Hailey in Russia: ПРИВЕТ!!!!!! (HELLO!!!!!!)

HELLO HELLO OH MY!

My love for all you people back home grows every single day. AHHH i love you and i feel your prayers thank you so much. I hope you feel mine!

This week was nuts. We went knocking at these apartment buildings. Sister Coleman was telling me how she has seen so many naked people in Russia and that when she would see them, she would tell me not to look. Anyway literally seconds after ending that conversation, we knock on this door, and this OOOOOLD saggy babyshka opens the door and she is so sweaty and saggy hahahaha and she's in her bra and underwear. We we like... hi! we have a message about jesus! and then she shut the door. hahahaha too funny I could pee. And then i KID you not, the next door we knock on this little fairy girl in nothing but a towel. It's so funny. we ended up getting her number and we hope to meet with her this week. i hope she's dressed this time though... for her sake. Russian's have no shame! Every man that opens the door to us is shirtless with a beer belly every single time. haha welcome to russia. I seriously wish you could see how people just have no shame. It is the most HILARIOUS thing.

Something hilarious that happened too was we were visiting this old babyshka in our branch named baba k. She is SO fierce. I can't even handle it. haha too funny. She gives us chai and makes us eat bread with meat and it was so tasty. We had a spiritual thought with her. Sister Coleman has the prettiest singing voice, and I enjoy singing even though I am not the best and so we sang a hymn with her. Okay. Russians sound SOOO funny when they sing. They don't even follow the tune it's so much like black soul haha anyway baba katya was just singing soul and it was HILARIOUS so sis coleman and I started busting a GUT and crying from laughter because baba k just kept going and then..... baba katya yelled at us and told us that the devil was making us laugh and how laughing during a hymn is a sin. so she made us repent on the spot and it was so hilarious. russians are so supersticious. They think that you will be infirtle if you walk around barefoot.

We had a picnic with our branch on saturday. It was so fun! We went to a park by a river and ate yummy foods, and played games and I drew photos of people. They loved it! It was so awesome beacuse when I got set apart i was told that it was SUPPPPER important that I share my artistic talents and my music (???) talents with the RUssian people to bless their lives and uplift them. It was so funny because when I was drawing the members in our branch, those words came into my mind and it was so awesome because when I would give them their drawings they were just in awe. I really hope that it blessed them because their silly spirits bless me every time we get together with them! It's funny because they tried making the picnic at 8am! we were like... no. nobody is going to come. so we convinced them to change the time to 10. So they did! That's russians for you. 8am picnics. hahaha AHHH i love my branch seriously. Even though I can't understand them. They're all so hilarious and kind. I LOVE RUSSIAN PEOPLE. Everyday i realize more and more that these are the exact people that I am supposed to be serving at this time.

OKAY LAST NIGHT I MET MYSELF WHEN I AM AN OLD LADY! We went to visit the relief society president because she hasn't been able to come to church for a couple weeks due to her work schedule. She is about.. 68 and her name is F and she had the most amazing paintings everywhere. She is an artist and she just has this love for life and the gospel and it is so infectious! She grabbed me and held me and said "Our hearts are singing to each other! We were supposed to meet each other! Don't you feel all the color in your heart?!" isn't that so awesome? It's weird too because I cried yesterday because I felt discouraged because I don't feel like i am progressing in the language and I feel that my faith is being really tested. And then when we were visiting "F", the spirit testified to me and I felt heavenly Father tell me, "See Hailey? I do love you! I've put you in the path of people that you were supposed to meet." it was so awesome. Heavenly Father speaks to us ALL the time, we just have to have to ALWAYS listen for it so that we can hear. I love F though... and her apartment is so amazing ahhh i will take photos next visit. She is probably my best russian friend here. She is taking us to an art museum next pday! WOOWEE!!

It was a magical week. We gave out several books of mormons! It is SOOOO cool to be a part of such a true work! AHHH LIFE! we are so blessed even when life is just hard. Last week we witnessed many many miracles where sister Coleman and I had to exercise our faith. Our lesson with a family fell through, so we were left far from our home not knowing what to do. We decided to pray and it was clear to us that we were supposed to knock on the domes we were by. We began walking. Each family and each person that we would talk to would turn us away. This happened about 12 times and I began to become discouraged. In that moment of discouragement, I decided to pray. I told Heavenly Father that we were here, right where he needed us. I told him that we knew for a fact that there was somebody who needed to hear this message so I pled for him to lead us to that person. I had faith and I knew that he would reveal this person to sister Coleman and I. After wiping a few tears from my face, we went forward. We saw this dome that was really closed off with fences. We rang the doorbell anyway and moments later a young man age 16 named "J" came to the door. We told him our purpose, and asked if he had faith. He told us that he used to be a believing person but that he wasn't anymore. The spirit was so strong and told us to give him The Book Of Mormon. We did so, and he told us that he was really excited to read it and he agreed with our testimonies and everything that we were telling him (everything the holy ghost was telling him through our mouths.) The next day we had a lesson on the restoration with Him. We brought the permission form for his mom to sign since he is only sixteen years old. (that's the rule... you have to get a signature from the parents in order to continue teaching lessons.) The lesson was so spiritual. He asked the most thought provoking questions and we were able to give him the answers. We could see the light in his eyes. YOU GUYS. THIS WORK IS REAL, AND THIS CHURCH IS TRUE.

Sister coleman and I both felt prompted to invite him to be baptized and without hesitation he said yes! We were so excited! It was so an amazing experience to witness the spirit confirm truth to one of heavenly Father's sons. We gave him the permission form and he was worried that his mom wouldn't sign the paper. Sister Coleman and I left the lesson with a grateful heart and excited for the future. We both sacrificed things that we can't live without each day- candy, and gum. We sacrificed these things to show Heavenly Father how serious we were in our desire to get J's mom to sign his permission form. The next day, we called "J" to ask how his readings were coming from the Book Of Mormon. He sounded very discouraged when he told us that he hadn't yet read that day. It was strange because we asked about his mom signing the paper and he just handed the phone over to her... bad idea. We tried to tell her our purpose and how our message is true and how it blesses the lives of those who listen. She wouldn't listen and instead told us to leave her son alone since he isn't 18 and then hung up the phone. It was so hard. Sister Coleman and I were devestated. After lots of prayer we realized that we had to put our faith and trust in the Lord. In that moment it was so difficult to not doubt. But both sister Coleman and I felt the spirit comfort us and let us know that everything happens in the Lord's own timing. We know that "J" will come into the waters of baptism one day.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Even when you are doing all that you can. Even when you are being obedient, when you are making sacrifices, and you don't see the rewards of your efforts and when everything seems to go wrong in life, I PROMISE YOU RIGHT NOW that none of your efforts go unnoticed. The Lord is aware of each and every one of us, and he will make things happen in his own due time. PLEASE never forget that. Keep the faith and know that you are loved. I pray for you all every day. I love you so much!!!!! DON'T FORGET IT!

я тебя люблю!!!!!!!!! Love, сестра hailey jane