Interesting Vladivostok

This may take a double click to appreciate the view. That is the sun coming up through an early morning fog. The other cool thing is the suns rising is way over to the left. In the winter it comes up over the building to the right. So this picture also shows that we are definately in the season of Spring. It stays light now to almost 10:00pm

This just make me chuckle. This is the typical morning bus ride to the office. If I weren't taking the picture we would probably would have just jammed in there with everyone else. It is really a nose to nose and cheek to cheek ride some days. It is worse when it rains. More people and they are all wet. You might be wondering what is smells like. It is usually pretty good. But you better get used to the smell of garlic because undoubtedly someone had a bunch of it for breakfast and they are on that bus. And with my good luck they are usually standing right next to me.

This is a picture of what you would see if I turned around from the bus stop picture above. The buildings are a mixture of old and new in Vladivostok. This is obviously a portion of the old. These Docha's do not have any running water or bathrooms. They haul their water from a common well or fire hydrant like device. This is the typcial home out in the countryside and all over in older sections of every town here.

I just backed up a little to show you the old with the new.

Oleg's Baptism

This is my friend Oleg posing with the sister missionaries. Oleg is sporting his Russian smile. I always give him a hard time about his smile. He actually will crack a smile if you tease him enough.

This is a picture of the font that is in the church building in Vladivostok. It is on the third floor and it is a good thing all of the buildings are made out of concrete. Otherwise, we might find ourselves on the ground floor after filling this up.

This is a picture of Elder Papok and Elder Stewart. They are two great missionaries. Elder Papok comes from Belarussia which is now a country independent from Russia. Elder Stewart is from the U.S. This is also a picture of the font. It is located in the kitchen. No we do not make large quantities of Borsch in it!!!!

This is me with Oleg just before his baptism. I told you if you tease him enough he will actually smile. It was a great day and quite an honor to be asked to baptize him. In case you are wondering Oleg has attended Church for almost a year and finally decided to become a member. He is definately a pioneer here. The Church's growth in membership in the Vladivostok mission is predominately the younger generation.

To The Love of My Life

From the first time I caught a glimpse of her.
To the time I realized just how complex she was

To the beauties she created and the memories she has made....

at home or away

I love this woman with all my heart. To the love of my life and the joy she continues to bring me

Happy Mothers Day!!!!!!

I am sorry for my lack of pictures of everyone....but I am in Russia.

Cool things in Korea

We saw these little babies on our last trip and made plans to try one on our final trip. This is a corndog on a stick with french fries rolled into the corndog batter then deep fried. Allie was kind enough to pose for this picture while I held my "CornFryDog" up for the camera too. Of course we put a little ketchup on it and to all who must know......It was goooooood!!

This is the magic toilet in a regular store in Seoul. This public bathroom has been knicknamed by us as the "Star Trek" bathroom. To gain entrance you push a little button and the door to the bathroom slides sideways (this is where you insert a cool noise like they used in Star Trek). Notice all of the conveniences associated with this little gem. There is wash, heat, but alas no wipe, you must still do that little detail yourself.

Check this "car" out. Yes it is a Beamer. Jeff Heaton this one is for you. I think Cheri would look great in this one. The only problem is you will have to take all of the kids in your car. That may be a draw back. But really, isn't it a cool one seater?

If you need more room there is always the Mercedes Benz. Yes it is a Mercedes Benz electric two seater. Suddenly your two car garage can be listed as a 12 car garage. That alone should up the value of your home enough to pay for one of these.

Our last visa renewal

This is the Seoul South Korea Temple. As you know we visit and stay here when we need to leave Russia every 3 months to renew our visa. It is gorgeous and a spiritual haven. We are able to attend Temple sessions here because they provide English by using headsets. When we attended on Wednesday morning (our time) there were about 30 missionaries from the Seoul West Mission attending so the entire session was in English. It was great.

Here is a Russia senior missionary enjoying the beautiful Temple grounds. This is just outside the dorms or apartments we get to stay in.

This is a shot of the driveway as you come into the Temple grounds. It is in the center of Seoul which is a city of 10 million people. The Temple sits atop a hill so you really don't hear any of the traffic noise or the hustle and bustle of the city.

A beautiful little flower next to some beautiful flowers. Back in Russia we are still a little gray so this color was really nice and very much appreciated.