hello from the motherland!!!

Hello family!!

wow, where to even start i don't even know!! needless to say it has been pretty crazy around here and everything has been kinda a blur, but lets see what i can remember to tell ya. ok, so after i talked to you in the airport we got on the plane and went to NY. the jfk airport is HUGE, and we had 30 min. to run and catch our next flight. I was carryin a 40 pound carry on bag that i stuffed all my russian books into, haha, and needless to say by the time we got to our gate i was sweating like a pig and i felt like my arm was gonna fall off. but it was fun. The plane ride to moscow was like the longest in my life! i tried to sleep some, but that didn't work out to well. we got to the airport and meet pres woolley and his wife, and the AP's who actually are leaving home today. but anyways we hoped on a bus that took us to the center of moscow, and pres. let us go see red square. so i have some pictures of red square and the kremlin and things, so when i figure out where my camera cord is a how to email the pictures ill have to send a few of those too you. After that we walked over to a really famous russian orthodox cathedral in moscow. I can't remember what it is called. sorry! but that was very pretty and interesting to see to. We met the mission driver after, and he drove us through some awesome moscow traffic back to the presidents house. Now let me tell you, moscow traffic is the craziest thing you will ever see!! it is awesome! there are like basically no traffic laws i feel like, people just like swerve in and out of the lanes without any caution, and people just run throughout the streets. it kinda crazy. there are no pedestrian laws either. If you walked across a street you really have to watch for you life, people just might run you over. so you got to be good at watching the traffic when you cross the street. but yea, the driving was fun. if you remember the car chasing seen on borne supremacy, that is how everyone drives in russia. great fun!!! so we went to pres. and we had a yummy dinner and interviews and testimony meeting. by that time i was exhausted and the time change just made the world spin, the world spinning is doing a little better now. it still might take me a few days to get used to it all. Me and sis. kelly stayed at the pres. home for the night, and then wed. morning we all met at a church building in moscow for training. After that, some of the missionaries headed to their cities, but our night bus didn't leave until 7 so sis. corbett and I and some other missionaries went to some museum in moscow that pres. said we could go to. The art was very pretty, and i enjoyed it. So since we took time out of yesterday to see some culture, we have to get started on missionary work a little sooner today. um..so we got on our bus and it was like crazy!! it totally reminded me of dallin and angela, and harry potter, and how they probably would have loved to be there. We talked with the elders that were coming down with us, and then we headed to our cabin and tried to get some sleep. it was crazy and sleep was a little more difficult, but thats ok!! the country scenes were beautiful though! and it was fun trying to get to sleep to the rolling sound of the train. so this morning the train stopped here in Voronezh, and we got off and caught a taxi. I hope that the luggage that i brought over here holds up the whole time, cause after lugging it down streets and through metros and train stations, it has had a hard day!! today after we got of the train i had a fun time carrying my luggage up and down stairs of the train station as thousands of people rush in and out and run all over you. its kinda funny. people just stair at you like your crazy, and if you are in their way they have no problem just pushing you right out of the way. its funny though. so we shoved all the luggage into this little taxi, and then our taxi driver was kinda crazy. first off, i couldn't really understand what he was saying, i can't understand what anyone is sayin, but that is another topic. but i could basically pick up the jist of what he was sayin, and he was just talking about and showing us his stab wounds from being a taxi driver, and then he showed us his gun that he always keeps on him. he brought us to our apt. complex. Everything from the outside here looks pretty ghetto, but the inside of the apt. is actually pretty nice. It's weird that im not shocked or freaked out about any of this. maybe it will catch up to me someday. but ya everything here is just so so different. it really is a whole new world!! so i just try to go with the flow and laugh at all the funny crazy things that happen. oh so yea they turned off our hot water for a few days. I guess the government just does that and you don't even know when. You usually will have at least some water, but they either turn off the hot or cold water at one time. it just depends. So i haven't showered yet today, but i guess i just have to heat up some water on the stove and shower with that. FUN!! i am excited to get used to all of this different stuff. Lets see oh man what else to say!

grandma i just got your email, and yes i totally know elder larsen!!! there was one in my district and actually another one in the district next door in the mtc. so i don't know which one it was, but i knew them both!! I think it might be the one that is headed to st. petersburg. that is said that they are stuck in vienna!! and noelle, yes i got your email and i am excited that the movie you saw was fun!

So yea, this week and been eventful and fun and hopefully today i can get all unpacked and somewhat settled into the apt. This morning we actually ate breakfast at the couple missionaries apt that live just right below us. Pres. tries to put a couple missionary in all the cities to help keep tract of his missionaries since the mission is so big and the cities are so far apart!! we are about 11 hours south of the mission home right now. So we ate breakfast with the Lowry's, and there are 4 other elders in this city. and then me and sis. corbett. I like her a lot and she is just great. Today i also get my first experience shopping at a russian store, and tonight im sure we will get to work on tracting and teaching and whatever we do!!! I just need to learn some russian and fast!! i don't know anything. but i can bear my testimony, so hopefully that is good enough for now. My companion actually leaves on monday to kazakhstan because she is getting her visa renewed. She is from canada and she will have to be their for about a week. So i think i take a bus ride to the city of lipitsks and stay with two native sister missionaries there and just help them. So that should be fun and a whole other experience. Everything here gets pretty crazy with having to travel around so far and so much for visas and things, so that will be fun tryin to figure that out every 3 months. ha.

Ok, welp i really don't know what else to say!! At this moment i can't think of anything. But i am glad everyone sounds like they are doing just great! I love you all very much! And don't worry about me, im doing good and just tryin to get used to everything one step at a time. it was great to talk to you and hear your loverly voices on monday. take care everyone! i love you!!! until next week!

Love,
Sister Brown