Cold week

February 3, 2014

Good week. Cold week. Oh my goodness it was cold. But more on that later.

Monday night we visited the mother of one of Sister Reece's friends from college. She's not a member, but she agreed to let us come and teach her. Sister Reece is pretty excited. The mother, V, was very nice, and fed us lots of tea and chocolate, and then wouldn't let us leave her house until a taxi had come. But then the night ended a little crazy because, well, information gets a little convoluted and exaggerated by the time it gets to us way out here in Lugansk, and we were running through the grocery store at 9:00pm trying to put together a 72 hour kit. Turns out it was a little unnecessary. And looking back at what we had, it was kind of pathetic. Tuna and granola bars for three days.

Wednesday President and Sister Lochhead came down to do something called specialized training. Basically a mini-zone conference. It was great, I was inspired, and they fed us. And then all our plans fell through. But that was okay, because it opened the way for miracles. So by Wednesday night the cold had hit. We tromped out to a less active woman in chastnie dom territory for a lesson and...she wasn't home. So what do you do? Walk to the closest building and tract! Because we were literally freezing. Where my breathe hit my scarf, that would immediately freeze, and frost was developing on our eyelashes. We looked like the people in movies who have frozen to death. And tracting, well, people are much kinder when it's cold. We actually had some success. And then we finished the building, and we had 10 minutes left. 10 minutes isn't going to make a big difference. Plus we both really had to use the bathroom (doesn't help when you have multiple layers of tights). But we decided to go to one last dom. So we picked one, went to the top floor, and rang on a doorbell. This guy answered, and was like "hey! I know Mormons. My neighbor is one." What? So then he takes us across the hallway, and rings on the doorbell, and knocks on the door until someone answers. Guess what? We found R. Our less active we've been working on. Actually, we found his girlfriend's house, and he was there. It was a miracle! But really, we've been trying to meet her, but haven't been able to. They were so happy to see us, invited us in, we had a lesson with them, they recognized us finding them as a miracle, and she gave us hats she made. She wants to meet with us, and we are excited to work with her. It's just going to take a lot of work. But we are so excited, because helping her not only benefits her, it will greatly help R as well. And then we ran home (at least from the bus stop).

And then came Thursday, the coldest day of the year. I heard in New York it was so cold the missionaries had to stay inside for a couple days. We got a text that said to not stay outside for long periods of time, so try mixing it up with tracting or something. We go hard core. But really, it was so cold that day. We walked out to a less active woman, and when we went the sun was out, so it wasn't too bad. On the way back the sun was starting to go down, the wind was picking up, and I thought I was going to lose my nose, fingers, and feet. It was only a ten minute walk.

My eyelashes also had frost on them again. (Make-up was basically pointless because it froze, melted, and all came off). I just happened to have checked the weather in Lugansk at 4:30pm. The temperature was -8 with a windchill of -31. Sunset was at 4:17pm and I made a note of it to tell Diana in my letter to her. It turns out that was probably right around the time that Diana is talking about.

We weren't really planning on going out again that day, but making calls, etc. Nope. The opportunity presented itself to have a lesson with M and D, who we hadn't seen in a week. So we called the Branch mission leader, he agreed to come with us (bless his soul), and off we went. Four layers of tights, three pairs of socks, snow boots, thermal shirt, two sweaters, coat, hat, scarf, gloves. The trick is to never take your hands out of your pockets, or else your fingers will want to fall off, but keep your Book of Mormon wedged under your arm. The walk from the bus stop to their place felt like walking across the frozen tundra. Turns out, with wind chill and all, it was between -30 and -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Definitely the coldest weather I have ever been in (and hopefully ever will be). But the lesson was great. And then we had to run home again (yes. I ran in -40). Two days later I thought it felt much warmer, and then I saw a temperature reader that said it was about -2 degrees Fahrenheit. Oh.

Thursday night was also transfer call night. And...we're both staying! Everyone thought for sure either Sister Reece or I would leave. My theory is that that was the original plan, but we've had so much success President decided to keep us together. I'm cool with that. Lugansk has so much going for it. It's crazy to think I've been here for a transfer already.

Friday was pretty low key. The only thing of note was we went to English, and the only people who showed up were us missionaries, the Branch Mission Leader, and this man who comes every week, and is basically our best friend (he also speaks better English than me probably).

Saturday night we decided to drop by a less active, C, who lives out of our area but we teach because she is a single girl. We haven't seen her in a month, and she hasn't been answering our calls (not the only person to do so, sadly). We made some no bakes, and surprised her. But really, she looked rather shocked. But she invited us in, and we had a good lesson, and got to talk about some concerns. It was a good thing we just showed up.

And then Sunday. There was so much potential for people at church which meant, unfortunately, much disappointment. A lot of people didn't show. But M and D showed up right in time for second hour, which made me feel a little better. It was the Africa attack Sunday. In English Gospel Doctrine we had five people from Africa, two members and three investigators, and if C had come (yes, sadly, after a lesson, and calling her that morning she still didn't come) that would have made six. They are from Nigeria and Sierra Leon by the way. I think all the investigators are referrals from C.

Sunday after church we had studies, and then it was time to hit the streets. That is the worst. Sunday afternoon you are so tired, and the thought of going out in the cold is especially unwelcoming. But you do it anyway, and your character is built. We made some stop-bys, but nothing really came of them. At least lesson wise. We did stop by a contact from tracting who said we could stop by again, and while they pulled the Pravoslavian (Eastern Orthodox Church) card, they gave us a big box of assorted chocolates. Exciting. And then on the way to stop by a less active I slipped, and while I managed to stay on my feet, I threw my Book of Mormon halfway across the street and the pass-along cards inside went flying everywhere. It was pretty funny. Oh, and the moon! The moon was so beautiful! It looked like a lunar eclipse or something. It was so pretty. We just kind of stared at it for a while. But then we had to keep moving. But seriously, the night sky here is so beautiful. And then we went home and ate our chocolates.

Wow, I feel like that is just a part of what happened. It was a pretty busy week I guess.

I hear this coming week is supposed to be warmer, so that is good. Highs in the 20’s and nothing below zero.
Love you all. Stay safe and warm :)
Sister Tanner