From Krasnodar to Taganrog then on to Estonia ...what???

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS WHITEROO!!!

Haha, bet you would want to know that huh? Well as it turns out my transfer was to Taganrog, a smaller town on the Aziak...something sea. For the first week it was me and Cectpa Burnett and even though it is naturally challenging with two fresh greenies together-it has been good and we were learning a lot. The branch is amazing and has a lot of cool strong youth. we taught a golden investigator that came to church all on her own and apparently they had taught her the first lesson before I came and then we taught her the second lesson and got a baptismal date by the end of it! It was really cool though we have since learned that her husband is not really her husband, just have lived together for a long time but we are confident that she will make the appropriate changes-prolly get married so we will see!

Though....I have sort of gotten a new transfer since last writing that happened just a few days ago. Hahha.....yea....so I am sort of in Tallin, Estonia right now. As it turns out our visas ran out and they were late with our paper work so a bunch of us got sent to the Baltics (in the case of the sisters) or Ukraine-mainly elders for the next couple of weeks.

So a few days ago we took a bus to Rostov where I met up with Cectpa King and Taylor from the MTC! and then the mission president drove us to the airport and we flew to Moscow and from there somehow (honestly thanks to Cectpa Taylor) we found our way through the metro under Moscow-honestly sooo cool and complex! we got to our train station and me and Cectpa King went to Estonia and Cectpa Taylor went to Latvia. our train ride was pretty cool- like Harry Potter only with bunkbeds and it was very squished. It was us and two other ladies and was obviously over night and they didn't feed us! but of course they offered tea and coffee, oh well.

We arrived in Tallinn, Estonia eight o'clock yesterday morning and were met by the mission president, his wife and Cectpa Witehead and Hanson-Witehead was in the MTC with us so we were really excited to see her. We went straight to their branch building which was very nice for their zone conference-cool timing huh?

Honestly, me and Cectpa King both feel like we came here for a reason-not just because of our visas but because we needed to learn from these missionaries in the Baltics and get the real training we needed and come back and whip the sisters into shape. I am REALLY excited to be here. Naturally the city is far more western-European and is right on the black sea. It is pretty cool. Most people speak Estonian, some Russian, and generally the Estonian youth know English so it is always fun to figure out if you can communicate with them or not. I am here in Tallin and Cectpa King is east in Narva. I am in a threesome with Cectpa Whitehead and Hanson-seriously they are amazing sister missionaries! They really are great examples to me. They have great goals in their mission- 20 contacts a day, 140 a week, 20 lessons a week etc, really impressive. And just before we came to the Internet cafe I talked with a girl on the bus in English cause she was Estonian and got her number-they make it so easy, how it should be.

Yesterday after zone conference we were on the bus-it works a bit differently here, there is not a conductor who goes to each person and makes them pay. You buy a ticket or have a pass and then randomly without warning little rent-a-cops called falks come on and check everyone and if you did not pay they pull you off into a van and apparently if you do not have a good excuse you go to jail-crazy huh?!

Um....what else...so hard to remember cause so much has happened....

So we think we will be here for 3 weeks or so but who knows...maybe more. On p-day we will have culture day and go see a castle. THAT IS RIGHT, A CASTLE!!!! I am SOOO excited! Also, they have what they call old town which is like a fairytale-hundreds of years old that we can see while I am here. It is a really clean city and feels a bit different from Russia. I am excited for our time here and can feel I will learn a lot and will have to bring all I learned back to Russia-I am tired of making excuses for myself (oh, it is Russia, that is why it is hard to contact etc-the people are cold etc- why should that affect me right?)

I was way excited to hear about all that is going on in your lives. I was excited to hear about Kyle and Becca-congrats!!! and also Chelsea Burkinshaw congrats!

I do not know anything about our branch here because i have not been to church but I am sure it will be great too. I just can not describe how great this mission feels-not that ours feels bad but I just can tell I will learn so much that can help us improve our mission in Rostov so I am taking notes and will now write my mission president a letter about what I have seen.

I love you all and will write next Wednesday-we have the same p-day here in Estonia, and I should be able to send pictures next week cause my comps have a chord and we will take pictures at the castle etc 8)

Also, congrats to Eric-I am sure you are excited to finish your training and finally do what you have been training so hard for. I will pray for you as I know you are praying for me- love ya, you will do great! I am proud to tell people what you are doing and the service you are giving.

Well I love you all and I am sure you will write with a million questions next week, but I am sure you will get on Google and look up stuff about this town-please do it is really cool looking!

Luv
Cectpa Richards