There has been a rumor going around about a change in my mission, and I will set everything strait right now. On Wednesday we had a mission conference in Moscow were one of the leaders of the Eastern European area gave us a pep talk, and also some news. He started by talking about change and how change is good for all of us. Continuing, he foreshadowed the fact that there would be a big change in our mission. He started telling us about how the 12 Apostles all prayed about it and then the President Uchtdorf and Eyring and finally the Prophet Thomas S. Monson. He informed us that they had held a meeting in the Salt Lake temple about this change and even though it wasn't the most seemingly logical option, it was the one they felt inspire to pursue. This build up lasts for almost 15 minutes and I am about to jump out of my seat! With all this build up I was expecting an announcement like: "The Moscow West mission will now be merged with the Manilla, Philippines mission so you will all be on an airplane tomorrow...." or something to that effect. Right before he announces this change, the Elders from Lipetsk show up so we had to organize translation for the Ukranian missionaries. This took about 10 gut wrenching minutes. After the logistics where sorted out, the Area President started to build up again for another 10-15 minutes. (I am purposefully stretching this story out so you can experience what I felt like during this meeting.)
Here is the change. On July 1st our current mission president goes home and the Moscow West Mission gets merged with the Moscow mission. Belarus becomes part of the Baltic Mission and Kazakhstan becomes part of the Novosibirsk mission. So what does this mean for me? First of all our mission doubles in size. Secondly I will be able to serve in Moscow and also Zaliningrad, which are both not part of our mission boundaries. I am pretty excited about this opportunity to serve in Moscow, because I love big cities and also it will be cool to have the opportunity to see some of the awesome sights there. And that's the big news, in July the Moscow West mission will cease to exist and is replaced by a huge Moscow mission.
Otherwise this week was not very exciting. Elder Jewkes and I are trying to get more people to meet with because we are more or less opening up a new area right now. That means a lot of time on the streets. I finally gave in and bought a pair of Russian boots and have been wearing my fur and leather Russian Shapka (which is just a warm hat with flaps) outside. Jokingly, I asked Elder Melling if he thought it would be a good idea to wear my 1970's Soviet Aviation Leather Helmet outside (on of the sweet souvenirs I've picked up on my Moscow adventures. One cool thing about Russia is that mostly everything is up for bargain, so after about 45 minutes of wheeling and dealing I was able to buy this helmet for half the original price. I was pleased.) We decided it was probably not. Right now though we are working with Vladimir who will be baptized as soon as he gets married and loves the missionaries (also he promised to give me a Russian book on bio-engineering which I thought was a nice gesture considering I will not be able to read it!). We are also working with a man named Anatoly who is a wood carver for the Orthodox cathedral in Smolensk. The other day I just noticed he is missing the tips of three of his fingers, which was slightly ominous. Otherwise, we are hitting the streets and working with our members who really need the help.
For Valentine's day we had a little branch activity. The Elder's from Minsk, Belarus came as did the members from Vitepsk, Belarus. I was really happy to see some the Minsk Elders and to meet some other church members. The Belarusian church members are way awesome! It was a pretty chill Valentine's Day, and I ate way too much candy (a similar problem occurred at Halloween). It is always a shock to people how much chocolate I eat compared to my general state of thinness. I guess hiking around Russia all day really helps you lose the excess weight!
I had a pretty cool experience on the night train back from Moscow. Actually I had a cooler one before on the way to Smolensk for the first time. I'll relate that quickly. We were waiting on the platform to go to Smolensk and we heard somebody talking in English, so we talked to him. It was this New Yorker named Sam who was going to Smolensk in order to get work experience in a factory here. This was shocking, because I know of very few Americans who purposefully go to Smolensk (I bet 80% of Americans don't even know this city exists) to work in one of the maybe three factories here. So we got his number and will be meeting with him soon. This time on the night train we ran into these two Belarusian singers and guitarists who decided to play us a little concert on the night train. It was so cool. They sang all sorts of songs and we sang along with what we could, like Yellow Submarine and Катюша (Katyusha, and Russian folk song). We went to bed so late that night, but I didn't care because I figured stuff like that doesn't happen very often. Experiences like that remind me how cool it is to be on a mission, and especially a mission in Russia!
Well that is all I've got for today. I hope you all have an absolute splendid week. Stay warm those of you in sub-arctic climates!
Indubitably,
Elder Zachery Brasier
Moscow Time
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