I hope you all set your clocks forward this morning.

So I'm sitting here in Vladivostok with the strangest feeling of deja vu ever. I'm back in Vlad, firstly, having just returned from Korea a couple days ago, secondly, and in the EXACT same internet cafe I was in back in October when I flew in. It's like the last 7 months of my life never happened. The only thing that's changed is my companion. Like I said last week, this transfer (and possibly the one upcoming as well, seeing as how it'll be her last) I'm serving with Sister Kovalevskaya. She's also pretty much awesome. And hilarious. Basically what I'm saying here is that native sisters rock my socks off.

 

Our area here in Vlad is much bigger than the one on Sakhalin (which I guess isn't all that surprising given that Sakhalin center is one of the smallest (if not THE smallest) areas in the mission), and in my vast 3-days' experience thus far I've gathered that that means we're on the bus a lot. I get the feeling that some time in the future we're going to have to look into getting a bus pass of some sort, because there's only so much I can spend on bus fees... even if it is cheaper than on Sakhalin. Did I mention that everything there is obscenely expensive? Well it is.

 

Korea was fun, as usual I guess. Not really my thing, but fun. Maybe if they'd let us proselyte a little more (or at all, really. Pass-along cards, even. I'm not picky. It's just that there's only so much you can do as a missionary in a foreign country where you don't speak the language and aren't even allowed to preach even if you did) I'd be happy to stick around longer, but for now I'm okay with the time they give us. Once again I have to wonder what on earth they did there back in the days when missionaries had to stick around there for 18 days. No thank you. I'm good.

 

On the plus side though, the temple was open all three days we were there this time. We did a session on Thursday morning with other English-speaking missionaries (who were actually serving in Korea), and I guess since there were so many of us in the room, they did the session all in English. Talk about awesome. Then on Friday we as Russian-speaking missionaries did baptisms, and since Sister Lewis and I were the only sisters in the room at the time, we were both baptized about 75 times each. I think I've just about got the baptismal prayer memorized in Korean now. A few more times and I'm sure I'll have it.

 

I may have also purchased myself a new coat in Korea, but not to be worrying... it didn't cost nearly as much as I pulled out. We had to use personal funds to pay for lodging and bus tickets because none of our MSF cards worked. Oops. Somebody forgot to give us permission to be out of the country, I guess.

 

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. Good to know you all seemed to enjoy yourselves thoroughly while in Mexico or Honduras or whatever equatorly country you spent your time in the last few days. I still haven't got my package yet, but I did get a whole bunch of letters (including a birthday card from Grandma Read (thank you!) that looked like it had been soaked at least twice and an Absolutely Normal Christmas Card from Chris, which he actually sent around Christmas time. I'm still looking for the secretly stashed bugs on that one). Maybe next week. Or the week after.

 

Okay, enough. Have a good week, enjoy yourselves, and of course I love you all.

 

-Sister Read.

Just kidding... March in Russia means blizzards (part 2)

...And since myldsmail randomly decided to send my email before I was finished it, weeell... I guess that counts as a sneak preview of what's coming.

I can't believe I've already been in Yuzhno 6 months. That's just ridiculous. Next thing you know, I'll be halfway done with my mission. Oh wait, that's only 3 weeks away. Disgusting. They definitely did not tell me that time in Russia goes 500 times faster than it does at home.

On Wednesday Sister Kapustina nearly got run over by a tractor. That was exciting. We were walking along the sidewalk, minding our own business (and other peoples', of course (something about this story set up sounds familiar...).) when up ahead loomed a big blue monster of a machine. We couldn't just exit the sidewalk and start walking on the street, because the sidewalk was fenced in by about 3 feet of snow, and we couldn't turn around and retrace our steps because that was just too far to walk. So. Logically, the only choice we had was to go around the tractor. Sister Kapustina started first, and since the tractor wasn't moving all that quickly, I figured she'd be okay if she went carefully. I guess the tractor driver didn't agree though, because he hit the breaks. Only problem with that was that he'd hit the breaks on a particularly icy spot of sidewalk, and had what I like to refer to as No Traction. He stopped moving forward, yes, but the 6-foot wheels in back didn't. The started sliding right towards Sister Kapustina, and there was nothing I could do about it but watch and wonder what on earth I was going to tell President. Um, oops? Sister Kapustina met up with a tractor and lost. Can I still go out walking without her, or should I take her along? It's just that she's not terribly conversational at the moment... Luckily for me I didn't have to tell president anything, because the tractor wheels stopped about 8 inches from where she was standing. Whew. Good days!

In any case, that's all you get for this week. Next week I'm sure will be much more interesting, because I'll have new scenery and companions and Korea to talk about. And maybe not. Don't get your hopes up.

Enjoy yourselves, Stay SAFE, and try to find somebody to share the Gospel with this week.

Much love,
Sister Read

Just kidding... March in Russia means blizzards (part 1)

... So I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine south of the border somewhere. On Saturday I was convinced that they really DO have spring in Russia, where the streets are actually mostly visible, and the long-dead-and-buried grass actually makes an appearance. Then yesterday it started snowing again. And it got so bad that everybody, investigators, church members, and even President Pratt himself ordered us to go home and STAY THERE. Oy. 7.5 hours at home, with nothing to do but study (although admittedly I can't really object to extra study time. It's good for the soul), and nobody to call (we've called all our potentials, formers, and less-interested investigators about 600 times already) gets a little old after a while. Just a little bit. But no worries. Today, with the exception of 5 or 6 feet of snow piled everywhere, is looking like it's going to be a lovely day. The sun is even shining. And I guess that's also a good thing, because Sister Kapustina and I have a flight at 7:00 this evening. I'm headed to Korea and she's headed to Vladivostok to hang out with Sister Kovalevskaya for a week until I come back. You were right dad, I did get transferred. The next 6 weeks of my life will be spent in Vladivostok with Sister Kovalevskaya. Yay! New scenery!

You know it's March in Russia when your walls turn green.

I'm resending the pictures I sent in December, because I have a sneaking suspicion that Myldsmail didn't send them. So. Here they are again. Sakhalin, new church building, Lenin (one of his largest statues in Russia, I'm told), one of my favorite members (Tatiana), and Sister Ivanova and me... in the snow somewhere. I was going to send pictures of Sister Kapustina as well, but my camera's at home this week.

Speaking of Myldsmail, you may have noticed that I have a new address (not that it much matters. They tell me either one will get your emails to me). Myldsmail finally decided to upgrade and step into the 21st century, and of course that meant that I had to do the same. So. 40 minutes of messing around with their ridiculous system and I'm here with an exact replicate of a Google account... except I'm seeing a missionary nametag at the top of my screen, and not a Google. So. New account everyone, new account.

I'm all done being sick this week... I hope. Sister Kapustina swears she's done, so I guess that means I have to be as well. We spent the week talking with crazy people on the street (there are more of those than you know) and telling them that we're Russian Orthodox too. Or at least that's what Sister Kapustina did. Usually what happens in your basic street-contacting situation is that you'll stop a person, start talking with him, and ask if he believes in God. He'll then either answer: (a) Yes, and? (b) No! I'm Russian Orthodox! or (c) Yes, but I'm a Christian (as though we aren't as well). Sister Kapustina, expecting answer (c), got answer (b) and automatically responded with, "No wait! We are too!" HA. So. Just in case you're wondering, we're Russian Orthodox this week.

This week I also learned that Russia is truly a civilized country, because they've got pyramid schemes. Ha. Yesterday we had an investigator who spent at least 40 minutes trying to get us to buy into his. "You don't understand! God is good, but God is for the soul! You need something that'll keep your body healthy! Money! I can teach you how to earn millions! You can retire in 5 years!" Thank you sir, but no. We've already found our purpose in life. "Unless you're willing to work for something 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you haven't found your DREAM. You need a DREAM. I can give you a DREAM." Something tells me I've already found my DREAM, thanks. I'm pretty sure I HAVE been working 24/7 for it the last 6 months. Ha. In any case, something tells me we won't be meeting with him in the near future. The makeup products he sells (go figure) are only mediocre quality.

In any case, that's about all I've got for now. Haven't received any mail for a while, but I'm assuming that's because transfers are coming up and they don't want to pay the fees to forward things to me, especially since I'll be in Vlad next week on my way to Korea again.

So. Have a good week. Get some sunshine. Play hard. Remember I love you, and stay Safe.

Sister Read.

To my family and friends who (on a very very very very very regular basis) complain about the length of my emails:

Happy Holidays, again. Today is Women's day. I hope you're all celebrating.

Good week this week. Missionary work. Got sick. More missionary work. Sister Kapustina got sick. Missionary work. Then we both got sick. Good days.

Hope things are going well. Enjoy the cruise. Try to do some relaxing.

Love,

Sister Read