Last pics from Russia

Last pics from Russia. Jeff and I got back to AZ on the the 27th of August in the evening. Rachel, our kids, and I got on a plane the next day to go back to NC. It was an awesome trip, but in the end tiring.

Meal after Church with some wonderful friends. Dina on the left was taking the lessons when I left, she is now baptized. Her mother-in-law, Olga, next one over, had just been baptized before I served my mission. Dina's daughter Anastasia is the one I am holding. Then Misha is on my left, he was 18 when I was in Russia, then served a mission. His wife Sveta joined the Church while I was a missionary. Tanya is the one in the green shirt, she is Olga's daughter, her husband is a returned missionary from the Ukraine. They are all so awesome.

It ended up being like a 5 course meal, I thought I was going to burst by the end of it, but it was wonderful. First course, homemade pizza with mayonnaise in place of tomato sauce...very Russian indeed.

We went to numerous museums throughout our trip. This is from the New Tretykov Gallery which had paintings from the Bolshevik Revolution onward. This is a painting of the German Army surrendering on Red Square before the Soviet leadership. We weren't technically allowed to take pictures in here...so forgive the quality.

This is Anya on the left and Alla on the right. Anya's mom now lives in Vegas. They are so awesome. Anya put in her mission paperwork a few weeks before I got to Russia. All the Church mail comes through the mission office in Moscow. So I had the privilege of picking up her mission call envelope in Moscow and hand delivering it to her in Voronezh. We then all got together and watched her open it. So awesome! She is going to be serving at the Salt Lake City Temple Square. She wanted to go somewhere more austere like Africa, but this will have to do.

Jeff climbing on a tank at a newly remodeled victory square in Voronezh. Shows how different Europe and the US. In the US you would hardly know that it was the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII. Even in a small town in Russia they had all kinds of special displays, parades, and billboards marking the year.

This was my bunk on the night train back to Moscow. We chose to go on the cheep and shared an open wagon with 56 other people. A unique cultural experience to say the least.