The Ups and Downs

We walk up this stairway every morning going to the office.


Which is probably a good thing--because this is what I had for lunch. It is really good with kiwi in the center. It a favorite food in Minsk. To order our food we just have to point at what looks good. Some times the choices of been good and sometimes not so good! But each time is an adventure. That is why Max likes to eat at McDonalds--you always know what you are getting.

Pleasant Surprise

We were buying Oranges and this was the label.



Funny how we look for things that remind us of home. Yesterday

we say some one on the bus that looked like Ronel Brickenridge.

A joke I read:

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Abby

Abby who?

Abby birthday to you!!

Now I'm looking for the rest of the family.

Act of Bravery

Max is stepping off of the elevator we ride every morning to the office of Sofia on the 7th floor, which in itself is not a dangerous act until....


You see the floor of the elevator. The light is a crack on the floor which you can look down clear to the bottom floor. It's very small and feels crowded with just the two of us--and then two more will get on. It makes some pretty scary sounds and I'm always thankful when we make it.

The Office

We spend a lot of time at the office in this calling. We work with some very fun people and have some laughs. Most of the time they are pretty serious about their work.

The view out the window. We are on the 7th floor.

Max has his own personal desk and computer (so do I).


It was "Men's Day" and the women brought treats for celebrate. This is Eugeney joking around and going for the treats. He is a very nice man and trying to teach me a little Russian. He reads English to me in the morning.

Lyena arranges the health fairs for the "Young Volunteers" and is also interprets for us. She went on a mission to Ukraine. Natasha is the book keeper, not a member of the church. Speaks very little English. Sergie was there but didn't want his picture taken.

Healthy Habits

We can buy really good fruits and vegetables in Belarus if you are willing to walk a ways. But the way I look at it we are living healthy. Getting exercise and eating healthy foods. It's quite a process once we get home. We have to wash the produce in water treated with Clorox and then rinse them in filtered water. I'm not really sure that is all necessary, but we definitely don't want to get sick and we were advised by the previous couple to follow that procedure. All the effort is worth it--I made a toss salad last night and it sure tasted good. I tried three different types of lettuce until I found one I liked the taste of. They don't have good old "iceberg" or "romaine" lettuce here.

Dinner with the Rose Family

The Rose Family--Eric, Joy, Orion, Katherine, and Mariom. He works for the American Embassy and will be living in Belarus for 2 - 3 years. They are members of the church and just a neat family. They invited all six of us "volunteers" to their home for dinner. They have a beautiful home and Joy loves to entertain. They served us a wonderful meal. I especially enjoyed playing with the littlest girl, Mariom, and reading her books.



The table was all set when we arrived.


This is just their entry way. They have a much larger home than most people in this country. There was a neat spirit in their home. They love the gospel and are teaching their children the principles. They also have their challenges raising a family in a country that speaks a language they don't understand. Their children attend the international school which is taught in English. They are a wonderful family and we spent such a nice evening with them.

There and Back

This is what we see in the morning on our walks to the office. That's a Russian Orthodox Church right in the middle of town. The picture on the building depicts "solidarity" to what I don't know. At some intersections you walk under the street and hopefully come up on the right side. The streets are wide and the underground tunnels go four different ways. They are so big there are store underground. Stores such as flower shops, snack foods, and I even saw a drug store. They have to be in pretty good shape to walk all those stairs.

This is what we see at night when we walk home--when it's a clear night. The lights on the building are really pretty. But we commented it is probably something you have to actual see to appreciate.

Party Time!

The two branches had a combined Valentines Day Party. They sure have fun when they get together.


Daniil Gorshkov, Branch president's son, dressed up like Cupid. He is such a cute kids and full of the mischief. Speak a tiny bit of English.


Lyena Liudvikovskaya that works in the office and Anastasiya Divydik doing a skit about two babooskas.



Lyena, Tanya, Anastasiya singing a song everyone was laughing about. We sure wish we knew what they were saying, but we laughed right along with everyone else. These girls all come to English Club also.




The "young volunteers" performed a special number.

Hard Job Made Harder

This little old lady and her husband are out every morning clearing the snow off this big walk way by our bus stop. She has to bend over to shovel and sweep the snow--all by hand.

This is the equipment they use. We see them out there every morning it snows--which has been about every day. It is hasn't snowed they are out there sweeping up cigarette butts--a nasty habit!!

We're Famous

We closed the project at the Gorodishchyensky Boarding House for Handicap children in the Brest Region of Belarus. The local news interviewed Max to be on television. They were celebrating their 50th anniversary with a lot of dignitaries invited. The program we attended was 3 1/2 hours long with a lot of speeches, presentations, awards, and musical numbers. The musical numbers we enjoyed since you can enjoy music no matter what language it is!!

This shows only part of the room when the little girls sleep. I wish I would of counted the beds--but I bet there where 15 in one room.

The children were sure excited to have us visit. One little girl jumped into my arms to give me a hug.

Doesn't Max look like a dignitary!!

Let's do Lunch--Belarusian Style

We took the staff from Sofia out for lunch at a pizza parlor. I of course ordered cheese. They didn't have Canadian bacon and pineapple (Max's favorite) so he ordered Medici. To his surprise it has shrimp on it. It definitely was not his favorite. It was fun to be with the staff when they could relax a little, talk, and laugh. They really are fun people. The two women on the left can not speak any English. They are the accountants in the office. The rest can speak English enough we can have a good conversation with them. Elyena, the young girl, served a mission in the Ukraine with companions from the US so her English is very good. The man (right, front) is Syergyey our interpreter, driver, and basically the guy that takes such good care of us.
Unlike the in the states, when you order pizza everyone doesn't share and try each kind. Each person orders their own and eats the whole thing. We suggested sharing and they really looked at us like I can't believe you do that.

Home Teaching

Meet Galina Niktyenkova, a lady we go home teaching too. We have two we visit together and then Max is assigned two other men he visits with someone else. She has a small apartment but it is very nice. She use to live there with her son, his wife, and two children but they moved to Moscow last summer where he has a business selling computers. Her "former husband" as she call him went to America on a visit and never returned. She is a very nice lady and speaks a little English--enough that we could visit. We can only visit one person a night as it takes us three hours by the time we walk to the bus, ride the bus, walk to her house, visit for about 40 minutes, walk back to bus, ride bus, and then walk to our apartment. Have a made you tired yet? It makes us tired and we are always glad to get out of the weather and back to our apartment.

English Club

This is our English Class. After class some of the girls were having fun with my camers. We have between 10 - 15 people come each week. The first week we had a get acquainted discussion. The next week it was about smiling and last week we talked about English Idioms. Next week because it's Valentine day, we plan to talk about famous couples.

Humanitarian Project

This is a proposed project. This is a foster home and they have 9 children and one of their own. The father has made bunk beds for the children--four to a room. The ages range from 4 years to teenagers. Their home had such a loving feeling and they are doing such good work for these children--I hope we can get the project approved. They requested a freezer, vacuum cleaner, and two clothes closets. Simple wants!!






Three little Belarussian grandmas live in these small rooms. The church provided for each of them a night stand and closet for their clothes and a table to share. The were so appreciate this little lady just keep kissing my hand and saying, "thank you, thank you." It just feels so good to help people with such simple needs and so appreciative.

Road Trips

Once or twice a week we travel in the country to different settlements and village to visit places requesting help from the church. This is what we see. Lots of snow!!