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.

International Children's Day

One of the fun things we get to do is attend some of the celebrations that our humanitarian partners hold for those they serve. The most recent celebration was for International Children's Day. The celebration we attended was held in the central park where there are amusement park type rides. The celebration started with a luncheon for families of handicapped children serviced by our partner - Children's Handicapped Society of Astana. There were about 40 families in attendance and they had already started when we arrived. We thought we would just stop by and say hello to folks and then go home. Turned out to be most of the day.

After we had eaten a bit of plov - a rice dish with meat - they asked us to say a few words to those in attendance. The trouble was we did not take our translator with us to the event (we like to be as self-sufficient as possible) so a couple of our English class ladies decided they would translate. I told them that I would say what I want in English and they can then say whatever they want in Russian. They assured me that they did a good translation. It is always a pleasure to testify to people that God knows and loves them whether rich or poor, Muslim or Christian. I have never found a group of folks that disagree with me.

After I spoke to them, they asked Viviane to sing a song. The lady in charge had heard Viviane sing at another event so she sang the Primary song "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" and its message was translated afterwards. Needless to say, she got a lot more applause that I.

Here is a picture of some of the folks ...

After Viviane's song, some of the children came forward and sang or quoted poetry ...

I then helped pass out cake while Viviane took care of little 4 month old Amir.

 A company donated free ride tickets for the families to enjoy the park and the rides and so we spent some time with our friends in conversation and on a few rides (me on the rides not Viviane).
Here are two sisters (Sandugash and Akbala) who work with the handicapped children and who rode the rides with me....

We have been helping a young woman with her preparations for university. She wants to attend the local English speaking university and so we have helped with her English by tutoring, testing, and using her as our translator. She passed her final test and is now waiting to see if she will be accepted at the university. If she is, her studies to get an engineering degree will be free! Her mother decided to thank us and another family (also members of the church) by having us for lunch and serving the traditional Kazakh national dish. I have mentioned it before - it is homemade noodles cooked in broth from the cooking of the onions and meat (in this instance it was horse meat) and then served with the onion, potatoes, and meat. Very tasty!! And you get to eat with your hands!!

 Jennifer, Saule, and Alina getting the noodles ready.

 The dessert 'table' a few hours after stuffing ourselves with noodles.

All the ladies posing together - with Aidar - Viviane, Jennifer, Olivia, Saule, Aidar, and Alina our student.

I found this quote and really liked it ....

Charles Malik, former president of the General Assembly of the United Nations. He said this:
"In this fearful age it is not enough to be happy and prosperous and secure yourselves; it is not enough to tell others: look at us, how happy we are; just copy our system, our know-how, and you will be happy yourselves. In this fearful age you must transcend your system; you must have a message to proclaim to others; you must mean something in terms of ideas and attitudes and fundamental outlook on life; and this something must vibrate with relevance to all conditions of men." (Successful Leadership, p. 5.)

I believe that the message that transcends all others is the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. That we are all children of God and if we are to have any semblance of peace in this life, both personal and globally, we need to embrace His message and invitation.

Wheelchair Fitting and Provisioning Training

Finally the time arrived for our wheelchairs training and distribution!! E/S Reese arrived from Tbilisi, Georgia on Monday evening and we spent a nice day with them Tuesday touring the city. Wednesday the rest of the team arrived at various times and settled into their hotel and caught up on some sleep. Meanwhile, the Reese's and Maxwell's went with our NGO to the wheelchair storage place and loaded up the trucks with the wheelchairs and other items that would be used for the training that began on Thursday morning. The wheelchair order was not correct from Indonesia (2/3 of the wheelchairs had no cushions) and so we had to make do without some of the sizes. This was a problem by the time we got to Friday and people were being fitted for the sizes we did not have - but I am getting ahead of the story.

Thursday morning began with our taxi showing up late and then getting stuck in traffic so we arrived at the training 30 minutes later than we had planned. It turned out not to matter since the trainees showed up about an hour late (sort of on time for Kazakhs). We finally got started with a short opening ceremony to introduce the team and a government guy who showed up. Overall, the training went very well. People were engaged in the process and were very appreciative of the training. The training team from Utah worked very hard and were very friendly with the locals. Thursday we were supposed to give away 12-15 wheelchairs but only 10 people showed up to get their wheelchair. Of course, some folks came that were not on the list and just expected to ride away in a wheelchair or take one for a friend. Apparently that is how wheelchairs were distributed in the past, but not this time.

We held two classes on both days with each class being about 2/3 of a day long. One class was to teach how to assess a potential recipient for the right wheelchair of the right size and teach them how to be safe in the chair. The other class was to teach how to assemble, repair, and use a wheelchair. The trainees were divided into two groups and alternated classes so that each person 'graduated' from both classes.

Here are some pictures from the classes ....

 Opening ceremony with Eric, myself, Mira (one of the translators), and Kamka (our NGO Director)

 Day 1 Fitting and Assessment class led by Jeff and Nylin (not in picture) with Mira and Alia as translators.

 Day 1 Provisioning class led by Eric and Kevin with Zhanara and Alina as translators.

 First the provisioning class assembled some standard outdoor wheelchairs which were then taken to the other class for those folks to sit in to get a feel for what it is like to be wheelchair bound (see below).

 Second the provisioning class assembled the RoughRider wheelchairs which are for rough terrain - even the sidewalks here are rough terrain for a wheelchair.

Then the provisioning class went outside to learn some mobility skills - essentially find out how difficult it is to maneuver a wheelchair over curbs etc.

The next day folks switched classes and the process started over again. At the end of each day there was a clinic where invited people came to be used as test cases for the class attendees to practice their new skills on someone who actually needs a wheelchair.

Here are some pictures of those who received wheelchairs or walkers over the two days ...

 Nylin with our first recipient and his family.

 Some of the trainees getting a wheelchair ready for a lady that already had a wheelchair but it was old and not useful for outside.

 Part of the process is for the recipient to fill out a diagnosis form and then be interviewed to determine the best style of wheelchair in the right size.

 There are many adjustments to be made to ensure the best fit and comfort for the recipient. Elder Reese attended the provisioning class and is making final adjustments for this lady.

This mother was very happy to get a wheelchair that would enable her to take her son outside.

 Assessing her ability to control her body movement and self correct her posture.

 Jeff and Ilene Thalman with a mother and daughter. The mother attended the classes.

 Kevin, Jeff, and Nurbek (one of our translators) with a mother who attended the classes and her son.

 This man came in walking with only a cane and we wondered why he wanted a wheelchair. Turned out that both his legs are artificial.

 Sweet little girl with her mother and the trainee that helped them.

 

 This little girl was too small for our wheelchairs but her parents were excited to get her a child size walker so she can continue her walking therapy. They are from Azerbaijan.

 Sisters!

Husband and wife.

 We held a press conference as part of the second day with our Area Welfare Manager, the team, church Public Affairs rep., our NGO partner, and a representative of the Dept. of Social Protection.

 Viviane and I doing our 'speech' at the press conference with Alina translating for us.

The final event was the presentation of certificates to all the trainees for both classes.

It was a great two days and kept us very busy. Now we will work with the NGO partner to distribute the rest of the wheelchairs and collect the information about those who receive the wheelchairs. It has taken a year to get to this point for this project. When our replacements arrive, they will need to begin the next wheelchair project for another area of the country.

Almaty trip

Last week we took another trip to the southern city of Almaty. We had two purposes in doing the trip - attend a Zone Conference and close out one of our Humanitarian projects.

The flight to Almaty was uneventful until we got about 15 minutes outside the city and the pilot came on the speaker and said that the airport had been closed and we were being diverted to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Viviane and I started to talk a bit about the situation and how a delay would effect us. A young man sitting in front of Viviane turned and started to talk to us in English. Turns out that he is a young (25 yrs or so) computer business owner. We spent the hour sitting on the tarmac in Bishkek discussing a bit of politics but then the discussion turned to our mission. He stated that he was atheist but wanted to know about our beliefs of God and what made our church different from others. All of this was out loud so everyone close by could hear and I could see one of the flight attendants trying to listen in. We bore testimony to him of God and Jesus Christ. We talked about 'Man's Search For Happiness" - not the movie but the concept. We described to him the purpose of sacrificing for others and that this is most easily seen within our families. He said "Of Course, when you hear someone being interviewed and asked 'what makes you happy?' they always say their family." We talked about the difference between pleasure and happiness or joy and testified that we get great happiness and joy from doing our humanitarian work with those we don't know and may never see again. When we go outside our comfort zone and reach out to others outside the family then our happiness grows proportionally. He said "well, when I am on the street and see a beggar, I give them money.". We pointed out that this was great and then asked him "what is your most rare possession?". This stumped him a bit and so we pointed out that 'time' was our most rare possession because we cannot buy more, create it, speed it up or slow it down. Whether you are a billionaire or a pauper, you have 24 hours in a day and that real happiness comes from good use of our time. Real sacrifice comes when we give our time to others for their benefit without expecting a benefit for ourselves. By the time we arrived in Almaty we had had a very good discussion and piqued his interest in our view of God. He took our business card and we hope he will call us when he is back is Astana. We feel that the diversion to Bishkek was a blessing so that we could introduce this young man to a clearer view of God and Jesus Christ. We LOVE being put in these situations and are starting to look for the opportunity that God is presenting us when 'our' plans get diverted.

The next afternoon was spent with our new friends at the Deaf Society. The Church donated 30 digital hearing aids to people who would be able to get better education or a better job if they could enter the hearing world. What a wonderful experience this has been for us. Their stories of how these excellent hearing aids have changed their lives are a testimony of how a small thing can make such a large difference for people. One of the funny stories that was actually shared by two different ladies is how they can now hear what their mother-in-law says about them. Many tears were shed as they describe being able to hear their children, hear their professor at school, work without needing an interpreter, ... They feel so liberated and a part of family and society! Here are a few pictures of them ....

 The lady in the head wrap is the director of the Deaf Society.

 This young gal is from Uzbekistan and is going to school in Almaty.

 The two in front are mother and daughter. The daughter is an art major and was so excited to have a good hearing aid that she went home and painted an abstract painting for us. You can see it below ... The two with baseball caps were excited to see our family pictures. When we showed them our grandkids and said that they were adopted, they, somewhat jokingly, asked if Mahana would adopt them too!

 Near the end of our time with them, this mother came forward with her son. It was easy to sense that something was wrong. He was very 'closed' to everything around him. She told us that he was born without ears or an ear canal. If he had ears he could wear a hearing aid and feel that life was worth living. She pleaded with us to help him in some way. We, of course, could not make any promises but took all their information and have sent the information to a few folks asking if they know of anyone or any Foundation that would be able to help him get the needed operation(s). If you know of anything that would help, please let us know. It turns out that he has an 18 yr old sister who has only one ear.

Amanbike, the Director, was very proud to present Viviane with a small gift and me with a certificate of appreciation for all the Church has done for these people. Their gratitude was palpable.

 Thursday evening we went to dinner with our mission president, his wife, the Senior Missionaries assigned to Almaty (This is their second mission. Their first mission was in Russia.), and our future mission president from the Novosibirsk mission - Kazakhstan will be transferred to that mission on July 1. It was a very nice dinner and great conversation but by the time we got back to the hotel Viviane was sick. She was sick all night with stomach pains. The next day was Zone Conference and then our flight back to Astana. Since she wanted to be well for all of that she decided to have me give her a blessing. She was able to go through he day - although quite tired from not getting any sleep the night before. Zone Conf. was great as usual and our flight home was uneventful. It was nice to be back at 'home'.

This mission has not been easy for us but the experiences and blessing we have derived from this service are of incalculable worth. We are grateful to a loving Savior for having blessed us in this way.

Fun Monday

This past Monday we had a visit from our future mission president and his wife. He is the mission president of the Russia Novosibirsk Mission and will have Kazakhstan added to his mission on July 1. We spent the day talking to them about the situation in Astana, showing them some of the sights of the city, and finished with an evening Fireside at the church where we had 23 in attendance.

Here is some of the outdoor art work in the part of the city where we walked with them ...