I walked around this week without a scarf on. Wow.

So. This week. Basically amazing. I hope that doesn't mean that it went terribly for you all, but I guess even if it did I won't find out until next week. Just know that the church is growing, even in Russia.

 

Most exciting news (for me at any rate): One of our investigators was baptized this week. (!) He'd been an eternal investigator for almost two years - showed up to church every Sunday for about 6 months before he agreed to meet with the missionaries. They worked with him for another very long period of time, but he didn't have much interest in getting baptized, even if he was more active in the church than some of the long-standing, active members. I honestly have no idea what changed this time around, but we set a baptismal date with him and he accepted it. And of course, given that he knows everybody and everybody knows him, about half the branch showed up to his baptism, even though he'd specifically requested that it be on a Thursday morning, as inconveniently placed as we could possibly make it. And then when he was confirmed yesterday (most stressful time in my life, for the record, that period between baptism and confirmation. I had no idea missionaries experienced anything like it) my week was officially complete.

 

In other exciting news, I had my first ride in an ambulance on Saturday, although it wasn't actually for me. We got a call that morning from our babushka who really really really loves the elders. She told us that she'd been trying to hang her curtains in her room and she'd fallen and hit her head. But no, thank you, we didn't need to call an ambulance for her, just stop by and take a look at her head, would we? We left the apartment and got on the bus as quickly as we could, but it was still another 20 minutes before we got there. Of course, babushka being babushka, she'd used this time to wrap her head in a bandage and start some pasta on the stove, because heaven forbid missionaries should come to her house and not have something to eat! Sister Kovalevskaya gets nauseous at the sight of blood, so I agreed to poke around babushka's head wound and try to determine how serious it was, and Sister Kovalevskaya got the job of grating carrots and slicing onions and making sure the pasta didn't burn on the stove. We told her we'd take a look at her head, but only if she agreed to go to the hospital if we thought it necessary, fully intending to call the paramedics regardless. "Well fine. But I don't need to go anywhere! I'm just a little nauseous, that's all! Just a little blood, that's all! Call the doctor then!" When the paramedics showed up she put up another fight ("What is this, students? Doctors you say? They look like students! Go to the hospital? What hospital? That isn't my hospital!"), but eventually agreed to go, on the condition that we rode with her, and that the paramedics took some apples and mandarins for lunch. Then as we were walking out the door she realized that she hadn't told her daughter that she'd fallen and insisted that she needed to call. The phone call went something like this: "Lillia! I'm going to the hospital! Fell, that's why! Missionaries are here! They're going too! Good bye!" We figured that wasn't exactly the most comforting way of informing one's daughter of an injury, so we made a few more phone calls while we waited for her in the frightening walls of the hospital (really. I have no idea how they do it - the green they painted the walls with is just about the same green as the ceiling in my room, but somehow they just radiated STRESS. I have no intention of going to a Russian hospital ever again). Long story short (too late, of course) they looked her over, stitched her up, did a few x-rays and sent her home with us, with the instructions to head to her usual doctor if she continued to feel bad. Well then.

 

But I'm all story-ed out now. Those may be the last you get for a while. Or maybe not. Who knows? In any case, I hope you all had a safe week, tell Marie happy birthday, enjoy yourselves, and I love you.

 

-Sister Read

There are only 11 days left in April. Gross.

So I was walking along the street the other day, minding my own business, and guess what I saw? Grass! Green! Like, real, growing-out-of-the-ground, not-left-over-from-last-year grass! I wanted to pick it and take it home, but I figured it wouldn't last long there. Plus I didn't have anywhere to put it. I guess that means that spring comes even here in Russia... although it did admittedly snow around Wednesday-ish of last week. But. That's Not The Point.

 

I finally got my package too... thanks mom! Sister Kovalevskaya also says thanks, especially for the peanut butter chocolate. I don't know why they don't sell peanut butter here, seeing as how it's such a huge hit with the natives and all. No wait, I lie. They do sell it, but it looks funny and it costs about $15 for a small baby-food-type jar. I haven't been nearly desperate enough to buy it yet, and something tells me I never will... especially since I can get the American stuff in Korea. But enough about canned goods.

 

And before I forget as well... (yes, I like ellipses today. So?) Sister Kovalevskaya has kindly requested that you would please to be sending me more pictures please, especially of our family because the ones that I have are far too little and don't give enough detail (I am, of course, talking to everybody here, family or not). This of course is coming from the companion who has no printed pictures herself, but has them all saved on various and sundry discs. It's very possible that I could see them even... someday.

 

Yesterday we finally got to watch Conference, and it was amazing, per usual. When I finally get around to finding some children to raise, I'll know exactly what I need to do for it. Haha. I kid. But only mostly. I especially enjoyed the Young Women's Session, which we watched as a Relief Society (bit of a lack of Young Women here, go figure) during Priesthood session. It'll be something to share with some of our wayward members when the Liahona gets here.

 

I dunno what else went on for me this week. We did get a drunken phone call at 4:30 in the morning one day. Somebody we met on the street desperately wanted to inform us that the pass-along card we'd given him had moved all by itself, and he was worried it might be alive. We told him it wasn't too likely, and that he'd be better off sleeping at that time, which, coincidentally, we also intended to do. Good day to you, good luck, and feel free to show up to church on Sunday, any Sunday at 11:00. Before I started my mission I had no idea there were so many interesting people in the world. I'm pretty sure I've still got hundreds more to meet in the next 9 months.

 

Anyway, per usual, that's all you get. Have an enjoyable week this week (although if it goes badly try to enjoy yourselves anyway), and try to keep yourselves safe.

 

Love you,

Sister Read

... And three weeks later I find myself in Vladivostok

Today is the 12th of April. I hope you all know what that means. It means that today is MONDAY. And I'm in an internet cafe. Accompanied by the usual sounds of World of Warcraft and Counterstrike, intermixed of course with various and sundry swear words, in various and sundry languages. Good days. Incidentally, it also means that I will be officially halfway through my mission on Thursday. But I refuse to acknowledge that fact. I'm here for a long time yet (Extension extension extension extension!). Speaking of Thursday, don't forget to pay your taxes. I hear the government doesn't approve when you don't pay.

So I can't actually remember if I told you about English Club, but even if I did I'm going to go ahead and pretend like I didn't, because it makes for an amusing two hours of every week, and I'm too lazy to look through past emails to see for sure. It didn't (and still doesn't. And probably never will again) exist on Sakhalin, because the local government officials don't approve of the way it was run... ish. BUT. I'm no longer on Sakhalin, I'm in Vlad. And that means that two hours of my week (Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6! Come practice your skills with native speakers! Free!) are spent conversing (but not teaching, of course. That's illegal) in English... with occasionally interesting results. The theme is different every time, but somehow we always end up with something gospel-centered at the end. Go figure. You'd think that we as missionaries plan our topics... or something. It's actually a pretty effective finding tool, and it is a good way to do some service for others.

I also had my first run-in with the police this week, and that was fun. We crossed the road on a red light and were given an official WARNING, all written down and everything. I would like to say in my own defense though that to all appearances it looked to us like the two policemen in the middle of the road were directing traffic, and we weren't the first to cross. Just the most noticeable, I guess. So they took Sister Kovalevskaya's name and address, asked her what she was doing here, and then gave her a receipt. Then they decided that one warning was enough for the two of us and didn't bother asking about me. So. We have been officially WARNED, but I have learned my lesson and fully repented, and I intend to return to full church activity this week. Ha.

That's all you get this week. Have fun in the sunshine, and try not to pay too much.

Love you,
Sister Read. Russian Criminal.

April April April April

So just in case you were wondering, and I know that you were all wondering, somehow in the excitement of my daily life I totally and completely missed the fact that yesterday was Easter, at least until we got to church. Don't ask me how I did it. We've been handing out "Christ Was Resurrected!" pass-along cards for the last few weeks, and of course there's been the general Easter's-Coming-Gotta-Be-Prepared kind of attitude hanging around, but all the same it just sort of fell on me. And apparently I also forgot that it's Conference Weekend, but I guess that's more understandable because we don't even get the translations for at least two weeks after it's been broadcast. I'm expecting we'll see it sometime in May. Hope it was a good one.

 

We had Zone Conference this week, and of course it was amazing. Definitely weird having more than six missionaries there though. Right now we're up to 29 in the mission, which meant that there were 18 of us in the church on Thursday (Khabarovsk also has their own Zone Conference, also just in case you wondered). Wow. I still think it's hilarious that our entire mission, with all of its missionaries, doesn't even count as an entire Zone in other places. Ha. (Insert tasteless and very unfunny joke about being The Chosen here)

 

So given that Vlad is the headquarters of the mission, it's not surprising (or it shouldn't be) that we've got more members to work with here. One of our members in particular is a sweet little old babushka, and I'm pretty sure she has no idea I exist. It's really quite amusing. She loves elders (LOVES them. They move things, they clean things, they ate the food she made them, sat and talked with her for hours... Oh, elders. Such nice friendly young men. American. Just the sort of people that should be attending to an old lady. Not like the Russians. Can't abide Russians.) She has trouble remembering Sister Kovalevskaya's name, and she doesn't even bother asking for mine. All the same she has no trouble asking us for favors, and Sister Kovalevskaya's already given her a back massage twice. Ha. I'm amused. She does make good food though, I'll give her that. Maybe someday she'll actually find out that I'm American too. ...Just not an elder.

 

In any case, I'm all out of time and amusing stories. Per usual, in other words. have yourselves an enjoyable week, with conference and work and school and who knows what else y'all get up to.

 

Love you,

Sister Read