The congregation sings praise as we united enthusiastically during one of the holiness meeting's festive hymns. Many prayed at the altar following the morning message. 

Guest musical director Tor Halfang and his wife Maryana travelled in from Norway to help conduct our weekend of singing, playing, learning, praying, worshipping, and celebrating the family of God. We only hope they can come again in the near future. 

The "Weekend Gospel Choir" performs on Sunday morning in holiness meeting. We managed to learn and perform four pieces in five rehearsals conducted within one twenty four hour period. Whew! We hope to see a new area-wide youth choir arise from this weekend's festivities. 

Two members of our local Salvation Army Orchestra warm up before worship. Kian Worthing on sax and Captain Valerie Lalac on a more conventional horn than he played the previous day. 

Captain Svetta Sharov helps translate as Tor Halfang leads the tenors in rehearsals of "I've Been Born Again." We sang this piece in Russian first, then later in English as well. 

Chief Secretary Lt. Colonel Bo Brekke smiles in "admiration" as Captain Valerie Lalac plays his makeshift horn in "native costume." 

Captain Natasha Pismeniuk smiles as she helps create an instrument out of an empty 2-litre Sprite bottle. This was but one activity of our recent Music Fest Weekend, three days of choral rehearsals, seminars, preaching, and fellowship in worship. Tor Halfang, our guest musical director from Norway, practices blowing through a handmade (literally) mouthpiece. 

Georgian visit!

Anita dropped down to Tblissi for a weekend to welcome the cadets who cannot travel to Moscow due to visa difficulties. She also visited our one second-year cadet Sofia, who also cannot travel here. The new cadets were quite enthusiastic about their studies with staff who will travel to Tblissi for short-term schooling while visa issues are sorted out.

Gerogian sunset in the mountains outside of Tblissi. The small house you see on the left is an ancient lookout house. When danger arose, the occupant would light a fire to send a message to next occupied peak (as seen in "The Lord of the Rings"!). 

Weather is still nice enough in the Repubic of Gerogia to grow grapes! This small courtyard can be seen from Tblissi's Central Corps. 

Captains Gia and Eka Salarishvilli. Gia is the Regional Officer responsible for The Salvation Army's services in Gerogia. Eka watches over children, youth, and candidates (those who want to become officers in The Salvation Army). 

Anita welcomes our new Heralds of the Good News from Georgia during her recent visit to the Republic of Georgia. Including the Georgians, our Institute for Officers Training has 20 cadets in training. 

Here is the monsatery depicted in the old painting you can see in the last post. This is Tblissi today. 

Georgian folk painting of the capital city of Tblissi. You will see the above monastery in another pic in this series of posts. 

A walk to work with the Caldwells

Caldwells overseas In the preceeding photos we have taken you for a walk to our offices at the Eastern Europe Territorial Institute for Officers Training. Enjoy the walk!

Anita awaits our sixth floor elevator. In the winter darkness persists until around eight a.m. 

Our unlockable mailbox where we daily collect Russian junk mail. Any important items are shipped to our Territorial headquarters where they are received by guards on duty 24/7. 

A stretch of apartment buildings too lengthy to fit into one photograph. Moscow houses around 12,000,000 citizens. 

What passes for garages in the big city where nobody owns a house. Some of the units are built to fit a certain model of car. 

The street in front of our apartment building. The multiple-unit apartment buildings on the left fill both sides of our walk to the subway. 

The entrance to our subway, which we call the Metro. The big red "M" identifies all metro stations. 

Our home subway station, Kantyemirovskaya. At rush hour the platform is twice this crowded. The train on the left is headed into town. 

Remnants of Lenin's reign in Russia, a wall-sized mural of Communism's united workforce with Lenin himself overseeing his subjects. 

Our equivalent of Kentucky Fried Chicken, "Rostiks." We eat here weekly on "ping pong night" when Brad plays with a group of fellows and Anita goes home to put her feet up. 

One of the many "babushkas" (grandmas) who pick flowers in the woods and fields, then sell them in the city for a few cents. Anita's bouquet cost about eighty cents. 

A Russian Orthodox prayer chapel wedged into the shops and offices which crowd the street leading to the Institute for Officers Training. 

This is the black cat we pet nearly each day. She seems to waith on us and approach us for a pet when we materialize on her section of the sidewalk.