Renewing Our Visas for the 3rd Time

We just got back from Sochi and what a tireing ride that one ones. Tomorrow we leave at 5 for Rostov, 4 hrs. stay at Pres. Harrisons and leave Tues am for Kiev, to activate our new visas, get back on a plane and go back to Rostov. Stay there and come home on Wed. am. Sat. is Zone Conf. here. Next Wed. we go back to Rostov for a meeting with Pres. Harrison and the other sr.couples,and have a welcome party for the new sr. couple. They are assigned to Volgograd.

We had a very long 40 hr. visa trip. To make it short, we spent 8 hrs. on 2 trains, 10 hrs. on 4 planes, 8 hrs. at Pres. Harrisons in 2 nights time, 14 hrs. waiting and changing at air terminals in 4 airports, but acutally only 2 different airports two times each. When we entered the Kiev, Ukraine airport,we went thru passport check, walked over to the waiting area and exchanged our one passport/visas we checked in with and exchanged them with Elder Ortega, who was with us, with our newest passport/visas, and turned around and got on the same plane we came in on. Now, tell me that that is not confusing? Our next one should be less traveling, as we probably go to Armania and fly right from here. If you have the church news, the new Mission pres. is announce in it for here and his picture. He starts in July. We are doing just great, and hope you all are doing as well, if not better. Love Mom and Dad

Pranks

We got home here after 2 days of traveling on trains,and dad called Elder Gnatyshn to let them know we made it back o.k. And I had nothing to do with this next part. I heard him tell E.G. that he needed his help because I had fallen at the voxall in this snow storm. Elder G. said "which one and I am out the door"! Dad had to say really fast, NO , I was just joking, remember I never get even I always get ahead? Then Elder G. said, "I just wouldn't think you would joke about something as precious as Sister Gregersen". When he told me that, I just had tears and so did dad. Earlier Elder G. called us and said our landlady called him and she wants our apartment back because we haven't paid the rent yet. That is why the joke. But we haven't paid it because no one could get ahold of her and it was due on the 15th of Feb. So, now I must make Elder G. a batch of choc. chip cookies for tomorrow to make up for the bad joke. I made dad tell him I had absolutley nothing to do with the joke.

February 24th

Our apart. small part of it. We are on 5th floor on the left side, middle section. 5 of these buildings in this complex, abt. 500 flats, yuk. My gift from them onLee's b-day, El. Gnatyshn and May.

our bowling gang


Elder Gnatyshn at the social for servicemen and was in a skit.

Elder Gnatyshn is so proud of his sister, 2 yrs. older than him, and she is a balarina for a prominent group from Ukraine. He showed us a picture of her and is always talking abt. her.

Be good! Stay strong in your testimonies, and you will be blessed beyond measure.

Love, Mom, {grandma}

February

We went with the missionaries last night to Kareena and her daug. who is abt 22. They are from another country by the Caspian Sea, and came here 5 yrs ago so the daug. could study at the University. She will grad. this summer in Foreign relations lanugage teacher, as she can speak 6 languages and 1 is english.. Anyway it was a great discussion. Kareena is the tramvi conducter we met a month ago and got her # and gave it to the elders. They live in a very nice, neat, clean, decorated so pretty, 1 room apartment. The apartment building is one of those that each family has their room, and on each floor they share a kitchen and a bathroom. Not sure how that works, the bathroom. We saw the kitchen and it is just a big room with a stove/oven and a sink, and a couple of cutting tables. In their aprt. they had a nice frig, just med. size. and an electric hot plate on the floor buy it. They had a computer desk, and a nice t.v. and it really was very comfortable to be in. That is our first experience to be inside that type of apart. living. That room was abt. the size of our living room here but just abt. 2ft narrower. abt. 20 x 14. and that was their bedroom, probably pulled the couch out. They were just so nice and Kareena said she felt so good having us all there, and didn't want us to leave.

We see alot of this in all kinds of weather.

Ludmelia and father who was a communist. She is a new member, he is not.

Maria & Zara
Well, remember Zara, and me telling you that her mom felt good abt being in our church, and happy that Zara is our friend and that she sees a difference in her since she started meeting with us. Well, her mom took a few lessons and was coming along so good, and THEN she talked to the priest at the Provoslovic church they belong too, and now it's over with for her mom, anyway. At one time Zara expressed the desire to go to the U.S. and work, like alot of girls want. And we told her if she could make it there, then we would help her get a job. She told her mom out of pure excitement, and the priest said that we only wanted her to get to the U.S. so we could keep her there and then steal her moms aprtm from her, and that we were a sect and of the devil. Well, he also is going to report us to some higher upity in Moscow. Zara is not happy abt. her mom, and the priest, even tho she said she probably will never join the church. But, we are still her friends no matter what, and that is what she wanted to hear. Don't concern yourself over what the priest said he will do, it is more than likely just a threat so they will not see us. They can't do anything anyway. We are going to the church tonight to a social for service men, which is celebrated on Monday 23rd.past and present servicemen. We are still seeing Maria and fam. , infact, we will get together with them next week for more UNO night. They don't want to have lessons either, but still want to be friends, and of course we are glad abt. that. You can really see how satan works. Those that are ready, he jumps right in and takes over!!!! Someday he will be squished.
Me & Zara

Us with Nina, Pres. Beyletskes mother, total russian-member.

Elder Gnatyshyn on left, Elder May on right-Lee's b-day shirt from them 100% Man!

russian torte, and only half as many layers as normal.

Learning to make Pirozhki ------

New Years Eve

Happy New Year tomorrow, It is almost noon here Wed. and it sounds like some of the russian "Festivites" have started in our apartment building. Not too loud yet. We were told that they celebrate until abt. 6:30 a.m. New Years. It is so cold outside that I stayed here while Lee went to the church to do an interview. It was 1deg. this morning, F. but is -20 C. I think it feels so cold because of the high humidity we aren't used to. When he returns, I hope it is a bit warmer so I can go to the postoffice and mail Clancey, Jamie, Francine, an Zac's birthday cards.
The Nutcracker Ballet was awesome!!! These russians are extraordinary performers.
Elder May gotsome good videos and I will download on my computer for you to see when we get back. We all then went to a pizza parlor for lunch and when we left there to get a tramvi back to our place, I abt. froze to death because one didn't come for abt. half hour. Last night we decided to go to the store fairly close by and get a few things, so I put on 2 pair of loung pants, plus panti hose, plus a pair of socks,boots. shirt, sweater, black jacket with liner, a hat, and 2 pr.gloves, 1 of those little soft stretch kind and the other was insulate cloth. Made it there and back without freezing, but it wasn't all that far, abt. 1/4 mile. Lee carried everything back in our big bag, and I carried the bag of ice cream just in my hands as I knew it wouldn't thaw at all. Our lunch guest list has dwindled a bit, 4 of themissionaries won't make it, and maybe Sergei, as he has been sick. but we still will have a good time playing games with Maria and fam.and Zara. Hope you all wake up to a healthy and pleasant day. Love, Mom and Dad

Christmas Day

Hello our family and friends, Christmas day was sure different here because it is not celebrated. We had a neat experience yesterday,that helped us appreciate "A" Russian act of kindness. We were walking from the church to where we pay bills, and a young man stopped Lee to say something. He told him he didn't speak russian and the guy kept talking and then turned him around a little and started to wipe off his coat in the back. I walked back and he was showing us that Lee must have leaned up against a white wall, as he had marks all over his coat. Would you do that to a stranger? They do simple things like that quite often. Like when we are in a place and can't understand what the cashier or office person is telling us, and then someone behind us steps up and offers to help in their broken english. When we look for the good in people, we can find it, right? It amazes me, too, how on the public transportations, the majority of people get up from their seats and let the elderly sit, or a child, or a mother with a baby, and this is the teenagers, and young adults. Last Sunday, when we abt. ice skated to church, an older lady fell, and a young man stopped to get her up and going. The younger generation and abt. up to 50 are alot kinder than the really older ones tho. generally. I think it's because the older people have had such a tough communistic life, and the new ones are learning how to be more civilized. On the funny side, when we were getting on a tramvi to come back to our aprtment we happen to get on one that was extremely full, but we had to take it. So, I was stepping up on the first step and no where to grab ahold of, because of being so packed, except on a mans pants, and I didn't want to do that. So I told my good companion, as the tramvi was closing the doors on him, to boost me, know what I mean? or we wouldn't make it. He did and we made it,and I was litteraly squished amongst some tall men so I had to hold my neck up for my nose to catch some air. I was extremely grateful at that moment that it was not summer, due to the aroma from bodies in the heat! I would have fainted for sure. Today we are helping Elder Gnatyshun celebrate his birthday here. Then we will go to the branches holiday party.
Wishing you all a great day, Elder and Sister Gregersen, alias Mom and Dad

A few pictures from Russia

This is the biggest cathedral on Red Square.

Sha-kee's 7th b-day, (one on left.)

Ludmela's baptism with Pres. Bylyetske

My "Envied???" bathroom.

BE RUSSIAN

Hello dear family and friends. Here is a saying we saw at the Elders apart. in Sochi, 'DON'T BE AFRAID TO FORGET ABOUT AMERICA, AND BE RUSSIAN FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS'! Soooo, on our train ride back in the dark, Lee had a little piece of waste paper and threw it out the window!!!! But, these people throw bottles, and bags of trash out the windows, really. I have even thrown my gum into a trash pile alongside the walks. Wow!! We went to a marriage reception for Lera and Denis Friday night. They had a few friends and his family over, and boy was her food delicious. We wanted to take something and was told that flowers were the only thing appropriate, so the sister miss. and I went and bought a pretty bouquet and i bought a vase too. the elders said after i bought them, "How many roses?" 5 I said were in it. Whew! they said, because you have to give odd count of roses to anything but a funeral and have to give even then. Did we luck out!!!
We went to Sochi this weekend and had reservations at a hotel we stayed at last time. we only had copies of our passports and visas, as the originals were up at the office in Rostov being organized so we can get visas renewed in a 3 day trip, later. long story how it is being done. anyway they had to have our orignials. so we get there, and they won't let us check in without the original, cause our copy was too lite, and they said no even if we had a better one faxed down. so we stayed with the 2 elders, another experience. but it was nice, and i was able to make them a couple of meals as they are so busy. made us really appreciate more, what the missionaries have to put up with, it's amazing!!!!
We met a lady on the train, and had fun trying to talk with her, and she lives here in Krasnodar, gave us her phone # and we will get the missionaries to translate for us. She seemed kind of sad when she was telling us abt. her son and wife, and 1 grandson. then she told us her husband died 9 years ago, so she works 2 jobs to keep busy. It will be great to visit with her and a translator.

We came in abt. 10:30 last night and wanted to catch a tramvi to get back to our place. we were on the way to a stop for it, and one was coming behind us, so grandpa starts running and pulling it, and i had a large purse on one shoulder, and a heavy bag with computer on the other. We RAN, and my sandals kept slipping and the bag was heavy so i unloaded the water bottles, threw them in a trash can, but missed, and kept running, and we jumped on as the doors were closing. THAT probably didn't look like a refined missionary couple!!!!!!! Ya, who ever said we were.
English Club went well, and we met some really neat people. Will have it on Thurs. evenings. We are supposed to LISTEN to the advanced students, and just have them talk about any subject they want too, and help them. But, when they found out we didn't speak Russian, they all voted to be in the medium class, wonder why????? 2 were there who are just learning and they have a class. so will be fun to be in with the missionaries, not so scarry!!

This is from grandpa . Grandma didn't tell you that she wouldn't let me get a taxi to come home in the middle of the night and it would have taken us right to our aprt. steps. But we have monthly tramvi passes and we only had to carry bags and pull luggage in the dark passed drunk homeless people for about four blocks to get to the tramvi and about the same from the tramvi to our aprt. and we thought it was the last tramvi running for the night . If we missed it we had about A five mile walk . so I didnt want to miss it. so when I seen it comeing I told her we had to run . We still had a block or so to go when she said she couldn't run any more .I told her to give me her bag but when I would slow down to get it so would she so I ran faster. I though if she knew she had to make the walk by her self she woulden't give up and she didn't. But I thought she was going to for awhile . I though to myself I have got to feed her something beside lettuce so she has more go power. Any way we made it home and we saved eight dollers. I guess that is one of the reasons I love her so much .
From grandma now, HA HA HA! isn't grandpa funny? Love all of you and have a great week. I get my package Wed. YAAAA. Grandma and funny grandpa

Are You Happy?

We are. I was hopeing someone would be on IM. But, oh Well. I went to the internet center today after we helped clean the church, but it was closed. I wanted to look up the web site of Pres. Krivenko. as i wanted to see more of his paintings. if anyone wants to look at them and didn't get his web site. it's www.DAMIRKRIVENKO.ru , he is an amazing artist. I was going to look up all the blogs, and facebooks too. that center is on a street called Krasniya, and about 4 miles of it is closed to traffic every Sat. and Sun. and maybe Frid. nights so people can just walk down the middle of the street, instead of just on the sidewalks. Now tell me how exciting that sounds!! probably 1/4 million will walk it, as that is about their only recreation spot in the city of 1 million. it is even monitored by alot of police. I will try again Monday. The English club, sponsored by the church, is starting up next Thurs. and dad and I passed out invitations yesterday and today. didn't have to say a word, just hand the invite to someone about shoulder level. If not, then they won't take it. We are going to do the conversation class, where people already know english pretty good, and want to improve, and they just talk about any subject. It is held at the church and sometimes someone wants to know about the church while they are there. If they do, then we visit with them after or before class. When we went to Novorossiysk last weekend, we got to hand out ones on Sat. for the missionaries. It was kind of fun to get rejected, snubbed, and noses turned up at you. even more fun when someone politly took it and was pleased to know that it was free classes. We are going to Sochi next Sat. and Sunday. It is the last weekend for the big tourists' to be there and was hard to get a hotel rm. not looking forward to the train ride, but, oh well. We also went on splits with the sister missionaries yesterday, and that was fun. Sure glad they did all the talking. dad went with one and i with the other on opposite sides of the street. one time dad and sister taylor stopped a lady, and sis. taylor was talking and saying that elder g. didn't know any of the language but was interested in meeting people. the lady looked at him as she was talking and said "he doesn't understand any thing we are saying?" No, sis. taylor said. a minute later the lady looks at him just smiling, and said "He really doesn't understand, does he?". was quite humorous. bright side is, they could be saying naughty things and we wouldn't get offended. The security man at the store behind our apartments is quite friendly with us now, and we walked in today to get things, and some young ladies were giving away free samples of beer, and when we walked in the man went over to them and said, " ? english" to them, to let them know we didn't speak russian. he even shook dad's hand when he extended his. they did ask, we could tell, if we liked beer! guess what our answer was? they were quite surprised we said we didn't like it, much less didn't drink it. but, they laughed with us. weather is pretty good. rains like crazy, then clears up, then next day it's warm and windy. almost hot, then does it again. still leave the windows open, no screens, and no flies. plus 1 !!!! the people upstairs, love their music very, very loud at times. no one complains, and i won't be the one to. the law is it has to be turned down by 11 p,m,. that canceled out the plus 1 !!! We are doing fine, inspite of the 24/7 cement. when we go out we try to find a little path of dirt. the little kids are so cute to watch, and reminds us so many times of one of at least one of the grandkids. It's amazing to me, to know that Heavenly Father has so many millions of children that He loves, and knows each person individually. I know He wants each one of us to find true happiness and return to be with Him. He knows our faults, and is willing to help us overcome them. I hope all is well with each of you, and know that we love you all very, very, much. And we miss you!!!! but, this is what we can do to repay, and such a small repayment it is, our Savior, for what He has done for us. Can never fully repay Him. We love Him so much, and we are trying to teach some of these choice people here that He loves them, and that they do have a Heavenly Father and a Savior. Take care of yourselves. Jonathan and Jamie please e-mail us as soon as possible abt. how things go on Monday. You are in our prayers. Love all of you. Mom and Dad - p.s. did I tell you they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, of course, or Christmas. Only New years, and on Jan. 7 or somewhere around that. and they close everything down for days, but celebrate with drinking and fireworks for 3 weeks. interesting, huh? If any of you have copies of good movies, you could send them in a flat rate envelope. I'll let you know what else we could use real soon.

I love my missionary!

Just a few pictures and details about Russia life.....

These beaches are nothing but rocks, round sort of flat some, to lay on. We found one area that had some sand and that is in a picture with thousands of people in a little area. see the picture and visualize a thousand more people because that is what was there, they just didn't show up like that in the picture

The facilities here have much to be desired, and how about the safety of that door lock?

Us in Gorachy Klyuch kissing on a rock. We were supposed to show people we really cared for each other, does that count?
Us and a girl Annette at overlook in that area.

We met with this lady the other day who is living in really humble circumstances, and used to be really active. But she has an extremely bad infection in one leg that can't be cured for some reason, and it has gone almost all over her leg from the knee down. She has respiratory problems now too. But, know what she said? Other than these problems, I am o.k. and don't worry about me. she wants to come to church but can't take the public trans. because of her leg. She has 2 daugters 14 and 16. The 16 yr. old works as much as she can to support them. Look around and see the WORST possible living condition and that would be theirs. There are almost no opportunities for a good life for the sick, elderly 55 up, and young girls wanting to work. They have to retire at 55, and then it's down hill all the way. Be very grateful for your life in the USA, and let your Heavenly Father know that. I can honestly say that I am, and I will show my Heavenly Father that I am by doing the best I can do here, and try so hard not to show discouragement. He does have a sense of humor, that's for sure! Take care and my you find peace and comfort in any of your own life's burdens.