Saturday, August 16, 2008

Day in Samara

16 August 2004
"It was a slow day and I didn't do a whole lot. I sat around in the office for awhile, and then Старейшина Рей came and got me. We came to his apartment and ate lunch - some tasty pizza pockets. We then headed out, and I was with Elder Смит. We mainly just stopped by to people to see how they were doing. We did meet one interesting guy, but he mainly just wanted to know about America.

Tomorrow will be busy, so we will be working hard. Good because I am ready to get to work. I talked quite a bit today, so that was good. I need to continue to speak on work on it. The Lord is blessing me. I just need to keep working. I love it here! It is awesome."

Me in Samara

Friday, August 15, 2008

15 August 2008
"Samara - we made it. It is actually the 16th in the morning and after about 14 hours on the афтобус. Yesterday was a good day. We went to church and we heard from only natives so that was good. We basically just packed a few things and then we headed to the bus top.

On the bus I slept as much as I could which wasn't much. Also, there was this lady that noticed us on the bus and was really loud. She made sure the whole bus knew that we were from America. Luckily, nothing bad happened because of it. I also ate my first real Russian борщ - It was good. We'll see what happens today - I'll write tonight."

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Picnic and Food

14 August 2008
"May I throw up now? All I have done is eat and eat today. We started out the day with a picnic in park Кирева. It was a lot of fun to play with the small branch here. I had a good time and ate plenty. We played with them for about 4 or 5 hours. We finally came back and got ready and packed some.

We then had a meeting with Юлия - she is getting ready to do an english interview, and she asked for some help. We were there like 2 hours trying to help here. It was fun, and we want to go back to teach her family but of course we leave tomorrow. We will get back to them though.

We ended the night with a visit to Сергей – friend of Ольга и Настие. It was his birthday. We ate and ate their. It was insane! Also we gave him a dollar bill and he was excited. We didn't talk to many people, but we didn't have a chance really. Russia is awesome!"

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Hands Read

13 August 2004
"Crazy – that's all that can describe today! We did so much, and had plenty of problems. We did some planning before heading to Lena's house and we were able to giver her a BofM. She will hopefully read – I will pray that she will. After that, our day got interesting.

We met with Алексей. He gave us this big spill about how we can't tell his friends he is LDS. He was the first member baptized here, and I don't think he was truly converted. It was hard to hear, and of course it put s in a bad mood. Well after all this, we went to super English lesson. It went all right, and now we are back here.

Spiritual Thought: It's crazy how the Lord works. When we work hard, the Lord blesses us. The Lord will always bless us when we are choosing right and working hard. The Lord will continue to bless me throughout my mission.

I almost forgot – Lena read my hands today. She said I will be wealthy, have 2 kids, kidney problems, and not enjoy my work. We'll see what happens."

-- Currently I love my work, but I am not fully into my profession yet.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Crazy Drivers

12 August 2004
"A weird day is over with. We started out the day with planning our English lesson for tomorrow. We left and met with Саша. He is a religions man but can't get over one true religion. Anyways, so that was interesting and I had a grandma kiss me on the cheeks too – what an experience. They did a lot of singing and it was nice but different. They sand these huge long songs – weird, but enjoyable I suppose.

We had a few other meeting, but nothing too exciting. The night we met with Наташа and Маша and they had some concerns about callings – a lot of it went over my head. All is well, but we have some work to do.

Cultural: Taxi drivers are crazy. All drivers here are actually. They just zig zag through each other and go as fast as they want. It's always an adventure. Good thing the Lord is blessing and watching out for us!"

Monday, August 11, 2008

Food

11 August 2004
"Oh my goodness! Things are crazy around here. We met with Олга и Аня (they committed to baptism my first day here). Well, Ольга keeps asking where truth is and that she just can't believe. It's so hard. I don't know what to do. Just keeping praying to God and working with them. I hope they get baptized while I am here.

Other then that, we just wrote home and found out how all is going there. They are well. We ate at this caфe again. Also, I finally got an umbrella for myself. Elder Nance left, and we had a good day to prepare, and finished what we need to.

Cultural thought: The food is here is good sometimes, and not at other times. The one thing is that we have to eat a lot of ketchup because they don't have a lot to put on things. We eat a lot of pasta because it's easy to make. With members we eat plenty of weird things. The one thing that I do love is all the fresh fruits! MMM and the ice cream."

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Public Transit

10 August 2004
"Well, we have been busy today. We started out the day with a new elder - Старейшина Нанц - his companion is the zone leader and they were here to see how the work is going. He came with us to all our meetings. Anyhow, nothing big happened, just a lot of member visits.

I finally talked with a man on the bus, and that went fairly well. He was nice and helped out. Anyhow - how about the country. The public transit here is insane. Everyone uses it, and there are many people. There are a million buses that run every which way. I think when I return home I will use public transit.

The Lord is awesome. He has helped me so much. Missionary work is awesome."

--As a note, I do use public transportation all the time. Saves me a lot of money and hassle.

Старейшина Нанц - Elder Nance