Now that
we’ve been here over a month, we are settling into a routine and foreign things
are becoming more comfortable and familiar. Instead of trying to figure out
every detail of how to get somewhere, or how to feed ourselves, we are actually
enjoying our new surroundings and feeling more confident in the process of
exploration.
We carry all kinds of new cards with us—two
for the metro and bus and two to get us into our workplace. There are several
places where you have to swipe and push buttons just to get into and out of
buildings. I also have my Kangaroo pouch with my passport, Visa, Migration
Card, and other very important papers that one must carry with them at all
times here in Russia.
I have secured a bit more confidence and
independence and have gone by myself on the Metro and been shopping myself a
few times. (You know me—the independent woman!) However, Jason and I are
together most of the time with working together during the daytime and doing as
volunteers do in being togetherJ
Our
apartment is in a 32 story high rise and we are on the sixth floor, right near
a Metro stop. It’s similar to when Larry and Lynda were in Hong Kong, in that
you can go downstairs and there are several markets, malls and stores all over
the place. We have learned to point, smile and use our own sign language to get
our desires expressed. Not many here speak English.
Last week at church Jason went to get his
Nike windbreaker and cap from the coatrack when we were getting ready to go home
and it was gone! It was the jacket Evan had given him with the Precoa insignia
on it. One of our senior volunteer friends said to consider it “donated” not
stolen! Yesterday we went shopping for a new lightweight jacket for him, and
found one. I also found a pair of black dress shoes. We have been looking
around quite a bit in the malls and various shops, but hadn’t found much, but
hit the jackpot yesterday! It takes quite a bit of time to figure out shopping
here, especially when you don’t speak the lingo!
I cut my left hand tall man finger last
Sunday morning while cutting up some carrots to put with chicken in our
crockpot for dinner. It bled pretty well. I kept cutting and putting more and
more paper towel and pressure on it to try and stop the bleeding. I was
supposed to play the piano for all three hours of church, so was praying it
would stop bleeding! Jason bandaged it
up good and it was still sort of bleeding after we took our 40 minute commute
to Church. The Lord blessed me and somehow it finally dried up enough so that I
was able to play the music for the church services last Sunday. A little
miracle.
Another miracle was that last Thursday I
had my follow-up eye doctor appointment with Dr. Boschat, my Retina Specialist
here in Moscow, to treat the Macular Degeneration in my right eye. She gave me
one injection of Eyelea two weeks ago and last Thursday was my follow up
appointment. She gave me the best news I have had in over 18 months.!There is
not as much fluid and swelling in the blood vessels below my right eye and she
doesn’t want to see me for another two months!
Yeah Great News! I have been having injections in my eye every 4-6 weeks
since Feb. of last year, so a total of 14 injections and trying to stretch
these injections apart since that is a sign of improvement. The purpose of them
is to preserve my vision and I so appreciate the efforts of Dr. Baynham in
Oregon and Dr. Boschat here in Moscow. I am so lucky that Deseret Mutual, our
Senior Insurance Carrier, allowed for these several thousand dollars of
injections to be covered here as well as at home!
Tonight we Facetimed for 1-1/2 hours with Dan and Susan Harris who are coming from
Wilsonville, OR on December 7 to work with the legal team. He is a retired
Judge from Southern Oregon and they just moved to Wilsonville a few years ago.
To show you some of the sacrifices senior couples make to come here, they just
moved his 84-year-old mother to an assisted living place in Utah near his
brother. Several of the couples still have elderly parents living when they
come here. The Cranes have gone home for two funerals since they have arrived
for two of their parents.
I heard Sister Limb talking about some
“Moscow Rules” that were shared with her when they moved here. Her husband,
Clark, is the Area Executive Secretary, and he was Stan and Roz’s Bishop for a
time when they lived in Wilsonville.
Some of the rules are:
·
Always
stay to the right on escalators so faster walkers or runners can pass you.
·
You
must remove your shoes when entering a residency. There is almost always a nice
big bench to sit on to do so, and I assume it comes in handy when you have to
put boots on and off in the winter. Everyone also has a shoe horn with an
extremely long handle to help you put on your shoes/boots.
·
After
using the bathroom, there is a toilet bowl brush permanently mounted to the
wall. You must use it to clean out the bowl, since the expectation here is that
you do not leave any evidence behind!
·
Do
not cross over the body when shaking hands. They have some superstitions I
understand too.
We will be learning more I’m sure! I got a haircut last week by a
beautiful blonde lady about my age named Larisa. She does not speak English, so
I used Google Translate to tell her how to cut and style my hair. She did OK
and I will continue to use her. While she was doing my hair she had music
playing on a station that played some English and some Russian tunes. Then all
of the sudden she tells me she likes Elvis, Ella Fitzgerald, and jazz. I told
her how I love music and we seemed to draw a bit closer in our attempt to
communicate with each other. I told her how I was going to a concert that
night. Her daughter lives in Dallas, Texas, so I think Larisa really likes
Americans! A few times, she called her daughter to translate for me when I was
making the appointment. I think it was probably 2 am Dallas time!
We had testimony meeting last
Sunday and one of the full time volunteers translated for a fellow who was a
convert. The new member said how he tries to share the gospel at work and tell
them that he isn’t just a member of an American Church—it is the Church of
Jesus Christ! He was so radiant, enthusiastic, and really showed the light of
Christ in his countenance! It is inspiring to see the faith, dedication and
testimony of the members here, even though it is challenging for them.
We had our Russian, English
speaking secretary, Irina, order Papa John’s pizza for us last Friday for the
legal team lunch, along with Fanta Orange pop for Jason and I (it is all over
here so we are trying to restrain ourselves), and Coke 0 for the others. One of
the two native Russians in our office Alexzander, brought tomato and apple
juice. The juices here are excellent and there are many varieties.
Last night we were supposed to
go to a Rachmaninoff Concert, but didn’t get tickets in time, so we went out to
dinner with Burtons, Cranes and Taylors for a going away dinner since the
Taylors are leaving this week. You can see the pics I posted on Facebook and
Instagram from that. They have mentored and tutored us since we got our call to
come to Moscow, and we will miss them.
One of my favorite parts of
our service so far has been getting to know the LDS employees on two floors of
our work building who are native Russians and speak some English. Also, we have
made so many lasting friendships with the senior missionaries already, that it
is amazing. The Burtons who arrived here a week before us, have been great examples
of hard work, and dedication to our callings, even in the short time they have
been here.
I had more assignments to
fulfill at the office last week so was happier about that. I discovered that
Ann Wilson (and Paul Jr.) my first cousins who are serving in the Dominican
Republic with the church’s Legal Department are doing the same things we are.
In fact, Ann made a comment on Instagram last week that she felt like she was
living her life in Infoguide. It is the data base to which we add the legal
information the attorneys are working on, and I am getting more familiar with
it.
We did not go to our Ward
today, since they were just listening to General Conference. Fortunately, we
have been listening to the talks all week at home with our WiFi. What tremendous
instruction and inspiration we have received from living prophets. We also
enjoyed viewing Elder Hales’ funeral at 8 pm last Friday night.
Today we helped serve lunch at our
workplace for our Area Presidency and a few area 70’s while they had meetings.
There were four senior couples who helped out. We all transported our donations
from our various housing locations across Moscow and provided a delicious meal
of Chicken Croissants, veggie platter, fruit platter, chips, and pumpkin
chocolate chip cookies. It was an enjoyable time of meeting them and serving
them. Sorry this is so long, but I keep remembering things that happened that I
want to remember! We are looking forward to being busy in October. Elder Kearon
is supposed to come visit here and President Nelson is coming to some part of
Russia soon, but details are not known yet. Day to day there is excitement.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
We send our love to all!
Pam (and Jason)
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