Final Days in Vladivostok

Wonderful People!!!! Allie and I were able to return to Ussuriysk where it all started. These are some of the ladies of Ussuriysk that we grew to know and love. Allie is touching sister Pratt (Our Mission President's wife) in this photo and it is very fitting because sister Pratt has touched both Allie and I.
We went on our final missionary apartment inspection last Friday and were excited to see the missionary's new apartment in Vladivostok. We took a picture or two on the way out just to remind us of how blessed we are back at home. The missionary's were happy to have moved to a new building and to the fifth floor instead of the 7th.

This is a picture of the entry way. You can see the stairs are not exactly even but it was clean. Another benefit that is sometimes difficult to find here.

This is Allie exiting the apartment building. Note the spray insulation around the doors. That stuff really works.

Random thoughts from Vladivostok

This is one of those things that makes me go Huh??? They repaved the roads in Vlad with one little twist. They pave right over sunken broken drainage grates. They just let the blacktop fall into the manhole and run the roller over everything. Here is another one they fixed after they paved the road. The came back tore it up, repaired it then patched the whole deal up. I think they don't really put the whole job on a timeline and figure out the sequencing that would work best.

Here is a shot of a car that parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. You see that brown door back there is the entrance to a rather large apartment complex. The car that we have seen parked in this spot is usually a Lexus 570 or super duper Toyota Land Cruiser (both very expensive here). We always admire the cars that park here because they are spotlessly clean and oh so close to the door. It has been our opinion that they were mafia owned. Well this guy in the little white car didn't get the memo and parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can see the end result. It was there for four days so I think everyone got the memo and guess who is parking there again. Yup, Mr. Lexus

See the litle white van down by the orange pylons? Allie and I think it is really a cool little van. Extra emphasis on little.

This is me with my man purse (murse) posing next to it to give you some idea of it's size. You can really get around in one of these and most of them are 4 wheel drive too. We call it a party van because you can only get a few people in it. In Russia there is a law that you must have a document giving you permission to have more then 10 people gathered together at any one time. Hence, the little party van (it's under the 10 attending rule).

Spring is really here!!!

A look out our window. This little tree was just starting to blossom and we enjoyed it so much.

On our walk to the mission office we saw these beautiful little pink and white buds coming alive.

This is the same tree outside our window with the blossoms progressing quite well.

This is our main street that we come down every day. It was torn up for awhile, as you can see the railroad tracks are being taken out. The cut stone in the forefront is the new curbing that has been installed.

Here everything has been removed and a fractured stone base has been installed.

During the project they dug a few deep trenches and replaced some water pipes. You can't imagine how rusted they were. If you double click on this picture you will get an idea of how much rust is in the water system in Vlad. Our apartment is really good but some of the other places we have lived you wonder if smelled better getting into the shower rather then getting out.

The paving process.... It is all done now except for some minor repairs around manhole covers. They are air hammering up the new pavement and repairing them then patching around the repair. Yeah, it makes me wonder if all city crews are taught the same logic worldwide.

Spring is really here. This is President and sister Pratt's landlord's camper. This baby is 4-wheel drive and meant for some really rugged terrain. It has a roll-out awning for shade and is overall pretty cool.