Mission Accomplished!!

After 34 hours of travel time, we are home again!! We are living with our daughter, Mahana, and her family (3 grands) in our little room above the garage. It is quite spacious - about the size of our apartment in Astana. We love all the trees and mountains surrounding us after 18 months on the Asian steppe.

We have not been released yet - having a hard time connecting with the Stake Presidency - but it is supposed to happen on Sunday.

The fight home was fairly uneventful. It was a close connection in Houston (yes, Houston - we went from Astana to Frankfurt to Houston to Anchorage) as that is where we went through immigration (their computers went down for a bit) and customs (we had the extra trek through agriculture since we had an orange with us - NEVER bring citrus into the States). We made it to the gate 5 minutes before boarding and so almost caught our breath. Fortunately, it gave us time to get some food for the plane since United does not feed you. Lufthansa was fabulous! Multiple feedings on both legs (Astana to Houston) with lots of leg room and entertainment. We were able to sleep a bit through out the flights but the last few hours of the flight to Anchorage were brutal - we were soooooo tired.

 In the Frankfurt airport with the Craig family (our primary kids from Astana) who were on their way to Atlanta.

As we arrived in Anchorage ... we looked fairly ragged by then!

Now we will begin to put together our lives again. Find a place to live (permanently) and get ready for trips to Tahiti and Florida to see our Moms.

As we reflect on the past 18 months, we are amazed at the blessings we have received. The people we have met and come to love. How they have changed our lives forever by their examples of love and caring for their fellowman - especially the caregivers of the handicapped both the parents and those at institutions and within organizations that arrange their care. We have been touched by those whose lives were changed as they chose to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ and turn to Him to be healed. Their faith and determination in the face of opposition and, sometimes, persecution (Kazakhstan is a predominately - 70%- Muslim country) has strengthened our faith and determination to follow Him more closely.

The challenges of this mission have stretched us and helped us to see more clearly the Lord's hand in our lives and His work. We have both seen and been recipients of miracles that testify to us that He lives and loves all of His children. The promises given in the scriptures to those who serve Him are real, true, and available to us as we serve and ask for them.

This is a poem that I love and it expresses somewhat the feelings of our journey the past 18 months ....

Come to the edge, He said. 
They said, We are afraid. 
Come to the edge, He said. 
They came. 
He pushed them... and they flew.
Apollinaire, Guillaume

Here is a quote that Viviane would like to share with you ...

"Have you ever sat down and contemplated what kind of entries you are preparing for your life's history? Will yours be one comprised of slides and videos of worldly acquisitions of boats and motor homes, of travels and entertainment for personal gratification and amusement?

"Or will your history express the joy you have experienced in preaching and teaching the message of our Lord and Savior to all who would hear your voice? . . ." Elder Perry  5/92

We pray for and always will pray for our friends and the people of Kazakhstan - a people we were not even aware of 20 months ago. God has shared His love for them with us and we are eternally grateful for the experience of His love.

Now we begin to prepare for our next mission call. Where He will call us to serve we do not know, but it is already a bit exciting to contemplate it ....

The END

Last Sabbath on mission

Today was our last Sunday in Kazakhstan. We had 19 in attendance and since one of the speakers did not show up - he did let us know yesterday that he had to work - I gave a talk. Giving a talk is not stressful to me. I just have to fill my brain with some ideas and then let the Lord remind me of those that He wants spoken. Today the scriptural text was 2 Nephi 31: 19-20

19 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow ^apath, I would ask if all is ^bdone? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken ^cfaith in him, ^drelying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to ^esave.

 20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a ^asteadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of ^bhope, and a ^clove of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and ^dendure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have ^eeternal life.

and 2 Nephi 32: 3.

3 ^aAngels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, ^bfeast upon the ^cwords of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will ^dtell you all things what ye should do.

I love the encouragement that Nephi gives us and the vividly descriptive words that he uses (do you know what "perfect brightness of hope" means?) ...

• unshaken faith in him
• relying wholly
• press forward
• steadfastness in Christ
• perfect brightness of hope
• feasting upon the word of Christ

In my talk I expounded upon a few of these using metaphors of  some tight rope acrobats we had seen here (unshaken, steadfastness, press forward) and the feast I mentioned in the last blog (feasting). I also mixed in the story of Peter trying to walk on water (relying wholly, press forward, steadfastness).

We are going to miss being a part of the Twig! We will also miss having the 2 hour block for meetings!

These are our Primary children - Noah and Olivia.

With the latest 2 sets of Elders - from the left, Harrison, Jensen, Mitchell, and Romero.

Our good friends.....

Last Anniversary (in Kazakhstan)

Yesterday was our 37th wedding anniversary!!!
The day before we attended a mini wheelchair distribution (yes, we are still working) and were able to spend half the day with people that we have grown to love.

 We were able to play with the baby for a bit. This lady also has a handicapped child that needs this wheelchair. She was very grateful!!

 This young boy was tested in 3 different wheelchairs until he was properly fit and comfortable. His family was very grateful for this donation.

Kamka with a young man who also received a wheelchair. His family drove for hours to be able to get this wheelchair for him.

As our NGO friends were getting ready to take us home they asked if we could have lunch with them before we go home and it turned out that the best day for all of us was yesterday - our anniversary. They picked us up around 2:30 and we had the lunch at their handicapped children's kindergarten. They had prepared the Kazakh national dish with a lot of good horse meat. We spent a few hours with them reminiscing about the past 18 months. They also asked more questions about the Church and our beliefs - especially the Word of Wisdom because they drink a lot  of tea and over half the men and young men here smoke. Since it was our anniversary we were also able to share how we met, some info about my mission in Tahiti, and about our Eternal Marriage. Kamka and her husband will have their anniversary next week and it will be 36 years for them.

 Before the main dish arrived - fruit, veggies, caviar, juice, fried bread, ...

 The main dish is the Kazakh national dish - Besh Barmak (five fingers) - which is boiled onions and noodles with mutton or horse meat. The sausage looking stuff on top is horse.

 We love these people and will miss them dearly!!!

At the end of the lunch we went to see the kids who were doing some therapy. We greeted each child personally and took their picture. What a joy it was to be with them!

 Very friendly Roma!

 When I showed him his picture he smiled.

 This boy and his brother below are twins! What a sacrifice and blessing for their parents!

 He wanted to shake my hand but could not quite make it work so we improvised.

The kids and their therapist staff. They have taught us a lot about unconditional love and patience.

 After the meeting with the kids they took us to the Directors office where the sang us a song of friendship and asked Viviane to sing a song and for me to record it so that they would have it. She sang for them the Primary song "Where Love Is". They then gave us gifts that surprised us and many of us shed a few tears as we expressed our friendship and love.

 They said the whip was so that we could have another 37 years of happy marriage!

 They gave me this chess set with a hand crafted leather carrying case/board and Kazakh chess pieces.

 For Viviane, they gave this yurt shaped, handcrafted leather jewelry 'box' with handmade ring and matching earrings of Kazakh design.

Here are the words to the song that Viviane sang for them ...

Where Love Is

Where love is, there God is also.
Where love is, we want to be.
Guide us, his truths to follow;
Help us obey him faithfully.

Where love is, there God is also.
We think of him rev’rently.
Teach us to pray, to talk with him above
And know that he will guide us with his love.

The comfort of loving arms around us,
A song that makes us want to sing,
The happiness we feel when love has found us,
’Tis love we get when love we bring.

Where love is, there God is also.
And with him we want to be.
Show us the way and guide us tenderly
That we may dwell with him eternally.

Words: Joanne Bushman Doxey, b. 1932, and Norma B. Smith, b. 1923
Music: Joanne Bushman Doxey, b. 1932, and Marjorie Castleton Kjar, b. 1927
© 1972 by Joanne Bushman Doxey and Marjorie Castleton Kjar. Arr. © 1989 IRI. This song may be copied for incidental, noncommercial church or home use.
Alma 13:28–29

Last (and First) Founders Meeting

You may remember that we have been working to get the Church officially registered in Astana ever since we arrived here. You may also remember that Kazakhstan passed a new Religion law in October 2011 that made it significantly more difficult to get the Church registered here. Nevertheless, we have been working it as best we (members and missionaries) could. One of the problems we encountered was that the government kept changing the 'interpretation' of what the law meant and the details of how they would enforce it. It also fell to our lot that we are in the capital city and they enforce these types of laws much more strictly here. About 2 weeks ago a decision was made to set the date of July 2nd as the date to hold the Founders meeting.

In order to be registered you have to have 50 people who live in the city limits willing to give their names as 'Founders' of the religious association. Since we only have 10 members and some live outside the city limits, that meant that we had to find 40+ folks who were not members of the Church but were willing to sign legal documents that they would be 'Founders' of the "Religious Association The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Astana". Needless to say, we needed a miracle ... and because it is His work, He provided many!!

Miracle - You may remember my blog post about going to a karaoke club ....

Last November Sis Maxwell and I were contacted by a young lady we had never met but who knew of us through our humanitarian work with her aunt who is one of our NGO partners. This young lady had taken a trip to Utah for a convention and decided to tour temple square. When she heard that there was a tour of the Humanitarian work of the Church she and her companion went on that tour. She ‘put 2 + 2 together’ and came back to Kazakhstan exclaiming that the world should know what our church does. She invited us to give a presentation on our Humanitarian work  to her friends at their karaoke club and we decided to take the Elders with us. One of those Elders was Elder Turner. We were with them for about 2 hours and they were very touched by our work and the Church’s work worldwide and stated, at the time, that if we ever needed help they would help us.

Last week as we were brainstorming where we would get more names, E. Turner asked about the young adults at the karaoke club and we said sure and found Sabina’s phone number for him to call. She is in Almaty now but said they would still love to help and set up a meeting for E Turner to go back to the club and present the registration information.

All of those who had been at our presentation and a few others that had heard of the presentation are very excited to help. Some gave their documents that night and the others gave their documents the next day and committed to be at the Founder’s meeting to support us.

It is a great testimony to us that the Lord’s hand is in His work and if we will make ourselves available to be led He will set up our path for success. He certainly knew in November what we would need today and has given us the opportunity to see His works roll on unimpeded.

Miracle - You know of our work with families of handicapped children ....

We have mentioned our problems getting the Church registered to our NGO partners just to help them be aware of the issues we are having and why some projects have slowed down. Last week our main partner, who works a lot with handicapped children, invited us to a picnic for families of handicapped children. She told us that some of the families were willing to help us with registration and so she invited the Elders to also come to the picnic. At the picnic she gathered everyone around and talked to them a bit about and encouraged them to be proactive in soliciting help from the city/government for their children. She then reminded them about how generous the Church had been over the past year and encouraged them to help us and handed the microphone to me. I told them how much we loved them and what a blessing it was for us to serve them and turned the mic over to the Elders. They described the registration process and asked for people to volunteer their support. Immediately they had mothers giving them their information and pledging to be at the Founders meeting. Some mothers even traveled extra the next day with their handicapped child to get their documents to the Elders. 

 Our friend Zarina, on the right, has Down's Syndrome. We have known her and her mother for over a year.

 E Turner talking to one of the mothers at the playground during the picnic. Viviane is in the background.

 My princess, Natalie, with her mother and her friend - the chubbiest little Kazakh girl we know. Natalie cannot speak or walk and the Church donated a wheelchair for her. She always gets a big smile on her face when I call her princess and hold her hand.

 Gathered around to hear the announcements. The little fellow (Dedar has Down's Syndrome), next to Zarina, in front wearing the hat and his Mom are our newest friends. His Mom is second from the right.

 This little girl was a recipient of one of the winter coats that the Church donated last winter. She cannot walk although she can stand up when holding on the something. That is her mother to her left.

Dedar wearing my sunglasses. By the end of the day on the bus ride home he was mimicing my actions. He is so much fun.

Between these two miracles we received almost 20 names!!!

We held the Founders meeting and 30 founders came to it. All but 5 were non-members!! The Elders have collected all but one of the remaining signatures that we need to meet that part of the registration process. Now we are praying that those in the government who will review our application, with all of its various documents, will have their hearts softened and register us.

 My princess and her Mom at the Founders Meeting. Her sweat shirt says the opposite of who she really is!

 The Kazakh lawyer explaining the law.

 Our friends signing their names as Founders of our Religious Association.

His work goes on!! Be and Stay prepared for His coming!!

Last Baptism

 On June 30th Viera was baptised!! Now here is the rest of the story ....
Last August 2 missionaries were standing at a bus stop and Viera (Russian spelling is Вера) noticed that they were wearing name tags so she moved closer to see what the tags said. She introduced herself to them and asked if they represented a church. When they told her the church name she said that she knew all the churches in the city but didn't know that one!! "I'd like to learn more about your church." so she wrote down her phone number and gave it to them. Well, somewhat typical for missionaries, they didn't call her for a couple of weeks and when they did she asked what took them so long - she wanted to learn about their church.
She came to English Club a few times and then started to come to church and take the lessons from the missionaries. Soon she had read the Book of Mormon and asked if there were other books that she could read. She was invited to be baptized and said that she was not ready - she wanted to learn more. We gave her a Doctrine and Covenants with the caveat that she bring it back the next Sunday. The next Sunday we asked for the D&C and she said that she left it at home because she was not done studying it and was afraid that we would not let her borrow it again. That next week she finished the D&C and asked if she could take some Book of Mormons to some of her friends. She continued to attend church and help out at church during meetings and potluck lunches but was still not ready to be baptized when 5 other were baptized in December.
By April she felt ready to be baptized but we were then having visa problems with the missionaries and for the next couple of months both they and she came and went a bit randomly. Finally when a new set of missionaries asked what they could/should do I told them to get Viera baptized. When they approached her she said "Today!!??" they said "No", she said "Tomorrow?", they said "On June 30th" and she said "OK!!".

She wanted to be baptized in the river like Jesus but the spot that she remembered was now overgrown with bushes so she found a 'bath house' near her home and she was baptized. She is amazing and we love her a lot.

 This is the pool inside the bath house.

 From the left - Zhanara, Galina and her granddaughter, Viera, me, E Turner, Viviane, E Harrison, E Romero, E Jensen, Zhana.

Elders Harrison, Turner, Jensen, and Romero with Viera (she never smiles for a camera - one reason is it is the Russian way and her front teeth are gold so her smile looks funky in a photo).

“That man [woman] is greatest and most blessed and joyful whose life most closely approaches the pattern of the Christ. This has nothing to do with earthly wealth, power, or prestige. The only true test of greatness, blessedness, joyfulness is how close a life can come to being like the Master, Jesus Christ. He is the right way, the full truth, and the abundant life.” (Ensign, Dec. 1988, p. 2.)

Last Sunday Pot Luck

Each last Sunday of the month we have hosted a pot luck lunch after the meetings of the day. This has evolved over the time that we have been here. It started as juice and goodies and is now a full lunch. Today we had plov, pasta salad, ham, fruit, juice/water, and lots of desserts. The locals still do not quite understand the idea of a pot luck but some of the Americans have chipped in with food.The locals still primarily bring cookies and candy - of course the young missionaries love that.

Our replacement couple arrived Tuesday morning and so we have begun training them. We are taking it slow since we have a lot of time and we remember how rushed we felt when we arrived. They are a bit better off since they have come in the summer and they spent a week in Moscow recovering from jet lag. Much of their time has been spent trying to get comfortable in their apartment, getting the internet connection made, and finding their way around this part of the city. They went with us to 2 English classes at one of our NGOs and we are starting to introduce them to our partners.We went out to lunch together on Saturday and did some grocery shopping (we have now showed them our top 5 grocery places). They spoke in church on Sunday and did a good job. We think they will do very well here.

While walking around town with the Andersons, we saw some yurts being put up.

This shows the skeleton of a yurt.

This is what it looks like with its skin on. The covering is made from layers of hand woven felt.

We also found this very cool looking horse!!!

Last Trip to Moscow

Last week we went to Moscow for two days to renew our 'migration' cards for Kazakhstan. We have a one year business visa for Kazakhstan but they will only allow you to stay 120 consecutive days so we had to leave the country one more time. It is very tiring to go to Moscow for a short trip because you leave Astana at 9 PM and arrive in Moscow at 11 PM their time. By the time you arrive at the accommodations it is 1 AM and a driver is set to pick us up at 8 AM for meetings. We were in meetings all day with General Authorities of the Church. The first meeting we were invited to was for Church employees and was attended by the Senior President of the Seventy, Presiding Bishop of the church and one of the East Europe Area Presidency and their wives. The content did not really apply to us but it was good to be there. We then went to lunch with 2 other Senior couples, including the couple who will replace us - the Anderson's. The afternoon was spent in a combined mission conference for the two missions that are being combined - our Russia Moscow West Mission which is going away and the Russia Moscow Mission which will remain. The two mission presidents, the Area Presidency and their wives, the Presiding Bishop and his wife, the Senior President of the Seventy and his wife, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson and his wife. All of them spoke of missionary work and it was very uplifting for us. At the end they had us all file past and shake their hand.

This is the photo taken at the end of the combined Mission meeting. Can you spot us?

From there we went back to the hotel (Art Hotel) for dinner and much needed sleep. After a great breakfast, we were picked up at 8 AM and taken to the Moscow Service Center to do some preliminary training with the Anderson's. We had a good time with them and went to lunch with our Area Welfare Manager who supervises all the humanitarian work done by Senior Couples in the East Europe Area. He has been so wonderful to work with and has been very patient with us. He presented us with a very nice 'release' letter. At 5 PM it was time for the Anderson's to be taxied back to their hotel. The original plan was that the driver would take them to their hotel and then come back to get us at 7 PM to go to the airport. The driver was worried that Friday evening Moscow traffic would be a problem and recommended that we go with him at 5 to drop off the Anderson's and take a printer to another couple in Moscow and then head right for the airport. Turned out to be a good decision because it took until 9 PM to get to the airport using all back streets, country roads, and a few short cuts through parking lots.

Drive by picture as we made our way through the city.

Every time we came within view of the freeway we saw it was a parking lot. This was OK with me because we saw parts of Moscow we would never have seen nor will we ever see them again. Our flight back to Astana left about midnight and arrived at 5 AM Astana time.

Yes we are glad we have no more of these Moscow trips!!!