This week was a good one! A hot one... but a good one! I got a sunburn after being outside for only an hour. Also, the mosquitoes are alive and well in good old Russia. I counted my bug bites the today and I have 55 mosquito bites on me right now... 33 on one leg (the pictured one). It has been really rainy and stormy for the past couple of days, so the mosquitoes are loving the puddles. I heard that the mosquitoes will start to die off from the heat in the next couple of weeks, so I am looking forward to that. Bug spray and sun screen are on the shopping list today.
Sister Martinez and I were in Balakova for the first half of this week and it was a blast! The bus ride there and back was great! Thankfully there was air conditioning on the first bus, so that was a blessing. We ended up talking to the people sitting next to us on the last half of the trip to Balakova, and it was quite miraculous. One of the girls that I talked to was so excited that we were from America and took advantage of the opportunity to talk to us in English. Sister Martinez ended up teaching a different lady the Restoration before we arrived at our destination. It was a really great experience. The bus on the way back to Saratov did not have air conditioning, so Sister Martinez and I looked like discheveled hobos when we got back home. I don't know why, but the ride back home was so much bumpier than the ride there. I almost got a concussion like 20 times because there was a big metal pole in front of my seat that I almost faceplanted into everytime we hit a bump. Other than than, I had a wonderful time in Balakova, but it's definitely a lot different than being in a big city like I'm used to.
Balakova is so beautiful! It is a small town outside of Saratov and it is so green. Very foresty and cute. The are Jehovah's Witnesses EVERYWHERE! They are almost as bad as the mosquitoes. I accidentally sat by a Jehovah's Witness on the bus who was trying to convert the lady sitting next to her. I got really uncomfortable and just sat there silently. When we got to our stop, I dropped a brochure on the victimized lady's purse and bolted off the bus. I hope she read it! I've been told multiple times that Balakova is the "place of miracles" and that is definitely not a lie. We met a lot of really amazing people on the streets and got some lessons set up with them. Elder Russell M Nelson went to Moscow on Tuesday night and the conference was broadcasted to all of the church buildings in Russia. We took an investigator and got to watch it. He talked about 10 things that he has learned in his life and promised a lot of blessings. I can't remember all of the 10 things that he stated, but all of the points related to the information in the message of the Restoration. It was really great!
The apartment in Balakova is pretty old and ghetto, so that was a fun adventure. The bathroom door doesn't have a latch that keeps it shut, so their door has a lock that looks like the kind that you would find in a community restroom stall. The little metal stick that you slide into the hole on the door frame falls out a lot, so you have to go on a scavenger hunt to find it before you go to the bathroom sometimes. Also, their apartment has been without hot water for the past couple of weeks so if we wanted to take a shower, we had to fill up a bowl with water that we heated in a kettle, mix in enough cold water to make it a bearable temperature, and then use little plastic cups to bath ourselves. Such a fun time! The first night that we were over there, one of the sisters decided to throw in a load of laundry while we were getting ready for bed. After we all finished our nightly prayers, we hear a "Uh... we have a small problem," come from the kitchen. The kitchen floor was flooded with water!!! Apparently the hose that drains the water from the laundry machine came detached and all of the water got pumped onto the kitchen floor. Literally so funny, but everyone was freaking out! I wonder if the neighbors underneath us got a nice shower? I loved Balakova but it was nice to get back to our area and help out our own investigators.
Our investigator who invited her friend on the lesson with her last week finally agreed to be baptized! At the end of one of our lessons, we extended the baptismal invitation again with an official baptismal date, and our investigator's friend said "yes!" without hesitation. Then we tossed the question over to our investigator and she said, "I'll get baptized sometime after her." After explaining that she could be baptized on the same day as her friend, she said, "Alright, then let's do it." Sister Martinez and I were ecstatic! So exciting! They are both progressing beautifully and I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for them!
Sister Martinez got a package from her family this week and it was FULL of Mexican candy. Such a funny family! They also sent her the movie "Meet the Mormons" and we got permission to watch it today, so guess what we're going to do? Yep, your guess is probably right. Excited! It is so wierd to me that all Mexican candy is spicy. I love it! I ate a lolly pop yesterday that you had to lick through a layer of chili peppers before you could get to the sugary sucker part, but even the sucker had chili peppers in it. It was pretty hot.
This week President Porter, the area President, is coming down to Saratov for a zone conference and we are so excited! We all have our fingers crossed that he is going to announce that a stake is going to be formed in Saratov. How amazing would that be? We are anxiously waiting for that day to happen.
Well, that's all for this week folks! Wear bug spray and lock your bathroom doors!
Do Svidanya!
Love,
Sister Megan Wagstaff
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