Sunday, September 04, 2016

Dearest, most wonderfulist family,

Last Sunday Dad and I had the AP’s, Elder’s Johnston and Buchanan and the Samara Zone Leaders, Elder’s Hemrick and Le Baron to dinner. They all live in the apartment by the Ottesens. They moved in there when they lost their apartments. With the registration change, it’s a lot more work for the landlords, and their landlords didn’t want to keep them as tenants. We usually invite the AP’s to dinner because they are the closest ones to us but with the Zone leaders living there also, I didn’t think I could leave them out. I made beef stroganoff, roasted vegetables, salad and banana cake. They all seemed to enjoy it.

Monday was zone conference for the Samara and Tolliati districts. Ottesen’s talked a little but most of the conference was run by Elder and Sister Kacher. It was nice getting to know them. I talked more with Sister Kacher and she is so sweet and down to earth. They’ve been in Russia for about a year.

President Kacher focused on what the volunteer should be focused on since the new law went into effect. He talked in a meeting on Saturday with the members about what their responsibility was.

I missed a couple of hours of the meeting thanks to old age!! I had called Sister O and asked her if she wanted me to bring my paper plates, forks and napkins and she gratefully said yes. We always feed the volunteers at that meeting and it’s usually Papa John’s pizza with a few salads thrown in. Well I came to the conference without them!! I was also supposed to bring a mini Preach my Gospel for Sister Larson and a Russian, Book of Mormon stories for children for Elder’s Kendall and Mills. I forgot those also. Therefore, I decided to go back to the office and our apartment to get them.

Dad had already missed Elder Kacher’s meeting on Saturday so I didn’t want him to miss any of this one. Here’s how it went:

Standing on the steps outside the branch building, I open the taxi app on my phone.

The app pinpoints my location. (amazing right?)

The app wants me to type in my destination.

I look through my laminated cards for the apartment address. Darn I don’t have it.

I decide to go to the office first then walk to the apartment.

I go to type in the address for the office but I don’t have the Russian keyboard on my Russian phone.

Cancel taxi request.

I decide to order the taxi using my American phone that I know has the Russian keyboard.

(Slightly tempted to text Dad to come down and do it for me. I stand firm. I know I can do this. I think I can do this. Oh brother, I’m at least going to try to do this.

Open the Taxi app on my American phone.

It pinpoints my whereabouts.

I type the Russian address into the app.

It asks for my phone number.

I need to give the number of my Russian phone.

Darn, I don’t know my phone number.

I text Dad asking for the number of my Russian phone. (I’m sure he’s wondering what’s going on but luckily he doesn’t come to check on me.)

Finally, a response from Dad (it seemed to take forever but I’m sure he responded as soon as he got the text. Dad, as you know, is like that.

Finally, everything I need to entered is entered correctly and I wait to see what taxi will respond to my request.

I wait

And wait

And wait, Hey, there are 195 taxis in the area and no one wants my job?

I wait and wait some more and finally someone is on their way.

The app tells me the type and color of car and the license number and the driver’s name. It shows me on a map where the taxi is and how much longer it will take to reach me.

I did it!!!

My Russian phone number is now in my Russian phone so I can look it up and I have the laminated card with my home address back in my purse. OH, THE TRIALS I’VE BEEN THROUGH!!

2 hours later I show back up and kind of wait for a mini break to enter the room. However, everyone was happy I came back with the stuff I had forgotten.

It really was a great meeting with some wonderful information. On Tuesday, President asked me if I could get the information he had on a thumb drive onto 25 other thumb drives. It didn’t take long to get it done. Sister O and I went shopping that morning and had picked up what we needed. We went to a pretty good-sized mall.  We went to a grocery store called an Oshawn. It’s huge but neither Sister O nor I liked it much because it was too hard to find things and it was very busy. We both decided we preferred the Metro store. Dad met me at the apartment to help lug the bags upstairs and then he headed to the mission office and I put the groceries away and then went back to work.

So the office was pretty quiet this week. It seems to be either feast for famine. The volunteers had their Pday on Tuesday since Monday had been the zone conference. Elder’s Hemrick and Le Baron (the Zone Leaders staying in the 2^nd apartment with the AP’s) came to the office to write home. Elder’s Johnston and Buchanan had already started their letters home. Dad and I let the zone leaders borrow our IPad to start their letters home. I told them about the Sisters using them once and did the talk to write feature. So I listened to Elder Hemrick, who was out in the hall, tell his family about the great dinner I had fixed for them. That was nice.

Saturday the Bezimanski branch was having a picnic. The weather turned bad so they ended up having it at their branch building, which is an old school. I guess the AP’s were telling President Blinkov (the Avrora branch president) about the picnic and he decided that his Avrora branch was coming also. We drove there with the Ottesens and it was a lot of fun. They were cooking Shashalee, which are sort of beef kabobs.

While the meat was cooking in the back of the building, we all went into the area they use as a chapel. It’s really a multi-use room. We played charades. There were two sides and our side had all the presidents. Presidents Ottesen, Blinkov, Klemov, and Pacheco. We won!! The gal running the game spoke English so when it was mine and Dad’s turn she could tell what, the paper we drew out, said. I had “Necklace”, which turned out pretty easy. Dad’s was a “musical note,” which was harder but our team still got it.

After the game, we ate lunch. Everything was great. We had a lot of fun. After finishing the laundry, Dad and I went to the walking street and stopped at the bank. Then we went the “renic” which is like a flea market. Dad is looking for a light spring/fall, light weight jacket. They didn’t have any in his size. Once we got back home, I started making rolls and got everything ready that I could, to make for dinner the next day.

It was good to have our Branch President back; they’ve been gone two Sundays along with the 1^st counselor, Anatoly. I bought their two girls and son a bowl and cup. Last time we were at their home for dinner the two little girls were fighting over the one pink cup they had.

The same foursome came to Sunday dinner today. I’ve told them to count on coming unless I let them know otherwise. I made Roast, baked potatoes, carrots and corn, Green salad, rolls and chocolate chip cookies. I made two dozen rolls, and Dad and I each had two and they ate all the rest. I think they were starving because it was Fast Sunday.

Well, I’m sending you some pictures of our zone conference and the picnic at Bezi.

Love,

Mom