HAPPY DAYS!

First of all...CAMI HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THE 12TH!!! I would've emailed earlier but my whole schedule was messed up when i traveled for three days straight. I heard that you had a great day and I love you so much my sissy. I hope you got the card I sent you a while ago!!! you're the cutes.

Okay people. Penza RUSSIA. I love it here so much. The food is amazing, the people are so strange and hilarious, and i ADORE my companion. Such a blessing! Her name is sister coleman and she is from cali and we are best friends and I wanna squeeze her. She has been out for eight months and her russian is amazing and I hope that my russian can be as good as hers in eight months. I also hope that I can be as persistent as she is. AhAHAHA she chases after people sometimes. I love it. 

Also, I am not allowed to send photos of russian people home because it jeopardizes their jobs sometimes.(law to live by if we don't want to be sent outta russia.) SO. If I want to be able to send photos home that have russian people in it, you can't post them onto facebook at all. You CAN post it to my blog but you have to make my blog a private blog first. So just avoid that hassle and just don't post the photos I send home that have russian people in them. Got it? So just make my blog private first! and share the password to read it with the peple who you know and trust. But if that is a big deal then just don't post photos i send that have russian people in it. k? Thanks ahh i love you guys!!! ps i am not allowed to give the names of people.... so... I will just call them by the first initial of their name or just make up new names. SO sad i know. Silly russians are paranoid. OOOOOh and when we were in moscow the first day in russia, i saw PUTIN! nuts huh?! well, it was his limo. Our bus driver told us that it was him. He knew it was because there were four other  trucks surrounding the limo, and the fourteen police motorbikes/cars surrounding those. So... yeah. I've been 25 feet away from putin.. NBD.

My pdays are on mondays. I email home about... 11am here so like 10pm or whatever it is at home time. I can't believe we are on opposite sides of the world!! crazy.

okay so back to russia. 

I've learned SO many things this week. It really hasn't been difficult at all to adjust to this culture at all. I am so blessed to be here in Penza! I know I am supposed to be exactly here, and I know for a fact the Sister Coleman and I are supposed to be companions. I love her, I love Penza, and I am really loving the Russian people. ESPECIALLY THE MEMBERS!!!!!! THEY ARE AMAZING! So hilarious. 

so everyday  I pray that I can have faith in Christ. I pray that I can fully rely on Him and lean not to my own understanding. The times that I have doubts and fears, I remember what the spirit testified to me when President Uchtdorf visited us missionaries at the MTC for Easter. What he said will always stick with me. He said, "Be fearless! You have absolutely no need to fear. Be aware and never forget that you are literally walking with a member of the godhead (the Holy Ghost) so you have absolutely no reason to fear." I also cast out doubts and fears by thinking of all the profound spiritual experiences I have been blessed to have in my life. I also remember in those moments where I am, and why I am here. That knowledge helps me to be fearless, and to cast out my doubts and fears that come into my mind. I challenge ya'll to try doing that, to cast out your fears and doubts by thinking about all that you have. I promise it works!

okay okay you guys. I can't tell you enough...I LOVE Sister Coleman! She is everything that I prayed to have in my first companion, my trainer in the field. She is so obedient and is helping me also to be obedient. My mission president is HILARIOUS. we are supposed to call his wife sister schwab whenever we are sick and last night I was because I'm so stupid and petted a cat. I thought, "maybe russian cats are different!" so I pet it... and then... you all know. Allergy atTACK! Haha so i called sister schwab but she was busy so i told president schwab i couldn't resist the cuteness of the cat and he said "sister TWEDE! Don't you know? cats are to be KICKED, not PET!" hahahahahhaa he's the funniest human. I loved it so much. Anyway that just gives you a taste of how rad he is. Don't worry I am fine, my allergies went away once I took a benadryl.

It is unbelievable to me how many miracles I witness each and every day here in Penza. We have had so many amazing experiences this week as a result of our hard work, obedience, and faith. When visiting an old babyshka, we had to hurry back to an area where we had a lesson with a potential. We approached the train tracks to cross it, and the train came out of nowhere and decided to stop right where we were standing. We were frustrated because we were going to be late to our appointment, but waited anyway since trains are very unpredictable. While we were standing there, we noticed a woman so we decided to talk to her. She said "You are Mormons!" we were so excited she knew who we were. We asked how she knew about us and our church and she told us that she once read the Book Of Mormon all the way through. We couldn't believe it! We asked her what she thought and she said she didn't really know. We asked if she had prayed about it and she told us that she hadn't. She proceeded to tell us that she believed that there was some truth in all religions, and that she couldn't believe that the complete truth was found in one church. She told us her biggest question and problem about the book of mormon was about Lehi. She didn't know where he came from and how he came to be, so it was hard for her to believe. We didn't know what to tell her about that with our limited vocabulary, so upon listening to the spirit, we just testified to her that we know that the book is true. I testified to her in my broken Russian how when we read the book of mormon we find truth, comfort, personal revelation, and joy. We told her "L. Tonight, you are going to go home, and you are going to pray to know that this book is true and we promise that when you do, you WILL know." It was so spiritual. We gave her our number and church address, and we hope and pray everyday that she prayed to know the truth, and that she will contact us also. Right after testifying, the train started to reverse on the tracks which was very interesting to me. I have never seen that before. It moved out of our way and we were all able to cross the train tracks safely. I knew, and Sister Coleman knew through the Spirit that the train stopped for that very reason that we were supposed to meet L. It really strengthened my faith and my testimony likewise.

Another miracle occurred my second day here in Penza. We had a few minutes to go outside and testify once I woke up from my 2 hour jet-lag nap. (oops haha) When we prayed, I told Heavenly Father that we were going to find one person who really needed to talk to us. We told him that we would find that person and that we wouldn't go home until we did. We went out to the streets and began walking. Sister Coleman and I were laughing about something that we said, and we looked ahead of us only to find this tiny Russian woman about the age of 48 laughing with us.. which was really weird since that NEVER happens here. It turns out that the woman we met had once spoken to Sister Coleman on a bus years ago! Sister Coleman had given her a plan of salvation pamphlet. We asked her if she read it, and she had. We asked her thought and she proceeded to tell us that she read the whole thing and she believes that it is true. MIRACLE! This was the person that we told Heavenly Father we would find! We set up a meeting to discuss what she read for Saturday and she agreed. We got her number and everything was well. Saturday came, and she stood us up. But Sister Coleman and I know that she knows that it's true and we are praying that she will meet with us in the coming weeks. We thanked Heavenly Father for leading us to find this woman and we knew that it was through Him that we were able to meet her. 

I am doing very well right now. I feel tremendously blessed to have Sister Coleman as my trainer. She is my best friend here and we have so many good laughs. We are both so weird it's hilarious. 

  I love Penza, and I love the Russian people. The members in the branch are so awesome. I felt right at home at church which was so great because I couldn't understand them. Each and every day I have to consciously make the decision to avoid the temptation of being frustrated that I can't speak or understand these beautiful people. It takes work, but when I decide to avoid that temptation each and every morning the minute I get on my knees to pray, I see the blessings from that. I am already learning phrases and how to approach people, how to share my testimony, how to recognize the spirit, and how to just soak everything in just from making that little decision every morning. I know that all things are possible with Heavenly Father's help, and with the help of the Savior and the Holy Ghost as well. Don't ever forget that my people. God is real and is aware of each of us. I am so happy to be here! 

I love you all so much and I will send photos! i love you bye!!!!!!

 my russian breakfasts SO TASTY.

 me and my cute comp sister coleman

 our creepy photo of the tastiest bread! the butter here and juice here and bread are amazing!!!!!

 coolest clouds ever

 beautiful! by my apartment

 my cute apt!

just me

I have more time to write all of the sudden. Anyway, Traveling was so rough on my body, i have never been more exhausted in my whole life but i have never had more fun too. I love getting rejected day after day! because I know that I am trying my hardest and i go to bed satisfied.  and the times that we do meet people it's awesome! we met two girls that were painting plants and became friends with them. We are going to visit them soon.

we have a picnic with our branch this saturday! we are going to eat hotdogs! the picnic is at 10 am ... apparently they do that here? weird. Anyway they are super excited to have us show them how americans do it hahaha i love russians.

Everyday i want you all to make a decision to be happy. Wake up, pray to heavenly father, or just say to yourself: "Today I am choosing to be happy."  when you do this your whole day follows the pattern of happiness and it's so awesome! i have done this every day and it's been so cool to see how much it blesses me. 

Mom and dad I miss you so much. I loved talking to you on the phone! you have the most comforting voices. I can't wait to talk at chrimbus!!!!!! 

 Ruby it was so good to hear your voice! please hug and kiss my hayd for me when you get to see him this week!

all my girlfriends and sibs, i love you all tooooo omuch. i am so grateful that you are all my people. I don't know what I would do without you for reals.

MISS AND LOVE YU ALL AND I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M IN RUSSIA! I will bring you all prizes in about........ 15 months!!!

jesus loves you and so does heavenly father. Got it? good. don't ever forget it! all things are possible with them. i promise.