We went to Almaty this week for a Zone Conference that was on Friday and Saturday. We (along with two other Senior Volunteers) decided to go south on Wednesday afternoon so we could do some sightseeing in the nearby mountains. Our destination - the Medeu National Park where there is a ski area, with three major lifts which takes one to the top of the ski area, and an outdoor Olympic skating rink.
After eating amazingly wonderful pizza at Pizza Hut in a big fancy mall, the eight of us, crammed into two taxis and headed up the mountain. It was very foggy down in the city so we were crossing our fingers, that as we increased our elevation, we would break through the clouds. And as the pictures show, we enjoyed a beautiful blue sky. Here we go...get in with us.
The main terminal from which the first tram begins.
Sister Christison, me and Sister Carter.
Elder Taylor, Dad, and Elder Christison
Of course all the runs are on the north slopes, so there are a lot of shadows.
The rink.....subtlety sponsored by Toyota.
This is a big dam which, I think, was built to provide protection from mud slides. In any case, there was no water -liquid or frozen- behind the dam.
This is at the top of the first tram. It is quite a festive place - restaurants, outdoor tables with beautiful people relaxing, and so forth.
This structure has an interesting exterior wall made from rounds of sliced trees.
And here is an interesting eagle being held by Elder Christison.
We went up all three trams which, in places, was a bit tricky to get off the tram, down the slope which was being used by skiers and snowboarders, and then up another slippery slope to the next tram. But we are a mission of miracles, and the slippery slopes did not faze us.
Here is everyone except me and Elder Christison - was he still with the eagle?
With these directions, I can get to Aspen, Colorado.
The weather was getting to be pretty cold by now. We headed back to Almaty. By this time Dad's sore throat was showing it's evil plans, so I put him to bed, went across the street to a Plaid Pantry type place, bought two sandwiches, two cookies (should have saved our money here) and two drinkable yogurts. It was just as well because the pizzas at lunch had been pretty damaging.
The Friday of Zone Conference was to be a Day of Service. Two places were selected. - One was a place with disabled children where the plan was to play with the kids; and while the kids were being entertained, there was an activity with women who are in need of help and inspiration. They have lots or kids, or no money, or no husband, or have been subject to physical abuse.
Our group was going to a different place-at first we were told it was a veterans home, but then we learned it is for senior (I just can bear to say elderly citizens) citizens who have no one who will take care of them in their golden years. We were told that adult children will bring their parents here and then............. We were told there was a winter garden and so we thought we (dad and I) would be cleaning up the garden and so forth..
This governmental building is huge and there are upwards of 300 residents
Honestly we entered with a bit of trepidation - - because we've heard of and seen places that are pretty scary. But this place was good (no don't put us in there-ever)- clean (very clean), two people per room, one bathroom per room, accommodating aides...and the winter garden which was beautiful. As Dad furtively collected leaves for rooting material, he saw no insects or disease.
There were some rascals present.
We were all assigned to visit a resident - we had Elder Bullock with us to translate.
This was our guy. Unfortunately he really spoke very little. We're not sure if he even knew who we were or why were were there. Elder Bullock was a rock star; he did his best. We told him were had children and lived on a farm, and so forth. He didn't have a wife, and ......that's it. There was another guy in the second bed who refused to even look at us. He grunted and threw his quilt over his head and nestled into his mattress. An aide brought him a new sweater, still in its packaging, and a new hat which we helped him put on; he was very stiff so it was pretty difficult to do so.
And we helped him get into a wheelchair and then we went to an auditorium where there was some entertainment. In Astana, we've seen lots of storefronts for dance studios and now we know who studies in them. These little girls were very cute and serious about their moves.
The woman in the front may be their teacher; she sang for many of the routines and always had a different dress for the different dance.
The audience was involved - many were dance moms taking photos of their kids, there were grandmas of the dancing kids, and there were a bunch of residents in wheelchairs and also mobile ones. I took the following photo because the woman was wearing. a headband for Louisiana
State University -LSU
In one dance, the little girls started doing a lot of hand motions - kinda like cheerleaders might do. There seemed to be a lot of movement behind us and turning around I found our Young Volunteers doing the hand motions right along with the girls! They were cute too.
And the YVs also came prepared to sing their song, Жить -"to live". This is the one they sang a couple weeks ago at the big mall in Astana.
And then the performing was over, but the music continued and audience members got up and started dancing, and wiggling, and whatever. Dad and I even got up (to support the uplifting activity) and danced. We started doing some dance movements we learned in Thailand and then ended up doing a very bad rendition of a 50's swing.
Then we were taken on a tour of the facility.
The billiard table
The library
One of the aides asked me (this is what I understood in Russian) if we wanted to go to a room with beds and relax........................uhhhhh. no.... but she persisted in her encouragement, and the room turned out to be a relaxation room where stressed patients can come and 'get away from it all'.
Comfy bean bag chairs, plastic tropical fish in aquariums, peaceful animals pictures on the walls, placating lights, and so forth.
I like this sign - "A request- please don't throw garbage in the hallway.
It was an interesting experience........I don't know how much valuable service Dad and I actually gave, but our visit was a great excuse for a concert, and the residents enjoyed that activity. Afterwards we went to Hardees in the Moscow Mall and enjoyed a Favorite Star, curly fries and a double chocolate shake - yes, we are suffering. (Dinner was fruit smoothies because we were so stuffed from lunch).
Friday evening we had a presentation by Elder Christison. He and his wife are Public Affairs Service Missionaries and also do anything else that the mission president asks them to do. He has made a life long study of the life of Joseph Smith and talked about all the information that is being learned the the recent publications of the Joseph Smith Papers. I intend to start looking at the videos on the subject.
Saturday was the regular business of a Zone Conference. I really liked the president's presentation of, "What Lack I Yet" which is taken from Matt. 19:16-20.
A wealthy young man once approached Jesus with this question: “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus reminded him of some of the commands of the law to which he needed to give attention, and he responded, “All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?” (Matt. 19:16-20).
And Jesus said, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.
The point being made is that in our prayers we often ask for things - like patience or compassion or .........any number of good things. Perhaps we should ask the question of Heavenly Father, "In what am I lacking?" And then work on that - maybe the answer would be, "stop being critical" or "clean up your room in the morning", or start being friendly with your neighbors". Who knows? But you should be prepared to follow through on the answer.
Saturday afternoon we did fun Christmas activities. There was cookie decorating.
But....the most fun was the White Elephant Gift activity. I'd never played it before. We put the gift we'd brought in the center of our seated circle. We all had a number from 1-18 and each of us, in our numerical order took a gift from the pile and opened it. Then the next person could choose to steal the gift or choose one from the pile.
There was candy, t-shirts, toys, a worthless Rolex copy watch (Dad got that one), socks...... The most fun one was this one - the leg of a cloven hoofed animal which was selected by Elder Lowry who had a lot of fun with it.
We'd all been instructed to not choose the "big box" which was going to be, by manipulation, 'chosen' by Sister Davis at the very end. It turned out to be a frozen sheep's head which, at a Kazakh festival and when cooked, is given the the guest of honor---go figure. Sister Davis was a good sport!
By the end of the conference, Dad and I were bushed. We had to wait three hours before going to the airport and then the flight was delayed for about two hours. We finally got home at a little after midnight.
Church today. The Young Volunteers came to dinner - potato and chicken soup, bread, onion rings, brussel sprouts. We watched two videos - Mr Kruegers Christmas and The Gift. It was fun and a relaxing way to end the week. One of the Elders said, this is like our District Family.
If you want, here is the link to a General Conference talk about "What Lack I Yet". You can read it or watch the video. Won't take long. Might learn something good.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/what-lack-i-yet?lang=eng
Today marks the end of Week 39
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