Dear family,
I am now in Самара (Samara). It has been a long night. In fact, I am so tired that I really don't want to write, that takes too much energy . . .
But, I'll write anyway. Thanks to everyone who wrote this week. Lizzy, great job! I think that is the most you have ever written me. Sara, you really need to do better. The first one was ok, barely acceptable, but the second was a disgrace. By the way, Happy Birthday! I hope it went well for you!
Anyway, mom, thanks for asking Becky about the тапочки (tapochki), but you didn't mention if you would like a pair or not. Let me know about that, also Lizzy didn't mention whether she would wear them if I bought them. Just to let you know, I can probably get you a pink pair if you want, then would you wear them? So, yeah, if you got my flight schedule, could you send me the information so I know what is going on? (When I am leaving, where I fly first, etc and also if there is any other information, I would really appreciate that). That's cool about the MTC choir. I have always wanted to be in a choir for general conference but I haven't had that chance yet. We should get to see conference in a few weeks. It should be good. We'll get to see woman's conference on the 14th. I'm looking forward to that because I heard President Hinckley spoke. That's all well and good, but probably the coolest thing is that the temple in Finland is going to be dedicated soon. We get to watch it! I'm really excited to be able to see that. Having a temple in Finland cuts the time and cost way down. It is great for the members. There will be an English broadcast and we get to see that. (picture above is from our last district meeting with Sister Silva. We decided to have lunch to commemorate the occasion. Elders Ray, Cummings, Wade; Sister Silva, and Elder Page. We had really good chicken, salad, and chocolate revel bars made by yours truly and Sister Silva).
Lizzy, that will be really great to teach institute. Too bad I won't be there to see it. Also, I'm glad you organized those areas. Keep up the good work, I'm now expecting everything to be organized when I get home . . .
Dad, that's too bad about the computer but I know you'll get it figured out. Do you have the stamps from the letter that I sent when I was serving in Тольятти (Togliatti)? I can try to buy a few stamps, but I don't know how that works here, they usually put them directly on envelopes, but I'll ask if I can just buy some.
Sara, sword fighting sounds interesting. I wish we had done things like that, but that's ok, I still had some really interesting English classes.
So, what else can I share? My companion is probably right now having lunch with President and his wife, that is if she and Sister Блохина (Bloxina) finished their final interviews. They leave tomorrow morning. That is so crazy to think. Until my new companion gets here, I will have no companions in the mission field. Life is certainly going to be interesting these next several weeks. I have a horrible sinking feeling that the time is going to go by so quickly that next thing I know, I will be having lunch with President and preparing to leave. As for the time it takes, I get home the 21st because of the nearly 12 hour time difference from here and there.
Let's see, not much has really happened since last week because we've been spending this whole time saying good-byes, packing (well, I haven't been doing that, but I've had to go along. I've mainly been cleaning our apartment so I won't have to be embarrassed when the new sister gets here).
(Picture to the right is in front of the ox monument in Энгельс. If you look, it has the name of the town on the statue. This is the symbol of the city. It has salt on its back because they used to transport salt through Энгельс. Very small is me and Sister Silva).
Here's a funny story. One of the members in our branch is a taxi driver. The Elders often hire him to take them when they need a taxi. We decided to call him even though he is infamous for his bad driving. When we asked the Elders for his number they asked, do you want to survive? We were like, it would be nice to survive, but we called him anyway. He agreed. Literally an hour later, we got a phone call from the Elders telling us that the member had gotten into an accident, so he couldn't take us. We had to find a different taxi. It was pretty crazy, and pretty funny, but I'm glad that he didn't get into an accident while WE were in the car.
We traveled up to Самара with the two sisters who are serving in Саратов (Saratov). That was great because we talked and had fun the whole time. That is why I am really tired, plus the fact that we got to Самара really early this morning and there is an hour time difference between Самара and Энгельс (Engels). So, we left at 5:30 yesterday afternoon and arrived at 5:45 this morning. It was a long ride, but better than the gazelle ride they tried to put us on (you know, those vans they use here). None of us were happy about that. I prayed really hard and the other sister talked with people who made decisions about our transportation, and at the last minute, they bought us train tickets. So, lucky us!
Well, family, I really am tired and I'm not exactly sure what else to say. I love you all and I am looking forward to hearing from you next week, especially about my flight plans and from mom and Lizzy about the тапочки (tapochki).

Love,
Сестра Атвуд