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

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.

February 22, 1997 - Saturday

I'm on splits for the night with Ст. Russell.  He's an OK guy.  He was baptized about 2 years ago and he is already on a mission.  That's pretty cool.  I went and watched "The Nutcracker" at the Kremlin Theatre.  It was pretty cool.  It only cost 7 dollars and back home it would have cost about $93 more.  I kind of had a bad mood earlier today because I had to go on splits and I really didn't want to.  Also I've felt not worthy.  So I had to pray to lift my bad mood.  It worked.  But it took until now. Bye

February 21, 1997 - Friday

Wow next week is March.  About a month more and I will be with a different comp.  Maybe in a different branch.  Who knows.  We are having pork chops tonight.  Mmhmm mmhhmm gooooooooooood!! [I really wrote that many m's h's & o's.]  Ст. Woolverton makes really good pork chops.  I make pretty dang good gravy I might add.  And some pretty tasty mash potatoes.  Well I'll write later.  We have to go talk to the president of the Branch about some stuff.  later dude.

[Post journal chat - I still remember the first time that I had pork chops on my mission.  It was the first time that I saw someone making gravy.  Dang it was goooooood.  It was at a big lunch after church on one Sunday.  I remember Ст. Johnson was the one that showed me how he was making the gravy with some rue.

At this time in my mission I've been mentioning picking up the mail and working with the Branch President.  I think that Ст. Woolverton was the District leader.  I would go to the office to pick up mail when I was with Ст. Barnes as well, but that was just because Ст. Barnes liked to travel.  We used to go across town to do service.  By "across town" I mean all the way across Moscow.

Metro stops were about 3 minutes apart.  Between where our apartment was and service, it was 18 metro stops with two line changes.  So it was easily over an hour of just travel time for us to get to the school where we did our service...which was just an hour long.  Then it was an hour travel back.  So we often would stop by the office to pick up stuff.]

February 19, 1997 - Wednesday

We have a pretty full day even if it was a P-Day.  We went to a Polio factory [I really have know idea what I'm talking about here?? lol] and then went and got our mail at the office.  I got 2 e-mails and 3 letters.  Or maybe just one.  The Family and then one from Doug Sterr.  So that one or two was cool.

February 18, 1997 - Tuesday

Well today I got up at 6:30am by golly.  It wasn't that hard actually.  But if I don't get my companion to get up with me it's harder than heck.  We studied in the missionary guide.  It was kind of weird but pretty OK.  Now we got to shave, shower & stuff some food down us before we slide off to the office. 

Okay its after D[istrict] meeting.  It was pretty cool.  Ст. Woolverton had some good ideas on what we should work on.  The pouch didn't come in but I got some e-mail from home.  My parents just got an e-mail address.  Cool huh?

My friend Allen Balzen is getting married on May 24th, '97.  About 16 days after my birthday.  I want to be home - but I'm not.  Oh well.  I hope that I get some letters from friends and stuff.  I want to hear from Allen & Doug mostly.  And of course Melissa & Michelle.  But they don't seem too much like the constant writing type.

February 17, 1997 - Monday

I'm with Ст. Carter tonight.  We went on splits.  It was cool.  Kind of.  We walked forever around town trying to find some contacts from Salt Lake City.  Then we went over to talk to President ??? of the Central Bank.  It's cool.  We had a D with Virginia and I did pretty good.  night.

February 16, 1997 - Sunday

Well I took about a week off from missionary work.  We just didn't do any proselyting from a week ago last Tuesday through a week & a half.  On last Thursday we did some work.  Had a D and then on Saturday we went to Super Saturday for the younger kids.  It was pretty cool.  I gave a talk, not very good I'm afraid. 

I freaking suck.  So I'm going to start getting up closer to when I'm supposed to.  Then I'll get tired easier and be able to get to sleep at night and I won't watch t.v.  I'm going on splits tomorrow with the APs (Assistants to the President).  Yeah, joy.  So I'll definitely be getting up at 6:30am.  Well I gotta go to bed.  night

February 9, 1997 - Sunday

I was awoken by the phone this morning.  It was Брат Vladimir wanting to know when & where we will meet this morning.  I have no idea who he is.

February 8, 1997 - Saturday

Well ladies & gentlemen it is 3 days from departure for my trainer.  We were with them today and yesterday.  Just a little each day.  Now I'm on a split with Ст. Hughes because I'm going to a play called "The Ideal Husband."  It should be interesting.  This last week since I wrote last we haven't done squat.  P-Day we wrote letters and shopped a little.  Bought a heater so the apartment has been nice & toasty.  Thursday & Friday I don't remember what I did, but it wasn't proselyting.

Last night we went over to Barnes' & then to Larsen & Larson's.  I lost in chess, to Paige & then to Woolverton.  Tuesday night we watched "Money Train."  It was pretty cool. 

Today, Saturday, Reenik Day, I bought 22 cds.  No Doubt, Spin Doctors, R.E.M., too [or two if you're not mixed up about English] really cool alternative discs, the Who, Bon Jovi, Joan Osborne, Cranberries, the list goes on & on.  It's amazing.  The new Hootie Album that I didn't even have back home.  I bought Madonna's Immaculate Collection, I really don't remember the rest. 

I saw this cd I really want called Smash Hits and I asked how much, but the guy that ran that part of the tent wasn't there so he didn't know how much.  That sucks.  That is my favorite.  It has all these cool songs on there like "Turn the Beat Around."  I also saw a greatest hits of her, Gloria Estefan.  But I didn't buy it because it didn't have that on there.  Well we are about to go to the play, so I'll talk to you later, bye.

Okay back from the play.  It was pretty.....weird.  It had some funny parts in it and stuff, but we couldn't follow it because we didn't understand everything.  It was from Britian originally.  You could tell with all of the cop uniforms and stuff.  The stuff would be the British sexual humor like Benny Hill.  We decided to leave at 10pm if the play didn't end because we still had to make some stew and eat.  Well it got close and the finale came.  You could tell that the play was about to end.

The stew took until 11:40pm and now I'm writing in my journal so it can cool down.  The stew is dang good though it's like so chock full of everything.  It's amazing.  We, Hughes helped, made some pretty dang good stuff.

February 4, 1997 - Tuesday

Today we gave two Ds.  The 3rd for new members and the 4th D for investigators.  It went pretty good.  In the D with Virginia [the new member] she seems so much happier.  She understood everything about what were talking [seriously - I wonder how bad my grammar is going to get.  I assume I meant "we were talking about"].  Also Argily's brother Christyon was there.  Ст. Woolverton invited him to hear the discussions.  He seems interested.

Then in our D with Алисия & Жаром [Aliciya - prounounce Aleeseeya, Jarom] we used a plastic model of the Plan of Salvation.  It went well.  I got up early and studied really good today.  You know, like I should everyday.  well night

January 31, 1997 - Friday

Today went pretty good.  We had a Zone Conference this morning [A district is several companionships, and a zone is several districts].  It was on how to have more effective discussions.  At first we were taken aside (all those in there 1 - 3 months in the country), and we had a little meeting on our parts in the discussion and how to effectively study for discussions. 

Then I went on a split with Hughes - we went to the office and I picked up money and then went to the post office to mail my letters.  Then we came home to my apartment.  We met Woolverton & Johnson who changed and we all ate spaghetti and then they left to go to a soccer game.  We [Ст. Hughes & I] were supposed to study - well we both fell asleep and then picked up a pop, and a dan cake [?  no idea what I was talking about] to watch some movie.  I didn't catch what it is called though.  Because Ст. Jurvelein called right as it was starting and I had to go answer the phone as the movie started. 

Now Ст.Woolverton is back and we are watching a different movie called "Ironclads."  Just before they got back Ст. Paige called.  He's a cool guy.  I like him and will miss him & Barnes & Johnson pretty soon.  Barnes goes home on the 12th, and Paige goes home 3 weeks later and Johnson goes out to Nizhny at transfers on the 12th also.  It's a pity.  well night

January 30, 1997 - Thursday

Ст. Parks called this morning wanting to know if Ст. Aldredge [the Ст. that went down to Voronezh when I first got in Moscow] had left a black "Grammar and Illustrations" book.  I said that I'd look for one and if I found one I'd send it down.  I don't think there is one around, but I'll look.  I got up at 9:30am.  That's when he called so I had to.  He's in Nizhny [Novgorod] and he had me call him back because his phone really sucks there for some reason.

[Post journal chat - It was pretty weird to hear from Ст. Parks again.  It was out of nowhere.  I never did find that book in that apartment, but later in my mission I did get my hands on one, and I kept it.

Nizhny Novgorod (Нижный Новгород) means "Lower New City."  One of the first big cities of the Rus was called Novgorod or new city, and this one is lower/further south than the original.  At least it's not called New New City.  Who knows where it would stop then?]

January 29, 1997 - Wednesday

We had a really good D on Tuesday with Alicia & Jarom.  We went and read from the Book of Mormon.  We read 3 Nephi 11.  I'm sure they read it before, but it was good to read it over with them.  They asked questions and we discussed a lot.  Ст. Woolverton said they might be getting a little bored so we wanted to get them excited about the Book of Mormon.  I read pretty good and I got to explain things and asked one question - I think?  That is something that I need to work on.  I need to ask questions more. 

Jarom shows the exact same characteristics that Grandma Johnson showed.  It's hard for him to read, slightly slurred speech, loss of motion skills on one half of his body.  I imagine it's pretty hard for him.  I don't think he works.  That would be pretty scary.  Later I was talking with Ст. Johnson & Ст. Woolverton about the mission splitting and then Ст. Burghardt told us at District Meeting that it is official. 

I need to crack down and study.  I could get a greenie soon and I want to be in charge of myself.  I've been doing good with my problem, none since Sunday.  It's been cool.  Well night.

I think it was what Elder Johnson told me.  It kind of scared and excited me.  I need to be the best I can be.  A darn hard working missionary.