Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Week 2!!!!!!!!! Happy 4th of July!Wednesday, July 6, 2011 1:09 AM
From: "Alex Bennett" View contact detailsTo: "vicki bennett" , Bennett84321@yahoo.comIt's so weird being on the other side of the globe on a holiday! :( But it's alright, hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Our festivities included Elder Peterson and I saying "Happy 4th of July" and we ate some candy, that's it. Congratulations by the way on your anniversary. How are the little kids!? I miss 'em all! That's so crazy that Kyla is walking and such. None of them are going to remember me when i come back as pale as a ghost! :) So I guess I didn't really tell you that much about how I got here. After we met our trainers (oh that's Elder Peterson in the picture, he's from
Murray area, he goes home at the end of my second transfer, he's super good at Russian, and he's my trainer I am so lucky to have him, he is a great missionary! we went to a little restaurant to eat. Then we went to the mission office to get our luggage and then we all went our separate ways. We took a bus, it was about 4 1/2 hours before we got there. It takes about 1/2 hour to walk to the branch building and about 10 min. or so on bus. We go to a NetCafe to do our emailing. I've already noticed how much of a blessing a mission is. I can see how it really prepares you for the rest of your life. I'll admit, there have been a ton of really hard and discouraging days already, but I appreciate them and the chance to learn, grow, and gain experience from my trials. I'm so grateful for
this opportunity to share the gospel and show my love for my Heavenly Father, my Savior, the people of Russia, and all of you. But anyway, we really did have an exciting week, I'll tell you more about it... Last week for P-day we went to a tower musuem place, it was really awesome to see the city from that view. I took some good pictures and i have great news. I found out that we are allowed to take short video clips here and there so that will be cool when you get to see them. I dunno, i want to send the SD card and my english tags, but i'm just a little scared that they get lost in the mail or that someone would take them. That would be terrible! so i talked to Elder P. about it and he claims that i might be able to make a CD at the Senior Missionaries place so i'll try to do what i can to have some type of back up so i don't lose weeks worth of pics. and memories. We've had a lot of rain lately, it's sort of like Northern Utah weather here right
now.. unpredictable, but it's not that bad. There was one day though where thunder went off and it was sooo loud!! It was when i was on splits with Elder Haynes because Elder Peterson was on his Visa Trip, but it really sounded like a bomb went off. Elder P. brought me some chocolate from his Visa trip to Finland, it was delicious! Other delicious things.... Russia "pillow" cereal (has like a fruity cream in the middle), ice-cream (any type), yogurt (called Chuda, which means miracle, it really is one), SUPER snickers (their huge!), and many others. The pourable things like milk have cool squishy handles. They also of course have amazing breads, pastries, and fruit tea (dont worry herbal and fruit are Moshna or allowed) English club and sports night are both really fun, we're getting quite the fan base, more people seem to come every week. We have been doing some service for a really nice lady named Olga, we've chopped up wood for her. The gnats
were creepin' on us though and eating our faces. I have been taking those daily mulit-vitamin things, the first day I chewed one though, i guess you are just supposed to swallow it, but it was the nastiest thing i've ever tasted!! Oh, and Elder Peterson was talking in Russian in his sleep, it was freaky! And there are these dang cats outside that we can hear out our window when we are doing planning at night. MEEEEWOOWW RAOOWWWW! They are sooo annoying! We had a fireside on Sunday at Vova's house, it was really fun. We had a spiritual thought and some people told funny stories and we had cookies, wafer things, and gas water (not sure if im the biggest fan, it's weird). Also, we had family night on Monday with a couple members at sister Olga's, (different Olga) she is so amazing. She has two
kids that are hilarious. Anyway she had me make snicker doodles and helped me make them, they were quite delicous if i don't say so myself... We had a family night lesson and played Uno (prenounced Una here). It was a blast! I've had the opportunity to take part in two blessings ( i annointed on both) they were really cool experiences. We have a couple investigators at the moment that we are working with, but we would like to bump up the number so we've been working really hard at street contacting. Please pray for us that we'll be able to find more people to teach and that i'll be able to have help with this language, it's ochen trudna (very hard), thank you. Well I'm running out of time so i'll finish by saying how much i love all of you. I LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH!!!! - Elder Bennett oh also, let Justin Hutchinson know that i found a place that might take American Express, i haven't tried it there yet, but i saw the logo and it's
the biggest bank branch in Siberia so it's likely... Anyway let everyone know i love 'em and Im grateful for all of the support. Have a wonderful week!

2 comments:

  1. I would suggest burning cd's and then just sending home via email a few pictures with letters. Sending valuables in the mail is risky.

    That is what we do with Elder Eborn. He is keeping his precious photos with him until he returns and sends us one or two as he can.

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  2. It is a small world (well kind of) I think my son did pick up your sweet Elder. Two mom's on their knees in Utah :)

    Look forward to watching your son too.

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