Zdrastvuitye!
This week was full of lots of adventures! Sister Thomas and I are having way too much fun together and we are pretty much always in a state of hysterical laughter. Good times. I had forgotten how crazy living in Russia is until I became companions with Sister Thomas. Her fresh American eyes are swift to notice all of the crazy Russian things that have become so normal to me. Yay, Russian life!
First off, on the 13th was my official year mark on the mission! Whoo-hoo! Man, time is flying! Anyways, of course Sister Thomas and I had to get something yummy to celebrate, so we went to this delicious cake shop called Шоколад.RU (Chocolate Russia). They make about a million different kinds of delicious cupcakes and cakes and things, but my favorite is a little chocolate-almond-pistachio flavored cake. It has a little slab of chocolate cake on the bottom, chocolate cream on top of that, an almond-pistachio cream on top of that, and then a thin slab of bright green fondant to cover it all up. Literally the most delicious cake I have ever put in my mouth. But guess what?? They didn't have it. Guess who didn't get to eat their favorite cake?? Me. It's okay though... we went back the next day and celebrated my year and a day mark with the pistachio cake. Heavenly.
This week we also had a surprise Zone Conference! By surprise, I mean that I straight up forgot about it. The Elders called us Monday night and asked, "So you know what time your train is leaving tomorrow, right?".... "Uhhh... what?" Yeah. Forgot about that. Frantic packing and snack buying ensued the next morning. At that point I had already sent out about 40 english group reminder texts that I had to back-track and fix. Lots of fun. Zone Conference is so worth it though! I love trains, so I wasn't upset about that surprise at all. Speaking of trains, the bathrooms in trains are pretty sketchy, meaning, when you flush the toilet on the train, a little flap opens up at the bottom of the bowl and you are dead on looking at the train tracks whoosh beneath you. After this discovery, Sister Thomas and I spent a little more time than we should have looking for "logs" on the tracks outside our window. No success. Yet. Anyways, I felt so much peace being back at home in Samara after our train ride. Everything was so familiar, except for the fact that it wasn't covered in deadly ice like it was when I lived there. Such a fun place. Zone Conference was amazing, as usual. I always get a much needed spiritual boost after Conferences and Trainings. I learned a lot and I am excited to apply the things that I learned into the work.
When we got back from Conference a couple days later, I took Sister Thomas to see the Russian Cemetery that Sister Thomas the older and I went to a few weeks ago. We actually saw some cool miracles on the way there. On the road across the street from the cemetery is a little stretch of flower shops that sell a variety of fake flowers to stick on people's graves. Normally Sister Thomas the older and I would just walk on by, but Sister Thomas and I decided to talk to the owners as we made our way through. The first few people were busy cleaning up their flower stalls, but they gladly accepted brochures and promised to read them. I was a little bit nervous as we approached a couple of women who were having a conversation; thinking that they would hate me if we interupted their conversation. I almost shyed away from the opportunity to talk to them, but I felt prompted to engage them in a conversation. Wanting to "one-up" Satan for making me scared in the first place, I approached them with the intent of having the best conversation they'd ever had in their lives. In the beginning, one of the women was pretty cold to us, but in the end she took a Book of Mormon and said that she would come to English Group sometime! The other woman almost accepted a Book of Mormon, but told us honestly that she wasn't going to read it, so she kindly returned it to us. She agreed to come to church if she had time though! They were both really nice and very open. Imagine how much they (and I) would have missed out on had I yielded to my initial fear. The Lord will always help us as long as we are doing our part. Miracles everywhere!!
The cemetery was creepy, as usual. There were a ton of headstones that had big, human-length mounds of dirt just chilling in front of them, which really freaked out Sister Thomas and I. I kept thinking that I would accidentally expose a dead foot or something if I ran into one of the mounds. Real creepy. I don't know if the bodies are actually inside the dirt hills, but I don't really want to find out. Nobody was in the cemetery, but Sister Thomas and I had a deep conversation about death as we were walking around. Yeah.
Remember that member that I visited a few weeks ago named Lada? The one with all of the pictures of her face on her walls? Yeah. Sister Thomas and I dropped by her house again to do a little spiritual thought, and I don't think I will ever forget (nor can I forget) what transpired in that meeting. We played a game using the scriptures and then I let Sister Thomas and Lada get to know each other a little more. Sister Thomas showed Lada her little picture book and we convinced Lada to show us her pictures as well. With a little encouragement, she finally fetched her photo album. So we thought. She ended up walking back with about 8 photo albums. A few of which were her family and friends. A few of which contained some of the art that artists have made for her. And a few of which were pictures of her bare naked body modeling for artists before she was a member!!! Let me remind you that she is like 75 years old... she got baptized about 5 years ago... these pictures weren't that old... but she is. Oh the wrinkles. I pray that you will never have to endure such a sight. *Cringe and shiver* Anyways... We commited her to write her testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it to someone. Hopefully something good will come of that visit. Yikes.
The hot water has been turned off in our apartment for almost two weeks now. Sister Thomas has yet to experience a warm shower in Russia. Hehe. After the first week, we were getting pretty tired of shreiking and cringing whilst in the shower, so we have henseforth resorted to bathing the old fashion way by heating up a pot of water and cooling it down with a bucket of normal water. Great fun! When in Russia, live as the Russians do. Actually, the Russians probably just suck it up and bathe in their cold water. Who knows. There is now a creepy residue in my hair from not being able to clean it properly, but whatever. That is why the Lord created hair buns, I guess.
Well, that's it for this weeks folks! Don't dig around in cemetery mounds and be careful about the pictures that you put in your photo albums!
Do Svidanya!
Love,
Sister Megan Wagstaff
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