Sight from Saturday's Stroll

The weather this past Saturday was still nice enough to take a walk, so we decided we better visit some more sights of the city. (My Blog is like a trip that just never ends!!) This is the military building and theater. It looked like from the advertisement in the front they were all plays--which I would love to go to, but it would be a little hard to enjoy if you couldn't understand a word they were saying.

This says, ....(something) theater and Belarussian Army

This is a government building where President Lushanka's office is located. I quickly took a picture when the guard had his back turned.

We found a fun place where people were selling things that had made. Lots of artists had their painting for sell, a little hand sewing, and this lady made dolls. She is holding the one I bought. You can tell from her coats that the weather was pretty cold.

This limo was parked in front of the catholic church waiting for the wedding party to come out. It's so long it almost looked fake to me.

This fancy building is actually a....

WC (bathroom). Fancy on the outside gross on the inside. Actually we didn't go inside, but I haven't found a public restroom in this country I would want to use unless I really needed to.

This is a tree just outside our apartment complex. We are waiting to go inside because there was a very drunk young man trying to get inside and he was having a very hard time. Finally a man came out and "gently" had him step aside so we and another girl could go inside. He was so drunk when he tried to step down the one small step we have, he fell on his back. Some of those situations are so sad. Sergie said when he went to the hospital to get some stitches most of the patients were drunks that had been picked up off the streets. Alcohol is definatedly Satan's tool of ruining a person's life. But doesn't Max make a striking pose.

Meet My Doll Family

I hestitated putting these pictures on the blog because they are gifts for our grand daughters when we arrive home. They are a very popular souviner in Belarus and with 11 grand daughters who could resist.

This one I bought for myself.

Village Architecture

We see a lot of abandoned homes in the villages where the owners have either passed away or living in boarding homes and their children have gone to the cities to live.

There were a lot of homes in this one village that had porches on them. We decided maybe they were built by the same builder, of course employed by the government.

Then there is always the guys in the neighborhood the really spends time in his yard.

The Roads...

Our travels our very interesting. We start out on a four lane road going out of the city of Minsk and then sometimes....

it gets smaller...

and smaller....

until we are actually driving on cobble stone.

But we ended up in the neatest little village of...

Where we asked this sweet little lady for directions to the Retirement Home.

Nailed to this old wooden building in the village was a....

mail receptacle.

On The Road Again

We closed two projects in Vitesbyk this week. The church donated needed equipment in a Boarding House for 300 residents and a Retirement Home for 30 residents. I took some fun pictures of things we saw "on the road."

The fields are green and you would think it was summer except it is cold, rainy, and cloudy. In the fall the farmers plant radishes which they plow into the ground in the spring fertilizing the earth for next year's summer crop.

This tractor was really stuck. They have received a lot of rain and we saw

puddles of waters standing in the fields.

I guess that is why the little babushkas still use manual labor. The bundle on her back is as big as big as she is. I don't even know where she was taking it or how far she had come. She was a long ways away from anything.

This wood pile will be used this winter for one boarding house--this and coal is their only means of heating their buildings.

And of course a road trip isn't complete without seeing a few churches.

Harvest Time

Harvest is almost done in Belarus. Each Saturday during October they have a Farmer's Market just done from our apartment. People are carrying out peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, and carrots by the sacks.

This is in the shape of the Country of Belarus. Minsk is about in the middle of the apples.

I'm trying to figure out how much to pay her.

We don't buy much fish--actually none. But they are fresh--they are still wiggling in the buckets.

Truckloads of Sugar Beets (reminded me of driving truck for Dad during the harvest)

Harvesting the cabbage. One person is lining them up so the machine can pick up the heads of cabbage and dump them into a truck.

Another field they just had people throwing them into the truck.

Mogilov

This is the church building in Mogilov. There are very few members in this branch. A member of the distrist presidency will travel there each week from Minsk to conduct a meeting. Sometimes only one person will come. It is so hard for them to stay active in this city with little support. About three years ago the missionaries were deported from here and it has taken this long for the church to be even allowed to have the "young volunteers" do puppet shows.

There was once a chain across this drive-way.

Apparently it was no longer needed.

And instead of removing it--they just put pavers around it.

A friend that is serving in Moscow was telling us about a car that was broken down and they were paving the road. Well instead of moving it they just paved around it. A few days later they came and move the car leaving a hole. Just too funny!!

Come on Along

Since the majority of our mission is spent traveling on "road trips" to look at potential projects and then returning to the finished project to see if all th equipment has been installed and working properly--I thought I would invite you along on our last trip.

My view from the back seat of the van--which I really enjoy. I can take pictures, read, and sleep. Some of these rides are 3-4 hours one way. Max and Sergie sit in the front and review the information of the projects we are visiting and making plans for the next week. My job is to take notes at these visits.

My side view!

This was and old bus the family has painted, hung curtain, and I hope only traveling in. I've seen some along side of the road I think people actually live in.

We see lots of church everywhere we go. For being a communist country only 15 years ago, it's amazying to me the churches they have built, remodeled, and are using again. There is a church in Minsk that was used as a cinema during soviet times and a beautiful cathedral next to our office had a wall placed in front of it so you couldn't even tell it was there.

The trees are sure beautiful this time of year. This is taken in the city of Mogilov where we meet with the Chairman of the Committee of Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Mogilov Distrist.

Lots of small, very old homes with garden and animals in their yards.

This area reminded me of Island Park as we were driving through it.


But mostly miles and miles, or I should say kilometers of road lined with trees. Aren't they pretty this time of year.