Touring St. Petersburg

One of two matching lighthouses, built by Peter the Great,
at a fortress that protected St. Petersburg from threatening ships on the Baltic Sea.

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.
Our tour guide told us that this cathedral was built using slave labor, and that this incredible building was about to be torn down by revolutionaries when World War I began and priorities changed. The intricate, detailed mosaics
(7,500 square meters) covering the structure, the coloring, and distinctive style are incredible. Our pictures fail to capture the true beauty of this structure. It is not a consecrated place of worship; rather, it is a museum of mosaics with a long and colorful history. This is the site where Czar Alexander II was assassinated. His son, Czar Alexander III began the structure in honor of this father, and Czar Nicholas II finished it in 1907, 24 years after construction began.

After church on Sunday, the second counselor in the St. Petersburg Stake took us for a tour of his beloved city. The first stop on his agenda was the Summer Gardens. It is late fall, so the trees have no leaves, the fountains are turned off, and the statures are shrouded for winter. We were walking, talking, and admiring our surroundings when our guide suddenly said, "STOP! Stand right there." We did. Then he asked, "Do you know where you are standing?" Instantly we knew that we stood in the very spot where Elder Francis M. Lyman first dedicated Russia to the preaching of the gospel in 1903, and where Elder Russell M. Nelson rededicated Russia on April 26, 1990.

More information on our personal tour guide is available at the following link. We have truly been blessed in our unanticipated, unexpected associations here. Wow!! Chills!!
http://www.lds.org/church/news/church-grows-in-russia-as-members-live-the-gospel-joyfully?lang=eng&query=russia+as+members+live

The link below connects to the article in "LDS Living" that details more information about the dedication of Russia to the preaching of the gospel.  Very much worth the time to read.
http://ldsliving.com/story/69928

The square between the Winter Palace and the Hermitage Museum.

The entrance to the Hermitage Museum. Russians say that if a person spent 1 minute looking at every art
piece within the Hermitage, that person would be there for more than 25 years.

Lynda with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for the Office Sister who she has given us so much help.

This is a Burger King in St. Petersburg. We could only drool as we sped on past.