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
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