Last Email for 2011!

As I mentioned in the last post, it was great to hear from Elder Broekhuijsen on Christmas Eve.  I suppose after our 40 minute conversation, it was difficult to come up with much "new" stuff to say.  So, we'll accept this relatively short email for today, but it better be longer next week!  (Uh oh - there I go getting demanding and being ungrateful - just kidding, Andrew!)

Wow. I can't believe 2011 is drawing to a close. For reals, it's crazy to think that one year ago, I was already drawing close enough to my MTC day to be counting the days in the back of my mind. Time that is already over has flown quickly, even though time doesn't usually fly quickly while it's happening :D

Skyping you all (except not Melissa, because that would have been DISOBEDIENT) was a pleasure. The first time I've seen your faces in 10 months, can you believe it? Hopefully I didn't say too many half-Russian, half-English sentences. I kind of realized after the call was over that there isn't anyone I really ever talk to who doesn't understand the weird English/Russian hybrid language all the missionaries speak among ourselves. So I stopped noticing that there were English words that I hadn't said for months because I always just said them in Russian. I'm pretty sure a good 10% of that call was in Russian, in hindsight. Garrett, get a haircut.  [In Garrett's defense, Andrew called earlier than we expected and none of us had had a chance to "do our hair."  In fact, Garrett had a haircut on Monday last week!]

Hopefully as I write this, you're sleeping from a really fantastic Christmas Day! I know I had one.

We had some really miraculous things happen throughout the Zone yesterday. Destin (*ahem* I mean Elder Swartz) in Penza had a lady come to church named J*. She is half African and half Russian, and 100% awesome. She wants to be baptized. She loved church so much. Yesterday was also the first day they had ever met or heard of her. It's a Christmas Miracle!

Thank you SO MUCH for the awesome Christmas package. It made the whole month just full of brightness and cheer, and cheer, and brightness. The entire apartment smells like Christmas juice still, because I sprayed insane quantities of it every day. I'm wearing the dicey gold tie, and wore the sick purple one yesterday. They are SO cool. The PJs will be happening every night for at least 363 more days, and I just really had an amazing Christmas!

Anyway, my hour's almost up. Elder Langston and I gotta get home and pack for exchanges with Orenburg; we're leaving to go down there on a train at 5:30ish today. It's going to be awesome; I love trains.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'll "see" you all in 2012!

Love,

Elder Broekhuijsen

Christmas Phone Call!

We don't have any video clips of our "phone call" with Andrew this morning (it was 7:30 at night there, but 8:30 in the morning here!)  It was actually a "Skype" communication, so we got video AND audio!  Anyway, we did take some notes of things he said and thought we'd share a bit!

Question:  What are your favorite things about Russia?

Answer:  The people (especially the branch members, who are super nice)  Finding "golden" investigators, with open minds; and CHOCOLATE!

Question:  What will you be doing on Christmas?

Answer:  Working!  In Russia, Christmas is celebrated not on 25 December, but on 7 January!  

Question:  Is it more difficult to find investigators in the cold winter?

Answer:  Actually, I prefer contacting in the winter.  There are virtually no drunk people out on the streets, so we can talk to anyone we see.  

Question:  What do you eat?

Answer:  Andrew said that because they travel around the zone so much, they end up eating whatever the missionaries they are visiting are eating.  His companion, Elder Langston did mention that Andrew makes a "killer borsch" and also something called "plove" which is apparently something like rice with chicken and curry and is a Ukrainian dish.  He also mentioned that they eat some sort of "cheap" grain - he thought it might be buckwheat, but wasn't sure of the English word for it.

Question:  Do  you have enough money?

Answer:  Yes, it is plenty as long as we keep track of the expenses that are reimbursable.  They won't let us starve or anything, so if we run out of money we can get more, along with a lecture about fiscal responsibility!  :-)

Question:  Did you get a pair of boots yet?

Answer:  No, but lots of missionaries go their whole missions without boots.  They are really expensive to get good ones and so far I haven't needed them.  As long as we keep walking, our toes stay warm!  

Question:  How do you get around?

Answer:  We use buses and "transports" a lot.  The "transports" are basically vans that you can take to various destinations.  We walk if it's close enough.  For travel between cities, we get to take the train!

Question:  Is it a hindrance to work so much in the dark?  (The sun sets at 3:30 in Samara right now.)

Answer:  I don't really notice it much anymore - we just keep working.  It was easy to get  up in the summer, though, because the sun came up so early - something like 2:00 a.m.  (We're thinking he may have been exaggerating a bit on that point!)

Andrew also demonstrated his Russian skills for us - sometimes intentionally (He and the Branch President's son had a conversation for us) and sometimes accidentally.  When Joshua asked him what his favorite part of being in Russia was, he started answering in Russian!  We all sat there listening and finally Joshua said, "Uh, we don't speak Russian!"

In all, it was wonderful to get to talk to Andrew. Those 40 minutes sped by remarkably fast!  He looks good!  He sounds good!  I wish there was a way to get/give a hug through Skype, but I guess I'll just be content with what I got!  Merry Christmas to you all from Andrew and from us!