From a Day With the President to a Night at the Opera - 9 November 2008

Monday morning President Pieper, President of the East Europe Area, came to Astana to visit some government officials and to spend the day with us and find out how things are going. What a treat that was for us!! President Pieper and his family came to Kazakhstan some years ago with American interests, along with two other American families. They started the Branch in Almaty, Kazakhstan which now has 80 members. They were there for 5 years and he was then called to be President over the St. Petersburg Russia Mission. Then he was called to serve in the First Quorum of Seventies and is now the Area President.

We could tell from visiting with him that he has a great love for this East European Area and especially for the people of Kazakhstan. He told us that the number of American missionaries are decreasing in Russia because of the trouble with visas. They are continually trying to find a solution to the problem. He said that he wishes things would move faster in this area but we are on the Lord's timetable and we shouldn't get in a hurry!

President Pieper wanted us to meet one of his colleagues that he used to work with in Almaty, but who now lives and works in Astana. Her name is Galina Khazova. (President Pieper, Galina and Anne)

As soon as we met her, we fell in love with her. She is such a wonderful, outgoing person and she speaks English. President Pieper was hopeful that we could befriend and invite her to do things with us; but during lunch we found out that her company is moving her back to Almaty. We told her we would love to help her in any way we could with the move. We hope to be able to see her again. (Roy, in his new fall hat, Galina and Anne)

While President Pieper rested on our bed (he was fighting a cold), we had a meeting here in our apartment with Nadezhda, from Pavlodar. She was in town visiting family and Mira brought her here to sign some papers to finish up the project we did for her and to discuss a possible wheelchair project for her next year.

After the meeting, President Pieper was able to visit with Nadezhda. We explained to her that he was the leader over all of the members of our church in the East Europe Area. She was so impressed!! Through her tears, she explained to him how grateful she was for the handicapped equipment that she had received from our Church. Mira told us later, that on the way home Nadezhda told her that she had only been with us for an hour but she felt so uplifted and happy!! Of course, we know it is the Spirit!

After a meeting with a government official about the overall feeling of their attitude towards religion, President Pieper came back to our apartment and told us that the meeting went well. We ate dinner and visited until he had to leave for Moscow. It was wonderful to be with him throughout the day and we realize the what a great and difficult responsibility he has for this area of the church because he works with so many countries where religion is being suppressed. We were so glad that he would come and spend some time with us.

Tuesday was election day and because our ballots never came, we weren't able to vote. Because of that, we realize how important the opportunity to have a say in the election process is. So many of these countries over here do not have a say and consequently, they live differently and do not have the rights that we do in the United States. We should be grateful for the great democracy the Lord has blessed us with.

And how blessed we are that the transition from one president to another can take place without conflict and dissension. We are very blessed to live in a country such as ours and we are mindful that the new president will need our full support and prayers.

After inviting Frank Tetreault, the Air Astana pilot, over for dinner on Friday, he invited us to go to the Opera on Saturday with him.

Here we are at the opera, 5th row and only $4.00. Pretty good deal!!

It was a Kazakh opera and this is the hero and the heroine.

This guy is the villain. For this scene, the whole stage was transformed to look like the inside of a Kazakh yurt! It was very cool looking!

The best part about this opera was the costumes; they were all in traditional Kazakh dress.

This was the curtain call with the four main characters. (Don't you just love the villain's hat?)

We enjoyed the opera very much. We didn't understand a word because it was all in Kazakh but the music was beautiful. We hope to go again soon as things are winding down for the year.

We enjoyed having Zhanna, our Mongolian sister, for Church with us this week. She wasn't able to come last week because of work. It was just the two of us, but...."where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18:20) So whether there are two or three of us, we still feel the spirit and are able to partake of the sacrament. What a blessing that is!!

May the Lord bless each of you.

Love,

Elder and Sister Welling