Mikkelsen Muzings: Oddesa

Week of December 14-20, 2015

One full week in the new area! We're old and slow so we don't quite have our feet under us yet but we've seen a lot, found our way to the necessities, and met some very wonderful people. So, here we go!

Odessa! Odessa is a major seaport. In fact, there are two important ports here. Here are some great shots.

These are the famous Potemkin Stairs (200 of them)leading down to the
port. Watch the movie "The Battleship Potemkin" to learn of the famous
battle that took place here.

While walking the steps we saw this-Ah, we could have had
a ride on the tram!

at the port

The Golden Child. He represents the "Golden Age"
If you touch his toes, you will have a successful voyage!

So many cranes. Sitting there they looked like scenes from
movies like Transformers or maybe Cars- it would be great fun
to go crane tipping!

This picture is dedicated to all our friends named Olga!
We love you all :)

It wouldn't be Ukraine if there were not a church within arms reach
and they are all beautiful!

This one looked like it came straight from
"Sahara"

Little Toot II. Little Toot on the Black Sea. (not the Thames)

We have a statue sitting on a table in our apartment. While walking
up from the port- there it was, full size on the street

One evening a sweet sister from our branch care enough to take us on a walking tour of the historic sights right around our apartment. Odessa, like all of Eastern Europe, has had a very tortured history. We found out that we live in Katherine Square. (Wondered who the statue was. Could read the name Katherine but didn't put two and two together till Julia added everything up for us). During the reign of Katherine the Great, Russia took over this area and decided to build a port. She renamed it Odessa, after the city in Greece- at least that is one of the stories. A few years ago, while renovating the area behind the Opera house, they found, what is now a great archeological site showing the remains of ancient villages from the beginnings of the history of the area. They think there was a huge Greek trade settlement here in the 6th century, so the name is really very appropriate.

Government building- used to be the Judicial center, with the
cool central tree. It's made of draped fabric.

The statue of the first govenor. He loved Odessa and
gave his all for the city. Duc de Richelieu

Example of window decorations

This is the street just down from our apartment.

Saw them putting these lights up while at the port. This is
looking down the steps

This is Primorsky Bulvar. all the trees are lighted and it's
just beautiful

The walkway goes follows the shoreline and is surrounded
with monuments and famous buildings. We'll introduce
you to them as we discover them. She told us a great
love story about a man who built the palace and the walkway
for his dying wife, but I can't find record of it. I'll
have her tell us again and we'll document it.

We found that our opera house is one of the 10 most famous Opera houses in all of Europe. She showed us what was playing right now. The Nutcracker, Carmen and Giselle. We checked- all three, sold out. So disappointing, but, walking home from shopping on Thursday we could see people lining up to go into the theater. Ned decided to run over to see if there were any empty seats. He was so excited when he called to say that he had purchased tickets. It was 2 minutes to showtime. I ran over, couldn't find him, finally got seated- the show had been going about 15 minutes, and we realized that the theater was filled with children and their parents or school teachers. We realized too, that the Nutcracker was also being performed by very talented children. It was St. Nicholas Day, so we are assuming that this was a special performance for children by children, but it was still very enjoyable and well worth the price of admission just to see the inside of the theater. We only saw a little bit so, I guess we'll have to go back another day!

mural on the ceiling

the finale.

carriage rides on St Nicholas Day

Odessa is a very multicultural city. I guess most port cities are. There is cool stuff from everywhere. The only picture we have this week is of a cute little french pastry shop shown us by our sister from France.

Ukrainians still love America. Lots of signs are written in either
Russian or Ukrainian and English. Nice!

One day we found the famous Olio's Restaurant. Great food, but the
salmon in my salad would have made great sushi! Ned, babushka-
like, hid it in a napkin and brought it home, fried and enjoyed it.

Just a cool building we saw on the way to inspect the sister's
apartment. That's one of our jobs. I though it would be a
terrible job, but its been fun to see where everyone lives.
we have the best missionaries here and they are clean to boot!

You can't tell in this picture, but, this is a huge, very
beautiful apartment building. At the base of most
buildings, there are store. This is supposed to be the
best place to buy meat- so, we bought meat.

After inspections they showed us how to find their branch building.
we also get to visit all the branches regularly. There are 4.

This is one of those little things we are thankful for. Found a
waffle iron while unpacking. Ned made breakfast while I
typed the blog. Yum! Thanks ;)

Christmas is just getting started here. They are still putting up lights around town. Christmas music is playing- mostly American and all the windows of shops are decorated. Some of the Catholic churches celebrate Christmas on the 25th the biggest celebrations happen on New Years. Thats when they open presents and is everyones favorite. Christmas is celebrated on the 6th and 7th of January. We get to celebrate all three! Not sure how yet, but- we'll do something. An amazing past sister from our mission posted a message on Facebook today. We've quoted her before. She is very profound. I hope she doesn't mind but I'd like to share her thoughts about Christmas. Far away from home, they echo our own thoughts. She said, "What is Christmas? The world says its snow, red & white, decorations, Christmas music, gift giving and receiving, lights. I've experienced next to none of that this month, and honestly I haven't missed it. Religion says Christmas is about celebrating the birth of the Savior. Honestly, just as we all get sick of Christmas once it's over, I've even gotten sick of talking about the same "true meaning of Christmas" message over and over. Not sure why, maybe it's just the repetition of it all. Or perhaps it's because I know in my heart it's not enough to talk about and celebrate his birth; it's what He DID in His life that had the most meaning and significance for us. Last night at English we didn't talk about Christmas. We talked about Christ's teachings and why He is our perfect example, all with non members, and I felt so much joy. That's where this natural joy comes from. The joy I've felt over the past 18 months. The joy didn't come from 'me wishing and trying to feel the Christmas spirit'. Because what IS the Christmas spirit? It's the Spirit of Christ. It's His example, His life, His teachings, all of which lead back to his love for each of us. I think everyone expects to feel a special joy around the holidays. But the true joy I felt last night made me realize we are silly to think our 'special joy' should be limited to one month of the year. True joy comes from serving others, and the best way we can serve them is by sharing with them the Gospel message. The restoration, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the GOOD NEWS! "And how great shall be your joy if you bring but one soul unto me." Well said.
I was reading a talk by D. Todd Christofferson the other day (you all should read it! Heres the link just copy and paste in your URL link. https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/12/be-at-peace?cid=HP_WE_12-16-2015_dPFD_fLHNA_xLIDyL1-C_&lang=eng
which I think has given us how we will celebrate this Christmas. He suggests, "
I hope you will take time this Christmas season to sit for a few quiet moments and let the Savior’s Spirit warm you and reassure you of the worthiness of your service, of your offering, of your life. Sit quietly with that little baby and come away spiritually strengthened and better prepared for all that is going to come later. Let that moment be one of rest and refreshing and reassurance and renewal.
From far away, we are missing you all. We love you and wish you a happy, restful, relaxing Christmas filled with the spirit of our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. They who truly love us, no matter what, and who want nothing more than for us to have the perfect happiness they have. Their plan to get us back to them IS the good news, if we will only remember.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas Elder And Sister Mikkelsen