Enjoy some excerpts from his e-mail home today:
We had our first TRC in 100% Russian last week. I felt like it actually went pretty well. There wasn't a lot that I wanted to say that I didn't know how to say, and I was FORCED to teach very simply, which is a good thing. I did have a binder full of verbs open in front of me the whole time though. Something I worked on. Tomorrow we teach the Restoration again in Russian, so it should go better this time.
So tomorrow the new missionaries come in who are speaking Russian. I get to be the old salt from then on. Except for CT. Shannon, who is still here waiting on results from his kidney biopsy, poor man. We call him Dyedooshka Shannon (Grandpa Shannon) because he's been here forever. Not as long as CT. Zhalkovsky was, (who left this morning). I believe he was here since the beginning of December. I can't even fathom. But he left to the field this morning; he's serving in the Utah Salt Lake City mission. It actually covers parts of Colorado and Wyoming and stuff too, but yeah. I'm excited for him.
So the missionaries that left last week had something funny happen to them. The flight that was taking the Novisibirsk-bound missionaries was supposed to go to Atlanta. The plane didn't take off. So they sat in the airport like all day long, then just got shuttled all the way back here and had to stay another night, get up at 3:30 again the next morning... etc. Sad stuff. But they're in Russia now, so I can't feel TOO bad for them.
As I'm sure you all saw, there was no MTC choir in General Conference this time. I was kind of bummed, but I still go to choir because we sing at every Tuesday devotional. Besides, the MTC special did us great justice, I think. It was weird seeing all the places I go like every day on TV. (We got to watch it after conference on Sunday night)
Random funny thing: whenever we have a huge block of class (like 4 hours or more) without a meal or something in between, the teachers usually try to wake us up halfway through by having us just go outside and take a couple of laps around the building. The fresh air really does help. It's like recharging our batteries really fast. Anyway, we happened to split up into two groups of 5 missionaries which each went the opposite way around the building a few days ago. As soon as the groups saw each other on the other side, it was like we had planned it: we all started snapping, West Side Story style, and fell into formation as we passed each other and glared. Sadly, choreographed knife-fighting isn't allowed according to the white bible, so there was none of that. I just had to laugh though.
As far as how mail will work in Russia, here's what I've gathered:
-Regular snail mail will take about 3 weeks either way.
-DearElder should still work, and probably won't have a delay of more than a day or so.
-Packages can take up to 3 months, and if they are not addressed in Cyrillic, the post workers will usually open them and take anything valuable before they deliver it. So definitely a good thing to know.
As far as transportation, I think we are walking missionaries. I doubt we get cars, and bikes don't work out for about 85% of the year, so I'm guessing lots of public transportation and walking. Fine with me. We get to wear stylish Russian clothes. Long trenchcoats, furry hats, and during the spring, we're allowed to wear these awesome newsie-style caps if we want. That's a definite yes.
Our cyrillic name tags got here right after I sent the email last week. They look so cool! There should be a picture on the card you will get Thursday. Woot woot! Too bad we're not allowed to wear them until we get to the airport.
Interesting things I learned about Russian this week:
Some funny words:
-Freekadyelickey (meatballs)
-Confyetti (candy)
-The word for "suit" is pronounced "costume," and the word for "tuxedo" is pronounced exactly like the word "smoking." Coincidence? I think not.
Some interesting wordings:
Instead of saying "I need you to eat this food," the literal translation from Russian would go something like, "To me is needed so that you ate this food." Funny stuff :) I'm sure I'll find more of that stuff as I stay here.
Anyway, good to hear from all of you. Thanks for everything you do! I only have 6 more weeks here. Apparently they go by a lot faster than the first 6, which is good. I'm seriously rearing to get to Russia more and more the longer I stay here.
The church is true. Every day here is exhausting, but in such a good way. I can't wait to start sharing my testimony and knowledge with those who the Lord has prepared for me; and those who have never heard of our church before.
I love you all!
Love from,
Elder Broekhuijsen
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