I'm not going to sugar coat it, guys. This week was pretty atrocious; dare I say the worst week I've had yet on my mission. I'm going to keep this letter on the shorter side because I'm still, in this very moment, pretty peeved by just about everything that has transpired and I don't want this to turn into a big old ranting session that you didn't sign up for.
Let's cover the basics here. Every. single. lesson. that we planned on having this week fell through. Every one. We had at least 3 or 4 pretty solid back ups set up for each of those plans and every one of those fell through as well. Every one! At the beginning of the week, it was pretty discouraging when all of our lessons started to fall through. We bought Snickers bars and various treats on the daily to fill up the cracks of our hearts so that we could go back to work. By about day 4 or 5 of having no lessons, Sister Warnick and I started getting straight-up hysterical. I realize that there are countless areas around the world where all missionaries do is contact, but that is super unusual for Penza. At about day 6, we started getting desperate and we got a few lessons set up that ended up being less than effective. One lady sewed Sister Warnick and I some thermal underwear and some slippers, so that was kinda weird. We stopped by Baba Katia one night and she talked to us for a while about how she didn't get accepted into a sanatorium and about how much she and her roommate don't get along. Wonderful.
Then, just as I finished up getting all of the travel plans for exchanges and upcoming meetings figured out for the rest of the cycle, I opened up an email today saying that Zone Conference is being moved a week out from when it was originally scheduled to happen. Throw that travel schedule out the window! It wouldn't have been that big of a deal had I not just barely put together the finishing touches on all of the impending plans. It's really not that big of a tragedy, more-so an inconvenience than anything. Back to the drawing board!
This week I did my first "practice pack." I wanted to see how much all of the stuff that I've accumulated over the course of my mission weighs, so I spent an afternoon during weekly planning packing up my luggage and getting all of that figured out. It was the weirdest feeling I've ever experienced knowing that I'm far enough along on my mission to be doing "practice packs." The rest of this cycle is going to be crazy busy, so the "practice pack" needed to happen this week, otherwise it wouldn't have happened at all. Thankfully, unless I buy some sort of baby elephant, everything should get home just nicely.
So, for the past couple of weeks there has been a felony (of sorts) committed in our church building. Every time Sister Warnick and I get ready to head home, I'll throw on my coat and notice a pretty strong cologne smell coming from the fur on my hood. It's always on the part of the fur that is right next to my face, so it's not like I can get away from it. There's no way that it is just cologne being rubbed off from the coats next to mine, because for the past couple weeks there have only been female coats around mine. Sister Warnick and I have concluded that it's definitely being sprayed intentionally, we just can't figure out who is the one doing it. There is no one in our branch that's even close to my age, so that makes me uncomfortable. We'll keep you posted if we catch the culprit.
We did see a huge miracle at church despite the shenanigans. There is a less active family in our ward that hasn't been coming to church for about the past 4 years. On Sunday, Sister Warnick and I walked into the chapel, and lo and behold, there they were! They were all talking with everyone and smiling and laughing as if nothing had happened. Hopefully they will keep coming back!
Tonight we have a set of Sisters coming up from Saratov for exchanges, so that should be a nice change of pace. I apologize for the general negativity in this letter. Weeks like this happen on a mission, and it's always a battle to stay positive when everything's fighting against you. That, my friends, is why we have prayer!
Welp, that's all for this week, folks! Buy a Snickers and protect your furs!
Do Svidanya!
Love,
Sister Megan Wagstaff
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