ужас (oozhas)! (that is hard to translate, but you'll get the idea)

Hello dear family,
I want to begin with answering your letters. Thanks to all who wrote me на этой наделе (this week – I decided to write how I think and that is exactly what came to mind).
(This weird picture above is of me sweeping the floor in our bedroom. For some reason, my companion wanted a picture of that).
Sara – that is the first time that I have heard that people think we drink blood, but I think your teacher is right, she got us mixed up with vampires. Maybe she got confused because she heard that the church is in Romania, too (we actually even have a missionary in Russia from Romania and a member from Саратов (Saratov) went there on his mission not too long ago). By the way, I’m glad to hear that you are alive and well. When do you hear from Burger King?
Mom – I’m glad that Stake conference was good and all. There are probably a lot of new people in the ward there that I’ve never met. Grandpa’s 80th birthday? I think maybe you made a mistake there, I don’t think he is that old, is he? Tell him Happy Birthday for me, anyway.
Lizzy – I’m glad to hear that your will be introducing the personal history paper that I sent. Let me know how that goes. It seems like you are keeping yourself pretty busy. I hope you get the job at Target. How’s the application to BSC going? I think it is a really good idea that you have to keep a journal everyday and to use that to write me because I really enjoy reading your letters now. Its kind of like what mom does except you could say that her “journal” is just what she writes to me everyday.
Dad – That’s good that the computers are up and running again. Also, I’m glad that the genealogy work is going well (or so it seems to me). What is the difference between Vista and the old Windows?
Ok, now for my email. This last week has been full. On Thursday we came to Саратов to meet with President Neuenschwander. It was really good. He wanted to meet every one of us individually. He speaks a little Russian, enough to talk to members (he makes a lot of grammar mistakes but he still isn’t afraid to speak. It’s a good testimony to me that we don’t have to speak perfectly because all the members still love him). He spoke to us in Russian for most of the time but towards the end he resorted to English.
(Picture above: Sister Дэлгэрцэцэг (Delgertsetseg) and I after the meeting with President Neunshwander)
After our meeting with him, there was a meeting with everyone. He spoke and told how his wife has cancer and that is why he is being released of his calling and going back to America. He really loves Саратов and that is why he chose to come here (this is the only city that he decided to go to before heading home). It was a really spiritual fireside and I enjoyed listening, but than it had to be ruined. There is this member who is part of the district presidency who also owns the apartment where the Elders live right now. Those Elders are moving to an area a little outside of Engels to start a group there. (They are currently a part of our приход (branch) but soon will be meeting there instead of traveling to Engels). Well, because of that, this man wants us to move to his apartment because our apartment is the only one not owned by members. First of all, most of our work is centered around our apartment. That means, if we move, we will have to do a lot more traveling. That means there will be less time to meet with people. If we move, we won’t be able to walk to the приход anymore (that’s more of a convenience than a necessity). Also, almost all of our neighbors know us (especially now) and that means we have a connection with them. That also means that if we move, there will be no connection with them. So, for the work, I think it is better for us not to move. BUT, he, of course, doesn’t care about that at all. All he cares about is the money that he will not be receiving and he has tried to manipulate me by telling me that the money from the apartment goes to pay for his grandson’s schooling. He also told me that they won’t force me if I don’t want to. So, after the fireside he came up to talk to me. I didn’t want to talk to him so I said that we were already running late and needed to get home (that was true). (Picture above is just for fun. It is at our district meeting. It was Elder Cummings's birthday, so the Elders attacked him). He cornered me anyway and started talking. He asked me if I had decided to move yet. By the way, he also brought the lady who helps with registration and she helped corner me. She had already said a different day that I need to agree but I told her how I feel about the work. I said no and he asked me what was keeping me from deciding, so I told him. Basically, he got angry and started talking about registration and how there are problems. The lady who deals with that started agreeing even though she already told me that there shouldn’t be anymore problems because they did it once. So, that made me start feeling like he was threatening me. Well, there was a little argument and he said that he would talk to President to have him interview me. I responded with something and in the end he said rather rudely (I’m not exactly sure why), yes, you speak Russian very well. It was awful but what made it worse was that it seemed later that the Elders were on HIS side! But, now I think everything is going to work out because my companion is already registered until Christmas, soon I will be, and we are paying for the next two months rent. Than he won’t be able to do anything to me. That is one reason why I hate having members as landlords.
Well, my time is up, so I better get going. I’m sorry that I didn’t get time to tell about all the good things that happened so I’ll sum it up shortly. After that awful experience with him, everything seemed to get better. We now have two new investigators (see picture below - this is in the church in Энгельс with Elders Wade and Page, Игор (Igor) a member, Лена (Lena) one of our new investigators, Sister Дэлгэрцэцэг, and me) I’ve seen a lot of success with the people we have been working with! I think it just goes to show that the Lord blesses us after difficult times!

Ok, love you all,
Сестра Атвуд

PICTURES ESHYO!

Relief Society in our branch in Engels
My district – Elder Page, Elder Ray, me, Sister Silva, at the piano Elder Wade, in front Elder Cummings
Sisters! Sister Kuligowski, Sister Hill (those two are now serving together in Samara), Sister Wheeler, my new companion Sister Delgertsetseg, and me – in the office in Samara.

PICTURES

Me at Red Square in Moscow
Me at the Baltic Sea in Tallin, Estonia

My new daughter

Dear family,
Well, here I am, back in Энгельс (Engels) (well literally in Саратов (Saratov), but I’m living in Энгельс). Things are so different now. I have my new companion, Sister Дэлгэрцэцэг (Delgertsetseg - that means Blooming Flower in Mongolian). She is from Уланбатар (Ylanbator), the capital of Mongolia and is really cute. She knows a little English and a little Russian, but it is still hard to communicate sometimes, but she is great and working really hard to learn the language. It is quite a chore to be a trainer. I knew it would be hard but it makes it even harder that I don’t always know if she understands me when I am explaining things, but then she eventually seems to understand because she does most of the things I’ve told her we do. She is even really willing to speak to people on the street when I tell her it is her turn. The only problem is that she is so shy that she just says, “Hello. Please.” And then hands them a card. That’s ok because I don’t mind talking to people. Its just good to get her to talk. She is also opening up to me and talking more. She’s so quiet and shy that she often grabs my arm when we are walking. I don’t mind that either, it makes me feel like a mother (that’s what we usually call our trainer when we are sisters, I’m her mother and she is my daughter).
(Picture above was taken in Самара (Samara) in the Mission Office the day after my new companion arrived. Sisters Kuligowski, Hill, Wheeler, Дэлгэрцэцэг, and me)
Other than that, work is hard like usual. I really do love Энгельс, though. I’m starting to wonder how much time I have left here because 4 new sisters come next cycle and that means that a new city will be opening for sisters. I would like to stay here until the end, but at the same time I would like to open a new city again (don’t ask me why I would want that when it was so hard the last time I did it). The other day I was feeling a little discouraged, rather alone because it is hard to communicate with my companion, but now I’m feeling better. Our zone leaders sent a text message asking how she’s feeling and then how I’m feeling and for some reason that made me feel a lot better.
So, let’s see, the interesting things that happened this week. Well, Wednesday night we went to institute for Sister Wheeler (she’s serving in Саратов with a mini-missionary right now, she went to Самара with us to drop off her last companion) to see all the girls from the branch in Самара. Sister Wheeler served there for 4 months. Sister Silva and Sister Блохина (Bloxina) came to say good-bye to everyone, too. They both were going home the next day. I felt a little left out because I was the only one who didn’t serve in Самара, so I went upstairs to see the Lunts (a CES couple serving in Самара). When I went back downstairs, it was almost time to go. I felt so alone and sad because I had no idea what things were going to be like and I felt a huge weight on my shoulders because right now I have to decide everything, who we will see and when and what we will talk about (Дэгги (Deggi) – the short form of her name – helps but she doesn’t know the people and I can’t even really explain their situations for her to help). So, I guess you could say that I felt the weight of our investigators’ and members’ salvation on my shoulders. Anyway, I’m not exactly sure why, but the tears started flowing. I couldn’t stop them and then I was embarrassed because everyone tried to help me but it just didn’t help. Then, everyone wanted a picture together and I looked horrible. It was awful, really it was. I can’t even explain it. I couldn’t keep myself from crying but I wasn’t even sure why I was crying. Sister Silva and Sister Блохина both thought it was because they were going home, but I can’t even say that that was the reason (though maybe it made them feel good, so that’s not bad, and maybe that was part of it). I think maybe it just hit me more than ever how little time I have left on the mission. After all, I am the next one of the sisters to go home.
Anyway, I’m feeling a lot better now and I have a lot to do which helps keep my mind off the ticking clock. The only bad thing is that there is one investigator who doesn’t even want to meet with us now that Sister Silva left. Well, that means that she was only meeting with us to see Sister Silva, so I guess that means she is not ready. That’s pretty much it, though, everyone else is still really happy when we come so I’m glad about that.
What else? We ate dinner at President’s apartment on Thursday night because my new companion flew in and he didn’t want her to be alone. Then we slept in the guest apartment next to theirs. That is the nicest apartment I have ever been in, much less slept in. It was really comfortable, too. I liked it. The next morning, we ate breakfast with Sister Давудик (Davydik). It was good; she made omelettes. Then we had a little time to study before going down to the office for Дэгги’s orientation. I sat in the office and talked with the Elders who work there, and I wrote in one of their journals (pretty much every missionary has a journal that they give to other missionaries or members to write in). Then we ate lunch with President. It was really good. The chicken was so tender that I thought it might be fish! We also had плов (plov) (I’ll have to make that for you all when I get home because it is really good) and a salad. For dessert, pistachio ice cream! Wow, I ate well that day.
After lunch we had some time, so we studied some more and then went to English so we wouldn’t be bored. Our train left for Саратов that night at 10:00. We had an interesting experience there. Our neighbors wanted to get to know us. It was a little weird and Sister Wheeler didn’t feel comfortable. I felt ok about it because they knew we were missionaries and we talked about the church, invited them to English and all that. But still, it was the first time that I’ve ever had anyone try to talk to me on a train. We arrived Saturday morning and took a taxi to our apartment in Энгельс. Дэгги took some time to unpack before we began our usual routine of contacting, and so on.
(Picture to the right was taken at the больница (bolnitsa) or hospital in Энгельс. Elder Burnah, me, Sister Дэлгэрцэцэг, and Elder Cummings. We did a lot of service at this hospital, cleaning, sewing, and pasting windows shut).
Wow, I can hardly believe that it hasn’t even been one week since we started serving together. I feel like it has been much longer. I can hardly remember what it was like before. But, everyone keeps reminding me how little time I have left. I don’t know why they do that. Don’t they know that it is better to forget so you can get to work? When I served with Sister Блохина, I had to tell her all the time that she had a lot of time left. We made this deal that she was not going home soon. Everything before that was soon, but even one day before she left for home was not soon. When I talked to her she said that going home snuck up on her because of that, but that she was able to work hard until the end.
Anyway, that is my goal. I have to teach my greenie how to work hard so I think that will help me to focus on it. I want her to have the best experience on her mission that she can, no regrets. By the way, she is teaching me a little Mongolian. Maybe I’ll be able to have a conversation when I come home! (Maybe not, but at least I can say “hi” and “this is a dog” – that last one is important so don’t laugh!)
Ok, thanks to everyone that wrote this week. I got a little carried away with everything. I hope this isn’t boring for you. By the way, thanks Elizabeth, I really enjoyed your letter this week. That is what I call a real letter. Keep it up and let me know how the job and application to BSC turn out. Mom, thanks for your letters; I always enjoy reading yours. I’m glad that everything worked out with the papers even though Sara didn’t get to go to seminary. By the way, is she still alive? I haven’t heard anything from her in a while. Dad, that’s too bad about the computer but good that you were able to get a new one that will be ok for a backup. Grandma and Grandpa, so you know, Энгельс is in the Moscow time zone, Самара is one hour ahead (so when it is 1:00 here in Энгельс it is 2:00 in Самара). Good luck with your talk on Sunday, I’m sure you’ll do great. We will be seeing conference this week.
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! We get to see the dedication service for the temple in Finland! I’m so excited about that! It will be Oct. 22 and we get to watch it in Russian and then again in English. I am so excited. I wish I could go there, but seeing the dedication is definitely better than nothing.
Well, I guess that is enough for now. I think I’ve written a lot more than usual and my time is probably up.

Love,
Сестра Атвуд

P.S. I'm going to try to send some pictures, too. I hope you get them

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