From Russia With Love: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Dear Family and Loyal Blog Readers,

From time to time we as missionaries take what we like to call "vacations". They aren't really vacations because we are still are missionaries and we still try to find and contact new people. However, since we travel and go away from our home cities, they feel like vacations and it is always nice. This week I got to take a two day "vacation" to Moscow and then Riga, Latvia.

On Thursday we had the first zone conference of the newly formed Moscow South Zone, basically Ryazan, Kaluga, Tula and a few Moscow areas. Elder Jewkes, my old companion from the Smolensk days, is one of the zone leaders, so every night I text him some sort of interesting fact that I've been thinking about. Every transfer, the missionaries from our zone get together and talk about the work in our areas, how to do better, and all sorts of other fascinating and interesting talking points. Also pizza or Subway usually caters. Guess which part of zone conference I like the best?

Thus, at 4:30 on Thursday morning we left Ryazan for Moscow. This is usually when we have to leave Ryazan to get to Moscow, and thus we are always tired for the next day. I for some reason couldn't sleep, but I was rewarded for my insomnia because, as I looked out the window pondering the deep metaphysical questions of life, I saw a big old Tu-95 bomber coming in for a low level landing approach! I was so excited that I woke up Elder Hunt and told him all about it. I think he might not have been too happy with me, but I get to check off another box on my "Aircraft that I have seen in Russia on my mission that I haven't seen yet in America" list.

Zone conference itself was fun. I enjoyed seeing all of my old friends like Elder Jewkes, Elder Stegeby and Elder Eliason. They are all doing so good in there areas and I have been really blessed to meet such good friends and missionaries. Fortunately for Elder Stegeby, Elder Eliason and I, we had a visa trip the next day, so we got the spend the day in Moscow. We didn't really feel like seeing any museums, instead we went tie shopping at this large indoor marketplace in Moscow. Imagine in your mind one of those stereotypical Middle Eastern outdoor markets on the inside of a huge multilevel warehouse that takes a map to navigate with people from almost every immigrant nationality who barely speak Russian much less English trying to sale you hideous shirts and occasionally nice ties. Congratulations, you just imagined the indoor market. The missionaries like to go to the market due to the fact that usually you can pick up ties for around 3 American dollars, which is a sweet deal. Elder Eliason tried to help me break out of my habit of only black ties with a little bit of color. Honestly, it didn't work, but I picked up some not technically black ties...

That night we had a great time because everybody going on the visa trip was in the same apartment, including Elder Dannenberg, my old trainer and another German missionary, Elder Finke. We honestly didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night, especially because Elder Eliason and I got stuck in the same room and spent most of the night talking about the very important things in life. We kept trying to go to bed, but then somebody would crack a joke or bring up something, and the conversation continued. So we didn't get a whole lot of sleep that night, which was unfortunate when we woke up at 5 in the morning the following day for our flight out to Riga.

Riga was awesome. We didn't get to see much outside of the airport, but I really thought that the country was beautiful from my view from the aeroplane over the sea. The Batlic sea was beautiful, especially because I haven't seen a major body of water for over a year. In the airport I was amazed by a few things, mostly by international banking. They take Visa cards in Latvia! It is so convenient. I never realized how awesome international banking is!

Possibly the best thing about Riga was black licorice. I love black licorice, and of course, Europe supplies the best. As Elder Stegeby and I explored the airport we found a store that had cans and cans of black licorice. We were so amazed that we couldn't decide which to get. Elder Stegeby picked up a delicious Turkish variety and I picked up a salted Norwegian variety, mostly because I remember reading that this particular brand was considered by most Americans to be the worst candy ever created. I however, really enjoyed it. Everybody else, on the other hand, spit it out or silently suffered, the exception being the two Germans who came with us, Elders Dannenberg and Finke. Thus, Elder Stegeby, Elder Dannenberg, Elder Finke and I all enjoyed our purchases, but made sure to save some for home. Later Elder Dannenberg told me that I was the most European of all of his American companions, mostly for my food tastes. This was such a great compliment, since I am a bit of a latent Europhile.

Friday night we arrived back in Ryazan, exhausted and tired. Although I was absolutely beat from two 3 hour bus rides and two 2 hour flights in the space of two days, I was happy to have gone on the trips, first of all because now I am a legal guest in the Russian Federation and also because I got to see all of my good friends, especially Elder Dannenberg, who goes home next transfer. Most likely I'll never see him again before he goes home. I guess that is a big turning point in your mission, when your trainer goes home.

Things are going good here in Ryazan. The sisters have a baptism coming up that we are planning for, and I'm studying how to do baptismal interviews, and getting a little nervous for the responsibility. Our investigators are doing really well. They all want to meet with us, but they don't seem to want to progress forward! Also, the summer is still in swing so all of our college students are out in the Middle of Nowhere, Russia doing who knows what! The bright exception to this is Felix, who actually came to church on Sunday. He had told me that he would call me at when he got to the gate to our branch building, but our meeting started and he hadn't called. I was a little disappointed, but half way through the opening hymn I felt very distinctly that I should go outside and wait by the gate. I hesitated a little, but then remembered a quote from President Monson and awkwardly made my way out of my seat and outside. To my surprise Felix was standing right at the gate, and his phone wasn't working! I was really glad that I had followed that impression, because Felix felt really awkward about coming in on his own. During church he kept saying "Oh this is good.." and was very interested in the Book of Mormon lesson after the sacrament meeting. We have really high hopes for him, we just need to help him realize that the true church has been restored and there is one true church.

Otherwise, I have nothing exciting to report! I'll send some pictures of our trip and other events to compensate for this!

Live Long and Prosper

Elder Zachery E. Brasier

Us at dinner with Sasha