Bears up the Stairs‏

Zdrastvuitye!

Well, once again it is good ole transfer time and, once again, I got transferred! Yay! To me, it feels like transfers already happened 2 weeks ago since Sister James left me, so this tranfer has had a different vibe. I'm still in Saratov, but this time I'm in a city called Solnechney which is about 20 minutes away from Dachney. The Solnechney and Dachney branches share a church building, so I'll still get to see the Dachney members all the time! My new companion's name is Sister Wilson and she is fabulous! I love her so much! We got pretty close with the Solnechney Sisters when I was in Dachney, so this has been a painless transition. 

Unfortunately, the Dachney area is now closed for sisters, so we had to do a lot of cleaning before bidding farewell to our apartment. Typically when an area is closed you have to take out all of the stuff that's owned by the church, take out all of our food and possesions, scrub the place down until your hands bleed, clean up the blood, and then leave. However, in this instance, President decided to have the Dachney Elders move into our apartment instead of closing the contract, so we didn't have to do all of the heavy lifting. We did have to do a lot of extensive cleaning to get out all of the hair though. Not too fun. One method included sitting on the floor and brushing through the rugs with a comb to get the globs of hair out. That is a downside to living with a bunch of girls who have hair. 

I'm absolutely in love with the Solnechney apartment! It is seriously so nice. It looks like a modern apartment that I would legitimately live in. The furniture is all really nice, all of the appliances are great, the sink and toilet are in the same room (not a typical occurrence in Russia), and it has a beautiful view of the nuclear power plant... gorgeous! I'll try to send you some pictures later. Typically, I wouldn't be in my new area until Tuesday, but Sister Wilson's companion reached the end of her mission journey and is homeward bound, so we did the switcheroo on Saturday so that no one would be alone. Sad and happy times. 

This week Sister Leavitt and I visited a less active in our Branch who lives in a little house at the edge of our area. She is a sweet old lady who can't come to church because she can't really walk. She's starting to develop "the old lady hunch" where their bodies are literally bent forward at a 90 degree angle when they walk. Anyways, we talked to her a little bit about commandments since she's been having some issues with the Word of Wisdom. Right in the middle of the lesson, her entire house started shaking and there was a freaking shuffling sound coming from her attic. Neither Sister Leavitt or the old lady even noticed! Last time we went over to her house, I was on exchanges with Sister Twede and this exact same thing happened. When her house started shaking, the old lady looked at me with a terrified look on her face and said, "I have no idea who or what is up there but this happens all the time." It is physically impossible for someone to live up there based on the size and structure of her house, so I think she has some sort of an animal problem. Maybe small bears? Sister Leavitt and I joked that that would be a fun service project. Not.

We actually recieved a really cool referral from the Elders the other day for a lady who approached them about the "American book" that they were holding. She told them that she had a dream that her dead ancestors visited her and told her that she needed to save them. They told her that she would see two boys in white shirts with an American book and that they would be able to tell her how to save them. When she approached them on the street, the Elders got her number and passed it over to us. We were able to set up a meeting with her for the following day. Unfortunately, she ended up being a tad bit crazy and didn't remember anything about her dream or the Book of Mormon. Then, she freaked out when we tried to have a lesson at a member's apartment, but gladly accepted our invitation to chat with her in the park. Right after we said the opening prayer, she said, "Well, I hope you don't get upset, but I have to go," and then she got up and left. Definitely one of the strangest experiences I've had with a potential investigator.

Sister Leavitt and I discovered that we are the best cooks on the planet. We were both craving something sweet, so we whipped together one of the most delicious apple crisps I've ever eaten (aside from my mom's of course). Needless to say, we ate the whole pan in one day. 

Well, that's all for this week folks! Have good posture and remember your prophetic dreams!

Da Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff

Majestic Calves‏

Zdrastvuitye!

Today is my first and last birthday in Russia! We don't have any big plans for the day, but I think resting will be the best present because of how much walking we've done this week. Missionaries leave this area with majestic calves (not small cows) because of all the hills. Our entire day is a workout, not just the 30 minutes that we are alloted in the morning.

Sister Leavitt and I made borshe this week! We were on exchanges and didn't want to have to worry about making a million different meals for everyone, so we just whipped up a big ol' pot of borshe before the other sisters showed up. What is borshe, you may ask?? It is amazing. Period. Borshe is a soup made out of beets (main ingredient), potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, cabbage, and tomatoes. Super Russian. Super delicious. I had the honor of grating the beets, so it looked like I murdered someone with my bare hands. Cute. The soup was a success! It fed four sisters for about 4 days, so it worked out just as planned. Soup! Yay!

Sister Leavitt and I saw so many miracles this week! First of all, while we were contacting in a park, we approached a lonely old lady who was sitting on a bench. We initiated conversation with her and felt like we should start teaching the Restoration. She was so interested in everything we said and agreed with it all! When we started talking about Joseph Smith, she said, "Wow, he must have been a really worthy person. God doesn't just appear to anyone." Then when we talked about the Priesthood she said, "It must be really important that men who hold the Priesthood are worthy if it's a power from God." You're right! She was so amazing! She agreed to meet with us again and we're excited to see the miracles!

While Sister Leavitt and another Sister were on exchanges, they met an amazing 18 year old who asked all the right questions and agreed to meet with us. We were able to meet with her on Friday and it was wonderful! She was really touched by the message of the Restoration and agreed to be baptized! While I was on exchanges with a Sister named Sister Twede, we taught our 9 year old investigator the Restoration using pictures, and she also agreed to be baptised! Miracles everywhere! I have gained such a huge testimony that this is the Lord's work, not ours. There is no way Sister Leavitt and I with our limited knowledge of the gospel and our limited Russian could do anything without the Lord's hand. The church is true!

Sister Leavitt and I discovered the most delicious bakery ever!!! That's one thing I highly appreciate about being in a European-ish area... the pastries are to die for! There's a little cart thing that's kind of out of the way from our apartment, but occassionally we go out of our way to stop by. THEN we discovered THIS bakery. It's on the way to one of the areas that we visit frequently, the pasteries are so cheap (I'm talking like 30 cents), and they're so good! The outside looks pretty sketchy, as do most things in Russia, but when you walk in it's literally heaven. If heaven is a pastery hole, then I found it. My favorite pasteries are actually similar to a glorified toaster streudel. Flakey, buttery, golden cuccoon filled with fruity goodness. Mmmm. Needless to say, we will be visiting again multiple times. 

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff

Pumpkin Juice‏

Zdrastvuitye!

This week has FINALLY been a busy one. It has been a big change transitioning from being inside for three weeks to going out and working full-force. I'm not back in the swing of things yet, but everything will be back to normal soon enough.

On Wednesday I said goodbye to Sister James. It was a sad parting, but it was for the best. I'm still here in good old Dachney! My new companion's name is Sister Leavitt. I lived with her in the MTC for a couple of weeks before she left for Russia and I've been on exchanges with her a couple of times. She's great! Transfers are in a couple of weeks and neither of us know if we will stay together for the next cycle or not. She's only a cycle older than me, so we've been doing our best with the knowledge that we have. The work is moving forward!

Every week the missionaries teach an English Group for members, investigators, and whoever else wants to come. We teach them principles from the missionary lessons in both English and Russian. This week we talked about The Tree of Life and the Elders decided that we should act it out. They set up "The Iron Rod" (a black streamer) across the multipurpose room and used a fake Christmas tree as "The Tree of Life." They hung some baggies of banana bread on the tree as the fruit. On either side of the rod there were people throwing candy at the participants trying to get them to let go of the rod, one elder was trying to entice the participants into playing a game of tic-tac-toe, one had a movie (Mormon Message) playing, and one was throwing crumpled up paper at us. Super funny! I'm not sure how much English they learned from that activity, but it was pretty entertaining.

Sister Leavitt and I saw a huge miracle this week while we were contacting. We ran into two cheerful-looking women who later told us that they were from Ukraine. They moved here with their family without any money, food, or a place to live. Just the fact that they're here with they're family makes them so happy. We were able to bear testimony about the importance of families in our church and they agreed to meet with us! They told us that they investigated the Jehovah's Witnesses church and they weren't interested in it. There is a surplus of JWs in Dachney, so it was nice to hear that they didn't want any part of it. I am so excited to see what will come from these wonderful ladies! The church is so true!

Funny stories! One afternoon when Sister Leavitt and I were contacting in a park, a huge flock of crows flew overhead and perched on the trees above us. I felt something hit my head and I prayed with all of my might that it was just some water dripping off of a branch or something. I touched the "water" with my hand and it came back white. I asked Sister Leavitt if there was something in my hair and she started laughing behind me, so that was a good indication that it wasn't water. Sister Leavitt used a hunk of ice to scrape the bird poop out of my hair... awesome.

Whilst being in Russia, I bought some rainboots to survive "The Great Melt" that happens between Winter and Spring. Literally every single time I've worn my rainboots on the street, at some point during the day I've either slipped into or fallen in a puddle that was deeper than my boots, thus turning my waterproof rainboots into little submarines. Rainboots are wonderful at both keeping water from entering and keeping water from exiting.

Also, I tried pumpkin juice for the first time. We were visiting a member who just got back from the hospital and she gave it to us. I was pumped to try it since it is referenced in Harry Potter and I figured it must be good if it's in there. Literally SO disgusting. Never again. The first couple of sips were okay... tasted like squash or something. The more I drank it, the nastier it got. I don't know what kind of pumpkin juice they drank in Harry Potter, but this stuff was horrid.

Welp, that's all for this week folks! Don't drink fantastical drinks or wear tiny submarines!

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff

Time to Learn‏

Zdrastvuitye!

Welp... this letter is going to be extremely short. Sister James and I were inside every single day this week, minus going to church and one meeting with a less active. The less active had the friendliest little dalmation that I've ever met! She would snuggle up next to me and get little white baby hairs all over my black skirt. So cute! The lesson with the less active was great! She had some pretty twisted ideas about church, but I'm confident that she'll come back with time, especially since her mom is an active member. Fun fact... the word for 'yoga' in Russian still sounds like yoga. I only know that because the less active wants to become a Bhuddist... she does a lot of yoga.

On a more serious note, Sister James, President Schwab, and I have been praying all week long to figure out the fate of Sister James. On multiple occassions, the spirit confirmed that Sister James will, indeed, go home early. Sometime in the next couple of days she will be homeward bound. Of course we are all sad that it came to this, but she will be able to receive the needed medical attention and the work will be able to continue in our area. I have no idea what's going to happen to our area or who I'm going to be companions with, but everything will work out. The Lord knows betters than we do. The experiences that I've had this cycle weren't always the most desireable, but I've learned more in these 3 short weeks than I have in any other period of time on my mission. I look forward to being able to go out and work my hardest. Time to go forth and learn other things!

That's all for this week! Remember to always be grateful and strengthen others!

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff

Please Bless the Refreshments‏

Zdrastvuitye!

At Zone Conference last Monday, we recieved a new daily schedule to help us consecrate every hour of our day. We are free to choose between the original and the new schedule according to our appointments and such, but so far I love the new schedule! I was skeptical about it at first, but we saw SO many miracles as a result of it! Now, we get up at 6:30 (as usual), go out the door and teach on the street from 7-9 (yes, we usually look pretty ugly), get ready and stuff from 9-10:30, have personal study from 10:30-11:30, then we go back out and street teach (contacting... but we're not supposed to call it that anymore) from 11:30-1:30, then we eat lunch from 1:30-2:30, then companionship study, language study, dinner, and then we hit the streets again. Before, we were inside getting ready and studying from 6:30 to noon, which is when people are outside going to work, getting lunch, going to school, all that stuff. So this new schedule is designed to help us "cast a wider net" and be out when the fish are biting instead of heading out when everyone is already at work and at school. The first day we tried out the schedule, Sister James and I walked out the door at 7am and were astonished by all of the people that were outside! We gave away so many brochures and Book of Mormons and talked with so many amazing people! The Leadership of this Mission is inspired, no doubt about it!

We finally had an appointment with one of our investigators who we hadn't even met yet. She has recieved all of the lessons and can get baptized any day now. She is so amazing!!! Sister James and I forgot about a baptism that was happening at the same time as the lesson, so we ended up watching the baptism with our investigator before the lesson. That was a fun pre-lesson activity. She is so prepared! The only thing holding her back from getting baptized is her parents. They really don't want her to get baptized. We have promised her blessings and shared experiences and prayed for her. She'll get baptized! I just know it!

This week, Sister James and I had a family night with one of the members in our Branch, not knowing beforehand that we were about to enter a Russian mansion! Her house was massive! Well, massive meaning the size of a big American home. People typically live in tiny apartments with one or two rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen, or in a tiny home with one or two rooms, a kitchen, and bathroom. This house was intense! There were four floors with a huge kitchen, a ballroom, about 4 or so bedrooms on one floor, a half-finished attic with a pool table and workout equipment, and a basement that we never got to see. It blew my mind! The other member that came with us was admiring everything as if it were an art museum. So cute!

So many nasty foods. I don't know what it was about this week, but Sister James and I were served some of the grossest things I've ever put in my mouth. All of the food came from the sweetest members ever, so there's no way you can turn them down! Especially when they took the time to make things for us when they have so little. The first thing we recieved was this creepy compote made out of boiled apples, cherries, sugar, and some other weird stuff. Sounds pretty good, right? Nope. Probably had 8 cups of sugar in it and it was still bitter. I had to straight up chug the last half in my tea cup because I couldn't handle sipping it anymore. Literally almost gagged. The second thing we got might have actually been cat food... questionable. This lady plopped a plate of chick pea-looking things in front of Sister James and I and told us to enjoy. I shoveled it down as quickly as possible to get it over with. Sister James took one bite and pretty much threw up in her mouth. Needless to say, she did not finish.

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff