May has officially ended and Spring has finally arrived... ish.

To my dearly stove-bereft parentals... and every other valuable person in my life:

 

My condolences, of course, on the loss of your stove. I hope you have a proper funeral for it before you go replacing it with a new one. Speaking of funerals, we had the opportunity to attend one this week. That was interesting. For the record, it looked and felt just like the kind of funerals that we have in the states, although the members of the church here assured me that that was because the lady who passed away was a member of the church. Apparently funerals here don't look at all like they do back at home. I'm not entirely convinced. It was a nice service though, all things considered. I don't think I want to be repeating the experience any time soon anyway, though. I think I've had my fill.

 

Sister Kovalevskaya goes home at the end of this week, which of course means that either myself or Sister Lewis gets to fly back to Vlad and take over training her greenie. I'm still hoping it's going to be Sister Lewis. I intend to keep my junior-companion-the-entirety-of-my-mission status. Being a trainer tends to cramp that kind of style up, I've heard. We'll see. Nobody's called us yet, so maybe that means that neither of us will do any training, and instead they'll find a mini missionary for Sister Tolmachova. That would be interesting. I'd laugh, at any rate.

 

Oh, and also: My life, as of right now (and at least for another three days), is offically complete. We found a new investigator this week, and he's from China. He speaks Russian, but only a tiny tiny tiny tiny bit. And he speaks no English. What does that mean? Firstly, it means that my companion (who spent a good deal of her life growing up in China) gets to practice using words that are completely foreign to her (gosh, you'd think it was basically forbidden to talk about the church in mainland China, or something) while teaching the vast majority of the lesson, and secondly it means that I, as a Russian-speaking missionary in my Russian-Speaking mission (although okay admittedly I have also used my French and Spanish and almost Japanese) got to testify about the Book of Mormon... in Chinese. Oh man. Does life get any better than this? Yes, it was only one sentence, and it took him about 40 seconds to figure out what it was that I'd said, but still. I don't even speak Chinese. And I got to testify. Next week Sister Lewis is in charge of teaching me how to pray. And the week after that... well... we shall see. It might be a little awkward if she gets a transfer, though. I think the phrase, "I know that the Book of Mormon is true" might only get us so far in a lesson about, for example, the Plan of Salvation. But it's a start! Man... I love being a missionary.

 

I think that's all I have to tell you this week. So. Think on it, and get back to me. In the meantime, I love you, have a marvelous week, and try to get some sunshine in your souls (singing the hymn is allowed too).

 

-Sister Read. I have no idea what that would be in Chinese.

I had an amusing idea for a subject line with an obviously hilarious punchline at the end, but then I forgot it.

Dear Family (this week that means everybody. Apparently),

 

Last week there was an entire day when I walked around without a coat on. WITHOUT A COAT. Given, I did still have my long-sleeved sweater with a few layers underneath, but that's not the point here. No coats in May is something that only happens in movies, I've decided. Or possibly in America. Sometimes I'm pretty sure they're both just as equally fictional. In any case, it only lasted one day of course, and then the next three or four following were filled with cold and rain. Yay! Rain!

 

Yesterday in Sacrament Meeting Elder Spjut, who usually does the translating in English, was asked to speak, and that meant that somebody else had to translate in his place. So I did. And it was actually fairly entertaining... for me, at any rate. There's a good chance that Brother and Sister Jones spent a good portion of that meeting wondering what on earth the speaker was talking about, but that's okay. I feel edified, at any rate. Speaking of Sister Jones, she gave me REAL FLOUR (like, home ground and everything) a few weeks back, and I'm using it to make bread today. Hooray! But. That's not what I'm getting at here in this particular paragraph. It's just a happy side note. ... So I sat there in Sacrament Meeting, at the very front (amazing how much easier it is to hear up there), holding a mini microphone in my hand and trying my hardest not to move it or bump it, because apparently that causes all sorts of distracting noises for those listening. As I was holding it, I thought about trying to get a very quiet beatbox going, but then I decided against it. Entertaining, no doubt, but not exactly uplifting. So I translated. ... ish. And it was fun. Maybe I'll get to do it again some day.

 

Oh, and: last week I forgot to mention something extremely amusing that happened as we were standing around with the elders waiting for the bus. We were standing in a sort of semi-circle with Elder Johnson closest to the street. An elderly babushka (and that's saying something) walked by, looked at him, and said (very firmly). "Attractive." He didn't quite catch it, so of course he said, "what?" Then she gets this angry look on her face and shouts, "ATTRACTIVE! BLACK HAIR! RED CHEEKS! ALL IN BLACK! ATTRACTIVE!" Then she wandered off muttering angrily under her breath, and although I didn't catch what she'd said, I'm pretty sure it was probably something along the lines of, "Young People Today!" Ha. I love babushkas. They pretty much make my life here. Not only will they tell you when they approve of something, but they're also not shy about telling you when they think there's something off about you or what you're doing. I can't tell you how many times I, walking around in about 67 lbs of winter gear and bundled up to my eyeballs, have been told that I need to "dress warmer. Don't you see it's cold outside? And what is this church nonsense? You need to go home! Find yourself a good man! Get married! And an education too!" Good days, good days.

 

Welp. That's all for today. Have a good week, stay safe, and I love you!

 

-Sister Read

And also...

I forgot, but this seemed a little on the important side: please pass along a HUGE thank you to Michael and Cyndi (with hugs and kisses as you see fit), and to Sister Little, and of course to Grandma and Grandpa, and to Grandma's friend. I really really really really really am grateful. In the meantime, I'll try to find something that passes for a thank-you card around here, or something.

A whole week passes and not a single trip to the hospital...

So of course it being Monday, and given that I didn't write much last week, I figure you could all use a filling-in on the state of my life as of now, having completed officially on Saturday more of my mission than I've got left. Yikes. Once again I ask: where does the time go?

Today Sister Jones took all of us missionaries out to Amber Beach (which is apparently famous for the amount of Amber one can find there... go figure) and fed us lunch (tuna, chips, salsa (who knew I'd miss salsa this much? Can we have Mexican food when I come home?), fruit, and cookies. Delicious). We spent about half an hour searching for pieces of Amber in the most professional and effective way possible (meaning: walking with our noses close to the ground and poking through piles of dirt and sand to see if there was anything vaguely shiny underneath, and then collecting those things that we found), and I think we may have actually gotten a decent haul, although admittedly I'm not entirely sure what counts as a decent haul when it comes to Amber. Seemed pretty good to me, at any rate. We had fun though, and we got some sunshine, and I guess that's all that counts.

We spent a lot of time out on the streets this week, and per usual met a whole bunch of interesting people doing so. It's kind of bizarre having an American companion at my side as we go contacting, because it means that I can't say to people, "no, I'm not Russian. But my companion is!" For some reason it just doesn't work out now. Dunno why, just doesn't. I myself have gained a few more nationalities though. As of this moment, I am either from Ukraine, Poland, Armenia, or possibly Latvia, with an occasional Russia thrown in there for good measure (I don't pay much attention to these people though. They're usually somewhat less than completely sober when they tell me things like this). I guess this means I'm losing my American accent, which is kind of a bummer... or something. I always did want to know what things are like in Latvia. Maybe as an offiicial Latvian I can go over and find out.

I wasn't feeling good when you called on Monday, and on Tuesday I wasn't feeling any better, so I got a blessing from the elders. Being on a mission has really made me appreciate the power of the Priesthood, that's for sure. I just wish I'd been more aware and taken more advantage of it when I was at home, where it was pretty much available 24 hours a day. I guess it still is here too in theory, but it just isn't the same. Live and learn I guess. Live and learn.

Anyway, that's all I've got for this week, although of course I swear there was more at some point. I'll do my best to try to remember and/or come up with something more entertaining for next week.

Stay safe (even if you do have to play Frankenstein to do so), have fun, and of course remember that I love you.

-Sister Read. And just Sister Read today.

Monday... ish.

You may have noticed that I didn't write yesterday. But it's okay! I have both a valid excuse and permission today! Hooray! Yesterday we climbed a mountain... and then I spent some more time in a Russian hospital. Don't worry. It still wasn't for me. This time it was for my companion.

Incidentally, speaking of companions, I got transferred on Saturday. They put me back on Sakhalin with my MTC companion, Sister Lewis. And since I'm back on Sakhalin, the number to call me is the exact same as it was, but I'll resend the email anyway, just in case. Mother's Day for you is PDay for me, so basically what I'm saying here is call me some time after church... I dunno... 6:30? 7? What time did you call last time? I can't even remember. Basically what I'm saying here is pick a time that works for you, and just call the cell phone. Sister Lewis's family lives in China, so they'll be calling her on Sunday.

Back to the exciting news that is my life: this transfer was, to say the least, rather unexpected, given that I'd only been in Vladivostok a whole transfer, but apparently there's something more I need to do here. Tomorrow they're dedicating the church building here on Sakhalin, so at the very least I'll get to be here for it.

When I flew in on Saturday (airplanes with propellers are, for the record, the bane of my life. Three hours on a flight that should've taken one, and a nasty throbbing in my eardrums for three hours after that. No thank you.) I was informed that there would be a branch activity on Monday (yet another Russian holiday), which would be spent climbing the local mountain behind our apartment. The whole thing was expected to take about 5 hours, and so we figured that we'd have enough time afterwards to do all the usual PDay things. What we didn't count on was the horribly steep and gruelling climb up the mountain in 3 feet of snow, and the dangerous presence of tree roots on the way back down. There were several places that made for great sledding (even without a sled) on the way back down, and of course, given that the entire group consisted of 6 missionaries and a whole bunch of young and physically active members here, we couldn't pass up that kind of opportunity. As we were sliding down one slope though, Sister Lewis fell into a hole and twisted her knee around a tree root. Then, without saying anything, she continued to walk on her knee after that for about another 2 miles. And then she fell again, and the men in the group took turns carrying her out. After a while somebody got the bright idea to call Emergency Response, and they came and took her the rest of the way out. Hooray! Another ambulance ride for me! They took us to the local hospital, did an X-Ray, looked at it very intently, went "hmm..." a whole lot, and then told us she was fine, just a minor sprain. Then they gave her a brace and a pair of crutches and sent us on our way. For the record, hospital walls here are just like those in Vlad, only maybe even possibly more stressful. You know that mental image you had, dad? Yeah. That about describes it. Yuck. Once again I am making a public declaration that I have no intention of ever going back into another Russian hospital. So let it be written, so let it be done.

That's about all you get for today. Feel free to call me this weekend and find out more about my life, or something.

I love you!
Sister Read