Sorry for the lack of updates. There was a few weeks where Tanner's emails didn't come through so that's why there's some gaps in his weekly updates.
I am now a few hundred miles away from my city of Perm. I was transferred to Kurgan. Usually missionaries stay in their first area for at least two or three transfers, but they had to close my area for a few weeks. The mission is really low on missionaries right now, and we just lost another group (including my trainer) last week. So the President had no choice but to close an area. Sadly little Zakamsk is just a very inconvenient area (over an hour away from any church building) so it was chosen to be closed for a transfer.
It really is hard to leave so many people behind. You come to love people so fast out here. It makes it all the harder to know that the people you are leaving are going to be on their own for a few weeks. No missionaries to help or support them. After all the progress we made in Zakamsk, it is being put on its own for a while. I hope it is not too big of a trial for Luba, who is starting to progress so well. We extended her the baptismal invitation the week before we left, and she accepted. But when she found out that we were leaving, she said she wanted to pray about it. In some ways, it is a good thing that we left. Luba has a testimony, but it is more social then spiritual. And if we were staying, we would have never really discovered that. I pray that the next group of missionaries can have good success with her.
I am now a few hundred miles away from my city of Perm. I was transferred to Kurgan. Usually missionaries stay in their first area for at least two or three transfers, but they had to close my area for a few weeks. The mission is really low on missionaries right now, and we just lost another group (including my trainer) last week. So the President had no choice but to close an area. Sadly little Zakamsk is just a very inconvenient area (over an hour away from any church building) so it was chosen to be closed for a transfer.
It really is hard to leave so many people behind. You come to love people so fast out here. It makes it all the harder to know that the people you are leaving are going to be on their own for a few weeks. No missionaries to help or support them. After all the progress we made in Zakamsk, it is being put on its own for a while. I hope it is not too big of a trial for Luba, who is starting to progress so well. We extended her the baptismal invitation the week before we left, and she accepted. But when she found out that we were leaving, she said she wanted to pray about it. In some ways, it is a good thing that we left. Luba has a testimony, but it is more social then spiritual. And if we were staying, we would have never really discovered that. I pray that the next group of missionaries can have good success with her.
Transfers here in Russia are a bit interesting. Elder Kimball and I went to another Elder’s apartment late Monday night so that they could help us get to the train station on time the following day with all our luggage. We made it to the station by 6:45 am, all the zone was there to see us off. We then took a train for 6 hours to Yekatarinburg.
It was really hard to part with Elder Kimball. We had our differences, but he was such a good Elder. He trained me so well. I suppose it’s somewhat like a parent child relationship. While the parent is over you, you kick and scream and think that they should be doing a better job. But as soon as you are off on you own, you look back and realize how great you really had it. Elder Kimball is going to go on and do great things in life. I know it.
Our train ride was interesting. Part of the rows of seats sat forward, and the other half sat backwards. This wasn’t actually a train, it was an “electrichka” which is sort of an electronic slow train. Only travels about 20 miles an hour I think. It’s hard to tell. It was somewhat nauseating at first to be traveling backwards, but I got used to it.
Sitting on a train for six hours straight was hard -- but not quite as bad as standing in a train station for six hours waiting for your next train to arrive. That was character building. As a child I thought that sitting in the car while traveling was mind numbing. At least when you are traveling in a car, you get to sit down. Standing all day really takes a toll on you. But hey, it was a great chance to study Russian!
The next train came in at about 6:45 pm. Elder Smith, my new companion, rode with me to Kurgan, our new area. And this was actually a train – not just a train either. This was the famed Trans-Siberian Railroad. Guess what. It’s just another train. Sorry to burst anybodies ambitions of going all the way to Russia to ride a train. I should take that back. When I said “its just another train” you might come to think that it is just like an American train. Trains here are like apartments here. Somewhat old, warn out, falling apart, and dirty. For example, I had to use the restroom. When I first looked into the room, I had to pause and debate on whether I could possibly hold it for another 5 hours. Sadly, I was subjected to the pressures of my lower bowls.
The toilet had no seat. So I spent a very large amount of toilet paper making a sort of nest. Toilet paper here is good for that sort of thing. Its very rugged, durable, doesn’t stand a chance at ripping. While it is good for making nests and perhaps also for papermache, it is not good for wipping. Honestly, it felt like wiping with sandpaper.
Elder Smith had already been here for a transfer, so he has the area somewhat figured out. That makes for a much easier transition that they white-wash-no-idea what is going on transfer that Elder Kimball and I started off on. We got to our apartment late, maybe 1 or 2 in the morning, both of us very warn out from too much time traveling. I couldn’t really see our apartment very well, but I could smell it. God is all knowing. And he knows that I can’t stand sleeping in disgusting filth. For that reason, he must have lined everything up so that we wouldn’t come in until late in the night when we were so tired we wouldn’t even care. Because really, if I had known before hand what I was about to sleep it, I probably would have had a really hard time lying down on that bed.
Elder Smith’s last companion was not a cleanly elder. It was shown very blatantly when I woke up. I had his bed. Which I thought felt damp when I first climbed in it the previous night. I then thought it was damp from a nice fresh wash. Quite unsettling to discover that it was actually damp with sweat. The room I sleep in was absolutely filthy. You can’t walk in a single room in the apartment without getting dirt all over your feet. The lights in the kitchen don’t work. Much of the floor is sticky. There was clothes flopped up all over the apartment. Church materials strewn all over the floor. It was really past the point of being worthy to be called “a hole”. But hey! Its character building.
On the bright side, Elder Smith seems like a very friendly Elder. We haven’t gotten to bed spot on time yet because of it. But we are going to do better this week. I’m going to make sure of it. I don’t’ do well going to sleep at 11:45 every night. Talking has its place, but it’s not during the one time of the day we have to rest.
He’s taller than me. Big surprise. I’m thinking that the majority of my companions will be. Luckily, he’s only about 5 foot 11. Which isn’t too bad. He’s got brown hair, brown eyes, very hilarious personality, and knows the language quite well considering that he’s only been here for a year and a few months. Next week I should have photos of him and our apartment.
Kurgan is located in Siberia, literally. So that means green grasslands in the summer and spring, and flat frozen nice and cold nothing in the winter. The members here are nice. The branch President seems great. I’ll write more about the people as I come to know them. Their building is quite nice also.
It’s three stories tall, all furnished in American furniture shipped across seas. Paintings of Christ all over the place, just like an American chapel. Its’ really quite nice. I’ll have some photos of that also next week.
It was really hard to part with Elder Kimball. We had our differences, but he was such a good Elder. He trained me so well. I suppose it’s somewhat like a parent child relationship. While the parent is over you, you kick and scream and think that they should be doing a better job. But as soon as you are off on you own, you look back and realize how great you really had it. Elder Kimball is going to go on and do great things in life. I know it.
Our train ride was interesting. Part of the rows of seats sat forward, and the other half sat backwards. This wasn’t actually a train, it was an “electrichka” which is sort of an electronic slow train. Only travels about 20 miles an hour I think. It’s hard to tell. It was somewhat nauseating at first to be traveling backwards, but I got used to it.
Sitting on a train for six hours straight was hard -- but not quite as bad as standing in a train station for six hours waiting for your next train to arrive. That was character building. As a child I thought that sitting in the car while traveling was mind numbing. At least when you are traveling in a car, you get to sit down. Standing all day really takes a toll on you. But hey, it was a great chance to study Russian!
The next train came in at about 6:45 pm. Elder Smith, my new companion, rode with me to Kurgan, our new area. And this was actually a train – not just a train either. This was the famed Trans-Siberian Railroad. Guess what. It’s just another train. Sorry to burst anybodies ambitions of going all the way to Russia to ride a train. I should take that back. When I said “its just another train” you might come to think that it is just like an American train. Trains here are like apartments here. Somewhat old, warn out, falling apart, and dirty. For example, I had to use the restroom. When I first looked into the room, I had to pause and debate on whether I could possibly hold it for another 5 hours. Sadly, I was subjected to the pressures of my lower bowls.
The toilet had no seat. So I spent a very large amount of toilet paper making a sort of nest. Toilet paper here is good for that sort of thing. Its very rugged, durable, doesn’t stand a chance at ripping. While it is good for making nests and perhaps also for papermache, it is not good for wipping. Honestly, it felt like wiping with sandpaper.
Elder Smith had already been here for a transfer, so he has the area somewhat figured out. That makes for a much easier transition that they white-wash-no-idea what is going on transfer that Elder Kimball and I started off on. We got to our apartment late, maybe 1 or 2 in the morning, both of us very warn out from too much time traveling. I couldn’t really see our apartment very well, but I could smell it. God is all knowing. And he knows that I can’t stand sleeping in disgusting filth. For that reason, he must have lined everything up so that we wouldn’t come in until late in the night when we were so tired we wouldn’t even care. Because really, if I had known before hand what I was about to sleep it, I probably would have had a really hard time lying down on that bed.
Elder Smith’s last companion was not a cleanly elder. It was shown very blatantly when I woke up. I had his bed. Which I thought felt damp when I first climbed in it the previous night. I then thought it was damp from a nice fresh wash. Quite unsettling to discover that it was actually damp with sweat. The room I sleep in was absolutely filthy. You can’t walk in a single room in the apartment without getting dirt all over your feet. The lights in the kitchen don’t work. Much of the floor is sticky. There was clothes flopped up all over the apartment. Church materials strewn all over the floor. It was really past the point of being worthy to be called “a hole”. But hey! Its character building.
On the bright side, Elder Smith seems like a very friendly Elder. We haven’t gotten to bed spot on time yet because of it. But we are going to do better this week. I’m going to make sure of it. I don’t’ do well going to sleep at 11:45 every night. Talking has its place, but it’s not during the one time of the day we have to rest.
He’s taller than me. Big surprise. I’m thinking that the majority of my companions will be. Luckily, he’s only about 5 foot 11. Which isn’t too bad. He’s got brown hair, brown eyes, very hilarious personality, and knows the language quite well considering that he’s only been here for a year and a few months. Next week I should have photos of him and our apartment.
Kurgan is located in Siberia, literally. So that means green grasslands in the summer and spring, and flat frozen nice and cold nothing in the winter. The members here are nice. The branch President seems great. I’ll write more about the people as I come to know them. Their building is quite nice also.
It’s three stories tall, all furnished in American furniture shipped across seas. Paintings of Christ all over the place, just like an American chapel. Its’ really quite nice. I’ll have some photos of that also next week.
For now you will have to suffice with the photos I couldn’t send last week. They are all from my last area. You can see what kind of Apartment I lived in and what not. Sadly, you will never be privileged to see our current apartment at its worst. We have been doing some serious cleaning, and it will continue until our apartment is no longer hell.
Love,
Elder Wilson
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