June 17, 2012 Yerevan to Moscow

We leave tomorrow for the week in Russia.  We will fly to Moscow and then take a train (4 hours) to a branch in Nizhney Novogorod for training with the leaders.  On Thurs. and Fri. we have meetings in Moscow.  The first picture is me practicing Armenian with a lady on our trip to Georgia.  On Sat. we walked up the Cascades (big set of steps) in Yerevan.  I counted 600 steps.  You can see Mt. Ararat in the distance.  The day was not too clear.  The rabbit sculpture was on the walk.

June 10, 2012 Tatev

On Friday, June 8th we went on a trip with Sister Bailey who completed her mission that week and her father and brother.  The first picture is the Tatev Monastery.  On the drive we saw some stork nests on light poles.  Sister Bailey's family is standing in front of the Jermuk Falls.  The Noravank Monastery is in a canyon which looks like it could be in Utah.  You will notice the unusual stairs on the outside of the build front.  The stairs were about 18 inches wide with no hand rail.  The roads were SO bumpy!

June 4, 2012 Last week in Georgia

On the drive to Georgia as we came through one section of mountains we could see the border of Azerbijan on the other side of the river.

The statue of the horse and rider in the lower left hand side of the picture by the river in Tbilisi was the site where Elder Holland dedicated the country of Georgia for the preaching of the gospel in 1999.

We went to the bazaar market and this was a candy section.

Tbilisi is beautiful at night with all of the lights around the buildings.  The last picture is the memorial in Spitak, Armenia, at the site of the 1988 earthquake.  One source states that 25,000+ people died.  It was after the earthquake that Jon Huntsman and Armand Hammer built a cement plant to help with the rebuilding.

May 31, 2012 Georgia (not the state)

We attended a senior missionary conference in Tbilisi, Georgia on Mon-Wed., May 28-30.  It is a 5 hour drive from Yerevan over some beautiful mountains across rough, but paved roads.  We stopped at an Armenian church by Lake Sevan.  The couples are standing in front of the Georgian Stonehenge.  There is an old fort on the hil above the old town Tbilisi where we stayed.  The artist painting my picutre was by some sidewalk art displays.  The big church was the Georgian church headquarters in Tbilisi.

Kazakhstan May 22,2012

One of our areas for training is Moscow West Mission.  One of the branches is in the country of Kazakhstan,  We flew to Almaty, Kazakhstan on May 18th and attended church there on Sunday.  They also asked us to speak.  It is a 4 hour plane trip from Moscow.  What a challenge for a mission.  We enjoyed all of the members we met and talked to.  The picture are the branch building (part of a bigger building), a famous church in Almaty, a war memorial, Carl and me with the Beetles on the mountain, one of the types of iris in the city, and horse meat in the market (no, we didn't try it).  We did have food poisoning on Sunday night/Monday morning, but from some lasagne.

Ryazan and Moscow, Russia May 15, 2012

We left Yerevan on Sat., May 12th and will return Tues., May 22.  We trained the presidency and clerk in the Ryazan Branch on Sun., May 13 after attending their meetings.  On the 14th we returned to Moscow and Carl had a training today, Thurs., for the zone leader/branch presidents in the Moscow West Mission.  I had some trouble with my ears so I spent the day at the medical center and was able to have a tube put in my right ear so we can fly tomorrow.  McDonalds always remind of us home.  We don't have any in Armenia.  You will recognize the sights from Red Square.

May 7, 2012 Alexandropol Hotel in Gyumri, Armenia

There is a branch in Gyumri and we stayed at the Alexandropol Hotel when we were there 2 days last week to help with the branch.  I found the hotel online and it turned out to be very ornate!  Felt like a Russian palace.  The pictures are the entryway and staircasde and the room where we stayed.  It was very nice, but one time is enough.  Too fancy for us.