Traveling again

Hey guys,

Hello from Smolensk Russia!! I flew in to Moscow Friday night and
took a 7 hour van ride from there to Smolensk where I will be for a
few more days while I'm waiting for my visa. Elder Hasbiullin is here
finishing up his service as branch president. It has been cool to see
my greenie in action as the leader of an entire branch. I'm pretty
proud of him and we are both really excited to get working in Astana.
Although President Woolley is still not 100% sure about when we'll get
there. I will have a new Kazakh visa on the 17th and will be flying
back to Almaty as far as I know, at least I hope because all I brought
with me from there was a couple extra changes of clothes. The senior
couple in Astana found us some apartments and a place to meet, so
that's good. I've been trying to think about what exactly will be the
best way to approach this whole new city deal. I think we'll be on
the streets a whole lot, but all four of us are ready for that.

I can't believe they got rid of the 8th ward, is Bro. Hegamen the
bishop of the 5th ward? That's cool that Scott Gambles is the bishop,
he'll do a really good job. Was Delvin happy to be done? What
exactly is happening to Soda Springs? Is it because of the economy?
What's going on with Monsanto and Agrium and all those places, are
they still laying people off? Have a lot of people packed up and
moved away or what? That's pretty crazy.

I have a major cold going on right now, my nose is just completely
useless to me right now and I've been coughing all over the place.
The problem is that when I left Almaty it was around 0 degrees, maybe
even plus 1 or 2, so I didn't bring a scarf or thermals or anything,
but when I got here to Smolensk, it has been -15 or more the whole
time. I've been freezing here. I always only get sick when I have no
medicine near me. When I went to Kazakhstan I left all my medicine in
Kaluga. I got sick the first little while there. Elder Bressler,
bless his heart, decided I might need my medicine so he boxed it up,
took it to the office in moscow the next time he went and had them get
the box to me in Almaty, ha. In Almaty I have a huge bag of medicine
now, but of course, I leave for a week and immediately get sick. Oh
well, colds aren't bad, they are just uncomfortable.

I was pretty sick of traveling by myself by the time I finally got
here. It's no fun. The plane ride then the long van ride. They guy
sitting next to me smelled pretty weird and fell asleep on my shoulder
for a good portion of the ride. The last few hours they showed a
movie. It wasn't a good movie, in more ways than one, so it was a
pretty uncomfortable ride. I got to the station in Smolensk and
there was nobody there to meet me. I asked a lady if I could use her
phone to call Elder Hasbiullin, she said no so I just said thanks
anyway and walked away. People here are always so suspicious, anyway,
as I walked away she caught up to me and asked me what I needed, she
ended up letting me use her phone. Turns out Elder Hasbiullin had
been at the station a while before that but they said my van was
running pretty late because it was snowing pretty bad. He had called
two girls from his branch and asked them to wait for me at McDonalds.
I asked around and found the bus to McDonalds and found the girls. I
just sat there for about a half hour with them while we were waiting
for Hasbiullin who was a in a meeting with someone. I was pretty glad
to see him and his companion. There are 4 of us here right now
because this week Hasbiullin is training the new branch president. We
are supposedly going to be leaving Thursday but we'll find out for
sure probably later today. I am glad I got to come to Smolensk, it is
a super old city here in Russia. I think they even filmed part of the
movie Get Smart here, but I can't remember. Anyway, it's cool to see
another city.

Anyway, other than that, not a whole lot has happened with me since
the last time I wrote. Tell Delvin and Bishop Gambles congratulations
for me, and make sure Bishop Gambles knows I want to speak in the 4th
ward when I get home. I hope everyone has a good week, I'm not sure
when I'll write next, either Thursday or Monday, depending on where I
am. I love you guys.

Elder Geddes