Last trip to Almaty

With our mission starting to wind down we are beginning to experience some 'last time we'll do this'. We expect that last week was our last trip to Almaty for Zone Conference and Humanitarian work. We flew down on Friday morning and spent the afternoon with 2 of our missionaries and a member at the orphanage in Talgar. We needed to see the equipment that the Church had donated, take some pictures for the final report, and then head back to Almaty for the evening. We ended up staying at the orphanage for over 2 hours. The old couple who run the orphanage are so kind and the husband loves to talk and show people around and since we had some new people with us he was able to tell all his stories one more time. As we were trying to leave, they asked if we would stay for some juice and cookies. We should have known by now that it is never that simple. Kazakh tradition is that when you have guests you feed them until they pop!

Viviane in the orphanage kitchen while we looked at the kitchen equipment that the Church had donated.

Our 'snack' started out like this - juice and goodies.

 Then they started to bring in other dishes - these are fried egg plant with mayonnaise and tomato.

 Then they brought in the Kazakh national noodle dish and salads. Needless to say we were treated to a full meal and it was very tasty.

 The Director and her husband are such wonderful folks. When she sees Viviane she gives her a big hug like they are long lost friends.

 Two girls from the orphanage who served the meal to us.

 One of the things that Anwar is very proud of is these two trees that have grown together as if they are one. He calls them his 'momma and papa' trees.

Before we drove away they insisted that I take a picture of Viviane in with their roses and flowers.

The next day, Saturday, we attended the Zone Conference and were spiritually fed by Pres and Sis Woolley. They have been wonderful to us and we will miss them.