Wednesday, February 27, 2013

February 27, 2013

Well, there's not a lot of news around here these days.  We've had a few warmer days, but we've been warned that it's too early to celebrate the end of winter just yet!  We're noticing that some of the ice sculptures around town have been taken down.  Yesterday we saw some new decorations being put out along the riverbank.  It looks like tulip lights!

We have had a few missionary discussions with the elders and some investigators which is always a great experience.  They are starting to fill their appointment books!

And we started up our English Club again.  We used almost all of the 50 chairs at the church, so we had a great turnout.  We were discussing personal qualities.  Alan asked our group to tell us what they liked about themselves.  We were blown away by the responses:  "I am good at forgiving other people."  "I enjoy helping others."  "I am good at seeing the good qualities that other people have."  These people are just naturally good and kind.  We were very impressed! 

Last night we were discussing families.  They mentioned that it is the basic unit of society and that we have a responsibility to help our families.  One of our favorite comments was that the main rule in their home was to have respect for one another!

Every other transfer, the elders are able to go for a "cultural event."  We met at Congress Hall to go see a concert of traditional Kazakh music and dance.



You can see that we're all ready for a fun evening.  So after we went inside, we learned that the concert had been cancelled!  Maybe another time!
 
Since it was Valentine's Day last week, and we were on the road all day going to Stepnogorsk, we treated ourselves to a special dinner out this week.  This is at a restaurant at the top of the China Palace.  It rotates so you can get a good view of the city.
 


 

 
The building with the blue dome is the president's residence.  At the right is the new mosque that opened in July.  The apartment buildings behind the president's house is called Highvill.  Many of our American friends live there.
 

 
The pyramid is to the right.  You can barely see part of the base.  I thought we had it in the photo, but I guess we missed.
 
The food was pretty good, but we thought our little China Bay cafe in Tucson is still way better!
 
We had an email from Elder and Sister Shaw the other day.  They were the couple here before the Maxwells who were before us.  They asked how the work is progressing here.  We invited a couple of sisters that they had known to come over so they could talk to them on skype. 
 
 


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