Big drama of the week:
Last week at English class the members were all talking about a nuclear explosion that happened at a plant just south of St. Petersberg. They said the cloud was heading straight for Pskov! Needless to say, I was a little scared. Only one of my all time worst nightmares. S was scared too, but we couldn't get ahold of prez. They said it was going to hit late that night or in the morning. Lovely.
We thought, well, for sure someone would have called us. The members and Russians all told us not to worry, that this happens sometimes....WHAT?! Ever heard of Chernoble... how do you even spell it? I don't know, I've only HEARD of it.
My comp told me this happened to her city and the government just shoots major weapons at the cloud to lift it over the cities in the way so it will rain down right PAST them. The members said even if it did rain down on us, the radiation shouldn't be too bad and to just drink milk with a little bit of iodine to help with it....what the...am I freaking living in a MOVIE or what?! So that night was kind of nervous...What can you do?
The next morning we woke up to what normally is a very sunny white-nights morning, but instead was a scary dirty black sky. My comp said we couldn't go running that morning, it was super scary. But it never rained, despite the fact that the sky was super dirty all day, clearing up though as it went on. I talked to prez about it and he said he heard about it too and made a call and was told it was a rumor. Bad thing is, I guess the Russian government doesn't always tell people until way later. And our members said it was for sure true...I don't know, the thing that confirmed it for me was the sky the next morning.
Anyways. Adventures. Things with my comp are getting better. We've said a few more words to each other. :) I cut and flat ironed her hair, and she was in shock. She acted like she hated it, but then the next day we HAD to go and find her a flat iron and she had me do it for Zone conference and stuff, so all is well. I think she likes me a little more now.
We had zone conference, which was totally good. We took our 4 hr bus ride and got interviews with prez that night in Novgorod. Then sister S took my comp and I to the Kremlin (it's called a kremell, or stronghold, or fortress, but for some reason I call it the Kremlin...) and the little city was so so pretty. Then, we went back to the hotel...uh huh, they got the sisters a hotel room this time! What the heck?! Nothing fabulous, but I felt so wrong being in a hotel when the elders didn't get to too. So we stayed up over hours and had dinner with the Prez and Sister S. They treated us, which was so nice and I felt insanely spoiled, but it was just really awkward and quiet, I'm not gonna lie. You know me, I hate silence, so I would just blurt out random things trying to start conversation, which would quickly die into utter silence again. And I felt sooo heavy afterwards cuz I had meat, chicken wrapped in bacon, and it was so good, I just haven't eaten meat in a while.
In the morning, our area Presidency got into Novgorod and we ate breakfast with them and the Prez. I love the P's, they are amazing! So natural and they LOVE the Russian people, I love it. Our conference went really well. It was the S's last, which means our last in English. :)
Let me tell you about visa issues. Prez talked to me about it cuz I'm going to Tallinn (Estonia) next month to get mine renewed. I guess they've passed new laws saying that we can't send our papers ahead anymore, so now we have to go and do our paperwork there, then return ten days later to pick up our visa. President told me that we are the only mission here doing it that way. All the other ones are flying their missionaries to Madrid or Prague to renew theirs, meaning they have to stay there for a week at a time....I told President, Um, are you SURE we shouldn't do that too?! haha he laughed, but I told him to seriously consider it. UM! HELLO! PRAGUE OR MADRID! I'll take a week vacation to one of those places! He said I should have one more time I need to renew my visa after this next month, and we're just trying out this two-trip thing to Tallinn to see how it works. But of course it'll change when I leave the mish....haha.
Last p-day my rad district took a little trip to an outside village named Izborsk. So beautiful and so fun! I pumped water our of real water pumps, we bought and ate honeycomb from a little lady on the street that she had harvested herself, we cruised the rolling fields and ran into a snake that the boys had fun playing with, we walked through a graveyard, played in the holy waterfalls, the wind was intense I loved it, then we ate at a little soup and blini restaurant. It was super fun. (written May 29, 2008)
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