March 29, 1997 - Saturday

Well ladies & gentlemen of the journal...Hi there.  I'm back and ready to tell all for a measly few hundred bucks or your undivided attention from here...to the end of the page.  Please, please, pretty please. 

Today I was pretty hectic and I didn't even do anything again.  I feel like I ran around with my head cut off.  I went on splits with Ст. Blackwelder to service and then to a meeting with Ст. Gammon.  It was with Pres. Карнеев.  [Karneyev - He was the District President - which in a mission with no stakes is equal to a Stake President]

[Mini Russia Moscow Mission Lesson - Remember that district means two different things. 

1. A group of missionaries & the area that those missionaries work in.  In the Russia Moscow mission that was usually 6 - 10 missionaries.  Each missionary district (at least in Moscow itself) corosponded to a branch.  So right now Ст. Gammon & I  were in the Yuzhnosokolnichesky district & serving in the Yuzhnosokolnichesky branch. 
2. All of Moscow (and maybe the whole mission) was one District.  In Idaho there are so many Stakes that I cross 3 of them just on my 10 minute drive to work.  But I could travel for an hour on the metro and still be in our Mission/District.  Think of the Moscow Mission & Moscow District as different jurisdictions like FBI & State Police.  They might cover the same areas, but report and are organized under different parts of the same institution.]

At service we told a little bit about ourselves and then they asked questions about America and we talked.  Time flew, because before I knew it was almost 3pm and we had to get out of there.  We got back in time for me to go with Ст. Gammon to the meeting [with Pres. Karneyev]. 

I was just thinking.  Like a football team.  We are all on the team & the Lord is up [in a] box on top of the stadium where he can see the whole picture.  He talks to the couch who is the prophet, he also talks directly to the quarterback who is Pres. Jarvis and if we do what he says we will score many touchdowns.  Amen!

March 28, 1997 - Friday

I had a full day yesterday.  I went on two splits.  First I went on a split with Ст. Sefcik, we went out to the обж. and were going to give Малу [Malout] the 3rd, but no one was going to let us in.  Then one of the bosses let us in and we went up to Арман & Вержиния's [Arman & Virginia's] apartment but they weren't there.  No one.  I knew Вержиния wouldn't be there because she was at the office having an interview with Pres. Jarvis.

So I heard noise next door and I knocked (at Алисия's) [Alicia & Jarom's] and Steven answered and got Арман.  He forgot we had a D with Малу and maybe even forgot to tell him.  But he went and got Малу and we read Alma 32 with him because Арман had to babysit the kids in the other apartment and he couldn't be there to translate so it was basically worthless.  Oh well.

Then we met at Park Culturiy and dropped Sefcik off and picked up Ст. Josh King.  We went to English Class because no one else was going to be able to make it.  After that we waited forever at Парк Културый [Park Culturiy] for Сты. Gammon & Morris.  It was 9:30pm almost when they finally came.  We got home, ate some cheese & ham sandwiches and went to bed.  Ст. Gammon slept in today because he feels like crap.  He caught my cold.  Yesterday I just felt like crap.  I felt like all day I didn't do anything at all of worth.  I felt like I didn't be myself at English and I didn't help anybody etc.  Oh well. 

OK its now 9:30pm at night.  We just had a D with a member who moved from Южнозамоскворецкий Приход [Yuzhnozamoskvaretzky Branch].  She is now, I would dare say a JW [Jehovah's Witness].  I think she planned to have a JW there with us but I guess the JW couldn't make it, which is alright with me.  At one point I thought my companion was going to get mad at her.  She was nice enough at first, but then she started spouting the same stuff the JWs spout - according to Ст. Gammon.  I don't know because I haven't listened to them here [in Russia].  It just makes me glad I have a testimony and I know what is true.  well night.

March 24, 1997 - Monday

I just said something funny.  I was reading my Russian plaque from my sister & it says "They that trust in the Lord shall mount up on wings of eagles and run & not faint."  Well I said [out loud to Ст. Gammon] "they that mount up on ings of weagles."  Then Ст. Gammon said "I wanna wide the weagle!!"  We [were] both busting out laughing and I almost peed my pants!  Yesterday we spent most of the whole day working.  That is the first Sunday I've done that.  Right now I am writing a lesson for a discussion with Eric.  I made my first phone calls today.  I called my home teachee and my home teaching companion.  They both told me to call them back.  It was cool.  Well cool when I finally got it done.

We had service today and we always have this old lady that is almost deaf.  She is so funny, and cute.  It's cool!  I can't help but love all old people.  We are going to have a butt load of work this next week.  The exciting things are that Eric and Arealy are getting ready to get baptized, they have moved into an apartment with two separate beds so they can live the law of chastity.  That is so awesome.  Well night.  My cold is almost over.  It feels better today but isn't quite over.

March 22, 1997 - Saturday

Today we went to Конкого and played Frisbee.  It was pretty cool but очень холодно [very cold].  Then we came back and warmed up, ate some stuff and then we had a D at 6pm with Марина Азуппе [Marina Azupe].  We got home from that at 8:30pm and we had a little snack.  We are going to go to bed early because we have to get up early for church and I don't want to be tired.  Well, night. 

Oh Yeah.  Ст. Gammon is a dang funny guy.  night

March 21, 1997 - Friday

[Pre Journal Post - Transfers were the the 18th and Ст. Gammon is my new companion.]

Tonight was pretty good, we went tracking [tracting].  It wasn't so bad.  First we met this pretty nice lady who said we were cute/nice to look at.  Actually two different babushki said that.  We also talked to 2 guys (Casha & Andrei).  We gave them all a preglisheniya and a Joseph Smith pamphlet. 

But the real excitement was the first door that opened for me.  A dog scares me first of all, and then this guy yelled at us in English and stuff.  He told us to go away and something about he knows us Mormons.  Then we went on to a further door he came out again.  He told us he would call the police.  It was pretty exciting because his eyes were so wide.  He said "your behavior is very strange."  He was the one that was strange, let me tell you.  Well time to get to bed.

March 17, 1997 - Monday

Ст. Larson just gave me the bird.  (That is so my grandchildren will know about me...whatever).  

Today we helped Larsen more to his new apartment on Prospekt Mira [Let's start with Mir - it's the name of the space station and it means both peace and the world.  The a means of peace or of the world.  Prospekt is street.  So it's the street of peace, or the street of the world.] and then took some of Ст. Larson's parent's bags to the same apartment for storage until Friday.  Then we had lunch on Ст. Larson and came home, Ст. Larsen is & was with us.

Then we went over to Алисия & Жаром's [Alicia & Jarom's].  All of the investigators were there except Virginia & Eric.  It was pretty good, but we weren't expecting food so at first we were kind of disappointed, but it went pretty well.

Okay right here I'm going to rag on Ст. Larsen.  Today is not my favorite day.  Never mind.  He's just not the kind of guy that has any tact.  Okay that's as much as I'm going to rag on him.

I also received a letter from Sister Brown who lives in Greece.  She is serving a mission there.  She's pretty good looking and I wasn't sure if I would get a letter back from her or not.  That is pretty dang cool, so I was pretty excited.  We have Ст. Larsen & Howes, an elder who is going home in 3 days.  We played poker and Ст. Howes won all.  That sucks for me.  But oh well.  night

[Missionary Weekly Planner - up above I mentioned all the investigators from Alicia & Jarom's apartment building were over there except for a couple.  So I looked up the weekly blue planner to see who all we had written down, on the backside.  So for March 16 - Mar 22 we have...

These were all Africans from Zaire/Congo that lived in the dorm-like building.  Except Pierre - he was married to Tatyana
Алисия и Жаром -  Alicia & Jarom
Эрик - Eric
Арели - Areily
Пьер - Pierre
Малу - Malout

Virginia is one of the Africans but she had just been baptized, so we would have the new member discussions.
Вержения - Virginia

These were contacts that we would try to set up discussions with.
Алла - Alla
Валери - Valeri

These were less active members that we went and worked with.
Владим Басова - Vladim Basov
Давид Волов - David Volov
Юлия и Татьяна Волкова - Yulia & Tatyana Bolkova


I don't remember who this was, just on the list but not with anything written
Юри - Yuri

March 16, 1997 - Sunday

Today was church and we had institute after church.  night

[Post journal chat - Not much for today's post is there?  Evidently nothing really important happened.  So let's recap where I'm at on my mission.  I've been in Russia 4 months and a couple of days (6 months on the mission).  Ст. Woolverton is my 2nd companion in the field (4th overall).  I'm serving in my 2nd apartment, and I'm still serving in my 1st branch. 

Up until now I haven't been too active in the mission field - partly because of that my Russian hasn't progressed very far either.  Well that will soon change - within a week or so are the next transfers and I'm going to get a new companion, Ст. Dennis Gammon from Vineyard, UT.  It's pretty close to the Provo area (I think).

I don't like change either now or then, so I'm not really excited to start working hard.  Well - we'll see how it goes.]

March 15, 1997 - Saturday IDES of March

Well I made it through Friday night before I had my problem.  I just couldn't sleep last night.  It's weird - today I feel okay.  It's like Satan leaves me alone because I gave in last night.

Today we went to Измайловский Парк [Izmailovsky Park] and I bought this studly looking egg for either Gib, Mike or Dad.  It is a scene of the hunt.  It's really cool looking.  Then we came home and I made some fried rice which turned out to be pretty good.  I'm pretty tired though.  I'll try to get to sleep early, night.


Hand Painted Egg from Izmailovsky Park - Moscow



March 13, 1997 - Thursday

Tonight sucks for some reason.  Today I almost had my problem, but I held off at the last minute.  We went over and had a D with Малу [Malout], that was good.  Eric cancelled on us and so we came home and ate, then left to mail some stuff at the почта [pochta - post office]. 

[mid journal chat - Eric is another of the Africans that we are teaching the discussions to.  He spoke English, french and an african dialect...swahili maybe?  Virginia, Eric or another friend would help us with Malout, because he didn't speak English, or Russian very well - only the african dialect and french.]

Then we headed an hour early to English Class so we could practice a song that we are going to sing in church Sunday.  I hate singing.  I F(^^&%ing suck.  That's probably why I'm in a bad mood.  That and it was in Russian - I'm self concious about Russian and singing and Ст. Woolverton was teasing me a little.

Then I went into English Class and talked to Sharieef for an hour.  It's hard to talk to him because he is learning a lot and his life is pretty bleak right now.  No job etc.  Then Dennis said some comment that Elder Burghardt made about me being pathalogical.  And my converter [between 110 volt/America - and 220 volt/Russia] is not working.  I lent it to Ст. Larsen and now it doesn't work.  Freak am I in need of some serious prayer.  Okay, I just read an article in the Ensign - a balm to my troubled soul.  night

March 10, 1997 - Monday

Today we didn't do anything until about 3pm.  Then we went and dropped off some mail, bout Zuko for Семеный Вечер [Family Home Evening], and then went to FHE.  It was excellent.  We had a lesson by Ст. Blackwelder and then we went and ate some stuff.  We had a lot of белины and Zuko.  We had about 42 there and compared to last time that is about 4 or 5 times as much.  Last time it was the missionaries and 3 members.  This time it was очен [much] better.  Night

[post journal entry chat - I just love it that I'm a little confused about both English and Russian at this time in my mission.  Not close to being fluent in either.  I hi-lighted and bolded in blue the words that I misspelled in my journal.  I assume that I meant "bought" some Zuko.  I don't think I was talking "'bout" some Zuko.  The other two words in Russian are a little bit more understandable.  Блины are the Russian equivalent of crepes.  Usually they are a little bit more greasy, but they are so goooooooooooo!  Очень has the little ь - called a (soft sign).  The miyaki znahk, believe it or not, softens the ending of the word.  Both mistakes are probably pretty common.  The one that bugs me the most is the "bout."  The rewiring of my brain for Russian is causing some short circuits in my English.]

March 9, 1997 - Sunday

Today went pretty good.  We had regular church service and then we came home for a nap and  [to] eat some pizza.  Then we left for a[n] all Moscow conference that was at a movie theatre we had rented.  Well we got there and it turned out that someone else was using it.  Another church group uses it every Sunday in the morning.  Well a kindergarten class had some прaзник [holiday] and the church group's first time was taken.  So they either decided to just steal our time, or the director goofed or decided to screw us or something.  Anyways we couldn't meet there.

So everybody went up to Водный Стадион [Water Stadium - it's where we met for large group meetings - like the Mission Conference I had the first day in Russia].  Ст. Woolverton and I stayed for a little with Сты. Whiting, Sefcik & Russel.  Ст. Woolverton and I went back home to get some tickets which were our proof that we had rented the "театр."  We got back and Whiting, Russel & Sefcik were still there.  So Сты. Russel & Sefcik went to a D and we all went and listened to it [meaning the other church's meeting]. 

[The other church's meeting] was a lot like the rest of the non-denominational [churches] that I had been to.  Except for some weird stuff.  They stood together and put their arms around each other and started swaying back and forth as they sang.  That's not even half of it though.  They blessed and passed the sacrament.  A woman said the prayer [for] the bread (dried blini [like crepes]) and a guy blessed the win (real).  Then about 12 girls & 2 guys passed it to the audience at the same time.  A member lady came in and though it was our sacrament and so she took it.  She saw us sitting there and thought it was ours.  I feel bad for her, nothing is going to happen to her or anything, but I'm sure she feels bad.

Then we went over to Ст. Whiting's to wait for his companion.  Ст. Whiting is a funny guy.  I like him.  He's a cool guy and really funny.  He doesn't judge either.  He knows what's right and wrong and is a pretty righteous missionary without being hypocritical.  It's really cool.  well night.

Oh yeah - I peed out the window tonight.  It's pretty cool from the 9th floor.  night

March 8, 1997 - Saturday

Well yesterday and today (Fri. and Saturday) we kind of took a vacation.  We got back from service yesterday and I made granola and then we took a nap.  I made corn chowder which I am eating right now and then it took me a while to get to sleep.  Ст. Woolverton is pretty sick so it was also because of that.  Today we got up at about 10am and ate and went to the CD reenik.  I now have 45 [CDs].  3 more and my case is filled up.  I'll list them...[actually I won't because that's kind of boring].  About half of them were the "Very Best of" cool huh. 



CD Reenik - photo taken at the end of my mission.

 This morning I also jogged in place for about 10 minutes.  Meryl Huff came with us.  She's only 16, but cool.  Right now I'm listening to my "The Best Rap Album Ever:  volume 2"  It's pretty good.  My Blur CD is okay.  I like the Rap albums better.  They have so much cool stuff on them. 

I've had terrible gas for the last couple of days.  I'm wondering if it is because of the granola.  Man it is so good.  It tastes so good in milk.  I don't think that I get enough fruit in my diet.  Well I'm going to close now.  night.

March 7, 1997 - Friday

Yesterday we went over to the обж. [dorm/apt building] and had a D with Малу [Malout - french so the t is silent].  He understood a lot but he was there alone, so we talked using easy words and looked up a lot in an English-French dictionary that they had there.  Right as it was time to leave is when Armahn & then Virginia showed up. 

We left at 5:45 about and made it over to Konkova by 6:50pm [probably English class].  We stayed until about 8 and then went home.  There was a new girl there, well a couple.  Людмила [Ludmilla] has come a couple of times.  She brought a friend named Ира [Ira - short for Irina].  Ира is who I talked to.  She is pretty cute.  18 and dangerous.  If you know what I mean.  She wanted to hear about America and my town.  She's from Georgia [the country to the south of Russia] and now lives in Rezyan because there is a war in Georgia.  She doesn't like the air here in town. 

Людмила always walks us to the bustop because she lives right next to it.  Ира went with us on the bus and on the metro.  We got off at ours, but she went up to Уневерситет [University Metro stop] to meet her mom.

March 6, 1997 - Thursday

Today I got up at 7:20am and jogged in place for 16 minutes.  It helped.  Got me warmed up so I wasn't cold and expended some energy.  Pres. was right.  I even put my hands above my head like he said:  the international sign for victory.

We are having lunch with our собран[ие] округа [District Meeting - sobraniye okrooga] today.  An AP will be here today also.  I wonder which one.  Yesterday night we went over to Larsen & Larson's and had some cookies.  I played Ст. Larsen in chess twice and lost twice.  I am pissed at him.  Not really because I lost.  Well...not ALL because I lost, but because he is such a poor sport when he wins.  He's just a dick.  He thinks he is God's greatest gift to the earth and it gets boring.  He is really generous though.  He gave us some root beers etc. from Mick's and he is always nice.  It just last night it built to a head.  oh well.

March 4, 1997 - Tuesday

It's actually 1:10am on the 5th, but it's still Tuesday night.  Today was Ст. Paige's last full day in the country.  He leaves tomorrow - the big freak.  What a lucky punk.  I hurt my leg again today.  I jumped an ice patch and went down.  I laid there for a while, but had to leave because of everyone else kept walking.

I nabbed a lot of tapes and a CD from Ст. Paige.  Also today in the Announcements was the President [Jarvis] saying that we shouldn't listen to screw music.  And also if we bought any CDs at about $3 - $4, then it is probably pirated and we shouldn't get it.  I haven't decided what to do yet.  He didn't say not to buy any etc. but he encouraged us not to.

[Mid Post Chat- Can you believe the rationalizing going on here??  You can definitely tell that I'm in with a pretty trunky crowd still.]

I got a letter from Ст. Kindred in Rostov and he said that he was very busy and had a huge area.  I also received my deodorant and a letter & pen from Gib.  It's a pretty cool pen - it says "Elder Walter Dale Herrick Russia Moscow Mission" engraved on it.  I also received another letter from Gib and he told me he was beat up about 2 weeks ago.  Then just recently sprained his ankle and had to say in bed for 2 days.  He seems pretty fired up about everything and thinks he will be a senior [companion] pretty soon.  He has the language down and everything.  He asked me if I was fluent yet.  Hah!! 

Then I got a letter from mom that says everything I heard in a fax I got two weeks ago.  Kind of silly.  I also got my deodorant though.  I bought some here but it is only deodorant and it wears off pretty fast.  She sent me some deodorant/anti-perspirant - musk scented.

Well I have three more lines to go until I can sleep [until the end of the page in my journal], and I am going to write a run-on sentence, until I end, bye.

March 2, 1997 - Sunday

Well today is also weird - well not weird - just a little slow.  We had church, came home and ate some more borscht [борщ] that Ст. Woolverton made.  Its really good.  We also had some melted cheese sandwiches.  Then we planned for a half an hour or so and Ст. Larsen called.  So we went up there and he [Larsen] cut our hair.  On the sides mine is pretty short. 

While I was there I was talking to Ст. Larson, notice the o, about surfing.  I asked him if he knew any professional surfers.  He said who and I asked him about Joel Fisher.  He served a mission in Boise, Idaho and was in our ward for a while.  I told him a couple of stories about him and he said he used to be in his ward and they surfed at the same places. 

Now we are back at the house chilling.  And I'm watching "the Rain Man."  I'll have to go now to watch it.

[Post journal chat - Larsen & Larson had been companions the same amount of time that Woolverton & I had been.  Larsen was from UT (I think) and he was companions with Woolverton when Ст. Barnes & I tracted them out on my first full day in Russia.  Larson was from Cali and had been companions with Ст. Paige while I was with my trainer.

When Larsen was cutting my hair he would get to the cowlick at the back of my head and it wouldn't be to his liking so he would cut it shorter.  Then he would have to cut the rest of the sides to be the same shortness.  Then he would go back to the cowlick and cut it shorter again.  He did this a couple of times and I wanted to stop him after the first time.  That's why I mentioned in my journal that "On the sides mine is pretty short." 

This was back before missionaries had to have a discernible part in their hair - so it was dang, dang, short!!  The only other time that I had a really short hair cut was when I had about 2 1/2 months left in my mission, and I buzzed it.  3 weeks after that I had my interview with the President and he said I had a nice short haircut.  I said thanks, and told him that I got it cut 3 weeks ago.  Yeah...he didn't like it that much.

Now let's talk about borscht [борщ].  This was probably one of my earliest times eating it, most probably my first time helping make it.  All through my mission I loved to make and eat it.  In Russian борщ is just so much shorter than in English...here is why.  бор is bor.  A ш has the sh sound, but notice that борщ has a щ.  Its a ш with a tail.  The tail gives it a little shch in stead of the sh sound.]

March 1, 1997 - Saturday

A new month has dawn[ed].  At interviews with [Pres] Jarvis it went good.  He said that my last few letters sounded a little down about my problem.  He said not to worry about it.  That I was a great missionary and that I just needed to improve, not to be perfect.  He also added a little bit of psychology into the interview.  He said that if I got up every morning and exercise. I would have more energy overall and I would wake up and I would expend energy and be tireder [is that a word?] at night.

Then here's the psychological part.  He said to put my hands above my head, maybe do some hand touches while jogging.  Raising your hands above your head does something for you he said.  Raising your hands is the international symbol of a winner.

I also took the #7 lesson test and passed it [I do not even remotely remember any tests.  I assume that I had already taken the #1 - #6 tests, but no mention is made about them before this.  I wonder what it was]

Friday we went over to Перь's [Pierre's].  He was pretty sick and we asked him if we could give him a blessing.  So Ст. Woolverton sealed my anointing.  He blessed him health but also help with his many problems.  Then we left because the spirit told  Ст. W. that he [Pierre]  was too sick even to listen. 

well later