Central Eurasian Mission - Week 47 - February 5 - February 11, 2018



Last week I ended the blog with a picture of where a front loader, while scooping away the snow, ran into a man hole and ripped off the cover.  Well, above is that very same man hole with a traffic cone on top and snow piled around it as a warning to people.  The road is not a public road but is an access road that goes behind the school, so there isn't much traffic to worry about.

On the way home from church today I came across an open manhole and took these two pictures.  I think the hole went to one of the big pipes that transport hot water to buildings where it is forced through pipes which go to all the radiators in the building.  I could hear rushing water and there was a bit of steam in the depths of the darkness.  As I passed it by, a worker guy came out of the next building (where there is an internet cafe) and went up to the hole as though he was the worker/tender.






The first of this week was our actual Zone Conference.  Monday was "Preparation Day" and so was the day to do something fun with everyone in the Zone.  We started at at a big mall called Keuren City where we were all treated to hamburgers from Hardees.  There were a bunch of us.







After feasting on a Famous Star Combos and other Hardee's food, we all headed across the street to the Ferris wheel.  We'd been to the Ferris wheel before, and I posted a lot pictures taken at nighttime.

These are daytime photos that convey a different "feel"













This photo shows the go-kart race track covered in snow.





Then the plan was to go bowling - at the same place we'd gone on July 4th.  The bowling alley is in a big hotel (called Duman Hotel), and there was a big yurt where you could take pictures.



Dad and I didn't want to bowl or watch people bowl, we wanted to go back to our apartment so we could be "on call" for when Warren and Whitney's baby would be born................and sure enough, little Holland Lois Gray came before we had to go back to the Zone Conference for a Devotional.

A big welcome to our 17th grandchild!





Zone Conference on Tuesday was a good one.  Good training, good inspiration, good friends.

Here are the Twelve Missionaries of Kazakhstan!  (Good idea for an action movie title)



Here we are with Elder Bullock and Elder Shaw.  These were the two who picked us up at the airport ten and a half months ago.



A great picture of the Sister Missionaries at lunch.



Birthday buddies!



We don't really know how mail service works in Kazakhstan.  Some apartment buildings have mail box slots on the main floor in, kinda a lobby area.  Our building has no mailboxes.  I never see letter carriers or anything.  Anyway....we received a text message that said a letter was available for pickup at Kaz Post.  So, that is different, you get a text message from the post office.............how do they know our phone number..........hmmmmmmmm....(Dad says it was on the envelope - so no mystery.  So we finally figure out where the Kaz Post is and we're off on another adventure.



We walk in and are clueless as to what to do - it does not look like a US post office.  Suddenly a guy comes up to us and asks what we want.  Dad shows him the message on his phone, and we follow him to another room where there are many racks with blue plastic bins full of mail.



This sign translates to Supermarket Parcels - yeah, I don't know why.  Maybe because the bins are on racks like the racks in a supermarket.



and now the lady is looking for the parcel or letter





yep!  got it!  It's an annoying piece of junk mail from Air Astana regarding our new travel account.



And, here at the check out Dad is showing his passport to prove he is him.



Outside we came upon a rather usual occurrence - a guy repairing his car in the post office parking area in the snow with temps of about minus 5 F.



We've met a young men at English Club whose uncle is the owner or CEO or major stockholder, or something important at the local Home Depot - here it called 12 Months.  He invited us to visit him and his store.  The store is huge - like three and a half stories.  He was very keen on hearing what we thought about his store in comparison to Home Depot.  It was like we were international consultants or something.  He was especially interested in Home Depot's Saturday Kid's Club and also in the Do-it-Yourself clinics.  We were there for four hours...that included about an hour in his office with his colleagues and nibbling on a lunch of a fish filet on rice.  He's in his last year of business and marking and is currently on a 3 month internship at 12 Months in the marketing dept.





Dad and Timur at the entrance



Exterior doors that have a steel outside and a fancy wood look inside

    

Bathroom fixtures



Dry wall stuff



Need a sled to pull your kids around in?



What about a coal fired space heater for your sauna?



Kitchen tile



Patio display



In the office with the office colleagues.  Honestly, I felt it was like "Meet the Americans and ask your questions".  We were there for an hour chatting, telling jokes, and answerin all manner of questions - one was, "how did you manage to raise six children?'  The people were all really nice - people you'd like to know and work with.



Timur took this photo of us sitting on a bench - don't we look like a couple of farmers at Home Depot?



And here we are at Sunday dinner again.  We made rice and taco soup - burned the rice a little bit which took away some of the enjoyment.  Then watched a video called The Fourth Witness.  It was about Mary Whitmer.



We noticed today that the edges of the ice sheets in the parking lot are receding.  I think, when the sun shines on the edges, the temperature rises enough to melt the outer layer of ice.  There is no puddling or runoff - the melted wetness simply evaporates in the dry atmosphere.

Maybe spring will actually come.