Where Did February Go?

Hooray for "real" email two weeks in a row!  What a treat!

Hang on, where did February go?

How's everyone doing? I was glad to hear all the updates. Stuff I gotta write before I forget:

Elder S-H* lives in Melissa's ward? [See the whole story here.]  Ha! Awesome. To be honest, I didn't know him all that well, because that transfer was when I had no real idea how to be a Zone Leader or what to do and stuff, and he was in Balakova, where I never went while I was in Saratov. But another cool story: his companion that transfer was Elder Ian Elijah Johnson. [He is Melissa's good friend from her MATC days - where she learned to be a pharmacy technician.] Either way, Elder S-H* was cool. The members in Zavodskoy branch (where he spent a good chunk of his mission) still miss him to death. He's a hilarious guy. One of the ones that it didn't surprise me at all when I found out he is going to MIT.

To clear up confusion: I DID get the package with earmuffs and gloves. [The "confusion" was caused by the fact that we asked him 47 times whether or not he had received that package and he never responded!]  I have (as far as I know) gotten every letter and package that has been sent to me on my mission. Although, the card I got from the Relief Society of the 4th ward took a long time to get here because the post office opened it and stuff because it was the same size and shape as a CD. The Russian government isn't a big fan of people sending "information" type things by mail in or out of the country. Probably 1/3 of the stuff we get into the office (especially larger packages) are opened and re-sealed by the government before we get it.

Elder Morris and I split down with the Tol'yatti ZLs for exchanges with the Elders in Kazan (there are two areas; north and south). It was sweet. Kazan feels about 4 times more like a "big city" than Samara, even though they're about the same size. Just a lot more tall buildings and space and wide multi-lane roads and stuff. Plus there's a metro that is currently being expanded because the 2013 Soccer World Cup will be in Kazan. They're building a huge stadium for it as well, which is sweet. About 60% of the people there are  Muslim, and they are SO nice. It is a sweet city to contact in, because just about anyone will stop and talk to you. Elder Ellis and I actually went tracting for about an hour, and found a cool family that wanted us to come back and teach them more! Cool!

Anyways, I ended up in North with Elders Hughes, Ellis, and JOHNSON! I've only waited a whole stinking year to work with Elder Johnson for more than an hour. He's doing well. It was awesome to see him work. He teaches out of the scriptures so well and sincerely and he understands literally every word of Russian that is spoken in his vicinity. Also he makes a mean spaghetti sauce.

O* is still doing well, and we found some other really cool investigators this week as well. There's one, A*, that we found yesterday who was super awesome. He's REALLY interested in learning stuff about our church and he really likes us and says that "he can tell we're good people." So we had a quick lesson with him on the street, and had a prayer, and we'll be seeing him again on Wednesday.

Tomorrow and Wednesday are Zone Leader Council all day until evening, so that should be fun. I've always really enjoyed ZLC. Then Thursday and Friday, Elder Morris and I will be on exchanges with the Tol'yatti ZLs in Old City. It's going to be sweet, even though Old City doesn't quite count as my hometown ;)

Garrett, I'm really happy you had a good birthday! Sweet cake. And you're welcome for the Basilisk Games mousepad and hat. I thought long and hard about that one.  [Yeah, like from the time he read the email Jerome sent him, telling him what he (Andrew) "got" Garrett until the time he wrote this email…]  :-)

I have this vague plan that involves getting some smallish, lightweight gifts for everyone at home for Christmas and birthdays and stuff and sending it all at once. We'll see if I ever find time for that. It's possible if we end up with a Monday without much of a huge workload.

Okay. Well I love you all! Thanks for your letters! Someone tell Amy Buhler I said congrats, and also someone get me Kaitlyn Brunsdale's address. I want to write her a letter. Also I want someone to forward me Brian Carey and Jessica Frazier's wedding announcement.  [Pretty sure he's just kidding there - we don't want to start any rumors!] And someone make me a sandwich.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Broekhuijsen

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1 Year Anniversary!

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