Fig Factory

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

 

This week has flown by rather quickly, and unfortunately not a whole lot has happened worthy of note. Elder Mitchell and I are continuing to work together and I rather enjoy working with him. Also, the weather has finally gotten above the 0 degree C mark, which means that everything is starting to melt. While this is a good thing, it also provides some problems for us. Russian roads do not come equipped with the adequate draining like in America. As the snow melts, everything collects into miniature lakes that we have to walk through. Normally this wouldn't be a huge problem, but my boots have recently acquired some leaks, so after a day or two of this I was concerned that I may develop a case of trench foot! Never fear, today I used the power of super glue to put my boots back together.

As for the title of my e-mail allow me to explain. In Russia there is a hand gesture known as a "fig". It consists of sticking your thumb in between your index and middle fingers in some sort of twisted fist. It is two or three degrees down from the middle finger of American contempt and is used to designate that something is stupid or undesirable. Also it isn't offensive. As missionaries in Russia the word "fig" has become part of our vernacular. For us, "getting a fig" means to have somebody cancel on a lesson or to just not have somebody show up for a lesson. We have been receiving quite a bit of figs recently, and thus our investigator pool at this time could be designated as a "fig factory". Unfortunately, we have not met with Daniil at all this week and we have only met with Gokul once. Many of our other investigators have given us figs as well.

 

So what do missionaries do when they receive figs? Well they go street contacting and tracking of course! This is what Elder Mitchell and I have been doing quite frequently now. We usually just pick a direction that we have never been and contact in that direction. I actually rather like this because 1) It keeps me in shape (hiking 10 miles around Smolensk everyday will certainly work of a diet of SuperSnickers and Ramen) and 2) I get to see parts of the city I have never seen before, thus fulfilling my desire to do missionary work and to see the city. We have found some quite interesting places. Some of my favorites have been a Catholic Cathedral we found that had been closed since the October Revolution in 1917 (I was extremely shocked to find a Catholic cathedral in the middle of Russia, a through and through Eastern Orthodox country), a plethora of Yuri Gagaran statues (since he was born not far from here), and many strange and inexplicable buildings (the best being the one that had a huge symbol painted on it that look liked the Tri-Force symbol of Legend of Zelda fame.) It is really great to see many parts of this city while meeting and talking to new people every day about the gospel, and we sure have found some interesting people! The best experience this week while contacting and tracking was a great door that we tracked into a few nights ago. This older lady opened the door and we told her who we were and such, and she invited us in. As we were standing in front of the door she yelled for her husband saying: "Alexandr come here! The church is here to atone our sins for us!!!" Her husband came out, a very nice man who has some sort of physical hip deformity that makes it hard for him to walk. After we explained to him that we don't atone for people's sins we gave him a Book of Mormon and he promised to read it. Last time we called him he said he had been reading but wants to read just a little bit more before he talks to us. I'm hoping that that turns into something in the future.

 

Wednesday was Pi Day. I explained why I was excited that it was Pi day in English club and everybody thought I was a huge nerd, except for the Belarusian medical student who came for the second time (the last time she asked me who to say words like "gastro-intestinal system", "aorta", "thrombosis" in English. It was the most anatomically detailed English club I had every done.) After words we had a lesson of sorts with Igor (who I mentioned last week) and I was able to have a great discussion with him for about an hour and a half about why he needed God in his life. It was so interesting for me to talk with him and kind of discuss how certain philosophies (Platonic Theory, Existentialism, Fatalism, Socratic Theory) relate to the gospel. I don't know how effective it was, but one of the other English Club girls was listening and asked for a Book of Mormon afterwards, so I guess it was somewhat worth it.

 

Saturday was St. Patricks Day and I made sure to wear a green tie to celebrate my Irish heritage (I only have one green tie, so I was extremely glad I hadn't worn it earlier in the week). I also made sure to explain to some of the branch members why it was so important to me. I don't think they really understood exactly why Saint Patricks Day was a big deal, but I was glad to bring just a little bit of Irish culture to the branch here in Smolensk. Unfortunately we also had ran out of potatoes (and by ran out I mean we bought potatoes a month ago and put them in our dark cupboard and then forgot they were there so when we wanted to use them they had all sprouted nasty potato alien plants so we couldn't eat any of the potatoes) and I couldn't locate any corned beef. But I'm sure that it was the thought that counted.

 

Well that's all I've got for this week. Tuesday night I leave on a night train for Moscow which should be exciting. I'm excited to go see my friends and get to hang around Moscow for a day (however last time I blew the rest of my Christmas money!). And, we will certainly go and visit our favorite spot in Moscow: One of the two Wendy's in Russia! Mmmm..... Wendy's......

 

Sincerely Over and Out,

Elder Zachery Brasier

 

P.S. Did you know that Isaac Asimov was born not far from here? I didn't either, until recently!