No school for Joshua and Garrett today, so I got to sleep in a bit - and I'm glad I did because getting up at 5:30 would NOT have been worth it, since this today's email from Andrew didn't come until 7:30!
I'll give you the bad news first: I'm not going to be able to send pictures or sound or anything today. Turns out the post offices by our branch building close at 5:00 generally. So I'm in an internet cafe that blocks all USB ports. Sweet.
So it's been a pretty cool week. On Friday we had a cool "Zone Meeting." Which is kind of like a zone conference, but mostly the point is just to get all the new information, training, decisions, etc. down the line from Zone Leader Council. We'll be doing one once a month, so obviously it will have to be smaller scale than Zone Conference, because otherwise we would be pulling Elders and Sisters out of there cities like every week and a half on trains and busses. It went well, so that was pretty fun.
We also had exchanges with the Assistants. I worked with Elder Langston one day, and we went contacting down closer to the Volga. We talked to this guy who was out taking a smoke break, and he invited us into his office. Turns out he was a really nice, well-put-together, successful contractor kind of a guy. Very religious, did lots of construction contracting for the Russian Orthodox church, etc. etc. Then out of nowhere, he told us that he was the subject of a Nostradamus prophecy. The conversation went down in quality from that point. But we did get his signed business card, so if (I mean when) he DOES become a famous and influential politician, we can sell them on eBay for lots of rubles.
Saturday was Elder Nielson's birthday! His family sent him a suitcase full of candy. In the box was a Betty Crocker cake mix. It was delicious.
Also on Saturday was the Europe East Area viewing of General Conference! It was wonderful, as always. Every year I appreciate conference more. I just can't understand the mentality of some of the members who aren't real interested in coming. It's like... "Hey! Have questions in life? God wants to answer them for you for 10 hours. Free!" And they're like, "Nah, listen, I'm going to watch some movies at home." Laaaaaame.
Then on Sunday was the sickest [in a good way…], most pumping-up talk I've ever heard by Jeffery R. Holland. I was wondering... could someone get an MP3 of that guy and email it to me? I want to listen to it while we work out in the morning. Seriously, that was probably my favorite conference talk I've ever heard. Man.
So it's actually kind of starting to get cold around these parts now. Yesterday I added the inside lining to my palto and wore my gloves and earmuffs. We went contacting for a couple of hours, and saw something totally nuts, which is in no way related to the weather, but still is a great story:
Once upon a time, at the tail end of a contacting block, Elders Broekhuijsen and Nielson were walking home. Elder Broekhuijsen was talking to the Orenburg missionaries on the phone to solve some sort of nonsense with city registration for a new missionary, and Elder Nielson was talking to a Tataran guy to the left while they walked. Suddenly, two completely smashfaced guys in leather jackets started walking behind them. Or, staggering behind them in a less-than-straight line which was, admittedly, mostly confined to the sidewalk. Elder Broekhuijsen wasn't paying much attention, even when they started arguing in loud, drunk voices. That is, he wasn't until the sound of a bottle being smashed over someone's head put an abrupt halt to the phone conversation he was having. He turned around, and saw Drunk #1 sitting on the ground, stunned, and Drunk #2 throwing the remains of the empty beer bottle on the ground, about 10 yards behind them. Drunk #2 proceeded to put his steel-toed boot into Drunk #1's face at a high velocity. That was not a pleasant sound. Think of the sound it would make to swing a sledgehammer with all your might at a solid block of concrete. So obviously, Drunk #1 was no longer especially conscious. On his way down, Drunk #2 decided to put his knee into the exact same face, at a similar velocity. Ouch. A lot of ouch. Drunk #1 was out for the count. Elders Nielson and Broekhuijsen decided that, in the interest of safety, they should probably cross the street to get out of the path of Drunk #2, who was staggering forwards again as if none of this had just happened.
Anyway, we looked back across the street when we got to the other side, and miraculously, Drunk #1 was up and at 'em again. He was just walking around aimlessly with his head and hands totally covered in blood. His face was a mess. I don't know how in the world he was still alive, let alone awake. Poor guy. Moral of the story: Alcohol is bad.
Okay. Well, that's all for this week's adventures of Elders Broekhuijsen and Nielson: World Class for LIFE! [Editor's note: For those readers not from Highland and/or Alpine - "World Class for Life" is the motto of Lone Peak High School - where both Andrew and his companion attended high school - so that obviously makes their companionship "world class for life!" :-)]
Love,Elder Broekhuijsen
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