Tearing It Up

It was nice to be able to read Andrew's email this morning at 5:45 - that's the way it's supposed to work!  :-)

I remember sitting in the internet cafe (which is actually a very distracting gaming place) in New City North, Tol'yatti this time a whole year ago next to Elder Kuzmin, being freaked out at how slowly June and July were going by. Well. That was a fast year.

I didn't read all your emails yet, but I skimmed and looked at the photos. Everyone looks so different! I wasn't expecting that at all. I guess I look a little bit different... which reminds me; I have photos to send. Don't let me forget. But it was good to see the gang all there at Steaver this year. Next year will be even better though. By a factor of Broekhuijsen^2. Ooh, that was grry. Oh, man. Also, Mel has a babe. We-he-he-heird. Also, Tyler has a soul patch. Swee-he-he-heet.

It's been a good week. Elder Langston and I have been absolutely tearing it up. We have a ton of investigators right now who have lots of potential. It's been awesome to see us more or less doing the same thing that we did when we were back in Bezimianski. I see lots of success in the near future. We even found a new investigator on the street on the way down here. Although I claim no credit for that one because he stopped us.

Last night, we set two baptismal dates with a wonderful Armenian family. They have an unrealistically cute baby.  Her name is M*. And she's so dang awesome. And a monkey. And only 10 months old. Crazy, huh?

We're also working with a guy named S* who is just one of the most sincere people I've ever met. He is most likely going to get baptized the same day my brother comes of age.

This week we have some visa trips, but not my group - so I just get to be the one answering calls at 2 in the morning because of passport control. Although the new guy there didn't give us any trouble last time. So I've got my fingers crossed for three consecutive days of a full night of sleep.

Hey, random question. Is it bad for your teeth to soak them in baking soda water? Somebody told me that would help me whiten them. Keeping teeth white in Russia is kind of hard. I'm thinking about giving this a whack.

I guess I can explain the other random attachments - firstly, we have the closest thing I've done to photography in far too long. 

That butterfly [Editor's note:  Yeah, it's a moth, Andrew - but still pretty!]  flew into our apartment (keeping the windows open 24/7 helps with maintaining a temperature of less than 293478 degrees kelvin). So I took a picture of it.

And the bird is a little finch that had a broken leg that a member took home with her after church to try to... I dunno. Put a cast on it? I actually heard it died, so if that's true, it's sad I guess. But it's a pretty rad looking bird.

Well, thanks for all the updates! The work goes on here in Samara. I feel like I probably had some interesting stories in particular to share with you, but I'm kind of drawing a blank. I gotta remember to write these things down. OR. I'll just speak them into my insanely awesome dictaphone. Yesterday Elder Langston and I ran away from a drunk person who wanted to fight us. I wonder if drunk people can really fight halfway decent? As in, could a drunk man hold his own against two insanely healthy and ripped (and sober) Elders? I guess there is no need for speculation - we'll never know.

Alright. Love you all! Have a wonderful day and week!

Love,
Elder Broekhuijsen