Birthday Celebration, Children's Day Celebration and More of the Same (Custom Problems) in Astana, Kazakhstan - 1 June 2009

It's great to be busy here in Kazakhstan!!!

Besides celebrating Roy's birthday on Wednesday, we went to the closing ceremony of a project we did at the Tseleningrad Regional Hospital.

The Church donated 6 new gurneys to the hospital. We were able to see them and meet with some of the nurses and doctors who use them. They are so grateful to have them!

One of the head doctors who took us around to look at the gurneys also took us to the operating area. They had us put on the hats and masks and everything!! We thought that we were just going to take a picture of a gurney, but the doctor motioned us right over to where they were operating!! (They actually thought Roy was a doctor and wanted to consult with him!!) We were really surprised that they even let us in there!!

Dr. Galina, Head of Obstetrics, and Dr. Marat Dostygarinov, Administrator and Head Surgeon who we worked with on the project.

In the evening we took Mira, Kazbek, (Mira's brother and our unofficial computer tech) and Zhanna to "Ali Baba's" for Roy's birthday dinner! We had wonderful salads and "shashlek" (kabobs) and the company was great too!!

Kazbek, Mira, Roy and Zhanna outside of "Ali Baba's" after dinner and on the way home!

Each week on Zhanna's day off, we have her come to our home; we have dinner, our Sunday School lesson and at 7:00 we have our English lesson for her and Aliya.

We met Aliya Tulebaeva on our trip home from Armenia. We sat next to each other on the plane and she asked what we were doing in Astana. We told her that we were Humanitarian Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She told us that she also believed in Jesus! Then she said, "This is a good day!" She asked if she could come and spend some time with us and help her with her English. We told her that we have a member that we are helping to learn English and that she can come when Zhanna comes. So each week we have conversational English with these two young ladies. It's great and it has definitely made a difference with Zhanna! They have become friends.

Thursday we were invited to Aiman and Kamka's (two NGO's we work with) Children's Day Celebration at Astana Park. There we were given a "Thankful Letter" for the items that were purchased by the Church for their organizations.

After the celebration, Aiman invited us to a dinner she was having to celebrate her birthday and also Roy's birthday because they are on the same day!! The meal was delightful, as always, and the company was even better!

Kamka Medievna, Anne, Aiman Mausenbaeva and Roy showing off the letter we received from them! We love these ladies!! They and others gave toasts to us and wished us well as we leave to go home!

This week school was officially out!! On the last day of school, the young ladies that are graduating have a tradition of wearing black dresses with these cute white aprons over them!! This is a Soviet tradition and one that they have kept! We took a picture of these young ladies out on the River Walk!!

Saturday we had our last English club with the handicapped children. We made peanut butter cookies with M&M's because it is an American treat! It was hard saying goodbye to all of them. We were able to visit with the parents too!! What a treat!!

Sunday was a pretty special day because we had the Jones family, who are living in Sharbakti, visit us for the last time! Heather and the children are flying to New York Monday morning! Nathan will stay here for a month or two and finish up his research and then fly to the US and spend some time with them.

We are so grateful to have had them in our home this past 9 months. It has been good for us and we hope it has been good for them! We knew that they were going to try to come each month and we would look forward to it!! It helps when you have members of the Church that you can interact with!! One doesn't realize how much you miss that until you don't have it!! They made our stay here in Astana more enjoyable. Zhanna especially liked it when the Jones family came because Nathan speaks Russian fluently. The Lord is continually aware of what we need and provides for us!!

I'll bet you are all still wondering about the customs problems!! All of the documents are in to customs and the deadline is Tuesday. We are still waiting with baited breath!! If this doesn't teach us patience, nothing will!!!! Hopefully, by next week, we can let you know of the outcome!! We just have to remember that the Lord is in charge and everything will work out!

We have been blessed greatly and especially for the love of friends and family! It's wonderful to have such support in our lives!! The gospel is true!!

Love,

Elder and Sister Welling