Petitsi Fabrica folks

Leaving Russia and into Kaz

Ivan starts transformation from Russian to Kaz

Dear All,
Just a brief update on our Southern Russia experiences.
But first the labels for the pictures.
1. Jan, Kezenia, Asia, BR Elena, Maria, Natasha
2. Where will He send us next?
3. Elena, Sergei, Jan BR Maria, Olga, Natasha, Tamara, Nadiezhda
4. Coffee break, Koneshna, of course.
We left St. P with no problem with our carry-ons. Of course once we boarded we realized why the last flight wouldn't let our bags in the cabin. The over head storage was extremely small. So we had our own personal foot rests, with knees above our heads. There is always a good reason for all rules. Well, no one that has visited Russia would agree with that.
Maria and Elena met us at the airport in Ekaterinburg. We had a few really good days with them, including a train ride to Omsk. Kezenia professed several years ago and is very faithful. Natasha is her neighbor and is very interested in Truth. Sergei is Olga's son. Olga professed years ago in Petitsi Fabrica with several others. When the workers get to her village above Omsk once a month they have meeting and her daughter Anya has started to take part. Nice!
There is good interest in both cities including Boris who professed years ago in Latvia. While in Omsk we also visited Lydia. We stayed with her in her apartment several years ago in Petitsi F.
Well, as usual our good times there with the girls had to come to an end so they loaded us another train.
Our border crossing went extremely well. While the border guards check everyone out of Russia the trainmen are busy adjusting the width of the wheels so the train can continue. Russia, years ago built wider tracks so the enemy couldn't come rolling in. The Russian guards were quite modern. They had a laptop computer to enter our data, names migration paperwork etc. The one carrying the laptop didn't know how to open it so I showed him the button. Later they came back and checked my passport again-just for practice for one of them. The Kazakhstan guards weren't as modern. They borrowed paper and a pen from Jan and dutifully recorded all.
Well this is it for today. Our days continue to be more than we deserve. Jan just reminded me that last year on my Birthday Jana P. made me a lemon pie-ummm. I think it will be carrot cake with Sergei, Aleya, Vika and Roma after meeting tomorrow.
Dos Vedanya Morrie

J

Ivan crosses part of Russia

Good morning y'all,
Well, as the pictures may or may not have indicated, we have visited several fields in the last week. Our days continue to be wonderful. It was hard to leave Annette and Karyn but our visa said get going. In Moscow we had a brief but great time. The pictures show Wayne the chef. His curry is worth traveling around the world to eat. Also saw Martin and Alla. We didn't get to see the friends that day but it sounds like all is well. Our short flight to St. Petersburg was good although they wouldn't allow our carry-on ($ 30) to check the extra bag.
Shelley met us in St. P. and we headed to a hotel for the night. We had been told it was a room for two. The clerk said, no, there would be two men in the room with us; made sense as it is a hostel with the bathroom down the hall. Well, lost in translation extra two really meant twenty. It was a quite and comfortable night and we woke up and had a nice cup of coffee and roll before going to meeting.
A wonderful meeting it was. We had looked forward to being with the girls, Shelley and Tama but also Sveta, who we hadn't seen in a couple of years. Also there was Julia, a young recently professing girl and Breanna Wong who has been studying in Hungary. She meets with Jim and Susan Stout some of the time for meeting. What a terrific meeting and day we had before jumping on another jet for Ekaterinbutg.
We are now in Kazakhstan but I think this catches you us to the pictures that went out yesterday with no story.
We do hope that all is well with each of you, we miss you. Love in Him, Ivan and Ivana

Where's Waldo-I mean Karyn and Annette