The Johnson's in Moscow: October 2012

Sunday Afternoon, 10-21-2012.

Marlene is dozing for a few minutes before we have to get ready to go to dinner at Dr. and Sister Smart's. He is the new Area doctor and she is the new Area mental health counselor. I watch what I say when she is close.

Some of the children came to see us recently. That was a genuine delight for us.

I cobbled these pictures together from three different uploads, so they will be out of order, but the quality will still be great.

We are fine. The work is constant. The gospel is true. Conference proves the Church is true.

On the Metro, after arriving at Sheremetyevo airport.

As usual, the kids are looking for candy in my office drawers.

Cafe Pushkin, a very swank joint.

The happy couple in the swank joint.
Pushkin is 'the man' in Russian literature.

Somebody Joe noticed. Nice hat.

Red Square McDonald's, everyone's first stop.

One of the cathedrals in the Kremlin.

St. George, or Rod, conquering the German dragon.

First site of the children after about 10 months. It was wonderful to see them.

Becky thinks she is having fun. Joe is not sure. They have been up for 24 hours.

We wanted to keep them up the first day in an effort to try to sync their clocks with local time, so the first thing we did was take them to Moscow State University.

Then we went to the 'new' Moscow Circus.

This was the opening scene. It looked like gospel doctrine class, circa 1920.

We are at the Tsaritzina's palace looking for history.

They had an exhibit of Rodin's work. This is me posing for the 'thinker' piece.

These are Thomsen, Peterson, and Fletcher after a round.

On one Sunday the Smart's included the children in the dinner invitation. They have an enormous Soviet era apartment.

First view of Red Square and St. Basil's.

This is the pedestal on which the Tsar's used to stand to make announcements to the serfs and other Muscovites. Emily is announcing that that girl's skirt is too short.

This is either one of the onion domes on St. Basil's or that kidney stone that Dave Paull has been trying to pass.

GUM decked out for fall.

At the Kremlin again. They have still not fixed that piece that Marlene knocked off the last time we were there.

Our group and the nice lady who took us through the Kremlin Armory. No pictures are allowed in there.
Chris has outgrown his mom.

Dave Peterson fishing and trying to keep his catch.

Changing of the guard, or three guys with leg problems.

I have been waiting ten months to see this cathedral. It is called "Christ the Savior Cathedral." It was a Moscow landmark for about 50 years (from 1887) but in about 1930 Stalin had is blown up and replaced with a swimming pool. Shortly after the the evil empire broke up in 1991 it was reconstructed by the Orthodox Church.

It is striking inside and out.

Across a bridge from the cathedral were some random Italian pieces of art. Ben, pay attention.

The babes of Moscow.

Another food group.

Culture for the rubes from Utah. Wavy-armed dancing. Very nice really.

The dancers. Long arms, long dresses, big hats.

Sergiev Posad. Cool, but not too bad. See the childrens' Facebook pages for interior photos.

Cruising the Moscow River on a sunny afternoon.

The most outrageous poseur of all the poseurs we have seen in our many months in the city.
Yes, that is her belly hanging out.

Peter the Great from behind. Gorky Park is just past the statue.

Poseurs everywhere. Thankfully no bellies are hanging out here.

We are back at the Novodevichy Cemetery. I missed this one in our earlier trips. I think Joe found her. Or is it him?

Pencil art.

North of Gorky Park, near the river, is a statue park full of all kinds of interesting pieces.

I think this is of Dave Peterson when he was in Africa, fishing.

Dave and Maureen Paul while Dave was still with ATF.

They have a suspect caught between them.

Connie Thomsen's cleaning lady.

Dave Paull reporting his golf score.

The Russian Paul Revere. He has not quite gotten there yet.

One of the poses for my workout tapes.

In a swanky shopping center. Nothing like this in Sandy.

St. Basil's at night.

One of the last Metro rides. The suspects are headed for the barn.

The Bolshoi.

The children wangled a private tour and of course, left us out.

A fall morning out our back window.

My shoes.
Hoping for donations from my golfing buddies, since my appeals to the children have gone unheeded.

At Izmaylova, with the Jones' buying gifts for others.
Ever selfless.
The young couple saw my missionary badge and stopped to talk to us. They are recently married, living in Mill Creek. He was a missionary in Moscow and she in Paris.

Sunrise.

Not just gold and not just silver, but some of each.
Is this it Nathanael?

Last night (Saturday night) I was reading about the defense of Moscow when the Germans tried to conquer it.
10/1941 through 2/1942. Both side lost about 600,000 men.
I think this monument marks a site for one of the battles.

We stumbled on this old (1680) church when we were looking for the Cosmos Center. (Maybe we were closer than we knew?)

Anyway the discovery led to a study in graveyard mushrooms.