Normal P-day

3 August 2005
"We are so boring. We don't do anything that is exciting. Life really sucks when you are the only 2 elders with p-day. I mean, it’s not like I am going to die, but it really is boring. This morning I didn't get up on time again because I slept very little last night. All I thought about was a missionary who will be here and how she needs to be here by Thursday to get set apart and then get to Moscow. It tortured me all night. Well, I wrote home, and that went well. The family is doing well, and there is no major news. My sister is going to move out for a while, so that is crazy. I looked at a bunch of pictures of the hurricane Katrina and things are crazy there. It is sad how much is happening. We were bored and didn't want to leave, and so I work more on the Access program. We finally left, and we went to the store and got some food for the next week. Well, it should be good, and I got a lot of good stuff. On the way home, rain came really hard and I was pretty wet. Well, it was all good and we went back to the office to make lunch. We had potatoes, chicken, and a salad type of thing. After eating we got all our things together and we came home where we layed down to sleep. I slept for about an hour and a half before President called and woke me up. He needed some help, so I did what I could. Well, I wrote a letter to Jeff and then I read a bit. We went to Площадь Революции. We sat and watched the people walk by and it was pretty funny. We were waiting for Юрий but he didn't show, so we went to see Степан w/o him. We heard all of the same excuses again about not coming and not being able to. We told him that he had to, and he agrees but then makes an excuse why he can't. It is frustrating but we just need to keep working with him. After the meeting we went on to the street and we were heard "Lady In Red" playing down by the Volga and we walked down that way. We stopped by the store and grabbed some stuff for tomorrow. We are of course fasting right now and I am having a good time with that - I actually enjoy conquering the body. I am fasting for Tom that he might realize that he has already found out that the church is true. I hope that all will work out for him. Well for being a boring day, I wrote a lot. I hope that tomorrow will be a good day and that all will go well. I love fast and testimony meeting and the spirit that comes from it. We will hopefully work well tomorrow and find some new people, but we'll see for sure."

Relaxing

30 July 2005
"It was a sweet day to relax. We went early to write home after I got a haircut from my companion. It feels a lot better for doing stuff now. Well, we then sat there for a bit and had a good time. My family is having a good time and they seem to be doing well. Well we then went the рынок and bought some stuff. We bought some fresh fruits and enjoyed it a lot. We also bought some fresh chicken and we ate that and enjoyed it also. Well, we ate fajitas with the APs and then we sat there for a bit. We then came back home and slept for a couple of hours. That felt good of course and I love to sleep. Well, went to look at some pictures tonight on площадь Куйбышева but there was a big party there and so we thought it was better not to look - when we first got to this area we walked through the same type of concert. Well, after we decided to go to a park and to look around there. We went down to the Volga and it was way pretty. Well then it was late and so we had to come home. We made it home a little later then we usually do. I just ate myself a big pack of Lays and now I am getting ready to sleep. What an exciting day. Well, tomorrow we have church. I hope we can get out to work again. We need to do better with talking to people!"

Tasty

5 January 2005
"We had another fun day today. We went down to the Volga and took a bunch of pictures there, and then we went to Papa John's! That's right! It was so amazingly good and I ate an entire big pizza by myself. It was so tasty. Well, we then went to Park Победы and took a ton of pictures. It was way sweet. They had all kinds of tanks and copters and things there. It was a lot of fun. We came home and had a nice little meeting with a member and that was our day. The park was way cool, and I am way glad that we went. I finally have some good pictures to send home too. I also ate a шарума today that was way good!"

Beautiful River

18 August 2004
"What an amazing day here in Samara. Elder Jensen returned, and had a good trip. Also, we got to write home and see how all were doing. BJ is doing well, and getting all settled in. We then went on a walk around Samara. The Volga river is awesome here. For lunch we ate at McDonalds, and it was of course good. We then returned home, and wrote and slept.

Tonight we had 2 appointments. I was with Elder Рэй and we went to a small little FHE with Сергей and Андрей. It was fun. After that, we met with Larissa. She was having a hard time. We gave her a blessing and I was able to anoint the oil. It was an awesome experience, and the spirit was strong. I know that the Lord will bless here if she has the faith. The priesthood is awesome."