The kindergarten just exploded... no big deal

I can’t believe how fast the time is flying! It is already October 9! Time is seriously flying! I don't know what to do with myself! I am seriously loving Russia! :) No, I would never ever want to permanently reside here, but 4 months I think might be the perfect length. I think I would enjoy it a lot more if I understood more of their culture and language. It is hard to understand their way of life when I can't understand really anything! But my host family has been nothing but kind, and our coordinators are very kind, plus all the ward members are so friendly! 

Ps-There is a completely different atmosphere from the Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sanits and then people on the streets. The members are full of light and happiness. I love them!! :) They are living such hard lives, but yet take time and try to live a life patterned after the Savior!

So I do like Russia, it is just very different- but I knew that when I was signing up!

So here is how this week panned out 

Monday: I was teaching arts and crafts this week and it was a lot of fun! The kids really cute! :) After a day of teaching we headed to Family Home Evening (FHE) with the missionaries. We love the missionaries! Being a missionary in Russia is very different than being a missionary in the United States. The rules are rules, but a lot are guidelines! Like the fact that we have FHE with all the missionaries probably wouldn't happen in the states, but it is Russia, and things have to be different! Which is the great thing about this church, it serves all kinds of members! So FHE is consisting of a lesson and then a game. This week we played this awesome game where you have a tie a tie around your head- here is an action shot with Jallyn, Sister Kuessling, and Elder Jones.  

I

 INTENSE!

Then we played "Mix up the fruit basket" which is kind of like "do you love your neighbor" Here is a picture from that:

 Ryan listing fruits

Then after FHE the security guard and the missionaries took us on a field trip to the basement. There we saw the baptismal font :) and then even lower in the basement is a statue of Lenin's head. I have a picture with me and it, but I think I will be smart and not post it on here! We have no idea why it is there, but it is just chilling in the creepy part of the basement with all the spiders!

 The font is so cute! In the Summer they get baptized in a nearby river!

Then on Tuesday nothing remotely exciting happened. It has been raining a lot, in the morning this was my wonderful view!

 My window has the best views!

 Here is Nastia again, I just can't help myself- she is so so so so adorable. She had french braided pig tails, and the dress is really of Hello Kitty prints! :) 

Then Tuesday night I went on a walk with Ilena! It was me, her, Vasya, and then another friend. We went on the bridge again and we saw a frog! I had to get my pic with it! (Yes I am sporting my BYU football hoodie!)

 Wednesday was Daniel's день рождения! So I decided to make him an American cake. It turned out okay, but I mean there is differently processed foods here, a different altitude, and Celsius oven so it turned out a bit funky, but it was good. My family made a huge deal about it. My mom was like "Oh it is so so good, oh it so so good" and my grandpa ate 2 pieces. But I could tell they thought it was weird! Their cakes usually consist  of a lot of whipped cream throughout the entire cake and little cake. Ilena and my babushka didn't eat any because they don't eat after 6! Ilena seriously doesn't eat hardly anything. But after 6 they refuse to eat-only a cup of tea. I have heard it in America not eating after 9... but 6? WOW! They have some serious hard-core will power. I have none of that! So that is why I am a blob and Ilena is a toothpick. (There is nothing to her).   

 Daniel got this awesome scooter for this birthday, and then he got a phone!

 So this is what the cake looked like after I came home from work. Daniel had been a little squirrel and picked at it because he wanted to taste it- Bahahah it totally made me laugh really hard, I had to take a picture!

 Happy Birthday Daniel!!!

This is my entire Voronezh Family! :) They are so good to me! Language barrier is so difficult... and not my favorite, I wish we spoke the same language, but they are great!

Thursday was an interesting day... So Jared, one of the head honchos of ILP visited our school to see how teaching was going. We are doing out opening routine, and then all the sudden the lights go out in the kindergarten! So unexpectedly! We didn't really know what to do... so we kept on singing songs. 

Then all of the sudden we hear this huge crash and see a spark of light in the room next to us. 

I guess what happened it  there was a short in the power, and it caused the light to pop out of the ceiling and took a lot of ceiling with it! It also smelled like burning electricity. It was so scary! I thought the whole ceiling was going to collapse. But luckily it didn't! :) it was chaos for a while, but we got everything back to normal!

 This is a pic of the ceiling after it collapsed. Our joke for the day was "The kindergarten just exploded... no big deal!"

We calmed the kids down and had regular class and everything was great!

 Russians love their braids on little girls. Here are the 3 best friends. Liza, Dasha, and Paulina! If only I could braid like that!

 Everyone gives Jared a hard time because he is taller beyond all reason, I had to join the fun!

Then on Friday was a normal teaching day! We were so happy for the weekend. We get about 1 new kid a week and so it is very difficult because they are scared (this is like their first school experience), and no one speaks their language, and everything is new, and they are young. So this week we had about 3 new kids and it was draining. After teaching I went to volleyball, but I seriously am so bad, so I just sat and talked to Sister Kuessling who is from Paris, France. She speaks French, English, and Russian. :) She is amazing and I love her!

Saturday is our party day! We ate at.... get ready for it....
BARak O'Mama's. Bahahahahahahaahahahahahahaha yes... there is only one of these in the world and it is in Voronezh called BARak O'Mamas! They serve American food and Mexican food! So funny! It is a bar and cafe.

 How could we not go there?!?!?

The menu was so funny and just was in English and Russian. So the English had some awesome translations! Shrimps, Sundays, Pastes were all on the menu! 

 Here is the group! :)

 I know this looks pathetic for all of you in America. Haha 8 chips covered in cheese, but it was DELICIOUS! I miss mexican food so much! I devoured every bite! It was so delicious. Others got cheeseburgers, quesadillas, and sandwiches and said they were equally tasty!

Then we went to the park and waited there until the ballet started!

This is Mikaela, me, and Sami at the park. Everything in this picture is Russian including all the pounds that I have accumulated since I have been here! ;)

 Then we went to the Nutcraker. It was fabulous! We loved it so much!!! It was colorful, happy, and well done! Ballets in Voronezh are only 9 dollars, compared to Moscow (which is world famous) which costs about $250! But the nutcraker was amazing :) I can't wait for Christmas time!

Then this is us waiting for bus 90 to take us back to the left bank! I LOVE MY GROUP!

Then what comes after Saturday?!?!?!

SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Our groups favorite day! :) WE LOVE SUNDAYS!

So this morning I got up and walked to my bus stop (it is about 7 minutes away) and then got on a bus. I then got off at Jallyn's stop. We then walked to church! :) Supposedly today is the last warm day in Voronezh :( So we wanted to take full advantage of it :) It was a wonderful walk and wonderful company. The church is about a 30 minute walk from Jallyn's stop. 

Our group met at the church. While me and Jallyn waited for the other members of our group to come, we sat outside. Some of the members of the branch were walking up to the church and just said "good morning" and smiled and were just amazing people! There is this guy from Uzbekistan who is a convert, and he just smiles and beams and always talks to us even though there is limited understanding. :) It is a wonderful place with wonderful people!

Then our group headed to the Frost's to watch the Sunday Session of conference! :)   

 Listening to conference!

 We all LOVE PRESIDENT MONSON!

 We love the Frosts! Like Elder Holland's talk in Priesthood session, couples should serve missions. There 2 people have changed my life and the lives of so many Russian members. The members just adore Elder and Sister Frost. Elder and Sister Frost are actually the Humanitarian Directors for ALL of Russia... talk about a call! They have impacted my life. Please thing about serving a mission, the world needs you!

Yummy lunch in between sessions!

 ribs, rice, salad, beans..... YUM!

 Luke and Jallyn!

 Me and Tessa!

 These girls are so cute! Mikaela was finding a scripture to tell Ryan to cut his beard- Bahaha

 Elder Frost is always so jolly!

 Ryan finding a scripture to rebuttal Mikaela's scripture!

Basically the day was wonderful! Wonderful company, wonderful words from our leaders, just an awesome day. Then we ate homemade carrot cake for dessert- and this is what happens when you give cake to ILP kids:

2 pieces left, i think there was only 1 left by the time we left- we like our food! :)

I am so grateful for this experience. I have learned so much and constantly am learning!

Ps- I love general conference :) 

Thank you (or spasebo....or "spaceebs" if you are Elder Jones) for your prayers, interest, and support. I am so grateful to all of you!
Take care-

Until next week!

:) Smile :)

Привет! Greetings from Voronezh, Russia once again! :)

So I officially feel confident in Russia! Like not confident enough to not be safe and concerned, but I know how to get to the school VERY well, I know how to get to and from church by myself, I know how to get to the other side of the bank, and I know how to get to and from my bus stop! When I was first here, I was very timid and was concerned, and just had no idea what is going on, but I think I have gotten the basics down (not mastered though I am sure!). Also I can walk to and from places I am familiar with, and not look like a lost tourist- it is awesome! On the buses you always give your seat to an older person or a small child if they get on the bus and are nearby. Also you get on the bus, and then you pay your 9 rubles. If a lot of people are getting on, you walk to the middle of the bus and pass up your fare, and then the people on the bus pass back your change, it is a cool honor system!

So this week started off really roughly for the entire group! It was also very gloomy, so that of course didn’t help. But people in my group lost personal items that were important to them and then 2 of the members of my group got really sad news from home. My day was terrible because I totally broke the vase that was in my room. :( какой ужас! (Sorry just had to throw some Russian in there) There was this vase that was decorated with spiders in my room on the desk, and I was tidying up my stuff on the desk and totally knocked it off. I watched it fall… It was terrible :(. Daniel was the only one home and he came running in. He was kind of shocked, and then I burst into tears, and I felt so bad. We called my host mom and Daniel explained that had happened. She was talking really fast in Russian on the other end telling me not to worry it was totally okay and a lot of things I didn’t understand!  

Poor Daniel doesn’t know what to do because there is this broken vase all over the floor and there is this American girl that is crying and he doesn’t speak English, so he is trying to tell me it is okay in Russian and (I think) explaining all the clumsy things he has done, and so forth. Then he grabbed the Elmer’s glue and tried to glue it back together- he is so cute! I just felt numb. Not because I thought I would be in trouble (because I knew that I would not be, my family is so nice), but because I felt so bad.

My mom came home, and she was trying to tell me not to cry and said “You are like a little school girl crying like that” haha, that made me feel a little better. She grabbed the pieces and vacuumed, and everything was good, but I still felt so bad. She then said “It is normal, I don’t want to hear another thing about it”. I then got my things together and headed to school/work. (ps- they love to say “normal” because the Russian word for normal is used very often).

Not one of my more finer moments...

Then I didn’t go to FHE with the missionaries because I felt bad! But then things were totally back to normal.

Then on Tuesday things were much better. Teaching is going pretty good, it is not my favorite thing to do, but I am learning to love it more than I did. There are some kids who speak really well for their age, and it is so fun to communicate with them! The age I teach is 3-6. They are pretty good for the most part, there are some who refuse to stay in their seats, some who constantly speak in Russian (and that is not allowed), some that love to scream, and then some who are hilarious! Yuroslav always tells me that I am “A Crazy Monster Grandma Moose” haha the words that they know!

Also Yaromir was really funny to this week. Miss Sami pulled out some tin foil and said “Hey class this is tin foil.” And Yaromir says “No, that’s Aluminum foil….. A-LUM-I-NUM-FOOOO-IL” Where do they get it?

Also when kids have birthdays, we get to have a party for the last 5-10 minutes of class! We love birthdays! The kids always bring snacks and juice and we all sit in a circle and snack! It is very fun!  

 We love Birthdays!

 This is Vova, We all think he is  so so cute! He is around the age of 3.  He will repeat English if someone sits by him and tells him what to say, but rather than that he just kind of yells in Russian and slobbers! But we all adore him anyways! I was doing the Hungry Catterpillar story, and I help up a pear picture and said "this is a pair" and he yells " Нет это груша" What means "No, that is a pear"! And he kept on saying that! It was the funniest thing!

This is Matve at the party eating his cookies, he is such a joker. He is pretty advanced in his Russian for his age, and I enjoy communicating with him!

 

 This is Bogden and Igor. Bogden is really new to the program and only knows how to say "No Russian" and "Ohhhhh no" Which he says to everything! If somethings breaks he says it. If something drops, if he doesn't know how to do something, if he doesn't want something... basically it is his catch-phrase!

 Party Party Party!

 The candy the girl brought was purple inside!

So then on Wednesday none of us teach in the morning, so Tessa had us over to her apartment and fed us french toast and Banana bread- needless to say we snarfed it up! It was absolutely delicious!!! Tessa always takes care of us and writes encouraging notes and is so sweet! Seriously I am so grateful she my head teacher! She always uplifts and never discourages! :)

 Tessa and Ryan!

 Mikaela and Alix! 

Then we headed down to the school and the cleaning lady was sick last night, so we needed to do the dishes and sweep and collect garbage, etc..

Timosha really wanted to play (he is the coordinator's son and he is so cute!) But we explained that we needed to clean the school, so he got out a broom and started sweeping, it was so adorable!!

 Timosha in action!

 Then this is Nastia, she is the other child of our coordinators! She is so cute and perfect!

Daniel and Natasha are our coordinators and they are pretty much in charge of the school. Daniel is from Utah and so obviously he speaks English but he is so fluent in Russian too! He teaches English grammar and classes to advanced teenagers and then English to adults. His wife Natasha is from Voronezh but speaks REMARKABLE English, you wouldn't even know she wasn't a native English speaker!

Then we always get lunch at the school! It is very good! (Except when it is buckwheat! haha!)

  This is a delicious beef, potato, cheese mixture and a pancake covered in sweet and condensed milk! Yes I will come back a lot bigger baahahah! I always make sure and come out of my room in the morning after my mom has left because I don't want to have her make me eat a lot of food! Then lunch is always a huge meal and so it is hard to eat little because then I don't eat for another 6 hours because of teaching. But then dinner is always huge from my mom. And she always makes me eat a lot, haha it is kind of torture, and that is a lot coming from me, because I love food!

 

I helped make this Borsht!

 Chillin at school!

 There are 3 girls at the school who LOVE LOVE LOVE Hello Kitty and so Dasha turned her "dragon" into Hello Kitty Bahaha

Then on Thursday me and Jallyn went on an adventure to the park across the street! It was fun, but it was kinda cold, and got dark so fast! But we love exploring!

 Here we begin!

 Check out this epic sidewalk, it was completely collapsed, and then on the left the sidewalk totally slanted into this pit like thing- CREEPY!

Then it was Friday! We love Friday! :) So nothing very exciting happened on Friday.

 Although this picture doesn't mean much to you, just know that they chair is haunted! Weird things happen on this chair! Once a water bottle just tipped over, another time a coin randomly rolled off it from no where... it is HAUNTED!

Oh on Friday we also went to Volleyball again! I am getting better! (Let me tell you what that means... it means that I got it over one more time then last time, but that wasn't very difficult to do considering that I only got it over about 2 times! Bahaha)

Then Saturday! Always an adventure! It was really cold and rainy. I am so glad that I am in Voronezh and not in Moscow just because we are more South, and especially not in St. Pete's! That would be soooooo cold!. But it was cold! I had a long sleeve shirt, a long sleeve cardigan, and my black jacket, plus a scarf, boots, and a hat. My mom wouldn't let me leave the house and made me wear her brown coat! Needless to say I WAS ROASTING! yes it was cold, but not that cold... sheesh!

 This is a chipmunk animal cookie of goodness!

 These animal crackers are so cute and so fun and SOOOO good! I scarfed them up!!! They are buttery goodness!

So we decided to go to this big mall that was outside of Voronezh. We had to take a bus to the center or town, and then we took a FREE BUS to the mall! It was awesome! When we got on we all got seats, which is normally rare! It was great fun!

 This is the gang (minus Alix because she was good and stayed home to plan lessons!) and obviously I am taking the picture! But I wasn't sure how many stops the bus stop to catch the other bus was, so I accidently made the whole group get off on the wrong stop, so the rubles we would have saved riding the free bus was spent on getting on another bus and getting off at the right stop! Whoops... :(

But we got there, and everyone in the group is so awesome and kind and forgiving! Seriously!

Then we got to the mall and yes, it was epic! It had a mini theme park in it! Weird! Then it also had a grocery store, a movie theater, and a park... I think, not sure if I understood that right! But it was so much fun! I bought a belt that was on sale at H&M and then I bought a purple dress and an awesome bird skirt on sale!

 We went to this outerwear store, and they made Ryan put his backpack in a bag so he wouldn't shoplift! The top is literally sealed! I suppose theft is a problem... welcome to Russia

 This is us waiting to catch the bus to take us home!

So nothing too exciting, but an overall good week!

Sunday was amazing! I love hearing the members testimonies! They are awesome!

So for General Conference, since technology is so amazing I can watch the Saturday session anytime I want! :) Then for Sunday I can watch it tomorrow, but the Frost's invited us over for lunch and conference, because we won't have church tomorrow because the members will be watching it, that is when it will be broadcasted in Russia.

I love technology. 20 years ago this would not have been possible, but no I can go online and watch all of general conference. Also the same with the CES fireside and the Relief Society Broadcast, I was able to watch those online! I know that technology is to further the gospel on the earth!

Before, people all over the world would have to wait for it to come out in the Lihona, and now it is so easily accessible! :) Makes me happy!

LIFE IS AWESOME! I LOVE YOU ALL! HOPE LIFE IS AWESOME! Feel free to send me an update!
:) Love, Kelsee

Until Next Sunday!