(Editor's note: I particularly enjoyed Calista's contrition at not going out with the missionaries more before her mission, especially since she was somewhat less than enthusiastic about the idea. :-P )

Holy cow, I've only got a few minutes, but about a million things to tell you.

Firstly: Hello my wonderful, amazing, marvelous, active-members-of-the-church parents (and siblings, if you read this, and beloved grandparents, church members or not :) as well. Please see also: roommates (I hope you know who you are), second- or third-families, and every other awesome individual in my life). I love you all! Let me tell you how amazingly lucky I am to have you: Very. I mean exceedingly.

Oh man, the church here is so young! Okay, so admittedly the mission itself has only been open for 10 years, but even so. It's almost bizarre when we meet with a member and find out that they've been in the church for more than 3 or 4 years. Crazy! The branch on Sakhalin has about 100 members, and they're all pretty cool, and way pumped about doing missionary work. Every single day we've had people to teach, obviously, and at almost every single lesson we've had a member present. Wow. Please tell the missionaries at home that when I get back I will be happy to go out with them at any time, because I definitely didn't do it enough pre-mission, and I realize now what a nuisance it is when members aren't available.

In any case, more about the mission: Ours is definitely a walking city (obviously it's a walking mission, but here on Sakhalin it's even more so than in Vladivostok, where they at least have fairly a fairly reliable bus system. We have one here, but reliable it is not so much), which is fine with me because Russian drivers definitely have no concept of what those lines painted on the road mean, or what a "road" is, for that matter. Lanes? Meh. We don't need them. Too much traffic? Let's take the sidewalk! Yikes. Luckily the sidewalks themselves are fairly big, so pedestrians never get hit. ... That I've seen, anyway. Although, at the rate people drink around here, I would not honestly be surprised to see a drunk pedestrian meet up with a vehicle.

The food here is, well interesting, I suppose. On PDay last week I made the mistake of letting Sister Ivanova talk me into going to a Mexican restaurant and eating a chimichanga. Oof. Heed my words, all within listening distance: If ever you find yourself in Far East Russia, never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever Ever EVER eat the mexican food. EVER. And I mean that. Sincerely. The rest of the food, however, has been relatively normal ish. Except for the dairy. Russian butter tastes like vomit, and I refuse to drink milk that is allowed to sit out on the counter for 4 or 5 days at a time. Instead I've taken to eating my cereal in the morning with yogurt, because it's very difficult to go wrong with yogurt, I've discovered. It's actually quite tasty, and I may just continue this practice after the mission. Every other meal is just about what you'd expect around here: some sort of pasta/bread product and meat, which admittedly is pretty delicious also. Fruits and vegetables are obscenely expensive, Sister Ivanova keeps telling me, so I guess it's a good thing I've got my multivitamins handy.

I hear that all the American missionaries wait until they go to Korea to buy all their food, because they've got a (gasp!) COSTCO there, and Koreans apparently know how to eat proper food, like chips and salsa and I don't know what else. Peanut butter, possibly. In any case, I guess I'll find out in December, because my visa expires on the 29th. Theoretically that could mean I spend either Christmas or New Year (or both, or neither) in Korea, depending on when they send us out and how long they keep us there. We shall see. Depending on how badly I want chips and salsa by the time I get out there, I may just follow the examples of all the American missionaries before me and do some serious food-buying when I get there.

The weather here on the island is quite pleasant, and I could get used to it. It's overcast a lot, and when It isn't overcast, it's raining. Beautiful.

Oh crud, I've only got 5 more minutes, and I'm supposed to write to President Pratt. I love you, I'll try to continue next week, and if not, welp, just know that things are going very... interestingly here in Russia. And I love it.

Love you!
-Sister Read. Calista to you.