October Conference in Almaty

A week after we got back from our trip to Barcelona, we went to Almaty for the country conference for our church (LDS church- we're Mormons). Normally just about everywhere else in the world they have stake or district conferences but here we have neither stake nor district, so the leadership improvised and did a country conference instead. :) For the first time the members from the entire country of Kazakhstan got together. We had people from Astana, Almaty, Atarau, Aktau and even from Bishkek, Kyrgystan. Spencer and I were both translating there as well as giving talks. Our girls were doing two musical numbers for the talent show there, so we all had important parts in the conference and needed to be there however we had quite an adventure getting there.

Every single time we come to Kazakhstan from anywhere outside of the country, we need to register with the police department. We have at least 2 weeks to do it but we usually register as soon as we get in. It is a simple process: we just submit our passports and in about 5 business days we get them back with the registration. We submitted our passports after coming back from our trip to Spain forgetting that we'll need them in 5 days to travel to Almaty. We turned our passports in on Monday and were leaving on Friday night. Thankfully we got them back on Thursday.

We were taking an overnight business train. Normally it takes anywhere between 17 and 24 hours to get to Almaty from Astana if traveling by train. It just depends on how many stops that train makes in between. Flying our whole family plus my mom who was visiting us was out of the question: too expensive for a two-day trip. So we decided to take a business train that is more expensive than a regular train but a lot cheaper than a plane. It makes only a couple of stops on the way and so it only takes 12 hours over night. Very handy!

We ordered two taxis to the train station. It normally takes 15-20 minutes to get there, I planned an hour. Well, that night we had a snowstorm, and so the traffic was unusually slow. One taxi was late. When the first taxi showed up, my mom, the twins and I took it leaving Spencer and the older girls wait for the second taxi. Their taxi was 20 minutes late. Traffic was impossible. We were in a real pickle. Spencer had all of our tickets, and I had all of our passports. We told our driver the time our train was supposed to leave. He said he will try to get there on time through the back roads. But even if we got there just in time, we couldn't leave without the second half of our crew. The kids and I prayed so hard! We arrived at the train station with 10 minutes to spare and ran to the platform. The train was supposed to leave in 5 minutes. And there it was … our miracle: the business train that's never late didn't even get to the platform yet. It arrived 20 minutes late, and so Spencer and the girls were able to get there just in time. It was really a miracle! He also said that their driver drove like a maniac breaking all of the rules.

Our train ride was very unadventurous the rest of the way. We had nice 2-people compartments with bunk beds and personal sinks in each one of them. The girls love traveling by trains, and we've been on a lot of trains before, and this one was the nicest of them all.

On the train

Nika and Lina were in the compartment next to ours that was connected through this door.

Babushka and Sophie were roommates for the ride.

We booked three rooms at a hotel near the church building. The other expat families that came there for the conference were staying at the same hotel as well. So we got together with our friends, the Stices and the Hessenauers and went out to a little Korean restaurant for lunch. We had a great time visiting there. Then we broke up: some of us had to go to the leadership meeting, and some went up to the mountains with the youth.

Lunch at the Korean restaurant. It is fun visiting with friends!

Later that evening all members got together for a dinner and a talent show. The dinner was catered from somewhere. It was fine but a bit greasy for my taste. The talent show was great. There was poetry, dances, singing, guitar, dombra and piano playing. It was fun! Our girls performed two musical numbers on a guitar, one of which was a song by a very popular Russian rock star from the 80s who was killed in a car wreck in 1990. Apparently, he was very famous in Kazakhstan because a movie staring him was filmed right there in Almaty. So, needless to say that the girls got a standing ovation when they performed that song.

People arriving before the talent show

These girls from Almaty are performing Kazakh folk dance.

Our girls getting ready to sing a song by Viktor Tsoy.

It was a great day that was dampened a little by the fact that just about everybody got food poisoning from the dinner. At least we got our systems cleared! :)

Playing in the snow with Mimi and Taraz Stice on our way back to the hotel.

The next day was the actual conference. It was a wonderful conference, most talks were concentrated on building unity. And then it was time to say our goodbyes and go home. 

With the Andersons from Ephraim. Spencer went to school with their daughter.

We were taking the same business train overnight back to Astana. On our way to the train station we stopped to eat at KFC (we didn't want to risk eating anywhere unknown after the previous night's adventures). Our train ride back home was uneventful which is the way we like it! It is always nice to get home!