April 3, 2013 Rostov and Volgograd, Russia

The dinner with some of the missionaries at the Rostov mission home was after their zone training meeting.  The other pictures are in Volgograd at the Mother of Russia monument.  The changing of the guard takes place each hour.  They march with "goose steps" with the legs raised high each step.  The eternal flame is where the guards stand at attention.  The statue with the sword raised is bigger than the Statue of Liberty.  The city name during World War II was Stalingrad and the Russians fought the Germans near the city.  The city was destroyed and the name was changed to Volgograd when it was rebuilt.  We flew to Rostov on Thurs., Mar. 28th and had meetings and audits in the mission office on Thurs. and Thurs. evening.  Friday we traveled to Volgograd and had meetings and training with the branch presidents and clerks Sat. and Sun. after district conference.

March 2013 Spring in Armenia

The branch president and his parents invited us and the sister missionaries to dinner at his apartment.  Armenia is famous for their apricots.  The apricot trees were the first fruit trees to bloom in March.  Yerevan has a new and very modern airport.  The painting was a famous Armenian painting that was restored after being damaged in the 1989 earthquake.  It is hanging in the Yerevan Zvartnots Airport.

March 20, 2013 Concert and some activities

The dinner was after the Senior Missionary Council.  We attended our branch activity on March 6, Women's Day.  We had a program and then music and dancing.  Before the symphony concert at the Yerevan Opera House we had dinner with the senior missionaries at Old Yerevan.  The fancy entryway was in the stadium where we attended the Julio Iglesia concert that week.

February 2013 Moscow Extras

I always love to see the long fur coats in Moscow and Yerevan.  Mom gave me her fox fur coat and Dave has teased me for not bringing it with me.  The picture is our training group from our Moscow meeting.  Our group included an auditor from Ukraine, our S.L. visitor/trainer and the 4 senior couples with area and assistant area auditor callings.  You can tell how cold it was in Moscow in January!

February 12-13, 2013 Ephesus and Izmir

For a preparation day we went to Ephesus with the senior humanitarian couple who live in Izmir.  InTurkey the missionaries don't wear name tags and don't wear missioary clothes for preparation days.  The picture of us is in Ephesus.  The second picture is arches in Ephesus.  The next to the last picture is the library and the last picture is the road into the city from where the sea used to be. The fourth picture is some ruins in Izmir.  We liked the advertisement at the airport with the surfing fingers.

February 4-14, 2013 Turkey and Bulgaria

Before our audit training in Ankara we visited a museum. Carl was feeding the lion.  The mosque was in Adana and also the ancient bridge.  This is group in Stara Zagora who attended our training.  There were 2 new branch presidencies.  This building had a portable baptismal font.  We did audits in Ankara, Istanbul, and Adana in Turkey.  In Bulgaria we rented a car to drive to Stara Zagora and we attended church in Sofia.

February 3, 2013 Good Bye Georgia

We arrived in Georgia on Mon., Dec. 17th and left on Sun., Feb. 3rd.  The president had another couple from Armenia come to take our place and finish their mission in Georgia.  In that time period we had 4 night train trips between the 2 countries so we could complete our Russian visas.  We really enjoyed working with the members and missionaries.  The first picture is a building in Tbilisi.  The second is an American style pizza place that we enjoyed.  Zone conference was held in our apartment using SKYPE with Armenia.  I loved the flowers for sale on the streets.  The missionary group is our last Sunday.