From the land of the North

Greetings from....Volgograd!

That's right. Last night I made the not so fun, slightly smelly, 9 hour trip by bus to Vgrad. I got here around 5:30 in the morning (I was with another elder, not by myself) and was met at the station by good ol' Sister Fourtina! It's really great to be with her again. I missed her and think it won't take anytime at all to get back into the swing of things with her.

I haven't seen much but we are in a new, tiny, but good apartment -great location. We're near the supermarket, and the church is a two minute walk from us -it's very own building-specifically built for that purpose! And the internet club is just down the street 8) It's cold here,but not terribly so, prolly...6 degrees cel. The wind is what gets ya though. I will need to buy gloves and a good hat 8) Our zone conference will be on Jan 2nd so if we get any packages I won't get it til' after all the festivities but o well -what do ya do?

It sounds like the work is going great here and it's not the big, bad scary town that everyone makes it out to be so I can't wait to go have some success and work hard right til' the end. Man, I'm really tired and feel a lil throat thing coming on but hopefully that's just the traveling talking so I don't have to fight a cold while getting used to a new area etc.

President said he would send an email next week about times etc for the christmas call and rules but our home phone number is: (oops! sorry gang ...I can't post that here!) and if there needs to be any sort of area code etc. they'll prolly say in the letter. So it's hard to believe that the next time I'm traveling ...it'll be home -crazy! Though I'm really excited to get lost in the work with Sister Fourtina and be really united and have goals/help each other improve as teachers etc.

Nastia was confirmed yesterday which was good -what wasn't so good was that she apparently had an arguement with her mom (about the church) and decided to move out of her parents' house and now lives 2 hours away and we're not sure with who -obviously not welcome news considering the fact that we wanted to work with her family which now prolly has resentful feelings towards the church. Not the best of news to leave under especially when Sister Pico hadn't developed the strongest relationship with her yet but she promised to keep coming to church even tho it's so far...we'll see. Luckily she has good support from the members -she opens up with them etc. and they support her.

Apparently we have one person with a baptismal date here which is good and a few other investigators so that's great 8) I'm excited to see the sites and get to know the city -apparently the longest city....ever...along the Volga river and of course the biggest statue in the world, also there apparently is a museum -the only building that was left standing after World War 2. (Obviously the war had a big effect on this city and they have a lot of history that they're proud of.)

Well that's about it with the news from me. I love you all so much and am greatful for all the words of encouragement. Our next P-day will be not this coming wednesday but the next -the 17th? Anywho, keep me informed and I'll try not to freeze. Apparently this week is supposed to be warmer so that's good 8)

Cectpa Richards