.

Oleg heads the Visa and Travel department.
We enjoyed his cheery greetings as he passed our
office as well as his humor and good stories.

Victor also works in Visa and Travel. He is the
one who usually took care of the Letter of
Invitation we needed when we visited another
country and checked on our travel plans.

Karina was the administrative secretary for Vlad
and David Stapley before moving to the office
of Human Relations next door to our office.

We often were the last ones to leave the Service Center, but after Karina's promotion, she frequently was still working when we walked passed her door. At those times, we stopped briefly and told her "da cvedonya" before leaving for the evening.

Sofia and Elena are
young friends who also hold a
special place in our hearts.

Sofia was in Spain visiting her parents the final days we were in the Service Center; so I am including the picture taken last year of Sofia and Elena. Sofia is the receptionist at the front desk. Elena used to be the receptionist; but when Karina moved to the Human Relations office, Elena was promoted to Karina's former position as the executive secretary for David Stapley and Vlad. We have enjoyed our association with these two young ladies. Sofia is planning to go on a mission, and Elena is engaged to be married.

Milena is head of the Human Relations department.

When Manuel from Columbia came to visit Milena, he stayed with us for five days. It was interesting to learn that our son Doug had been Manuel's zone leader in Peru when Doug served his mission there. Milena is from Yerevan, Armenia; and that is where they went to get married.

We were touched by the emotion Peter showed
when he came in with Victor as a translator to
tell us goodbye.

Peter was the maintenance person and always had a smile and greeting for us. Each morning when we came, he would be sweeping leaves, or shoveling snow, or whatever needed to be done around the Service Center. On Women's Day, he had brought me candy.

28 April 09 - One last morning, we went to the office to respond to e-mails from the humanitarian couples. At 10:00, we had an appointment for an interview with President Cranney, our mission president.

Walking to the metro, we passed the usual
street vendors with their veggies, fruits, and
homemade crafts.

We met with President Cranney, and
we appreciated his kind words and counsel.

Sharon Yorgesen and her husband are the office
couple for President Cranney, so we had an
opportunity to visit one more time with them.
Sharon gave me the updated recipe book from
the Moscow Mission.

David Yorgesen and Sharon were part of our
senior missionary group that we enjoyed so much.
When schedules permitted, four to six of us
met on Thursday evenings to learn some of the
Russian language, and David was a regular
member of this study group.

Coming from the Mission Office, we met Vladimer
who is in charge of the drivers;
and he assured us we would have a driver
take us to the airport the next morning
in time for our mid-afternoon flight.
Since we had several pieces of luggage,
we appreciated not having to take
the metro and bus to the airport.

29 April 09 - The day had arrived and with some sadness about leaving Moscow and yet some eagerness to see our family and friends at home in the U.S., we were packed and ready to leave our apartment.

The apartment is ready for its new occupants,
the Burtons, arriving May 8.
The three water filters by the sink have been
changed and ready to provide good drinking water,
the freezer between the sink and the oven is not
empty, there are spices and canned goods
in the cupboard, and the handy drying rack
is left up ready to use.

Our luggage, carry-ons, laptop, and big purse
are ready with all that we are taking. Of course,
we had already sent home some winter boots,
souvenirs, and more stuff with our children
when they had come to visit.

We are ready to open the double doors with the
safe-like locks and say goodbye to our apartment
where we have been happy for 18 months.

True, the couch was uncomfortable, the oven got too hot, and you had to lift the tank lid on the toilet to flush it; but this had been home and we got along fine. We left a spare set of keys and a metro pass, but the wallet and name tag on the counter are Sam's to take.

Driving in traffic on the way to the airport.


We pass by Ashan's. This is where we went to do our
main shopping every 4 to 6 weeks when
we could schedule a driver to take us and bring
back the bags of groceries.

In between times, we shopped at the kiosks for fruits and vegetables and at Two Captain's for other grocery items which we had to carry while walking about 20 minutes to our apartment. It will be nice to have a car again to drive to the grocery store.

We have arrived at Sheremeteva 2 airport.

We arrived early enough to weigh our luggage to see if it made weight. As we thought, one suitcase to be checked made the 40 kilo limit, but the other three were overweight. However, the lady at the desk said it was okay with her; so when it was time to actually check in, we went to her desk and she put the luggage on through without our having to do any repacking or paying a penalty. We felt very lucky.

When we got to New York, we were waved on through at Customs and didn't have to have our luggage opened to be checked. Of course, we didn't anticipate having any problem had we been picked to be checked; but it was nice not to have them rifle through things I had neatly packed.

We made our connecting flight to Salt Lake City, and we were on our way to see our Utah families who were waiting at the airport for us with a welcome home banner. Those pictures will be in my next blog. We had a very pleasant homecoming in Utah Wednesday evening and again in South Dakota on Saturday. It was great to be with family!

Area Humanitarian Conference in Armenia - More Goodbyes

In my last posted blog, I shared events and photos of things done with the senior missionary couples during April in Moscow. This post will continue with our final days before flying home at the completion of our mission, including our trip to Armenia. You can appreciate how busy we were with preparations for the conference and then being gone four days in Armenia, getting things ready for our replacements at the office and in our apartment when we leave, packing all of our stuff into the allotted two checked bags plus a carry-on and purse or laptop for each of us, and saying our final goodbyes. We also wanted to have final reports done for the projects we have done in Moscow that were ready to be closed.

Closing our humanitarian project at a baby hospital
where newborns to 4-year-old orphans were treated.
Here Sam is pictured with
President McCullin (district president),
the director of the baby hospital,
Anna (our interpreter), and
Elder Steve Rees (Area doctor).

The director of the baby hospital was very appreciative of the equipment the Church donated to help these babies. About 500 infants are treated here every year. Often these have been born to mothers suffering from mental diseases, alcoholism, drug addiction, syphilis, etc. Usually, after treatment, the children are strong enough to be put into an orphanage; and about 10% are adopted. However, some children with severe neurological pathology stay at the hospital until four years old. The infusion pumps the Church donated are used to feed babies who cannot take food or medicine orally, and the aspirators and nebulizers help babies with breathing problems.

We have been impressed with the good the humanitarian projects are doing in the Europe East Area. Every cent of the money donated by caring people is used for humanitarian projects to relieve the suffering of the poor and needy and none is spent for administration costs. It has been a pleasure to be part of this charitable effort and to know this service is helping to improve the lives of others, who are usually not members of our church.

Anna Smirnova, our interpreter. It
was difficult to say goodbye to Anna,
who has become part of our family.
We feel the same way about Nactya,
our first interpreter.

Nactya - we love her, too.
She is shown here with the director of an
orphanage where the Church donated medical
equipment so they could get
their medical wing certified.

April 20 (Monday) - Elder & Sister Grey serving in Samara and Elder & Sister Lowry serving in Voronesh had to come to Moscow by train to fly out of Moscow for the Area Humanitarian Conference scheduled April 23 and 24 in Yerevan, Armenia. Wanting to do some sightseeing in Moscow, they arranged to come two days early. The Greys stayed with us, and the Lowrys stayed with the Masons. Monday evening, after having a chili supper at our apartment, we went one last time for a favorite Moscow memory at Red Square with these three couples.

Here we have the clock tower and
Kremlin wall behind us.
(Red Square, April 20)


Elder & Sister Grey (Roger & Sue)
in front of Lenin's Tomb on Red Square.


It was a cold evening for April, but the sky was pretty.



The Masons with St. Basil's in the background.


Here are the four couples getting warm in the
high-end GUM department store located on
Red Square. We are waiting for the lights to be
turned on outside to give the magical look
to Red Square that we never tire of seeing.
(Denelle & Dan Lowry,
Sam & Narene, Sue & Roger Grey)


A bird's-eye view inside GUM department store.


Red Square lighted at night.
I guess other sightseers thought it was too cold,
as the Square looks deserted.
It is worth the wait to experience this sight.
(Narene dressed in her warm Russian coat and hat.)

April 21 - Early Tuesday morning Sam went to the office, and I came later with the Greys. While I took care of e-mails, Sam took the Greys and Lowrys to meet Vlad. Then we went to the Asian Market, which is a humongous, mostly indoor market with thousands of stalls selling a great variety of things. If you should find something you want, you had better get it while you see it, because you may never find your way back to it again. Prices are good, and bargaining is expected.

Leaving Ismaly Park and heading for the Asian Market
with the Greys, Lowrys, and Masons.
(Tuesday, April 21)

This day was one for buying Russian hats, which we actually got in Ismaly Park before going to the Asian Market. Most vendors are set up to sell in Ismaly Park only on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but there were a few selling on this Tuesday. The hat salesmen were eager to sell us Russian hats and the prices came down to suit us.

Here are Elder & Sister Lowry (Dellene & Dan)
with their new Russian fur hats on the metro
going to Family Home Evening.

We had our farewell FHE the week before, but it was nice to be able to take the Greys and Lowrys to the Yorgesens to meet the other senior missionary couples in Moscow at another of our enjoyable weekly Family Home Evenings. We are really going to miss these special times.

Here we are with our new Russian hats.
(Renee, Roger & Sue Grey, Dan & Dellene Lowry,
and Narene. Sam has a Russian mink hat, but it
was sent home with Scott & Kristine.)

April 22 (Wednesday) - We appreciated having a driver meet us at the Service Center to take us and the Greys and Lowrys to the airport to fly to Yerevan, Armenia, for the Area Humanitarian Conference. The driver wanted to leave at 7:30 a.m. to be sure we made it through traffic in time to make our flight, and we had plenty of time. We left cold weather in Moscow and were pleased to have a warm, sunny welcome in Yerevan. After checking into our hotel, we four couples plus Tom & Patti Arave went for a walking tour.

I don't know what this statue represented, but
we decided it was a photo op.
(Tom & Patti Arave, Dellene Lowry (Dan took
the photo), Roger & Sue Grey,
and Narene & Sam)

Our hotel was near Republic Square, so we went through the square and walked quite a distance before ending up at the Opera House. Returning to our hotel, we discovered a shorter, direct route via a new pedestrian street.

Republic Square has impressive architecture.
All the buildings in the square are made with
these similar rose colored blocks.

National Art & History Gallery


A typical apartment building.


The tulips were a welcome sight. They
hadn't bloomed yet in Moscow.


Yerevan Opera House


The Opera House can be seen at the end
of this pedestrian street with new buildings
on each side of the street.


Sam & Tom Arave are headed toward the
Congress Hotel, where we all stayed.


Sam & I joined these couples for supper in a
small "Armenian Restaurant" by the hotel.
(Burtons, Bowdens, Jorgensens, Wellings,
Irelands, and Boehms)

When we came to train the Blotters, we had eaten at this small restaurant and were impressed with the friendly service and good food. This time I ordered the same thing I had before, a vine-wrapped meat mixture. It was very good. The owner brought us their special berry juice, and we thought it was compliments of the house; but I think we paid for it. He also served us special Armenian breads and veggies.

The meat mixture is wrapped in grape leaves.
(I think it might have been
minced lamb and rice with herbs and seasonings.)

Our agendas were full on Thursday and Friday when we heard from several of the humanitarian couples attending regarding projects in their areas. Vlad Nechiporov, Area Welfare Manager (our boss) conducted the meetings and spoke to the group Thursday afternoon. Other guest speakers included President Larry Gibbons of the Area Presidency; David Stapley, Area Director of Temporal Affairs; Ray Whitesides, Area Controller, Elder & Sister VanDyke reporting on their work with Public Affairs; and Elder & Sister Dow telling about their work with employment issues in Armenia.

We enjoyed being with these humanitarian couples who are serving in the Europe East Area. The countries they represent are Armenia (Blotters), Belarus (Wades), Bulgaria (Jorgensens), the Baltic States (Boehms in Latvia), Georgia (Larsons), Kazakhstan (Wellings), Turkey (Looslis, Fifields, and Keelers), Ukraine (Pettys, Kinghorns, and Cudneys), and Russia (Bowdens in Novosibirsk, Howards in Rostov, Greys in Samara, Araves in St. Petersburg, Lowrys in Voronezh, and Irelands in Moscow. The Strawdermans in Vladivostok and the Moultons in Yekaterinburg are soon to be going home and chose not to travel the long distance to attend).

Sam and I had our part on the agenda Thursday afternoon. Sam presented suggestions for improving and administering projects. Then he met with the couples serving in Russia, and I met with the other East European couples going over issues related to finances.

Friday morning, we had a teleconference with Sharon Eubank in Salt Lake introducing the new reporting and tracking system for projects which will go into effect for each couple as soon as they have done the tutorial and are ready to use the system. It should be more efficient and free up time for actually doing projects. Couples will be able to see what stage their projects are in, when they have been approved, when the invoices have been paid, when a project is over or under budget, when it is ready to be closed, and when it is closed. We wish this system had been in place 18 months ago!

Our Friday morning session ended with testimonials; and then after eating lunch, we had a bus tour to see Mt. Ararat where Noah's ark is reported to have landed. Our tour included visiting three historical churches: Khor Virap Monastery, Cathedral of Echmiadzin, and Hripsimeh Church.

Khor Virap Monastery
with Mt. Ararat in Turkey in the background.


Khor Virap Monastery
Saint George the Illuminator was imprisoned here
for 13 years; but when he cured King Tiridates III of a
disease in 303, the king and members of his court were
converted to Christianity and Armenia became
the first official Christian nation in the world.


Vlad took Sam's picture in front of the
Khor Virap Cathedral.
This cathedral was completed in 618 and is one of
the oldest surviving churches in Armenia,
although it has undergone several changes since
it was first built. In 1790 the two-tiered
bell tower was added with an eight-column belfry.


Sam & Narene at Khor Virap Monastery
with Mt. Ararat partially covered by clouds.
Since Mt. Ararat is in Turkey, we were cautioned
not to go beyond the neutral zone
where a fence and tower mark the boundary.


We passed this cemetery when we left
the Khor Virap Monastery.


Our tour guide showed us the map of Armenia,
and asked if we could see how it made a profile
of a lady with a small nose and long hair.


Some of the countryside as we traveled along.


Echmiadzin Cathedral
We are looking up trying to see the figure of a man
over the entry. Shah Jahan was told the figure was of
him so that he would not destroy the church.

According to Wikipedia, Echmiadzin Cathedral is the oldest church in the world. It was originally built by Saint Gregory the Illuminator in 301-303. Then in 480, the Roman governor of Armenia had it replaced with a new church shaped like a cross. In 618, the wooden dome was replaced with a stone dome, which rests on four massive pillars that are linked to exterior walls by a series of arches. The guide drew our attention to the church floor plan being in the shape of a cross, which is typical for an Armenian church.

These are Armenian crosses, which are all
different, but typically have carved designs of
flowers or vines and often suns. The lower shaft is
usually just slightly longer than the arms and top.
Each end has double tips.
(Narene at the left; Carolyn Jorgesen at the right.)


The altar in the Cathedral of Echmiadzin.

We are standing in front of one of the

several buildings on the grounds
of the Echmiadzin Cathedral.
There is the residence of the Catholicos
and also the Theological Academy.


Our group had this photo taken at Echmiadzin.
(Sam & Narene center front & middle row)
It has been a pleasure working with these great
people, and we are happy we had this
opportunity to know them.


Hripsimeh Cathedral
(Vlad is taking one of his excellent photos.)

This cathedral was completed in 618 and is one of the oldest surviving churches in Armenia, although it has undergone several changes since it was first built. In 1790, the two-tiered bell tower was added with an eight-column belfry.

The altarpiece (1741) has inlaid mother of pearl
with branches, leaves, and flowers arranged
around an encircled Greek cross.


This is the tomb of a martyred nun,
and the stones that were used to kill her are
enclosed in a receptacle in the wall.


A carved Armenian cross inside the
Hripsimeh Cathedral.


Sam got muddy shoes getting this shot
of the cow in the foreground of the
Hripsimeh Cathedral.


This Armenian man gave me the flower and
seemed pleased to have his picture taken.


We enjoyed our tour and
seeing the countryside as well
as the historical churches.


People are removing the meat from the skewers of the
shashliks served at this nice restaurant at our
meal following our tour.


Before our desert was served from these
pumpkin or squash bowls,
Vlad joined the waiters for a photo.
Inside was some kind of squash mixed with
rice and berries, which was not very sweet;
but it was okay and rather interesting.
The waiters came around
offering second scoops of the "squash," but I
don't think there were many takers.


Elder & Sister Welling (LeRoy & Anne), who are serving
in Kazakhstan, arrived in the Europe East Area
soon after we came. They have done much good
in Astana where they have been living,
and they have enjoyed their mission in spite of
having only one other member of the church in
their city, and she speaks Mongolian.

We went for another walk in the evening

and enjoyed this view in Republic Square.
( Elder & Sister Loosli - Richard & Joanne -
humanitarian missionaries in Istanbul)


Bruce & Melinda Kinghorn were with us in the MTC,
and I have enjoyed reading Melinda's blog
as she has recorded their experiences in Ukraine.

We will miss our frequent association with these and the other great couples we have served with while on our mission, and so there was some sadness as we said our goodbyes to those at the conference. We would love to see them again.

April 25 (Saturday) - As we had an afternoon flight, we spent the morning seeing more of Yerevan with other couples who had later flights. We had been told there was an outdoor market, which some of the couples found; but the group we were with ended up at a park where artists had their paintings for sale.

These interesting statues were in the park.

We bought a painting from this artist
showing Mt. Ararat
with the Khor Virap Monastery
and a field of yellow flowers in the foreground.


Before going to the airport, we had lunch with Vlad
at the Armenian restaurant again.
This time we had Armenian vegetable soup
with Armenian bread
wrapped around cheese and salad greens.


An aerial view of Moscow in the distance with
what looks like dachas (summer homes) in
the foreground.

April 25 (Saturday) - We made it back to our apartment in Moscow by 8:30 p.m. With the conference behind us, our thoughts turned to the three days left to get everything finished before flying to Salt Lake. Those final days and photos will be recorded in the next blog.