ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA.......
Day #3
With a really, really late night last night (or should I say really, really early morning) we were headed to church and were going to attend 2 Sacrament Meetings and the full 3-hour block of the afternoon Branch. We wanted to see as many of the Russian saints as we could see because we see so many of them at the temple. We like to have our picture taken by the church sign outside of the chapel whenever we visit....Kent and Barbara Michie had gone inside and taken their coats off but came back out for the quick group picture....and it was quick. It was sooo cold......`17 degrees celsius!!! That is pretty cold.
The free standing building is absolutely beautiful! So wonderful for the saints here to have such a nice building. It is a 3- story building which houses the Mission Office, Family History Library and other offices on the 1s floor. The second floor has lots of class rooms while the 3rd floor has a chapel and 'cultural hall' where larger events can be held. We did not see a basketball court if you can believe that!!
A couple of pictures of the inside of a large classroom and chapel.
Just had to get a picture of the YOUNG WOMEN THEME in Russian........
along with the RELIEF SOCIETY THEME in Russian as well.
We had a dinner appointment at the KONDROTIEV family! We love them. They are at the temple very, very often and are great workers.
Their daughter is engaged to be married in the temple in April. We are so excited because we will get to be there for it before we go home from our mission.
After dinner they wanted to play a round or two of RUMMYCUBE....fun game. We had never played that before.
As a gift, they gave each of us a beautiful book about Russian Porcelain (Michie's got that one) and about Russian Handiwork (we got that one). Both books were perfect for each of us.
Our overall impressions of today: WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, could NOT have been any better! So many, many people that we knew and who knew us from the temple. It was like a family reunion.....so happy to see each other!! We are trying to figure out how to bottle all of these wonderful saints up over here and bring home with us. We dread not being able to see them when we go home!!
Vickie, I hate to ask this proverbial question, but do you have a set departure date to return home? I guess a second extension is out of the question. BTW--Russian is one of the countries left on our travel list. Probably will do that in conjuction with a Baltic Sea cruise. I have really enjoyed following your BLOG these last couple of years! John
ReplyDeleteHi John.....so glad you have been able to 'follow' us and our wonderful adventures here!! We have loved every minute of our mission!! Our 1st trip to St. Petersburg was on a Baltic Cruise when Wayne retired 2 1/2 years ago. That was a 'good' trip but this has been FANTASTIC!!! Have seen Russia in a very different way. Can talk to you about it sometime when you have time! Our release date is around April 30. Nothing definite yet from SLC. Second extension? We would love it but not allowed! We will just have to come back on another mission! Thanks for asking.....and has to have you here!! :-)
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