очень большой mall

4-29-11

So last night and today were pretty fun! Last night Philip and I went on a walk down by the river, and besides all the litter, it was really beautiful.

Today we went back to the enormous mall named City Grad (I talked about how huge it is a couple of posts ago). Here are some pictures of what fun we had there today (a couple are actually from the last time we were there)!

There is seriously a full sized carnival inside this mall, it is crazy!

This cake was divine... yum!

Playing Deal or No Deal at the arcade.... we won some Hello Kitty pez!

Bumper Cars! It was so fun, sadly we don't have a clear picture.

Going up and down on a rocket type ride!

The carousel, which is my favorite, but we couldn't ride because we weigh more than 40kg.

They have these cool looking chairs, but they are completely made of plastic, so they aren't very comfortable.

Cool waterfall fountain that we ate lunch by.

These pictures don't even begin to illustrate how big this mall is...... but it sure was fun!

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

Crazy Things & Easter!

4-29-11

This past couple of weeks has been really, really crazy! To start it off, the really nice incredible camera that my parents bought us for Christmas in 2009 broke. We don’t know how it broke, but we went to turn it on and it turned on but the picture wouldn’t show up and then when we turned it off the lense part wouldn’t retract. So we are very sad about that. Luckily though we did bring a back up camera, it doesn’t work very well, but it is better than nothing.

Now a quick mention of the real crazy things that have happened in the last couple of weeks….. Due to medical reasons, our head teacher Linsey ended up going back home to America early. Dawn, who was living in the head teacher apartment with Linsey and happens to be her aunt, went with her. This left us 2 teachers short (ILP shorted us a teacher at the beginning of the semester), one head teacher short, and an empty head teacher apartment. Philip was elected to be the new “group leader” and take on most of the responsibilities that the head teacher had while still having to teach 21 hours a week. Philip becoming the group leader also gave us a big decision to make. We could either continue to live with our host family and commute everyday from Babyakava, or we could move into the head teacher apartment, live there most of the week, and just go out and visit our host family once or twice a week. We decided to move into the head teacher apartment. It has been really nice living so close to the school and not have an hour long commute to and from school every day. It has also given us the opportunity to hang out with the other teachers in our group more, which has been awesome. We hardly got to hang out with the other teachers very much before, and spent a lot of time home alone and bored at our host family’s house. Now we have the other teachers over to the apartment several times a week and just whenever they need or want, it’s really fun! Philip and I are sad about not being around our host family as much, but it makes us appreciate when we do see them so much more.

Last Friday night we went to this restaurant in Voronezh called Barak O’Mamas (that seriously is what it is called). I believe it is an American restaurant that they happen to have here. It was soooooo yummy! We got yummy burgers, the best onion rings I’ve ever eaten, and Philip had the most delicious beef fajitas ever! It was divine! I think we will probably go back.

Last Sunday was Easter! We celebrated by going to church, staying for a little luncheon with the branch at church, dying Easter eggs, eating a delicious home cooked meal, and eating some of this Easter bread that is a Russian tradition (it looks like a big cupcake….). It was grand!

Later today we are going back to the huge City Grad mall to do some fun things there. And then tomorrow we leave on a 24 hour train ride to St. Pete’s!!!!

Things really are looking up with the beautiful weather, leaves beginning to come on the trees, and a vacation to Saint Petersburg tomorrow! Most all of us are just enjoying Russia more and more, and even though the past couple weeks have been a challenge, they have been really good!

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

A Few Random Things

4-18-11

A few random things from lately…….

Philip and I took Olyana on her first bus ride and even though she had to stand up on a super crowded bus for 20 minutes or so, she claims that she loved it! I think a huge part of that was that she got to use the over the street cross walk and she thought that was really cool. She said to us, “I have only walked here 1 other time in all my seven years.” Got to love how little Russian kids say things sometimes!

Olyana refused to take a good picture!

We (us teachers) went to this café that had yummy pasta and cool hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was literally just hot melted chocolate. It was super thick, but also super tasty!

On the way back from church one day, Philip and I and Jasmyn stopped by this really old Orthodox Cathedral. It is being gutted on the inside and renovated, so there wasn’t much to see inside, but it was still cool.

Olyana still loves for us to swim with her whenever we can, and for the most part we love it too!

Since things are beginning to warm up, the walk to and from the bus stop has become so much more enjoyable! It really is starting to look quite beautiful!

Walking to the bus stop:

At the bus stop!

That’s all for now!

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

Making Russian Dreams Come True: One Taco at a Time

4-17-11

So one night like a month ago, Makar and Olyana were watching spongebob while Philip and I were sitting reading on the couch. Well in the show Spongebob started talking about Taco’s. Makar looks at us and asks, “Can you make Tacos?” We say, “Yeah sure.” We did bring Taco seasoning, so why not? So a couple weeks later we still hadn’t gotten around to making Taco’s, so Makar is on us about it and asks us if we will make Taco’s the next day. We of course say yes and do make the Taco’s. We sit down to eat the Taco’s with Anya and Makar (Olyana was at her grandmothers) and Anya and Makar are just staring at the home made tortilla’s and all the toppings with an “I have no idea what to do with all this” expression on their faces. They ask us how you put together a Taco and so we showed them how. They copied what we did and then began to try and eat it. They didn’t quite get the rolling up and folding the end technique, so they had taco spilling out all over their plates. My plate is usually towards the messier end of the bunch when we eat, but this time my plate was the cleanest for once! While as Makar is eating his taco with the toppings spilling everywhere he stops eating to say something and I began to fear for the worst. He didn’t like tacos, they were gross and too messy. Luckily, I was wrong. He stopped and said, “I have seen Taco’s on Spongebob, on Fairly Odd Parents, on Phineas and Ferb, but I never thought they would be so good. This is my dream to eat a taco. They are so tastey.” That one sentence pretty much made every sucky part of this experience worth it.

Well, if only the taco story ended there, but it doesn’t. So Anya really liked the taco’s too. She liked them so much that she decided that she would make them for all her guests at Olyana’s birthday party in a couple of weeks. Birthday parties are big in Russia. For Olyana’s birthday, not only were her friends invited, but so were Makar’s friends and Anya’s friends too. The day before this big party Philip taught Anya how to make tortillas and looked up a recipe for home made taco seasoning since we didn’t have any of ours left. Well Anya went out and bought all the proper spices, ground them up, and made Taco’s. Two things I must mention here; first, it was very amusing to watch all these Russian kids and adults being shown how to put taco’s together and attempting to eat them without it spilling all over the place, and second, those taco’s were the best tacos I have ever eaten in my entire life, no joke. Anya’s first time ever making taco’s and tortilla’s and it was amazing. Those tacos were delicious. Yum. I’m sure the next Americans who come and live with Anya will be very surprised when she randomly cooks them up some delicious taco’s. Your welcome you lucky Americans. [We taught them brownies as well, which they also really love, so those Americans will be quite lucky!]

All the Russian kids eating their first Taco (possibly the only one they will ever eat!)

Olyana discovered the timed picture setting on our camera... we must have taken at least 20 pictures..... at least she is such a cute birthday girl!

From left to right: Anya, Daniel (Makar's random friend who was over), Makar, Philip, Olyana, Jenepher

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

General Conference Sunday

4-10-11

So this Saturday we went on an adventure to find this mall that we had seen from the bus when we were driving back from Mosccow. It looked huge from the bus window, and looks even bigger up close. This mall is ENORMOUS. By far the biggest mall I have ever been in, ever. By far. No comparison. It makes every other mall look like a playground for toddlers. It is only two stories, but it is looooooooong, like 4 times the length of a super Walmart or Target. At least. It is ridiculous! This mall had an indoor ice rink, arcade, bowling alley, cinema (of course), fountains, huge grocery store (like every mall in Russia), big food court, this café that has a huge aquarium tunnel, an indoor carnival (train ride, mini rollercoaster, carousal, bumper cars, swinging ship, and more), tons of stores, and the best part: H&M!!! I love H&M, so Voronezh having one definitely makes me like it more. There aren’t even that many H&M stores in the states, so it is so cool that there is one here. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to do all of the fun things there are to do at this mall, so we will definitely be going back sometime soon!

Food Court at City Grad Mall

H&M, Best store ever!

So this weekend was General Conference weekend in Russia for members of the LDS church. It is one week later than in the U.S. because the timing would not be practical to watch conference live (it would be 8pm here in Russia before the first session starts in the U.S.). We were invited to go to the senior missionary couple’s apartment here in Voronezh to watch conference in English. The senior missionary couple here are Elder and Sister Frost. They are awesome! We love them. There was such an amazingly good spirit in their apartment. I have been missing feeling that kind of spirit when I walk in a home. The feeling in that apartment is complete night and day to the outside world here in Russia. This Sunday was such a great Sunday. We were fed good food not only temporally (Sister Frost is a GREAT cook!), but spiritually as well. Listening to the modern day Prophet and Apostles is always such and incredible and thought provoking experience. It definitely was one of the best (if not the best) and most relaxing Sundays we have had in Russia thus far.

Top to bottom and left to right: Elder Frost, Sister Frost, Nick, Philip, Dawn,

Jasmyn, Jenepher, Amy, Linsey

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

The Love of God for All

A simple sign of Gods love

4-3-2011

This blog entry is very personal to me. I hesitate to post it at all, but I would like to share every aspect of this journey with you, including the very spiritual. I only wish that I could convey what this experience meant for me and how it felt.

Today was fast and testimony meeting at the branch here in Voronezh (for non-LDS: a fast and testimony meeting occurs once a month in place of the regular 1 hour chapel meeting [called sacrament meeting] for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; members of the ward or branch meet together in fasting and are given time to bear their testimonies of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel when they feel moved upon to do so). The mission president, along with several new missionaries, were visiting the branch. When the meeting began, a half an hour was given to the missionaries to bear their testimonies. It was incredible to see missionary after missionary getting up and bearing their testimonies to the congregation of 60-90 Russian members about the living reality of our savior Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. The feeling of the love of God was so strong in that room that I believe you would have had to been making a conscious effort to not feel of the Holy Spirit to not be able to feel it. Well, for those of you who have had similar experiences, that familiar pounding in my chest began. The kind I knew would only be calmed by listening to the prompting and standing and bearing my testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel to my brothers and sisters who were there feeling of the love of God with me. My immediate thought at this was, “Heck no! There is no way on earth that I am going to get up there and mumble a couple lines in Russian and then have someone attempt to translate the rest for me…. These people won’t even understand what I am trying to say, so there is not point.” So of course I tried to ignore the prompting. After a few more minutes I realized that ignoring the desire of my spirit to share my love for the Lord because of fear would be impossible. I could feel, with every fiber of my being, that my Savior Jesus Christ lives. That He loves me. That he loves all. And I needed to share this with anyone who would listen. My heart wouldn’t calm until I did. After I made this realization I had a slight panic attack. I started thinking of what words I knew in Russian, and if I could say at all in Russian what I wanted to say. I had never before that moment even tried to think of how one would bear a testimony in Russian, let alone say one aloud. And I am not “good” at Russian in any sense of the word! Most of the 5 year old kids at the school here who barely speak English still speak MUCH better English than I do Russian. My vocabulary in Russian is definitely less than 200 words, and most of the words I do know aren’t even gospel related. I was wishing that I had some time to ask Philip some questions, memorize some new phrases and words, but I knew that it was now or never. I would either listen to the promptings of the spirit right now, or I would be too weak to. I then gave Philip some slight warning of what I was doing, grabbed his arm for him to come with me to translate some and said a silent prayer to the Lord that I would need His help because standing up might be all that I could do. Well, I got up there and managed to get out about 5 sentences in Russian and then had Philip translate the rest of my testimony for me. I know that I always could have gotten up and given my testimony in English, but I really wanted those Russian saints to understand. I wanted them to know that others, besides just missionaries, know of the love of God and can feel the love that God has for them. I’m sure this experience meant much more for me than it did at all to anyone else present, but I treasure it none the less. Philip bore his testimony after me, which I was very grateful for.

I want to be one who listens to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, not one that ignores out of fear. These saints here in Russia so inspire me, they are such an example of bravery and courage, but that is its own post for another time. I’ll just say to you what I said to them, I love God and I know He loves us too, each and every one, no matter where you are or where you’re from.

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip

Have questions? Visit mormon.org or email me!

Relaxing Friday

4-1-11

Philip and I have Fridays off now that we teach elementary, but so far we have just spent those Fridays at home doing laundry and resting. Well today we woke up and the weather was looking good so we decided that we needed to get out. [And to give a slight mention of April Fools, I told Philip before he could look out a window that it was blizzarding outside and he totally bought it and was really sad, but it made him all the happier when he discovered that it was beautiful outside.] In Voronezh there is an orthodox cathedral called the Annunciation Cathedral and it is the largest Orthodox temple outside of Moscow and Saint Petersburg. It is still undergoing renovations, but it was still neat to see.

After this we enjoyed the weather by walking through a park and towards a big outdoor stadium they have here in Voronezh. After this it was still pretty early in the day, so we hopped on a bus in search of this mall we had seen on our way back from Moscow. We found it, enjoyed it, and then left to go home.

On the way to the mall

Before going home we stopped at a cafe for a yummy snack and a park where we fed some cute little birds. It was really nice. We really enjoyed the beautiful weather; it made the walk back from the bus stop so much more enjoyable.

Philip's yummy crepes at the cafe

At the cafe

Feeding the cute little birds

From Russia With Love,

Jenepher & Philip