Hailey in Russia: "J".... IS A MORMON!?

In other news.... CLAIRE STARTED WALKING!!!!! Can you believe it?! She's going to be running around all over the place when I get home! CLAIREY YOU'RE THE BEST AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND THE SMARTEST!! And you keep reading that russian book so that when I get home, we can talk to each other and nobody can understand :)

So, bummer nation..our investigator 'L' hasn't answered our phonecalls for about a couple of weeks now. We got the thought "call 'L'!" so we did, for about the hundreth time. We called, and to our surprise, SHE ANSWERED! It was such a miracle. She talked with us as if we had been talking for the two weeks that we hadn't spoken. She was just her same self and told us that she missed us and loves us. Well, then she said "I'm at work right now, and my colleague LOVES the bible and her whole family loves it too. Well, we talked to her and set up a time to go over to their house this week and it was a big miracle. "L" said she would come to church the next day, and we were really excited! We told her that we would be at her house before church so that we could go together and she agreed to that idea. Well, Sunday morning came and we went over to her house to pick her up, and to our surprise, she didn't answer. She wouldn't answer our phonecalls, and it seemed to us that nobody was home. We waited, and knocked, and made a lot of noise to try and wake them up in case they were sleeping, but nothing happened. like.. we were throwing rocks by their windows. hahaha luckily none of them broke!

Anway, we said a prayer, and walked away with our heads hung low. She didn't end up coming at all to church. We called her later that night, and she was clearly drunk on the phone which really was sad because she hasn't drank for a whole month and realllly was trying to live the word of wisdom to a T, but then she was drinking again. It really was such a sad thing. We called her again this morning, and guess what? She's in the hospital now. Apparently she fell (because she was drunk) and broke her hand and hit her head really hard and apparently will be in the hospital for two weeks. It really broke my heart. I hope she remembers the terrible feeling she feels after she drank, and how clean and wonderful she feels when she meets with us. (her own words not mine!) haha I'm not cocky, I swear. I want to believe that she will be ready for baptism soon, but all these things that have been going on just push her away from baptism. There was a glimpse of hope, however, when she told us on the phone today that she is going to ask "M" to bring her her book of mormon so that she can read it while she heals at the hospital. Maybe this experience was needed to really show her that party lifestyle is not a good one and that true joy only comes in and through christ and his gospel. I know that baptism is the first step toward christ and it's one of the most important ones. I just want all these dang russians to feel the JOY!

A crazy miracle we had: We were on a marshrytka (tiny van) last monday. There was a boy, who looked like he was from south america, on the same marshrytka as us, and he just was looking at us and our nametags for quite some time. He then said, "Where is your church?" to sister Mckell. She told him, and then he went on to explain that he really wants to come to our church and we told him we would be happy to see him there. Well, the next day, he called! His name is "J", and he is 21. We set up a meeting for Sunday (yesterday). He couldn't come to church, but we met with him after church in the center of the city. He brought his friend, "N". We learned that they are from Nicaragua and are studying here and have been studying here for 2 years. "J" was telling us how he has been looking for our church for the two years that he has lived here, but hasn't been able to find it. We expressed to him how stoked we were that the lord put us into each others paths, and THEN he says the unthinkable. "I saw your churches all over in Nicaragua. My parents and siblings are baptized into your church." And then the awkward question from me and sister Mckell: "Well.. are you baptized?" and he said.. "YEAH! I was baptized when I was 10!" WHAT! Okay, miracle. Then the next miracle is that his friend "N", also from Nicaragua, told us how he is protestant and how his uncle is mormon, and talked to him about the book of mormon years ago. "N" said that he has always been interested in the gospel, but had never asked his uncle about it. We asked them if they wanted books of mormon in spanish, and they said yes, and were SOOOO excited to hear that was a possibility. We asked "N" if he was interested in meeting with us to learn more, and he said yes! What is this world?!?!! SO COOL! What the heck, right? What is a nicaraguan doing in Penza? Stuyding engineering of course!

2nd miracle: less active named "L". We had just finished doing service at a babyshka's house when we had the thought to call "L", which was wierd because she is always too busy to meet with us. We called her anyway, and she told us she had just gotten off work and wanted us to go over. We had planned to meet with her during the week to talk about prayer. We went over, and to our surprise, she told us her friend was coming over. We asked if we could wait for her friend to do our lesson, and she said no let's just get started. We got started, read all the scriptures, and right as we were about to share the experiences, her friend came over. I turned around and.. SURPRISE! It's "T", a woman that we had given a book of mormon to months ago. Then the coooolest thing happend. "L" said, "they just finished talking about prayer and we want to talk to YOU about prayer!" so then we re-read the scriptures and it was SO spiritual as we shared experiences we have all had with prayer. "T" was in tears, and we were all in tears as we talked about how big of a blessing it us. It was amazing to see the less active, "L", teach her friend "T" about prayer and why it's important. I know that this work is just about to explode as the members, and less actives invite their friends and loved ones over to lessons with the missionaries. Then, after our lesson, "T" BEGGED us to go over to her house and talk to her sons about the gospel, and we did so. We have been meeting with them lately and "T" is practically mormon already, so we will just be teaching her and her sons! (side story. Her one son "t" who is 24 wants to know english, and already knows a little bit. He asked us to teach him a phrase. What phrase was that you ask? "I LOVE TO POP ZITS!" hahahahaha hearing him say it with his russian accent was literally the funniest thing I almost peed.) ANYWAY, "T". She's the funniest human being. She's not even real, I swear. She said a 10 minute prayer too at the end of our lesson and it was literally the most hilarious prayer I have ever heard. "HEAVENLY FATHER THANK YOU FOR SENDING ME THESE BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL GIRLS FROM AMERICA WHO LOVE JESUS! GOD, WE ARE STUPID BECAUSE WE DON'T READ THE BIBLE BUT YOU, YOU LOVE US AND SENT US THESE AMERICAN GIRLS TO TEACH US TO BE SMART AND TO READ THE BIBLE AND THE BOOK OF MORMON!" -along those lines. Literally I couldn't hold in the laughs and both sissy mckkell and i had tears streaming down our faces.

Weeks like this one make me love being a missionary. It's literally the HARDEST thing I have ever decided to do, but it's the most fulfilling and most worth it. So much heart ache, so much joy, so much laughter, and so much lack of sleep. I have never been so tired in my life, but that's a good thing. It's so boring sometimes, and sometimes the days just drag on, but it's also the most fun and some other times the days FLLLYYYYY by. Either way, I really love it and especially love Russia. These are definitely my people. I know I am exactly where I need to be at this time.

Well, I love you all so much. I just want to say, never forget how much the Lord loves you. he is aware of YOU. He wants you to turn to him, and you can do that through prayer. Even if it's a crazy prayer like crazy "T". AHHH seriously that was the funniest moment. But really, Christ is always around you. I challenge ALL of you, to get on LDS.org right now and watch "because of him" the video from easter. Me and sister mckell are literally in heaven because we got a dvd with mormon.org clips and all other sorts of videos, and we have been watching that one every single day.... like... probably 6 times a day. I love the savior and I know because of him we can do ALL things! Turn to him!

I love you all. OVER AND OUT

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