Энгельс (Engels), probably for a few days, but who really knows? Pretty much, no one ever knows anything in this mission. So, I’ll start at the top.(Picture to the left is my district from Энгельс - Elders Cummings and Burnah, Sister Дэлгэрцэцэг (Delgertsetseg) and me, Elders Page and Wade).
Like you know, I am getting transferred to Маркс (Marks). They told us that we would be
leaving Sunday. Then they said that Sister Дэлгэрцэцэг would be with a member in Саратов while I went to Самара (Samara) with Sister Wheeler.(The picture on the right was taken on the train to Самара. Elder Kupfer, Elder McCleve, me, Sister Wheeler and Elder Мелничук [Melnychuk]). Then we were told that Sister Дэлгэрцэцэг and the member would be in Энгельс (this was Saturday night) and that I would have to plan their week so they would be using their time effectively. So, that was not very pleasant because I was still leaving the next day. I basically had to plan their week during church, talking to members to find out if they could come see them. That was an inves
Wheeler.tigator from Ершов (Ershov) came to Саратов and wanted to see us at the train station. We had to get there a little earlier so that left no time whatsoever. (The picture to the left and below were taken on the airplane to Moscow. Left, me and Sister Right, Elder Kupfer and Elder Broscow. As a side note, Elder Kupfer came to Russia with me. He went on the trip because he lost his passport a few months after we got into Russia and had to get a new one. 
Elder Briscow came in the group right before me and was on the trip because his passport was stolen not too long after he arrived in Russia.) Finally, I got on the train and I thought that I would have a little time to forget about everything and just relax. I was wrong. . . Later that night I found out that our P-Day has been changed to Mondays (that means that next week everyone ot fun at all because it was in the midst of saying good-bye to everyone. Then it turned out that ourneeds to write me before then or 
I won’t get your emails) and so I started wondering what the sisters would do, but I made myself not think about it because there was nothing I could do to help.When I got to Самара, I found out that I was going to go to Moscow (Москва) and then Estonia with Sister Wheeler. That was a huge surprise. It was kind of nice, though. (The picture above is on the Metro in Moscow, Elder Briscow, Sister Wheeler, and I). We went to Moscow a few hours later and everyone relied on me to get them where we were supposed to go because I was the only one who had been there before. I know how the Metro works, but that is about it, except for I knew which stops we needed and how to get to Red Square. We went to the service
station to pick up our train 
tickets and then went to eat at TGI Friday’s. (See pictures on the right and below. On the left is Elder Briscow, me, Sister Wheeler, Elder Dieter, Elder M, and Elder Kupfer at our dinner table in TGI Friday's. The picture on the right says TGI Friday's in Russian and was on the outside of the building where we went to eat.) It was really good, but really expensive. It cost more than 500 rub. to eat some potato skins and chicken fingers, 
but the honey mustard dressing made it worth it. I haven’t had that in a long time. We then went to 
the train station where we got on a train bound for Tallin, Estonia. It was weird because we were in a different car then the Elders . . . in fact, we were in the first class car.(See picture above, Sister Wheeler and I in our first class train room. The picture on the left is the view of Tallin with Elder Briscow, me, and Elder Kupfer). That was really nice except that we were far away from the Elders. The restaurant car was in between us so we could only get to them when the restaurant was open. But, anyway, we were again woken up in the middle of the night when we got to the border. It
didn’t seem so bad this time, though. I’m not exactly sure why.(In the picture to the right you can see Elder Kupfer, who was in charge of the map while we were in Tallin, acting like a tourist. We didn't even care what we looked like and had a lot of fun.)
When we got to Tallin, everyone gave their passports up except me and we went into Old Town. We ended up eating lunch at McDonalds and then we walked around. It was really cold, so we found a market and some people bought some winter clothing. Then we went to
Stockmanns where we can buy a lot of things that aren’t found in Russia, like Wheat Thins, runts, etc. and things that are hard to find like peanut butter, brown sugar, etc. (See the picture to the left - me, Elder Briscow, Elder Kupfer, and Elder Dieter) I was surprised that I got us there because I had only been there one time three months ago and I didn’t try to remember the way, thinking that I wouldn’t return, but we made it without even getting lost. After our shopping spree, we went back to Old Town to find something to do. We wanted to go into one of the churches, but the first o
ne we tried was closed. On the way to the other, we found a museum, so we went in. That was really interesting because I’ve never heard anything about Estonian history. They’ve been conquered a lot. It was little, but not a bad museum. (See the picture above - Sister Wheeler and I are "watching" the old movies in one of the museum rooms dedicated to old films.)We then went to St. Olaf’s church where we went last time, but for some reason they were closed, too. We went to the harbor to look out at the
Baltic Sea, and then went back to the train station to get passports and wait for our train ride back to Moscow. When we got to Moscow the next morning, we went straight to Red Square. We ran into several missionaries who were meeting some missionaries that had just come from America. (Picture above is on the famous Red Square in Moscow. From left to right is Elder Briscow, me, Sister Wheeler, Elder Dieter, Elder McCleve, Elder Kupfer, and an Elder from the Moscow mission). We wanted to meet them, but it was too cold to wait and we didn’t have enough time. Instead, we went to eat in the mall nearby. It was really expensive for very little food, but still not as expensive as TGI Friday’s. It wasn’t as good as Friday’s, though.
Then we headed to the airport for our flight to Самара. We ended up being early, but at least we weren’t late.(To the right - this picture was taken in Sbarro's where we ate lunch. It has the American flag to the left and the Russian flag to the right. I had to get a picture of it).
We arrived in Самара around 6:00 and our driver stopped by his Дача (dacha) before we headed to the office. As soon as we stepped into the office, we were told that our train was leaving that night. That made Sister Wheeler upset because we had left stuff at the Sisters’ apartment. Before that minute, we had been told that we would be in Самара until Friday, but they changed the plans without letting anyone know. In fact, no one in Саратов or Энгельс knew that we were coming until we called them from the train. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get our stuff from the sisters and I’m not sure when I’m going to get it. That is bad because that is stuff that I really do need.
Anyway, we arrived safely in Саратов this morning and will be meeting the sisters in a half hour or so. Then I’m not sure what is going to happen. I don’t really want to stay in Энгельс now that I’ve already said good-bye to everyone, but I don’t think we can go to Маркс (Marx), the Elders won’t be there and then I won’t get my stuff for a couple of weeks, but who really knows what is going to happen. We’ll probably eat some lunch and then I don’t know what we’ll do before English tonight. There we will probably find out what the Elders are planning on doing with us.
Time flies, I can’t believe another week has come and gone. The two Elders who were due this cycle have gone home, their flight left four hours ago. I can’t help wondering what they are thinking and feeling because I know that my turn is next . . . I have a month left and less than a week and I don’t even know how that has happened. It can’t be possible that my mission is almost over, can it? I feel like I just started. I dreamed about this mission for so many years that I couldn’t believe when the time finally came, now it doesn’t seem possible that it has almost passed. Then I have to learn to live in the real world again. That is a scary thought.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who wrote me this week, mom, Sara, Lizzy, dad, I appreciate your emails and your support. Please don’t forget to write before Monday next week! It is really awful to come to the internet and not have any mail. All the missionaries ask how your family is doing and all you can say is, they didn’t write. I don’t like the pity that comes with that answer, so don’t forget!
Love you all, see you too soon, and I hope that everything is going well.
Love,
Сестра Атвуд
(The following film was recorded by Elder Briscow. He spoke in English, so you should be able to figure it out)
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