Good morning! Hope you guys had a fun week. I sure did. We went on
'splits' this week with the Volgograd missionaries. They are so cool,
elder S and elder M. Also it was fun going around with elder
miller because we came in at the same time so we know the least Russian.
haha exciting times when you don't know what is going on and at the end
of a conversation you realize you agreed to buy beer for somebody.
haha. I told this guy we don't drink and he said well how do you live?! I
just said Snickers and Coca cola and he started cracking up. Good
times. also I really hope I get to serve with elder S, he is a
stud. I told him after the mission I am going to fly up to visit him and
go to lake Tahoe with him.
I am still doing well and I am not too cold. It is still relatively
warm for this time of year I think. Which is weird because December was
freezing and all of a sudden it warmed up. No complaints here.
This morning we went to the gym with I which was fun/interesting. We
just worked out for an hour or two and then went to help him buy a new
computer and we gave him a spiritual thought afterwards. It was crazy, I
read his teaching record for the first time and he has come so far
since the missionaries started teaching him. It is great to see his
spiritual progression.
Also my resolve to be more obedient is paying off! On Tuesday a guy ran
up to us and we started to talk. Apparently he met with missionaries a
few years ago and loved being with them. He went to all the activities
and church and then got in an argument with a member and decided to stop
coming. That happens alot here, but he wanted to call and apologize to
the girl and stuff. and so we met with him, he had some questions about
the Book of Mormon (he already had one and had read some of it). and he
also came to English club, even though he doesn't speak English. Then he
stayed for our spiritual thought and also institute! He is a cool guy.
He didn't come to church on Sunday so we will meet with him a few times
this week and hopefully he comes next week.
Love you all, dad I
hope you feel better and mom I missed your email this week. Maybe you
should get off the missionary mom web site and write me an email! haha
just kidding, but...sheesh! haha love you mom!
Scott
Monday, January 14, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Happy New Year!
Hello again! Thanks for all your emails they are always fun to read.
Also I got Christmas cards from the Booth's and Kimball's. J. street
wins again. And I got the package! It is perfect. Although I am not
sure about that pillow case thing ha I sent a picture let me know how I
did. The laffy taffy's will be perfect for english club. Also I read the
part of Grandpa's book that he sent me. It is great! he sounds like
quite the stud missionary, I bet I could use some of his tips.
This week was great. On Wednesday we had the branch Christmas party which was a hoot. We were in the play (I was a wise man of course) and then there was music and dancing and a Russian Santa Claus. It was cool because one man in the branch who was recently baptized invited a friend who is a journalist. He was a great guy and even made a speech saying how he went to the first LDS church building in Russia when it was dedicated. He said just about how cool he thought it was and he has even gone back since, just because he likes the building. Then when the party started he asked if he could do anything, so the branch president told him he could dress up like Santa Claus if he wanted, so he did! haha it was great, we gave him a Hymn book and a Book of Mormon and got his phone number. As he was leaving he mentioned how great the atmosphere was in the church building.
Also on Friday the president over the European East area came and spoke at our zone conference. He spoke from 8 in the morning until 5 at night! But everything he said was helpful and he really changed the attitude of the missionaries, I think. At least mine! He said because it is a rule to wake up at 6:30, if you wake up any later than that you are plainly starting your day off with disobedience. Wow, I had never looked at it that way before. So needless to say I made some new years resolutions because of what President Bennett told to us. He used to be mission president over the Russia, Samara mission and he told us some cool stories of conversion in Russia.
New years was exciting also, even though it was just me and elder R. We had 'free time' from 9 to midnight so we stayed up and watch all the fireworks. So many fireworks! we were standing on the balcony and crazy people were shooting fireworks out of their windows from like the 8th floor haha! I never in a million years would have thought that I would experience a New Years in Russia of all places. The next day we went out to the city to talk to people and it was a ghost town! I'm not sure if they were sleeping or relaxing or hung over but nobody was outside. Kind of strange but now we are back into the swing of things.
We tried calling a few less active people from the branch but of course they said call back after new years. Which actually means call back on the 10th of January because everyone is pretty much off work/school until then I think. So we will call them back!
It is still super warm here it is so weird. There was like a 30 degree swing from 2 weeks ago to today and now the snow is all melting and turning into muddy slush. I don't want to jinx myself and say I prefer the cold to the mud but I think I do. Every morning I wake up fearing that 'today is the day' that it freezes over again but it hasn't yet. Interesting.
Well happy new year thanks again for the package! I need to learn how to wear a scarf so I can use the one you sent me. When it gets cold again. I love you all and miss you like crazy but I also love it like crazy here. Thanks for your prayers, keep sending them this way.
Scott
This week was great. On Wednesday we had the branch Christmas party which was a hoot. We were in the play (I was a wise man of course) and then there was music and dancing and a Russian Santa Claus. It was cool because one man in the branch who was recently baptized invited a friend who is a journalist. He was a great guy and even made a speech saying how he went to the first LDS church building in Russia when it was dedicated. He said just about how cool he thought it was and he has even gone back since, just because he likes the building. Then when the party started he asked if he could do anything, so the branch president told him he could dress up like Santa Claus if he wanted, so he did! haha it was great, we gave him a Hymn book and a Book of Mormon and got his phone number. As he was leaving he mentioned how great the atmosphere was in the church building.
Also on Friday the president over the European East area came and spoke at our zone conference. He spoke from 8 in the morning until 5 at night! But everything he said was helpful and he really changed the attitude of the missionaries, I think. At least mine! He said because it is a rule to wake up at 6:30, if you wake up any later than that you are plainly starting your day off with disobedience. Wow, I had never looked at it that way before. So needless to say I made some new years resolutions because of what President Bennett told to us. He used to be mission president over the Russia, Samara mission and he told us some cool stories of conversion in Russia.
New years was exciting also, even though it was just me and elder R. We had 'free time' from 9 to midnight so we stayed up and watch all the fireworks. So many fireworks! we were standing on the balcony and crazy people were shooting fireworks out of their windows from like the 8th floor haha! I never in a million years would have thought that I would experience a New Years in Russia of all places. The next day we went out to the city to talk to people and it was a ghost town! I'm not sure if they were sleeping or relaxing or hung over but nobody was outside. Kind of strange but now we are back into the swing of things.
We tried calling a few less active people from the branch but of course they said call back after new years. Which actually means call back on the 10th of January because everyone is pretty much off work/school until then I think. So we will call them back!
It is still super warm here it is so weird. There was like a 30 degree swing from 2 weeks ago to today and now the snow is all melting and turning into muddy slush. I don't want to jinx myself and say I prefer the cold to the mud but I think I do. Every morning I wake up fearing that 'today is the day' that it freezes over again but it hasn't yet. Interesting.
Well happy new year thanks again for the package! I need to learn how to wear a scarf so I can use the one you sent me. When it gets cold again. I love you all and miss you like crazy but I also love it like crazy here. Thanks for your prayers, keep sending them this way.
Scott
 |
| This was a fill-in-the-blank candy bar card. Inspired by Jay. Created by Amy and Jason. |
 |
| Elder Reed, Russian Santa and Elder Allen! |
Monday, December 31, 2012
Christmas in Volgograd Russia!
 |
| I'm not sure if this is his apartment or another missionary apartment where they spent Christmas. In any case, it has all he needs for Christmas! |
 | |
| I LOVE and MISS this missionary! His smile is contagious and you just never know what he will say next! He looks so comfy...he must feel right at home in Russia! |
 |
| View from Volgograd apartment (before snow) |
 |
| View from Volgograd apartment |
 |
| Outside the WWII Museum that the missionaries visited Christmas Day |
 |
| Scott said this was very interesting. He loves WWII History |
RUSSIA WEEK 6
(No letter last week. We got a phone call instead!)
Happy new years! с новым годом! Christmas was great and it is still being celebrated here in Russia. It was so awesome to talk to you guys although the camera we have is garbage so I had to be a foot away from it so you could hear me.. Oh well. And of course as soon as I hung up I thought of more things that I wanted to tell you! Maybe on Mother's day. I am glad you all had a great Christmas and I didn't know that all the the Allens would be there, that is so awesome. And it is weird because the last memory I have with you guys is the Grand Canyon so that is what is fresh in my mind and when dad said something about it being last summer that seemed weird to me. Because it seems like just yesterday that we were there.
It was a good week here in Volzsky, and it warmed up a ton! Then it started snowing again on saturday so I guess winter isn't over yet? I figured I will be just fine in the shoes I have so you don't need to worry, I'll be fine. And mom I'll answer the questions you had: the branch building is only a 5 min. walk from our dome and it is in a two story office type building. The church owns or rents the second floor. There is no branch mission leader that I know of, because the branch is so small. There isn't even a full Branch presidency.
And Elder Reed is cool, he is from Logan Utah and plays basketball and has been on his mission for a year and a half. The elders in center Volgograd are also super cool, elder miller from my mtc group and elder Sprouse. They are both dang funny and it was fun being over there for Christmas. We were planning on going there tonight for new years but that isn't going to work out.
The branch is doing a Christmas party on Wednesday so that will be fun. The missionaries are in a choir type thing with some of the younger members of the branch. It should be pretty fun, we are singing some Christmas songs and there may be costumes involved-- I'm not sure haha. But it's cool because I feel like every christmas season I don't understand why we really celebrate Christmas and then it always hits me right in an instant, and I kind of feel the true meaning behind the holiday. ha that sounds kind of strange when I write it down, but anyway when we were practicing our songs we sang Silent Night in Russian, and just while we sang it felt so awesome and I thought about Christ's birth and what a blessing that was to the world. It reminded me of a really long time ago, like when I was a little kid when we sang Silent Night in German at a Christmas party. I don't even remember why we sang that back then, especially in German but that has been a cool memory ever since we did that years ago.
Also happy birthday to Hunter and Taylor! Go make it a new years to remember.
We are still doing missionary work here during the holidays, although it is getting cold so nobody wants to talk to us. So we planned to contact all of the less active members in the branch and reach out to them, and also see if they might know anyone who would be interested in the gospel. Hopefully it is successful, I feel like it will be more so than talking to people on the streets, but we will see.
Sorry for such a long and boring letter. I still enjoy doing this, it helps me feel Christ's love for people and see people in a light that I never have before. I love you all and hope you have a fun new years!
Scott
PS Oh also I will get dearelders on Wednesday or Thursday so tell people to write! (go to dearelder.com, click on write a letter, choose Rostov-na-dona Russian Mission, and write him a letter! It will be printed and delivered to the mission home and then to him! no stamp or address necessary!)
Happy new years! с новым годом! Christmas was great and it is still being celebrated here in Russia. It was so awesome to talk to you guys although the camera we have is garbage so I had to be a foot away from it so you could hear me.. Oh well. And of course as soon as I hung up I thought of more things that I wanted to tell you! Maybe on Mother's day. I am glad you all had a great Christmas and I didn't know that all the the Allens would be there, that is so awesome. And it is weird because the last memory I have with you guys is the Grand Canyon so that is what is fresh in my mind and when dad said something about it being last summer that seemed weird to me. Because it seems like just yesterday that we were there.
It was a good week here in Volzsky, and it warmed up a ton! Then it started snowing again on saturday so I guess winter isn't over yet? I figured I will be just fine in the shoes I have so you don't need to worry, I'll be fine. And mom I'll answer the questions you had: the branch building is only a 5 min. walk from our dome and it is in a two story office type building. The church owns or rents the second floor. There is no branch mission leader that I know of, because the branch is so small. There isn't even a full Branch presidency.
And Elder Reed is cool, he is from Logan Utah and plays basketball and has been on his mission for a year and a half. The elders in center Volgograd are also super cool, elder miller from my mtc group and elder Sprouse. They are both dang funny and it was fun being over there for Christmas. We were planning on going there tonight for new years but that isn't going to work out.
The branch is doing a Christmas party on Wednesday so that will be fun. The missionaries are in a choir type thing with some of the younger members of the branch. It should be pretty fun, we are singing some Christmas songs and there may be costumes involved-- I'm not sure haha. But it's cool because I feel like every christmas season I don't understand why we really celebrate Christmas and then it always hits me right in an instant, and I kind of feel the true meaning behind the holiday. ha that sounds kind of strange when I write it down, but anyway when we were practicing our songs we sang Silent Night in Russian, and just while we sang it felt so awesome and I thought about Christ's birth and what a blessing that was to the world. It reminded me of a really long time ago, like when I was a little kid when we sang Silent Night in German at a Christmas party. I don't even remember why we sang that back then, especially in German but that has been a cool memory ever since we did that years ago.
Also happy birthday to Hunter and Taylor! Go make it a new years to remember.
We are still doing missionary work here during the holidays, although it is getting cold so nobody wants to talk to us. So we planned to contact all of the less active members in the branch and reach out to them, and also see if they might know anyone who would be interested in the gospel. Hopefully it is successful, I feel like it will be more so than talking to people on the streets, but we will see.
Sorry for such a long and boring letter. I still enjoy doing this, it helps me feel Christ's love for people and see people in a light that I never have before. I love you all and hope you have a fun new years!
Scott
PS Oh also I will get dearelders on Wednesday or Thursday so tell people to write! (go to dearelder.com, click on write a letter, choose Rostov-na-dona Russian Mission, and write him a letter! It will be printed and delivered to the mission home and then to him! no stamp or address necessary!)
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday December 17, 2012
RUSSIA WEEK 4
So winter decided to show up here in Russia! Dang on Monday we woke up and looked at the thermometer and it was not good news. It has been like negative 10 to 15 this week, but it's not as bad as it sounds cause it's in celsius so I think that is like 15 positive in F. It isn't the temperature that is killer it is the wind! It is like rexburg, and it is supposed to snow a bunch this week so I am nervous for that. no, I haven't bought any boots or a new coat. I am not sure if I will need to but if I get too cold I will go buy something. I stay warm though, I am learning the art of layering clothing. And I forgot to bring a beanie so I went and bought one in the market the other day.
So on tuesday we had a
sweet thing happen. Me and elder Belnap were just walking on the street
trying to talk to people and all of a sudden someone grabs my arm from
behind, so I turn and its a younger lady. She started out (in english)
saying can I talk to you, I really need to talk to you. Obviously we
said yeah we can talk. So she was asking us all these questions like how
long we will be in Russia and stuff like that. Apparently she teaches
english to a group of teenagers and she said they began to ask her
questions about religion and Christ and she thought we could answer them
better than she. So she suggested maybe bringing her group to our
Sacrament meeting and we said that'd be great, we gave her our number
and info for church so I am optimistic that something good will come of
that experience. It was an answer to my prayers, because ever since it
got cold people decided they didn't want to talk to us anymore.
Church
was good yesterday. As church was starting the branch president asked
if the two of us missionaries could speak. It was pretty frightening but
ended up that we only had enough time for Elder Belnap so I may be
speaking next week, who knows? I need to prepare a talk just in case
something like that happens again.
The
branch here is not big, but the people who come are very faithful.
There is an awesome family (branch president), a couple other small
families and some older men, and younger girls who are about 25 yrs
old.
I
finished the Book of Mormon this week and I decided to pray about it
again. Although I do not see any visions or anything of that magnitude, I
still truly feel in my heart that it is the true doctrine of Christ.
And I am grateful to have it's guidance in my life. Mom that is a good
idea to read from the new testament about Christ for Christmastime,
maybe I will do that..
Something
surprising that we just found out is that Elder Belnap is getting transferred! That came as a huge surprise to us, we were planning on
being together for at least a couple more months! So he leaves on
Tuesday for Rostov and my new companion is Elder Reed, I think he is
from Logan UT.
Since
it was Elder Belnaps last p day up north, maybe for his whole mission,
he wanted to do something cool. So we were planning on spending the
night in Volgograd with the zone leaders and going to a museum here
today. But we found out the museum is closed today. So we spent the
night anyway and hopefully we can find something fun to do here in
Volgograd today. I think we are going to McDonalds for lunch though,
that will be good.
About
skype, can you send me like amy's skype account info or someone's so
that I can sign in and then I will call moms? I will call you guys, and I
will let you know the exact time next week. We are going to call from
the branch presidents house.
-Scott
Monday, December 10, 2012
PICTURES!
RUSSIA WEEK 3
 | ||
| First Breakfast made in Russia! |
 | ||
| In front of apartment building |
 | |
| Bedroom! |
 |
| Typical street...RUSSIA! |
 |
| Random building? I'm sure it made Scott really, really happy to see this building! |
 |
| First P-Day adventure. Mother Russia |
The Motherland Calls, also called Mother Motherland or simply The Motherland, or The Mamayev Monument is a statue in Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd, Russia commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad.
The model who posed for Mother Motherland, Valentina Izotova, a native of the city, is still recognized for her resemblance to the statue. She was recruited by Lev Maistrenko, an artist who was working on the memorial complex in the early 1960s. According to some sources the statue was partially inspired by Winged Victory of Samothrace, with somewhat more extended drapery. Marshal of the Soviet Union Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov is buried in the area of the monument.
Measuring 85 meters (279 feet) from the tip of its sword to the top of the plinth, The statue is at our number 1 of 5 tallest statue in the world. (FYI: the Statue of Liberty is 46 meters, 151 feet tall, #3 of the tallest statues in the world)
Yesterday we went with some other missionaries in the area to the statue I told you about when we talked on the phone last week. It's called Mother Russia if you want to Google it. It is amazing, and I took lots of pictures. It has an almost holy atmosphere, kind of like at the tomb of the unknown soldier. There is so much history here and we got to see a glimpse of it.
 |
| Elder Allen's official name badge |
Monday December 10, 2012
RUSSIA WEEK 3
Hello, I sent a few pictures so that should make you happy! To
answer your questions, I can print off emails from you guys, I get
dearelders rarely (only if I go to Rostov or someone from there comes
here).
I am definitely still loving it here in Russia. I'm having
many 'firsts.' Today I had my first Russian haircut haha it was funny
because obviously I don't know vocab for a haircut and so she'd ask me a
question and I'd just say yes or no depending on how I was feeling at
the moment. But it looks good. Also we are making some Borsch (english
spelling?)- or beat soup for the first time today. It is good that Elder
Belnap is a good cook or I might be in trouble. He made some dang good
pizza on saturday night! It almost competed with the Cowley's pizza oven
pizza. Almost. Tomorrow I am going to go out on a limb and attempt to
make french toast. We'll see how it goes.
Elder Belnap is a great companion, and not just because
he's a good cook.. He helps me with my russian and teaching people. And
I found out he likes cars and top-gear so we found some common ground!
And he knows all the ins and outs of the city and Russian culture so
that's helpful.
I'm glad you and Amy had a fun time in Hawaii! You
should send some pictures. And Jason and dad survived ok without you two
it sounds like. And Jason looked classy in his winter formal picture. I
like that tie. Ha I heard ties are only like 3 dollars here so I only
brought like 4 ties. And I have yet to see a tie here, although I don't
doubt they are 3 dollars--if I could find them! So I continue with the 4
I brought, and Elder Bingham gave me one as a parting gift.
What else do you guys want to know ha? The other day we
were on the street and we had a good little lesson with a guy and then
he put out his hand like he wanted to shake hands, so I took off my
glove and he grabbed my hand and started to read my palm! haha he said I
wasn't very argumentative and then he judged Elder Belnap's hand and
said he was argumentative. Nice guy.
Church was good
yesterday. The ward here has some good, strong members that are super
willing to help out with anything. The 2 sister missionaries in our area
spoke at church yesterday about feeling the holy ghost and did a really
good job. And I blessed the sacrament and said one of the prayers. I
like church here because everyone knows everyone and it feels kinda
homey.
It sounds like everyone is good! I think I lost the
sheet I had with everyones birthdays on it so sorry if I don't give
someone a shoutout. The Big judds burger Taralynn sent me a picture of
looks so good! Hopefully he had a fun birthday. I still don't know when
we are going to skype, either Christmas morning or evening (for you
guys). If I'm thinking logical than I figured we are basically halfway
around the world, since we are 11 or 12 hours difference.
Love you all! next week!
-Scott
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)