Well I am writing you on the first day of 2013 from an internet cafe in the middle of Moscow and I think that somebody spilt Coca-Cola on this keyboard because my fingers are sticking to the keys!
The week leading up to New Years was pretty low key. Most people weren't able to meet because they had a lot of things to do or were planning to spend a lot of time going and hanging out with their families. Thus we did a ton of singing contacting, nearly everyday actually, and got a lot of good contacts that will help us rebuild our somewhat struggling investigator pool. I'm excited to kind of restart our investigator pool and get some new life in the area, since it has been not struggling so to speak, but has been stagnating.
New Years was a lot of fun. Our whole district and some other Elder's went over to Elder Olsen and Elder Jewkes's apartment in order to stay safe and have a good time. Since it was New Years we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at Chili's. We of course ordered pizza, bought lots of chips and soda (specifically kvass and tarkhun, two Russian drinks). It was a great time. Our mission president authorized us to watch some Babylonian Disney movies, and I was quite pleased to watch The Incredibles with everybody. The actual New Year rolled around and we had a pretty good view of the city and the fireworks, even though the city was rather foggy and it was pretty hard to see far. Nonetheless we could see the clouds light up with explosions. In Russia, they don't really have a giant sponsored fireworks show like on the Las Vegas Strip, but people make up for it by lighting off their own fireworks. It is pretty exciting because the commercial fireworks don't really attain a high altitude so they explode about level with the buildings. Overall though, it was a pretty chill uneventful night, and I really enjoyed it.
In many ways I can't believe that it is already 2013. It always takes me a little bit to get used to a new year. I can't believe that 2012 is already past and that I spent the whole year on my mission! Anyways, 2013 is going to be a pretty interesting year for me and I was glad to welcome it.
One of my favorite talks that a general authority has given is "Remember Lot's Wife" by Jeffrey R. Holland. I was really struck by some of his remarks about a new year and not looking back with a desire to live in the past. The past is of course meant to be learned from but not lived in, and I'm going to try this year to really apply that principle, and focus even more on the now and the future, and let the past be the past. Like we read in Genesis 19:17 "look not behind thee". I plan to do this during this year and I'm excited to see what this year brings.
Everybody have a great week! Live long and prosper!
As Always,
Elder Zachery E. Brasier
Moscow Time
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