Strawberry Fields Forever

So... OK, I'll save the surprise for the end of the E-Mail. Big things happened for the mission last week!

Monday went normal up until Tuesday. Tuesday, nobody showed up to English except for the loud annoying guy. We had to talk to him, and nobody else. That was fun... We did, however, have a good district meeting that morning. If I remember it properly... yeah, it was pretty good.

Wednesday came and went with no fanfare... Except for the FLIPPING STRAWBERRIES! (And cherries!) We found straberries for $1 a kilogram. So I bought a pound of strawberries. And a pound of cherries. And we ate them with milk and sugar and pancakes. So good. I love strawberries. Gonna go get some more today, probably a whole kilogram this time.

I love fresh fruits. So good.

Thursday we had English practice again. TONS of people showed up, including someone pretty much brand new. We talked with them all, and I shared a heartfelt story that the loud annoying guy ruined. It was OK though, everyone understands he's annoying, so they were just moved on from him. Then he gave a really fake and offensive prayer at the end. He's really annoying.

We let everyone stay after, and we had an after-english english practice, without Mr. Loud-and-Annoying. That one went even better, and was really fun.

On Friday we...

We recieved HUGE news, but that's later.

On Saturday, we did service again, same place. We moved the bookshelf from last week, and then put another in it's place. Hopefully, this is the last time.

On Sunday, We spent the day mostly inside, getting ready for the huge change which I will proceed to inform you all of... NOW!

The Mission... expanded. We spread North and ate part of the Kiev Mission. Elder Jensen and Elder Kalt have left Nikolaev for this new part of our mission. Nikolaev now has a district the size of Kherson's district. And I'm its District Leader. And Translator.

Elder Mayberry's my new companion, He's a good sport now. We're going to have lots of fun!

Also, on Sunday I finally baked my birthday cake. Lit all the candles and everything. Elder Kalt didn't want anything to do with it, but I had a party of me, and it was good! The cake was really tasty, even though it was cooked in a slow cooker and not an oven.

I think that brings us up to today, right? We sent Elder Jensen and Elder Kalt off with the mission driver at 6 in the morning. Little bit tired now, but it's all good. Now we have the entire city to ourselves, which means we'll be busy. Very busy.

Anyway, getting strawberries today, that'll be tasty! I'm really exdcited about the strawberries. I mean, I'm excited about the whole mission expansion thing now, but I can't exactly eat that now, can I? The answer is no, I cannot. Жалко.

Peace out!

Elder Robison 

Time For a Picnic!

So, this week was interesting. It was noteworthy because nothing really happened until the weekend. On Monday we played another game of Uno, but this one was able to be resolved.

On Tuesday we had English practice, which went pretty well. There was this one guy there who was super annoying and loud, but that didn't stop it from being a pretty good discussion. I bring my guitar to English practice and play and sing for them in English, which they all love.

On Wednesday we had District Meeting like usual, but this one was really good. Aside from the fact that everybody still relies on me to translate between the Sisters and I still can't speak Russian.

On Thursday we went and did service for those home-bound less-active members from Week: Spiders. We took all the books out of a bookshelf and then moved the bookshelf and put all of the books back in. Some of the books had pretty inappropriate covers, which was awkward for everyone. I did however find a copy of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" in Russian, so that's cool. "По ком звонит колокол". I can't speak Russian, but I can definitely read a little bit!

English went normal, and afterward we had game night. That was super fun, only cool people were there.

On Friday not much happened.

On Saturday we went to a branch picnic, which was super fun. There was lots of fun games, good food. One of the members taught me to play and sing a song in Russian. I then taught Elder Kalt to play it on the Ukelele. It's super cool, but I don't know the name of it. He just calls it "Песня про осени" which means "A Song About Autumn". He's getting the lyrics for me because I can only remember the first line "Что такое осень? Это - небо." (What is autumn? It's the sky.)

President Sullivan was there with his wife, and it turns out that President plays guitar! He plays really good. President is the coolest. They had all of us translate for them, so it was nice not being the only one trying to be the bridge between the languages. Except President knows a bit of Russian, so he didn't always need a translator.

After that we went and studied the scriptures with President. It was supposed to be our whole district, but it ended up just being me and Elder Kalt for most of it because everbody else got held up on the way there. It was super cool, and his insights were very helpful. We talked about the need for opposition in all things

The sisters showed up and I ended up having to translate again, because... I don't honestly know why, I just ended up being the translator. That's a good band name. "The Translator". Maybe just an album name.

The Translator

Anyway, it was really difficult because we had ended up in the Old Testament and the Russian names of lots of the things in the Old Testament are very different from English and super difficult to pronounce. From now on, I'm bringing my scriptures in Russian when I have to translate, that way I'm not just guessing that Ahab is Ахаб and Elijah is Илий.

One day, I will speak Russian.

Sunday I talked to a crazy old guy who refused to give me his name, which is always a red flag. It's OK though, I only had to distract him long enough for a member to come back with something he needed. It was only like 20 minutes...

So, that's pretty much what's been happening with me.

Peace out!

Elder Robsion

Taking it Back

So, this week has dragged on basically into the eternities. Monday night we ended up playing an eternal game of Uno with the member. That was only after being approached and asked to perform an exorcism. I didn't really trust the guy though, because ,1) he was drunk, and 2) he had a pistol in his pocket, which is illegal here. We stayed away from that situation.

On Tuesday nobody showed up to English practice. Well, people showed up, but it was only women, so the sisters had to teach English because we aren't allowed to be alone with women.

On Wednesday we walked around a lot, like usual.

On Thursday we had zone training. I got to hang out with Elder Ditty and see how things are in Kherson, so that's cool. An interesting thought that came up during zone training, "Sometimes what we think is our personality is just our habits."

We went to McDonald's afterward and had lunch. I ordered a Big Mac meal and a cheeseburger like usual. But apperantly, the lady didn't understand my accent/ was scamming me, so I ended up with 2. Of both. And 2 drinks. And 2 fries. And then I ate all of them. And was full until lunch the next day.

After this (Thursday was a long day),  we had English Practice, which was cool because Vova finally got a chance to come again! Then, I grabbed my stuff and went on exchanges with Elder Jensen. That was super fun, we talked a ton about the MTC, and about the future of the mission.

On Friday we walked around a lot and then made crepes, and then I went back to my own apartment.

Saturday came and went without a fanfare, but we cleaned the branch in the afternoon.

Sunday was normalish, but we met a cool black guy from Texas. People who aren't white here are a rarity, and thus this was worth noting. We're going to meet him at McDonald's sometime this week, and hopefully I'll get a normal amount of food!

We're going to another dinner appointment tonight (We're popular now), and, aside from the fact that there's a big change that will be happening within the next couple of transfers here, that's pretty much life right now.

Peace out!

Elder Robison

P.S. How's my spelling? I can't tell how English words should look anymore, and there's no autocorrect in English.

The Surprise

YEAH! Metal as punch!

So, this is the surprise. It's green and beautiful, and people here love guitars, so now I have a tool for getting to know people better. No more awkward, just guitar!

We wanted to buy it on Monday, but all the stores were closed, so we had to wait until Tuesday. It ended up being alright, mostly because now there is a guitar where there otherwise was not, partly because I was able to use it that night at English practice.

On Wednesday we had District Meeting, which was only a little bit depressing.

On Thursday, English Practice 2 still happened, even though there was a rain storm passing through.

On Friday we got rained in, and I was on exchanges with Elder Mayberry, so I ended up reorganizing and updating a lot of information about the area, and ordering different materials. It was fun in it's own, desk-workish sort of way.

On Saturday we had a game night, at which I spent a lot of time playing guitar because the only game we had going was ping-pong, and I'm not very good at that.

On Sunday we got to Skype our parents! Turns out my Mom has turned my room into an art studio where she paints paintings. So, I guess that means I don't have a room anymore. But the paintings are really nice! If any of this ends up on the blog, definitely put up a picture of one of Mom's paintings, they're really good!

And now, today... I will play guitar much. I've already written a new song from all my experiences thus far. And also, tonight, we got invited over to dinner at a member's house, something which just doesn't happen over here. so that's super cool.

Peace out!

Elder Robison

Also, side note, if there are any songs you think I would like to play, look up the tabulature for them on the internet and send them. Just type the name of the song and then 'guitar tab'. Thanks!

Spiders

So, our apartment is filled with spiders.

It's not a new thing, it's apparently just something that has always been the case. By Elder Kalt's reckoning, he's personally killed 65 since arriving in Nikolaev 3 1/2 months ago.

I hate spiders...

But, that's besides the point!

This week was cool, we did a lot of stuff, I spoke a ton of Russian, and there will shortly be a new addition to the apartment. For real this time, I'm going to buy it, I have permission, it's going to be awesome! There will be pictures next week, because even though it's not the same thing as before, it's still a suprise!

On Monday, I tried to take a nap, because it's our P-Day and there should be time for that. Unfortunately, all the forces between heaven and earth combined against us as every person in the world decided that they need to call us. We ended up having to spend pretty much the whole rest of the day at the branch building waiting to pick up a couple of packages.

Tuesday we did service for a couple of home-bound less-active members. They were super nice, and so that was cool.

We passed that night's English Practice over to the sisters so we could teach a new investigator.

Wednesday, our landlady came by and fixed the horrible electricity system.

Thursday was English Practice 2, and afterward we talked with the people who came because they're all cool and pretty interested in the church for the most part. I didn't have anyone to talk to, so I ended up talking to Sister Grishchenko because she doesn't speak English. After that, I could no longer formulate thoughts or sentences in English, so I had to speak Russian to Elder Kalt for the rest of the night. It was weird.

On Friday, we taught a lady about prophets.

On Saturday, we went to a specialized store which sells different instances of the thing that I am going to buy today. That was an adventure, it was fun! 

On Sunday we went to church and then tried to find people to talk to.

So, that was my week. Next week will have a surprise, and that's a good thing!

Peace out!

Elder Robison