Real Work

9 September 2005
"I had a good experience today that I will write about here in the end, but it turned out to be a decent day. We were able to study this morning for the full time, and that was really nice. The Zone Leaders - Lister and Andelin - came over this morning so that they could take showers - they don't have any water. We chatted with them for a bit and they distracted us from studying but it was all good. We then took off to the office where all the fun began. I started to work on a "to do" list that I had made and that went fairly well. I finished writing up my Line of Authority and so now I have that to show people. Well, I also worked on getting things together for MEC on Monday so that I would have less to do. I worked with Blinkov on some things and then I tried to find more to do before we ate lunch - spaghetti and sauce. After lunch, I worked on doing a lot of translating and things for the future. I started to read a book about how to teach better (Teaching, No Greater Calling) and I fell asleep for about 10-15 minutes. I worked on some more random things and I felt like just sitting in the office all night as Elder Hunsaker and VanHouten are still here. I thought more and more and wanted to sit and go nowhere, but then I felt impressed to go and so we had a meeting with Вячеслав. It didn't turn out great, but afterwards I felt great and I was really happy. What a wonderful feeling to be out and about and doing real missionary work. Tomorrow is p-day, so it should be fun!"

Long Transfer

9 December 2004
"It's been a long couple of days. We have been going crazy. We were in Samara yesterday as we flew there for my transfer. Well, we were suppos to leave for Saratov, but we were too late, and so we spent the night in the old office there. Well, I just made some copies of discs there, and talked with Elder Andelin. Well, we took off early this morning in a gazelle and after 8 hours we came to Saratov. What a different city we have here. It is huge, and it is pretty dirty. There is also tons of people, and tons of different ways to get around. It will take awhile to get use to. Well, we came and I met my new companion. Elder McCain and I came home and unpacked. Our apartment is huge so that is way awesome. It is way more comfortable than in Ижевск. After unpacking, we went to sport night, and it was way awesome. We played like 2 hours there, and had a way good time. We ate in a nice little restaurant, and it was way good. We came home, and I am ready to die – I'm tired. Well, I will write more tomorrow morning about my thoughts and feeling.

Well, I really miss Ижевск. I have so many awesome friends there. I know I don't need to compare between areas, so I will work hard to love the people, and just jump into the work. I don't know exactly what will be here, but I do know that this is a huge city. Its crazy. There is some good news though, and that is that I will soon have more friends in Russia. The Russian people are awesome. I love them. This is hard here, but I know I need to just keep on going, and the Lord will bless me."