Summer in Astana, Kazakhstan - 24 August 2008

Summer in Astana is just as profoundly beautiful as it is extremely cold in the winter. We thought we would show you some of the beauty that we see around here on our walks. These elephants are created completely with plants. Here is Mira with some giraffes also made of plants.

This is a replica of a yurt and a Kazakh warrior leaving his wife to go to battle and it's all done in plants. They are so beautiful!!

In this picture you can see the wife handing her husband a shield for battle. All of these pictures were taken on the Mall.

Here we are at the soccer stadium which is on the way home to our apartment. Look at the Kazakh designs in the flower bed!

And even a soccer ball made of plants!

These plant bed are also at the stadium. Aren't they gorgeous!!

The coming of summer brings out a fruit and vegetable stand on every corner and parking lot! Most of our meals come from these fruit stand. We have even learned to like fried cabbage with onions, carrots, garlic, peppers and a little Kolbasa (sausage)!!

This is one of the fruit stands that we frequent which is in a parking lot right across from our apartment. The couple is so nice to us and they want us to buy a little of everything! Those tall things standing in front of the watermelons are cantalope and are so mild and sweet. The orange things are also a kind of melon and are very good!

But this is the fruit stand that we go to most often because it is at the end of our apartment building and we pass it on the way home every day. This young man has no options for education and this may be his livelihood for a while. Besides, he is very kind to us and we like him!! He has picked out 5 different watermelons for us and they have all been so sweet and delicious!!

In every apartment complex they have a playground for the children and this is the one outside of our apartment. We hardly recognized it in the winter. In the summer things really look different!!
This is our apartment building that you see. It looks a lot different than it did in the winter when we came here. And we have even began to call it home!!

This last week we have been working on getting clothing containers from Salt Lake in here for two different groups. We have approval on both of them. One is for a handicapped group and the other is for an organization that helps families with many children.

We are healthy and keeping busy and we hope that it stays that way. We love working with these wonderful people and are grateful every day for this gratifying experience that we are having. Our lives will never be the same because of it.
May the Lord bless you in all that you do!

Love,
Elder and Sister Welling