Women's Day

     Women's Day was already last month, but I'm still playing catch-up with blogs.  It's such a big holiday here, that we can't not post about it.  Ella had this picture taken at kindergarten for Women's Day.  She went to school in a t-shirt and ponytail, and they doctored the picture to make her look like a fancy lady.  The funniest part to me was that Ella didn't even give the picture a second glance when she saw it.  She could take it or leave it.  =)

     I love the picture Ella made of me for Women's Day. 

     She did a great job in her program at school reciting her lines, dancing, and playing bells.  For the morning performance she did a special angel dance with some of the other girls. 



     Some of the ladies from our church put together a special ladies' gathering on the actual holiday. I invited several ladies to come with me, but none were able to this time around.  All the same, it was a nice time and fun to see so many ladies of stages of life coming together to grow and show love to one another.




      I was especially encouraged by one lady, Natasha, who's never shared up front before.  She had some great illustrations about trusting God and the privileges we have as his children.  It's really neat to see people realizing that they can do things they didn't know they could do and beginning to serve.

     I have gotten little Women's Day gifts for the ladies in our church a couple of years.  This year I bought face masks.  We had five left over, so the kids and I, along with our friend, Lena, tried them out.  The kids all quickly decided they weren't as great as they had dreamed.

    On the morning of Women's Day, I got together with these friends from my discussion group.  Regina taught us how to boil bean sprouts and mix them with garlic, oil and soy sauce as a salad.  We enjoyed nice conversation and gave each other gifts.  This was the first time Larissa and Sveta had ever tried bean sprouts.  A little girl took our picture so it's kind of blurry.  =)

    

Fast Food, Borsh Style

     One of the things we really missed when we first moved here were foods that were quick and easy to eat- sliced bread, lunch meat, peanut butter, canned soups (especially cream of mushroom for cooking with), boxes of macaroni and cheese, and let's be honest- frozen chimichangas (and pre-packaged guacamole, no less!).  Of course, the more additives and preservatives, the less healthy. But it's also nice sometimes to have lunch ready in a couple of minutes!

     Over time we've adapted to more food preparation and are probably healthier for it.  (this is probably one of the reasons we don't have any cavities, too!)  But there are moments when we find new fast options here that are simply wonderful.   Our newest treasure is something that I would have never believed 10 years ago that we would EVER choose to eat at all, much less on a regular basis (especially since Leif and I didn't even like beets) .  It's borsh base in a jar!!  Beets, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions, etc... all cut up and ready to make into soup!  I just add water, a little meat, a few potatoes, and Wha-la!  Borsh!  The kids absolutely love it.  The first time I made it, they ALL exclaimed how amazing it was and asked if we could have it again.  So.  Funny.  So now we eat it at least 2 times a week for lunch.  There are other soup bases, too, that we have tried, and they love them all.

     Leif is traveling back from a hiking trip now as I type.  We had two kids stay with us yesterday and until church this morning, as their dad is recovering from a surgery and their mom is also on this trip.  It was nice to have a shchi (cabbage soup) base on hand to be able to serve them, as it's a taste that they're used to (and not strange American food!).  It was a bit crazy getting everyone bathed and ready for church.  Here's a picture I took while we waited at the bus stop:


     They're looking forward to seeing their "mama", and we're ready to see our "papa"! 

Dental Surprises

     A couple of weeks ago I was telling Leif that I hadn't been to the dentist in awhile and wanted to get a checkup.  Our schedule was changed around that day, so he suggested I see if I could get in that afternoon (the dentist is about 100 yards away from our door). They had a perfect space in their schedule and took me right in.  The first surprise of the day was that I didn't have any cavities.  Hooray!  While I was there I asked if they could give me a cleaning.  I had forgotten that the last time I got a cleaning (3 years ago!) I had told myself that I would never do it again here, as it was a pretty horrifying experience.  But time makes you forget, and there's a new dentist here that's super nice (he's given the kids checkups for free).   He whisked me into the chair and began to cover me with protective gear (see picture of Leif above).  This is the point that I remembered the last cleaning!  I told him I was a little scared, and he said, "Don't worry!  It won't hurt".  Then he proceeded to give me shots all over my mouth.  I wish I had counted, but there were AT LEAST 9 shots... and as many as 12!  (the second surprise of the day)  He was right.  It didn't hurt at all.  And my mouth was more numb than it's ever been because it was numb ALL OVER THE PLACE!  It was at this point that I thought, "Leif has to experience this!"  So I called him and in my best effort to talk normally, told him there was an opening for him, too.  It wasn't in his plans, but he hadn't been to the dentist in ten years and decided it was a good idea. As soon as he arrived he saw how crazy my mouth was and couldn't help laughing at me.  I snapped a picture of him before I left (the only thing that's left out is the huge funny ring that held his mouth open). The third surprise was that he didn't have any cavities either.  Hooray!  And he came home with a super numb mouth, too.

     But the biggest surprise was that our kids were totally traumatized by our numb mouths.  They dressed up in costumes and made signs and marched around the house, shouting "Don't ever numb your mouths again!"  There were even tears over our mouths.

     We had planned on inviting one of our neighbors (an older lady) over for tea that afternoon, but I seriously couldn't talk, so we waited until evening to send the kids over and invite her.  By then she was already getting ready for bed, so the kids asked if they could invite a different neighbor and her daughter.  They came back 5 minutes later with these new friends, and we had a nice evening talking with regular mouths about lots of things- some spiritual and some not.  The day didn't turn out how we'd originally planned, but it was good all the same!

The Joy of a Rat

The kids threw colored chalk paint at each other as part of the missionary lesson on India.  It was about 35F degrees outside- a warm day for Siberia this time of year (but still too cold to be out long without coats!)

  Every few months the youth in our church have put together a special missonary story (complete with learning about a country and group of people) for the kids in Sunday School.  It's been so special for the kids, and it's also been really encouraging to see people in our church growing and beginning to lead and serve.  This past missionary story took place in India.  One of the youth brought in a snake for all of the kids to pet.  The next day, Anneka asked to stop into the pet store just to look and see if they had snakes.  I knew, of course, that there was no way we were getting a snake, so I thought "what's the harm in stopping into the pet store?"  Leif and Ike decided to come with us, too, and on our way there was a lady begging.  I stopped and offered to take her grocery shopping and Leif didn't skip a beat and helped by going on ahead to the pet store with the kids.  But the time I caught up with them 20 minutes later, both kids had fallen hopelessly in love with a RAT.  (And we knew that if Ella had been with us, she would have been in love, too.)  Leif is much more low key about these things.  I honestly didn't know if I had energy for a rat.  But he was a baby rat (less than a month old) and very cute.  So how could I say no?  Within minutes we were toting home our new little pet.

 

     Ella was jumping-up-and-down-excited to come home from kindergarten to "A RAT!  A RAT!"
 

 So proud of her new little friend!

Superman, Batman, or Ratman?

     The thing I love most about having a rat is that he brings GIGGLES.  All. The. Time.  Ike really liked having the rat crawl around up and down his pant legs for awhile, but we put an end to that (he could get squished!).  But he loves to carry him around on his head.  We all have enjoyed putting up mazes for him and feeding him new foods.  The girls love to pet him and carry him on their shoulders.  His name is Midnight.  

     We didn't tell anyone about our rat right away, and Anneka got the great idea to play a joke on her teachers and classmates at school.  She told the story to my parents on this skype video message, and it was so cute (of all three kids), I thought I'd post it here, too.

     Within one week's time, the rat has gotten loose 3 times (and one of the times we found him in our bed!).  But thankfully he still continues to be cute and surprisingly not creepy.  I find myself concerned about our rat's social and physical needs.  Who would have guessed?  We read that rats are really smart and can be taught tricks.  This will probably be our next step with him. 

Burgers and Eggnog

We had fun taking a group selfie

      Every 2 or 3 months we have a contest at English Club: the person who bring the most new people wins a prize!  This time Masha and Erzhena both brought four new friends, so they tied for the win!  The prize was a meal at our home for the winners and their guests.

      We asked Masha and Erzhena if they had any special requests for the meal.  Erzhena had heard about eggnog and wanted to try it, and Masha wanted french fries.  Since we always love a good excuse to make really good burgers with all of the fixings, we made it a hamburger night (with eggnog and milkshakes and chocolate chip cookies).  =)  Our Canadian friends enlighted us by showing us how Canadians eat poutine (fries smothered in cheese and gravy).  Everyone enjoyed the burgers and admitted they didn't taste like burgers they had tried before here in Ulan-Ude.

They were huge, too!  Ike only had a half of one and still it filled up his plate.  

       This was a really great chance to get to know these people more and in a more personal way.  I think everyone enjoyed the evening's food and conversation.


     Here are the brave people who tried eggnog.  Everyone seemed a little hesitant at first, but seemed to think it was worth the experience.  ;)

     One of the guys showed us how to take voice-automated selfies, so several people were trying it out throughout the night, while sipping milkshakes.  We're thankful for these new friendships that are forming and were thankful for this casual time outside of English Club to get to know people more!

Catch-up (Somewhat)

     I haven't really blogged about our lives for what feels like a bazillion years.  So this is kind of a catch up blog (not all-inclusive, of course) from the past couple of months. One of Leif's roles as a team leader is to keep good relationships and to encourage pastors from throughout the region.  He's had the chance to visit several villages recently and has spoken at several churches in the past couple of months.  This is one of the pictures from his visit to Zakamensk.  The church there is very small and always is so happy when other believers come and connect with them.

     On another Sunday, Leif went to Shabur.  He spoke at the church service in the morning and then the rest of the day he took part in an outreach to the youth in the community through an indoor soccer tournament.  Oleg, the pastor there, is really gifted in reaching out to those in the village.  Everyone knows him and he's built a lot of trust with the kids and parents.  He appreciates it so much when men (like Leif) come from Ulan Ude come to help him put on bigger events like this.

Leif, sitting with guys on his soccer team.

     Leif was a champion this weekend, in my opinion.  He was up all night sick the night before the tournament, and yet he still went (driving a couple of hours on bumpy roads), spoke at the service, and played soccer all day!  I don't know how he did it! 





     Here Leif was, speaking at one of the churches in Ulan Ude that we have a relationship with.  It's neat to see how there's unity between these two churches.  One of the things that struck me when I heard statistics about church growth in Mongolia (rapid growth!) is that it happened when the churches (from various denominations) began working and praying together.  May the Lord do that here as well!



     We had tea after the service, and I was looking around for Ella.  I found her happiy sitting at this table with strangers.  So cute and funny!

     Some of the men from our church have been traveling to a village to bring encouragement and counsel to a young family.  This past time they drove in the middle of the night.  Dima works odd hours, so he fell asleep in the middle of one of the meetings.  =)

 
     We've had a lot of new people come to our English Club these past few weeks!  It's been encouraging to meet them.  When two of the guys discovered they were from the same region of Buryatia, they both began speaking in Buryat.  They knew immediately that that would be the first language of the other.


     Leif's been having some really good discussions in his advanced group about spiritual things. 

     There's a dear family in Germany that we've never met that sends us care packages!  Our kids just LOVE to draw, so they were thrilled with these huge books of blank paper.

     They also love the new costumes that this family sent.  Ella's new princess dress was perfect for a program she had at school, as it's important to wear very beautiful, frilly dresses when you're in kindergarten!

     They also sent us this game that we gave to a little girl in our church.  She loves when I lead the kids' group during English Club because I play games with them.  She told me that she doesn't have any games at home to play.  When I gave her this game to take home as her very own, she was thrilled!

     This feels soooo far away by now, but we had a Superbowl party right at the time of Leif's birthday.  I made Leif a German chocolate cake.  It was so gooey it kind of exploded!  At least it tasted good.  ;)

     We watched the game projected onto the wall.  It was an international event with people from Canada, Switzerland, Buryatia, and of course, America.  It's fun to share a bit of our home culture with friends here.

     Then as a family for Leif's birthday we went to a cafe that has a little play area for the kids.  Ella made friends with a little boy.  She kissed him goodbye before we left.  We gotta watch these little Gustafson girls!

For Men's Day Ella made this picture of Leif.  I just love it!

     Our teammates snapped this picture at a store, and I had to post it, too.  It's interesting how many store workers still use an abacus to add up the prices of items.  But now many stores have credit card machines, too.  It's so interesting to see the old and the new next to each other like this!

    We had another church work day.  It's nice when everyone pitches in to get a lot done!

Everyone sharing lunch together on the work day

     Vera (a lady from our church)'s mom died, and I went to the funeral.  It was encouraging to see how many people came.  It was bitterly cold that day with a wind that bit to the bone.  This funeral was drastically different from the last one we went to, as her mom was a believer.  The whole atmosphere is different when there is the hope of heaven.  All the same, this is a very sad time for Vera.  She was her mom's sole caretaker and spent much of her time preparing meals and caring for her dear mom.

     Here, we walked around the casket that had already been lowered into the ground and sprinkled dirt over the top.  We plan to have Vera and her son and his family over soon to reach out to them.  We know this is a tough time for her son, too.  We pray that the Lord will draw them close to Himself in this time.

     Ella had a holiday on a Monday so she got to go to the pool with Anneka and me.  We invited our friends Ira and Sasha to come with us, too.  There's a new little cafe in the building where the swimming pool is.  We had hot chocolate and potato piroshky with our friends.  The girls were "best friends" that day and wanted to share a chair.

     Often Ike will fall asleep in our room at night and then we move him to his room.  I sometimes find interesting treasures on my nightstand.  These heart stickers on my glasses were no exception!

     On the days that both Ella and Ike have kindergarten/preschool, I pick up Ella first and then we go to get Ike.  She loves to run back and get him (and he loves it, too!).  Both kids love to wear Leif and my hats.

Stay tuned for some more catch-up blogs!

Party At The End of White Month

 
         Two weeks ago we had a party to celebrate the tail end of White Month, which is a big Buryat holiday here.  We ate white food and played games and invited an assortment of people.  We've had a ton of new people at English Club lately, and we want to help some of the college-aged church youth to reach out better to newcomers.  So we invited a wide spectrum of people, with the hopes of sharing more about Jesus as well as helping others to share their faith, too.  I didn't get any pictures when everyone was here, but I think including kids there were 25 people packed into our little apartment. 


     Dave and Martina joined with us in putting this party together.  We were all thankful for Zhenya's help in cooking the pozie (traditional meat dumplings) to perfection!  We also had white chocolote fondue and white pizzas to keep with the white theme.


     It was cute how at home Ike felt with our guests.  Since many of the people who came are contacts through our English Club, he was happy to talk to people in "our voice" (that's what Ike says instead of "language")  He also really likes "pretty people".  Once when Ike was sick, I asked him if I could get Papa to lay with him for a bit while I did something else. And he said "no, I just want you or pretty people".   Of course, he LOVES his Papa and will always choose him over me for things like wrestle time and playing with cars.  ;)

     We played the game "pass the gift" where each person unwrapped a layer of paper when the music stopped to reveal a small gift.

     It was a fun way to interact and laugh together.

     Then we broke into teams to wrap up eggs and see if we could drop them without breaking them.

 
     Larissa's team dropped the egg just as it was into a "nest that they built out of newspaper, toilet paper, and cotton.  It only had a tiny crack after falling from the ceiling.

     Then Leif took a little time to share from the book of Revelation about how one day people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship Jesus before his throne.  He also shared how God is the God of everyone- not just Russians or Americans, but Buryats, too (and everyone in the whole world!)  Then we gave this small gift of a children's Bible in the Buryat language with some white chocolate and Bible verses attached (English on one side and Russian on the other).  People seemed to like the gift of the Buryat children's Bible.  Our girls' piano teacher, Sveta, was on the same bus as 2 of our Buryat friends who came.   Sveta said they seemed really interested and were reading the Bibles on the bus.  When she asked them if they could read the Buryat language, they smiled and said, "oh, yes!"  It was really special for them to receive a printed book in their native language. 



     Some people had to leave to catch the bus before the routes ended for the evening, but several people hung out and played games afterward.  We're thankful for this oppurtunity to grow in relationship with these dear people!