Hey this has been a really interesting week.
I feel like this is the first time that I have ever gotten a transfer. Although it has happened twice before it felt like a totally new thing because it has been so long.
The last few days in Novo were really good. On P-Day we made the Webbs dinner which consisted of plov, fruit salad and dessert blini. It was a really good time, and it was good to make them food after about a year of them feeding me. We had some good lessons with some members and investigators right before I left. Especially Vanya is looking really good and will probably be baptized soon. It was definitely sad to go and leave some of the people there. On Wednesday we went to the airport really early to get Elder Yatsiuk. He is Ukrainian so he didn't get delayed with the rest of the group coming in. And we did the normal orientation stuff with him that day and that night I took off on a train with Elder Kelly to Krasnoyarsk.
Krasnoyarsk has a very different feel to it than Novo does. Our area is everything on the south side of the River. Most of the newer stuff and the main business center of the city and even the majority of the population is on the North side of the river, but the branch building and most of the members live on the South side. Out of any of the Russian branches that I've seen this looks the most like an American branch with some families and a bunch of kids running around. The members here are really special and there are a few really strong families.
In fact, we didn't have any investigators to start out with, so we have been spending a lot of time meeting with members, and we do our regular talking to people and street contacting. Also, in order to advance the creation of the stake we have been helping the branch trim their records of people who actually don't live here any more, so we have been going around visiting all the members that nobody knows and seeing if they still live there. And usually if nobody knows them it means they are long gone by now.
The Noels are great. I'm going to miss the Webbs, but the Noels are taking really good care of us. And there is a lot of talk going around that Sister Noel is going HUGE for Thanksgiving. The missionaries here are really young. We just have 4 Elders and 4 Sisters. All of the junior companions except for Elder Rubow are being trained. And I feel really old because I picked all of the missionaries in the city up at the airport except Elder Kelly. So that means 2 Elders 4 Sisters and the Noels. So that's a weird fun fact. Because of everyone being so young, Elder Kelly and I have to share all of the translation responsibilities for the Noels. Which I don't mind doing at all, it's fun and a good challenge.
We found 2 guys this week that we contacted, later taught, and they both committed to come to church but neither of them showed.
Elder Rubow is sweet. He is a southern gentleman from North Carolina. He's from Durham but he likes UNC. And he is a wonderful story teller, and I love sitting there listening to him tell stories. I'm sure you already know more about him if you read his blog.
Well I think that's about it. This week should be a good week and hopefully by the end we can get a couple investigators on the program.
Oh hey Mom, guess what, right before I left Novo I got 2 packages. The Halloween one with all kinds of candy and oreos and stuff and the long skiny one with the popcorn. Thank you! Love you.
-Elder Topham
