Talents and Culture in Astana, Kazakhstan - 7 December 2008

This week started slow but we finished big!! We completed writing a project for a handicapped day care center and sent it to Moscow. We also got news of a project that has been approved for a handicapped organization here in Astana.

Friday we visited the Tslenigrad Regional Hospital and picked up the papers for their project that has been approved. We delivered some knitted hats (from Roy's mom and friends) to the orphanage for handicapped children. They were very happy to receive them!

We also visited the Astana Union of Handicapped and War Veterans of Afghanistan to see if we could help them with a project. They were very happy that we came by and told us that they would get back with us!

It seems like everything comes at once! On Saturday we were invited, by Kamka and Kulnazira (our NGO friends), to an Art Show and Concert where the participants were all handicapped children from different cities here in Kazakhstan! The Art Show was held at the "Duman", a Fun Center for families.

These are some of the pictures that were done by handicapped teenagers. We loved the traditional Kazakh pictures.

They even had baked items that the handicapped youth made which were also judged. These are more of the pictures that were done by children and youth. We saw many of the participants and we were so impressed with their ability to create such beautiful pictures and items despite their handicaps!!

While we were, we visited the Oceanairium and a new event called the Animated Jungle! All of the participants were able to go in free of charge along with the invited guests, which was us!! It was like going into the "Lost World", or something out of Indiana Jones!!

We had to go through this maze and came up on this HUGE spider which was trying to protect her babies!! It was pretty creepy!!

We saw everything from LARGE crocodiles, to a HUGE Tyrannosaurus Rex and a BIGGER THAN LIFE ape. We went down deep and saw all of these rock formations in a very cold place!!

Here we are in front of the Triceratops! We caught him looking right at us!They had these young men dressed up like a scary head hunters hiding behind bushes and rocks and they would jump out and scare the adults! They got Anne several times! She was pretty jumpy by the time she got through the maze!! It was a wonderful adventure that we were able to go on! At the end they had a program and the participants danced and sang! We were all pretty impressed with the animation and how well it was done!!

Later in the afternoon there was a concert performed by handicapped children and teenagers which was marvelous! These participants were able to perform despite their handicaps.

These young men were both physically handicapped but sang together and they were really a favorite. A young man, who was blind, played the accordion beautifully. There was lots of singing and dancing!!This young boy is blind and sang with perfect pitch!! There were some teenagers who recited poems and readings. One young man talked about mothers of handicapped children and how hard it is for them but they never give up on their child and they support them in whatever they do. He had everyone in tears!! We were so grateful for the opportunity we had to go to this concert!

We had to leave early because we had tickets to "Swan Lake" at the theater!

Never in our lifetime did we ever expect to see this famous ballet!! What a thrill that was! It was all Russian and Kazakh performers and beautifully done!

We invited Zhanna to go with us and Mira. We all had a great time there and really enjoyed the ballet! It was a very long day! Some days we have nothing to do and other days, we never stop!! But we would rather be busy!!

But today, Sunday, was the best day of the week! (Here Sunday is the last day of the week instead of the first!) Alexai Marchenko was here for our Sunday meetings! He lives in Moscow but is working on a project here in Astana for his company. He is a Branch President and worked as a CES coordinator for the Church for 10 years. He speaks Russian and English, which is what we have prayed for!!

Zhanna was so glad to have him here so that he could translate for her and he could translate for us. She said she had prayed for this day when she could bear her testimony in Russian and we could understand. The Spirit was very strong and many tears shed. We are blessed to have him with us even though it will only be for a couple of weeks. The Lord sees our needs and provides for us and for that we are so grateful. Zhanna, Anne, Roy and President Alexai Marchenko together after our Church meetings. Anytime we have someone new come to Church, we have to get a picture of them!!

We hope all is going well! We are so grateful to have the gospel in our lives and the knowledge that the Lord is aware of our needs and loves each of us!

Love,

Elder and Sister Welling