email received Dec. 2, 2012

Hello all!

Well, I'm still alive! The flight was ridiculously long and by the
time we got to the Brintons we all just wanted to crash. The next day
we had a women's conference so all 12 of the sisters from the mission
were there. It was lots of fun to get to know everyone, and it was in
English!  Anyway, that night after some meetings with President and 

our trainers, we went out and contacted on
the street for an hour or so. English Club is pretty big here so
usually we just start out talking to people about that.

Friday morning we got up at 4:45 to catch a flight to Khabarovsk. The
airport is super small but nice, it reminds me of the airport in
Cusco. On the plane I sat next to a man who lives in Khab. and while
he wasn't interested in the Church he did tell me about the city and
we got to know each other, he was super nice! And I found out that
after the new year, they do ice sculptures here which are really neat.
And we're only a few miles from the Chinese border so apparently a lot
of people come over to see. Right now, there is much snow on the
ground but its still so cold and windy. When we got in, the taxi
driver said it was -19. Im not sure if thats F or C but either way.
Also, because of the price of luggage on Russian airlines, I could
only take one suitcase of 44 lbs. Luckily the Brintons were coming up
the next day to bring some of my heavy stuff in their carry ons but I
definitely feel like I'm living off of basic necessities. I left my
flats and wool coat in Vlad b/c they said I would only need boots
(which I bought) and my huge Michelin man coat. Its true. When we were
walking around Friday I realized that it is possible for your head to
be cold through your hat and down into the insides of my ears! Its
such a weird feeling!

Sister Huber is also new to the area so we don't have any investigators 

but we were able to meet the members yesterday.  There were probably 12 

people at church and I played the piano so I felt like I contributed a little. 
A lot of them speak really good English so the lady sitting next to me 
basically translated testimony meeting haha. Last night, we

visited with the RS president which was quite the adventure, because
we are both new to the area we kept taking wrong turns and didn't have
her number so we were half an hour late. Interesting fact about
Russia, they dont care how the outside of the buildings look so it
looks super ghetto and then you get in and realize the apt is super
nice. We don't have much in our apt since we are new to the area but
Sis Brinton is helping us. When we were shopping for beds, nowhere
carries 2. Its basically what they have on the floor and cups and
everything come in 3s. You can imagine the surprise when they find out
how big our family is! While we don't have much to work with right
now, Sister Huber and I are excited about working hard, getting to
know the members, and helping them however we can. And of course lots
of finding people! The city is huge so its just a matter of talking to
people! Its awesome to finally be in Russia and talking to the Russian
people! Everyone has been super nice so far and I wouldn't want to be
anywhere else. I love being on a mission and hope you all are doing
well! Love you!

Sister Allison