Another Great Week!

Family and Friends, 

I had a good week this week.   Some funny things happened. We were talking with one of our members of the church in his apartment hallway when a drunk guy came up to talk to us. He was a nice guy... well he was nice to me... He started talking about his life back 40 years ago and how he served in the navy and how he did this, that, and the other. He was talking with me and it is a Russian thing to talk with someone but be really close to them. He was probably a foot away from me and squared his shoulders and was not breaking eye contact, this is how we stood while he told me his story. I had this big 'ol smile on my face smiling and listening as best I could to his story. He then turned to my companion and said, "Hey you have a good friend here. He is a good kid. I like him." He then put his arm around me and gave me a big Russian hug. He reeked of alcohol, haha, such a good guy:) I hugged him back of course. Then after he let me go he turned to my companion and said "You.. I don't like you. You need to be more like this good boy here."  And after that Elder Sayers tried to have a nice conversation with the guy but he wanted none of it.  Poor Elder Sayers. 

 There was another drunk guy on the street the other day. He started talking to us about his life story, of which I understood almost none. In both of these instances the guy wasn't angry at all. Wasn't upset, just drunk, telling me about his life. But again he did the Russian thing and squared his shoulders and got real close. I mean... It was a little uncomfortable but I wasn't going to step back from this guy. I stood there keeping the eye contact the whole time, maybe I shouldn't have held my ground. Maybe I should’ve stepped back and kept an appropriate distance but I was curious how close he would get... Turns out it’s really close...  The whole time Elder Sayers was just watching me not saying anything. He just let me and this drunk guy stand there for 5 minutes or so.  Moral of the story: Drunk Russians will get real close when they want to talk to you and they won’t back up:)  

The missionary work is getting kind of rough at nights now. It is cold and after the sun sets at 6 the amount of people on the streets drops off dramatically. We had all of our lessons cancel on us the other night and we were stuck on the street for 2 hours. We talked to every person we saw... but that amounted to probably 15 people total. It is definitely cold, and there is snow everywhere, but it is all okay when we get home and our apartment is warm:) They keep the houses here really well heated:) The wind is really a killer when we are out on the streets, the cold isn't bad at all but when you get that cold wind on your face it stinks.  My ears and toes and fingers are chilly but you get walking around a bit and all is well:)

Dad, could you find a way to send me that chapter from “How to Win Friends and Influence People?” We are struggling to inspire and excite some of these people about the gospel message. I think it could help me better work if I read that chapter again:)

 

I got our family Christmas card in the mail this week:) Super cute! The Nesting dolls that I have are way cool! It is a 10 piece set with little kings and Christmas trees on it:) It is also pretty big I don't know how I am going to get it home! I might have to mail it home.  

I miss you all so much! I will see you in 10 days! So soon! I haven’t gotten any information about Skype yet but I will let you know:) I love you!