Prague

On Friday morning, August 22 we awoke at 1:30 am, after about 3 hours of sleep, to begin our first visa trip. We were picked up at our apartment by a cab containing two of the elders that would be traveling with us -- our traveling companions consisted of 4 elders and 1 sister. We waited at the airport for 2 hours and then boarded our plan for a 4 1/2 hour flight to the Czech Republic. You might think this is a great way to sightsee, but think of the disruption to mission work, and what it costs the church to send missionaries every 3 months to get new visas - a huge problem for all the missions in Russia. The mission presidents also have concerns about their missionaires who have to travel so far unsupervised, not to mention the extra office staff it takes to plan and make the travel arrangements. We made the trip in one very long day. One of the elders who traveled with us, Elder Sorenson, made a 20 hour train ride, prior to taking the plane -- and he would have to take the 20 hour train ride home afterward. Not all fun and games.

Prague is amazing! We loved everything about the city -- except possibly, the prices. The first impressive building we saw was the opera house -- at least that is what we thought it was. It was a great morning for a brisk walk and a tour of historic Prague.

We decided we would travel together -- first we would head towards the St Charles bridge, cross it, then climb the hill to the Prague Castle.

The sun was shining, the air was clear, we were with good companions, the surroundings were amazing -- we didn't care that we had only a few hours of sleep. We wound our way through the city.

To get onto the bridge we entered through the Old Town Bridge Tower -- built in Gothic Style and quite impressive.

We arrived at the bridge early enough that it had not yet become congested with tourist, painters, or those selling their wares. The bridge is decorated by a continuous ally of 30 statues and statuaries, most in the baroque style and erected around 1700.

Elders Magleby, Jensen, and Pulsipher stop to pose.

I took this picture from the bridge, showing the old town upstream.

After leaving the bridge, we began our trip to the castle. We knew it was a top the hill, so we began our assent across the cobblestone roads and walks -- everything was clean and beautiful.

Up, up we went climbing many stairs.

Finding a few surprises along the way --Elder Sorenson clowns around. Could it be a former missionary who didn't make it to the airport on time for their return from a Visa trip??? High on the hill we could look across the city below, and on the hill adjacent to ours, the Petrin, I saw Petrinska Rozhledna. This is a tourist attaction we didn't have the time to visit. It is often described as a small Eiffel tower. It was built in 1891 and was used as an observation tower/transmission tower.

I don't know what this building was, but I loved seeing 'Old Glory' waving in the breeze.

The Prague castle is one of the biggest castles in the world (according to the Guiness Book of WR), at about 570 meters in length and an average of 130 meters wide. Included on the grounds are three courtyards, the St Vitus Cathedral, Romanesque Basilica of St George, a monastery and several palaces, gardens, and a defense tower. The various rulers who occupied the palace made their own additions and changes, so there are a mixture of styles.

Elder Nuzman tried to look as stoic as the guards.

We arrived just in time to see the changing of the guards -- pretty impressive.
Inside the second courtyard we stopped at a lovely fountain to take pictures.















Imagine our surprise when we climbed up and looked over the bowl to see a man collecting the money inside it. Not sure if it was his job, or if he was just in need of a little cash.

St Vitus's Cathedral took 600 years to build and is the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. It contains the tombs of many Bohemian kings. The cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. They are in the process of cleaning and fixing the outer structure. The Cathedral sits in the middle of the third palace courtyard. The front view with the Rose window above the portal depicts scenes from the bibical story of the creation.

The walls of the cathedral have many colorful stained glass (mosaic) windows depicting various historic or bibical stories. The most famous is the Mucha window depicting scenes from the life of SS Cyril the Methodius, who brought Christianity to the Slavic area. It also shows St Wenceslas kneeling next to his grandmother St Ludmila. The organ loft was massive.





The zigzag pattern of Net Vaults from crossing down towards the choir. This vaulting of the ceiling was unique and became a famous part of architecture.

The third courtyard was huge and was surrounded by extensive palaces.

When we left the castle we stopped on top of the hill overlooking the city. I have always loved the red tile roofs and clean, well manicured gardens. Then we began our descent.

Going down the walkway we could see the Monestery of St. George below.

As we walked back across the other bridge into the city, I was able to get a nice shot of the St. Charles Bridge from down river.

In Old Town Square we stopped to watch the hour change on the Astronomical Clock. This clock dates back to 1410 and has three components: The astronomical dial, representing the sun and moon; the 'Walk of the Apostles' and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. It was very nice -- but did not compare to the the Glockinspeel in Munich.

Ron and I decided to let the 'young people' take off on their own and we would find a place to rest. After all that walking we were tired. We found a bench under a tree and were thrilled to watch a dance festival being performed in the town square. Some of the dances reminded me of the Western Square dance -- but of course, the music was much different. Every band had an accordion.

Wonderful costumes from native lands, and we heard many, many languages, Danish, Dutch, German, and some we didn't recognize. Happy, fun-loving people. It was so much fun to sit and watch and listen to the music.

This costume comes from Wales. The story of the hat is quite interesting. The stove pipe black hats are traditional in Wales, but in the Southern part of Wales the people are closer to the England, and they speak English. They wanted to distinguish themselves from the English and let others know they are true Welshmen, so they exaggerated the tradtional stove pipe hat and made it taller. I think it looks a little like the Puritan hats in early America.

Carriages took people for rides -- the horses look quite stylish, don't you think?

As we were about to leave the city, we had a group of young people stop us and asked the Elders, "You look like missionaries, are you?" We were told not to wear our tags, but even then, the missionaires stood out. Elder Nuzman and I were told to dress 'casual' so we were comfortable, but we didn't 'look the part', (in fact they wondered if we were the parents of one of the missionaries). The youth were on an excursion from Germany, a 2 hour drive from Prague. We had a good time chatting and getting to know each other, and even found some common acquaintances -- isn't it wonderful to be a world-wide-church! A chilly, rainy morning welcomed us at the Yekaterinburg Airport (Elder & Sister Nuzman, Elder Magleby, Elder Jensen, Elder Pulsipher, Elder Sorenson and Sister Borchardt). We experienced a few delays, so we arrived at 8:30 am on Saturday, August 23rd. We couldn't couldn't get a cab to take us back to the city for the price we asked, so we opted for a bus ride. It took longer, but was less expensive. Walking back to city center, I stopped a passerby to get one last photo of our 'gang'. We were tired and anxious to find our beds, but we had a terrific trip -- a wonderful day in Prague!

Novosibirsk Youth Conference

We met at the Yekaterinburg Boxal on the afternoon of July 22nd, anxious and full of enthusiasm to begin our journey across Siberia to attend the Novosibirsk Mission Youth Conference. This is an event that the youth look forward to with anticipation all year, so they were particularily happy and excited. However, Elder and Sister Nuzman, new to the job, had a few reservations and viewed the trip with some trepidation.

A couple of little gypsy boys wound their way through the crowd begging for money. The youth and leaders were generous, but this encouraged the boys to 'stick like glue', especially to Elder Nuzman and President Allen. Cute, but well seasoned in the art of begging.

To begin our trip into Siberia we had a four hour bus ride from the Yekaterinburg station to the Chelyabinsk train station.

We arrived at the Chelyabinsk train station (Boxal, pronounced Voxal)and waited for another mission group to join us. While we waited two of the Perm youth entertained us and many other travelers with their violin, guitar, and drum music. A very nice diversion and the time passed quickly.

The train arrived and we were ready to be on our way. We would arrive at our destination after 38 hours of arduous train shaking, rattling, and many, many stops -- With us we had 72 youths and 16 leaders.

I had never ridden on a train before and this was quite an 'eye opening' experience. We were given a compartment called a 'coupee' -- not luxurious, just four bunks and clean sheets with a small table between where you could eat. At the end of each car a place where you could get hot water -- we did have noodle bowls so this came in handy; and one bathroom at the end of each car for everyone to share. And boy was it dirty -- yuck!, a small sink to wash in and the toilet flushed right onto the tracks -- we were not supposed to use it when we were at a station. Walking from car to car was amazaing! Not quite like in the movies -- but a mass of humanity sleeping out in the open for everyone to see in cars that everyone shared. I would have hated to be stuck in something like that, but that is where most of our youth stayed. Of course, they were all together and so didn't mind, and probably played games instead of sleeping.

We did get to see some interesting sights as the train rocked back and forth as it clickity-clacked along the rails. When one sees the vastness of the Russian countryside it is truly inspiring, and quite awesome. A vast wilderness.

We arrived in Krasnoyarsk on July 24th and were ushered to our buses. Tanya smiles -- we were happy to be on the last 'leg of our journey. The youth look rested but probably had only a few hours of sleep during the 36 hours on the train. They were anxious to shower and change into clean clothing -- Elder Nuzman and I were anxious, and stinky also.

On our way to camp we were able to view beautiful Krasnoyarsk from our bus windows.

The things we loved about the Youth Conference:

The Scenery: The camp where we stayed was in the mountains and reminded me much of the mountains in Colorado, except not quite so big. It was a beautiful setting. We stayed in buildings similar to dormatories -- twin beds and a shared bathroom. Each of the senior couples had their own bedroom -- phew!

Workshops: For two days the youths attended workshops learning a variety of things based on topics like faith, self worth, and priorties. Many said these were the best part of the youth conference. They enjoyed being able to express themselves where others would understand their feelings and they wouldn't be ridiculed.

Dances: Every night a different dance. The youths loved being together and it showed in their faces. Sister Nuzman loved being a part of the 'group' too.

Food: OK, maybe not everyone enjoyed the food -- I know some of it was not good! Even those from Russia left some of the food on the table. I took the picture of the kitchen because they really produced a lot of 'grub' three times a day. We had potatoes, fish, a strange hot drink with floating fruit, cream of wheat, bananas, barley, yogurt, cucumbers and tomatoes and many other things -- my motto was: 'If I can't recognize it, I won't eat it.'

Did anyone notice the fly strip above the serving counter -- another thing to add to the appetite.

An international dance with costumes -- even the Palmers got into the 'act'.

Games: No matter where in the world you live, youth love water ballon games -- and the water fight that always follows. Sister Paul (wife of visiting Seventy) didn't care for the fight -- but the youths ran and screemed and soaked each other. Great fun!

Dances: Romance was the theme for the last dance.

Our youths dressed so nice -- Dasha looks like she is going to a debutante ball. Everyone hopes someday to find 'that someone special' -- someone who believes the same as they do.

Beautiful women with dreams for a future filled with a home and happiness.

Elder Page took a special young woman for a 'twirl' and enjoyed every minute of their dance -- she looked like she was enjoying it also.

Sunday we all met for a wonderful testimony meeting and to listen one last time to Elder Paul of the Seventy speak. The youths lined up against the auditorium wall as one after another stood to give their testimony with spirit and conviction -- the Spirit was very strong. After about 1 1/2 hours the meeting closed with a song and a prayer and we headed to our dorms to pack and prepare for our jouney home.

The senior couples really had a good time bonding -- The Moultons (Humanitarian Missionaries), The Pages (Proselyting) and The Palmers (Proselyting)

All of us pose together -- not an easy task. We had a great time and many are already planning for next years East Europen Youth Conference to be held in Saint Petersburg. Potentially, we could have as many as 1,000 youth attending. Wow! What fun! Once on the train, we stood near the windows and talked, or sat in our coupees and watched as mile after mile of beautiful county rolled by.

We saw wonderful gardens which were filled with many potatoes, dill, tomatoes, cabbage, flowers (Russians love flowers), cucumbers and manyother plants that I wasn't totally sure of. They own these gardens outside of the cities, where they usually have a small house called a Dacha, and they can go to get fresh air, relax and work in the summer time. Also the fresh produce might help to supplement their income.

These nicely decorated water towers were located near many of the railroad stations.

Going home was a lot more fun -- we have side-by-side coupees and we enjoyed each others company. Elder Page loved telling us jokes and we laughed alot. The train was much newer, quieter, and cleaner, plus the coupees had tableclothes! We were really enjoying luxury now.

Night came, we were exhausted, but we would all soon be home. We were grateful for a wonderful experience and an opportunity to share time together.