It is my last few days in Perm! Time flies fast out
here and I really don't want to leave such an awesome city, but I will be going
to the big city Екатэрнбург! (Yekaterinburg), which is crazy because this past
week I was on a train back to Perm to Yekaterinburg from our crazy Visa trip, but it was super fun and I got tons of cool
experiences and pictures out of it.
So last Monday was awesome as we had a FHE with a part
member family and had some pretty authentic food and tons of it. We had
potatoes in a sauce and carrots with tender chicken and of course lather that
baby up with some sour cream! (You will not become a part of the local people
if you don't like fat in, on or around the food as a nice side dish.) We talked
about skiing and ice-skating, which I got to go ice-skating at an outdoor rink
with the other missionaries and some members. It was totally fun!! I actually only
fell three times and most of the time I was skating. Only my second time!
Tuesday morning we left on the train to
Yekaterinburg for our final training for the trainers and the new missionaries.
It was really good and President and Sister R taught exactly what I needed
to hear! It was on how we can become good effective teachers and how these
skills we learn here on the mission will help us build relationships with those
around us better, and how we can apply the skills in any field of work. I love
the acronym (KISS) K=Keep I=It S=Simple S=Stupid. Sister R said that
President needed to change the last 'S' to "Short," so he did. But I
like the first one! Ha-ha Then another is (CASH) C=Compliment A=Ask a question
S=Smile H=Help. It was super good training and the free food from Sister R was really good too!
Later that night we all stayed at the Assistant's
place to wake up for our visa trip at 4am in the morning! Nikolai came and
picked us all up in the mission van and took us to the Yekaterinburg airport to
start the journey to Finland and this time we had 14 of us traveling on
one trip. Elder P and I got grouped with the group that we got called to
train, so it was cool getting to know everyone. We landed in Moscow and met all
the other missionaries who were going with us and realized that we had just
over six hours until our next flight left for Helsinki. So what would you do in
this situation?! GO TO RED SQUARE of course! Ha-ha We hopped on the train from
the airport downtown to the 8th wonder in the world, the metro system in
Moscow. Yeah this place was really huge and it felt like I was Neo from
the Matrix with the mass amount of levels of subway cars zooming this way and
that way. We found the exit and walked up onto the streets and I was
automatically stunned by the sight I saw. It was really beautiful and clean and
really tall Christmas trees, statues, sweet buildings, and the Kremlin. We then
began our way to the Kremlin to see Lenin's body, which was guarded like a
bank! We decided not to look however because they required that we take off our
backpacks and stuff and place them in the cashier office and pay, so maybe next
time. It was super cool and we saw them light the everlasting flame too! By the
way I saw a movie poster for Mission Impossible Protocol Phantom (Ghost)
so when you all go see the movie you can think to yourself, "Elder
Kyle LeFevre was there!"
We made our way back to the airport and then hit up
the TGI Fridays in the airport to have a good American BBQ cheeseburger!
MMMMmmm so good! According to the flight schedule we were not going to be
able to make the session in the Helsinki temple, but were going to do
baptisms instead until we encountered a problem with the passports in the
temple. We entered into the temple to receive our second passport, but
only three people had passports waiting for them, while eleven others did not.
Those lucky three were Elder Y, Elder P, and myself. I called up
Elder B to discuss the situation and they devised that we were going to
stay there until Saturday. This was Wednesday night. So we got to do an English
session and walk through the temple until the Temple Pres. came up to us and
told me that those who have passports will be leaving that night on a flight
through St. Petersburg to Yekaterinburg. We got to the airport and awaited instructions from
the travel secretary for our ticket information to see if we even got the
tickets to leave in the first place. We waited until 7:30 and I got a call to
GET ON THAT FLIGHT! We ran and got our tickets printed then went through
security and then made it in time for the gate! Ha-ha. I was playing the song
"It's the final Countdown" in my head during these moments. So ten
minutes to reach a flight is possible.
The rest of the trip went smoothly into
Yekaterinburg and then it was strait to the train station to catch the
ride to Perm. Behold, there was yet going to be another problem as we
reached the station. Elder R had two tickets in his name in order to buy the
whole Kype and we needed to change one of the tickets in order for me to get on
the train with them. The lady told us that it would cost another 700 rubles to
change then she will put it into the system that the spot was open and then
anyone could take it, not allowing us to ride back to Perm. She said that we
could talk to the conductor about it, which basically was a NO. Never
give up and never surrender! We went to the platform with our entire
luggage and my packages for Christmas. (Thanks for them btw!) The
conductor was telling us the same excuse as the lady behind the counter
until he said there was a "decision." Elder Z and R asked what
the decision was. He replied, "1 ruble." (add three zeros onto that)
Well, all in all I made it to Perm and
had a great day with Elder Z as my companion. We got a
bucket of KFC and headed to the apartment, which was locked and I
realized I didn't have the keys because Elder H had them in Finland! Ha-ha.
I am forgetful. We got that problem fixed and continued with missionary work
and helped the other Elders move to their new apartment. My week was fun
filled, action packed, and suspenseful! Now in two days I will be in
Yekaterinburg as a District Leader, plus the area I hear is legit and Elder Y is the bomb and
will be my companion!
LOVE YOU ALL!
Elder LeFevre
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