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!)

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.

Glad to hear you are all doing well! Tell hunter I say hi, I sent him, ashlyn, amy and jason letters last week. Ha it will be funny when they get them because there are like 12 stamps on the envelope. I love you all, see you next week!


-Scott

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

according to Google...
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)

according to Scott:
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

TUESDAY! December 4, 2012

RUSSIA WEEK 2

Whew! Ok, so yesterday was p-day and we went to the branch building to email and the internet was not working there. So we went to an internet club in Volgograd and it was closed. Today we've been searching for a way to use the internet and we finally found a place here in Volzsky to email. So right now I am surrounded by a ton of Russian teenage gamers.

This week was great! We have spent a majority of our time on the street talking to people. It is actually really fun and I think its the best way for me to improve my Russian. We talk to anyone who will listen and tell them about the gospel. People here are a little different, but not in a bad way at all! I thought that missionaries would always get yelled at or cussed out but so far no one has done that to us. Either they just ignore us or say they don't have time or actually talk with us. But everyone is nice and fun to talk with, and they have so much insight on life. Like the other day we went to talk to this man and he was like hey that's women's work, you should be out driving tanks and flying airplanes or something haha. We said we only take 2 years of our life because we love God!

On Thursday we had our last (and my first) 'english discussion.' The mission president is re-vamping the english club and is starting out only in the main cities. So we won't do it in Volzsky anymore. Although we still meet with our investigator and his wife and practice english with them, which is good.

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. I'll send the pictures when I can.

I bought some envelopes today and I have some letters to send to Jason, Hunter and Ashlyn. And I'll probably write a few more to family. Take some pictures for me in Hawaii you lucky ducks! I got the ones Amy sent and it looks like great weather and everything. Here the weather isn't bad yet. It is probably in the 40's during the day and rainy most nights. It snowed once but melted pretty fast.

And don't worry I'm eating well. I don't remember if I told you last time but they have everything we need here. For breakfast I usually eat cocoa puffs and lunch I usually help elder belnap cook something big like pasta or chicken or something and then for dinner I make some fried eggs because that's the only thing I know how to make haha.

Elder Belnap is an awesome guy. He is alot like Tucker Denton and even though we don't have a ton in common, we get along well and I learn lots. His Russian is really good too, so that is good and he is helping me with that. 

We are working out when we will call you on Christmas, probably sometime in the morning. I can't wait to talk again and see how everything is going. I am doing fine here and russia is awesome. Mom I don't think there is another address to send stuff so the mission home is fine. I love you all and will talk in a few weeks on skype!

-скотт аллэн