Aug 29 2010 A Historic Day For Russia

What a wonderful time to be in Russia this week.  The dedication of the Kyiv Temple has been a big historic event.  It was annouced in 1997 and through many hurdles and road blocks it was dedicated today.  We went to the cultural event last night at the Central building and watched it on T.V. Many of our branch's youth were in it. 
President Monson said he loves big celebrations with the youth.  It creates memories for them that will strengthed their anchor when things get rough for them.  We just have felt the spirit so strong in this part of the world.  We have no wards or stakes yet, but a Temple 1 hr flight away in the Ukraine.  We will be able to attend it on our Visa trip when we have to leave Russia for a day and then return.  We are very excited.
This week we will say good by to our friends the Rees's.  We have grown to love them in the month that we have been here.  He is the area doctor and shared a sweet testimony of how the Lord helped him to help missionareis who were 100s of miles away.  But they are very excited to see their grandchildren.  They are from Salem Utah.
Our friend and neighbor Kent Rust showed up at the dedication at our branch today.  That was so exciting. A familar face from the ward back in West Jordan.  He and his wife Janet have been here for 10 yrs for his work.  so it was wonderful to see him.

I am still trying to master cookies here.  But with the ingredients they have it is very hard.  Raw brown sugar, brown eggs, powdered vanilla, no shortening and the list goes on.  But I will figure it out some how.

The beautiful Kyiv Temple

Leave us a comment on the blog we would love to hear from you or e-mail us at mggronning2@hotmail.com

Keep us in your prayers.. We love you all..

                                           Outside our branch before dedication..Mission pres and wife and our branch missionaries..

                     This is the television we watched the dedication on in the Relief Society room.

Cute elders in our branch..Elder Demchenko, Elder Paige, Elder Cordoza and Elder Lex.  Elder Demchencko goes home next week.  We will miss him so much..

A fun day to see Kent Rust.  We were so surprised

                      A happy event..

                           This is powdered vanilla

                                 Cookies that just do not turn out like home...

                               But Gene will eat them anyway!!!








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Happy Day Gene did fix the washer

It is Monday night and the washer is going.  It took Gene about 45 minutes to fix it...
I would of added this to previous blog, but I don't know how.  I really need some blogging lessons!!
The washer is so small it can wash one sheet at a time and maybe 2 big or 3 small towels at once.  And we have no dryer so it will take every day to do the wash and hang it to dry.  But we can do that..

Sunday August 22, 2010

Another week in Russia.
We went to our first zone conference.  We enjoyed it a lot and learned much while we were there.  We love to be around the missionaries.  They are all just so happy and make us feel happy too.
We had our first expierence of the elevator not working in our apt.  It is a tiny little wood elevator that barely 4 people can get in at once.  Now just picture the lady at the front of the bldg. telling us in Russian that the elevator was not working.  This was 9:00PM.  Thank goodness for the elders.  We called them and they got her to take us up the fire escape stairs.  We live on the 10th floor.So it was a nice hike.
This Sunday at church the area presidency was there.  It was good to meet President Schwitzer.
The weather has cooled off a lot.  We have rain almost every day for at least awhile and the temp is about high 60's maybe low 70's.  But we will take that over the heat and smoke.
We are still hoping to get the washing machine fixed shortly.  It has been a month without it and we have washed lots of clothes by hand.  No laundrymats...The microwave and the dishwasher are still broke, but they are not top priority..washing machine first..and the land lady just doesn't seem to care..Oh well..

Love you all and think of you often...

ward member who played for us at Zone Conference

Two sisters in our branch.  The little old one is 86 her name is Maria

Another cute 85 yr old sister in our branch. I still need to learn her name

<>.>;;;;

;Sister missionary and ward member;

Gene is fed up he is going to fix it himself!!

Long escalators in the subway

First Zone Conference..This the North half of our mission

This is the service center. A lot of humanatarian and auditing go on

Saturday July 14 2010

We have made the month marker We entered the MTC on July 12th. So 17 more months.
This has been a good week. Finally the smoke from the fires went away and we had sort of clean air to breathe, (there is no air like Utah) No more doctor e-mails saying wear a face mask and only go out if you need to. So that was the big plus this week.
Monday was Pres. Sorensons birtday so we had birthday cake and that was fun. Sister Sorenson had brought his favorite cake mix with her when they came because you cannot buy a cake mix in Russia. It was yummy for all of us.That night the elders came over to have family home evening with us. They asked us if they could come and we said of course. Gene gave them money to bring Pizza and I had ice cream and cookies. Then they gave us a short lesson on Blessings from your callings. (I am sure that was for me!!)It was a fun night.
Wed night we went to English club in Zelenograd where we go to church. It took us about 1 hr and 15 min to get there, 2 busses. It is nothing religious. Everyone who wants to learn English is invited and we just gather in a room and have a conversation on any topic we want. Gene had to lead the discussion. Lots of weather and sports were talked about. We enjoyed that evening.
Thursday night was Senior Couple night. It was at the Central bldg which is far away. We left the office at 3:00 to make it there by 5:00. It is a long bus ride and 2 subways and a medium walk. We love senior couple night. Fun to be with other couples. We were also real proud of ourseleves making it there on our own. We had to memorize our stops and what they looked like in Russian. The subways are coded by color and number so you move around and fine which one you want looking for the right color.
We are getting more settled and comfortable each day. My feet are still getting use to the heat and walking. I am on my 2nd set of blisters... We do love serving our Heavenly Father. We know this is what we are suppose to be doing in our lives now and this is where we are suppose to be,
We do miss and love everyone so much...Skype has a been a great blessing in our lives. To be able to see our family and grandchildren and talk to them. We love that
See you all in 17 months ..

looking out our window on a clear day

a

looking out out window on a smoky day

Elder Crouse and Elder Hansen

Buses we ride

Pres. Sorensons Birtday

Staff meeting and Pres Sorensons birthday

Senior Couples

Marcias 2nd set of blisters


Sorry about the 2 staff meeting photos but I am not to good at this yet..I can't figure out how to delete a photo

2nd Week with photos

Well we have made it 2 weeks.  What a time to come to Ruszsia.  Record heat and forest fires, but we are surviving.  The other night we went to family night and it was 1 long bus ride and 3 subways and a long walk.  Then we did it all again to come home.  No air conditioning on buses or subways.  Makes for a lot of smelly people and we were probably one of them.

Since we have been here our washer does not work, our microwave broke and the dishwasher is broken.  So we are hoping to have them repaired soon.  One of the elders is comunicating with the landlord because she only speaks Russian.  Makes it a little difficult.

We are trying hard to learn the office.  I think we learn a little more each day, but there is so much to learn.
We are happy to be serving our mission.  Heavenly Father has helped us so much in our lives that this is the least we can do for him.
We love you and miss you all..please stay in touch..mggronning2@hotmail.com
Gene and Marcia..Dad and Mom..Granny and Pa

Walking to our apt

Apts ours is like this

Sidewalk to office

This is our office

leaving SLC

First Week in Moscow

We arrived in Moscow to a heat wave. Because this is Moscow they have very little air conditioning anywhere. We are glad that our apt. has lots of cold air but we are not in it a lot. The office is air conditioned. We have been training all week and trying to learn how to shop and ride the bus and subway(metro).
On Thursday it was a record high of 103 since records have been kept. We went to the American Embassy to obtain our second passport for use when we leave the country. That was a two bus ride and two metro rides later with no air conditioning and then a 30 minute walk after that. It seems we walk, walk, and walk.
Today we went to Church for the first time. We left at 9:30 to get to our 11am Church and arrived 2 bus rides later. Again no air on the bus or at Church. We hope all you folks in happy valley appreciate your 5 minute drive in your air conditioned car to an air conditioned church building. Church was difficult, we could not understand anything that was said. From time to time the young Elders would tell what was going on.(got to love those Elders, they are our life line). We met a few of the saints and the children. They are eager to great us and try to help us feel at home, but we think it will take a few weeks, but we will settle in and adjust. A few of the Saints speak good english and were very nice to talk and visit with.
One of our trials is that they do not serve ice in any drinks. They just drink them warm. We love cold drinks so we are learning the word ice and asking for it, and then they only bring you a little and because it is so hot, it melts instantly.
We miss America and have learned more than ever to appreciate our great country.
Marcia is homesick but will get over it and Gene is enthusiastic and ready to go..
love you all....Gronnings in Moscow..Gene and Marcia