Hello from Ivano Frankivsk! (April 4, 2007)

Hello again everyone! This has been an interesting past week. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to write about it, so I'll have to write quickly.

First of all, our branch president here is slowly going insane. We just moved the branch into a new building, and he seems to think that the building is his own personal one, so he's been directing a lot of the set up, which has led to every single door having its own individual lock and key, the coat rack being hidden in the back of the building (far far away from the entrance), and the Primary--which consists of two, sometimes three, children--having a large, carpeted room that no one else--especially missionaries--is allowed to use; or, if they do, they have to take their shoes off to go inside.

So: the other elders who were here, Elders Tanner and Aird, were mini transfered to Kiev yesterday, and we'll probably not get another companionship here until next transfer (still five weeks away), leaving us here alone with the two bickering senior sisters and the branch that's slowly descending into madness. On top of it all, Elder Isaacs just found out a few days ago that his parents filed for divorce. It's been a little stressful for us.

But, there was a little bit of excitement on Saturday, when we were walking home from the church and saw a street fight. I guess that a gang of Ukrainian punks were making fun of a Muslim kid, and so he turned and pretty much single handedly took on the whole gang, and won. Lesson to be learned: being prejudiced doesn't pay off. This was a first for all of us, including Elder Isaacs, who's been out a year and a half, so I'm pretty sure street fights are about as common here as anywhere else. (As usual, the crack local police team did absolutely nothing about this fight).

Well, that's been my week, hopefully I'll have more time next week. I love you all, and I'll write again soon!
--Elder Brett