russian hospitals and walking
This week we visited a baboshka named Lutmila. She lives through these sketchy woods. There is trash everywhere, and someone could jump out at any moment and rob or kidnap you. It is cool though!
Also after one of my lessons last week, a baboshka gave me a whole kit of acne cream treatment for my face. Right after the lesson she started talking to me about my face and looked concerned then proceeded to pull all this stuff out for my face lol. Rip to that.
Every morning me and my companion go on a run for exercise. We live pretty close to a huge river, so often times we will run down to it, and run along side it for a while.
I also got to visit some parks this week. Parks here are huge and have lots of trees in them. They are the only nature that you see in the city. Everyone loves to go walking here, so parks are very popular.
Here in the streets, they also start digging random holes in the middle of the street, sidewalk, wherever. They kind of rope it off, but not really. So you have to be careful that you all of a sudden don't fall 10 feet into a huge hole that they dug.
We also got to play volleyball here on the beach! It is a great way for us to bring our potential investigators to get to know them better. We have a lot of volunteers there. It is a way for us to have them hopefully ask more questions about the church. Since in Russia, you can only teach the gospel to people who are your friends, this is a way for us to become friends with people.
My companion plays the violin as well it turns out. We played Be Still My Soul this week at church. We also take our violins to members homes and we play some songs for them. It is a great way for us to bring the spirit. We are seeing if we can play hymns on the streets, or if that's illegal too. Russia. What can ya do.
When I talk to people in the streets I say "hey do you know where _____ (mcdonalds, the store, this street, this park, etc) is?" and ask for directions to get there. Then they usually respond then we just ask a few more questions. Just like clarifying, then ask them maybe what else is there to do in the city. Then usually we say we aren't from here and we're volunteers, then ask for their number so they can show us something in the city. Then a few days later we text them and say "hey! it's us can you show us something in the city?" then 99% of the time (if they respond) they say let's go gouleaud (walking). Everyone here LOVES to walk. They walk for fun everywhere. If they have free time, they'll just go walk. So then we just meet with them, walk with them, and become friends with them. Because of the laws here, you can't share the gospel with them until you are friends. So we become friends. We have several meetings like that (we call them potential meetings, because they have potential to be an investigator). Then after a few meetings if they still have potential, we ask them if we can share a lesson or two about our church. And then we can only teach them inside the church. Or at the senior couple's home here in Saratov.
Some things I love about Russia is that the driving here is insane. Last pday, a car accident happened right before our eyes. And everyone here kind of just drives how they feel like it. There are speed limits, but they aren't followed. People go like 50mph down residential roads no problem. They weave in and out of traffic, and squeeze through tight spots like nobody's business. It's actually kind of amazing.
Also, fashion here is something else. Denim on denim is alive and thriving over here. Also all the baboshkas (grandmas) open their doors and who knows what they will be wearing, or if they will be wearing anything. A guessing game every time! Love Russia! Also, everyone has their background on their phone as themselves. often a little bit of a scandalous photo too. even the baboshkas (but their photos aren't too scandalous, mostly just a blurry photo of themselves lol).
They only really have vanilla ice cream here, and it is very difficult to get chocolate. However after 10 hours of service with helping a baboshka at a Russian hospital, the Lord blessed us with CHOCOLATE ice cream! It was an amazing day! ALSO THE RUSSIAN HOSPITAL was something else. Boy oh boy. It could fall down at any moment. Also people go there to get better? It looks like they go there to get more sick and die. The floors are crazy uneven. The walls are filled with peeling paint. There are random rooms everywhere. A weird smell. Old baboshkas. It's just interesting.
We also had zone conference. We rented a 12 passenger bus (called a marshootka here) and drove 6 hours to Volgograd. Elder Boam and Elder Golden of the 70 (or area 70?) spoke to us. It was so fun! And I got to see my mission president and his wife again! It was awesome. President Ustyuzhaninov and his wife are the best!
These past few weeks, I have been reading about Alma and the Sons of Mosiah and how they spread the gospel. They were strong, didn't give up, and wanted so bad for everyone to accept their message. However at the end of the day, everyone has their agency. It reminded me that here on the mission, I can want for people to accept my message and pray and hope for it, but they still have their agency. The work is hard, but is so awesome!
1-view of the river/bridge
2- temple here in saratov (not lds, one day though:))
3- this was all of a sudden in the middle of our walking path. so we had to go around it.
4- the conservatory
5- the next president of russia
6- CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM BLESS
7- honey butter we found at an outdoor honey market thing
8- where a baboshka lives and sleeps.
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