SHORT STORY: We met briefly on my mission in Russia, and then again when I went back for study abroad. A year after I got back from study abroad we were married.
LONG STORY:
Once upon a time.....
As many, if not all, of you know, I served my mission in a wonderful little part of Russia called Samara. My first area was in a town just south of Samara, and by just south I mean a ten hour bus ride south. It was called Saratov. My first branch? Well there were three, but one of them was Zavodskoi. And in Zavodskoi there was an extremely tall, lanky member named Kostya. This particular Kostya was a fan of teasing missionaries, and on at least a couple of occasions made it a point to come up and talk to me really fast in Russian, and then pretend to be annoyed when I couldn't understand him. Then one Sunday I found out he spoke English. I approached him about it and we had a good laugh. Soon thereafter I was transferred and I never saw Kostya again for the duration of my mission.
A few months after I got back from my mission Kostya contacted me on vkontakte.ru (a Russian version of Facebook) We started talking and over the next year became really good friends. We talked almost everyday. The next spring I had the opportunity to do study abroad in Moscow and Kostya and I planned on getting together when I made a trip back to the mission.
I got to Moscow in May, and in June I was making the trip down to Samara with three other guys from study abroad. Kostya had kindly offered to drive us from Samara to Saratov. We hung out the whole weekend and I will never forget my last night in Saratov. Kostya and I had been talking for a long time, and it was getting late. I was about to go to bed when Kostya said, "I love you." My reaction? Well, I had the natural reaction, I pretended to be asleep. He didn't buy it, so we talked about it and I made it very clear that it wasn't going to happen. Kostya and I were just friends.
Well a week later he informed me that he was coming to visit me in Moscow. I tried to talk him out of it, I just didn't want him to spend that much money, but he insisted, and before I knew it I was meeting him in front of St Basil's on Red Square. Kostya started making trips almost every weekend. We had such a good time together, but I was having a really hard time taking that next step into the relationship zone. It wasn't easy for Kostya, he was spending a lot of time and money on travel. It was either a 15 hour bus ride, or if he wanted to spend more money, a 15 hour train ride in hundred degree whether with no air conditioning. Did I mention that Kostya is 6'6?
So what made me change my mind? I remember very well the day I decided that I couldn't live without Kostya. He had come to visit me again in Moscow and it was his last day. I remember riding in the metro on my way to meet him to see him off at the train station. It seemed like out of nowhere, but I started crying. It was all very confusing and I didn't quite understand what made me cry. We said our goodbyes on the train and I went home. That night I got a text from Kostya asking me not to be mad at him if he never talks to me again. I asked him what he meant and he said that he couldn't just be friends with me. That it was too hard. I remember crying so hard that night. I guess that's when I realized. The thought of living without Kostya was too much for me to handle. The solution? To just give in and give our relationship a chance. I told Kostya, "I think I love you" Kostya still teases me about that. I guess I was still scared to jump in all the way, but I had to say something to keep him from leaving! :P
My parents came to Moscow in August and met Kostya for the first time. They gave me their approval, and when Kostya saw us off at the airport we were all crying. It was so hard to say goodbye knowing it would be several months before I saw him again. Well, it turned out to be just over a year. A very long year, but we got married in October and we've been happy ever since, counting our blessings everyday that we get to be together.
THE END
