Letter #38 - Krasnodar

ZDRASTVOOITYE KRASNODAR!!!!! This place is SUPER KLASSNO!  Wow. I don't know where to start!  Honestly I feel like I'm on a totally different mission than I was 2 weeks ago.  Is this what a transfer feels like!?!?  Man I am so grateful I was able to stay in Volzhsky for as long as I did, moving to another branch is pretty crazy.  BUT I am seriously LOVING LOVING LOVING it!  For one, my new companion Sister Kirkby is the COOLEST!!  We already get along so well, I love her!!  When we met, and I told her we were whitewashing she was just so excited for the adventure of it all, and what an adventure it has been.  We've been getting to figure out everything from apartment craziness to the branch with like 70 active members to tramvais.  I love her because she is so SMILEY!  Contacting is so fun--we just smile like crazy and by the end my face is seriously about to fall off.  Its good its fun because we are having to start from scratch investigator-wise, so we are in the searching process haha. Luckily the members are ready to go, and we have been getting a pretty good amount of referrals!  It's so awesome, because they have such strong testimonies and are so excited to share the gospel.

Sister McGhie and Sister Kirkby, her new mission companion

Our apartment is the BEST EVER.  We literally have the nicest apartment in the mission--until December that is haha.  There was all this craziness with hazyaikas and we ended up in the apartment the senior couple just left.  So its basically a hotel.  PLUS the senior couple left a bunch of random american foods like taco seasoning and root beer extract..etc so we have been having a grand time with that!  I keep telling Sister Kirkby, "dont get used to that!  don't get used to that!"  so she is totally scared of what normal missionary apartments are like.  We went over to a member's house, that was pretty run down with like the wall coming apart and severe cat smell and afterwords Sister K goes, "umm, will it be nicer or worse than that one?" Haha.  She's so great.First week at church yesterday!  So very different than what I have gotten used to, but there is a great feel in the branch.  Everyone loves to be together, and even trying to teach member lessons they are always inviting everyone else in! Haha the first night we had a lesson set up, and we started off with one girl, and ended with her, 4 other ladies, a guy, and a toddler.  It was slightly overwhelming.  It's also been really cool to see how excited and happy the members are to meet with us!!  The ladies we have met with so far have been so grateful and wonderful to teach.  Sister K is doing awesome on the lessons--she leads out, testifies and her understanding is really good.  I don't think the members really tell us apart at all--everyone just tells us, "you are a good pair" haha.  I agree.

We get lost all the time.  Plus tramvais are how we get around, and I feel like they are waaay slower than marshrutkas!  Asking for directions is definitely becoming a talent.  Its embarrasing because our map is actually HUGE so we are trying not to stick out but we are holding this map that is basically the size of a tablecloth walking around.  So we don't actually do that well on not sticking out.  We'll get there.  Hahahaha

We met with a recent convert our second day here, and she is so amazing!  She just walked into church herself--she had been praying for direction, and she was literally led to our church.  She's excited now to introduce us to her son and his wife!  She literally was stomping her feet up and down she was so excited when we asked if we could teach them.  It was crazy.  And cool. 

Sister Kirkby is hilarious--just now she was saying how everyone seems angry when they're talking.  We'll be sitting on a lesson, the person is going off, and Sister Kirkby is thinking they're all mad and then I go, "they are SO cute!"  Haha.  We have a good system.  I just say words that are important that she probably doesn't know yet quietly, so she gets some of the idea but I'm not like fully translating everything.  We both bore our testimonies in church on Sunday, and she did SO good.  These transfers are going to be great. 

I miss Volzhsky, but I know this is exactly where I am supposed to be!  I'm excited to keep meeting people, because I feel like the more people I meet, the more I understand why I am where I am.  I didn't get to watch any conference yet--we get to in...two weeks I think.  I'm so excited!  I love you all!  OH!  "McKAY!  I met someone you know--elder king!  He's cool!"  And thank you KATINKA! JESSICA (yay moscow!) and GRANDMA! I got MAIL! :) Still haven't figured out where to buy envelopes/stamps here yet, so replies are going to be pretty slow. Sorry!!!!!!!! BUT THANK YOu!!!! <3

Today's quote is from Sister Kirkby's stash she carries around with her (big shout out to momma kirkby for those! hahaha)

"To reach a goal you have never before attained, you must do things you have never before done."

--Elder Richard G. Scott

And one more, just because it was conference.

"God is anxiously waiting for the chance to answer your prayers and fulfill your dreams, just as He always has.  But He can't if you don't pray, and He can't if you don't dream.  In short, He can't if you don't believe."

--Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Love you all!  I'm doing OTLEECHNA!

Love

Sister Meggie (yes, I am sister meggie here as well.)

PS: The apartment we were almost in has SLUGS!  GROSSS!!! Good thing we are living in the ritz instead of slug land.  Except we have to move to slug land when the new couple comes in December......oh and guess how you say slug in Russian?  SLEEZNYAK.  Isn't that the grossest word EVER?!!? Ew.  We will cross that road when we get to it.  Until december--lovin' life!