Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Our Apartment

A Tour of our Apartment

Anne in the kitchen making cookies. Our kitchen is 7' x 13'. You can barely see the stove behind Anne. It is quite old and we still have trouble keeping the oven lit. She does a lot of baking for the many meals we serve to members, missionaries and investigators. A week ago it was five days in a row that we served meals to some set of people.

Anne and Sister Shevyeko in the living room studying Russian. (Notice, Matt, we are still missing one picture (upper left) in the arrangement of our family pictures.) Our living room is 12' 5" x 15'. Our porch, which is just outside the living room, is 38" x 15' long. We use it for storage and there is a clothes line there for drying our clothing. We also bought a drying rack that we use inside.

Here is our tiny, little bathroom. It measures 5'5" x 1'4", if you don't count the bathtub area. Our washing machine is also housed in the bathroom giving us just enough room for one person to stand in the left over space. The washer will hold the equivalent of one queen-sized bed sheet. We wash something almost every day to make sure we have clean clothes and linens.


Here is Rick in our study which is 9'3" x 11'2". It is a nice size room for its purpose.





Here is a different view of the study.









Here is Anne in our bedroom which is 9'4" x 12'4".












This is a view from the doorway of our bedroom looking into the room.



Here we are with Kristina Chernikov at her going away party in the branch building. She left for Burley, Id., two days later to be a foreign exchange student for the coming school year. She has already had some wonderful experiences there. It turns out that the mother in the home she is staying in is the sister of our youngest daughter's very good friend.
We took the missionaries out for pizza on the last day before transfers. Elder Morgan, our district leader, became an assistant to the mission president the next day. He is on the back, left of the table. Elder Angelo, on the back right became our new district leader. They were companions. After the dinner one of the missionaries told Anne that they had talked and they would much rather eat her cooking than go out to eat.
The next evening at the train station Elder Keifert and Masha arrived. Elder Kiefert is standing behind the packages. Masha (short for Maria) is second from the left. She is returning from a mini (6 week) mission to a neighboring town. She joined the church a short time ago and has completed her medical training to become a doctor. She is due to start her practicals (internship) this fall. Alexi is standing next to Anne. He attends English Club and has become a good friend.
We celebrated Sister Brown's birthday in our apartment with the rest of the missionaries and one investigator, who is in the middle of the picture below between Anne and Sister Brown.


Here is Anne with Sister Shevyeko on the bottom row and Shondra and Masha on the top row. Sister Shevyeko stayed with us overnight because Sister Brown left on her visa trip to Spain. After the first night, either Shondra or Masha became her temporary companion. Sister Shevyeko is from Ukraine and will go home in December. Shondra is a medical student here and is from Guyana. Her native language is English. She is Anne's visiting teaching companion.

6 comments:

Jenn Hamann said...

Well now that you have updated the blog we now know that you are still on a mission. I was begining to wonder if you both decided to start vacation'ing. (is that a word?) It looks like a great bunch of people you are serving and working with. And it is also nice to know that at least someone gets to enjoy your cooking, since we no longer do. Love ya both and miss ya tons, Jenn!

Camille said...

Wow. What a different experience from life in the USA where everything is about super ultra capacity. It sounds like you're both doing a lot to help the people around you feel at home and welcome. Just like you always do. I would bet there have been some frustrating disappointments from the oven, but you're awesome for sticking with it. Glad to see you're both doing well.

Amy Pennington said...

I am loving the tour of your apartment. What a cute place and I think Anne would make any place a cozy and inviting home. Glad to see you are staying busy. Love you both! Hugs
Amy

Member of the Vernier Family said...

So glad to get an update - I was praying extra hard that you were OK since there had not been any reports from you for several weeks.
I know how much you are appreciated - when Gary and I were married in Germany (and the Swiss Temple) we lived in a little apartment in the home of a German family. We had the Elders and members of the Branch at our little place all the time and I, as a new bride with a little tiny oven like the roaster ovens we use to have before microwaves,would attempt to bake goodies and fix meals. It was a challenge but a good challenge and we always loved having people there. You are really going a service and showing everyone what wonderful folks we have in America. I bet you will find when you return home that you can really downsize and still be happy. Blessings to you as you continue this awesome work you are totally committed to. Celia

Caroline said...

This is amazing! Jonathan and I had no idea you two were serving a mission! And what a wonderful way to keep in touch! Thank you for sharing your experiences with us.

The Pyfer Party said...

This is so neat you guys! I am so excited that you guys are able to do this. I will have to pass this along to my mom. She will enjoy it.
Lindsay Burton Pyfer