Babushka

Sunday, December 14, 2014

OH MY GOODNESS MIRACLES EVERYWHERE.

Something that has been keeping me going this week is a quote that Pres Uchtdorf said to us at an easter devotional while I was at the MTC, His whole talk was about the Savior, and about the resurrection. He gave some really good advice to us all. He said, "If you want to punch Satan in the face, then preach the Gospel."  haha really funny advice, but so true too. I know that each day as we go out the preach the Gospel, we are punching Satan in the face. I really have come to know, this cycle more than any prior, that every effort we give as missionaries is accepted by our Savior, and that as we do the things we have been taught to do, we are 1)making the Lord proud, and 2)punching Satan in the face. Jokes on him though because he doesn't even have a face. sucks to be Satan, am I right?

 On thursday, the spookiest thing happened. Satan was in our apartment and we couldn't do anything about it. Thursday is when we do weekly planning and Satan decided to show up and make us really ticked off at each other which is ridiculous because we are best friends and we have never fought our whole 3 cycles together. Well, he literally bound our tongues and we couldn't even speak. We were so angry for no reason that we couldn't even speak to each other. It's just extra freaky because I prayed to cast Satan out but he just kept coming back like 20 minutes after every time I would pray and ask for his presence to leave. At a good place in time, we called our district leader and asked for blessings, and we were getting ready to leave. We both just broke down in tears and finally after 4 hours started talking to each other.  It was so scary, I hated every second of it. But we started to talk about spiritual things when we were both crying so it brought in the spirit and then we were able to leave our apartment to go get blessings . It became really clear to us after we got outside of our apartment and especially after we received blessings, that the adversary really was in our apartment really trying to bring us down. It worked because we couldn't even plan due to the fact we couldn't even speak to each other. It's really scary how apparent Satan is in this work, but on the other hand, it really is a testimony to me of how involved the Savior is in this work. If this wasn't His work, then Satan wouldn't be trying so hard to put an end to it. really freaky experience, but it really strengthened my testimony too.

Just like what they say.... Satan tries to stop good things from happening like the restoration or like a temple being dedicated, and things like that and it's evident because..........

THE CRAZIEST MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING IN OUR MISSION!!! This is literally crazy, you might pass out when I tell you about it.

There is a city in my mission called Dmitrigrad, and no missionaries are there. Well guess what? Turns out that there was a volleyball team of 15 men from ages 20-30 who were athiests, were bored, and decided to research religion together. They researched the Proveslovni church which is the biggest here in russia and found so many faults in it and found out that it's not true. They searched other religions together, and also found them not to be true. Well, they at some point started researching the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints... and guess what? They ALL know it's true. Our mission office got a phone call from these men, who asked if they could start a branch in Dmitrigrad because they really want the church there. They are sending two elders there to start a branch and teach these 15 men how to run a branch, and these men have studied our church and know ALL the doctrine, and are so converted. All they have to do is attend church 3 times and then they can be baptized, so they took a bus to Tolyatti which is a couple hours away so that they could go to church. ISN'T THAT AMAZING?!?!?! It's just God and his grace and his good heart and his love and his way of working miracles that this is happening in our mission! As you know our mission has a goal to baptize 140 people this year, and we need 70 baptisms in 6 weeks and the Lord and Heavenly Father are blessing us due to our faith in them and due to our hard work that we aren't ceasing to do over here. I KNOW that God is a God of miracles, it is because of him that the red sea was parted for moses, because of him that the brother of Jared saw the hand of God, because of God that we have the book of mormon brought to us through the prophet Joseph Smith who was so ineloquent. Heavenly Father is a God of miracles, and why would he cease to do miracles in our day? I KNOW that we can see miracles as long as we believe and have faith in Jesus Christ.  So dang cool!! AHHH I just LOVE Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ soooooooooooooo much it's not even funny.

So basically when I found out about those men getting baptized in Dmitrigrad, I got tears in my eyes, because it is just so evident to me that NOTHING, no force can stop the Lord's work. Here in Russia and all over the world. Isn't it incredible that we get to be a part of it?!?!?! We can all be a part of it! So many miracles really are happening. A little miracle in Penza happened just yesterday. There is a less active in our branch named "E". He has a wife named "I", and they have three sons age 12, 10, and 5. The only member in the family is "E", the father, and it just so happens that "I" and "E" were trying to decide which church to have their sons baptized into: Proveslovni or our church. So they have been meeting with the Elders and with our ward mission leader "A" and his wife "T" because "E" and "I" already know them and have been good friends for a couple years. Turns out that "I" has been to our branch building once, and it was about a year and a half ago. Well, they came to church yesterday for fast and testimony meeting. I had been asking Heavenly Father in my prayers for a few days to bless and inspire the members who would testify to testify of baptism. We heard the door open, and in walks "E" and "I", their three sons, and also the mom of "A" the new convert. Guess what? ALL the testimonies were testimonies of baptism and it really was one of the most spiritual fast meetings I have ever been to. I looked at "I" and "T" several times during peoples' testimonies, and they were so attentive and it was clear that they were feeling the Spirit. Our ward mission leader talked with the Elders, and they both decided that they think it would be best for me and Sister Mckell to meet with "I". Them coming to church was an answer to both mine and Sister Mckell's prayers. We have been fasting and praying a lot and asking for someone to come to church who will be ready to be baptized before the end of the year. We have NO doubt that "I" is ready, and that her two sons are ready, and that the gospel will bless their lives more than they ever can imagine. This Gospel is EXACTLY what their family needs, and what we all need too.

I love you all so much. I ask you to all read Mormon 7 today it's my fav read lately. I love you all so much i miss you all so much. Miracles happen, and God is real and all knowing and all powerful!

LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

love sissy T

THANKS ZEL FOR THE SOCKS ME AND SISSY M LOVE THEM!!! and thanks all my neighbors for the cards and letters you constantly send. I love you all. 

LOVE YOU FAM AND FRIENDS!

Russian temples soo dang cute.


Christmas is coming! This tree is sooo big!!!
YOLKA!!
from thanksgiving. HUGS!
thanksgivng lunch at the best place ever. YES PIZZA so tasty
smiley fries
 views from the train ride
we bought socks at the market... SO DANG CUTE RIGHT?!??! mine are the dolls.
sister squad in ukriane. 
Sister coleman, leavitt, johnson, mckell, and me
Plane ride from moscow to samara. this girls name is "L" and we talked the whole flight about food which was sad because we were starving after my detained fiasco.
haha she's great though.

 Ukraine form on high.. just like you imagined it huh?
Silhouettes
 elevator selfies while knocking.
Cool tank. Don't worry there's no war here.
good times knocking.
this dvd is called bmecte nabeki..... or together forever and it's so terrible and we laugh every time we give it away

we love night lights
HAPPY BDAY SISSY MCKELL!!! on tuesday last week .Thanks Zella for the cute baloon!! IT WAS too late for my bday \but just in time for sissy mckells! so thoughtful!
Penza! 350 years old. 
Just as old as my body feels haha.



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