So after Andrew's teensy-weensy e-mail last week, I (Sarah) wrote him and asked him a bunch of questions to try to get more deets (that's short for details, mom!). Anyway, here are the questions I asked and his answers--plus a little extra info from this past week:
Where do you live? What kind of place is it? Is it just you and your comp or are there 4 of you?
I can't tell anybody my address.. But we live on the outskirts of town. It's just my comp and me.
Does your apartment have a fully equipped kitchen? By that I mean does it have a real oven and stove? Or just a microwave and hot plate? Also, do you have a clothes washer? Or do you have to go to a laundromat?
We have a microwave a stove, an oven, and a fridge. And a washer. We hang dry our clothes.
What do you eat? Do you ever eat at members' homes or just at your apartment? What did you buy at the grocery store? Have you eaten anything strange or new yet?
We always eat at our apartment, we go to this store called Lenta which is like Costco and Walmart mixed. I buy things there that I know how to deal with like potatoes, pasta, apples, eggs, yogurt, juice, ham, bacon, things like that. The meat here is a little different. I had some bacon for breakfast with eggs and the bacon was strange. But it's good. Just a little strange. Same with the other meats. Also, the bread goes bad really fast here. They don't use preservatives like we do in America. I had some bad bread on Friday night (the back half of the loaf was moldy, I didn't check the part that I ate) and so I had some nice pains on Friday night. But nothing too bad.
Is your branch that tiny or was no one there? Were the other two missionaries sisters or elders? What did you do for your church meetings last Sunday?
Our branch is pretty small, I think there are around 35-40 members in the city, but there are 2 active. There are supposed to be 6 missionaries here (us, then two companionships of sisters) but the sister that had trouble with her visa can't leave Peter until they get that all figured out. So it just us and some sisters for now. We had fast and testimony meeting last week, and then sunday school. Not enough for priesthood or relief society. Plus, everybody just left after sunday school. So we just talked to our branch president. He's been a member for a while, he went on a mission to Samara. I don't think he ever left his mission, he helps us all the time. Either in lessons or by setting up meetings with less actives. He's the man.
What type of building do you attend church in? Is it an apartment? A storefront?
We go to church in an apartment turned ward building. I'll take some pics.
What did you teach your investigators? How do you contact people?
We have in our area a bunch of eternal investigators that have been meeting with the missionaries for years now, so we have gone on a restoration run to help them rekindle original interest in the church and try to get baptisms. We have around 26 investigators, all but two have had all the lessons before. We mostly contact on the streets or in domes (tracting). Tracting is super scary, especially because we do it after dark usually. We've seen some crazy things.
How long has your comp been out? (I don't know what it means that he's on his 3rd transfer) and how often are transfers? What is he like? Do you get along pretty well?
Elder Kartchner his on his third transfer (so month number four in the field) and he's awesome. We get along really well, we have lots of fun together.
How do you get around? Walking? Bus? Train?
We usually ride the bus places, but we have to walk a lot too. There aren't too many convenient stops for the places that we have to go.
What do you do during the day when you aren't contacting people? Are there places you go to do service or anything?
We don't have any service structure here in Pskov, we just try to help out less active members whenever we can.
Since it gets dark really early, what do you do after dark?
It gets dark pretty early, but we still stay out and do things. Not too much crazyness. Usually contacting, unless we have lessons.
Have you seen anyone you know?
I saw Sister Boud (Laura Boud's sister). She came up to me right after our first meeting together. I saw Sister Eyring, the granddaughter of President Eyring that Elder Jaynes told me about. That's about it.
Where did Elder Jaynes get assigned?
Not sure about where Elder Jaynes is. Maybe Gatchina?
How is the language? Do you feel like you understand much of anything at all?
I can understand a lot of what people say, but It's hard to talk back. Sometimes our investigators go crazy into some things like the economy or politics that neither of us know anything about. We like to have President with us there, becuase he speaks english really well. We think he wants to go to BYU.
You have had a lot of rain I see! Is it just rain rain rain all the time? Or off and on?
Rain is off and on. Not all the time, and it's always different. Sometimes intense, sometimes just a sprinkle.
Does Pskov seem big? Small? Does it seem pretty well off? Poor? What are your impressions of the people there?
Pskov is big compared to what I'm used to, but it's really small for our mission. It's like thirty minute bus rides to everywhere. I'd say it's more ghetto than other parts of our misson, but it's not that bad compared to what I've heard about Samara and other places. The people here are nice. Really nice. I'd say it's middle class here.
What will you be doing on P-days? Where do you do your e-mailing from?
We Email from a library right across from where we live, and we just kinda do what we want to on P-day. I think we're going to the Kremlin today, that looks really cool. Here (at this library) they also give away all of their old books for free. I've gotten and old copy of Crime and Punishment in Russian and a book by Tolstoy. We'll look for more today.
What do you miss from home that we can send?
I don't miss too much from home, other than the people there. And you can't send them :)
And now for the bonus material:
So about this week. We got six new investigators, which is sweet. We found 4 of them tracting and two by going to an investigator's house to teach, and they were there and listened. We also did a ton of less-active member lessons, those are always fun. On Friday we had a zone training meeting in Peter, so we crammed a ton of lessons into the evening and then at 8:45 ish got on a night train to go to the city. It was so Russian. That was the first time where I was like "Heck, I'm in Russia". It was total stereotypical Soviet style train. It was sweet. I didn't get a picture of it, but I will next time. It took ten hours. We got to the city at 6 A.M., buses only take 4. But it was so cool we want to do it again. And we don't have to waste a whole day outside of our area. So we did that, came back on a bus on friday, then lessons again right away. Whew. Not too much else. Spent five hours at the church yesterday in meetings, tracted all night. Fun week. Busy week. Love you all, the church is true, and listen to the Messiah! We love the one song of it that we have on my Ipod. Love ya. See ya soon.
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