Adventure Train‏

Zdravstvuitye!

Hello, friends! I hope that you are all enjoying the weather wherever you are in the world, because we are freezing our buns off in Russia! Yesterday, it was about -22 degrees Celcius all day long (almost -8 degrees F). Today, it's about -18 degrees Celcius. Nice and toasty! In the summertime, you can hardly see out the bus windows because of all of the sweaty condensation that collects on the glass. In the wintertime, you can't see out the windows because the condensation freezes to the window panes and it's almost impossible to get off. Yesterday I had to use a hardback copy of the Book of Mormon to chisel a little hole through the window ice so that I could see where we were. Great fun!

Well, we were hardly in Penza at all this week since Sister Warnick had a Visa Trip. We got up at a ridiculously early hour on Tuesday morning and headed out on a train to Samara. We didn't get back into our area until Thursday night, so we really only spent 3 full days in Penza this week. I had a really good time in Avrora though! I got to see my other baby, Sister Thomas, which is always an adventure. It was fun getting to catch up with her and talk to her about how the work is going in her area. I can't believe that she's been in Russia for more than 6 months! It feels like just yesterday I picked her up from the office on her first day in Russia! How time flies! This was the last time that I will get to see her until she gets home from her mission, so we had a pretty emotional parting. She's going to be an amazing missionary, she already is! Mommy raised her well. Anyways, while I was in Avrora, I had a full day of working with the sisters there since Sister Warnick was on a bus to Kazakhstan. I got to work in a tri-panionship with one of the sisters that came in with Sister Thomas's group and a sister that has been out for about a month and a half. We spent a majority of our time contacting, so that was wonderful... my sarcasm hand is raised. I can't decide if I like contacting in a tri-panionship or not. It's kinda nice because you can tag-team it and everyone takes turns, but it usually just ends up being an overwhelming situation for both the missionaries and the victim on the street. A good learning experience for sure. I was relieved to be back as a normal companionship after that... we'll just put it that way. On Thursday afternoon, Sister Warnick and I waved goodbye to Samara for the hundredth time and left on our train. The good thing about our trip back home is that we got first class tickets, which means we got fed! We had the option of choosing between chicken curry or some kind of beef stew, so we both chose the the chicken curry. I was super pumped about eating it until it was physically set in front of me. There wasn't a hint of curry, or anything exotic for that matter, in it at all. It consisted of a few chunks of chicken covered in rice and topped with a sauce that I'm pretty sure was just the water that they cooked the rice with. Mmm. Savory. It definitely could have been worse though. Train food is typically pretty sketchy anyways, so I'll take my bland chicken rice over stomach worms any day.

The train ride back to Penza was pretty interesting. We received quite a few pretty serious phone calls over the course of that 7 hour trip that probably should have been saved for a stationary location with better signal. Anyways, the first phone call had to do with my assignment as Sister Training Leader. None of the Sister Training Leaders changed, but all three of us are serving in the Samara Zone now, so they had to make some changes to our area assignments. Instead of having stewardship over Toliatti and Bezi like I did last cycle, I have been given 3 out of the 4 areas in Saratov to be in charge of. My last cycle is literally going to fly because of how many exchanges we are going to be going on! I have never been so excited to receive a phone call in my entire life because one of the areas that I am over now is Solnechney!!!! Not only do I love the sisters that are serving there, but Solnechney was my favorite area besides Penza. Also, when we go there for exchanges, I will get to meet with one of the converts that I baptized and see her for the first time since June! Literally so pumped! The same week that we will be doing exchanges with Solnechney, we will also be going on exchanges with another area. I have actually never been to this area in the mission before because it just barely got opened up to sisters about 2 cycles ago. It hasn't been open to sisters because it is the sketchiest area in the mission for both Elders and Sisters. They haven't had any incidents there in a while, so that's good news. This area is called Zavodskoi and apparently the Sister's apartment is the nicest one in the mission, so I'm interested to see what it's like. The last area that I have stewardship over is right between Solnechney and Zavodskoi and it's called Volzhski. We are going to have the Volzhski sisters come to us in Penza though so that we aren't out of our area for a solid 2 weeks. I'm excited to go back to Saratov, even if it's just for a short time.

The second phone call that we received on the train was super confusing at first. Literally our District Leader said, "Tomorrow morning we are having Zone Conference so you need to be ready by 9:00. *Click*" Ummm... Let's examine the situation for a sec. We are sitting on a train going AWAY from Samara, we just barely had Zone Training 2 weeks earlier, and there's just a lot of information missing from that statement in general. I called the Zone Leaders shortly after and they clarified that there would, indeed, be Zone Conference the following day, but that it was going to be via Skype as a mission-wide broadcast of sorts. We've never had a mission-wide anything before, so that was super cool to hear. Thank you, district leader, for your clear instructions and wisdom.

So, here's a little background as to why we had a last-minute Zone Conference that gave everyone ulcers. Here it is: Since there aren't any Stakes in Russia besides in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Saratov, that means there isn't a Patriarch in any of the other territories in Russia besides those three. Since there are obviously strong members of the church in other parts of Russia besides those three that want Patriarchal Blessings, the church has a "traveling Patriarch" that visits certain areas of Eastern Europe at certain times of the year. Now that there is a Patriarch in Saratov, the "traveling Patriarch" (his name is Patriarch Moenschwander) was in town so that he could train the new one. Since he was in town, we all Skyped in to hear his words of wisdom. He definitely had lots of wise words to bestow upon us. I'm not going to go into detail about everything that he talked about because I don't have enough time. He went over a list of about 5 things that he's noticed in successful missionaries. Some of them are very much mission-related, but one of them was, "having a genuine enthusiasm and gratitute to the Lord for their calling (or insert whatever you want in place of "calling"). That one is actually really easy to neglect. Sometimes it's easier to switch into "robot mode" and just go through the motions instead of taking the time to put thought and meaning into what you're doing. It really does take a different mindset. Definitely changed my perspective, that's for sure.

On Wednesday, the Church held a World Wide Missionary Broadcast that us missionaries in Russia didn't get to watch until Friday because of transfers and the time difference and such. It lasted a couple of hours and went over a plethora of topics. The broadcast was fine. That's all I'm going to say about it.

Sunday was a day of miracles, to say the least. We called a lot of less actives on Sunday morning to invite them to church and only 2 of them said that they would for sure be coming. With the weather being as brisk as it is, it's really hard to even get active members to come to church sometimes. Anyways, by the time that Sacrament Meeting started, there were 6 less actives in the chapel and almost all of the seats were filled by members! I have never seen the chapel so full in my life! It was such an amazing experience!

Welp, that's all for this week, folks! Eat some exotic food and hug a Patriarch.

So Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff

Sleepy Sisters‏

Zdravstvuitye!

Man, this has definitely been one of the longest weeks of my life. As soon as Preparation Day ended last week, Sister Warnick and I started making preparations for our trip to Samara for Zone Training. We woke up at 4 in the morning the following day and hopped on a fast train to Avrora. We spent the rest of the day in Samara and had Zone Training the next day. We hopped back on another train as soon as Zone Training was finished and returned to Penza that same night. 2 trains in a 36 hour time span takes a lot out of you, I'll tell you that much. We left Penza on Tuesday morning and came back on Wednesday night. Even though we were only out of our area for 2 days, it felt like we had been gone for the whole week. It threw both of us off that it was only Thursday by the time we started working again. Sister Warnick and I are slowly making up the lost sleep, but starting tomorrow, the battle begins once again.

On Saturday, I got the last transfer call that I will ever receive on my mission. Sister Warnick and I were freaking out because at Zone Training the Assistants to the President were talking about how President had all of the transfers figured out, and then he changed everything at the last second. We were so nervous that we were going to get split up! I told the Assistants on multiple occassions that my only dying wish is that I stay in Penza with Sister Warnick. President, for the most part, is pretty good about granting people's dying wishes, so I wasn't too worried about it being fulfilled until the AP's started flipping nuggets about all the changes that were made. Anyways... President pulled through and I will, indeed, be dying in Penza with Sister Warnick as my last companion. 11 cycles (17 months) in the bag, 1 more cycle to go, 9 companions and 4 areas total, check.

Fortunately, neither of us are leaving, but Sister Warnick is going on her first Visa Trip to Kazakhstan on Wednesday, so we get to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning and take yet another train to Samara. Thankfully we should have some time to reboot after this train ride since we won't be coming back to Samara until Thursday night instead of the very next day. Should be a lot of fun, but you know you're getting old on the mission (and in life) when it takes all of the energy that you have to stay awake during the day after one of those trips. I definitely fit in that category. I'm still suffering from the lack of sleep from last week's adventure.

Zone Training was and always is a blast! It was a really strange experience for me when I came to the realization that this would be the last Zone Training that I would ever attend for the rest of my mission. Yikes. Anyways, Sister Thomas (the older) and I were given a chunk of time to fill at the Training, so we decided to talk about contacting, or tracting, as some people call it. Neither of us can say that we are necessarily good at contacting, but compared to the contacting methods I've seen other sisters do on exchanges, it needed to be addressed. We only had to fill a 30-45 minute slot, but it ended up going for over an hour. We had a lot of great discussions with the missionaries about why and how we should contact. Overall, I think it went pretty well. President Schwab and the Zone Leaders talked about love and happiness for the rest of the training, so that added a nice balance to everything that was said. 

Aside from all of the traveling, this week has been very successful in terms of the missionary work. One of our less active, Tatiana (the one that just moved), has been making HUGE progress over these past couple of weeks. One of the first lessons that Sister Warnick and I ever had with her was in the beginning of November. At the end of that lesson she told us not to come back until December. Great. Going a month without seeing someone is usually pretty catastrophic when you're just barely starting to make progress with them. Anyways, fast forward to where we stand now; she is a completely different person! She is actually laughing and smiling and she is putting in a genuine effort to learn the doctrine. She asks lots of questions, is a HUGE giver of referrals, and she has started coming back to church! Such a gem. There are a handful of other less actives that are making some good progress as well that I would love to talk about, but I'm a little crunched for time today since we have to get ready for our train tomorrow. 

Welp, that's all for this week, folks! Get a good sleep in and work on your contacting methods!

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Wagstaff

Miracle Madness

Zdrastvuitye!

Phew! This week was a pretty stressful one. I'm honestly glad that it's over. We had the Sisters over from Bezi (the area next to Avrora) for exchanges and it was quite the whirlwind to say the least. I had a blast working with them, but there were quite a lot of issues with that companionship that contributed to the growth of many ulcers inside my body. After they went back to their area, Sister Warnick and I had a nice long weekend to get back into the swing of things. Then, we got an unexpected text on Wednesday from one of the Assistants to the President giving us our plans for the unannounced Zone Training in Samara that is in two days. That means Sister Warnick and I get to wake up nice and early tomorrow morning and ride a train to Samara once again. Yay! I love last minute adventures, but we also just barely found out that the Sister Training Leaders will be given a slot to fill in the upcoming Zone Training. We literally have one day to plan it. Thank you, Elders, for your consistent wisdom and good decision-making skills. Not.

Anyways, exchanges with the Bezi Sisters were actually super fun! I love the Bezi Sisters so much! One of them is Russian, and her name is Sister Greshina. The other one's name is Sister Graham (not Russian). They are both pretty young in the mission, so it made sense that they were having some struggles. I worked with Sister Greshina the first day, and we had a blast! Our Ward put together a big New Years Party for the children that we ended up going to and there was a huge turnout of less actives at the activity! Some of these less actives hadn't come to church in years, but the non-threatening atmosphere of a New Years Party was enough to get them to come back! And.... all of them came to church the following Sunday! It was one of the most amazing miracles I've seen in a long time. Another interesting thing happened at that activity, but it surprisingly had to do with the Sister that I was on exchanges with. Sister Greshina is from Saint Petersburg and there are a few members in our ward that served there 15+ years ago that met her when she was a toddler. It was an interesting experience seeing her reconnect with these missionaries that taught her family when she was little. It just goes to show that you never know how big of an impact your missionary service will have/has had on people and their families until later down the road, or more likely until the afterlife.

My day on exchanges with Sister Graham wasn't any less miraculous than the one with Sister Greshina. We were planning on meeting with one of our less actives named Tatiana who just barely moved into a new apartment, but it ended up turning into quite the party. We showed up at Tatiana's house pretty early in the afternoon and we had planned on starting the Restoration over with her since she doesn't really remember anything about the missionary lessons. After sitting in her kitchen for about 5 minutes, Tatiana's brother and his wife (both less actives) showed up out of nowhere! We taught all three of them the beginning of the Restoration and committed them to come to church! And... guess who came to church that Sunday?? They did! 

As a whole, this weekend has just been packed full of crazy miracles! Usually when we go out contacting, only a handful of people will take a brochure or stop to talk to us. This weekend was the complete opposite! There were only a handful of people that DIDN'T want to talk to us! We had so many solid conversations on the streets and it was so fun to see the Lord's hand in our area. Also, at church on Sunday, 6 less actives showed up to church. 6! We consider ourselves lucky when one less active a month comes to church! There were 6! And the craziest part was that only 2 of them received a formal invitation. The Lord is blessing this area, for sure!

Of course, there is opposition in all things, so I experienced a few embarrassing moments to keep my pride from developing. First off... my boots are destroyed. That isn't the embarrassing moment, but the physical state of my boots led to some public humiliation. So, Sister Warnick and I were making our way down the street on our way to a lesson when we came across a small, awkward hill. This awkward, small hill is pretty annoying to hike over, so we usually just walk around it. Thankfully the edges were covered with snow and ice, so I couldn't see a tree branch hiding underneath a snowdrift that I was about to walk in to. That little branch there hooked itself into one of the gashes in the side of my boot and sent me plummetting to the ground. I full-on faceplanted in the snow. Usually when I fall, I land on my butt or on my knees. Never have I ever fallen as stiff as a tree, face-first into a massive snowdrift. Sister Warnick and I got a good laugh out of it, as did all of the people around me. No shame.

Welp, that's all for this week folks! Have a last-minute adventure and buy some new shoes!

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff

Whooters

Zdrastvuitye!

Happy New Year!!! I hope you all had a great New Year's Celebration and that you're ready to make this the best year of your lives! In good old Penza, we've started off the New Year by freezing to death. Not even joking. On Monday through Wednesday, it was about -10 degrees Celsius (about 14 degrees Fahrenheit), and Thursday through Sunday it fluctuated between -14 and -21 degrees Celsius (about 7 to -6 degrees Fahrenheit). Today it is a nice and toasty -16 degrees Celsius outside (about 3 degrees F). The good news is, I never have to worry about my nose dripping from being so cold because literally everything in my face is frozen solid. Yay! We have to chew gum while we're on the streets because our jaws get too stiff to talk if we don't keep them moving. Living the dream!
So, I've talked about English Club a handful of times in my previous letters, but nothing has happened in a while that was worth mentioning. This week was the exception. Usually, only about 3 old fogies that can't speak English at all show up to English Club on a weekly basis. It's always fun, but not exactly the desired turnout. This week as we were about to begin the class, this guy walks into the room (total bro) with his Beats, fancy SmartPhone, and some Air Jordan Kicks, and says in perfect English, "Hey guys, sorry I'm late. I didn't mean to keep you all waiting." Umm... what? That's a rare site. His name is Islam, he was born in Saudi Arabia, grew up in Egypt, and he knows English, Arabic, and a little bit of Russian (emphasis on the 'little bit'). Also, turns out, he is the karate champion of Saudi Arabia. No big. He told us a story about how he was humiliated in front of a crowd of 20,000 people at one of his matches, and then he competed with that same component that beat him about a year later and he made him cry. Literally, who is this guy? Anyways, at the end of English Club we decided to play charades. The word that I was given was 'turtle'. I just want all of you to ponder for a minute how you would approach that situation had you been given that word. Pretty hard, huh? Yeah... I resorted to putting a trash can on my back and crawling around the floor really slow-like. Obviously nobody could figure out what I was, so I pretended to eat a little towel that fell off of the chalkboard as if it were a piece of lettuce. Good. Thankfully one of the Zone Leaders was in town for exchanges, so he got lots of pictures on his phone. Great. My pride is about the size of a baby fruit fly at this point in my mission.
Sister Warnick and I had an interesting encounter with a lady on the streets the other day while we were contacting. We were casually making our way down the sidewalk on the way to a less active's house when I handed this lady a brochure about the Plan of Salvation. I was a little hesitant to give it to her at first because (I won't lie) she looked pretty angry. I decided to cast away my doubts and fears, and lo and behold, she took it. Not only did she take it, but she opened her eyes and her mouth as big as they could possible go as she gazed at the brochure and she thanked me a million times. It doesn't end there. She started moving closer to me so I thought she was going to come in for a hug. That happens sometimes, so I just let it be. At the last second she grabbed me by the back of my head and kissed me right between the jawline and my neck..... way too sensual for a casual street contacting sesh. At that point the smell of alcohol permeated my nostrils and we moved on real swift-like.
We had another unintentionally awkward encounter with a less active. It wasn't quite as dramatic as the one mentioned above, but some startling definitely occurred. For the past 2 months, Sister Warnick and I have been searching for the home of a less active who just barely moved. After trekking around in the middle of nowhere this week, we FINALLY found her house! She lives in a new building, so it wasn't written on any maps. We were both just relieved that we found the building. When we finally got inside, Sister Warnick and I hiked up and down a bunch of stairs before we realized that the apartment we were looking for was on the first floor. Thankfully the hallway that we were looking for was pitch black, so I had to turn on the flashlight on our phone. I shined the light on every door looking for an apartment number, and right as I shined the light on this less active's door, she opened it up and the light shined right in her face! She was taken a little bit off guard and she asked us why we didn't just ring the doorbell. She probably thought we were trying to peer into her peephole with our flashlight or something. Yikes. We ended up having a great lesson with her, so that was awesome.

Sister Warnick and I literally had the most fun New Years Celebration ever! It is too dangerous for us to be on the streets on New Years Eve because we are Americans and there are a lot of drunks outside, so we had to be inside by 5 instead of 9 (last year we had to be inside by 6, but the Area Presidency decided that we needed to be inside a little earlier this year). Sister Warnick and I have been planning out our celebration for about the past month, so we were super pumped! First of all, we named the event "Who Spice" because we thought it would be funny to do our hair like Whos from the Grinch, so that kind of set the theme for the rest of the evening. So anyways, Who Spice commenced with us doing our hair all crazy. I had to use a teacup and many hair elastics and bobby pins to get my mane of hair to do what it did, but I think it turned out super funny. Sister Warnick used a tall plastic cup to accomplish her hair look. When we were finished with our hair creations, we both just looked in the mirror and laughed for a solid 5 minutes. Lots of pictures were taken, as you do.

Supposedly there's a tradition in Russia where you're supposed to write down your desire for the following year on a piece of paper, burn it, and drink the ashes in champagne. I've asked a few Russians about this "tradition" and some of them sort of know what I'm talking about and others just think I'm crazy. Not sure if it's legit or not. I did it last year with my trainer Sister Johnson, so we did it again this year. Obviously we didn't drink champagne but we bought nonalcoholic children's champagne which was actually super disgusting. The bottle said "cream soda" on it, so I thought it would be good. Nope. Nonetheless my desire was consumed. Not all of the paper burned, so I kind of had to choke down some of it, but it's fine. All is well! After that, Sister Warnick and I ate some shrimp (bringing back some traditions from home!) and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration to end the night. It was one of the most peculiar but most entertaining New Year's celebrations I've ever experienced in my life. I had a blast and I'm super excited to see what surprises this New Year brings:)
Welp, that's all for this week folks! Don't tote around trash cans on your backs and don't let drunk people of your same gender take things too quickly on the first encounter.

Do Svidanya!
Love,

Sister Megan Wagstaff