From Russia With Love...

a.k.a. Letters from Sis. Lynes in Russia

Letter #27: From the Mission Field in Russia

Subject: #27
Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 23:00:22 +0600
From: Shirley Lynes <gma@jacklynes.com>
To: jlynes@jacklynes.com

Dear family and friends,
I hope this has been a good week for you. Things are going fine here. The weather is getting progressively colder. This morning the temperature was 0 degrees which is 32 by US standards. Sis. Hall said that it has been -3 for the last 3 mornings at her dom. Their dom is on the corner of two busy streets. Ours is more sheltered. There are 9 story doms on each side of our area, and that shields us from some of the wind. We don't have heat yet. I had been told that the heat would be turned on on the first of October, but then an elder told me it wouldn't be until the middle of October. I will let you know in the next letter if we have to wait that long. So far our dom is comfortable. The hot water pipes in the bathrooms help to take the chill off the dom. (Remember we have a divided bathroom, with the toilet in one tiny room and the rest of the facilities in another small room.) The pipes run on the outside of the walls. That seems to be the way they do it here in Russia. The electrical wires are in the walls, but not the pipes. We went shopping this afternoon and bought me a winter hat (shopka). It is black fox and covers my ears so they won't get frostbite. Wait till you see me! I look very Russian in it!!! I still haven't found a winter coat yet. The one I have is sufficient for now, but not when the temperature gets down to -30 degrees. We have planned to get Rosy opened on Monday and then go shopping again. We don't get a p-day anymore, so we will have to take time when we can. The biggest news this week is that Sis. Jenkins is being transferred. She will be going to Ufa next week, and I have a new companion, a Russian senior sister who knows no English, and of course, I know no Russian to speak of. We are both trying to learn the other's language. Thankfully we both have dictionaries, and so far we have been able to function. Her first name is Galena, but I don't know her last name yet. I just call her Sister Galena. She helped me buy the hat today. She knows what kind of things you need to survive the winter here. She is from Surgut, which is about 26 hours from here by train, due north! She is 68 or 72, depending on who is talking. Pres. Hall told me that she is 72, but one of the elders who had been translating for her in the orientation meetings said she is 68. She looks more like 58! She can keep up with Sis. Jenkins, which is more than I can do! She will be with me for about a month, and then she will go to Perm, and I will get an American from the MTC. Or so I am told. I need someone who can teach English to help at Rosy. Sis. Jenkins will be doing the same thing in Ufa that we are doing here. She will be taking care of the building (making sure it is well taken care of) and teaching English. She will also have a Russian companion. We both want to learn the language, and this is probably the best way to do it. We will see! Oh, one thing I have been told is not to wear metal earrings in the winter. The earrings get so cold they hurt your ears! During the summer, it is light enough that they don't use street lights; they aren't needed. They have turned the lights on on Rosy Luxemburg St., but no where else that we walk. It is already dark when we come home now. I was hoping they would be turning them on, but Sis. Hall said don't hold my breath! There are street lights behind her dom which haven't been on since she has been here, and that's two years! I had thought that they would turn them on like the heat, when they think they are needed. I'm glad I have a flashlight. I need to get a bigger one. I have a penlight right now that I bought before I came out on my mission. Some of the places we walk are quite dark now. But even in the dark we feel quite safe here in Russia. We were talking in class today about the terrorist activity, and they were talking about the possibility of chemical or biological warfare. They said that when they were in school they were taught how to use gas masks and machine guns. That was back during the time of the cold war. They were afraid of what we would do! I'm so glad that that is over. The Russians really are good people. It was the leaders who messed up things. We had district conference last Sunday. Pres. and Sis. Hall spoke, using an elder to interpret into Russian, therefore Sis. Jenkins and Icould understand what they said. It is so seldom that we can understand anything. We even read the sacrament prayers from our scriptures. Pres. Hall gave an excellent talk. He told them things that he wouldn't need to tell people in the states, or at least I hope they wouldn't need to be told not to wear their skirts so short or see-through blouses. He told the men not to wear their pants so tight that they left nothing to the imagination! He told them all not to wear clothes so tight that you could see every wrinkle in your body! These people are new in the church and don't understand some things that we take for granted, like starting meetings on time, and having everything ready before hand. They are doing the best they know, but now they know more! The poor elder who was translating was red in the face having to translate some of the things he said! It was a good conference and well attended. The church is making great strides in Russia. There are baptisms almost every Saturday. Going to the banya (public bath house) is an experience. No, we don't see things we shouldn't. They have private rooms for bathing. I think there is public bathing, but we don't go there! It is the only place in town that there is water enough to immerse someone in. This is a different world over here! I saw an accident, little fender bender at the corner from Rosy. No one was hurt and they didn't even have the police. (There is a big police station on the next street over from Rosy. Now that the leaves have fallen I can see the police station from the window at Rosy.) This letter is going to be sort of short. I had started writing, and had it about half done when my computer blipped out and turned itself off, losing what I had written! I hate when that happens!! So now it is getting late and I need to get to bed. Thanks to those who took time to write to me this week. You have no idea what it means to me to hear from you. I have been trying tothink of something spiritual that I could write. I'm coming up blank. That tells you that I'm tired! So you will escape with no preaching tonight! I love you all very much and pray for you every day. Write when you can. It's important to me!

Love,
Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma, Shirley, Sis. Lynes, sister, friend, cousin, acquaintance, babushka with a shopka! (choose one)