alone time

I may or may not have gotten separated from my companion on the metro. That was stupid. The metro in Kazan is only one line, so it's not like you can get lost or anything, and it's absolutely gorgeous. The two stops in center have huge mosaics all over the walls and ceilings, and some random man we met down there the other week told us that it was the most expensive metro in the world to construct. I'm not sure I believe that, because it's just one track with ten stops, but it is so pretty. There's a mosaic on the ceiling of one stop that's a dragon, and it's sweet. Anyway, we walked into the metro and heard the train coming, so we ran. And then got there and hesitated for half a second, and I jumped on the train and turned around to find closed doors and, through the glass, Sister Wilson's face with eyes as wide as my own. So I rode to our stop and waited for the next couple trains, and then tried to borrow someone's phone (without success... I realized I didn't know how to say "borrow", and I'd left my tiny dictionary at home. And phones don't work too well in the metro anyway), and then I just walked home. I got there about five minutes before my companion showed up. So that was unexpected, but also not all that exciting. Just kind of funny. All in all, not our most productive afternoon. I don't recommend it.

Exchanges were this week! That meant the other two sisters in our zone who live in Tolliatti came up and slept in our living room for three nights,and on Tuesday and Wednesday I was with different companions. That also meant a lot of eating, oh dear. We made so many crepes, and there's a certain practice that involves drinking milk through cookies. And you can't stop. Sister Twede has been out longer than any other sister here, and she is so competent. I learned a lot from her, and we gave out probably four times as many Books of Mormon than we usually do. It was impressive. I also had my first genuine plov, which was so delicious I'm getting hungry thinking about it now. 

More entertaining was spending a day with Sister Hullinger, who was in the MTC with me, so we both don't speak Russian and it's glorious. But people are actually really surprisingly nice, possibly because we're so obviously drowning in the language. We also taught a second lesson to one of our investigators, which was interesting. Not actually all that different from being in the MTC again. So she understood everything we said, but we didn't really know what her questions were exactly. Add that confusion to screaming children, and you have our lesson. That's why it's good that we had a church member there- Liza's 24 and just generally awesome. So we set a baptismal date! At least, I'm pretty sure we did.

We went to the Kremlin last week, and just walked around because we weren't sure what to even do. It's huge and pretty. There are tours and museums and stuff, so we'll have to figure that out. We also spend more time than I ever expected teaching Russians how to play Uno. So only twice, but unexpected. English club attracts an interesting group.

So many cool things happen if you just make a little effort. Also, way cool things happen when people just try to make other people happy. Good stuff. Go do something scary and nice, okay? I love you all, and hope you're eating fewer sweets than I've been lately!

Love,

Sister Nielsen