Transfer calls are in! I have 3 pieces of news, each varying in importance. First off, I'm staying in Penza with little Sister Warnick for another cycle! Yay! By the end of this cycle, I will have lived in Penza for 5 cycles (about 7.5 months). That's quite a while, but I love Penza with all of my heart and soul, so I'm fine with that. That seems to be a trend in Penza for some reason. There's always one Sister that ends up staying here for a million years whilst cycling through companions. That would be me. Sister Warnick and I just deep cleaned and rearranged our apartment to our liking, so I was actually really relieved that I would be staying. I've definitely nested, that's for sure.
Second item of news, I am now the Sister Training Leader over the Kazan and Toliyatti areas... for now. This morning I was informed that they might be giving Kazan over to the Sister Training Leader in Samara and I would be adopting a different area into my stewardship, but we'll see. For now, this is how it is, and I am pumped! Sister Thomas is still in Kazan, and Sister Warnick's companion from the MTC has taken Sister Wilson's place in the tri-panionship in Kazan, so both of us will be sad for a little while if we don't get to go on exchanges with the Kazan sisters, but life goes on either way.
Third item of news... Please forget all of the release dates that I have sent you prior to this email. When Sister Warnick and I received our transfer call, I had my actual release date cleared up as a result of the following piece of news. FINAL PIECE OF NEWS. So... I kind of accidentally got my extension... emphasis on the "kind of." I didn't officially get my extension, but here's the story: In the coming months, the MTC is going to start keeping the English speaking missionaries in the MTC for a longer period of time. As a result of this, the group of missionaries that will be coming to our mission at the beginning of the year will arrive a week later than anticipated, which means my last cycle will be a 7 week cycle instead of a 6. I'm still not really sure how all of those things correlate, but they do somehow... so that's how it is. Considering that my original release date added an extra two weeks onto my mission, this additional week will make me 6 days short of serving a 19 month mission. Pretty cool. My release date is March 7th, whereas my previous one was March 1st. This news came as a pretty big shock. I know it's only a week, but it was very unanticipated, that's for sure. I am excited about it though! I guess the Lord thought that I needed to get my extension after all:)
So... On a cold and snowy night with no lessons ahead of us, Sister Warnick and I decided to stop by good old Baba Katia's place (the crazy lady that yelled at us for laughing at her singing) and have a little family home evening with her. The lesson went as expected; lots of constrained laughing during the Hymns, and an intense interpretation of Lehi's Dream: Baba Katia Edition. At the end of the lesson, Baba Katia gave us some tea and candy and sent us on our way. At the top of the staircase on her floor, in the process of turning to give Baba K a final wave goodbye, I twisted my ankle on the top step and sent myself plummeting down the stairs. I have never flown (or stumbled, rather) down a set of stairs so quickly in my entire life. I kind of blacked out for a couple of seconds in the middle of it all, but I just remember waking up laying flat on my side with my legs in the air. The only thing that kept me from breaking my arm or dislocating my shoulder was my poofy, fat, sleeping-bag coat. I ended up on the landing beheath where I fell and when I looked up at Sister Warnick, she was literally dying laughing. I heard a pair of legs bolt down the staircase above us and this random fellow peeked his head around the corner and died laughing as well. At that point I was laughing my head off because I was so confused about what had just happened, so I bet the kid was thinking, "Wow, that girl must be hammered." Then, a wild Baba Katia appears. She stood next to Sister Warnick and literally started yelling at me for falling down the stairs. Thank you Baba Katia. I do not recollect this part at all, but Sister Warnick told me that I literally slammed my body into the mailboxes at the bottom of the staircase and ricocheted onto the floor in an intensely dramatic manner. Somehow my legs ended up in a "sticking up" position, not really sure how. That's great. So graceful. No permanent damage was done. My ankle still hurts a bit a week later, but I'm totally fine. Just call me Grace.
It has been 6 months since my last Visa Trip, so guess what I have this week? Mhmm... my final Visa Trip! Yay! This one is slightly unusual though... actually... very unusual. Guess where I will be going for my Visa Trip? You won't be able to guess. We're going to Kazakhstan. Guess how we're getting there? By plane? Nope. Train? Nope. Mini bus? Yep. Bright and early Wednesday morning, me and all of the Visa Trippers will be loading onto a mini bus, taking a 2 and a half hour mini bus ride across the border into Kazakhstan, getting our Passports stamped, and then turning right back around. Sounds pretty ghetto... but I am excited out of my mind. President has sent out about 3 test groups to make sure that this method of "Visa Tripping" is safe, and no one has gotten thrown in jail or died, so it shouldn't be too sketchy. Should be an adventure, that's for sure.
I want to share a quote with all of you that I have been thinking about nonstop for the past few weeks. I'm sure it originates from somewhere other than where I heard it, but nonetheless, I love it. Sister Warnick and I were watching some Mormon Messages a little while ago and somebody in one of the videos said, "God gives the toughest battles to His strongest soldiers." I'm not going to elaborate on this quote too much because I want you to apply this quote to yourselves. But anytime you are going through a trial or situation that seems too hard for you, or anyone else, to bear, just remember that Heavenly Father knows you and He knows that you can handle it. I would much rather experience a life of trials knowing that I am a soldier in the eyes of Heavenly Father, than coasting through life without any knowledge of why things are the way they are. You are soldiers!
Welp, that's all for this week folks! Watch your step and take a road trip into a wierd country on a tiny bus!
Do Svidanya!
Love,
Sister Megan Wagstaff
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