Sparkle Walls‏

Zdrastvuitye!

Zdrastvuitye!

I am absolutely in love with my new area! Dachney has been described as "the ghetto of the mission," but I don't really see why. Granted, my companion has been really sick, so we've been inside a lot and I have barely seen a fraction of our area. I still love it nonetheless. We have one solid investigator and quite a few potentials that I am excited to meet! The members in our Branch are fantastic! They are all so strong and have such powerful testimonies. This Branch's attendance is about the same as the Avrora Branch: about 35ish people every week. Also, the Branch Mission Leader is amazing! He calls us every night and makes sure we have a member to work with us for the following day. Power house!

Speaking of house, our apartment is so cute! Every single wall is wallpapered and it's very... colorful. The bathroom is bright green... not just the walls... I mean everything! The toilet is green, sink, tile, floors, everything! The study is purple, our bedroom is forest green, and the kitchen is yellow and blue. The wallpaper is super cool though because it has fancy designs all over it and the one in the kitchen is sparkly! I haven't taken pictures of it yet, but I'll get back to you on that.

The first night that Sister James and I got to Saratov, we visited an amazing member that pretty much all of the missionaries know even if they haven't served in Saratov. She paints BEAUTIFUL matroshki dolls and eggs and people order them from her from all over the place. She definitely makes a profit from all of the missionary orders. They are stunning! She and her husband fed us a plethora of food when we went over and she showed us a bunch of new sketches for the dolls. They are amazing! She is such a talented lady! After that she and her husband told us their conversion stories and the conversion stories of their families. The spirit was SO strong and I gained a stronger testimony on the truthfulness of this gospel. These people need the gospel in their lives!!!!! I don't know how to get it to them fast enough, but it's growing for sure!

The weather here is a little bit warmer than in Samara. Sister James and I get SO hot walking around. All of the snow is starting to melt, but it still  gets cold at night so there's a lot of ice and slush around. Our apartment is on a hill, so the ice is a fun obstacle. Upon arriving to our new apartment, I slipped 4 times just walking from the taxi to our building. At one point Sister James turned around and I was flat on my back. In that moment we decided that we would take pictures of each other whenever one of us falls and make a "fall wall" in our apartment of pictures of us on the ground. Neither of us have fallen since then and everything is melting, so that wasn't the best idea. 

We found out why everyone was wearing those scary surgical masks... Now EVERYONE is wearing them. It's literally terrifying. Well, when I say everyone I mean employees in grocery stores and things like that. I have seen quite a few people wearing them out on the streets though. Apparently there is a super bad flu that's going around that you have to be quarantined if you get it. It sounds just like a generic flu when people have described it to me, but I guess it's worse than that. It's gotten to the point where schools have gradually started shutting down. First the elementary schools were shut down, and then middle schools and high schools a little while later, and now all of the Universities are shut down. It's great news for missionary work because no one's in school, but it's obviously a bad problem.

Welp, that's all folks. 

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Cectpa Megan Wagstaff

Ebola Paranoia‏

Zdrastvuitye!

The time has finally come!!! Time to stretch my baby wings and fly! I'm getting transferred!!!! Goodbye Avrora, hello Saratov! I'm moving to a city in Saratov called Dachney. It's about a 9 hour train ride from Samara. Sister Jensen is staying in Avrora for her last cycle. My new companion's name is Sister James. I've been on exchanges and splits with her many a time. Pumped! I got to talk with one of the Sisters who served there and she told me so many wonderful things about Dachney! I can't wait to meet all of the great members and find some new disciples!

This letter will be short because I have to go back to the apartment and pack soon, but here are some highlights from the week!

So... apparently the Metro workers know something that we don't because for the past week, they've all been wearing surgical masks in the station. Why? I have no idea. Is it scary? Terrifying. I hope they're all just paranoid about catching the flu or something. Or is it..... Ebola???

Sister Jensen and I were finally able to meet with our favorite 17 year old investigator, Kiera. We are actually starting to make some solid progress with her which makes me a tiny bit sad that I'm leaving. We had a "goodbye" lesson with her yesterday so that I could bid her farewell and it was honestly heartbreaking. I was pretty torn up about saying goodbye. Many pictures were taken... many tears were almost shed. She has such a sincere desire to get baptized and be a part of this gospel, but she has a lot of little things that keep getting in the way. I have a feeling that she will get baptized soon, which also makes me a little sad that I won't be around to see it. Honestly, she just needs to get baptized though. Nothing will fix her life more than the gospel and having the Holy Ghost as her companion. She needs it.

Sister Jensen and I went walking on the Volga a few times this week and it is beautiful! The Volga freezes over in the winter and people cross country ski on it, snowmobile on it, walk on it, all sorts of stuff! There's a little tiny town about a mile across the river that people walk to when it's frozen. So beautiful! It is strictly forbidden for missionaries to walk across frozen bodies of water, so I will never get to live up to that dream.

Welp, that's all for this week! Don't wear scary masks or walk across frozen rivers!

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff

Sloth Ice Cream‏

Zdrastvuitye!

Every day is an interesting experience, but this week was slightly less eventful than usual. Still great nonetheless!

More knocking adventures!! Every single time Sister Jensen and I go knocking, we have lots of crazy experiences. At the very first door we knocked a couple of nights ago, we got yelled at by a lady and had to move on to another floor. At the second door, an even angrier lady answered and immediately escorted us to the elevator after lecturing us about how we weren't allowed to be there without a "code"... whatever that means. The next building we went to was full of nice people, but none of them were interested in meeting with us. It happens.

This week Sister Jensen and I were bound and determined to get an investigator to sacrament meeting. No one in our District has had an investigator in sacrament meeting in SO LONG. We prayed and fasted and searched and asked and scrounged and dug and climbed... with no promising prospects. Randomly in the middle of the week I remembered the name of a former that has been taught a few times and I gave her a call. She was elated to meet with us and we had the best lesson ever with her. She accepted all of our commitments and came to church on Sunday! Her husband isn't a fan of the church, but that's been the only roadblock with her thus far. I have faith that everything will work out and she will get baptized!

Hazelnut flavored everything! I have no idea why, but Russians are obsessed with hazelnut. They sell Snickers here that have hazelnuts instead of peanuts (actually really good), a ton of their chocolate has hazelnut in it, and a lot of their pastries have hazelnuts and chocolate in them. Somebody somewhere decided that hazelnut flavored ice cream was a good idea, and let me tell you... it's not:) One of the Elders in my district bought a tube (yes, a tube) of ice cream that had a picture of Sid the sloth on it. Once everyone tried the ice cream, we all decided that it was sloth flavored. It literally tasted like plastic bag with a hint of parmesan cheese... which I guess is what we decided a sloth tastes like. The texture was kind of like eating yogurt with dirt in it. Nasty! 

Welp... that's all for this week! Don't eat animal flavored ice cream or get lectured by cranky ladies!

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff

The Pain Game‏

Zdrastvuitye!

Much like last week, this week consisted of a lot of walking. Our area is pretty dead for all of the companionships right now, so we've been doing a lot of finding. Our previous investigators are either impossible to contact or don't have time to meet with us. I got to go knocking a few times and we got kicked out of two buildings, so that was fun! No really... it was actually really funny. Some people just straight up don't like us. It happens.
This week Sister Jensen and I went on exchanges with the Sisters in Bezi. I was with Sister James the first day and it was great fun! We visited a less active member who lives by a nuclear power plant... so comforting. When we walked by the power plant initially... I was pretty sure that I knew what it was, but I didn't want to be correct. After asking what the creepy huge tower things were, Sister James just chuckled and said, "Exactly what you think they are." Lovely. Anyways... On the way to the less actives house, Sister James and I saw a super fluffy cat sitting in a tree and we literally stood there for 6 minutes just talking to it and making baby noises at it. So ridiculous... but it was so cute!!! We got distracted really easily. When we finally got to the less active's apartment, we shared a talk from the new Liahona with her and the spirit was so strong! This woman isn't able to come to church because of some physical ailments. It broke my heart to watch her struggle to get around, but her faith is so strong! I wish everyone had as much faith as her! She does so much missionary work with all of the strength that she has. She is such an inspiration to me!
On the second day of the exchange, I was with a Sister named Sister Sotnikova. She's a native. I still struggle with understanding people a little bit, but the day didn't turn out as horribly as I anticipated. Companionship study was basically a train wreck... but that's fine. Miscommunication is always fun. Right when we walked out of our apartment, we helped a lady carry some groceries into her home and she let us stay! We talked to her about the Restoration and she got really excited for all of the activities that were going on in the Bezi branch. She didn't agree to meet with us again, but she lives right next to the Bezi Sisters so at least they know where to find her! Later, we went to a family activity. It was literally horrifying. Sister Sotnikova was in charge of the game after the spiritual thought and it was... interesting. I don't even know how to describe it... Well, I do. It's just terrifying. Everyone was assigned a number and we all stood in a circle. If your number got called, you had to shout out another number and then run to their spot as quickly as possible. If you didn't take their spot fast enough, you got hit with a belt. Not even exaggerating. Sometimes people got hit multiple times... I'm talking like 5 or 6 times in one run. Ladies and gentlemen... that's Russian games for you! Thankfully I didn't have to play since they had a bunch of people there.
One of the Sisters in our mission slipped on the ice and broke her ankle, so she will be going home tomorrow. Her and her companion have been living in the apartment next to President Schwab's for the past few days so that her companion, Sister Coleman, could come and work with us while the broken one vegetates on the couch with the senior couples who live there. The broken one isn't allowed to sleep alone obviously, and we didn't want to have to make the Senior Sister sleep on the couch next to her, so we've had to taxi Sister Coleman there and back SO. MANY. TIMES. We have picked her up every morning and dropped her off every night for the past 4 or 5 days. I love taxis and everything, but it gets old. Especially when it was taking a good hour and a half out of our day to drive all over the place. Thankfully Sister Coleman will be moving in tonight, so we won't have to taxi for a long time. Yay! We'll be in a tri-panionship until the end of the cycle (Feb 15). Shall be an adventure!!!
Obviously I wasn't a part of it, but Saratov had their "tryout" for a Stake this week. The Area President, Elder Bruce D. Porter, went down to Saratov with President Schwab and they scoped out the area. They were supposed to have a Conference in one of the Branch buildings down there, but news got around that there were going to be 500 picketers there, so the government shut down the building. Only 3 picketers ended up showing up, but they still got what they wanted... so they thought. President Schwab and Elder Porter still had the Conference via Skype, but nothing was said about instituting a Stake. They are still waiting for more worthy, tithe paying Priesthood holders to be able to uphold the Stake. It's still amazing that Saratov is so close! The work is growing in Russia!!!
Keep praying for miracles and don't get kicked out of buildings!

Do Svidanya!
Love,
Sister Megan Wagstaff