Training in St. Petersburg

We had another opportunity to go to St. Petersburg last week. We left on the train Wednesday evening to do training with the new humanitarian missionary couple there and came back Friday evening. The Araves had invited us to stay with them in their apartment, and it was an easy walk from the train station.

We walked along Nevsky Prospect, which is the
main street in St. Petersburg.

It was dark when we arrived, but Sam remembered the way. The Araves are in the same apartment where we had visited the Eastleys when we were there last spring.

Patti & Tom Arave
are the missionary couple we trained.
They are from Blackfoot, Idaho.

After spending most of the day with training, we went walking while the Araves stayed at their apartment with those who came to get their Internet connected. It was a pleasant evening for walking, and the city was decorated for Christmas.

A mall on Nevsky Prospect.

One of the numerous canals in St. Petersburg.

Our Savior on the Spilt Blood Cathedral,
also known as the Cathedral of the Resurrection.


This cathedral is seen at the end of the canal.


We enjoyed our walk along the canal.


Another pretty night scene.


There was a little snow on some of the walks,
but the air was still and not too cold.


After our walk, we invited the Araves to
eat with us and picked this small cafe.

We spotted this place that looked just like the place in Tver where we had eaten the best blini we have had, so I was looking forward to another delicious blini. Here we ordered blini with chicken and they were good, but not like the ones in Tver where we had ham and cheese blini topped with tomato, cheese, and a cheese sauce. For dessert, the ladies ordered a strawberry blini, and the guys ordered ice cream.

After we ate, the Araves walked with us along Nevsky Prospect. A main attraction is the Kazan Cathedral at the center of this long street.

Kazan Cathedral

The Kazan Cathedral has a curved colonnade of 96 huge columns and is modeled after St. Peter's in Rome, although it is an Orthodox church. The construction began in 1801 and continued for ten years.

A closer look at the columns of the Kazan Cathedral.


Even the big Christmas tree looks small
by comparison to Kazan Cathedral columns.


Standing in front of the statue of Mikhail Kutuzov
in front of the Kazan Cathedral are
Patti & Tom Arave and Narene.

Mikhail Kutuzov was the Russian Field Marshal who is the army leader and hero of the 1812 War against Napoleon and is immortalized in Tolstoy's "War and Peace." He is buried in Kazan Cathedral, and a statue of him is erected in front of the cathedral.

A statue among the columns on the colonnade
of the Kazan Cathedral.

Friday morning, the Araves were still trying to get their Internet connected, so Sam and I toured two important churches in St. Petersburg - The Savior on the Spilt Blood and St. Isaac's Cathedral. In May, with Jeff & Rochelle and Doug & Shannon, we had toured the most famous tourist attractions in St. Petersburg, the Hermitage Museum and Peterhof. I wrote about that trip on my blog in June. (See the blogs posted June 15 and June 22.)

The Savior on the Spilt Blood
showing some of the mosaics on the exterior
covering 1050 square meters.

Our Savior on the Spilt Blood or Cathedral of the Resurrection was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded. In order to build the bell tower over the exact spot where the emperor was attacked, the body of the church was extended beyond the line of the embankment and juts into the canal.

Interior of Our Savior on the Spilt Blood Cathedral
where mosaics cover 6,000 square meters.


Our Savior on the Spilt Blood
is decorated throughout with mosaic representations
of Old and New Testament subjects.


St. Isaac's Cathedral
Built between 1818 and 1858

St. Isaac's Cathedral
It's four porticoes have 72 huge granite columns
ranging in weight from 64 to 114 metric tonnes.

Narene standing by one of the pillars
in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

St. Isaac's Cathedral showing part of the dome.

The front entrance of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

One of the huge doors at St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Entering St. Isaac's Cathedral

Inside St. Isaac's Cathedral looking toward the
open doorway where the priest can enter
with the iconostasis on both sides.

St. Isaac's Cathedral is decorated with many
mosaics and painted decorations as well
as gems and marble.

See the white dove at the very top of the dome.


Interior of St. Isaac's Cathedral

One of the chandeliers in St. Isaac's Cathedral


We passed by the Admiralty on our way
to St. Isaac's Cathedral.

The Admiralty was founded in 1704 as a fortress and shipyard, but the building standing today was built between 1806 and 1823. It was Russia's Naval Headquarters until 1917 and now is a naval college.

The Hermitage Museum
We enjoyed our tour of the Hermitage in May; and
although it would take weeks to see it all, we opted
to see other sites on this visit to St. Petersburg.


We enjoyed seeing the variety of architectural styles.

This is a unique building,
but I don't know anything about it.


St. Petersburg is an interesting place to visit,
and we could walk everywhere we went.


The train was comfortable, and we got back
to Moscow about 10:00 p.m.

Moscow Christmas Devotional

Friday morning, December 5, a Christmas devotional was held at the Central building for the church employees and volunteers working at the Service Center and Meridian building. Messages were given by President Wolfgang of the Area Presidency; Brother Stapley, the DTA (Director of Temporal Affairs); and the young secretary in the CES office (Church Education Service) who had served a mission in St. Petersburg. The music was provided by the different departments in the Service Center.

Employees in the Finance department
singing a cute Russian song.
(The three on the right are ones I frequently
have contact with: Valentina, Dmitry, and Zhanna.)

Sam and I were invited to sing "Away in the Manger" with the Visa and Travel department, who are across the hall from us in the Service Center. The first verse was a solo by a young missionary who has taken operatic training at BYU, the second verse was sung in English, and the third verse was sung in Russian. Refreshments were served, and we were given a nice leather covered hymn book with a Christmas card from the First Presidency. After the devotional, we went back to the office for the rest of the afternoon. Here are a few photos taken after the devotional:

Valentina, Elena & Vlad Nechiporov


Sam with Sofia, the receptionist at the Service Center.


Narene, LaDawn Gibbons,
Chris Shepard, and Helga Wolfgang


Sisters Curbishly, Pieper, Gibbons, and Shepard

Yugo Zapadnaya Branch

Today was Elder Armstrong's last Sunday with the Yugo Zapadnaya Branch because he has received a transfer, so he wanted to have pictures taken with the branch members who were there after church.

Yugo Zapadnaya Branch
(sitting: Elders Salinas, Harker, and Armstrong;
middle: Anthony, Frank, Lydia, Oxana, Natalia, Natasha;
back: Elder Aiken, President Karneov, Elder Terrell,
Elder Mills, Lena, Natalia's husband,
Olla, Elder & Sister Ireland)


Elder & Sister Ireland
with Elder Armstrong & Elder Salinas


Elder Blatter & Elder Aiken - serving in the Mission Office
(Elder Blatter took the group photo and so
was not in the branch picture.)


Sister Ireland & Lena
by the branch's Christmas tree.

Elder Salinas and Elder Blatter had also served in the Tver branch, so we knew them first when we were assigned to Tver. Today, Elder Blatter translated for me in Relief Society. It is amazing how well the young Elders do with the Russian language. In contrast, most senior missionaries seem to struggle with our progress in remembering these new words using the Cyrillic alphabet. However, there is some improvement. This year we can sing the Christmas carols, maybe not always with the correct pronunciation, but nevertheless, we can sing along with the Russians. I do love the Christmas carols, and I missed being able to sing the words last year.

Relief Society Enrichment at the Rusts

We had a very enjoyable Relief Society Enrichment event this evening at the home of the Rusts who live in Prokrovsky Hills, a very nice suburb of Moscow. Their home was decorated beautifully for Christmas, and they have a large collection of Grandfather Frosts and other Christmas decorations they have obtained during their years of living in Russia. He works for an oil company in management. The program and music gave us the Christmas spirit, and the hors d'oeuvres and desserts were delicious. Renee Mason, Linda Nearon, and Linda Rees, and I went there on the free shuttle that picked us up at Sokol (our metro station) and brought us home afterward.

Last year, I had gone with Chris Shepard and Ann Richards to the Rusts' home for a similar affair. I had admired a Russian nativity set they had. Janet Rust told me they had gotten several for family and friends, and I made arrangements to have one made for me. I picked it up this evening, and we have it set up on our wide window shelf to help keep us focused on the real meaning of Christmas. The figures are about six inches tall.

Our hand-crafted Russian Nativity

The Reason for the Season

His Name Shall be Called Wonderful

The reason for the season

As senior missionary couples, we take turns hosting Family Home Evening on Tuesday evenings. It was our turn this week to have it in our apartment. The Masons were the only other couple without other commitments, so they accepted the idea of going together to eat out for our activity. They recommended a small cafe they had recently found that serves good food for a reasonable price, and we ordered pizzas. After eating, Clark and Sam did their own exploring while Renee and I walked through a huge cosmetic store that has more brands under one roof than I have ever seen. The store also has large paintings lining the walls that are the size you might expect to find in an art museum, so we looked at the paintings as well as checked out the cosmetics. The Shepards, Jorgensens, Gregorys, Curbishleys and Monsons are in Madrid renewing their visas; and the Nearons and Reeses had other commitments. We enjoyed our evening with the Masons and will have FHE with the group next week.

Last evening, Sam and I substituted for the Gregorys at the FHE with the young single adults at the Central building. The young people had everything organized, so all we did was show up and enjoy the evening. After the short lesson on setting goals, refreshments were served and the remainder of the evening was spent playing games and visiting. Sam enjoyed playing ping pong and was the winner in two of their games. Each game began with several participants rotating around the ping pong table taking a turn hitting the ball and then moving to the other side. After three misses, you were out for that game. When there were only two players left, the score started at zero again. At this last stage, they had to hit the ball and then spin around and be ready to return the ball again. The game was over when one of them missed the return.

Tomorrow evening, Renee, Linda Nearon, and Linda Rees and I are going to the Enrichment Night at the home of Janet Rust who lives in a suburb of Moscow that resembles a nice suburb in the U.S. I went last year, too, and thoroughly enjoyed seeing her house completely decorated for Christmas with a huge tree in the front room. Of course, the program, food, and company were enjoyable as well; and I'm looking forward to another nice event this year.

We don't have any snow left on the ground, which is nice for walking. Saturday we decorated our apartment with the few Christmas decorations we have inherited from the couples living in this apartment before us. To the tree, I added an angel I was given last Christmas at a Primary program and eight hand-painted decorations of Russian girls dressed in traditional costumes from different parts of Russia.

Our Christmas Tree

I sent my Grandfather Frost home with Todd & Beth when they were here and the few other Russian decorations I had, which decorated our apartment last December.

Grandfather Frost

Tomorrow evening, I will be getting the nativity I ordered last year after seeing one the Rusts had. They know the man who makes the nativities and gives them a discount.

I love the Christmas season - the music, the decorations, the food, receiving cards and letters from friends and loved ones, and especially the reason for the season - celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.