So the "great" thing about Moscow in the summer is that EVERYONE and their dog (literally) goes on vacation. So...no one is home or answers their phones. It's very frustrating. And I'm sick of calling people just for them to not answer or not be available. So that has been my life the past week. Basically trying to call people and no one really answering. Which doesn't make for a lot of meetings. I had to kind of snort in disgust when I heard about what Matt's district leader told him, because numbers are not all that is important, and I bet if that Elder came here, he couldn't get a meeting to save his life. And the Russians would be able to tell that he was just doing it to get stats. Or whatever. Gotta love dacha season though. Nothing so far has happened with Nastia. She is one of those who hasn't been reachable besides once when she called back super late at night. Also, our other main investigator who was progressing also went on vacation until probably after I'm gone.
Dacha season means a lot of contacting, which, as long as it's with our district, I'm more than fine with. District contacting, at least singing wise in a place where it's legal, is just so effective. And fun. I've realized that I actually don't really even care if I don't meet with all that many people because my favorite part of the work I think is just talking to the random people who come up when we're singing or who ask something when they take a prig...it's the small little seed-planting conversation and the weird people who make good stories that I've really been enjoying lately. One time this week was really entertaining because we had a lot of adventures. We made 60 rubles (this lady just came up and gave us money. When we told her to take something if she wanted to pay us and not give us money, she took a Family Proclamation but still left the money anyway). A guy listened to one of the missionaries for a bit, and then took our pictures for like an hour while we were singing. This lady had us pray for her on the street. And there was a drunk guy who wouldn't leave Elder Finke alone, finally left, and came back and hour later, so we ended up going to a different metro. He was so drunk. You could smell the vodka on him from like 10 feet away. Anyway. Yesterday on that same metro, I was able to give a KM to a JW and this other guy who just came up, asked if I was Mormon and what it meant to "receive a book free." I was like, "Just take the book and read it. It means what it says." He said that he'd only see Mormons on a cartoon (probably South Park) but that he liked the whole idea of loving each other so he would read, and left me his business card without me even asking, which I gave to the Elders. I was super surprised that the J-Dub lady took the BOM though. She was really worried that we were polygamists though, so we'll see.
I got lost on the way to a member's house the other day and we walked over a mile out of our way. Sister Maxwell was really tired after that. I don't think she was expecting to walk that far, and it was a long walk anyway. Kak raz, this member is getting married in September to someone from Boise and they'll probably be getting married in Twin Falls! We thought that was cool.
Probably the highlight of my week was this cute girl named Sveta. I met her after English club and she was having a bad day and didn't want to leave, so I talked to her for along time and we got to be friends, and the next day we went to lunch with her. I got to share the BoM with her and she was super excited about it, but mostly she's just this cute 16-year-old who's way smart and likes Theater and music and English and needs some love and some friends. I love her, and she is just so excited that we are her friends, and I can't wait to see her at English CLub on Wednesday and stuff. She's just super super super cute. And her family is religious but nondenominational and interested in other faiths so we'll see what happens. She doesn't live in our area though, but whatever. She's still a big sweetheart.
Well, the church is true! You all are great. Don't die (especially Michael). Tell everyone hi from me. Sorry this is so short, but I need to pick pictures to print for some missionaries and this keyboard is horrible!
Love,
Sister Ashby
Dacha season means a lot of contacting, which, as long as it's with our district, I'm more than fine with. District contacting, at least singing wise in a place where it's legal, is just so effective. And fun. I've realized that I actually don't really even care if I don't meet with all that many people because my favorite part of the work I think is just talking to the random people who come up when we're singing or who ask something when they take a prig...it's the small little seed-planting conversation and the weird people who make good stories that I've really been enjoying lately. One time this week was really entertaining because we had a lot of adventures. We made 60 rubles (this lady just came up and gave us money. When we told her to take something if she wanted to pay us and not give us money, she took a Family Proclamation but still left the money anyway). A guy listened to one of the missionaries for a bit, and then took our pictures for like an hour while we were singing. This lady had us pray for her on the street. And there was a drunk guy who wouldn't leave Elder Finke alone, finally left, and came back and hour later, so we ended up going to a different metro. He was so drunk. You could smell the vodka on him from like 10 feet away. Anyway. Yesterday on that same metro, I was able to give a KM to a JW and this other guy who just came up, asked if I was Mormon and what it meant to "receive a book free." I was like, "Just take the book and read it. It means what it says." He said that he'd only see Mormons on a cartoon (probably South Park) but that he liked the whole idea of loving each other so he would read, and left me his business card without me even asking, which I gave to the Elders. I was super surprised that the J-Dub lady took the BOM though. She was really worried that we were polygamists though, so we'll see.
I got lost on the way to a member's house the other day and we walked over a mile out of our way. Sister Maxwell was really tired after that. I don't think she was expecting to walk that far, and it was a long walk anyway. Kak raz, this member is getting married in September to someone from Boise and they'll probably be getting married in Twin Falls! We thought that was cool.
Probably the highlight of my week was this cute girl named Sveta. I met her after English club and she was having a bad day and didn't want to leave, so I talked to her for along time and we got to be friends, and the next day we went to lunch with her. I got to share the BoM with her and she was super excited about it, but mostly she's just this cute 16-year-old who's way smart and likes Theater and music and English and needs some love and some friends. I love her, and she is just so excited that we are her friends, and I can't wait to see her at English CLub on Wednesday and stuff. She's just super super super cute. And her family is religious but nondenominational and interested in other faiths so we'll see what happens. She doesn't live in our area though, but whatever. She's still a big sweetheart.
Well, the church is true! You all are great. Don't die (especially Michael). Tell everyone hi from me. Sorry this is so short, but I need to pick pictures to print for some missionaries and this keyboard is horrible!
Love,
Sister Ashby
