Russia Yekaterinburg Mission - Week 78 - September 3 - September 9, 2018

There is great news to report on this, our last weekly post from the city of Astana!!  The wheelchairs are here!!!!  ..........in a storage facility somewhere in Astana.














all 343 boxes of wheelchairs checked and accounted for.



This wheelchair process has taken so long that we can hardly believe the end (the Training Session on October 15-18) is only about a month away.  We first met with this partner on November 21, 2017 - almost 10 months ago.  This project has taught us to practice patience.

The Training Sessions are going to be at the humongous hockey rink which is the home of the Barys Hockey Team.  We went to visit the arena, specifically to see the two rooms that the arena will let us use for the week of training - as a "charitable donation>'



Here is the room that will be used. Really nice!  Unfortunately, you will note I wrote room and not rooms.  There has been a bit of a miss-connect here because two rooms are needed, and we thought two rooms had been requested and two rooms had been promised.  But that is not the case - "We have only room".

 



Well, that threw quite a kink in things, we told the contact at the arena that we'd have to talk to our guy from WAQYP and try to figure things out.  As we left, we were walking down the hall to the elevator and we saw this big, well lit, corner of the lobby-ish place at the end of the hall.  It would work just fine for the Technician training when the men learn how to assemble the wheelchairs.
We asked the lady if we could have this area and, of course, she said she'd have to go back to "management" with the request.  So at this point, we will have the big room and maybe the hallway.





From the arena we could see some hotels and noticed one, called The Square, which looks like it will be a good place for the US Specialists to stay during the training.  Fortunately, for us, the hotel decision and the final decision on the one room/hallway question will be dealt with by Bill and Robin Ables. .

Bill and Robin Ables, LDS Charities Humanitarian Volunteers in Bishkek, came to Astana and were here for four days, Monday through Thursday.  They came specifically to go over all of our wheelchair information as they will be taking our place for the training.  They'd never been to Astana, so it was a working vacation for them.

We went to the Russian Orthodox Church and watched a priest giving an interview.





This photo is interesting,  I don't understand what it is or why there is a plastic skull on top of the rocks.



We went to the big mosque for lunch and to visit the beautiful interior.  The selfie kind of missed Dad



We went to the downtown mall and walked all the way from the Baiterek Tower to the Xan Shatur shopping mall.

The Ables love Disneyland and were attracted to Mickey



And we all love each other





It was nice - and fun having the Ables here.

One day Dad and I went to look for the fourth and last geocache that is in Astana.  It should be in a metal box with magnets and stuck under the railing on this bridge - right at this point.  But we could not find it.



Right at this place!!



This area is at the Central Park where we have previously visited, but we did some more exploring.

This is the restaurant to which we were taken for lunch on our very first day in Astana - I was in a jet-lag condition and hardly remember anything.



Goofy was here too.



Dad loves these statues



The river and the digital clock



the river



the beach - as advertised in travel brochures- with no people because it is too cold



there is a big area for bike paths, and we found all of these little kids on balance bikes - and their parents giving them encouragement





a lot of sidewalk repair is in process, but we don't allow construction to get in our way.




here is a sign we don't understand.  If we saw it in Oregon, it would mean "picnic tables and trees ahead".



 But we could only find these benches that have solar panels and a place to charge your devices.



A new member of the Branch is Carter Holm, who you have seen in photos at our Sunday evening dinners these last few weeks.  He is the CFO at the St Regis Hotel which  was nearby.  He invited us over to take a tour of the hotel.  Such luxury!



There is only a drive up entrance to the hotel - right, people don't walk to this hotel, they'd only drive or be driven.  This is the main entry in a huge yurt with three horses.



Art wok by local artists



Chandelier and staircase for the discerning bride.



Brother Holm, while he is interviewing for this CFO job, is staying on this room.  Yep - pretty nice.









Then he took us to the Presidential Suite - oh my,...and President Nazerbayev has stayed here.














view from the bedroom balcony - our apartment can be seen in the distance



the event hall - which is fashioned as a gigantic yurt.



These are random photos with no real story.  We just want to have the memories.

Dad and our friend Yerkin are putting new casters on our marker boards.  The original casters could not even be described as "pieces of junk".  Yerkin has been a good friend from English Club.



Photos on my early morning walks.

An archway at the Triathlon Park that is brilliantly lit up at night







Morning glory plants taking advantage of the archway







Two rabbits in a pen



Hot water heating pipes





a small store on the way to the church



Construction













Evil steps where I slipped in the snowy frozen winter and smacked my head



Our entrance



The lobby



The stairwell to the third floor



While the Ables were here we all went to the Xan Shatyr mall, and while they were buying some athletic shoes, I looked in a shop where Bev had purchased a bag........because I wanted one too.  So I took measurements to check to see if my laptop and all my electronic devices would fit.



Well, they would fit, so we had to take another cross town bus ride so I could be as stylish as Bev.

This is where we were



with this night time view



and Dad, at the food court,  eating his chicken which did not make him happy



and me with my new bag...laptop included....happy.



Today - Sunday - was our last Sunday at the Branch.  Sad.  Without effort, we'll never see our Branch friends again.  We both gave our "Last Talk".  For eighteen months we did our best to do anything at the church that needed to be done.

We had Sunday dinner with the Young Volunteers and with Carter Holm.  It was so fun and enjoyable.  These missionaries are remarkable young adults!  We would be honored to be their grandparents.  I felt like teenagers do at a prom - they have such a good time and just don't want it to end, but eventually it is time to go.



Next Sunday, if we have internet access, I'll publish a post from Batumi, Georgia (the country).