A Few Lasts, The Spectacle, Peterhof, Pick-Pocketing, Lost Camera, and District Conference

BAD NEWS!!!

Yesterday I had something happen to me that you hope you never have to experience but realize is highly likely. I joined the ranks of those who have been pick-pocketed. The casualty…My Camera!! ☹ This means not only that I won’t be able to take pictures the last week of my adventures in Russia but also that I lost last week’s pictures…and I had some good ones! So I apologize for the lack of pictures. It is a great tragedy that is quite interesting to experience. I knew exactly when it happened. We were walking through the metro and I had my camera in my pocket instead of my little bag. I felt “the slip” but had forgotten my camera had been in my pocket until I started looking through my bag thinking something was taken from there. Literally seconds after it happened, I turned to Kayla and Heather and said, “My camera was just stolen.” I think they were more shocked with my calmness. But what else can you do. I don’t speak the language and there is no way of getting it back. I will admit that I feel completely violated and hate that some stranger has a memory card almost full of pictures of people I love. My hope is that those pictures are deleted and not ever used for anything. And since my camera battery is horrible, it is almost dead and won’t last much longer. I really don’t think that it is possible to find a charger for it here in Russia. Who knows.

I also have learned that my greatest souvenirs are memories. I love having my camera and have carried it with me for years. It truly is a great loss but also not the end of the world. No harm came upon me. I can replace a camera. I still have the memories and can steal some pictures from others. Plus, I have family and friends who love me. I am a member of the true church of Jesus Christ. I am healthy. I am blessed beyond expression and really can’t complain about a simple tragedy.

So let me tell you all about the greatness of this week! There was high stress in the group in preparation for the Spectacle. The Spectacle is the end of year performance where the students do little skits for the parents in English. This shows off their English abilities and is just fun for the students. The Kindergarteners mostly sing songs…which is adorable. I even got the chance to accompany them on the piano for “Let’s Get Together” from Disney’s Parent Trap. For never having practiced with them, it went quite well. The new Kindergarten…where Brandon and I teach…didn’t get to be a part of the Spectacle so we had just been teaching them like normal. But our Level 3 and Level 4 classes got to perform. I have been practicing with my Level 3 for the last three weeks and they have been doing so well. They are such characters and added things into the skit I wrote to make it even better. They looked so great in their costumes (sorry, you don’t get to see them because those pictures were on my camera as well as the video of their skit) and when time came to perform they did perfectly!! I was so proud of them. The entire Spectacle was a great success. The parents loved it and the students did amazing!!

These are the Kindergartners (not mine but cute Velera is in there)

Me being so proud of Alya and my Level 3 group

Olya and Ksusha...how adorable are they?

Renat, the doctor, and Zhenya, the mortician checking on Olya :)

Kayla, Linlea, Alla (our Native Coordinator), Ludmilla (one of the Principals), Heather, Beth, Susannah, Dani, Me

The Spectacle was Thursday night so Thursday morning was a stress-free stay-at-home morning. But on Tuesday, Kayla and I took our last MEGA run. We bought all sorts of chocolate to take home and share with our families and then we wandered through the IKEA getting great decorating ideas. IKEA is good for that.

On Friday after teaching, we went one last time to the souvenir market. I have officially spent too much money on souvenirs but absolutely love everything I have bought and look forward to the great reminders of this fantastic adventure. The sun was shining so brightly that day! I was dying. But wanted to explore a little around the area. Beth and Kayla joined me as we walked the Summer Garden and then over the big bridge that actually rises for boats. There are pictures of it all over the place but it rises in the middle of the night so we don’t think we will get the chance to experience it. The view as we walked across was marvelous!

Beth and Kayla before we walked across the bridge

The Russian sunbathers around the Peter and Paul Fortress

On the other side of the bridge is the Peter and Paul Fortress. Surrounding the Fortress were sunbathers all over. These Russians really take advantage of every sunny day. I’ve been told over and over the statistic that St. Petes only gets 30 sunny days a year but I have experienced more than 30 and have only been here four months. Maybe this year is a fluke. Actually we have heard that both the winter and this spring have been abnormal. This horribly hot weather is not normal at all for May. And in fact, this up-coming week is supposed to cool of A LOT!! I’m actually excited because the sun drains me and makes me not want to do anything. Friday was an example. After walking across the bridge we were so hot and tired that we just walked to the metro and came home. It was only 4:30pm. That is ridiculous. After resting a bit we decided to join back together to watch a movie at the HT apartment.

Saturday (our last outing with Sveta…SAD DAY!!) was an early day. Only Kayla, Heather, Beth, and I were able to go because of a soccer game that Jesh, Brandon, and Linlea agreed to play in. Susannah and Dani have quit coming on Saturday outings long ago. So the four of us caught a bus then an electric train back to Peterhof. I was the only one in the group that went the first time in the winter. I have been looking forward to going back to see the grounds since we first went. The gardens are SPECTACULAR! Peter the Great fell in love with Versailles, France and decided he wanted fountains all around his palace. So he did it! Words honestly can’t do it justice and I don’t have pictures to attempt to help. Sorry! I really did take some good ones. I decided I love Peter the Great even more now because of his sense of humor. He has fountains all over the gardens that just randomly turn on and get unknowing passers by. Peter would sit in his tower and just laugh at the people getting wet. What a great guy!! Saturday was beautiful and sunny but had a slight chill to it so I wasn’t willing to drench myself in his fountains but the little kids sure got a kick out of it!

We took a side trip to the Taj Mahal

And Scotland

With still enough time for a swim in New Zealand (a famous photographer had a display up of beautiful places around the world)

An adorable unsuspecting kid getting wet from the random fountain around this bench

Another bench with fountains that started randomly

And the entire path got sprayed...I really like this Peter the Great Character

The statue of Peter the Great

Here is just a taste of the beauty that exists at Peterhof!!

This weekend was District Conference for the St. Petes District (this is a church meeting for all members in the St. Petes area) so Saturday night Kayla and I went to the Saturday session at the mission office. We both know we were meant to go. I gained a lot of peace after the horrible event of being pick-pocketed AND I gained some great insight. We got to see Sister LeBaron…the sister missionary who served the longest in our Branch and helped us out a ton…and the visiting member of the 70, President Schwister and his wife spoke in English with Russian translation. It has been so long since I have gotten so much out of a gospel talk. I loved it! Pres. Schwister taught about teaching in the home. He made some great points about how important the fridge door is for teaching because it is so highly frequented. He also talked about the important teaching time around the kitchen table as well as all the unsaid teaching that is done by the pictures, movies, music, etc that adorn our homes. He challenged us to do an inventory of our homes and to make it the classroom full of lessons we want our families to learn. It was SOO good!

Kayla and Beth outside the mission office

This morning we went back again for the Sunday session. It went much like the night before. The missionaries are wonderful to translate for us and the senior couples. I love sitting on the row of senior couples. They are always so fun and remind me so much of my mission and the amazing couples I served with and love so much! This morning President Schwister spoke on teaching the Ten Commandments. He really emphasized how important they are and that we should not only know them but have them written on our hearts. He said that we should not look at them as a set of rules but as a set of tools to help us have better relationships; first with God, then Parents, then Others. Again amazing!!

We got to see Sister LeBaron again! Love her!!

I also finally got to meet the Aumeister Family. The Johnson’s, Torri’s family, met them while serving in Bulgaria and told me before coming out here that I needed to find this family. It wasn’t until now that I was able to contact them and plan a meeting. We were all going to this conference anyway so it worked out perfectly. They are a sweet family! I love how small the world is!

Me with the Aumeister's

I am constantly grateful for this gospel. I think probably more than anything else I have learned while living in Russia, it is how true and perfect and same and wonderful the gospel is. It makes me even more excited for the time when all of God’s people will be together and able to speak the same language and just love and rejoice in the gospel together! What a gift this gospel is! I wish I were better at sharing it with others. I know Christ lives! I feel Him in my life daily!

And the candy countdown continues (sorry about the one double picture, it's the only way to make it even)