Central Eurasian Mission - Week -20 - July 31 - August 6, 2017 - one quarter of the mission completed

We had the opportunity this week to meet with a man who is famous in Kazakhstan as a blogger who promotes the rights of the disabled.  Almaz was referred to us by Emin who we've mentioned before as being very active in the social entrepreneurship scene in Astana.  We met in a food court at Keuren Mall.



He gave us a short version as to how his notoriety began.  He'd been trying to talk to some government official about the rights of disabled citizens in Kaz.  Mostly - access to buildings, job discrimination - things that have already happened in the US and for which there are now laws and regulations.  Apparently the government official poo-poohed his requests and concerns.  Almaz then posted on social media what had happened and also posted photos of government building which have no  access for disabled people.  So Almaz and the government official got into a social media word war.  Journalists picked up n the story and everything went viral.  So, Almaz went, nearly overnight, from being a disabled man wanting access to buildings to being the spokesperson for disabled citizens in Kazakhstan.  He is the first disabled person in Kaz to have a facebook page, a blog, and a bunch of other stuff.  He's a small man with a big personality and heart - I would not want to be in a social media war with him.

Anyway he had a project he wanted to discuss with us so we met him.  Turned out he has a contact/friend who lives in Almaty and who wants to receive help from LDS Charities.  We listened and took notes and then had to tell the guy that there were people, just like us...not exactly like us....in Almaty who were doing humanitarian work for LDS Charities.  When we got home we contacted the Taylors in Almaty and emailed all the info we had to them.

We received the paperwork from two partners this week.  One is the group who wants musical production equipment and one from the kindergarten.  The music one looks good and we'll submit it next week.  The kindergarten group, however, drastically changed what they wanted to request. Originally they told us they wanted educational toys for the children, but now their request is for sewing machines to set up a sewing shop.  Yikes - so now we have to start from the beginning with them - have a meeting set up first of the week.

I think I told you that Dad is on the Area Auditing Committee.  Twice a year, an auditor has to meet with every clerk and Bishop/President in all wards or branches throughout the world.  Purpose - to make sure that the all the of money donated to the Church is being used and handled in the proscribed church manner and in the legal manner for each country.  It really is an elaborate process.  So we had to go to Almaty to do the records for that branch.

The plan was to leave Astana on Friday at noon and return on Sunday in the evening.  Sounds simple, right? EXCEPT when one forgets that time in most of the world is on a 24 hour clock; not an am/pm clock.  We arrived at 11:30 am to learn that the flight we wanted at 1:30 pm had been booked for 1:30 am and that the 1:30 am plane was loooonooogooooo gone.  Groan and embarrassment!  We managed to be re-booked on a flight that left at 5:00 pm, so we only had to wait for five hours.Two hamburgers and fires, four snickers, and two bottles of Coke Zero later, we boarded the 5:00 pm plane.  Plane backs away from the gate.  Plane stops.  Plane moves.  Plane returns to the gate. Announcement in Kazakh, Russian, and mumbled English announces that there is a technical problem that will be fixed shortly. Eventually after about an hour (however, on the side of the airline, the air conditioning worked the whole time) it was announced that our flight had been cancelled but we could re-book for the 1:30 am flight.  Well, we weren't going to do that as we well knew that the 1:30 am plane was probably jinxed.  I managed to re-book for the following morning at 7:00 am, we went home, and were in bed by ten with the alarm set for 4 am.  Sigh - -all of this to make sure church funds are properly handled.

We met up with our friends, the Taylors who are the humanitarian missionaries in Almaty.  They took us to the top of "Green Hill" which is a nice green hill on the edge of Almaty;  this is where President
Russell M Nelson, on August 27, 2003, from the top of this hill,  gave a dedicatory prayer and opened the country of Kazakhstan to the preaching of the gospel.  We had a copy of the dedicatory prayer and found  a bench in the shade and read it and talked a bit about our missionary work in this country.  It is actually nice to be a small part of church history here in Kaz.

Here are photos of the gondola ride, the views, the animals on display and the gardens.





You can see the gondola and the 'alpine slide'



The sign says Green Hill





The Beatles were there





Not a petting zoo - maybe a feeding zoo









Two of the YVs here in Almaty, will be returning home in a two weeks.  We, along with all the other volunteers were invited to a member's home for a dinner which was actually a Kazakh cultural event where we had a lamb dinner.  I asked the hostess the name of the event, - rather than just 'lamb for dinner.'  I wouldn't want to describe Thanksgiving Dinner as a' turkey dinner' - Thanksgiving is much more than a turkey dinner.

I asked our hostess what this cultural event was called.  This was the best name/explanation that I could get. " It's a respectful event for guests.  We slaughter a sheep and cook the fresh meat in a big pan over a wood fire/stove."  The Elders had gone up earlier in the day to help with the preparations.The pictures should show the story.







Forks and napkins at the ready!

This lamb and potatoes and noodles were soooooooooooooooooooo  good!

Afterwards there was some cleanup necessary and preparations for another food event on Monday which included the _ea_.










This was our first single dwelling home
we have visited.  I took pictures all around the outside and a couple inside.

This is insides  the door/driveway entrance to the home.










The front door - or at least the way we entered the house.



All of the party goers.





kitchen and dinette





We had a 'spiritual gather round the room meeting' where we all shared something that had impressed us during our stay in Kazakhstan.

Then we stuffed ourselves back into the cars and headed back to our hotel.

We were so full and so thirsty - -the meat must have been really salty.  Before going to our room, we went to this little magazine (Russian for store) for two Coke Zeros and two ice cream bars.
The store was wide enough for one aisle and shelves on both sides.'







Back in Home Sweet Astana!