May 12, 1997 - Monday

Новый День у меня [New Day at me - I'm sure I was meaning "It's a new day for me"] 

Well I talked to my mom and dad, Nick and Grandma yesterday night.  Mother's Day had finally rolled around.  It was weird again.  I basically just talked with them.  Not about anything in particular.  Grandma Richardson was up because my cousin Kyle was up in Nampa and she hasn't seen him for a very long while.  She told me to write him.  I told her I just did.  Everything is weird.  I want to go home.  Last night after talking to them Ст. Gammon and I did comp. planning and inventory.  Oh it's still the 12th.  It's Ст. King's birthday - Woohoo. 

Well I found out that I will be in a different Приход [preehod - Branch] next Sunday.  Даже Четверг [even Thursday].  I'll be companions with a Ст. Shwartz.  I went on splits with him a couple of Fridays ago.  He's a pretty cool guy and he's only been out a month more than me.  It's great.  I finally feel like I'll have a chance to grow.  I really want to be a good missionary who works hard, is a great guy and has an awesome CD collection.  Right now I don't know if you can do that, but I'll try for goodness sakes.

Well it's time to go to bed.  I got a picture from Gilbert.  He said "That's what nine months will do to you."  He was dressed up like a pregnant girl.  He's been out 9 months.  Cool huh?

May 6, 1997 - Tuesday

Well tonight was pretty weird.  I'm on splits with Ст. King.  We went to a D in his area and then we went to Planet Hollywood.  [I wonder if dinner at Planet Hollywood was for my B-Day - May 8th - because the next post after this is May 11th??  So this birthday isn't even mentioned.]  It was cool.  There was so many good looking chicks.  Well we came home and watched tv - nothing interesting.

well night

May 4th, Sunday

Man neither Алла or Евгенний [Alla or Yevgenni] came to church today but the meeting was really good.  It was fast and testimony meeting and Сестра Вера [Sister Vera] - "the glue in the bob corner" as Ст. Sefcik likes to say.  Ст. Russel and Pres. Карнеев [Karneyev] bore their testimonies.  It was really good.  So did the "слава тебе" [glory to you] lady.  Then I went off with the young men.  They kept beating each other.  I felt like whacking them also.  Ст. King picked on Влад [Vlad] for a little bit.  That wasn't very cool.

I have a really good idea for an activity from Ст. Gammon.  If everything goes as planned, I will have the young men clean Васили Гарбунов's and  Геннади Тен's [Vasili Garbunov's and Gennadi Ten's] cars for a service project.  In secret, then we will go eat Dunkin' Donuts and hot chocolate.  It should be fun.

[Post journal chat - You know, I don't remember if we actually did anything like this for a service project.  I hope we did - it sounds like fun.  Maybe later in my journal we'll hear about it.  Check out the Location that I saved it on.  When you go close enough, you can see the building we lived in and which end of the building.  Pretty sweet.]

April 28, 1997 - Monday

[Pre-Post Chat - Okay folks let's remember that feelings about people aren't static...they change, and are fluid.  So a pre-apology to Dennis if you're reading this...sorry and I don't feel the same way now.  Plus sometimes if I am talking bad about someone I may or may not hide/alter their names to protect the innocent...yadda, yadda, yadda!]

Oh do I...I don't.  I definitely won't mind next changes.  Unless I go with someone like like H****s or something, then I'm fine.  In comp-inventory Ст. Gammon said something like "If we go in and teach Евгенний & Марина [Yevgenni & Marina] by just reading, we are going to bore them to death."  Well I'm glad he's so f*ing perfect!!  So instead of saying that I just told him maybe we should go over the Ds in the morning and see how you'd teach them. 

He's been putting me on splits with Ст. King a lot.  Who's a good friend from home, but he's not that hard a worker.  When I'm with him I don't work hard either.  We were on splits Saturday night and we flipped on the tube.  It was my idea, I have to admit.  Earlier that Saturday we were on [splits] earlier for the zone blitzing [where all the missionaries in a zone would all to the same area/or a couple of areas and do contacting to help that district].  We went to someones apartment and wasted time until about 11am (from 10am) and then went and walked around for 1 1/2 hrs contacting two people.  So you can see why I would never want him for a comp.  I thought I would, but I don't.

We have Zone Conference coming up.  It should be dang good.  We are eating afterward and then having a night of laughter [Вечер Смеха].  Each district is suppose to have a skit.  I[t] should be dang good.  I've been going over next weeks lesson in the priesthood manual last night.  It takes a while for me to translate it.  It's alright though.  Bye.

February 26, 1997 - Wednesday

Today was P-Day.  I wrote 5 people:  mom, Vernae, Mike, Kat[r]ina [evidently I forgot how to spell my sister's name] & Mary Repp.  She is Ст. King's girlfriend at home.  Then we went up to Охотный Ряд [Ahotni Riyad - I don't remember what it means] and tried to get money out of the bank and we mailed some letters. 

Coming out of the metro we ran into a group of Elders who had just gone to see the Kremlin.  Ст. Starley works in the office and is really good friends with Ст. Woolverton.  He knows of the changes coming up in March.  It seems that Ст. Woolverton will move up to Филиовский Приход [Filiovsky Branch].  I don't know who I'll be with next, but I don't have to move again. 

Then we went to Спортивный Вечер [Sport's Night].  We played volleyball and then a little Амереканский Футбол [American Football].  It's like ultimate Frisbee except with a football.  There was also a Sister there who served a mission in St. Petersburg.  I asked her if she knows Annanich [a missionary who served in Boise from St. Pete's].  She said yes and she is going to get his address for me so I can write him.  That is so cool.  Plus I can get on the Internet at a business here in Russia.  It costs about $3.60 for a half an hour.  It sounds really expensive though.  I don't know if I should do it.

January 2, 1997 - Thursday

BLACK HOLE YEAR BEGINS

Welcome to the Black Hole Year Ст. Herrick.  New Years was better than Christmas.  We went over to Ст. Larsen & Woolverton's and watched movies till about 6[am], went home & slept in our own beds.  Got up at 12, ate some granola and went to bed again until 3[pm].

Then I went on splits with Ст. Regan who was on splits with Johnson.  [Johnson] & Barnes went to Покровский [Pokrovsky] Приход [Prehod - Branch] for something, to the Шмоков's [Shmokov's].  Regan and I went to Сты. King & Jurvelein's for movies - we watched 'Stargate.' While there Сты. Ault and Hughes came over and I went over to Hughes', who is Johnson's real comp, to spend the night.  [And thus the circle is complete]

Today we are waiting for Barnes & Johnson to call so we can get back together.  They aren't answering the phone.  Сты. Moyle & Ashton called each once asking where they were.  I told them 'Barnes' apartment' - they said they called but they weren't there.  So I have no idea where my comp. is or where we will meet back up.  So in the meantime I am writing letters.  I resisted my problem.  I don't want to at all anymore this year.  That is my one New Years goal.  Good night

December 20, 1996 - Friday

Went to another Hockey Game last night.  Elder King and I were out walking around and these two girls started talking with us and asked us to go outside with them.  They were pretty good looking.  I didn't catch what they were saying until after we left.  But it was funny.  I'm still having my problem.  night.

[Post Journal Chat - So the great thing about this Hockey Game was that it was between Canada & Russia.  It was also celebrating 50 years of Russian hockey.  We went down as far as we could get before the game started and yelled things to the Canucks warming up.  Elder Sefcik is from Canada, but his mom is from Utah - so he has dual-citizenship.  There was a couple of other Canadians in the mission over the years, but none were as cool as Sefcik.  His name actually comes from somewhere slavik.  It was Sevchic, and so that's how they spelled it on his namebadge.  Unlike me - where they wouldn't put in two rs in Herrick, Xeppuk.]

November 30, 1996 - Saturday

Let me tell you one weird thing about Russia...Kit Kats are made by Nestle'.  Is that weird or what?  Yesterday my companion was sick, so we went to English [Class] at 8am and got back at like 11-12.

We went to sleep , because we hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and then we didn't do anything all day.  Elder Josh King called up to ask me if I knew that Gilbert had been mugged and I had already known that.  So then I got directions to a Russian Department store where I could buy some good boots.  They are going to cost $90, but I haven't used any of the money that I brang from home.

I just finished reading a chapter out of the Книга Мормона [BOM].  It took me quite a while, I'll tell you.  I need to get an extension cord so I can listen to my CD player.  I have no batteries left.  Oh well.  [Russian power outlets run at 220v, and America uses 110v so just plugging it in would fry the electronics without a converter/extension cord.].