BFCF(Best Friends and Cousins Forever) World Tour in Astana, Kazakhstan - 14 September 2008

What a wonderful week we have had with my sister Nancy Baker and our cousin, Kathy Bell. It's our first visit from family!! People asked them where they were going and when they told them Kazakhstan, they asked them "Why??" Kazakhstan is not a place one "visits" but we tried to show them a good time and besides they were coming to see us, not the country!

They arrived Monday morning after a 2 1/2 hour delay in Frankfurt, Germany. It was so good to see them and I think they were as equally glad to see us, too! They rested most of the day. Jet lag had hit them pretty hard!! Tuesday we took a walk along the Ishim River that is right near our apartment. Anne, Nancy and Kathy along the "river walk". We also went to the history museum which they really liked.

We walked to "Ali Babba's" restaurant in the afternoon and ate there and introduced them to some of the wonderful Kazakh and Russian dishes, but without the horse meat!!

Wednesday morning we decided to go the the Outdoor Bazaar and purchase some souvenirs with our guests. Mira went with us so she could tell us if we were getting a good deal or not!! They got to know Mira and love her as we do!

In the afternoon on Wednesday, we went to the "Duman" and had our picture taken in front this painted camel. There are animals like this all over the city; it's pretty colorful!

In the "Duman" we went through the oceanariam and had our picture taken in front of the "octopus"; Roy, Nancy, Anne and Kathy.

Thursday we went to the First President's Museum and Kathy and Nancy had their picture taken with Nazarbayev's picture! It's a pretty impressive museum!

In the afternoon, we went to the Pyramid of Peace and had our picture taken on the dome in "the great room".

After that we went to the largest mosque in all of Kazakhstan to show them the beauty of this magnificent building!

Friday we spent all morning on the government mall. It was a little chilly in the morning, but pretty good weather. Here we are in the top of the Byterick.

Another look at the government mall with Kathy, Nancy and Anne.

Saturday evening we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary! Can you believe it 40 years together?!! For our 40th anniversary, we thought it would be wonderful to celebrate it in an exotic place, so we chose Kazakhstan!!

This is the anniversary party that we had before Nancy and Kathy left. We had such a good time and we will miss them very much! But we are so glad that they came to visit. It has been a highlight of our stay here in Kazakhstan. We were sad to see them go but we're grateful for the time we had with them.

We now have to get back to work. We are doing our visa prolongation this week and then we will get ready to receive 4 missionaries from Novosibirsk for their visa work. It's going to keep us busy with that and the projects we are working on.

May the Lord bless you in all that you do. We are so grateful to be members of this wonderful church and to be missionaries to help spread the gospel through humanitarian work. How blessed we are!!

Love,

Elder and Sister Welling