I happened to get the best package in the entire universe this week. Actually, two of the best packages in the entire universe, one full of unsettling merchandise, sent from Massachussetts. [Editor's note: We are assuming this is the long lost package Melissa sent him back in January? Or perhaps she just ended up sending him a new one…]
So I went ahead and recorded the same things I would have typed on the sweet recorder on the way down to the office this morning. It's in a few fragments, and I'm hoping I'll be able to send the .mp3 files without too much trouble.
So I'm going to send what I recorded after just barely skimming the manual the night I got the package (we happened to have the Tol'yatti Zone Leaders over on exchanges), and then in a separate email I'll send what I recorded this morning, having long since devoured the manual and familiarized myself with all the controls and functions of the super rad dictaphone.[Editor's note: Following are the two short audio clips of Andrew's first recording on his digital recorder.]
[Beginning of audio transcription]
Alright - I'm not going to write an email today (very long) because I have this awesome gadget. So, we're leaving our house right now and we're gonna walk down to the office and the whole time I'm just gonna narrate what happened this week and then email it to you, 'cause that's easier than typing it and that gives me more time to read your emails and then maybe I can spend some time responding to your emails or something.
Anyway…what did we do this week? I don't even remember — by the end of the week, the whole week's just a blur - that's how it works. We started off with zone leader council. Was that this week? [Elder Langston then confirms that it was this week] Seems like a long time ago! [Next come various interruptions of the narrative as Andrew greets people on the street, answers questions from his companion, etc.] Tuesday we had Zone Leader council - it was really good - everything went great. On Tuesday I also had an interview with President Sartori just after zone council, like we always do, and I asked him if he knew where I was headed after I was done being assistant and he said he hasn't thought about it yet. But I told him that I really, really, really want to be a district leader and a trainer before I go home, so I'll probably go down and be a zone leader somewhere first, but I don't know. I'll probably get (depending on how things work out) 3 cycles not as an assistant. So, probably I'll spend one or two of those as a zone leader somewhere with a new zone leader, like training him and then I will spend one or two of those hopefully as a district leader and a trainer. That would rock! And there's only one missionary coming in my last cycle, so I dibs-ed him! :-) So, yeah, we talked about that - don't know if I'm necessarily going to get it, but it would rock.
On Wednesday and Thursday we had exchanges with the Tol'yatti Zone leaders, so they just stayed in town after Zone Leader Council. It was good - we had some good meetings with some of our investigators - with S* and with T*. They're both doing good - both of them are moving towards baptism, but they're not necessarily going to get there in August. We've got a bunch of other investigators too. We've got one investigator who speaks English and he hopefully can be ready in August, but he needs to come to church right away. So that's our investigators - they're doing good.
On Friday my package got here - so thank you. I'm pumped. This little recorder thing is the diciest thing ever! I don't have to write in my journal anymore - it takes me like 5-10 minutes to do the whole journal entry and that's if like I go into a ton of detail and like tell about the whole day. And I never had the desire to do that when I was writing 'cause it takes forever since I think 50 times faster than I write. So, I'm pumped about this.
[At this point Andrew pauses to take a phone call, but also gives us the chance to listen to a street performer who is playing the guitar and singing…]
I don't remember what I was talking about before I got interrupted, but I'm gonna tell you about - well, exchanges went really well - except our toilet got broken, which was the worst thing ever because every single time we had to go to the bathroom we had to go all the way down to the office and it was seriously the worst thing ever. And so, we [laughs] so…I just have to tell this story. We had our landlord come over today 'cause it's the beginning of the month and he was picking up the rent. So, the toilet broke like 3 or 4 days ago and so we were like, "Ah, he'll be here soon, so we'll just tell him when he gets here." So he got there and we were like, "Hey, our toilet's broken" and he was like, "Alright." So, he called a plumber up there and they started going to work on it and they took care of it. It wasn't like a big problem - it was just clogged a little. So, they took care of it, and then the landlord was like, "You guys! You know what the problem was? The problem was there was toilet paper in the pipes! There was toilet paper in there!" And I was like, "Uh, I could have told you as much…" And he was like, "Guys, what are you doing flushing toilet paper? Go buy one of those garbage cans that's for toilet paper and then throw it in there. And then go take it out to the dumpster whenever you go out!" And I was like "Okaaaay, I'm never gonna do that, ever. Never going to. Not gonna do it." And so he was like, "No more flushing toilet paper, alright?" And I was like "Uh huh" - and I carefully did not agree to that condition. And then he left. And I went ahead and flushed some toilet paper down the toilet just out of pure spite for that idea of keeping it in the house. Anyway, that was the fun story of the day - that was this morning.
Now we are just arriving at the office and today hopefully we are going to be able to go to the [Editor's note: insert Russian word here that I have no idea how to spell] which is like a big flea market place out in the sisters' area at the other end of the city. We're going to head out there today and I'm going to hopefully pick up some ties and stuff 'cause I've missed about 73 birthdays and a Christmas since I left and I want to get Joshua and dad and Garrett ties.
By the way, Happy Birthday Joshua a couple of days ago. You're 18 — what the heck? That's so weird. I was looking at all the pictures from Steaver and it was way weird because everybody looks really, really old. [Editor's note: I'm sure he just meant all the kids - he would not dare imply that we adults have aged at all!] And also I got the messages from Steaver - it was sweeeeet! It was way awesome, so thank you for sending those. Apparently everybody thinks I've been gone for 5 years and forgotten them, because everyone introduced themselves to me. [Editor's note: Jerome did request that everyone state their name just so he'd know for sure who was talking…]
Well, I'm going to get started on my email, so I'll just type the rest. Thank you! Love you all![Back to the typed portion of Andrew's email]
As for your preferences, let me know - better to get a typed message that you can post on the blog? Or better to get a sound message that you can just listen to while resting your eyes and sipping a Reese's Peanut Butter shake? (I don't know if they have those in America, now that I think about it.) Or a tri-force attack of written text, recorded audio, and photos to boot?
Awesome. I'm gonna wait for this to finish uploading and then send it off.
Love,
Elder Broekhuijsen
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