Missed Day

15 November 2004
"It’s the first time in a long time that I was unable to write yesterday. It was a crazy day, and just didn’t know what to do. We had our sacrament meeting as usual, and that was good. We then went to Норья, and there we talked with the family for awhile, and had a good sacrament meeting. After that, we talked with the kids that are going to America (Logan) for the exchange program. That was cool, but it meant we were there for a long time. We came back and spent the night at the other elder’s house – unexpectedly. The good thing was we got to eat chili that Elder Watts had made – it was way good like home.

This morning, we had district meeting as always, and enjoyed that. Well, it was interesting. Elder Watts is depressed right now – he is under a lot of stress being the leader here. He just feels like he can’t do it all. He feels like these have been the 2 hardest year of his life. It was interesting to listen and talk with him. After the meeting, we went to help Лилия again, and were there for a while. After that, we dropped by to a referral that we received from Salt Lake – they ordered a film. They were nice people, but we were unable to conduct a discussion with them – жалко. To finish the night, we stopped by to Ольга и Настя as they were not at church Sunday. They are well, but a little sick. We always enjoy being there! They are awesome people! I am so glad to be here! It’s awesome!"

Sport

13 November 2004
"We didn’t eat today, but we did play volleyball and basketball. It was nice. We watched Legacy with Ольга and then we helped Лилия, one of our English students, with her work. Later, we saw Ангелина и Лидия and watched President Hinckley’s talk from conference with them. After that, we went and played at a school with our ward here. It was way fun, and nice to actually do something! Also, today I talked with some drunk people on the bus, and Elder Kirk got mad, but it was pretty funny!"

Meetings

12 November 2004
"A fairly good day was today! We didn’t leave the apartment until 2:30 but it was because we had 2 hours for planning, and then eating, and then I prepared the духовная мысль. We stopped by to see Слава and then met with a lady name Зула. It was awkward because she just asked why we have so many rules, and what they all are. She did have a cool friend that has lived in France and Spain but he wasn’t interested in the church. We had English, and that went well – we talked about slang and everyone enjoyed it. I did the spiritual thought, and it went well."

Tired

11 November 2004
" I am so tired today! It is crazy. We slept at the other’s place last night and I didn’t sleep so well. Anyways, we only had one discussion today with Ольга, Настя, Маша, и Сергей. It was a lot of fun with them as always, and I greatly enjoyed. They are amazing members of the Church. Well, besides them, we worked on preparing our talks – well spiritual thought that is, and also our English lesson. We tried to stop by to people we had on our lists, but no one was home really. That’s missionary work for you.

Well, I saw Elder Gallop for the last time. It’s weird to think in 1 ½ years I’ll be in his place. He’s an awesome elder, and I want to be like him. Right now I must lean on my testimony! The gospel is true, and I love it! I love this work!"

Awesome Conference

10 November 2004
"Talk about an awesome conference! That’s what we had today with Elder Peterson. It was way awesome, and I learned a lot about myself. We flew in to the Samara airport and then went to Толияты where we started the conference at 11. We went until 2 when we ate pizza – it was way good – and then from 3 to 6. Right now, we are on the plane back to Ижевск! I absolutely love this work! It is truly amazing thing to be here! I can’t wait to get back to work tomorrow!!"

Dinner

I found this great picture. I think the date was November 8 or something on it. I know it looks gross, but Elder Kirk and I made way too much dinner. We threw it out in the toilet. He had ketchup on his and I had mayonnaise...

P-day

9 November 2004
" It was weird to have p-day today. I didn't get any mail because they didn't know that I would write today, so yeah. All is well though and we ate as always at the Кафе. Well, I slept for a couple of hours, and then we went and stopped by to Наташа and just talked with her. Other then that, not much happened. Elder Chapman is coming to Ижевск right now. Somehow he got permission to come here but we can't figure it out. We have a mission wide conference, but somehow he got out of it. It will be interesting to find out how he got permission to come here, but we'll see how all goes tomorrow."