First Week in Russia!

привет! моя семя!
Hello dear family!
Greetings from siberia. In this little internet cafe. Man. what a week
and half since the last email. It's official. I'm officially a
missionary. And I'm currently serving in Novosibirsk Right bank! woot
woot! The city is split down the middle by the Ob river and so sister
barlow and I are on the right side and sister sanford, biggs and
gardner are on the right side! All of my little старейшены (elders)
from the MTC are spread out across siberia. But it's been wonderful.
There is so much to tell you and so much to say so I'll try my best!

Traveling was crazy. I never want to do that again. But I'm prepared
this time and I will bring drugs so I sleep. Sister Thornhill and I
sat next to eachother from NY to Moscow and were so excited slash
nervous we talked to whole time. and slept maybe an hour. We wandered
all around moscow wih 2 random american ladies who work for the church
but speak zero russian and went to the embassy. okay wait. you really
don't need to know all the details of traveling. but it was fine.
luckily right after i hung up the phone with you i saw this elder who
had a russian name tag. talked to him his name is elder harris. i
thought maybe he was returning home but he was headed out to novo! he
tore his acl and had to go home and get surgery and rest for 6 months
but he's coming back to finish his last year! he was an angel from
heaven cause he helped find our way. also we got to fly business class
from moscow to novo and i nearly cried because it was so beautiful and
i was so tired. i ate shrimp and cavier and halibut and water and fell
asleep so i didn't get my ice cream. but i'm very grateful to the
church for that because it was the best thing that could have ever
happened to me.

alrighty. arrival in novo. we spent 2 nights at the mission home. we
got to novo at like 5 in the morning. had homemade cinnamon rolls
courtesy of sister gibbons and slept all day, woke up had dinner and
slept more. thursday we woke up and had bleenie (russian crepes.
pretty much the same thing) and then had a little pump up sesh and met
our trainers. I'm with Sister Barlow she's from Camarillo California.
She's the best. She's super fun and very sweet. She's only been here
for 12 weeks. There are not many sister in our mission but a ton are
on their way so chances are I might have to train the next group. Or
in 12 weeks. She also was only in the MTC for 9 weeks for the pilot
program but she's great. She understands a lot more russian but we
still don't know anything. So that's fun. But we're learning together!
It's fabulous!

We have incredible investigators. I could write entire pages about
them but I won't. Funny story about one of our visits. We went to
visit our investigator and a member came with us. Her mom is very anti
mormon so we have to meet outside of her apartment on a bench around
the corner. Oh and mind you it's starting to get cold. Apparently they
had a super hot summer and I missed it. It's probably like 50 ish but
it has been rainy and windy. So it's a chilly day but we decided to go
out. She's a very sad tempered person but apparently she's changed
alot compared to when we first met her. But we were talking to her
about the book of mormon and the member was just going on and on and
on about how it's changed her life and how she needs to get baptized
and i have no idea what else. and she kept saying no no my mom won't
let me. oh and by the way this woman is like 40 or 50. Apparently
russian ladies inherit their mothers house when they die so she really
doesn't want to offend her mom and get baptized. but i felt the spirit
so strong and shared with her 1 nephi 3:7 about how the lord provides
a way for us to do things and i bore testimony to her and it just
started to pour. So I sat there in the rain crying and bearing
testimony to her how the lord always helps us do things that are hard.
and how i was in russia trying to learn russian and that is hard but i
know the lord is helping me. it was great. but anywhoo we decided to
take cover under this tree and our little umbrella. 2 missionaries and
2 babooshkas. and we were just silent then зоя the member starts
singing hymns. So I joined in. I basically mumbled cause I only know
the choruses to a few but it was really cool. I just had to laugh
cause I felt like a real missionary. Standing in the cold and pouring
rain with just a cardigan singing russian hymns with a babooshka.

Speaking of babooshkas. They are everywhere. and they are adorable.
they are exactly what you picture. little scarf over there head.
hunched over under a big coat with a cane. it's great. and they walk
really slowly and it's hard to get around them.

But anywhoo. this is the most jumbled letter of all time but i just
want to tell you everything and about everyone! We have a great
district and great senior couple the webbs. they are the bomb. elder
webb hugs us even though he's not allowed. but it's needed. i feel
like they are my parents away from home. and the mission president is
awesome. and his wife. Remember how I know his daughter liz? She's
been visiting and she came and picked us up from the airport. It was
really nice to see her and I felt a little more "at home"

I definitely have culture shock so let me tell you about russian
people and what i've noticed.
1. They are all carrying plastic bags. Apparently they are called
packets. i don't know if they are all just shopping or if they just
carry everything in there. i have yet to find out.

2. they don't shower. or use deodorant. so it's pretty smelly here.
but some good and bad smells. the food smells really good. very creamy
and breads and potatoes and meat kind of smell. the people don't smell
good.

3. there are flower shops EVERYWHERE! apparently russian people are
good at giving people flowers. just to say thanks or just for
whatever.

4. the women all wear 5 inch heels. i dont' know how they do it
because the ground is not even. Russia must not have like handicap
laws or something cause I don't know how someone could live here in a
wheel chair. it's a huge city and very metro but the walks are very
uneven.

5. milk comes in bags. and ketchup and mayo. it's quite cute. but i'm
just grateful they have milk. cause i heard they just did canned or
powder.

6. the food is really yummy. so far. however it's not really agreeing
with me yet. but all the missionaries said their stomaches hated them
for the first week or 2. but i had some yummy roll things and some
beef stroganoff on yummy potatoes. the russian equivalent to pigs in a
blanket and chai. apparently tea is really big here but the members
give it to you and it's good for you. totally okay in the word of
wisdom stuff. i don't really like tea but this kind was good. the
bread here is amazing. we go and get these huge loaves hot out of the
oven on our way home and it's like 50 cents and then we dip it in oil
and vinegar. i'm really wishing i had some yellowstone olive co. oil
though. haha. but it's delicious. and sooo cheap! oh and the fanta is
way better here. and snickers. that's all i've been able to try this
week. we really don't eat cause we're busy preaching the gospel!

7. The other day on the bus I saw a drunk guy get kicked off. it was
pretty exciting. sister barlow said that's the fist time she's seen
anything like it. he was falling asleep over all the seats and the
attendant kept yelling at him and then finally yelled "DEEMA!" which
is short for vladimir. and the bus stopped and he got kicked off. it
was crazy, that's the only sketchy slash scary thing i've seen.

8. Russian music is great. it's like pop techno stuff. the people
below us love to play it really loud and I think it's great.
Definitely going to be listening to some of it when I get home. haha.
But some of it is really weird. I don't know how to explain it.

9. All the houses have wall paper and it's all shiny. and it's
different in every room.

10. Apartments are really small. And people have cats.

11. There's an ikea here and a sephora. i think i'll be okay. : ) also
a really nice new mall near one of our investigators. it has a
cinnabon and carl's jr. and TGI Fridays. apparently all the elders
like to go there on pdays.

The branch is amazing. There are like 50 ish people maybe more. It's a
small chapel so it looked packed. In fact there werent' enough seats.
They all love the missionaries and I just smile and nod and give them
hugs or handshakes and then I say. This is my first week in russia!
and they say good job! and then something else. and i say thank you.
haha. yesterday we had 2 baptisms in our district. so we went to the
left bank branch because it has the font. I walked with these two
older guys in the branch and they were so sweet. they love american
music. and rock and were asking me about all these bands. it was
grand.

Anywhoo. This is the longest email ever and I wish I could tell you
more. But I can't.

-amanda- thank you so much. a letter from russia is on its way to you.
you are the best.
-jessica- i got your package before i left. thanks sooooo much!
and i got a ton of letters before I left so thank you all!

Apparently mail here is not as sketchy as I had thought. And because
I'm in Novo I get it every week! So keep dear eldering because that
comes through the pouch everyweek! Or write letters through the pouch.
That's how I'll be responding to you. Packages do come here but it's a
bit pricey. The flat rate boxes priority mail are the way to go! I
will send stuff home through finland when i go on visa trips because
it's cheaper.
Also those furry hats are like $150 so if you all want one you better
put a lot of money in my account. Also speaking of my account check on
it cause I'm going to be buying my big huge coat and boots and that's
going to be a lot of cash....

I love you all! Must go! Thanks for all your support!


No comments:

Post a Comment