Hailey in Russia: Dead Fishes

I am loving Balakova more and more and more and more every day and the members here are little ANGELS! I LOVE THEM! Last night we worked with a member named "VL". He's just sooooo rad and so cute and silly. He reminds me of you, dad, a ton. He's 58 years old, is missing a few teeth, has some gold teeth, and is deaf in his right ear, so whenever people pray, his "amen" is delayed after everyones. Haha he's so great. We were contacting with him last night, and when he was walking us home, he was like "ah man. I just love sweets I always have and i always will. I could eat cake all day!" HaHa I busted up and I was like ""VL" ME TOOO!!!! there is a phrase in english called sweet tooth." he got a pretty good laugh out of that.

This week we started teaching this recent convert named "CV", (she's the best character. i love her a lot.) her nephew. His name is "MX" and he is 36 and just doesn't have a lot of social skills. We went to teach him the restoration, and we had the lesson in his bedroom (with the member of course!) and it was so funny because he had dolls allll over his room, and these little things called winx, which are these fairy dolls based of this cartoon. They're skantily dressed but they're pretty cute. He had about.... 45 of them, they're just little, and then he had these dolls called monster high and they're soooooo cute I actually bought one with my mom before the mission and it's a skelton barbie, they're like barbies but with cat ears. He told us all their names it was a treat and I loved it. There are so many characters in the world. The lesson was okay, but he's not really too interested right now. He will be in the future though, I just know it. He studies the bible and knows it very very well. On Sunday we are all going to Saratov for an area conference. The area presidency for Russia will be there, and if there are enough people, THEN SARATOV WILL GET A STAKE!!!! and if they get a stake... that will be the third stake in Russia which means they can build a temple here soon!!! SO GREAT! So he said that he wants to come with us all, so let's pray he comes.

It. Is. SO. COLD here! I love it. I get icecicles in my nose and I am always a shivering, but it's just the best and I can't believe I get to experience this type of cold. It's way fun, I really love it. I slip on ice all the time and it always just brings a good laugh. This week was unbelieveably insane. SO much running around and so many miracles left and right! I experienced something really great while sitting on a bus the other day. I was sitting next to this woman, I said hello, she said hello back, but it was very clear to me that she did NOT want to talk to me. I sat there for several minutes, and my mind was just racing through my memories. My mind went back to the moment that I was surrounded by family and friends and as I opened my mission call. It was an incredible moment, those few 10 seconds when I was the only one that knew where I was going. So I was just thinking back to that moment just made me laugh and made me feel the exact same excitement that we feel just before I opened my mission call to find out where I was assigned to serve. On the bus,I felt SOOOO much excitement that I just almost burst, and I again just started talking to the lady I was next to. It actually turned out to be a great conversation and she took the Book of Mormon. It just goes to show that even when we think that people don't want to talk to us, we just have to endure it and push just a little bit because the outcome really can change their lives forever. It was just a great little reminder that I wanted to share with you all.

I think a lot of times we as missionaries lose excitement for this work. I know I often do, but really it's such a priveledge to be a missionary for the Lord at this time. There are sooo many miracles. I know that as we rely on the Lord he will just shower his blessings upon us. Today I read a talk in the conference Liahona from October. I love what President Uchtdorf said during the women's session at conference time in his talk "Living the Gospel Joyful." You should ALL go and read it! He said "Often times we think that Heavenly Father only has a limited supply of blessings which He will give to us, when in reality He is CONSTANTLY pouring out His blessings upon us, but it is our doubts, our fears, our unbelief, and our sins which repel those blessings just as an umbrella repels the rain." This has really helped me change my insight about blessings, and miracles at that. We witnessed so many this week. Thanks Pres. Uchtdorf for the thought! HE'S JUST SUCH A DIAMOND, don'tcha think? I love his talks. So let us all cast out doubts and fears so we call all fully enjoy the huuuge rain storm of blessings and miracles the Lord is just itching to give us.

So there was a day last week when we had a meeting set up with a referral during a really weird time of the day. He turned out to be a really big creep but that's a different story. So sister Martinez and I weren't even planning on going to see this referral, but we just thought we should. What we witnessed was the Lord really guide us to SOOOOO many people. Because we were in the right place at the right time, we were able to meet so many people. In the space of an hour, we gave out 3 Books of Mormon, 4 return appointments and three numbers. It was NOTHING that we did, it was all the Lord. He definitely guided our steps, and it's really fun to just see how the Lord guides us each day. We met with this old lady that we met on the streets last week named “T”. She is 76 and fabulous. She invited us over, we taught her the Restoration, and she agreed to being baptized on the 14th of February! It was such a miracle. We invited her to be baptized as she receives a witness that our church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is true. She responded "I already knew it was true when we talked on the streets just yesterday." SO great. The Lord leads this work. This is HIS work and all thing will go according to his will. Quick funny story. At the end of the lesson with "T", I had to pee sooooooo bad I almost burst, so I went to the bathroom. After I flushed the toilet I realized that I kept smelling the creeeeeepiest smell and i was like... "what iiiiiiiis that??" so I wash my hands, and as I turn to walk back out... I see... in the shower......ABOUT 35 FISHES JUST DEAD AND HANGING TO DRY IN THE SHOWER!!!! hahaha oh my gosh It was so terrifying at first, but then I just roflcoptered all over the place and took some photos. It was the silliest. Then "T" fed us bread with chocolate butter on top. Yes, that's a thing here in russia and it's pretty tasty but I am all about that butter life AND chocolate so I just was in heaven haha.

We went back to teach her the plan of salvation a few days later, but to our surprise... she talked to somebody who told her bad things about us. Such a bummer.. We think it was her daughter. Our last meeting when we taught the restoration, she agreed to coming to church and riding the bus with us, and then she said to us "I'm just too old to ride buses and go anywhere. I will only stay here." Which was just TOO FUNNY because we met her on a bus. Haha It was really a shame, and it's been a temptation to get discouraged about it, but we just keep our heads up and continue to help her remember the Holy Ghost who witnessed to her the truth of our church.

We had our English Gospel Discussions group on Saturday. Everyone that came are young english teachers. They're all soooo rad and they really have become some of my favorite friends here in Balakova. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was really stressful at first, because I find that sometimes I get intimidated by Russian teenagers. They're all so fun and cool and so pretty! But I just prayed and asked to see them as my brothers and sisters and to help them remember the things that they once knew before they came to earth. Well, we taught the lesson and when we got to baptism, the Spirit was really strong. We invited everyone to be baptized as they come to know that this message is true. “I”, one of the english teachers who is 22 say the closing prayer. It was such an AMAZING prayer! He said "God, thank you for teaching us about YOUR church and that we need to be baptized. Help us to do the right thing and come unto thy Son." It was incredible. The Elders spoke with him at the end of our english group, and he told them how he realized during our discussion group, that he has forgotten what is most important: God. Isn't that incredible? Also a young woman that was there named “M” and she whispered to us "Oh no. I haven't been baptized yet." We told her she can be! We then exchanged numbers so we will keep in close contact. The thing that is great is that all the people that came are all really good friends with each other, so once one get baptized, they will all be baptized. It was so rad and it was amazing to see the Spirit testify to each and every one of them.

I am all out of time, but I hope you all have the happiest week. Cast out your doubts fears and unbelief and just let the Lord work miracles for you. I know he will because he constantly does for all these people in Russia and for me as well. I love him he's the best pllllleeeeeease don't forget about Him this week!

Love you all, have fun being toasty as I am a white popsicle on the street.

haha Yum. White popsicles.

Love, sissy T