Dear Everyone,
Well, despite the fact that I have been walking around in flats and a light jacket lately, Friday we had a blizzard. A full out blizzard. Two and a half feet of snow in one day. It literally snowed all day long. We woke up and were getting ready to go outside to run when Sister Blau says "um....is that snow on the ground? Sister Brown, I love you, but not enough to go outside in this...." I was in shock that it snowed again. They closed down all the transportation in the city, so it was pretty crazy. I even had to pull out my gigantic sleeping-bag coat out of the space bag, so I've been wearing that the last couple of days. I feel bad for Sister Blau because she's from Hawaii and is definitely NOT used to this weather. Yay Russia! It's been gradually melting since Friday, so that's good at least.
We had a family home evening at the senior couple's house this week and two of our investigators came to that! We watched the Restoration and Sister Blau and I taught the first lesson. It went really well and Sister Blau is really good at explaining things. We both bore some pretty powerful testimonies about the Restoration. It was so fun! We had Russian candy as the refreshments. :)
Tuesday we had a service project in a member's garden. We helped her clear up the debris from winter (ironic since winter returned later that week....). It was really fun and took a couple of hours. She's actually flying to Utah soon to visit her daughter in West Jordan, and she said that she'll pass along some stuff from me. I'll send you a fridge magnet probably. I love those things. :)
Wednesday we did weekly planning and then had our English group. English group is way different here than in Ufa (far fewer people come), but it's still great. Sister Blau and I were in charge of the advanced group, and we talked about surprises. It was really fun. Then....Wednesday after English the sister trainers came for splits!
We had splits on Thursday, and that was great. Both the sister trainers had served in Chelyabinsk and were able to set up some meetings with us to kind of do a "handover" (introduce their old investigators to us so that it's more comfortable for us to meet with the investigators). That was really fun, and I always enjoy splits with the sister trainers.
Friday was the (infamous) blizzard. I'm just trying to forget that it ever happened. Definitely the worst snow and wind that I've ever seen at one time in Russia. It was....awful. :)
Saturday we had some more meetings with investigators, and we had a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation with this nice retired couple. The wife really believes the church is true but won't act on that if her husband won't because she believes that she needs to follow the head of the house. Complicated. :/
Sunday was church, and all the new missionaries in Chelyabinsk got to bear their testimonies (all the missionaries except our district leader are new here). Our church meets on the 4th and 5th floors of a huge office building. It's kind of an unusual set up for a church (I'm just used to Ufa's beautiful church building....), but I'm gradually getting used to it.
We got an internet referral this week for a town outside of the city, but we couldn't find it on a map because it was outside of our map boundaries, so we called up the senior couple and asked about it. Well, we found out maybe a little too much about it. Over 20 times the radiation of Chernobyl and the city's existance was denied for a long time. It's a "closed city" meaning that there is too much nuclear contamination for anyone to go into it, but the 80,000 inhabitants still live there. During the cold war, that's where they produced plutonium for nuclear warheads. Also, according to mom's research, "No one there was told what was going on. It was an underground city and there was much death due to cancer; doctors were not allowed to mention radiation in their diagnoses or on death certificates. It is the most contaminated place on earth, all top secret for years." Kind of scary, but safe to say, we are not going to be going there. We have decided to mail the Book of Mormon to this lady instead. :) Sometimes it feels like I'm living in a strange post-apocalyptic world.
Well, that's all I have for you this week. I love you. The church is true, and I'm so glad to be out on a mission right now. It's crazy that I'm on the downhill, but I still have a lot of work ahead of me here. Keep praying for me, and I'll keep praying for you. I love you!
All the best,
Sister Brown
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