We have been in Russia now for two weeks, but it seems to be quite longer than that with all of the learning we have been doing. Each task is a small ordeal…looking up in the dictionary how to translate words into English in order to use the washing machine, construct ingredients into an unknown food concoction, trying to get the Internet working, converting money, converting measurements into metric, finding the right busses and bus stops to get on and off, etc., etc., etc. It’s quite an adventure!! But through all of it, I have had a calm assurance that everything will be okay. Ken’s language skills, limited as they are, get us where we need to be and communicate what we need.
One of the things we worried most about was the cold weather. It has definitely been cold, but I don’t think we’ve even begun to know what cold is. January is typically the most frigid month so we’ll see how we survive the next month. Temperatures have been in the low teens to mid thirties so that is not too bad. I am thankful for my coat purchase! I can honestly say I haven’t been cold yet. It takes an extra few minutes to get ready in the mornings by the time you pile on layers of thermals, tights, clothes, hat, gloves, coat, scarf, and boots. Everyone dresses quite warmly, and the Russian hats you envision are absolutely true to life. Everyone wears hats. The younger men and boys wear beanies, the older men wear the traditional Russian “shopkas.” The women adorn beautiful fur coats and hats. I’m the only woman in Russia who wears big Columbia-brand boots, but I’m all about warmth and stability, not fashion. The women wear warm but fashionable boots, many with heels. I even succumbed to adding the “yak traks” to them today which are like putting chains on car tires. Everywhere you walk is ice, and I don’t want to risk falling and breaking something. So we dress to be warm outside but then sweat to death on a bus, in apartments or stores because they are heated so much. But I can’t complain about that—I’m grateful to be warm! In our own apartment, we have all of the radiators turned off. There isn’t anything like a thermostat to regulate the temperature so we just turn off the steam flow, and it stays plenty warm enough.
Our apartment is very comfortable. All of the floors are linoleum or tile with large area rugs in the living spaces. We live in a large “dome,” or apartment building, that was built during the Soviet years. Most of the apartment buildings look alike. You enter the building through a metal door. The inside is pretty scarey looking—run down, chipped paint, odd smells, concrete stairs and walls, empty vegetable cans on each stair level for cigarette butt deposits. On each level there are four apartments, two on each side of the stairs behind another large metal door. When you unlock the metal door, you enter another small area where there are two apartment doors. After you unlock the two deadbolts to your own door, you are officially in! You never know what you’ll find behind each door. Some apartments are very nice; some, not so nice. We have been in very humble apartments and very few nicer apartments. We feel very fortunate that the elders found us a nice, clean apartment. We don’t have a garbage disposal or dishwasher so it’s back to “the good ol’ days!” We also don’t have a clothes dryer, but no one does. Clothes are hung on lines in your indoor balcony or on drying racks. Needless to say, household chores involve more time than I’m used to. We are on the fourth level, and we take the stairs every time. There is an elevator, but it is quite small and Ken refuses to risk getting stuck in it!
Grocery shopping is interesting. There is no such thing as convenience foods so everything I make is from scratch—brownies, pancakes (no such thing as a bottle of Mrs. Butterworth’s), soups, mac&cheese, lunchmeat. This has been the biggest challenge for me. You can’t even buy a can of green beans! But I’m sure it will get easier with time as I figure out what I can and can’t do. Ken misses a good box of cereal most of all. He is on his third box of cereal and still hasn’t found one to his liking. We eat a lot of oatmeal and cream of wheat for breakfast. We have to drink bottled water and wash all produce and eggs in Clorox and water. We really only eat two meals a day because we are busy and away from home especially in the evenings. The little store I shop at is right around the corner from our dome so that is convenient. It is called “Magneet.” We stopped at a larger Costco-type store when we were traveling between areas last week, and it had a larger selection. The only problem with that is you have to carry everything you buy back home on the bus again so it’s impossible to really stock up. I have to look up the Russian words for what I want to buy so I can ask for them in the store if I can’t find something. It’s pretty hilarious! Food is more expensive than we expected. Milk is just over $1 for a quart of milk which is the largest portion you can buy. If you find anything American, like Pringles, for example, it is ridiculously expensive! We will be eating a lot of borsch!!
Transportation consists of walking and “marshutkas,” small vans that seat about 10-12 people. You stand at the bus stop and wave down the bus when it drives by. We take the bus primarily from our area to the two other areas we are assigned to work with. We probably walk at least two-three miles a day. It’s a great opportunity to visit with each other and with the missionaries when we are with them. The other day when we were driving back, the driver was listening to what sounded like Russian Latin music. It was pretty funny. Most of the time I feel safe, but from time to time we get a driver who thinks he’s on a racetrack, and I pray I arrive in one piece! The cars are small and amazingly get around in this crazy weather. There’s nothing like 4-wheel drive. The roads have so many “ice potholes.” It will be interesting to see what everything looks like once it thaws.
Some of the cultural traditions we have been learning is that it is impolite to shake hands with someone when you come to their home initially at the door. You need to come through the doorway first and then greet them with a handshake. Generally, women do not handshake. If you are on the street or wherever, you always take your glove off to shake someone’s hand. We have visited several families in branches, and they always have a refreshment prepared for us. It always consists of a drink, either compote (fresh fruit bottled from their gardens such as cherries or raspberries mixed with water…kinda like watered-down koolaid) or chai, tea. All of the Russians drink chai, and the members have had to adjust to the strictly fruit- and herbal-type teas. When in Russia, adopt the Russian way, I say, so we went to the store and asked for “fructovwe chai.” We were shown what to buy, brought it home, and were ready to prepare it for the two sisters from the branch who were coming to visit us that night. I had them help me in the kitchen to show me what to do, and they told me it was a black tea. Oops!! It had raspberries pictures on the front, but I guess I didn’t (or couldn’t!) read the fine print. So I put the box of tea on a window sill in the apartment stairwell, and it was gone the next morning. The District President fixed us a rice dish called Plov that was quite tasty and had a side dish of coleslaw. Our favorite was an apple-filled pastry that one of the families served us. They don’t bake things that are very sweet like we are used to in America. Their holiday season is very different. Christmas is basically not celebrated at all. It’s like any other day of the week. They celebrate New Year’s Eve in a big way with parties and staying up ALL night followed by ten days of rest. January 7 is more of their Christmas celebration. We haven’t experienced that yet and will have to fill in the holes next week. Parents have babies in rubber-wheeled strollers; it’s amazing they get anywhere! The babies are so bundled up all you can see are their little round faces peeking out from layers of blankets and coats. Toddlers and children are pulled by their parents on little sleds with ice skate-type bottoms. I wish I had one for me!
Our daily schedule starts with exercise. We finally found a mat to buy which makes sit ups on a concrete floor much more enjoyable! We study together for an hour and then on our own. We have been without the Internet until just yesterday, so we are hoping to be able to start our MTC Tutoring Skypes beginning on Monday. We will have a tutor session for one hour and need to study the language for an additional hour. We really have a desire to learn as much of the language as we can. It’s frustrating not being able to communicate with the people. These first two weeks have also consisted of just getting settled – locating the bank, finding places to buy soup bowls or even just a baking pan. The apartment is furnished, but the kitchen lacks a lot of basic items. I would still like to find a hand mixer, wooden spoon, and rubber spatula! Most every night we work with the elders and sisters and help them with their investigators. We have also been meeting with the core active members of the branches to get to know them and hopefully develop relationships of friendship and trust so that they will be willing to help us with the less active members. We go to bed tired every night!
Right now it gets dark around 5 p.m. and light around 9 a.m. Yesterday was the first day since we have been here that we had blue skies all day long. We could even see stars at night! Most days are gray and bleak so the sun is a cheerful blessing.
We have been assigned to work in the Toliatti District which consists of three branches; Old City (where we live), New City and Komsolmoski. Each branch has a set of elder missionaries, and the New City branch also has a set of sister missionaries. Each branch is about 20-50 minutes either direction of us. The church schedule has been unusual with the holidays since we have been here, but we will probably have to rotate from week to week with each of the branches since their meeting schedules are identical. The Old City Branch is the smallest with about 20 active members. New City has 40-50 active members; Komsolmoski, about 40. These members are first-generation members and are so strong. The difficulty is there are few to rely on each other so it is a desire of ours to try and strengthen the branches while we are here. We have been able to bear our testimonies from the pulpit in each of the branches; I am grateful we were prepared to do that. The members have been very welcoming. In fact, one family, the Vagik’s, called and invited us to their home tomorrow for a large Armenian feast. Brother Vagik speaks as poor English as we speak poor Russian so it will be interesting to see how the evening goes. We visited with him and his family soon after arrived, and they have invited us again so that is very kind of them. His wife’s name is Maria, and they have two older sons Eric and Arthur.
I had a direct answer to prayer the first Sunday we were here. We attended the Old City Branch where we live and are able to walk to. I had prayed that morning that despite our language barriers and differences that my love for them and the gospel would shine through my eyes. The branch president’s wife spoke at the end of the meeting and expressed her gratitude for our being there, our testimonies, and that our love for the gospel shone through our eyes. I knew that the Lord was aware of us and would help and direct us in our missionary efforts here in Russia.
We met a sister and her daughter in Old City Branch who have been very helpful. Natasha and her daughter Rada speak some English and have taken us shopping and answered questions when we needed help. They call regularly to check up on us, and we appreciate them so much.
