Barrett's email, August 3rd - Happy Birthday tomorrow Barrett!

I asked him to tell us about his companion, his apartment, what he eats, what his day is like, etc. So that it what he spent time telling us about. Also, I got an email back from the former mission president who was also in Bear's MTC Branch Presidency who said some very complimentary things about Bear and him being a trainer at his first transfer. I am sure Barrett is nervous but will ask Heavenly Father for lots of help :)


Holy Cow!! I don't even know where to begin. I haven't received the package yet, but I look forward to it! And don't worry about the things that didn't make it in, they're not urgent at all. I'm sorry no pictures again this week. I got it mostly figured out, but the computer that I am using isn't registering the usb. I don't know. But don't worry, I have a lot of pictures. I've been snapping away like crazy. I will need to buy another memory card before this mission is done. I've been told that an external harddrive is also a good investment. I'll do some research and let you know first.Thank you so much for the picture of the roses! oh I love it. Well, tomorrow is going to be a big day. Tomorrow is the end of my first transfer!! Holy cow! Can you believe it? It's also my birthday. And you know what they got me? A new companion. His name is Elder R. And he's fresh from the MTC. In fact I remember him. Haha. Oh it's gonna be great. I have one day to learn Russian and know the area, but it's gonna be great. Haha. Things are crazy here in Russia. I love it. My current companion's name is Elder Z. He is from  Arizona. He was and will be in the military, but he is a goof. Haha. He's great. Our apartment is on the 11th story of a gigantic soviet-era apartment building. Oh they're everywhere: big, dirty buildings with about a million apartments just big enough for someone to survive in. Ours is actually rather large. Bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Well actually there's a toilet room and a sink room. They do that here for whatever reason. It's all very dirty. The building turns off the hot water for days at a time. My very first shower in Russia was ice cold. I'm mean ice cold. like get-a-headache-if-you-stand-under-the-water-too-long cold. I love it. In fact even when the hot water is on, I often will take a cold shower, just to stay used to it. Haha.My diet consists mainly of meat (it comes in a log, kind of like salami, but not as spicy), cheese, bread, pickles, and мюслию. Oh I love мюсли! In Russia milk and juice come in boxes, mayonaise and ketchup come in bags, and eggs come in packs of 10 (a 'russian dozen', haha). Every day we ride the metro. It takes 15 minutes to walk to the station from our house. The escalator down to it takes 2and a half minutes. That's a long time on an escalator. Take a stop watch on the next escalator you go on and see if it even last one minute. Then we ride the metro to where ever we need to go. For example, the biggest mcdonalds in the world takes 10 minutes on the metro, to get to Red Square takes about 15, and the Central Building, where we have Church, takes probably 20. I spend a lot of time on the metro. If there's no one in the mood to talk with an american who is learning the language, I read the Book of Mormon. I want to see how long it takes to read the whole thing only in the metro and on escalators. Haha I know that I am doing the Lord's work and I know that miracles are real. Last night I decided I want to take Elder Roberts to a meeting on our first night. Today, a man saw our tags and asked us to meet with him, and thursday night is perfect. That never happens. But it did. I love it
The gospel is true
I love you all
Have a great week
Love Elder H