Although Andrew doesn't mention it in today's email, those of us here at home are very much aware that he will hit the half-way point of his mission this week (Thursday, 23 February.) In some ways that year has really gone by fast, and in other ways, waiting another whole year to see him feels like a long time… Anyway, yesterday Jerome sent him a couple of screen shots from some live webcams in Samara to see if he recognized any of the places they show. I'll include at the end of this post the one Andrew mentions in his email.
How is everyone doing? I'm doing rather awesome, thanks for asking. Thanks for writing me real emails even though I wrote you a fake one [last week]. That displayed your charity and patience, I think.
Before I forget: cool news. There is one of the webcams Dad sent labeled "Ploshad Kuybysheva" or "Kuybyshev Square" or something in Russian that this keyboard won't do. That is the square that has the theater where we saw the Nutcracker back at the end of December. In fact, that is what that building is in the picture there. There's the big square that tons of people ice skate on in the foreground, and then in the background a big old gray building, which is the theater. That square is like a 10 minute walk from our apartment. Unfortunately, it's discouraged to straight up contact on squares, so we don't walk into the picture there almost ever.
Okay. Well here's what's been going on! We did transfers! That is to say, we collected all the information we could from the Zone Leaders on how the missionaries are doing, what would help them progress, how the areas are doing, who would do well in a leadership position, etc. etc., and then took it all to President, made a couple of possible scenarios for which missionaries would be with who and in which areas and which districts and zones, and then President took them and prayed about them that night and receieved the revelation to know which one was correct (or if any of them were). He got his answer and gave us the finalized transfer scenario the next day. Then yesterday after church, Elder Morris and I buckled down and threw down the entire schedule to get everyone moved into their new areas. It was epecially interesting to plan for because we have two new missionaries coming in right in the middle of the transfer, two sisters going home, and the orientation and trainer meetings associated with these, and then instead of people going home right after that, a ton of people are going down to a Zone Conference in Tol'yatti. Basically, it is kind of a headache, but also strangely enjoyable work.
Right. Now that that's over, here's what's been going on in our area! We found a lady on the street. Here name is O*, and she is a boss. She just opened right up to us on the street about how her husband died from a completely unexpected cancer at the age of 30 (6 years ago) and how she's really a strong Christian but it's hard raising her 13-year-old daughter on her own. She works right by the mission office. Ha! (That was a victory "ha," not a "ha" of mirth (I just used the word "mirth")). She has now come to church and she loved it! She's the nicest lady ever and cries on lessons and stuff. Seriously. Finding people like her on the streets that have been beat by generations of missionaries for 20 years [the streets have been beat by generations of missionaries, not the people! :-) ] (we found her on the way from our apartment to the office, and she had never met missionaries before) is a huge testimony to me that God has individually selected and prepared peole to meet us when they are ready to get baptized. There aren't many better feelings than finding golden people on the streets.
Tomorrow morning, Elder Morris and I are going down on split-exchanges with the Tol'yatti Zone Leaders to a city called Kazan. Kazan is actually a larger city than Samara, and way more modern. It's part of a mostly Muslim republic, and for most of the history of the Samara mission, Americans haven't been allowed in; so it's been run by native missionaries forever. It's an awesome city, I'll take tons of pictures. In fact, Elders Walton (my trainer, who is now home) and Angerhofer (my MTC companion) were the first 100% American companionship to set foot in Kazan for like 10 years or something crazy like that. That was during my second transfer.
Okay. Our office meeting is about to start, so I gotta get out. Love you all! Have an awesome week! Don't spend too much time watching for us on Kuybyshev Square, we don't really go there ;)
Love,
Elder Broekhuijsen
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