Well I just about emailed you only a few days ago. We have to take our preperation day today because Monday we will not have anytime to do so. Neither on Tuesday.. Or Wednesday. So therefore, here I am!
This week was pretty intense. After Monday, it felt like everything took off at 100 miles per hour. Or should I say 160 Kilometers per hour? Anywho, after my last email on Monday we went over to Jacques' who lives in this dorm hostel place. He prepared this spicy peanut Cameroonian fish and rice dish for us. It was absolutely amazing. Apparently it's a pretty common dish there. They have this canned peanut butter stuff that they use frequently I guess. It sounds so good right now. Anyway, we talk to him about Fasting after the meal and it turns out he already has a huge testimony about fasting. He fasts about once a month as well and understands how necessary it is. So that was pretty cool. It was Elder Hill's last meeting with him, so Jacques gave us some gifts; some ceremonial African clothing. We took some pictures! Unfortunately I didn't prepare my camera to upload them today (which reminds me. It's impossible for me to find some sort of USB for my camera here). Anywho. Just imagine the most colorful celebration in a long shirt made from some sort of polyster or something. I was way excited that I just got something awesome haha.
On Tuesday, we picked new missionaries! They are all just good-jobbers (The is no word in Russia for "good-job" only "good-jobber") I took an Elder Davis for his first time through the Metro. It was way cool for him. I remember my first trip through the metro. It more or less exploded my head. I am sure it did the same for him in a good way haha. He was really excited to be here in this mission. He is going to an excellent missionary here. There were 2 new elders (one from Moscow) and 4 new sisters (2 from the U.S. and 2 from Russia). It was quite the trip picking them up. Afterwards, because of the sake of time, we had to go straight back and have them fill out some new paperwork (always the funnest thing today after 24 hours on a plane) and then we sat down and ate. Dinner was, of course, amazing.
There were a million and a half changes this last transfer. I think there were only 1 or 2 companionships staying in their assigned areas. Like I said earlier, I got a new companion! Elder Loskutov. He is a great companion too. One of the hardest working elders in this mission, which is always a good thing. He honestly speaks very little English, and he has a more difficult to understand accent in Russia, so communication is slow haha. We have done a lot of planning since Wednesday because we got two big Conferences with President Bennett from the Seventy and a Zone Leader Council with President Bennett as well. We are doing a lot of making sure our plans are exact. He's definitely not used to all this planning so far.
We also had two more visa trips for elders having to stay here at our place. There was one this morning as well. So it's been kind of like a hotel at our place. So it's been fun. Oh we also had some departing missionaries, one of which was the last assistant (not elder Hill. His old companion), which is definitely a big blow for the mission. He was a fantastic missionary. Our neighbors also had to go home! They are a Senior Couple from New Mexico. The husband, Elder Hazlewood is exactly the kind of old guy I want to be in my life. One of the biggest champs in the world.
That's pretty much the news since last time. March Madness is still going on! In colleges around th U.S., and also here in the Russia St. Petersburg Mission. It's kind of funny when you think about it. People always make life to seem like this stressful ball of decisions, worries, stress, and confusion. Yes in this life, we need to make important decisions, but I am learning to not stress out about things. Yeah we all have responsibilities but its a lot harder to stress about it and still do it. That's something I am still figuring out I think haha.In times of hardship, you need to lift, inspire, and bless!
I love you all!
Love,
Love,
Elder Tekulve
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