From Russia With Love...

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

Letter #35: From the Mission Field in Russia

Subject: #35
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 17:40:25 +0500
From: Shirley Lynes <gma@jacklynes.com>
To: jlynes@jacklynes.com

Hello from Siberia!
The people here admit that this is Siberia, but they qualify it with "western" Siberia. I guess no one wants to admit they are in Siberia! It has been cold this week. Sis. Borlena will go out and come back and tell me "it is warm". But there is ice on the inside of her storm window, so I know it can't be too warm. One day it was -15 and the next day it was -5. I'm not sure what that is on the Fahrenheit scale, but I think it is cold on anybody's scale! There has been snow on the ground all week. The wind blew hard all day yesterday, and it snowed last night. So there is new snow on the ground. The Russian word for snow is "snig". That sounds funny to me! How was your Thanksgiving Day? I hope everyone had a good time, with lots to eat! We had dinner with the other missionaries, at one of the other apartments. It is about a mile or a little more from here, so Sis. Borlena and I walked. It was fine going there. The sun was out and the ice was melting. But on the way back, it had gotten dark and cold again, so all that water had turned to ice again. We made it back without falling! I slipped once, but I was holding onto Sis. Borlena's arm and could steady myself before I went down! She knows what a chicken I am about falling, and always insists on me holding her arm. It doesn't look funny, because women in Russia often walk holding onto the other's arm. I don't care if it looks funny or not. Anything is better than going down. We were talking in class about me being afraid of falling and breaking something. They were quick to tell me that they have a very good hospital here! I don't care how good it is, I don't want to go!! I know it will be cold tomorrow when we go to church. The sky is clear, and that means it will be very cold tonight. But after all, I am in Siberia!!! I have been told that sometimes the temperature gets to -40. Any time it is lower than -30 the kids don't have to go to school. For Thanksgiving dinner we had ham baked with pineapple on it.. It's very hard to find turkey here! The ham was smoked, but we couldn't get a big ham. We had to get several small pieces, which worked out just fine. We also had mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, salad, bread, banana bread, and apple pie with ice cream for dessert. It was a nice afternoon. I missed being with all of you, though. I would have loved to be there for the music session! That's always fun! I had my hair cut and permed Wednesday. I was feeling so "old and ugly"! It sure makes a difference in how I look!!!! And how I feel!!!! I have pictures of how I looked before, and when you see them, you will say "old and ugly" too!! Some women can wear long hair, but I'm not one of them. It makes my face look too long and droopy! Sis. Borlena was asking me if I needed anything, meaning from the store, but I told her the only thing I needed was a hair dresser. She went out, and when she came back, she said she had found a hairdresser for me, and I was welcome to come right then! That was so good of her to make arrangements for me! I think I will like the hair-do. The cut looked good before she put the perm in, so it ought to look all right when I do it. I have been afraid to put a perm in for fear of damaging my hair further. But I was at the point of needing to do something, or start staying home!!!! My hair has been falling out and has gotten very thin. That happens to a lot of sisters while they are in Russia. I guess the change is harder on us than we like to believe. My hair looks so much better short!! The apartment is nice and seems larger than the one in Yekat did. My bedroom is almost as big as two of the Yekat bedrooms. The room Sis. Borlena uses for her bedroom is equally as large. With the large foyer, it really makes the apartment seem large. And it has (probably) 12 foot ceilings, which also makes it seem spacious. We were without hot water for about 24 hours this week, but it is back on now. We don't think the radiators are putting out enough heat. They are barely warm to the touch. I thought maybe that was the way they should feel, but the ones in the elders' apartment felt almost hot to the touch. We are going to call the landlady to see if there is something that can be done. Right now, I am sleeping in more clothes than I wear to go outside in Aiken or Charleston! But I'm staying reasonably warm. My bed is comfortable and I'm not having any trouble sleeping! But then, when did I ever have trouble sleeping?! They are having Super Saturday today. But unlike in the states, it isn't running all day long. They aren't starting until 5:30 pm. I don't know if they need me to help with anything. No one has asked me to do anything. No news is good news! Actually, I would do anything they asked me to do, but I still don't speak much Russian so that limits me in how much I can help them. A lot of the younger people are learning English. I haven't given up on learning Russian. I'm just not making much progress in it. And the Russian people think Americans talk fast!!! They don't realize that they talk just as fast, if not faster. It is so hard to understand anything when you don't know where one word stops and another one starts!! I tell them all the time how impressed I am that they are trying to learn English. I know English is hard to learn too. I went to church here last Sunday. It is held in a museum. One of the sisters in the ward translated for me. That was nice to know what was being said. I have been told that they want me to do a little get-to -know-you talk in Sacrament meeting tomorrow, with an interpreter, of course. They asked me about making a real talk with an interpreter, but I'm not comfortable with that yet. I haven't used a translator yet. I don't know---that might give you time to think while what you said is being translated! Until I learn the language enough to be understood, that is the only way I will be able to talk. People are so tolerant with me!! They were all very kind to me last Sunday. There was one thing that was a little unnerving though. There was a lady there who had a little brown and white mouse. At the start of RS, I looked over, and the little mouse was crawling around the front of her neck!! I don't know where it went. It disappeared around the back of her neck, and I didn't see it again! I don't know if she moved it when I wasn't looking, or if it crawled down inside her shirt!!! I wasn't afraid of the mouse. It just was a shock to see it crawling on her! I don't know why a grown woman would bring a mouse to church with her. Surely she has someplace she keeps it at home!!! I guess it takes all kinds!!! At lease she came to church! Now that Thanksgiving is over, I guess you all will be caught up in the Christmas rush. The Russians don't celebrate Christmas the same time as we do. They sort of combine it with New Year's. I'll let you know more about this when I find out more. You remember, they haven't had strong religious ties in 70 plus years. A lot of Russians tell me that Russians don't believe in God. How do people manage to live not believing in God? I think they do believe, they just don't know that they do! I hope things are going well for all of you and that you enjoyed your holiday. It will be a busy time from now to the end of the year. It seems like just yesterday that everyone was worried about the year 2000 coming in! Now here we are two years later! A lot has happened in those 2 years. I wonder what will happen in the next two?! Remember the gospel is true! God and Jesus love you more than I do!!!And that's a lot!!!!! Until next week.

Love,
Mom, Grandma, Great Grandma, Shirley, Sis. Lynes, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, acquaintance, babushka with a new hair-do!! (choose one)