Elder Otis Returns to Russia!

Thank you all, for your prayers and well wishes for our son in Russia. He has safely arrived back in Russia from Sweden! He has had a great adventure and I wanted to share it with all of you. He was Branch President before he left for Sweden a month ago. Now he's a trainer and District Leader just like his Elder Brother Jason. Gosh is this ever exciting! Such a n honor as well. I hope you enjoy Elder Matthew Otis's latest letter below.

"Warning: Huge Email

Hey family,

How was my trip back? Well, Elder Peterson summed it up pretty well in our weekly newsletter. Here is his story of what happened on our trip back.

Six Hour Miracle
After serving for a month in Sweden, we were grateful and excited to be heading back home to "the Russia Motherland." We left our temple friends at 9:00 am Saturday morning and headed to the airport on Sweden's celestial commuter rail. All went well and we got all fourteen of us into the airport, passed probing security, and boarded onto our Scandinavian flight to Moscow. It all worked like clockwork, perfect and smooth. It seemed almost too good to be true…
We landed in Moscow's Sheremyetevo airport at 17:30--and with a 6 hour layover ahead of us, we strode into passport control with confidence that we could easily make our flight connection at the Domodyedovo airport. Now, for those of you who have never traversed the urban jungle of Moscow, Sheremyetevo is on the north side of Moscow―Domodyedovo on the complete other side of Moscow in the South. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 23:10, so we all felt confident that we could make the transfer without problem.
Landing at 17:30 we then stood in lines at passport control for about two hours waiting to get "processed" by the officials. Because of the delay we missed our express train which we were supposed to go on. Frustrated, rumpled, and tired we exited the airport and after following several poorly given instructions we located and headed towards the Express train which would take us to the metro.
Remember―14 people with luggage, running through Moscow, at night, and half of us have never been there.
So we get on the 19:50 express train and head off at a painfully slow pace. After a 40 minute stress filled ride, we jump off, run out of the vokzal, frantically find the metro, stand in a ridiculously long line (so typical of Moscow), grab metro coins, and then head on a Metro.
Remember―14 people with luggage, running through Moscow, at night, and half of us have never been there.
So, we head on the Metro and after a couple stops we get off and try to switch lines. Well, I've never made a metro line switch in my life, so I head off to the right, praying that we are going in the correct direction.
Miracle 1: As we are heading right, a man stops me. His cheeks were red, so I assumed he might be a little tipsy. He asked me if I was looking for something, in short he pointed us in the right direction. Why a miracle? 1. Possible drunk man stops me and doesn't ask "Вы иностранцы что ли?" 2. He asked me if he could help. That never happens. 3. This happened in Moscow. 4. His directions were actually correct.
So all 14 of us get on our new metro line and head to our stop. We jump off, leave the vokzal, find the Express train vokzal, and run in and buy tickets. By this time it is 21:15. Well it turns out that the next train was at 22:00. Which meant that we would get at the airport at 22:40. Our flight was at 23:10. Those times don't add up for checking in.
As we realize the probability of missing our flight, Elder Reynolds ran over to a random counter and started speaking with an attractive young lady attendant (see Miracle 3).
Miracle 2: This young lady told us that we would need to take the metro further down the line and then get on a shuttle. This would help us to get there faster. She also called the airport and let them know that we were going to be a little late and told them to wait. This provided to be one of the HUGE reasons we didn't miss our flight. She truly was a ministering angel for us.
Miracle 3: Elder Reynolds admitted that if he were to come back to Russia to marry someone, it would be her.
So we run outside the express train vokzal and hurriedly, frantically try to find the Metro again. We asked several people who told us to the left. However several people told us to the right. We quickly followed the counsel of the hymn "Choose the Right" and headed off to the right which actually turned to be the right direction.
Heading downwards into the metro, we again went through the process of buying tickets for all 14 of us. And then to our dismay we crammed ourselves into a completely stuffed metro car. We then traveled for a half hour trying to keep eye contact between all of us in order to get off on the correct stop.
After that half hour of grueling shoving and pushing we all stumbled out and ran up and out.
Remember―14 people with luggage, running through Moscow, at night, and half of us have never been there.
As we ran out, we found a shuttle, loaded, and headed out. That was at 22:00.
Miracle 4: It was a sheer miracle that we found an airport shuttle right off the bat, with just enough space for all of us to squeeze on with our luggage. Not only that the driver was nice about it.
So to make this long story short, we travel for half an hour and get at the airport at 22:30. We all run out, rush through check in, almost lose Elder Larsen, rush through security throwing belts and jackets off and on, rush to the gate, and jump onto the shuttle bus.
Miracle 5: We made it on our flight with literally only two minutes to spare. Remember―14 people with luggage, running through Moscow, at night, and half of us have never been there. By logic and reason we should not have made that flight. Miracles happen.
-Elder Peterson

So that's a pretty incredible story. It didn't really end for me either. The next day after going to bed at 4:30am I got up at 9:00 and I needed to get to Revda to get my luggage. I was trying to find someone who would go with me but no one wanted to. I understand since everyone who was with me had served in ekat and they wanted to go to church where they served, and not in Pervouralsk. So the only ones left in the apartment were Elder Finch and Rosel, and they had stuff to do, so they sent me off to Pervouralsk by myself.

Missionaries are stretched pretty thin right now, so a lot of people have had to do some weird transfer stuff. But it wasn't a big deal, I made it to church without a problem and even got there in time to take the sacrament. Just kind of weird flying solo. Testimony meeting was great though. I was able to bear my testimony to them one last time. Getting to see everyone again was really great, It was kind of like going back in time. I got to say goodbye to everyone and I got some numbers and email addresses. Then we went to take the sacrament to Baba Anya, so I got to see her one last time and I took one last picture with her. She was glad to see me and really sad that I wasn't coming back. She cries pretty much every time we leave though, so that's not a change.

Anyway, after that Elder Magleby, Stark, and I went back to Revda to get my stuff. Once we got there we got a call from Elder Finch that I had to be at the train station in Ekat by 6:00, so that meant that when I got back to the apartment I had to call a taxi and leave pretty much immediately. So I hadn't eaten anything, didn't have time to make anything, and was about to be going on a 4+ hour train ride with no food. Not to mention the fact that I barely ate anything yesterday. So I decided that I needed to buy something so I wouldn't pass out.

So I did, and they loaded up my stuff in the taxi and I headed out to the train station by myself again. They said that there would be people waiting for me to help me with my baggage(I was concerned about it since my baggage doesn't really function anymore so I need multiple people to help me), but I got dropped off in the parking lot so I had to get my luggage over there anyway. So I put the grocery bag with the juice and crackers and stuff in it around the handle of one of my bags, and I gery-rigged the rest so I was able to move them. I got through the parking lot and then needed to get them over the curb, then I had some issues. I had taped the handle back on the suitcase that had the grocery bag on it, and it decided to rip off when I tried to heft it over(my bags are pretty heavy), so it fell on the bag pretty hard, but I picked it up and kept going a little ways. Then I looked down and realised that my bag was dripping, my juice exploded, and filled up the plastic bag, which also soaked my crackers. So I was able to salvage my super snickers, and that's the only thing I ate the whole day. So then I waited there by myself for about an hour, and they finally got there and helped me get to the platform and on the train. So they helped me get my junk into the train, but then once I was in I couldn't figure out where my seat was, I was in the right section, but I couldn't find the seat number. Then they said they had to get off, so they left me not knowing what to do, with 3 disfunctional suitcases.

So I asked a guy next to me what to do, and I showed him my ticket. He said he didn't know, just pick an open seat, so he told me to sit next to him, so I did. When they checked out tickets I found out that I was supposed to be in 3rd class, and I was in 1st class, so if I wanted to stay there I had to pay about 10 dollars more. I didn't have any cash on me though, since I used it all on the taxi to the station. So I told her that I only had a card, and of course its Russia and they don't use cards anywhere so that wasn't going to work. But the nice lady took pity on me and told me that I could stay there, but if anyone else came and wanted to sit there I would have to move.

Luckily no one asked me to move, so I got to ride first class the whole way(first class on an electrishka isn't all that great though, but its way better than sitting on a metal bench for 5 hours), so I lucked out with that. But the guy I sat next to was a nice guy, his name was Ruslan. He actually lives in America, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife. His wife is American, but they were both born in Russia, and he mostly just speaks Russian. He said that where he lives in LA he doesn't really have to speak English, there are a lot of Russians there.

But anyway, I didn't really talk about the gospel with him because he told me he was atheist and didn't really want to talk about it. But he was nice and he helped me get my bags off the train, so he helped me out a bunch. Then I met up with my new companion Elder Dewey, but we are actually in a threesome right now with Elder Mizin also, because his companion(Elder Thompson who is my old companion) is in Kazakhstan and won't be back for 3 weeks. So we might be together for a while. He is Russian and doesn't really speak English, so I guess I'll be getting a lot of practice with the language for a few weeks.

So that's my situation right now. Wow, that turned into a long story, but its been a pretty wild ride the past few days, and just wanted to share it with you. Kurgan seems like a fun place. It's pretty Podunk, but its big and has some good members and a great meetinghouse. There are 2 companionships in Kurgan, a pair of Elders and a pair of Sisters, so that makes things pretty interesting, and p-days pretty uneventful since we can't do anything together. But the Sisters here are really good ones, so it's going to be great. I'm also going to be the District leader, so I have to work that now too. But it's going to be a good transfer, things are a little wacky right now, but things will settle down soon.

Well, thanks for the email. Glad you guys liked the stuff that I sent. Have a great week!

Elder Otis