Hello everyone,
Kensie, we are looking forward to talking to you on your birthday. Grandma and Grandpa can't believe that you are tujrning 5 Wow, starting kindergarten soon and you are growing up to be such a lovely young lady. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
We got to talk to Susan on her birthday and we are happy that things are somewhat better and hope that surgery on the 10th will be successful. We really do wish that we could be there to help you and the family, but you have the greatest help in Jacob and the kids. We are hopeful for the best outcome with this surgery.
We are doing well and look forward to our continuing time here is Russia which seems to be sliding away at an alarming pace. We now have less than a year and so much to do. We do miss home and all of you, however we do have a need to be here. We have a meeting here in our house with a young man in a few minutes. We so look forward to being with these wonderful souls in Russia. Oleg is a fine young man and we count him as a friend. We hope that the message that we give is received well.
The weather is better, actually quite Spring like, rain, grey skies, wind, sun, and blue skies. some leaves on the trees, and soon to see flowers. We enjoy the rain, it seems to be a gentle rain for the most part. The pollen release hasn't missed me and I am just getting over the allergic response to it. All in all we are well.
There are 17 BYU students here in Nizhniy for the next 2 months. We have met many of them and hope they go away learning much of Russian and understanding the wonderful people.
Our driver is the new branch president and is a bit more busy now. His little girl, Masha, has been much sick this winter and also Ivan, his boy. They really are sweet kids and we hope they are better soon. Their mom has been ill a good deal too, so not a great winter for their family.
This May 9th is the national celebration of the end of WWII. They have parades and not sure what else, but we are hoping to see some of the doings. WWll was a terrible time for this country, losing about 25 million citizens.
We were invited over to see the new baby of one of the sisters in the branch and meet the parents. They are visiting from Saint Petersburg for a few weeks. The husband was very interested in talking to us in English and it was a pleasure to talk to him.
We have talked to many of you this past week and enjoy listining to your stories of your lives. It is all good for us.. Love to you all.
