Inspections

Week of May 16-22, 2016

These trees are no longer weeping and have come back to life!

We've been doing a lot of inspecting this week.  It was time for apartment inspections- actually, They were way past due.  In all 6 inspections, we only found maybe 2 things that needed to be cleaned, and those were so minor we kind of ignored them.  We have such great Sisters and Elders.

Love their wall!  The Branch was getting rid of a stack of old
Liahona magazines so one P-Day they cut out a bunch of
favorite pictures and quotes.  

Funny thing.  We have two sisters native to Eastern Europe.  I opened their fridge and they started to laugh.  They didn't even know what was inside.  They said they never open it.  They haven't used it at all this transfer.   I asked them what they do for food.  They just buy what they need on the way home, fix it, eat it all gone and- no need for a fridge.  Interesting!  Every other fridge was packed with food.

We always love to have a reason to visit our missionaries.  I don't know why we waited so long.  The closest live about 25 minutes by foot.  The farthest live an hour by marshroootka (minibus).  Usually this is the only time we get to see these missionaries.

In between we had some time for a little self inspection.  Each week at District Meeting we are challenged to accept different goals.  Several general authorities will be visiting in June.  We have been challenged to read the Book of Mormon through before that meeting- 20 pages a day.  It is awesome.  You should join us!  We are learning soon much.  We also have been talking a lot about pride.  This started back at our last Zone Conference in Kyiv. We were asked to read President Benson's talk on pride (April 1989 General Conference).  We talked about it again this week.  I had never though of myself as a prideful person  (one of the first signs of a prideful person),  but, when you are focusing on it, it comes glaring back at you.  I read a talk by Elder Clark. "Are Ye Stripped of Pride?"  He told a story about having to re-finish some chairs in his youth and compared the scraping and stripping and sanding until you get down to bare wood, to stripping ourselves of pride and then the finishing and sealing with a beautiful protective varnish to the Savior as the author and finisher of our faith.  (Alma 5:28 and Hebrews 12:2)  He gave a very basic and revealing list of signs. here are a few:

Are you critical of others? When adversity strikes, do you hear a voice inside that says, “Why me?”  Do you react to prophetic counsel by ignoring it, being upset by it, or interpreting it to suit your own desires?
When you do something good, do you hear a voice inside congratulating yourself?
Do you feel self-gratification and a sense of importance in your knowledge and skill?
If someone you know receives something good, do you hear a voice inside saying, “What about me?”...

You get the idea!  Some of them don't sound that bad (My mom always used to say, "How bad is 'that bad'?") but when you read them in context it kind of hits you right between the eyes.  He did give some life patterns that can keep you headed in the right direction.  I'll let you read those.  But, I will share a quote I really like.

When we choose Christ, acting in faith to humble ourselves before Him, we put ourselves in the hands of the Master Finisher. As we do His will, He will help us be stripped of pride and become meek and lowly in heart (which I have learned does not make us weak, but powerful!), filled with His pure and perfect love.
The Lord’s finishing process may not always be pleasant. He will chasten and correct and give us experiences that polish us. If we are steadfast and immovable in doing what He wants us to do, we will not be deflected from the true path by adversity or prosperity. We will become the humble followers of Christ, and the day will come when He will seal us His.

Great talk!  You need to read it.  https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/kim-b-clark_ye-stripped-pride/ 

Yesterday it didn't show any rain but it never lasts very long.
70 here feels like 80 there.  Beautiful weather!

the Black Sea

So, beyond inspections and being busy enough to be out in the beautiful weather all day, it was a great week.  We got to teach English.  Showed some Homefront videos and talked about the importance of families.  (https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/homefronts?lang=eng)
It took some time but we finally found the Russian word for swashbuckler, my favorite!

One of our Pathway students posted a screenshot of our Thursday gathering this week.  These students, all Russian speakers but one (I think she's from Lithuania, living in Latvia, fluent in Finnish and French taking the class to brush up on her English!), have to do all their homework and all their communicating in English!  Every once in a while a Russian word slips in but not very often.

The student in the middle had just bent down to pic something up
otherwise that about what it looks like each week.  We usually turn our
camera off during the lesson.  We just participate at the beginning and
the end.  They screen share pictures or quotes and questions.

After visiting with our last set of Elders we got to do some service for His Branch President and then were invited to their Branch Picnic on Saturday.  They also asked Ned to speak in church the next day.  I couldn't go cause I had a meeting at our branch but I'm sure it went well.  Our translators always add to whatever we say.  They do all the work and we get all the credit!  It's not quite fair.

Waiting for members to arrive at the bus stop.  That's a statue
of the man this part of the town is named after.

picnics are the same world over

Waiting for the charcoal to arrive they visit and start preparing
the rest of the food.

In the summer, always cucumbers and tomatoes!  They are so
good.  Didn't get a picture but, STRAWBERRY SEASON is
here!!!!

Getting a game of Ninja started

Crisp pickles, cherry compote, and spicy tomatoes complement
the meal. 

the beaches are beginning to get crowded

this is a shashlik grill

and this, is shashliki

How many people does it take to get to get a charcoal fire going?

Brat Valeri brought an old English grammar book for
kindling.  

It was fun to watch them practice their English while they
waited for the fire to start.

Add the potatoes, bread, and ketchup and you can't get
much better.

While at the picnic one of our YSA leaned over and asked something about an activity at our house Sunday night.  We had completely forgotten about it.  So grateful he remained us.  We asked him what we should serve for treats and got what we needed on the way home.  They came to watch the last Worldwide Broadcast.  Always love to have them over!

Denis asked for ice cream with syrup.  We added some last
minute shortbread cause it looked like we would have more
people than expected.

What topped off the week though were lots of quick visits with out kids and family.  Love that we can check in now and then.
That's it for this week.  Hope yours has been a great one too.

Our son and his wife stopped in Denmark and visited the Mission
Home and were given a copy of the mission history.
Grandpa Petersen was featured on 4 pages of the book.