Thanksgiving in Astana and Weekend in Almaty, Kazakhstan - 2 December 2008

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We had our first Thanksgiving in Kazakhstan without a turkey, but we had good food and good conversation with wonderful friends we have met here. Nathan and Heather Jones and their children, from Sharbakti, spent Thanksgiving day with us along with Bakytzhan, who we are helping to understand English.

Frank Tetreault had to fly to Almaty and Mira and Zhanna Beckinbi had to work. But we had a great time with those that were here!

Anne and Heather were in charge of getting dinner ready and on the table on time.

Bakytzhan, Anne, Desi, Nathan and Heather enjoying the desserts. Anne made an apple pie, without lard, mind you, but she did have Crisco and it worked out pretty well!!

But Bakytzhan brought this beautiful cake for all of us to enjoy!! The cakes they make over here at this bakery are a work of art, as you can see!!Mira was able to come after work and meet the Jones family and taste the desserts. It was fun to be with some of our good friends on Thanksgiving!!

Friday morning the Jones family left by train for Almaty which is a 23 hour ordeal; but we were able to fly to Almaty in the afternoon for Zone Conference which only took us an hour and a half!! Lucky us!!

When we arrived at the airport, President Cranney, our Mission President, and his family had just arrived from Moscow, so we were able to visit with all of them on the way to the hotel. They had two of their children with them, Caleb and Kathryn, because they are on their way to Madrid, Spain to get their visas renewed. What wonderful people they are!!

Saturday we attended our first Zone Conference and it was great!! President and Sister Cranney spoke to all of the missionaries and gave us some insight on what we can do better and what we need to keep doing! There are now 48 missionaries in our mission which is down from 70 missionaries. Of those, 22 are North American missionaries. More and more it will be up to the members to fellowship and bring in new converts.

President Cranney and Sister Cranney and Sister Vincent talking together during a break at Zone Conference.Sister Samsonovich, from Vladivostok, Russia; Sister Davis, from St. George; Elder Janovich, from the Phoenix area, Elder King, from the Arco, Idaho area; Elder Galo, from Florida and Elder Volegov, from Latvia, singing a hymn during Zone Conference. They are such great missionaries and so dedicated to the work!!

Elder Volegov, Elder King, Elder Galo, Elder Jonovich, Sister Samsonovich and Sister Davis after receiving their mail from President Cranney. (Sister Samsonovich cannot wear her badge yet because she isn't accredited. It took Sister Davis 70 days before she was able to proselyte.)

We all went out to eat for lunch on Saturday during our Zone Conference. President Cranney is the gentlemen sitting on the left. We had a great time with everyone there!

Saturday evening we were invited to dinner at Elder and Sister Vincent's apartment. They are the Leadership couple in Almaty. Elder Vincent has been a member of the Seventy. They are from Salt Lake and will be leaving in April. They are wonderful people!

President Pieper's son, Chris and his wife, Evelyn and their baby daughter were there, too. He is on a Fulbright Scholarship in Almaty. Zhuldez (on the far left) is the Vincent's translator in Krgystan and she is a member of the church.

Also at the Vincents were Nathan, Heather, Zoe, Desi, Roy and Gary Despain, an Air Astana pilot from Mendon, Utah. We all had such a good time together and being with members is so great!!

On Sunday after church, we wanted a picture of Sveta Rahimzhanova, our visa clerk, and her mom, Galina. They are such wonderful people and we love them so much!

We were also able to get a picture of the Cranneys; Sister Cranney, Caleb, Kathryn and Roy. We enjoyed being with them for Zone Conference and church. We hope to see them again next time they are scheduled to come to Almaty.

This is Murat Imangaziev, our driver to and from the airport and the former Branch President. What a great guy he is! He and his family are really stalwarts in the Branch. He has a son serving in Kiev.

We had a wonderful time in Almaty but it was just too short. We want to come back again as soon as possible! It's so wonderful to attend a branch and feel the spirit of the members!

May we all be grateful for the blessing that the Lord has given us.

Love,

Elder and Sister Welling