Paperwork, Projects and Presentations in Astana, Kazakhstan - 1 March 2009

Can you believe it's March already?!! Time is really going fast here. We were able to get some things done this week despite the cold.

We spent the first part of the week doing historical reports and final reports on projects that we have completed and then sent them to Moscow. Roy also got the information he needs to do a wheelchair project in Pavlodar.

Our biggest problem right now is our computer!! It is too old, or too slow, or has a virus; but just isn't working!! Roy has threatened to throw it off the balcony!! We are waiting for a call from Salt Lake for the tech people to tell us what to do about it. We are pretty frustrated at this point!! Hopefully they will call this week.

We were able to go to visit the Children's Charity Fun, who work with disadvantaged children and teenagers. They help nearly 3,000 people a year. We are hoping to do a project for them.

While we were out and about this week, we took some pictures of the fire trucks over here.

This is what a fire truck looks like in Astana, Kazakhstan. They were having a fire drill at the correctional school while we were there dropping off some papers.Fire trucks are orange and white and look nothing like the ones in the US! It's hard to believe that anything could burn around here because everything is made out of cement or brick!!

Friday we were invited to go to a "Living Stones" presentation held at the First Presidential Museum where they honored handicapped children for their participation in art.

Kamka Medievna, an NGO that we work with, was honored for setting up the program for the handicapped children and teenagers.The guest artist, from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with one of the students that participated in the project. This is one of the Church's wheelchairs.

The artist teaches them how to paint on rocks to make them "come alive". This is some of her art work.

The artist shows them how to create what they want on paper first and then on the rocks. These are two of the students that participated. The young lady, Masha, is in our handicapped English Club that we go to on Saturday.

This is some of the rock painting done by the children and teenagers. (It actually looked better in person. The camera doesn't do it justice, so use your imagination!)The students were grateful for the chance they had to show some creativity and we were grateful for the opportunity we had to attend to see some of the handicapped students that we have helped through different projects we have done.

We were able to do a project a few weeks ago which was a Montessori room for an orphanage here in the city. They asked for items that would help the children with their manipulative skills, which consists of lacing, buckling, things for sizing and shape, sight and touch, ect.The director of the orphanage along with Mira and Anne looking at the different items that were donated by the Church for the room.

The director along with Mira showing off manipulatives to learn to lace, tie, zipping, ect. These items were very well made and we were impressed with them.

Roy and Zhanna looking at more of the items for the Montessori room.

This is Zhanna, who we worked with on this project. She has an organization that helps individuals and groups. She was wonderful to work with and we enjoyed getting to know her.

We are still busy with our English clubs and visiting English classes at the university. It sure has helped to keep us busy and we have made some wonderful friends that we will never forget!

We are so grateful for the gospel in our lives and that we have a chance to spread the gospel through humanitarian work. May the Lords bless each of you!

Love,

Elder and Sister Welling