Two Weeks Ago (081810)...

On Wednesday, August 18th, we left Kiev to fly to Kaliningrad, Russia via Moscow. Again, we would have to change our watches as Kaliningrad is actually a part of Russia broken off and situated between other independent countries. You can see it in this map, the same color as Russia, right in the center above Poland.



James served in this area for 6 months and it was a special place.

We arrived mid-afternoon, and caught a bus from the airport which was way out of town to the bus station in central Kaliningrad. All we had was a phone number of a family that James had known, and a lot of hope that we would be able to contact them. We first had to find a place to buy a calling card, the pay phones don't work on coins. Then we had to find a pay phone. The one we found was of course in the outdoor smoking area next to the bus station. After several unsuccessful attempts at trying to use the phone card we got through to the Sister we were trying to contact but she didn't know where our hotel was. No one else we asked did either. Even an attendant at the bus station searched through a phone book but no luck. Not even the taxi drivers knew. We were beginning to wonder if there really was any such thing as the Glamour Hotel. We really weren't expecting anything too glamorous, just a bed would be nice.

In frustration we must have crossed the busy intersection and surrounding roads with all our luggage at least 10 times. The roads were made of cobblestone and one hardly even notices the "potholes" because the pavement and sidewalks are so uneven anyway. I was hoping the wheels on our luggage would hold out. One BIG difference from 12 years ago---the number of cars. Cars everywhere, and parked everywhere. They park on the side of the street by driving up on the sidewalk and the driver's side wheels are up against the curb but still on the road. They drive three cars wide on two lane roads. It used to be that you could just stick your arm out and within a matter of seconds a driver, not a taxi, but just a personal car, would pull over and take you where you wanted to go for a pretty nominal price. Now, it takes a long time for someone to pull over and offer a ride.



After a couple hours of dead ends at finding our hotel, we finally just paid a driver to take us to the one address we did have, the meetinghouse.

There we found these delightful people happy to see us and help us.

Members of the Kaliningrad Branch

We visited and laughed for a couple hours, us catching them up on our family, and them catching us up on theirs and the members of the branch. Four children is pretty mind boggling to them. We brought Smarties and Mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups for them which was a big hit. Still no Peanut Butter in Russia. We joyed in their successes and sorrowed in the news that some had fallen away. Since being home I have been reading Elder Packer's talk about Lehi's dream. He talks about how our trials come AFTER we have tasted the fruit. I can't help but think of those we heard of who had tasted and now have wandered. We pray they remember the sweetness of the gospel and someday desire to return.

Fortunately, one of the members had actually heard of our hotel, and knew where it was. He personally drove us there and let us drop off our things. What we found, was indeed glamorous compared to the previous night. I had never seen such a Ritzy neighborhood in all of my time in the former Soviet Union. Then he and his wife treated us to a real Russian restaurant where I had my first real borsh (a beet soup made with vegetables) and black bread in a long time.
Borsh with Smetana (kind of like sour cream but thicker)

As we ate, James told the brother, Slava, what an example he had been to James and all that he had learned from him. He told him how much he loved and admired him and his family. We all slightly teared-up by the sincere love that was expressed. (The following morning, Slava's wife, Jenya, emailed James and told him how much Slava needed to hear that.) As a side note, at one time Slava held the military record for push-ups, 1000 consecutive!

Afterwards, he took us on a beautiful night tour of the city and we were able to see more (and have his commentary on all of it) than we would have ever been able to see on our own in the few hours we had the following morning.

By the time we got back to the hotel I was seriously dizzy from being SO TIRED with jet lag and lack of sleep.

Total Approximate Miles Traveled: 6402

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