The Cops

HAPPY THANKSGIVING THIS WEEK TO ALL! I hope you all eat your fill in feasts... I will be celebrating with our branch! It won't be quite as tasty as american thanksgiving, but maybe it will because russian food is the tastiest!!! But nothing is as tasty as mom's dinners. You're welcome ma :)

WE GOT TRANSFER CALLS....

and I am so sad.

PSYCHE! i am the most stoked of all! Why? Because I will be staying with sister mckell in penza! This is our third cycle together and the most stressful too. our mission has a goal to get 140 baptisms in 2014 and we are only halfway done. We have six weeks to get 70 baptisms, which is 2 baptisms per companionship, 1 baptism per person. It is possible, and I know that the Lord is really testing our faith and trying our patience and really teaching us how to rely on him. I know that he does all miracles and that with him all things are possible. It's crunch time, but I know that it's going to be okay as long as I just have faith and rely on the Lord. That really is just the key to all things in life. Relax, WORK HARD, trust, be humble, and rely on the Lord. All things are possible in Him. I just love him! If you could keep my miission in your prayers so that we can reach this goal that was inspired by the Lord, I would be the most grateful!

So last night was one of the funniest/coolest night on the mission. We had an hour and a half to contact and knock before a meeting that we had with a member's friend. We were contacting, and we saw this apartment and felt that we should go and knock there. Russian apartments are silly, because there is a HUGE apartment building, right? And there are separate areas, or doors that are locked that you have to call on a doma phone to get people to open the door for you. So the first podezd (that's what each separate area is called) we knock. We knocked about 2 flights (which have three or four doors on each floor) when all the sudden this man came down the stairs. He stood at the top of the stairs with his weiner dog that was on a leash. He had a cigarette in his mouth and he just STARED at us and pointed us down the stairs. We thought he told us to walk in front of him, so we ussered him to go ahead because we were about to knock on some doors. He just stood there and YELLED AT US! Saying things like "YOU'RE BOTHERING ME, YOU CAN LEAVE NOW." I said... "We aren't bothering anybody, you can leave." And so then we just had a stare down for a good two minutes, then he stormed down the stairs yelling at us. We were going to keep knocking, but we didn't want to cause trouble so we just went outside to go to the next podezd. Guess who we see? THAT GUY WITH HIS DOG WAAAAITING to make sure we got out. Well, we did, and went to the other podezd and got into that one after calling a couple doma phones. We talked to a couple cool people but they weren't really interested. It was starting to get late and we had to get going soon for our apointment that we had, so we decided to knock two more doors on the first floor. We knock and this HUUUUUUUGE i'm talking HUGGGGGGGE RIPPED HUGE russian guy opens the door. But here's the trick: he's wearing nothing but his creepy whitey tidy's that are stained and not even white. He's the hairiest guy and asks very stern, " WHO ARE YOU?" We told him that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that we are inviting him and his neighbors to hear about our message and to come to church. then he just flipped a switch and started YELLLLING AT US!!!!!! it was kinda freaky but funny too. He was like "GET OUT OF HERE. I'M GOING TO WAIT HERE UNTIL I HEAR THE DOOR CLOSE SO THAT I KNOW THAT YOU'RE BACK ON THE STREETS."  So I yelled back at him as we were walking down the stairs "RELAX IT'S GOING TO BE OKAY!" and then sister Mckell yelled "PUT SOME DANG CLOTHES ON!" hahahaha so then we got the sickest idea. As he was still yelling at us down the stairs, we came up with this idea to open the door as quietly as we could, and then close it as quietly as we could so that he would think that we were still in the building. We did this ever so sneakily, and then got back onto the street and could still hear him yelling. THEN.... we hear the huge metal door swing open and he's just standing there naked, with his creepy robe on yelling at us never to come back. hahahahahahahahaaha we weren't even mad it was SO funny. THAT'S WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU YELL AT TWO NICE GALS...... YOU FREEZE IN THE COLD! We made him leave his house so it was pretty dang satisfying. He threatened to call the cops on us too, but we just shrugged it off and walked away. We had walked about 4 minutes away from this angry man's house when all of the sudden, guess who we see? THE SMOKEYS!!!! hahaha they were driving on the path we were on to this man's apartment. I bet they were sure surprised when they got there only to see we were gone.  Moral of the story... the mormons girls have struck again. haha it was really funny.

Now time for the miracles. After all that hullaballoo we went to that lesson with "L's" friend. Her friend is actually an aquaitance because it's her son "I's" old lady neighbor. We went to the ladies house, and her name was "O". She is 80 years old, so sprite and adorable. We knock on the door, and our member help just went on and on about what we do here and how we are representatives of Jesus Christ. "O" was so mad and just went on and on about how she is proveslovni and that she does NOT talk about religion to anybody. We were pretty sure that she was just going to kick us out, but as we went on to talk about how pretty her apartment was, and asked her about her life, she let us come in. It was really interesting, because we asked her if we could pray and she said NO NO NO NO NO. I will not pray in your way because I want nothing to do with other religions, because I know my religion is right and true. Well, we continued to talk with her and just share personal experiences with her. She opened up to us about how she was baptized just 5 years ago, and how she felt so cleansed at her baptism and how she really feels that she is a daughter of God. We then, brought up the Book of Mormon. I was really nervous that we would get kicked out but what happened was really touching. We really saw the Spirit touch her heart, and she looked at the Book of Mormon, picked it up, then asked us questions about it. We gladly answered, explained why the Book of Mormon is important and testified. It was a really powerful moment to see the Spirit touch her heart. We invited her to read 2nd Nephi 31 and told her how it explains how Christ was baptized. We also talked to her about how our baptism is different because we receive the Holy Ghost as a gift from God, from somebody who has priesthood authority which can only be found in our church. She was so touched and it really was such a great moment when she said she would read the chapter we gave her. The Spirit definitely worked on her, and I know that she is definitely getting prepared. She also has four sisters who live in apartments next to hers. They are all sick, so she takes care of them. She has so much love and it was so clear to us how MUCH Heavenly Father loves her. I have no doubt that she will read the Book of Mormon and have the desire to follow Christ and be baptized.

 Another quick story: we were on our way home from "O's" house, and we were walking to the bus stop, when we walked past this woman sitting on a bench in the cold. We were going to be late if we didn't just hurry and get straight to the bus stop, but as we walked passed this woman, I kept having the thought "you need to go back and talk to her." I thought... "but we're going to be late!" we walked more, and then the impression came again. I told Sister Mckell we need to go back to talk to her and so we quickly did so. This woman's name is "I", and she asked us for money. We told her we didn't have any, but told her that we have something for her that is worth more than money. What did we give her? The Book of Mormon. When we gave it to her, tears filled her eyes which were lit up. She kissed the book and then asked us who we were. We told her we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that we walked passed her but then had the feeling that we needed to talk to her. She cried as she told us about her family, and her situation. How her parents died not too long ago. We testified of how she WILL see them again, and that she will know how she can see them and learn what she needs to do in order to see them through the Book of Mormon. She promised she would call us and we invited her to church next Sunday. She said she will come. It just was such a testimony to me to always follow the promptings we recieve, even if we mistake them for our own thoughts. All good things come from God and I know that impression to talk to her came from the Spirit. 

That's all for this week. I love you all so much, be full of THANKS THIS WEEK and I will too. You're all the best my preciouses! Don't get those cops called on you.

LOVE YOU I PRAY FOR YOU! MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH! I AM GRATEFUL FOR YOU ALL!

Some nice selfies for creepin. haha just kidding. This was a cool place with icecicles

Penza at night.

This is my companion. She's the weirdest and she's my best pal. I LOVE HER

 last night on the bus

Creepiest ear shot but this place was so cool. 

Little souvenier shop. 

You best believe i bought some prizes to bring home

Cool apartment hall

A good week for reals. I even ate at McDonalds!

Some news for you all... Transfer calls are next week so I might not be able to email next monday.. I hope sister mckell and I get to serve another cycle and it's a big dream! I hope it'll happen. She's the best. We are both going on our visa trip together and we are probably going to Prauge! AHHH how sweet is that? It'll be really awesome and I'm really excited. But not excited for transfer calls. Always so terrifying!

So when President Klebingat came to our mission, he gave us instruction/advice to ask the Lord which Christ-like qualities we need to adapt into our lives. Well, I did this this morning, and the first word that came into my mind was "humility." That's always 'humbling' to be told you need to be more humble haha. AM I RIGHT?! anyway, as I was reading about Humility, there was a sentence that really stood out to me in Preach My Gospel. "When you are humble, you are confident that you can do WHATEVER the Lord requires of you if you rely on Him." Everything that we strive for really comes down to our hard work, casting out our doubts and fears, being full of faith, and being humble so that we can do WHATEVER the Lord requires of us if we fully rely on Him. Never forget that folks. I know it's true!

So last night we went to a member's house named "LD". She is literally a nut. But she has become one of my best friends on my mission. She is 67 and she studied psychology and she showed us this theory that she came up with that proves that our moods are a chemical reaction from our cells? She's a nut, see? haha Anyway, we brought this game that we made based on revelation from the book of mormon. We have written on little scrolls of paper, different verses, and we put all the scroll papers into a bag. And so we just ask questions out loud that can be silly or spiritual, and then draw a scroll from the bag and the scroll answers the question 100% every time! It's a really fun game and a fun way to teach that we can receieve revelation from the book of mormon. 

We had exchanges, and sister coleman came. IT WAS SO GOOD! REUNITED AND IT FEEEEEEELS SO GOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!! It was SO fun to just kill it with her for a day. We worked so dang hard, I have never felt so dang tired! Anyway, guess who we went to see? "L" and "M". When we got there, it was really sad to see how closed off their hearts were to us. They told us that they met with a psychologist and that she told them that all churches were sects, and that the Proveslovni church here in russia is the only true church, and that nobody has to follow the commandments, and that it's enough to just believe in God to be saved. I was SO appauled when I heard this! Anyway, long story short, they met with the Jdubs, and they told them that they had been meeting with the mormons and they got super defensive and said all these bad things about our church. Well, what really hurt the most was when "L" looked me in the eye and said "the Book of Mormon is a lie and it's not true." I then said, "Oh really... hmm... well, then explain to me that feeling you had when you received a blessing from "A"!" (our branch mission leader. which was a way spiritual experience by the way.) she said "I faked it. I didn't feel anything." Well...... then, sister coleman and I felt the spirit tell us to ask "How did you feel the first time you met with us and when we sang for you?" they said good... then we asked.. "alright, and how has your life improved from when you first met us?" She said that they don't drink anymore and that all their bad friends who were really bad influences never come around anymore because they didn't want to be their friends. Then it was sooo cool to see the spirit just touch their hearts, and help them to realize that their lives really have improved from when they started meeting with us, and they knew it, and God knows it. Anyway, she said we could go back soon. She's just really hung up on the fact that we didn't give her money when they were in need back in september. We made sure to tell her loud and clear that our church isn't a bank, and that their situation was soooo different because they have a nice tv and computer and all nice things, but somehow they had no money for groceries. I am not judging but they just need to get their priorities straight. I just love them so much though. anyway, Then "L" went off about how tithing is stupid and how the prophet just gets all the money. Haha it was really pretty funny because I know that's just not true at all, so basically.... we will help them feel the spirit and help them to know that they will only find the truth in our church. 

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT! It's always the best when we get to see the Spirit really touch people's hearts, just as I saw in "L" and "M". This church is true, even Satan has a testimony that it's true which is why he works SOOOO hard against us and this work. BECAUSE IT'S ALL TRUE!

So Sissy M and I set a goal for this week to have on baptism/confirmation this week. Our mission has a goal to baptize 140 people by the end of the year, not our goal, but one that was really inspired by the Lord. At planning on thursday, we currently had no investigators. We really didn't know how it would be possible, but we put it in the Lord's hands. We said a prayer, asking the Lord to send us in the path of somebody who has been  to church enough times who could be baptizzzed this week, and who is really ready for baptism. We asked that this person would come to church too, and that just one person form our efforts of inviting everyone would come to church. We prayed, did our fast, and...... nobody came to sacrament meeting. We didn't lost faith though, and as we walked into sunday school, who did we see? "A"'s (the boy that just got baptized in August) Mom "T"! "T" used to come to church quite often. She has been to many activities, and she was on our lesson when we explained the doctrine of baptism prior to "A's" baptism. She really understood and accepted it all really willingly. She came to his baptism, but following his baptism, went back home and didn't stay for church. 

We once had a lesson just with her a long time ago, and it really backfired because the spirit wasn't there on the lesson because all our member help wanted to do was argue and prove her wrong. It was really rough, and we haven't seen her since August at "A's" baptism. Well, back to the story. We walk into sunday school and see "T". It was SO great to see her again! What was even cooler was to see her being really receptive to the lesson being taught, and sharing her comments. Following sunday school, we went to relief soceity with her. She was sharing her ideas with the other women in class, and both Sister Mckell and I realized, that she has NEVER been invited to be baptized. We made a quick game plan to meet with her after church for 10 minutes to just talk aout the blessings that we have seen come to "A's" life following his baptism, testifying about how baptism will change her life and bless her life, and then invite her to be baptized. We were so ready, and at the end of relief society, we asked if she had ten minutes to just talk with us and..... she said no. She was really in a hurry, but she told us to call her Monday (today) and set up a time to meet. This really was a miracle, and I know that when we set goals, Heavenly Father blesses us and makes our goals happen if they are according to his will. Sure, if she isn't baptized necessarily this week, I have NO doubt that she is one of these 140 elect people who are ready for baptism and it is SO exciting to witness these miracles!

Thing are going really great. I am grateful to be here in Penza, it is definitely a special place. I am feeling a lot better after having received a blessing, and after fasting as well. I feel renewed and re-excited about the work and I know that all I have to do is just trust the Lord and know that things will happen. I am simply his instrument. 

Always trust in the Lord. He knows you and loves you so much, and he just wants so that you turn to Him. I love him, and I am so grateful for this opportunity i have to get to know Him even better. I love my Savior and he love you!

Love sissy T, Hayster.

 working with "L"

picture with "KC". He's our pal

 so tired it makes us crazy

ran into a cute girl that sissy C and I met during the summer! 

yes we ate at McDonalds duh haha

It's Russia

I washed baba "K's" dirty shirt after sewing the rips for her.... 

and this is how dirty it was. LOVE HER!!

"D" confesses his love

This week was so dang silly.

FIRST OF ALL WELCOME HOME AG!!! AHHHH WE LOVE YOU and I can't wait to see you again! COUSIN LOVE! You're the cutes and I just can't wait to be reunited with you. Helly and Agg never to be separated again... in 11 months. Anyway, welcome home cousin!

The cooooooolest miracle happened just yesterday. We have been meeting with a less active the whole time that I've been on my mission. His name is "A", he is about 75 years old, has been to the temple, and has a really protiv wife. Every time we meet with him, we intite him to come to church. He always says that he'll try, but he never has showed up. We had a meeting with him last week, Sister Mckell and I both felt inspired to watch the film Finding Faith In Christ. We brought it to him, had our member "L" who is planning to serve a mission, and we all watched it. The spirit was really strong at the end scenes when it goes through the Savior's life and shows some of the miracles that he did. At the end of the film, the Spirit was really strong and we all shared our testimonies of Christ, and then invited him to feel that same Spirit at church this sunday. He said "I'll try." Just like usual. We left with a prayer in our heart that he would be able to come to church. Well...... HE CAME!! Yesterday it was the best surprise! He even came an hour early too. I sat with him in sacrament meeting, and it was so cool to see him taking notes from all the testimonies that he heard. It was a really spiritual day at church, the Spirit was really strong in our branch building, and everybody felt love. I know that in future weeks he will continue to come to church becuase it really is a revelatory experience, and I know that he felt the Spirit. 

Halloween was great! as you know I spent mine on a train coming back from Samara to Penza... but guess what? We had a halloween party a week late! And guess what else...... the elders were in charge of it and then guess what.. they didn't plan ANYTHING and our district leader calls me and sister mckell and says "Hey.... just so you know you're in charge of throwing the halloween party. You can plan it because you're sisters and you have better ideas." oh... and guess how many days we had to plan it? Thursday, and Friday… and Friday was the day of the party. Oh my heck it was so stressful and it was kind of a flop, but that's just life! I made a sweet creeeeepy pinata out of a book of mormon box, and then taped toilet paper all over it so that it looked like it was a mummy, and then made a ghost out of news paper and covered it with a white shirt and put eyes and a mouth on it. That was definitely the hit of the party, and all the silly little kids were all silly and greedy and gathered all the candy before we could get any. I was pretty peeved about it... but that's just because I love sweets MORE than little kids (haha:) we bobbed for apples played limbo and some other games. Pretty fun.

THE FUNNIEST THING OF MY LIFE HAPPENED YESTERDAY. So you remember my email when I told you about that guy that told me I was "easy?" (skinny) and tried to lift me up? Well, his name is "D", and we were at church yesterday and we were in branch council after church ended when all of the sudden we get this phone call from a number not saved in our phone. We answer, and it's "D". And he says "I'm in Penza, I took a train here and I'm outside of your branch building.. where are you?" It was sooo weird because it was his first time in Penza and we know that he called the zone leaders (he's been meeting with the elders) and came to see sister Mckell. Long story short, it was so weird because he just came for the day and so we ended up having a lesson with him and two of the elders in penza. It was a really good lesson and we just threw it down. It was way fun, and super cool to have four testimonies just going on at once. Anyway, it was just weird and he wanted to "hang out" with us but obviously we can't do that and we had a meeting later in the evening with a member. Well, what happened next you ask? He calls us because he was just hanging out at the train station because he train didn't leave until 6 in the morning, and it was about 8pm. We told him that we would just go say bye to him before he left, so next thing you know we're at the bus station. Okay so he only speaks in english to us, but he doesn't know it that great so it takes him a long time to talk because he's forming sentences (I know the feeling!) And he said "I have to tell you something." to sister Mckell. Then he was like "it's a romance story." He then went on to say how he only went to english club because Sister Mckell was there (he calls her by her first name Kaleena) Well.... then he just went on and on about how his soul longs for her. He's also a musician and told her that he's written so many songs about her, and how is never going to love anybody as much as he loves her. He was like "I just want to kiss you Kaleena and you're the only one i want to kiss." I couldn't help but laugh. I was trying to hide my grin, but It wasn't very good because it just kept creeping out of my face. He was like "why you laugh?" haha I couldn't control it. It was really sweet though, and he really was being really really sincere but it was just so sad because he's just fresh outta luck. She was like "I'm a missionary right now." and he was like yeah but affffter your mission. and she was like... no. It was really sad and we said goodbye and just testified to him that he WILL find happiness as he reads the Book of Mormon and continues to meet with the missionaries and gets baptized and that no matter where he is or who he ends up with in life, he will be happy because he will have the gospel. Well, good thing he didn't pull a quick one on her. He was really respectful and just shook hands with us then walked back to the train station.  

We went home and started planning for the next day, and during the middle of planning he calls us and says "When I left, I was so mad. I am just so mad but I am so happy because I got to see you Kaleena and then I just said.... Screw it. We ARE going to be together one day." HAHAHAH really it was just like that and all she said was "Yeah, we'll see about that." And it was just really sad because there really was no other way to handle it. It was seriously so dang funny. Bless his heart. What a great memory though.

This morning I finished up reading from the Book of Mark. I really love it so much, and you really just learn Christ's true character from that book. I read this verse which I love. It's the last verse of Mark, in the last chapter 16. It's Christ saying his last words to his disciples before he goes back to the Father. What he said really struck me. " And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen." I loved this because it was a nice reminder to me that the Lord is always WITH us, not only that but he is working WITH us, and I really felt that He was there with me when I read that verse. It was almost as if I could feel His presence as I read it. It was just a good reminder to me, to continue to get to know the Savior and to always remember that He IS with me, and is working with me every day. So yeah never forget that  He works WITH us! I loved that.

So... if you're having a hard time thinking of what to teach some less actives or some new members for home teaching or whatever... I have the perfect lesson! It's been so fun and I have been doing it a lot lately. So it's called "The recipe of Happiness!" and it comes from 2 Nephi chapter 5. So just like in a recipe, there are different ingredients. Then you go and find the ingredients in this chapter and these are the ingredients 

v1) prayer

v5) flee from evil

v6) family

v10) keep the commandments

v12) scriptures

v16) temple

v17) work

v26) priesthood

and then verse 27 "and it came to pass that they lived after the manner of happiness"

It's been SOOOOO fun to do this with the less actives and new members. Because we always bring ingredients to make pancakes, and we teach the lesson after we make the pancakes. It's a really virtual fun activity and I hope that you get to use it sometime! The people go crazy for it, and the pancakes are the best part! (fat girl over here.hahaha

That's all folks! love you all, i pray for you.

Love sissy T

I fell again. This was before it got all black and gnarly

out with "L"

halloween cats

with "D" on the bus. haha

The roads are icy and SO SLIPPERY!

FIRST OF ALL....

Thank you family and friends and neighbors (who are my friends + family too) I LOVE YOU!! Thank you SOOO much for the birthday cards! I got a big envelope with them all in them. Dad, yours was the best because the russian made no sense, but I understood the thought of it :) AHAHAHA second best was moms. "I hope you're REALLY REALLY happy on your birthday.. like the actresses in the tampon commercials." haha love you ma, thanks for making me laugh. I love you all though, and jokes on all of you because CLAIRE'S WAS MY FAVORITE! Her little baby hand print! almost made me cry, but that's beside the point. Thanks Aunt jennifer and heidi lindsay and abbey and Bonay! you guys really are the cutest. Thanks dad mom, grandma lee, jane+papa dale, ben whit claire cami mike spenc, and that scary squirrel.. haha Made my whole week. Love you all! if i forgot anyone, don't be sad! i love you all!

This is going to be a short email... my bad.

I was in samara and saratov this week. Longest week of my life but sooo good. 

So Jorg Klebingat who spoke in conference this last session came to our mission. He is soooooo cool! He is German, speaks fluent english AND russian, his wife is russian, and he just finished up his service as mission president in ukraine before he got called to the first presidency of the 70. Funny story i want to share. He told us a story about how he went to BYU Idaho. When he went there, he met his wife. She was on student exchange from russia. 3 days later after they met, she flew to new york before flying home to moscow. she was already on her flight to new york when the spirit said "what are you doing? this is your only chance to ask her to marry you." So then he said "I quickly sold my car so that I had enough money for a plane ticket, and then I flew to new york, met her at the air port, asked her to marry me, and she said yes." Then he called BYU idaho and asked them to enroll her in school. They said no becuase deadlines had passed, and then he told his story and how she had no other option, so then they enrolled her and then they got married and just went to school.Can you believe that? 3 days!!!! Basically he's just so funny. 

Anyway, it was a really great conference. He talked a lot about christ like attributes and how we can obtain them.  How to set goals, how to bless others, man it was really inspiring. Something he shared with us is Moroni 7:33 and Mormon 9:21 How having faith in christ will give us power. Power to do the things that we need to do. I know it's true because that is why faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel. He is so important and I testify that he leads and guides his church. Of COURSE he will never lead us astray, this is his church! Of Course he will always be with us, this is his church. I know this to be true. 

We had cool miracles happen while we were out of our area in Samara. This guy who sister Mckell  once taught in the past named "D", came to the english gospel discussion group and it was SO great because he told us that he reads the Book of Mormon and that he knows that God answers his prayers. He inSISTED on walking us home after the english group. As we are walking home, he said the most awkward thing to me too. He speaks a little bit of english, and he said "TVID, you're so easy." WHat????? then he reapeated himself. I had NOO idea, so i said the russian translation for easy and he said "no no. You're so easy, like, your kilograms." I was like, "OH, you think I'm skinny?" and he said "yes. Can i pick you up?" and then gestured lifting me up into the air. hahahahahahhahahahahaha it was so awkward. I couldn't help but laugh out loud and then told him no, that was not allowed. Then he was like "okay!" as if he never asked at all. It was hilarious, and a funny reminder that some people still think i'm "easy" even though I know I'm the chubbiest in all the lands. hahah I thought you'd get a good laugh out of that. Anyway, we walk home, and then we invited him to pray to know when he needs to be baptized, and he said that he will. It was a pretty cool miracle. He said he knows he needs to be baptized. 

You all looked fab on halloween! I spent my halloween on a train from samara to penza, but cute sister Schwab got us all candy for halloween. She's a gem. You're all gems, I know this church is true. If you lack wisdom, seek, knock, and ask of God. He hears you, and loves you, and WILl answer your prayers.

Love you all so much!!!

Love Sissy T

 plov

Elder Klebingat

mistle toe. hahaha gross chicken leg a lady gave us before the train ride.

us in samara. so fun

cute package from hayd

Penza

new hair.... Just Kidding IT'S BABA K's WIG!!

Cute banner from my Hayd! and a hint of Mom and Claire. and Jesus and Hayd of course

my two best friends in my district. Elder Webber and Sister Mckell. This is in Saratov

Saratov. just how you imagine it huh?

dirty Saratov. 

she was REEEALLy happy to see me :) haha

train station in Samara

She loves it when I lay on her. hahahaha Just kidding

I may or may not have thrown a cat at someone...

Want to know a secret? I had to sing in sacrament meeting. We were in missionary meeting before church, and this man in the bishopric asked me to conduct the music in sacrament meeting, and I said yes, and then he asked something else which I THOUGHT had to do with conducting the music, but then to my surprise, in sacrament meeting, "K", the legend (RM in our branch who makes everyone cry from his testimony) announced that I was singing. I had NOOOOO idea. It was really humbling, and really hilarious as I tried to figure out what the heck I was supposed to do. I wish you could've seen the shock on my face haha it really was the worst/ best surprise. I sang because I have been given much. And then, at the end of the song, I looked at the congregation and lots of people were crying because it sounded so bad. hahaha just kiddin, they were crying because they felt the spirit, but still, I think it may be because the other reason. I never realized how much I like to sing though. I don't have the best voice, but it's always so fun to use as a way to help people feel the spirit. 

 At the end of planning every night, I make a list of five things I"m grateful for from that day. Last night on the list, one of the things was "I'm grateful I threw a cat at "S" Here's the Story:

Baba K, the one eyed wonder has a new house mate. His name is "S"., and he is the son of the elders investigator named "L". Well, long story short, he is the silliest human, but in the sense that he really is strange. He is SO angsty. He always says "I love angst." and he has yin yang tattoos and skull tattoos and he wears this creepy silly bandana on his long hair and he always wears a tank top with a burning skull on it and his nipples always fly out. Well, he always talks about antichrist who he believes was christ's brother? So you best believe we whipped out Alma chapter 30 on him last night. GOTCHA! When it started talking about Korihor, he was SUPER intrigued. Then at the end we testified of christ, and he just started saying "I need to see a sign to know that Jesus really did miracles. I won't believe unless I see." And we got so worked up and said "YOU SOUND JUST LIKE KORIHOR! DID YOU EVEN LISTEN TO THE STORY?!" Long story short, he was saying some bad things about Christ and just being really rude and immature so I threw baba "K"'s cat at him. Then I testified of Christ and then he listened because the cat really scared him straight. haha one of the worst things i've done, but it sounds a lot worse than it really was. It was really funny. Let's just say he respects us. And at the end of the lesson he even said, "I believed in Christ once. But I prayed to him and he didn't help me." So that was really cool because now we know more about his history and how to help him find that faith in christ again. I hope you don't think I'm a mean witch now.... it was just the right thing to do at the right time haha.

This week was so stagnant and I hate thinking about it. I have hit this rut where I just feel like I am not progressing, and I don't know how to progress, and it's really hard to not beat myself up about the language, and etc. I know it's just satan though. Our mission has a goal to baptize 140 people this year, and in our mission president's letter to us this week he said, "IT'S CRUNCH TIME." So that's scary. It's just freaky because I definitely see Satan's influence really strong on the people here, and I also see him trying to discourage our mission into believing that there aren't many people that are ready to accept baptism. It's the worst and it's super discouraging, but I know that WE have power to call down miracles from heaven. I have been studying in the book of Mark lately, and it's been soooo cool to read about Christ and his miracles and teachings. I read today how we really do have power to call down miracles, but it's just the act of faith of calling them down which is the hardest part. I am guilty of that too. I don't pray for miracles enough. BUT I know that Satan really attacks hard because the biggest miracles of all are about to happen, so I have faith that BIG things are about to happen! BIG THINGS.

We had a meeting fall through with "A" which was super annoying because she didn't even tell us, she just didn't even show up to the branch building. Our member help who is our branch mission leader lives really far away, so we ended up just talking to him for a few minutes about our area and how we can improve the work. He told us that two sundays ago when President Rushetnikov who is the head honcho in Saratov. Well he was at our branch building, he said "a lot of people will be coming into your branch, lot's of different people; different characters." That really struck me hard when he told us that. We were out last night contacting, and met a woman who really was THE biggest character I have ever met. She was wondering around like a lost puppy. Her story is she had an interview for a job, and she thought that it was morning time, but it was really night time. It was interesting because the spirit inclined my arm with the Book of Mormon in it to her, and just said, "This is yours." She quickly accepted it, and then we got to explain to her why it's important and how it can change her life. She really was probably one of the biggest characters i have met on my mission thus far, and after talking with her the words from President Reshutnikov came into my mind; " lots of different characters."  

I hate to end now but I am all out of time. I love you all and pray for you always. Thanks for your prayers and for writing me. My advice this week READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. just as we need food each day to keep us from being cranky, we need spiritual food. 

Love you all!!

Love sissy T

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