Big Apple #3: Happiness is Near

Our sister/sister-in-law Christina (aka Sister Nelson) is serving as a missionary in Siberia (she was in Moscow, but was recently transferred).  And now she is on her way to Kazakhstan, hopefully within the next couple of weeks!  We are so excited for her and for the Kazakh people that she will meet and teach. And, as the reason for the name of this post, she will be in the city of Almaty, whose name means Mother of Apples and is said to be the place where apples originally grew and were domesticated.  We are guessing that she will visit this statue when she is there.

Joshua thinks it is really neat that Christina will be in Kazakhstan because he met many Kazakhs while on his mission to Mongolia. He even climbed a hill in Mongolia while wearing a Kazakh hat.  He even almost studied Kazakh at Indiana University for a scholarship (but then decided to become a city manager instead).

Sister Nelson has not yet seen a Russian or Kazakh winter, but she has found out that the lands of the north receive much rain in the summer.

 

(Christina is on the left)

(Translation: Happiness is Near)