Tour of Cathedrals

We saw some old Cathedrals on our tour of Armenia.


Bells in Echmiatsin Mother Cathedral--I like this picture.



St. Hripsimeh Cathedral--the lady in black is not one of the nuns!!



Khor Virap--an old Monastery.


Echmiatsin Mother Cathedral--where the bells were.


Max's opinion--"if you've seen one--you've seen them all"

Need a Little Bit of Luck??

Legend has it, that at the Khor Virap Monastery in Armenia at the base of the Ararat Mountain--if you toss a pigeon into the air it will give you good luck. Several of the senior couples tried it.

I kind of missed the pigeon so use your imagination!!

What a Show!!

Yerevan, Armenia has a beautiful huge areas surrounded by massive building called Republic Square. There is a water fountain show synconized to music from around the world. It goes for about 2 hours. It was a nice evening and we enjoyed walking around the square with some other the other senior humanitarian couples.

Who would of Thought???

Never in a million years did I think I would go to Armenia. We had a very interesting trip and learned a lot more about our mission. It was great to be with other couples that are doing the same kind of work in other parts of Eastern Europe such as Turkey, Armenia, Ukraine, 5 different places in Russia, Bulgaria, and Belarus. The next few days I will share some pictures from our conference in Yerevan, Armenia.


This is an Armenian doll we found on our bed given to us by those couples serving in Armenia.

President and Sister Gibbons. He is the first counselor in the Area Presidency of Eastern Europe. He gave a great talk after dinner the first night. It was very uplifting and spiritual.


This open air market was huge, going on for what seemed like forever. They were selling all kinds of stuff such as souvenirs, wood cravings, nice glass dishes, purses, and used cameras.


I bought a nativity scene from this wood carver and so did eight other couples in our group. That is why he has that Mona Lisa Smile. He had a good day.

The End

We pass a lot of cemeteries in our travels. They are really decorated with flowers as shown in the 2nd picture. I've seen several but this was the first one at a corner so I could actually take a picture.






This will be The End of my blog for a few days.
Also for those of you (my kids) who are obligated to look at Mom's blog--I will be taking a few days off. Don't be sad because when I return I will have some exciting posts from a whole new country. We are going to Armenia for a Welfare Conference with all the couples in this part of the country that are doing to same type of work we are. It should be exciting to compare stories. See you next week!! (I'll miss reading your blogs, but it will be fun to catch up when I get back)

Road Trip Pictures

This pictures were taken from a moving van on our last road trip.

Some like color...


Some don't!!


A Catholic Church...


A Russian Orthodox Church...


Right next to each other. I'm amazed at the size of the churches in these small villages.

Memorial

By the stairway going down into the Metro Station at Nemiga is this memorial. A few years ago they were having a party downtown and it started to thunder, lightening, and rain. The kids all ran into the metro in one big group. Young people were trampled to death as they all tried to crowd into the metro station. This remembers the 50 young people who died that night. Lena, who we work with in the office, knew some of them from her school. I think there is a rose for each one of the victims of that sad night.

Our Spring Walk

I showed some winter shots of what we see each day on our walk to and from the office--I thought I would show some with the weather a little warmer. As you can see we are still wearing coats, but have retired our big winter coats with the fur collars. This is the Sports Palace where almost every weekend there are big crowds attending hockey games played there. They also have concerts there. Julio Ingasius (sp??) is coming but it costs 300,000 Belarusian rubles or about $125 USA dollars, so I guess we will miss that one!

Oh the Sights we See!!

There are a lot of storks in Belarus and when you see them it means Spring is on the way. We say a couple last week on our road trip. This is a stork's nest built on the top of this home's chimney.


A closer look at the nest. I'm thinking the house must be vacant or at least not heated!!


We saw this horse and cart right in the middle of town. They were hauling away the boxes full of sand used on the streets in the winter.


Definatedly the old and the new. As you can see I have to get my shots from the back seat of a van.

The Underground!!

In Minsk they have a unique way of getting people across the street without stopping traffic. It an underground sidewalk. The one we use most often also has a floral shop and convenient store. It's also a favorite hang out in the winter on Friday and Saturday night for teenager playing guitars and doing a little drinking.


This is the entrance

You go right or left depending on the corner you want to get to. One time we turned wrong and came out somewhere we had never been before. To the right is the floral shop and to the left is the convenient store.


Keep going and going and going...



Until you reach the stairway out. Another way to get exercise!!

Sophia Cathedral in Polatsk, Belarus

The oldest surviving monument of architecture in Belarus


It is one of two original 11th century Russian Cathedrals modelled and named after the St Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.


It was almost destroyed by fire by retreating Russina in 1710


40 years latter it was reconstructed as a baroque Catholic cathedral.


Today it's a museum where organ concerts are performed.

What a job!!

On one of the road trips we pulled into a service station and the lot was all pavers. I couldn't believe that someone had gone to all that work for an out of the way gas station.

From one end of the lot...

To the other end!!

Home for the Holidays

Max has been having trouble with his tooth ever since we left Idaho. So after much thought and prayer we decided to come home and get it taken care of. Adam made the arrangements with an endodontist to do the surgery and Adam put a new crown on the tooth. So now he's a new man!! We were only in Twin Falls for 6 days, but all of the kids and their families came to Mandy's home to watch conference. It was so much fun--12 adults and 14 children (under 11 years old) in one house. The Hodges were great hosts and everyone brought food to help with Sunday dinner.

Rotary Club Belarussian Style

We were invited to attend a Rotary Meeting. It is held in the Hotel Europe and wow what a hotel. It is very, very fancy. A mosaic mural went from the bottom to the top of the motel showing sights around the city of Minsk. My favorite part was the elevator ride, Lena liked the shoe shine machine, and Max was just embarrassed that we were walking around taking so many pictures!!