Monday, June 30, 2008

A STUCK BACKPACK...TERROR AT FHE...RUSSIAN TIES...AND...THE GAME "FROGGER"...

Hello Everyone,

Wow!! What a week!! It is hard to believe that it was a week ago I left the MTC. I am glad to finally be here in Ufa and in the field working. Ufa is a part of Bashkiria, if any of you are familiar with your geography. It is my understanding, that Ufa used to be their own country and they are still stuck in that mind set.
So, here is a breakdown of what has happened so far … On Friday we finished moving apartments. After moving, I was able to send a quick email to let everyone know that I made it here safe and sound. When I finished with the email, we quickly got on a bus, and just as the bus was pulling away...I found that, MY BACKPACK WAS STUCK IN THE DOOR!! So, I had to ride the bus with my backpack stuck in the door of the bus…Yeah…that was pretty scary!...BUT NOT AS SCARY as a devchuck! (girl) trying to touch me at FHE. Apparently, she’s not a member and always hits on all the missionaries (maybe, it's just her way of being friendly). It was extremely awkward, because they are not supposed to touch us. She came up behind me and tapped me on my shoulder, I thought it was another elder, so I turned around and to my TERROR… it was this devchuck! So, I mentioned it to Elder C and he took care of it for me. FHE was a lot of fun. It was great meeting and getting to know everyone!
All the Elders in my zone are way cool! My companion has been great. He has been extremely helpful in showing me a lot of the area and things I need to know. He took me tie shopping in Renok. The shopping was just straight crazy, hard to explain, but just so crazy!! I bought BJ a tie that he will really like. I think BJ would be a fan of Russian ties, but who’s not…the ties are just way cool.

We have an investigator named Vladimir, who should have been baptized already, but he has been pretty sick.

Last night we went to meet a new investigator named Kerel, but he was fixing a car and smoking so that was a little disappointing, but its okay, we are meeting him tonight.

The food is different, there is BAD, and there is GOOD. For breakfast we eat, “ гретчка “ and it taste like crap! I believe its buckwheat! BUT…there is this thing called “pillows”, which is like some type of cereal and it is WAY awesome…way way way way way way way way way TASTING, especially the strawberry kind! WOW!!!

Oh, the hot water is back on!! I only had to take a few cold showers...but no biggie!! But... It was COLD!!! Cold…a word I am going to have to get used to!! Haha!!

The buses are way different, but can be fun, if you don’t get your backpack caught in the doors, and if you don’t have to stand, which is what always happens to me.

When we went contacting for the first time I was shut down the first two times, but that’s normal. I’m going to have to get used to that too, because it’s going to happen a lot.

There is a lot of Muslim’s, which I did not expect. The two strongest religions here are the Muslim’s and the Orthodox, which will be challenging. In spite of this challenge, the church continues to grow here in Ufa, which is exciting. I hope while I am here I can do my part in helping it's growth and to help strengthen the members. It was amazing on Sunday when I attended church here for the first time. We had around fifty members that attended church yesterday. I enjoyed meeting them. They were so nice and very welcoming and seem to be strong members.

After church, we taught a girl named Gulnaz, who is a new member, but struggles with reading the scriptures. My companion taught and I testified. It was way cool, but she talked a mile a minute. She wants to serve a mission, which is WAY EXCITTING!!

It is so strange that it is 4:00 am in the morning in Arizona as I am emailing this to you and it is 5:00 in the afternoon here. I am still trying to get used to the the time difference. I am feeling pretty tired today, maybe everything is finally catching up with me. The first two day’s here in Russia seemed so crazy. People in general seemed to be very nice.

The stores are so weird, it is hard to explain. Walking around here is like playing the game “Frogger”…I love that game!! Haha! We dodge cars a lot…but yeah, no big deal. No worries mom…I am really SAFE AND SMART about everything!!…you know me!! Things are intense, but I wouldn't want it any other way!! I really love Russia!!

Please tell everyone and anyone to email me…PLEASE!!! President Allen said, we could receive email from anyone except the branch members here. So…PLEASE email me. It is always nice to receive email since we can only pick up our mail at zone conference and that's a pretty long wait to receive mail!!!

Well, I love you, take care everyone!
Peace,
Elder Dewey

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