11-28-11

Nov. 28, 2011
Well, it's no turduckin, but it's Thanksgiving!
Hello family and friends!

Well, oddly enough, we actually had Thanksgiving in Russia! Elder Johnson and I had planned to have our own thanksgiving at home (it was on our weekly planning day so it's a perfect time to just cook and talk about the work in Zavodskoi) but, as it turned out, the Mission President let the senior couple near our area invite our zone over for Thanksgiving! We brought some banana cream and chocolate pies which were so dang delicious! There was mashed potatoes and chicken (turkey is obnoxiously expensive here), salads, rolls and just delicious food overall. So dang good! And, with all the extra food we bought this past week, we'll be having Thanksgiving mach 2 this week! Woo!

It's been snowing a good bit here in the Motherland, and a cool thing happens on the sidewalks here. Because of the water melting and refreezing during the night there and patches of ice that are as slick as ice skating rink ice along the sidewalk. Russians and goofy American Missionaries alike love to slide on them and it's a rather efficient way to travel! I was so happy last night thinking about how nice it'd be to say that I had mastered the art of sliding on them and had never fallen, but I was sliding while thinking that and, ironically enough, I fell. Ah well, that's life. Still fun!

Also, I fulfilled a prophecy I gave in the 5th grade. We had learned sometime that year that you could pickle just about any vegetable and I proudly proclaimed that one day I would eat a pickled tomato. Well, lo and behold, I had not just one but 3 last night at a members house! They sound odd, and, to be perfectly frank, they are kinda odd, but they tasted pretty dang good!

A family got baptized this past weekend, which was the coolest experience ever! There was a single mom and here [...] boys getting baptized (such a big family! Especially in Russia) and it was an incredible thing to witness. Her life has changed so much since she has joined the Church and they've made such incredible sacrifices. The Mom only makes about [...] roubles a day (10 bucks, give or take) and she uses it all to buy food for her children. They live in a 1 room "apartment" with a shared kitchen and yet they're the happiest little family I've ever seen. She and her children sacrificed this past Sunday eating that day to pay tithing, so heartbreaking but they're family has already experienced the wonderful blessings of tithing by being offered more money at work and in finding a new apartment (actual apartment). Little miracles like that just make the mission so dang worth it.

I'll be going on my first visa trip this upcoming Monday, so that's exciting. I'll be gone from my area for the better part of the week, but I'll be seeing all my MTC buddies (we're all going on the same trip) so that's exciting. More details on that next Monday (when I actually have more information on it).

I was reminded how nice it is to not to be so connected to the world by the news when I heard some by the senior couple (the Williams) here. Some old lady talked to us about it while we were contacting on the streets too, which was odd because she knew so much about American government. That was kinda cool. Anyways, that just reminded me that the Russian elections will be next Sunday! I've been seeing ads all over the place about it, so that'll be interesting. Sounds like Putin and Medvedev will probably win, but I guess we'll see (I have no idea about the political situation here, have no particular interest in it either. Though I would like to know how the government works here in general).

Cool thing, depending on where I'll be for Christmas I'll be able to use skype to call ya'll! Video, audio and all! If I'm still in Zavodskoi or the surrounding area I'll be able to use Skype for sure on Christmas! Woo hoo! I'll be finding out more information on that probably within the next couple weeks. Be sure to prepare some questions or something, cause I don't really know what to talk about other than ask how all ya'll are doin (especially my niece and nephews!)

We'll that's what I've got this week methinks. Thank you so much for your love and support! Be good know, ya hear? :)


With much love, as always
--
Elder Peterson