Minsk

Here are some random photos I took of the city we are living in. It really is a beautiful city.

We pass these flowers bed on our walk to Sofia. They have just taken all the tulips out and planted these. If I was "flower smart" I would tell you the names. Any guesses?

They dress their children so cute. I'm assuming these girls are twins.


This clock, made out of flowers, actually works.




Top of the City Hall building.



Sunset out our apartment window.

Birthday #2

It's the custom in Belarus that on your birthday you furnish the cake--so we brought two cakes and some brownies to celebrate my birthday.



This is Eugene. He is teaching me Russian.

The office staff plus the two volunteers that are leaving this week.

When I came home I was surprised to see "Happy Birthday" on our wall (done by Lena),

and the neatest bouquet of flower from Max.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

For FHE they had a "good-bye" party for Elders Pollard and Elders Williams and a "birthday" party for Elder Campbell and Sister Wade.

They were awarded with "medals" for being such great volunteers.

Played the water in the face game--Elder Williams was drenched when he guessed "Sister Wade."

That says "Sister Wade" in Russian.

The Young Men of the Branch.

The Young Women plus one old lady and Elder Campbell (because it was our birthday).

It was very sweet of them to remember my birthday. They are a super!!

We see lots of animal on our road trips. We went to Vitesbyk this past week where a tractor was donated to plow the gardens of the pensioners in the village.

We saw a rooster,

a herd of cows,

a mother and baby stork,

a pair of swans,

and a goat.

Also a unique way to use Max's old cowboy boots!!

Spring Surprises

The Chestnut trees are in bloom all over Minsk.





The leaves and blossoms are large and look so pretty around town.


This winter I took of picture of this because I thought it was different. The colors in the winter were rocks--now it's summer they have planted flowers.

An Evening Walk

Last night we got off the bus at a park we've always want to walk through. It was much bigger than I thought. It took us to the Svisloch River that runs by our apartment so we just followed it home. All along the bank were young people visiting and having a good time. The weather was nice and it was fun to see another part of the city.

Monument to Maxim Bogdanovich, famous Belarusian poet.

National Academic Great theatre of Opera and Ballet of Belarus.


Notice the row of Chestnut Trees in the background.

Max saw this cute little "smart car" and had to take a picture.



Our apartment is the pink building across the river.

A Night Out!!

President Syergyey and Sister Olga Groshkov invited us to their home for dinner. She really had some good food and set such a beautiful table.


Max, Deanna, Elder Craven, Elder Pollard, Nina (a visitor from England), Olga and Syergyey Gorshkov. Their son Daniil is taking the picture. We had such a nice evening with them. They shared with us their story of how they joined the church.



This shows how crowded the buses are here. The bus was full and then these two boys jumped on just before the doors closed. Their faces were right up to the window.

Mexican Fiesta Belarussian Style

The branch had a Mexican Fiesta party Saturday night. The church house was full of people--members bringing friends to introduce them to the gospel. The decorations were great and the food was delicious.


The Young Volunteers put on a demonstration on how to prepare a taco.


The Youth put on a real cute play about two sets of twins falling in love, after a little bit of a mix up. (Don't those four look like twin!!!)


The rest of the cast!!

Some from the audience were asked to perform a little impromtu skit. This is Dennis from our English Club.

More Road Trip??

Our road trips are so interesting I wanted to share some more pictures that we took. We saw these church all in one day in the Bryest Region of Belarus.

Bryest Road Trip

We traveled to the Bryest Region to open one humanitarian project and to close another. The ride was full of interesting and fun things to see.

Babushkas on the corner selling their farm projects.


We see a lots of this kind of fence in Belarus. This one was more intricate than some others we have seen.



Bright yellow canola fields, blue skies, and white cummulus clouds--it doesn't get much prettier than that!!




This kind of doll in really popular in Belarus. It represents the bread offered when a couple is married. The directors of the Territorial Center in Divine offered them to us as a gift. Four of the ladies there had the same name--Tatyana, a very popular name in this country. Max had them all laughing over the fact that three of them had the same name--then when another came delivering clothes to be washed and her name was also Tayana we all had another good laugh. They were such nice ladies and so appreciated the washing machine and dryer the church donated to their Territorial Center.

Fireworks Extravaganza

We had some guests at our picnic! This picture is for Lauren, our animal lover.

After the picnic the firework display was right out our apartment window. We had the perfect view and didn't even have to leave the comfort of our home. Max said all we needed was a comfortable chair. The colors were green, red, and white the colors of the flag of Belarus.

Victory Day Picnic

The youth in the branch had a picnic for Victory Day. We road a train into the forest and then hiked to two different spots to find just the right place. Everyone brought food, balls to play games with, and also a spiritual thought. It was a fun day and didn't start to rain until we were leaving to go back to the city.

Can you recognize the tune? Can you recognize the words?