Well, I am sad. President is finally transferring Elder Janson. He has been here at least 4 transfers and was branch president until President Woolley called me to the position. He is a fine young man who knows the Russian language better than most missionaries and has done all the translating of my talks. He has been called to be an AP replacing Elder Turner who has been an AP since he left here 5 transfers (each transfer is 6 weeks) ago. He will be missed greatly because he is the only one who knows the Russian MLS system well. That is the church finance and membership computer program.
We were minding our business at home Saturday night and got a call asking us if it was ok if Nastia came and stayed with us. She showed up around 9:00 pm with a friend from the church in Veronish. A missionary mom had sent here a video of Anastasia (Nastia is short for Anastasia) which she has never seen.
Marina is new member Artyome's wife, and is taking the lessons. She is having trouble finding time to read the BofM and other things and still has not gained a testimony. She is a wonderful young woman and some prayers would be very helpful. I didn't tell her that my daughter has 4 children, an 11 room house plus 4 bathrooms, and is the primary president in her ward and still has time to read. She only has a kitchen, bathroom and living room where they all sleep.
Artyome's family, Myself, Elder Davis, and giving us all a salute is Elder Raymond.
The Lipetsk missionary district. Elders Janson, Raymond, Davis, and Law. Elder Law joined us last transfer and Elder Janson will leave next week. We will miss him!
We cannot tract very much in Lipetsk because all the apartment buildings are locked and if they do get in people call the police frequently if they try knocking on doors. Much of their finding activity takes place while on buses or just walking around. They are very noticeable and people will talk to them. Here we are having a stationary finding activity at the central renock (market). We have the AP's in town, so they are helping. We have two banners introducing the church on the left and the Book of Mormon on the right. They had a lot of people stop by until some door salesmen started to encroach on our area.
They set up behind the central bus stop where a lot of people come and go. There are also many vendors selling hats, sweaters, shoes, coats, etc. lined up on both sides behind me. This lady with a smile just left the booth with some material. She looks happy.
The man at the left spent a long time with Elder Janson. He wouldn't give his information but said he was very interested in attending church.
Elder Davis is very quiet spoken but was the most aggressive in getting people's attention. He followed this fellow a couple of booths down from us before he stopped to talk. Notice the hats in this booth and a lady in a striped top trying on a sweater in the booth next to that one.
The Elders must wear their missionary clothing on P Day as well. Here are Elder Janson and Elder Harris hanging around together on P Day.
I have been trying to take pictures of some of the women's footwear. It seems I only see interesting ones when I don't have my camera. We were on our way home from Artyome's when I saw these boots with six inch heels. This was taken on a bus. We have three classes of buses in Lipetsk. Most are very old. The newer fancy buses are used buses purchased from Germany. First is the small buses that are privately owned that run the same routes as the city owned buses. They are dirty, often crowded and the drivers are scary. They try to get to the next stop as fast as they can. They are not on a schedule so they just tear around to get as many fares from the traditional buses as they can.
Next are the oldest buses with worn out interiors. They pick up seniors and students who have passes. They can be either electric trolley buses or diesel. They also pick up paying customers like us. The newer buses have fabric seats, are much bigger, cleaner, nice windows to see out of, and easier (low to the ground) to enter and exit. All cost 12 rubles no matter the distance traveled.
Another interesting pair of shoes.
This was our hot water for most of this week. Not fun.
This is the meat market at the central Renock. Vendors rent space and lay out their meat on these stone tables.
Some other items are also sold in this building but most vegetables are sold outside. I took this because of the huge radishes.
The other side of the round building. We were told we couldn't take pictures in the building following this shot.
Here is a picture outside the building. The outdoor market surrounds the round building and goes off in another direction. hundreds of booths selling all manner of clothes, fruits and vegetables. You have to watch your prices as some produce can be purchased for less in traditional super markets. We are advised not to buy eggs and meat at these markets.
Interesting money situation here. One ruble is worth .03 cents. They are still using Kupeek's which are like our cents. As a result when we shop for food we get some change in kupeeks that are next to worthless. You can see them on the street because people will not go to the trouble to pick them up when they drop them. Anyway, 2 - 50 kupeek coins make one ruble, 10 - 10 kupeek coins make a ruble, and 20 - 5 kupeek coins make a ruble. I am still 4 short of these coins to make a ruble. To get rid of my 10 kupeek coins I used 20 of them plus 2 5 ruble coins for one bus fair for a total of 12 rubles (.35 cents).
Here are the most commonly used bills. There are 10 and 5,000 ruble bills as well. The 5,000 R bill is used mostly for paying rent, but the atm machines don't always have them. The 1000 ruble bill is worth about 30 to $33.00 depending on the rate.
The Russians love English on their clothes and especially t-shirts. As you can see they don't always make sense Doesn't matter, most Russians do not know English.
See you next time. We are having a wonderful experience. Seniors, make every effort to have at least one full time mission experience. The Lord needs you!!!!
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