Elder Worthington's Birthday, Stass's Baptism, Apartment

Elder Worthington's Birthday
Birthdays are always special for us. This will be Elder Worthington's last before he leaves to go home later this fall.
He wanted cheesecake instead of traditional birthday cake, so that's what he got! Having only 2 candles to blow out ensures wishes will come true.

Stass's Baptism
The highlight of a mission is a convert baptism. Stass, on the right, has been faithfully taught by Elder Traasdahl, on the left, and his companions. Stass will be an asset to the Church here and is looking forward to serving a mission after his one-year wait.

Our Apartment
We thought it would be fun to share some pictures of our wonderful apartment. The entry hallway is always full of shoes when the missionaries and investigators come. It's a very well-kept tradition to take shoes off when entering a dom (home). It also houses a large storage closet for coats, shoes and other items.
From the entry hallway, it opens up into a nice large foyer so it's not cramped when you come in like a lot of apartments. (Click on the picture to get a better view of the darling frog we found. He sits on a rock that says, "Welcome Friends." Even the Russians love to read it.)
The living room is spacious and comfortable. The display cabinet gives us room to share the treasures we've bought in different countries and cities. Sister Lavrentyeva and Elder Traasdahl relax while waiting for a meeting to start.
The other side of the living room is used for a dining/game table. Elder Smith and Sister Uldonova are waiting for the meeting also. (You might notice the rug. It's one of the cute "town" rugs and is a hit with the missionaries and small children. They like racing their cars and playing on the town streets.) The piano is on the right behind the sofa.
Elder Malanin, on the other side of the display cabinet, is ready for their meeting to start. We use the TV for showing Church DVD's to investigators.
The kitchen is large enough for several people to work in at the same time and has nice cabinets and countertops. The highlight for Anne, though, is the little dishwasher. It's just large enough for two and when we have company, we run it twice.
At the other end of the kitchen is a small table where we eat most of our meals when we're alone. The corner cabinet holds the microwave and storage.
We also have a small storage room with an extra refrigerator and shelves for additional food, tools, cleaning supplies, etc. The missionaries love the refrigerator because we keep sodas and extra fruit for them there.
The master bedroom is large compared to the one we had in Yaro. The bed is somewhere between a queen and king. We added rugs on either side of the bed and into the middle to make it more comfortable.
We also added the little bench for sitting to put on shoes and socks. The wardrobe is the only closet, but has plenty of room for the clothes we brought and the dresser on the other side has large drawers.
Anne is getting her weekly update letter ready to send. The office is very comfortable for both of us to use our computers and the printer. There is a sitting area and a large storage cabinet across from the little loveseat so we have plenty of room for books, paper, files, etc. On P-day, the missionaries use the office to send emails to family.
The large bathroom also houses the washer. The tub is large and the shower is very nice. It also has it's own hot water heater which we have used the last two weeks while the hot water in the building is turned off. Very convenient! We're also very fortunate to have a second water filter system in the bathroom so we don't have to keep filtered water in bottles for brushing our teeth. We're also lucky to have a half-bath off the foyer for guests to use.
The third bedroom has been such a great place for storage and doing all those household things like hanging clothes, sewing , and ironing. The sofa makes out into a bed for guests or it's nice for the missionaries when they want to take a quiet nap on P-day. Luba, sitting in front, from the upper branch, and Rita, from the lower branch, are the young single adult reps for their branches and have come to plan activities for the next few months.
The sewing machine has been a life-saver for Anne because of all the missionary mending, hemming and making fun gifts. The table was an old door we added legs to. There is also an extra wardrobe at the other end of the room which we use to store out-of-season clothing and ironing waiting to be done. This little apartment is such a blessing for us. We love using it to entertain, teach lessons, feed the missionaries and members and enjoy quiet time from the world outside. How grateful we are each day for this little bit of heaven.