Stolen candy bar

This week flew by, and it all feels so surreal that this is all coming to a close. I'm excited! Let me tell you, winter has hit already! Okay, no snow...But it's FREEZING! I feel bad for the people who will be staying this winter, it's bound to be KILLER!

The birds are acting insane this week. That's super random, but it's true. Everyday, there are just millions of birds flying together in patterns. I'm trying to figure out what they're trying to tell me, what message they're sending, but...haha, jk. But no, it's like out of a horror movie. I keep wishing they were bats...

This is the last week before transfer calls. We're so crazy about transfers, it's all so up in the air. But I’m pretty positive they're taking sisters completely out of Pskov (which is sad, cuz we've literally tripled our numbers these last few weeks) and if by some miracle they leave sisters, I'll for sure be going back to the city cuz I leave 3 weeks later. Who knows tho, prez is always pulling out crazy surprises. We'll see. TORTURE!

I bought a shapka!!!! FINALLY! And I LOVE her! I found the perfect one. I knew she was perfect the moment she settled on my head. The guy selling her to me was middle eastern (they love me for some reason, my comp is appalled at all of them being so forward with me, haha. I don't get it,) and he gave me a discount. Also, when I was deciding, he was like, "its real fur, its real leather!" I was just like, "uh huh, uh huh," trying to ignore that fact cuz I'm so disgusted by wearing real fur. THEN, he proceeded to pull out REAL fox pelts! I was like, dude... you are NOT helping your sale here. But I was madly in love with my shapka, and bought her! I can't stop trying her on! I woke up this morning, rolled out of bed, and put her on again in front of the mirror. So I'm happy. :)

You know my babushka that we washed and she has the crazy cats and HEINOUS apt? We went over again, I LOVE her! But the woman from the service company who took us there this time started on a rant about the cats while we were cleaning. She made us catch the cats and throw them outside with all the other cats! I mean, it's a good idea because it was just sooooo gross and unsanitary in the apt, but the babushka was so sad! I was traumatized! I fought the lady, but what can you do. The cats are all she had! Well, she has a grandson (who is going to HELL, by the way) but he's trying to poison her so she dies. I'm so sad.

Our branch got back from their week at the temple. THEY LOVED IT! So amazing! They all got back late late Saturday night, then were all at church the next day. Elijah, I've told you about him, he's like 20, was supposed to speak about it. During sacrament, he started BAWLING! All of us were like, what the heck. And he continued to bawl. So poor elder Henderson had to be like, can you still speak? Cuz we didn't know if something was horribly wrong. But he got up, and gave such a spiritual, touching talk about the temple. It was amazing. I can't wait to come home and go! He bawled the whole way thru, but he just talked about how he's been a member for a while now, but now he has so many different thoughts on our purpose in life and stuff. It was amazing.

THEN at FHE this week, he made a big announcement. We're always telling him, go on a mish, go on a mish. But his parents...ugh. They just don't approve, it would never fly. And he promised his mom back when he was baptized that he would finish university to the end, cuz if you leave to go on a mish or for anything, it's really hard to get back in and usually you have to start from scratch. Russian education system...don't get me started. I always got the feeling he didn't really WANT to go anyways.

Well, at the temple, Eli felt he HAD to go on a mission, and on Tuesday, he was fasting to know how to tell his mom. He came home from work, hadn't even said anything, no hints or anything, and his mom said, "Hey I want to talk to you. You have mentioned this mission stuff a while ago, I want to know more about it." Um! He said it was CRAZY! So he knew he just HAD to tell her. He did, and you know what she said? Simply, "Go." MIRACLE! I LOVE the gospel! Things just work out! The spirit is soooooo AMAZING! He just works his thang and gets it done, ya know! I love all these miracles I've seen here! So many happen that you would thing it would just become the norm, but it's still SO cool every time! So we're celebrating.

B stole a candy bar from a really big store, haha! She just walked out with it! The funny thing is, they have detectors you have to walk through AND the police door man is always so suspicious of us cuz we're American and we never want a cart.... The latter is a weird thing, I know, but they find that fishy. Yea, so she just walked right out with it! The scary thing, was trying to sneak it back in! We couldn't just go up and be like, "I didn't pay for this," cuz they would be so angry and we'd get in trouble, cuz we're American. But she accomplished it.

Russia hasn't changed since the day it was founded. Really, it hasn't. I've been studying up more on it. Yes, they are the same. Living in the dark ages, which they call 'not losing the Russian culture.' What can you do. I'm working on making a difference. I love you all so much! AHHHHHHH! Get ready, I'm coming home! (written 9/4/08)