I got bit by a dog

hey yo.

happy p-day. Ukraine is awesome. i love every minute of it i hope it never ends!!!!!!

on to questions: I like Mariupol a lot. I'm enjoying my time here. we don't have enough money, no. our monthly fund is 1200 grivin, which is about enough to buy food and transportation for two weeks. i run out of money every month and use personal funds for groceries. the office asked for more money, and got denied. in Mariupol, we have to buy water, because the sewer lines got mixed with the water ones, so we have to buy water every couple of days. they pay us back for that, but sometimes the office forgets. so sorry if i'm draining your money. it is getting a bit cooler, it stays around 30 degrees, so i'm enjoying it while it lasts. the winter is just around the corner. i haven't gotten very sick since I've been in country, somehow. Me and the comp are getting along well.

We had a fun week. Monday we had family night with sister bigoon, and a couple other members. we had a good discussion, and then played some game, i can't remember. nothing too terribly exciting, but there are some really cool members here.

Tuesday was good, we got to go see the new apartment where the new missionaries are going to live. it is really small, probably the smallest i've seen, but it is nice. and on the first floor, which is very nice. I wouldn't mind living there. after that we had a good lesson with this member family. We had a nice pleasant visit. they gave us some cookies. he started complaining about us never doing service for anybody, so i offered to do service, and we are going to do some this saturday for him. he seemed to appreciate it. we have been trying to get him in line with the whole missionary work thing, because he kind of hinders the work, so i think it was a big step forward. then we had an investigator lesson at the church, it was in english. it was frustrating. they just don't understand the idea of restoration. i have gone through the entire first lesson in detail, as simply but thoroughly as possible, and they just won't understand. we will keep trying. oh! i got bit by a dog that day, too! this random stray. it didn't bite hard enough to break skin, or even my pants, so that was good. but it still bit me. and then ran away barking like crazy. that was interesting.

Wednesday was independence day here! we had a big party at the church to celebrate. a cool patriotic, historical program, some games, a bunch of food. we got an investigator to come a little bit late, so it was good for him. it was a lot of fun, hanging out with members, getting to know them a little bit. that day we also had a lesson with this dude named Alexander, who looks like Lenin. He's got the beard and everything. he is inactive, but still has a strong testimony. he wants to become an active member again. so we will work with him, hopefully help him out. he was a fun, crazy man.

Thursday we didn't do too much. no one could meet at all. that night though, we had a youth night, where we made this yummy salad called vinagret, which has a bunch of nasty ingredients, but ended up way tasty. we had like three investigators there, and everyone had a really good time. well i did, at least. Friday was the same, no one could meet.

Saturday we did service again, making cement for this family. it was fun, that went from 10-2, and then we had sports night from 5-7. an old investigator came to sports night, a cool kid who knows English really well. hopefully we can get him to come to other stuff, and slowly transition him into an investigator. Sunday was minors day, so they told us to stay in our apartment if we didn't have lessons. and our lesson dogged us, so we didn't. we made a delicious cake, though. i am still enjoying it. and we played 2 grueling games of chess, he won the first, and i won the second.

so I'm doing good. i heard about the hurricane, that is good that it wasn't as big as they said. we were imagining new york city being destroyed. but its good that didn't happen. don't worry, I'm happy. i think my emails sound depressed. i just have to write so darn fast, i don't have time to put some personality in 'em. maybe next transfer. anyways, i'll talk to you in a week! thanks for all the letters! love you all!

love, elder Brimley

Dreaming of a Dragon

Hey family and friends! How doest thou? i hope well. I'm doing pretty good. I'm sorry to hear that summer is wrapping up. that's always a depressing time. i miss school. i miss summer too, though. i try my best not to think about America, but it just doesn't work. last night i had this dream, and it was me and the family, and some other random people. and we were waiting for my new mission president to come. and we were all really worried, because he is a DRAGON. so we put outside our house some offerings, food and stuff, i can't really remember. anyways, he eventually comes, and accepted our offerings. when he came inside, he was a human though. and really nice to everyone. cool story, huh?

big news is the baptism this week! it went really well. i can't really claim it as my own, because it is a little girl, who i only met with once, and i didn't really do anything. but I'll count it anyways. lots of members came to support her, it was great. the meeting was really nice, everything just worked out well. I'm so happy for her. and her mom, who was recently an inactive, but since I've been here, she has come every week. they are really happy, and are headed to the temple to be sealed as a family as soon as possible. that was on Friday.

Monday we had a good family night at a members house, and we had 2 investigators there, magically! it was a good time, we had a good gospel discussion, had a bunch of snacks, and then played some good games. our investigators loved it, and, so did i. its weird, my district are all against going to family nights. i explained to them that president fry told us to pick a family night and go to it.

lets see, what else happened... i went on a split with the other elders on Wednesday. after district meeting i went to the other area with elder Taylor. we had a good split, went to this one lady's house on Wednesday night, she was super nice. probably the happiest lady I've met in this country. spoke English pretty well too. probably not going anywhere, but she is a nice lady. elder Taylor bought a sword a little while ago, so we had some watermelon cut by a sword that night. don't worry, I've got a picture I'll send some day. it was pretty legit.

i had a lesson the next day with one of their investigators. he was an interesting man. he is a really big guy, like a bit chubbier, but mostly just an enormous man. but a gentle giant is he. he is so kind. soft and gentle. it was odd, almost. he is a cool guy, really accepting of everything. he was on date for baptism, but he got kind of scared, so they are putting it off for a while. we talked about being diligent, because they have apparently talked about baptism too much for the past month. so we had a nice short spiritual thought, and got to know each other. very good guy.

afterwards we went to the church for a youth night. a bunch of people came, and an old investigator, it was a lot of fun. we made sharma's together, and then ate them. we have a lot of cool youth here.

Friday was the baptism, Saturday we did service, where we made cement for four hours, then came back to an apartment that our landlady had trashed, and left us a note that said, you guys have to clean it up. then we had sports night for 3 hours, which was a huge success. it was legit.

OK my district is all staring me down because they finished their email, so i gotta go. I'm sorry, I'll do better next week at replying!

love you guys! have a great week!

elder Brimley

Broken Finger

ЗДРАСТВУЙТЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕЕ!

Hey, everybody! how are y'all doing? I had a great week. we got dogged a lot. does that make sense? it means a lot of lessons fell through. so that wasn't the great part. it has been extremely hot and humid. that wasn't the great part either. we found a really delicious french bakery with awesome pastries five minutes from our apartment! that made up for all the dropped lessons. me and the comp are doing good, he is a good kid. very focused. the only thing he every wants to talk about is the work, which is a good thing. he's a funny guy. I'd send a picture, but i can't really on this computer, unfortunately. just trust me- he looks like Zac Efron.

so remember when i told you about my finger getting jammed really bad, like a month ago? well after a month, it still hurt, so i figured i should get it checked out. on Tuesday i went to the hospital and got an x-ray. Ukrainian hospitals are sketchy, and it took forever. but eventually i got it taken (it cost 15 grivn, less than 2 dollars, in all). the picture looked normal to me, so i figured i was being a baby, but i gave it to the doctor who took it, glanced at it for a second, and said, "классно! сломался." "cool! its broken." so, I'm doing some crazy Ukrainian treatment now that I'll talk about later. after the hospital we went and had district meeting with the zone leaders, which was cut short because of lessons. i went on a split with elder Winchester, who is a cool kid. we went around and talked to some less actives that he knows (he was born here in mariupol). we also had a park lesson with this couple that speaks English, which went OK. then we all went to mama bigoon's house and had a lesson/ chatted.

the next day the zone leaders just hung out with us, we went and got a famous sharma (like a burrito), the 'super lukes', which is about 3 times the size of a normal sharma, and the best one in the country. delicioso! then we went and showed them the beach. the zone leaders left, and we went to a lesson, which dogged us. then we went to another lesson, which also dogged us. but it was a good day.

so on to that crazy treatment I'm getting: Thursday morning i go back to the hospital, and give them a piece of paper that the doctor gave me, and i couldn't understand at all. this lady tells me that it is free if i live here, but i need to prove that i live here. I'm not yet registered to the area, but she said i can do it, but i need to bring registration soon. they take me into this room, and i was kind of assuming that they were going to break my pinky again, because i don't know what else you can do. i was a bit worried about that, so i ask the nurse, are you going to break my pinky? and she was like, don't worry, don't worry. just relax. i was like, i just don't understand, what are you going to do? and she was like, its going to be WARM. understand? WARM. she thought i was stupid. but it turned out, that was exactly what it was. they put my hand in this weird warm gel stuff for about twenty minutes, and just warmed up my hand. it was nice, i guess. then they take me to another room, and this lady puts a pillow on my lap, then a wet towel, then my hand, and another wet towel, and another pillow. some wires connected to another machine are on both sides of my hand, and she turns on the machine. then she said something i didn't understand, here is the direct translation: do you hear a light warm? i said i didn't understand, and she started yelling, do you HEAR? do you HEAR? слышишь?! and i was just like...yes. so i just sat there for about fifteen minutes, then she said i can leave. i have to do that whole process ten times. the next time i went, when she asked if i can hear a soft warm, i said no, so she turned it up, and i felt some electricity shooting into my hand, and i said yes. so... i don't know if it will do anything, but so far, nothing has changed. its free, so i guess it doesn't matter.

later on Thursday we had a lesson with an investigator and this member was there, and he wasn't very helpful. he interrupted a lot, and went on wild tangents, talked for like an hour straight. that was pretty frustrating. Friday we had a really good lesson though with another investigator, sasha. we talked about the apostasy, and went into it really thoroughly, with the scriptures. it just went really well, i feel like he got it, and this is a point of the message that a lot of people don't get here. he is a cool guy, he is coming to family night tonight, and hopefully he will start coming to church once he makes some friends. that's a good thing about this branch, they are willing to go out of their way and make friends with investigators. there are some very outgoing people here.

Saturday we had SPORTS NIGHT! that was the best thing ever. it was a small beginning, but a lot of people just couldn't come for this one, and said they really want to come to ones later. i think it will get a lot bigger. this one we had about 10 people there, and we played Frisbee. mostly members, but the other set of elders here got an investigator there, and she loved it, made friends with everybody, so it was super effective. we are going to pass out invitations, and try really hard to get lots of less actives, more actives, and investigators there, because it is a great way to get them all together in a low stress environment. it was a lot of fun, and the first time I've played real sports in about 9 months, so it was needed.

at church on Sunday president Campero came. oh yeah, i forgot to mention that i gave a talk. it wasn't too big of a deal, but it was my first here. it is a lot easier to write Russian, so it wasn't too difficult. it was good practice. i talked about missionary work, and how missionaries and members can work together. president Campero gave a legit presentation about the same subject for the second and third hours. all in Russian. he is such a great speaker. He is very inspiring, i love listening to him. great man, all the members love him too. that night we met with this member named Leili, she has breast cancer, but she is a very strong member. a really good testimony. after that we met with our neighbors, who are pretty much just rich nice people who like having us over as guests and chatting. they were cool, it was nice to meet them. they say they have an apartment that is going to be open soon, so we actually might look into moving into it, if it is cheaper.

sorry i don't really have time to answer your questions, my district is all done with their internet time, everyone is waiting on me, so i better go. we are going bowling, should be fun. thanks for all your letters! i promise i read them, even if i don't have time to reply. i love you all! have a great week! talk to you then.

love, Elder Brimley