Last week we received Kazakhstan visa application papers which we signed and returned to Olga in the mission office.  We have served more of our mission in Russia than in Kazakhstan.  New visas are in the works, and we hope to be back in Kazakhstan in a few weeks, hopefully for the duration.  Kemerovo has been an OK place to spend the

summer.  We have enjoyed exploring and also meeting new people.  We have new friends:  Natasha, Nastia, Nadia, Natalia, Katya, Tatiana, Nadejda, Oleg, Boris, Vlad, Alexei, Igor, to name a few.  I never thought I would know someone named Igor.

This is not Igor.  Pigeons and sparrows are the only birds I have seen in Kemerovo.