Well, Family, it is the end of my first transfer. I've made it. Be proud of me. I'm still going to be trained by Antamanov for the next transfer, but it is definitely a milestone to be past the first transfer!
In our district of 4 elders, only Elder Calvert (our district leader) is leaving. Our district has grown pretty close, I love it. We're expecting to have another awesome transfer the next 6 weeks! (or 7 weeks. They might extend this transfer a bit.) Antamanov and I get along very well in all areas, and so I have thoroughly enjoyed serving with him so far. And Elder Arrington is cool, too. We discuss music a lot. He's a bassist and was in a band back home. It's very cool to find things in common with those you serve around.
This last week has been crazy, just in general. It's been the Dyen Rozhdyenia Goroda, which is essentially the birthday party for the city of Lugansk. They have shirts everywhere that say "Lugansk.. Ukraine starts here!" It's been interesting having all the festivities all week. And since I'm in the city center, we've been in the thick of all the celebrating. Concerts everywhere, little kids dancing and singing.. I never knew that a city could all come together and perform for one another as much as these people do. It's been pretty cool to be here for all that.
Unfortunately, because of all this celebrating, we haven't been able to get a ton of missionary work done. Most people that we called were out partying all week. And we couldn't contact on the streets because the streets were filled with drunk rubiata (Russian for "guys" and missionary slang for "guys that want to be a nuisance to missionaries"). So there hasn't been a whole lot we could do. We did get lessons in, though! We've got two people still on date, but we're having to push their dates back again since they have been too busy to meet with us and learn everything they need to know. You know, most churches don't have such a rigorous standard for baptism. That's one thing that has really impressed A, one of the guys on date. His major issue with the Adventist church was that they just did a mass baptism for him and like 200 other people. There was no real meaning to their baptism. That's why we work with people individually in the Church. Each soul is precious and needs to be handled with dignity. I hope that we can find more people to handle dignifiedly, though.. That'll be this next week.
So, not a whole lot has happened this last week, because of all the celebrating. I've just been enjoying life here in Ukraine and all. Doing missionary work to the best of my ability. Oh, in addition, I've been practicing a bit of piano. We have all of our lessons at the branch building, and we have to wait a while for each meeting, so I usually get to go mess around on the piano for a bit. That's been pretty fun. I thought that was probably noteworthy to include here.
It's no surprise that Aubrey's doing well over at VSAA. And I thoroughly enjoyed Bailey's letter about Skyview. And Joseph is in school all day now. Tell him not to worry about the length of school. It only gets longer. Or maybe don't tell him that. I don't want to depress him too much. College is awesome though, he has that to look forward to.. in 12 years.. hehe.
That's good about the scripture study. We've really been hammering with members lately the importance of consistent spiritual nourishment. It is living water, after all. The bread of life and all that. Keep up the good work!
Yeah, I remembered it was 9/11. And I do remember that day. Sitting in the 4th grade classroom, watching the news reports about planes crashing into towers, wondering if anyone I knew could possibly be on those planes. That was a strange experience. What was weird, too, is talking to Antamanov about it. Everyone all over the world watched 9/11 happen just as solemnly as we did. He saw it live at like 2 in the morning in Siberia. Isn't that strange to think about?
That's odd that it's so sunny over there. Has it been just this last week? That'd be pretty funny, because it has been extremely hot here until the last week, where I keep thinking that the grey sky makes it look like Washington.
My journal is filling up fine. I don't let myself go to sleep until I write a full page in the journal every night. It's a pretty good habit to be in, I think. And I think I'll be fine on journal paper at least for another year.
You asked if I am confident in speaking Russian... Yes and no. We have a couple of English speaking members here in Lugansk, one from Canada and another from Nigeria. They've been here for at least 2 years each, but I dominate them in language skills at this point. It's a firm testament to how quickly the Lord can work through us as missionaries, or anyone for that matter. So, yes, I am pretty confident. But, that said, I have such a long ways to go. There is no way I will get this without a lot more consistent work and a lot of the Lord's help. It's amazing how well learning a language parallels learning in the Gospel. You need constant growth, or else you're actually regressing. But, Russian is pretty cool, and I can communicate any spiritual thought pretty well, given the time to find the words. Steadily improving!
I am anxiously awaiting the written letters you said are coming. So far I've gotten mail from my MTC mission president and from Jeffrey. Mail is always a great thing, especially for missionaries.
So, I love you all! I'm glad that you seemed to have a good first week of school. I'm excited for Bailey starting Seminary today! That'll be great. Read those scriptures.
Til next week!
-Elder Brandon Porter
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