11 hours different

10-19-09
Howdy,
So, I believe our time here is 11 hours ahead of you, which is weird, which means you'll get this late Sunday night. That's funny. I just woke up and you are just going to bed.
They don't let us drive. That's probably a good thing for a couple reasons. For one thing, it would be dangerous. It's funny, a lot of the manholes are just left uncovered, and so it'd be really bad to fall, or drive into one. Also, I think it would be easy for missionaries to get some bad driving habits, like driving on the wrong side of the road, driving very fast on little roads, swerving around people, things like that. It's a funny system they have.
The people here are very interesting. They have a lot of good traits, as well as some not so good traits. It is really easy to make friends with them, for one thing. They like to invite us in and always offer us to eat some crackers, drink tea and things. One sad thing, is that probably 3 in 5 men have drunk in the day and you can smell it in their breath. The women, however, are rarely seen smoking or drinking. They also rarely drive as well. There are a lot of really nice dadiks and papiks (gma's & gpa's). You can just call anyone older woman "Dadik," which is just like saying grandma. A lot of people don't do a whole lot, and so they are not super happy, but they get so excited to see Americans.
Sunday was nice, sacrament meeting was really spiritual for me. I got pretty sleepy later though. Trying to translate everything in my head didn't really help. There are some really strong members, though, and the branch president is a really happy, nice guy. There's not a ton that go to church, though, which is sad. Most of the work we are doing right now is to strengthen less actives. I actually don't think we were able to meet with our three investigators this week. It was a little hectic of a week. We got a new senior couple, who are way awesome and are hard workers and pretty independent. They're finally all settled in, so we should have a more productive week this week. I learned a lot though, and I think I am becoming a little better missionary every day, which I am really just becoming a little better of a person. I know the things I learn here will affect me for the rest of my life. I really want to be able to serve the Lord and give up myself to Him always. Only as I do that am I really happy.
I finally felt like I could start to understand some of what people are saying yesterday! It's really difficult, especially because they talk pretty strange up here in Gyumri. I'm doing better though, and I'm excited to keep learning.
I got a little fever earlier this week, accompanied with an episode of the squirts. I think it was from some delicious strawberries that a family gave us after we helped them pull potatoes. I'm functioning normal now, but I'll have to watch out. It's a great place. We're probably going to visit a church or something today, so I'm excited. Thanks for all of the letters. I love you all so much. I'll talk to you later.
Love,
Elder Bruce Wainwright