So...really, there isn't a lot to write about this week. As Sister Mordwinow wrote in her email home just a few minutes ago, "I really can't say that the work is progressing for us . . . We feel like such losers." haha. But really, that's kind of how it is right now. It seems like nothing we do is effective. We know that we just need to talk to more people, but it is difficult when we seem to pick only rude people, or suspicious people, or people who seem preyatna (pleasant/nice) but end up giving us wrong numbers, or later tell us that they'll call us. And when the few (read: 3) investigators you do have aren't progressing and consistently cancel appointments and no one comes to our English club because the one on Hovokuznetzkaya is more convenient. So it's frustrating. I've just been kind of frustrated with myself as a missionary this past week and also how our goals that we have just seem so far out of reach right now.
So. Adventures this week. Well. We've made "fluffy pancakes" twice. That is always fun. We have started calling them "fluffy pancakes" because Sister Mordwinow will sometimes make these German pancakes that are kind of like crepes/blini/whatever. But I'm getting pretty good at making them. We also have started "family stalking." This is where we go out to these little playgrounds (I usually in my brain call them "triangles" because they are just these little playgrounds in the middle of the apartments and it reminds me of Hershey and they're EVERYWHERE) and try to put cute kids with their parents and try to decide who to talk to, but usually don't because there aren't any parents or we feel like creepers or the parents are drinking or talking with someone else or we just chicken out (true story; I'm lame). But we really just want to find a family or two or three to teach, so...yes. But we passed out a lot of prigs (pretty ineffective though, since no one really calls us and we didn't talk to a lot of people) by singing hymns in a perehod (entrance to the metro/crosswalk under the street). So I can kind of say that I've been streetperforming in Russia now. Kind of.
There have also been creepy men talking to us. Friday was horrible. There was one man who sat down next to us on a bench and tried to sell us books, and then proceeded to try to convince us to go to the movies with him, telling us that "No one will know! God doesn't see anything!" Suuuuure. He was just SUPER creepy in general too. When he left, we thought he was going to shake our hands, but he ended up kissing them. GROSS. I know this really doesn't sound all that bad, but I just can't describe how creepy he was. Later on that night a drunk man grabbed Sister Mordwinow's skirt. Luckily his friend stopped him and got him to let go, but I was about to kick him in the face and Sister Mordwinow was about to hit him with her BoM that was in her hand. Luckily, we ended that night by meeting a super preyatna hippie girl named Tanya, who seemed way cool and interested in the Book of Mormon, but later when we called her said "It's better if I call you." But at least she wasn't a creepy man.
So. Yes. Not really a lot of good things that have happened this week. However, I did translate Relief Society for Sister Craythorn. Still couldn't understand everything and I"m pretty sure I made a lot of it up, but it made me feel better about my Russian skills. At least understanding-wise. Speaking still is tough a lot of the time. But it's slowly coming. And, of course, always the best part of these hard days is Sister Mordwinow. I know I say this every week, but I really couldn't make it through these rougher times without her. We just help each other deal with a lot of the same personal things and laugh a lot. And sing the Grandmother Willow song from Pocahontas for almost 3 hours. haha. If she ever reads this email, she might kill me for letting out her secrets. BUt yeah. Things are going. They're not horrible...just super slow.
No comments:
Post a Comment