Russia Yekaterinburg Mission - Week 59 - April 23 - May 6, 2018

This has been an exciting week mostly because of the stress caused by the events in Turkey and the transfer of Kazakhstan (and the Kyrgyzstan senior missionaries) missionaries to the Russia Yekaterinburg Mission. Back in 2002 when I started studying Russian at Clackamas Community College, when people asked me why I was studying Russian, I often said it was because I wanted to go on a mission to Russia.  So - now we are in a Russian mission but assigned to the country of Kazakhstan.  I came close to my goal.

Things started to unravel on Thursday night while we were in Turkey.  That evening we were at a senior missionary meeting all ready to discuss how we can improve in our missionary efforts.  Instead of discussing "spiritual" topics, however, President Davis began with the announcement that, because of political tensions in Turkey, all volunteers in Turkey were to be evacuated immediately.

The political scene can be explained in the link below from the Los Angeles Times.  If you read it you will see that the LDS Church is mentioned.

http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-turkey-pastor-20180416-story.html

Not wanting to be involved in this turmoil and potentially being used as pawns in the political conflict, it was decided that all 36 missionaries serving in Turkey would be evacuated....immediately.  In a conference call to all young volunteers in Turkey, the mission president told them to pack their suitcases, clean out their refrigerators, clean their apartments, and to wait for an email that would come sometime Thursday night.  The email would give them their flight instructions so they could be evacuated to the MTC in Madrid.  They were to tell no one - no parents, no friends, no church members, none of the people they were teaching, not their landlords, nobody - until all 36 were in Madrid.  They were told to be obedient, to be unobtrusive.....and to be very careful not to miss their flight. - - This is why obedience is taught.  As soon as all the young volunteers were out of Turkey, the six senior missionary couples also flew to Madrid.



We had a solemn end to our meeting...it was an unhappy ending of our Senior Retreat.  We sadly said goodbye to our friends, wondering when and if we'll see them again---

In Madrid everyone regrouped.  Two Mongolian sisters flew to Hong Kong (instead of Madrid) and were sent to Mongolia to finish their missions.  Four young men who were close to their release date, were sent home early.  Ten went to Germany which is not surprising because there are many Turks living in Germany.  The remaining ten were went to Canada, New York, and New Jersey.  One senior couple went home to Arizona, three couples went to Bulgaria, one couple went to Cyprus, and one to Berlin.

While all of this was going on, the senior couples who were not serving in Turkey, continued our tour of the sights around Anatalya.  It was kinda weird because our group was reduced by half, but we made lemonade our of a big bucket of lemons and had a good time anyway.

On Saturday, our flight from Istanbul to Astana was a red eye, and we arrived exhausted.  But....we were able to crawl into bed  at 4:00 am, while it was still dark outside, take half an ambien and sleep until 9:00, when we got up and went to church and carried on, as usual,  with our missionary activities.

For our Sunday dinner with the young volunteers, I had made a spaghetti sauce before we'd left for Turkey and had frozen it.  That sauce along with noodles, sliced apples, a loaf of bread, and ice water. was a simple meal, indeed.  Afterwards we sat around and talked.  Then all of the young volunteers got an email from the president who said there'd be a telephone conference on Monday at 1:00 pm,  Our YVs knew something was happening and looked at us and said, "You know what is up, don't you."  We explained that we did but had been instructed to wait until the president notified via email what was going on.

Later that evening our four YVs in Astana received the following email which had been sent to all the parents.:

Dear Parents,

Please be aware of the following statement that will be released on Newsroom (www.mormonnewsroom.org/) within the next three hours. We ask that you not distribute this statement until it is published by the Church.

“Due to a prolonged period of heightened political tensions in Turkey, all of our volunteers serving in that country have been temporarily reassigned. This includes 20 young men, 4 young women, and 5 senior couples. They will be temporarily reassigned to other regions in Europe, Asia, and North America. Additionally, four volunteers who are nearing the end of their service will return home. The safety of our volunteers is a primary concern for the Church, and we work diligently to monitor conditions and make adjustments as needed in an effort to promote their safety.

As was announced in February, the Bulgaria Sofia Mission was to be consolidated with the Central Eurasian Mission. The combined missions will now be known as the Bulgaria/Central Eurasian Mission headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria. The country of Turkey continues to be part of this mission.”  

Your missionary is safely in residence with us at the Spain Missionary Training Center. Four of the missionaries were to be released within the next month and they will be returning home. The other missionaries have been temporarily reassigned to other missions by a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Your son or daughter has been given their temporary assignment and will be calling you soon with that information. Your missionary will be able to share with you their travel itinerary. The young missionaries will all be leaving Spain for their temporary assignment on Monday morning. We do not know how long the situation in Turkey will persist; however, we love the people of Turkey and pray continually for them.

We are grateful for your understanding as we strive to keep these wonderful missionaries safe.

Thank you,

 President, Bulgaria/Central Eurasian Mission

So - that was it until the conference calls the next day when the president personally told all the missionaries in Kazakhstan what had been happening, but my then, ours in Astana knew the details, as you all now know.

All of this was going ,on just days prior to May 1st, when Kazakhstan was to officially join the Yekaterinburg Mission.  President and Sister Beck had arrived in Astana on Saturday morning for a week long visit to Kaz and Kyrg.  They arrived Saturday morning and were greeted at the airport by our fine volunteers (we were buying candy bars and sitting in a park in Antalya at this very time and so were not there for their arrival)  But we have a great picture.




On Saturday our YVs were great hostesses and hosts and took them to the hotel, then out to lunch, and then to the church for a Saturday evening "Meet the President" devotional.  On Sunday we met the Becks at their hotel, which is a five minute walk from our apartment, and walked to church with them.

Monday was a big day with the Becks - it turns out that it was Sister Beck's birthday!!!  What a great reason to have a fiesta....okay, a party.  All of us met at 10:00 at a big mall to buy lunch stuff - we wanted to have the equivalent of Kazakh sub sandwiches - like horse ham, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and cheese.  And we bought a cake, hoping it would taste as good as it looked.

Everything was good!!







The sisters gave her some Panda Candy....Sister Beck's code name is now "Panda".  We gave her some dried black beans which are unavailable in Russia....but no pictures because black beans are not photo worthy.



Our official "District" photo



...unofficially hanging out in our living room



We had three events on Monday - the Central Bazaar (which is on the outskirts of town), the Baiterek Mall (where the big observation tower is located), and our favorite Kazakh restaurant.

Central Bazaar is a huge place - this was our third time.  The first time - - we were numb with the newness of Kazakhstan, the second time we were numb from the freezing cold while shopping for Dad's mink hat, but this time we were able to enjoy all of the sights and sounds.  It is an amazing place where you can buy almost anything.

Miraculously we walked by the same hat store where we'd bought Dad's hat.  The proprietor came bursting out the door when he saw Dad and enthusiastically shook his hand......we all went inside and tried on hats.







I really liked this one on me.





Then we went to the observation tower.



I didn't go up the tower - I was a party pooper...I know.  I stayed down and sat on a bench way below everyone.  You can barely see me on the bench.



And dinner at our favorite little restaurant.



Thursday we loaded our backpacks and headed off to Almaty for a Zone Conference - this would be our first one with President and Sister Beck.  First thing we did at the hotel was to check the WiFi in our room--------------it was slow and slower.  We'd told the people at the desk that the room they had assigned to us would probably be unsuitable (we'd been in this corner room before) and that we'd probably need to be changed to a room directly over the main lobby - even if it were to be on the 8th floor.  So we were moved up two room and into the center part of the corridor, and the WiFi was fine.

We were starving when two of our YVs called to ask if we'd found the restaurant that they had told us about.  -No-  So we met them and went together . No photos because we just ordered plof (Central Eurasian Rice) and lagman.

Sign says "Uzbechka" or Uzbek Food








Conference was really nice - great presentations by everyone.


S Critchfield


E Topham


S Dixon



The Zone



The Sisters
Caddell, Dixon, Critchfield, Nelson, Berry, Mulberry
"

Saturday we had a really busy day.

We went to visit Anna who has an NGO called "Protection".  Basically she has a shelter for men and women who have been in a crisis and need a place.  Usually the crisis is "Trafficking" .  Men (foreign men often from Uzbekistan) are enticed to come to Kaz where they can get a job in construction.  We were told about a group of Uzbeks who were kept in a storage container and taken from work site to work site.  Their documents were taken for "safe keeping".  They were never paid,  Then they were 'dumped' with no money and no documents.  They ended up here and received help in getting documents so they could return to their country.

The entrance to the facility----all Kaz properties have a big fence around the property line.



The house was very cheap when Anna bought it.  It was really dilapidated and had housed alcoholics and drug addicts.  She said it was in terrible condition.



Here are the women's rooms.  The woman on the right has four children - 2 girls are here with her and 2 sons are with relatives.  Anna said her husband locked her in their apartment for days....before they escaped.  Her two girls are now enrolled in a school nearby.  Later on, we were nibbling on puffy bread and hot water (flavored with jam), and the little girls came and sat on the couch next to me.  I "sneaked" candy out of the bowl and passed it to her under the table  (I did so several times), and she and her sister were really excited and grinning to get the candy "secretly".



Men's room



This is their dining room with a table, refrigerator, and electric cook top.







Here are two pictures of the kitchen proper - I think it must have been a utility room at one time as there is a wood burning stove which heats the water which circulates to the radiators.





There is a lot of room, and they have above ground beds where they grow all kind of vegetables in the summer.  And they have chickens, turkeys, guinea hens and quail for meat and eggs.







And a large area in the back with a storage shed and a lot of stuff laying in an old foundation.



It looks like a great project where we can help do a lot of good.  We're hoping we can ask for new beds and equipment for a medical examination room.  And we're going to ask Moscow if we can suggest to Anna that she request help to set up a little bit more modern kitchen - suitable for cooking for 20 +- people at a time.

As soon as we got back, we went to a big mall where there is a bulk spice place where I took an inventory of all the different types of spices.  I'm going to take some to the Ables and Taylors who are really wanting more cumin for their Mexican recipes.

Then we went to counsel with the Elders.  Their current apartment is being sold by their landlord and, even though they have a month to find a new place, they wanted to find and move into a different place before we all go to Yekaterinburg next week.  They suddenly called us and asked if we could meet them in an hour - so off we went.  The apartment turned out to be in the same big building, and it is quite nice - possibly nicer than where they are now, and it even costs a little less.  We told them we thought it was a good place and a good choice and gave them our thumbs up.

Then - the big event of the.week was....a baptism--the first one in Astana in 13 or 14 months.  The missionaries were really excited for this to happen.  There is no baptismal font in our building, so a room at one of the many banyas in town was rented. 



These banyas are very popular with the locals, and we've wondered what they look like inside.  This is the one we rented - it cost $47.00 for two hours and is suitable for up to 12 people.  The water was on the 'cold' side, however, I'm told there are places where the bath water is hot.  There is a really really really hot sauna where you heat yourself up and then run out the door and into the pool..





chatting before hand



Almira and the two Sisters who have been teaching her.



still waiting



the official group photo



I love these two pictures of our YVs





And, it isn't really spring yet.  There was frost on all the cars this morning and on the track.  And there were a few snow flakes falling as we walked to church.




And thus went our week - no time for movies this time around.