February 15, 2011

From Russia with Love is an appropriate subject, I tell you what. We have been overwhelmed by the love we have felt which as huge as this country is big. The spirit of this little branch is magnificent and they give their all to the cause every day. We are seeing and will continue to see miracles here. We said goodbye to two of our 6 elders at transfers tonight and it was like losing 2 sons already. We treasure their friendships already and they are some of our new sons in our new family. Our hearts are expanding for sure!

About the weather here. I tell you what, those of you that saw 60 degrees this past week. . . nothing. . . It was -12 at the warmest part of our day on Monday and we went out across the street and went to a open air flea market where you can buy anything from scarves, to fish, to soap, to boots. About 100 shops on either side of a path as big as a one lane road. The shops were about as big as a sno-shack or a bit larger. I was amazed that everyone was dressed in their furs and boots out in that weather all day like it was summer or something. They were all having a good time. It's kind of contagious. We enjoyed walking through and observing it, but didn't want to spend all day. I think it took us 30 minutes to walk up the path and back. We went to our indoor market about 3/4 of a mile away and carried home our groceries in large canvas bags and then up our 5 flights of stairs, so we got a workout! We are going to go to a park tomorrow on Prep. Day that has a frozen ice castle in it. It looks amazing as we see it from the bus every day. I guess inside the walls of the castle are some beautiful ice sculptures and statues, so we will check it out. It will probably be there until May. :)

We have been in on a introductory referral with an older Russian lady and helped teach 3 lessons also. This is great fun. We had young single adult FHE here on Monday and had too much fun - it lasted 3 hours. Then we taught English "club" lessons on Tuesday. We call it "club" because we can't legally teach classes since we are not licensed Russian teachers. Six attended our level 3 classes tonight, most of them are not members.

So that's our week in a nutshell. We love you all and think of you when we have time. Luckily we are busy.

Anxiously Engaged, Elder & Sister Aland