Chihuahuas

This week we almost got a pet chihuahua! While out contacting, we see these two jolly old men, both of which were walking their tiny chuhuahuas. One dog was black, the other one was white. So of course after these men found out we're american, they tell us their dogs names are Obama, and Putin (real original.) but this is where the story gets good: we gave both these 70 year old men books of mormon and then all of the sudden, Putin's owner started trying to take little Obama's leash against his owners will. Next thing we know they're just yelling and hitting each other like kids. "WE HAVE TO GIVE THESE GIRLS A GIFT!" - Putin's owner "GIVE ME YOUR DOG AND WE'LL GIVE IT TO THEM." Obama's owner: "YOU IDIOT THIS IS MY WIFE'S DOG! I'M NOT GIVING HIM AWAY!!!" 

At this point they're literally about to get into a full on fight, so we just walked about, obviously laughing at everything that's been happening. Then when we got about 11 feet away, we hear little dog feet and man feet running up behind us. We turned around only to see little Obama the Chihuahua and his owner, who was the one saying that lil Obama was his wife's dog. He says to us "GIRLS! It's only fair that you accept my dog as a gift. Here, he's yours."  We busted up laughing and told him we're not allowed to have petes, but he didn't care. He started grabbing my arms to put the leash in my hand, so we finally had to lie and say "WE HATE DOGS!" Which ended up not being a complete lie.......... seeing as there's a dog for president right now with the same name. hahahaha that joke though. Anyway, it was a good time. Russians are just so generous, they'll even give you their wive's dog if you aren't careful.

Okay my favorite part! The miracles. I have realized a lot this week how big of a role the Spirit has in EVERYTHING, but especially in this work. I'll try to keep this story as short and as simple as I can. I don't know if you've noticed but I have a reeeeeally hard time writing things simply. I love the details! Alright. So we had something super amazing happen this past week. We met this 30 year old girl on a bus a couple weeks ago. We were on our way home from english group and so we had some time to talk to people on the bus. Every person who sat immediately around us wasn't too into what we had to say, but a few rows back was this woman who looks JUST like the corpse bride (google that if you don't know what I'm talking about. Ps I may or may not be judging you if you don't know who/what the corpse bride is) and she's just listening to us intently. After a couple more conversations that went nowhere, I couldn't shake the impression and thought "Get up and go talk to her right now." So I listened, and there just so happened to be an empty seat next to hers. So I got up and went over to her. Her name is "OL". We had a nice chat! She has 2 daughters age 11 and 6 and she has been divorced twice. The most awkward part about our whole encouter was before finding out she's been divorced twice, I looked at the screen of her phone and her background was a photo of a shirtless man laying on his side. I asked "OOOOH is that your husband?" and she said "....no..... it's my uncle." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA So Bubba,Todd, Dallis, Don, Lorin, Evan, you best send me those selfies so I have a good background on my phone when I get home. It was SOOOO dang funny She is very believing and was really excited to get the book of mormon. We exchanged numbers and like that, it was time for us to get off the bus. 

We ended up meeting her a few days later, and we felt impressed to talk about the restoration. At our meeting, she said "I've already read 1/2 of the book of mormon, and my 11 year old daughter is also reading too." WOW! This has only happened one other time my whole mission. So dang cool. So we taught her the restoration and she asked us "Why is it... that when I go to the proveslovni church that I feel worse after being there then before I ever felt going in?" We taught her and then explained to her that she felt that way because that church doesn't have the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We invited her to be baptized and she agreed! It was really so spiritual and special. But the best part of the whole lesson was when after she committed to be baptized, she said "That night we met on the bus, I was SO mesmerized with you sisters. I wanted to talk to you so bad, but I just didn't know how beacuse I didn't want to get up and change seats. I really just couldn't help but long to talk with you, and then I began to worry, fearing that you would get off the bus soon. Right when I feared, I had this thought come into my head "Don't worry. They're going to come and talk to you." I didn't want to get up and change my own seat. I didn't want to freak this lady out, but the prompting from the Spirit that I received was loud and clear "go talk to her right now." In the moment I thought this, was the moment that "OL" was told that we would go and talk to her. And now, this darling lady has agreed to be baptized and it's honestly super incredible. I really was reminded of my testimony to NEVER delay a prompting. I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if I didn't get up. If I chose to "fear man more than God." as the scriptures put it. Because I acted on that prompting, I was an instrument in the Lord's hands to answer His cute little corpse bride daughter "OL"'s desire to talk with us. We were able to teach her and now she wants to be baptized. It's so radical! The mission is so rad.

I remember a time in Penza my first area sitting on a bus with Sissy Mckell, and looking at the woman sitting across from me. I had this really random prompting "ask her if she has a son you can pray for." I remember thinking "that's literally ridiculous. I will NOT ask her because that's just dumb, especially if she doesn't have a son. She doesn't even know me." I remember I had that prompting about 3 more times, but I was selfish and I didn't act on it, and the woman finally ended up getting off the bus at her stop without me saying a word. I remember crying right after she got off, because I knew, and God knew that I didn't act on that prompting. I really felt in that moment that I destroyed God's trust in me. Good thing we have the atonement in our lives so I was able to repent realllll quick but that memory still is scarred in my heart. I from that point have tried my very hardest to never delay a prompting from the Spirit again. I really do try, but obviously I am not perfect, and we are not perfect, so all we can do is just try and repent when we fail. I am really grateful for the Spirit. He plays a huge key in this work and I know without the Spirit we truly would be wandering around without any direction. But maybe no direction is better than one direction.... (get it? the boy band one direction....)

Anyway, I remember a period in my life when the Spirit seemed to me too abstract and unreachable which is dumb because I can name many many experiences in my life where I felt the Spirit and received promptings from the spirit. I know that something I've really come to learn on my mission is that the Spirit really and truly is the third member of the Godhead. We talk so often about Heavenly Father's part, Christ's part, and our part of the work, but we often forget or don't focus enough on the Spirit's part. 

There is a cool verse in Moses 6:61 which talks about the Spirit. 

"Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of Heaven; the comforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things; which maketh alive all things; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgement."

The Spirit knoweth ALL things. I forget that every day! He too is a member of the Godhead and He too knows all things. So who are we, to reject a prompting from the Spirit? Who are we to reject feelings from our wise, merciful, just, and truthful Heavenly Father? This is SOOOO important!!!!!!! We serve each other and we serve God when we act on the teeny sometimes tiny impressions that come to our heart by the Spirit. 

I experienced this a lot this week. It was crazy, we saw this lady smile at us as we were talking to another woman, and then she walked past about 3 times, and she was with her little daughter, and then we FINALLY ended the conversation we had with the one lady. Anyway, what ended up happening long story short is sister Hullinger said "We need to go find that lady and her daughter." It really seemed impossible because she was by us about 10 minutes earlier. So we said a prayer, and we crossed the street and turned right. We both didn't feel good about going right, and honestly felt this force motivate us to turning left instead. So we listened! We went left, and walk for quite a ways until we see this grocery store. We both stopped in our tracks, looks at each other, and said "They're in there." We go into the grocery store, go up an down a couple aisles, and the last asile..... THERE IS THE LADY AND HER DAUGHTER. Standing in front of the yogurts. We were so amazed that we actually were led to them by the Spirit that we were there, and we quickly realized we didn't have anything to say. So the dummy inside me looks for clues and see the yogurt, which is called Miracle (in russian) and so I said "IT'S A MIRACLE! WE FOUND YOU!" hahahhahaha so stupid but the lady wasn't weirded out at all. It turns out that this lady is a less active and hasn't been to church in a long time, and her daughter is almost 8 and should be getting baptized soon. I am really grateful for the Spirit and that He really and truly did lead us to this woman and her daughter. There is NO possible way we could have come up with where they were. BUT the Spirit helped us out and really did lead us and I KNOW without a doubt that it was all Him under instruction from Heavenly Father and the Lord that we were able to find them. It was soooo sweet.

I am afraid that's all for the week. I gotta go buy a new camera ^.^ thanks mom n dad. xoxoxo But here is a quick thought about my siiiiiiick companion.

Sister Hullinger is just the dang FRIEND! I really love serving with her, and am really grateful to the Lord for letting us to serve together at this time. I can't imagine serving with anyone else right now at this time. I am learning so much about loving missionary work from her and so much about the atonement of Christ. She is very very good at recognizing when she makes mistakes, taking it to the Lord in prayer, and then moving forward. I really need to learn that, and I know that is one of the many many reasons that we were called to serve together right now at this time together in this city. I love her so much and I am really grateful for all that she teaches me. She's also the dang sass which I love so that's just a dang plus. 

Anyway, I love YOU ALL. Have the happiest week! NEXT MONDEE IT'LL BE MY CLAIREY'S BDAY!!! YAY 2!!!! I love you so much little clairence. You are just the little babe. I love you all! But I miiiiight love Claire the most. :) hahaha 

HAVE A HAPPY WEEK! 

Love Sissy Hayster

OMG almost forgot. We saw SISTER! the dog this week! I'll attach photos:)

The freshest yummiest bread with jam inside. I could eat hundreds of them. 

SHOOT. But I only ate two:)

some wild flowers

This man alexander on the street let me play his accordion! 

I sucked at it haha

this sums up how happy i felt inside after "OL" committed to be baptized

We met a hairless cat

SISTER! THE DOG!

It. was. FREEZING! So windy! hahaha the saddest picture of all. 

Hayd you're cute

SISTER!

This past week was CRAZY! We saw so many cool miracles. I really feel like the Lord has been showing me over and over and over His hand in this work. And sometimes He does it in the most unbelievable ways.

So............. did you know that the Lord works through dogs? On wednesday morning, sister Hullinger and I hit the streets early. EVERY person that we talked to rejected us, yelled at us, ignored us, you name it. I can dig it, I can handle that for the first 3-5 people we talk to... but when it goes on for 20 minutes it just makes you crazy a little bit. We kept walking a little bit, and were really trying to listen to the Spirit to find out where to go and who we should talk with. Well same thing, nobody wanted to talk to us, and then we see this cute stray dog on the street. We walked up to it to say hi, and then she just was the NICEST stray dog I ever met in my life. Get this: she stood up really fast and then just started walking ahead of us and looking back from time to time. Sister Hullinger and I look at each other, and then it's clear to us just HAD to follow this dog. So we went out on a limb, and followed the dog. The second we followed her, people started talking to us. She led us down this street we've never been on, and we saw these two older women just waiting for their shop to open so that they can go to work. They were both believing and were really excited to receive the book of mormon. It was amazing really. Then, the dog barks, telling us it's time to leave, so we leave and follow this dog, and met this WAY sweet young girl and it just went on and on and every person we spoke with really were kind to us even if they weren't really interested in our message. The best part of all is that the dog which we named SISTER! led us the rest of the morning to this woman that was sweeping the debris from the streets. haha only in Russia. anyway, we got talking to this lady, and it turns out that this woman is a less active that NOBODY has seen in a really long time. Her name is "ZY" and she stopped going to church because she told us that once victory day was on a sunday and NOBODY who spoke at church even mentioned that it was victory day and it just offended her so she stopped going. ........ That's just a lame reason if you ask me, but we can work with that. Anyway, she told us that we could go over to her house this upcoming weekend so that was just rad. We looked around for SISTER! the dog, and she just curled up to sleep under some bushes, and then it was time to go home for studies. It was a funny little mercy for reals. 

On Thursday night sister Hullinger and I just felt really enthusiastic about the work, and we were really determined that on Friday we wanted to give out lots of books of mormon to people. So, we set a goal to give out 10, to get 1 member present lesson, and to get 2 phone numbers, and 1 new investigator. By the end of the night guess what happened? We were able to get out 12 books of mormon, we had 3 member present lessons, received 5 phone numbers, and found 2 new investigators. ISN'T THAT JUST FAB?! It was just such a miracle. We really relied on Christ that day and were really focused all day long toward our goal. It was incredible to be a part of, and it was as if the Lord said to us "Alright my sisters, get out there and have faith that I can help you with this goal. Sit back and watch me do my work" And He did, and there was no way we could have reached those goals without the Savior and His help and without choosing to have faith IN Him. Pretty interesting that faith is a choice, huh? The best part of that night was this woman that we ALMOST didn't talk to, but we chased her down and found out that she loves family history and she's been doing it for the past four years and then right there on the street she invited me and sister Hullinger and our member help “BV” over to her house! First time that's happened to me on my whole mission! It was so awesome. We were able to help her know more about family history, AND teach her the restoration. She just ate everything up and agreed to come to church and about praying about our message. Her name is "MN" and she's obsessed with cats, so that's always a fun quality. Seriously, she has little ceramic cats alllll over her house, and vinyl stickers of cats allllll over the walls, and cat cups, and she even has a cat named Jacob but it's a girl cat so that's just the funniest part of all. (nahmean?) Anyway, we are stoked to be working with her now!

I feel really enlightened about repentance after our zone conference we just had this last week so I wanted to share with you what I learned:

We talked a lot about love, and praying to have love. I never realized before my mission that we can pray for love because Christ has perfect love and we can look to him to be filled with His love for ourselves, for others, and for Him. This doesn't apply to the SAINTS exclusively, it also applies to the sinner, to the broken, to the damaged, and to the incompetent and imperfect people that we all are. 

President Schwab said something that really impressed me. Often times when we make the mistakes we make every day, we feel trapped and trick ourselves into believing Satan and what he tells us. Things like "I'm too bad, i'll never be forgiven." Then President said something so profound, so bluntly and boldly. He said "Who are YOU to challenge the Savior?"

I thought about that..... "who are WE to challenge the Savior?" Who are we, to get so caught up in our imperfect ways and hold on to guilt and hate ourselves and try to punish ourselves for our mistakes when all we need to do is just quickly repent and hand it all over to the Lord?! Yes, sometimes repentance is a long process, but we have been promised by the Lord himself in Mosiah 26:30 "As often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.." That is just UNREAL! And then we go on to read in verse 31 "And ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses." Forgiving one another often includes forgiving ourselves. 

This has really opened my eyes a ton. I am so grateful for repentance and all the relief it brings to me. I know that Christ lives and loves us and that he leads his work! It's just so great. 

SO, all my friends and fam, just DO it. Just turn to the Savior because He understands. I know He does because I feel the way He understands me! It's truly amazing. He is so ready to forgive. All we have to do it just ask.

FUNNY story real quick: We were contacting the other night, and we stopped this man who was walking his dog, and we got talking, and came to find out that he is a former investigator! And Sister Hullinger can't really speak too well yet, so this man said to me "Why is she being silent? I KNOW WHY. SHE HAS A DARK SOUL." So I say to sister Hullinger "Don't you know anything? Gingers DON'T have souls." hahahahahaha but then I made her talk and she invited him to church and he declined, but we know he'll come some day. 

Anyway, I love you all. Keep on keeping on and keep it REAL. We are now in the 60's brothers and shishters.......

See you SOON.

Love, Sissy Twede

PS Tolyatti is just grand. I love the forest life

I want to buy EVERYTHING at the fruit stands always. SO FRESH!

The way you shake it

papa dale look what I'm eating! your famous sandwich! 

I rode a dolphin last week

the best photoshopping job you ever saw. "one among lions!"

mama took us to a cafe! she's a member who speaks the most british english. She taught english in her younger days. We ate borsch and bleeni it's great! 

kids playing on a sunday evening! 

I could just squeeze my little reggie (redhead in russian)

prettiest sunny set

Studying today. We like to study in the dark

Тольятти

Oh my oh my what the heck is Tolyatti?! This place is crazy. It's like a mix of Penza my hometown, and the place I don't care to go back to: Balakova (Love the people there just not the city.) It's great though and this week has been a wild one.

On monday evening we had a family night at the Dunns with "EL" my precious. She was just recently baptized in June and is super super solid. She and I agreed that we must have been really really close friends before this life because she and I just have a special bond. I love her! It hurt really bad to say goodbye to her I'm telling you... it's a huge heartbreak every time saying goodbye to the people you just fall in love with. But it's okay, because she told me that she'll come visit the Tolyatti branch sometime. Anyway, It's okay though because I get to have my last sunday at the Aurora branch which is my last branch where I served, and I'm STOKED about it. I already miss my Aurora family so much.

Tuesday early early morning I had a visa trip. And guess what.......... I was the only sister. And it was awful. Elders Peterson,  Stauffer, Porter and Northrup were there and they're the dang pals, but it still just wasn't fun having elders as your companions all day. haha it was a blast though. We flew to Riga Latvia again. Guess what we did there? WE ATE TGIFRIDAYS! It was so expensive and so tasty and I did it just because I know that you, dad, would encourage me to do so. It was interesting though, because something about elders: they ask you to tell a story, and then they get distracted and then don't let you finish your story because they honestly don't care to hear the end. Except Elder Northrup, he's the pal and he always listens to my stories so it's all good. We also got frozen yogurt (obviously) and I just was so happy because I know that I get it again in 2 months with the DUNNS! hehehehe yes. On the flight from Moscow to Latvia, guess who happened to be on the flight? HAYDEN! haha jk I wish though. I would've gone and just squeeeeezed him! But apparently there is this REALLY famous stand up comedian in Russia named Jhenya. And he sat right next to me on the plane. He is 69 years old and looks like he's about..... 55. Not bad. But EVERYONE was bringing their plane ticket stubs up to him to have him sign them. I was like... "Well... do you want a white, long dressed mormon girl's autograph too?" haha they wouldn't have that. Anyway, I got talking with this guy. He's a nice guy. Talked about his family, and about his vacation home which is in Latvia. This man had two iphones, and an ipad which was pretty funny if you ask me. I made fun of him for it hahaha I said "Oh you think you're rich or something? 2 iphone 6's huh?" and then he looked at me real funny and then this man sitting in front of us was like "HE HAS A LOT OF WORK TO DO OF COURSE HE HAS TWO PHONES!" wooooooah sorry dude, I was just messing. haha But Jhenya wasn't offended, he just laughed..... because he really is rich. But he doesn't really flaunt it so that's good. At the end of the flight, I gave him a paper with my testimony written on it, and then a pass along card. Hopefully he won't forget about that experience beacuse I know that I sure won't. Funny story: He showed me an outfit he wore for one of his skits..... he was dressed up like a cholo mexican and it was SOOOO funny. He really did look mexican it was funny. Funny guy.

Met this other woman named "GL". She was the dang best babyshka I ever did meet. She was soooo chatty. We had a nice chat about Stephen Hawking and about how he was foolish to divorce his first wife. hahaha I honestly don't know much about the guy, but she had some beef on him. This lady was just the dang friend! It turns out that she is from a city outside of Samara quite a ways, and it's called Ufah. like Utah, but Ufah. Anyway, apparently there used to be missionaries there, because she said that she used to go to their english group, and that they were Mormons. So that was awesome. I asked her if she had the book of mormon, and she said NO! So you best believe I was able to give that to her. It was really awesome, and she committed to reading it. Then she said "OH YOU'RE JUST THE BEST! LET'S SKYPE!" So then we exchanged skypes and I promised her that in october we will skype. She said she's waiting for me haha. We got numbers and all that jazz, and I even got to meet her granddaughters who spoke perfect english and her daughter who were all from Lithuania. They were just the prettiest fairies you ever did see. Anyway, I just LOVE moments like that, where there are all these weird connections. It just goes to show the world really is so dang small, and there are always reasons for everything. It was just a blast. She squeezed me real tight!

When we got into Moscow at passport control after flying out of Latvia, the most beautiful sight I ever saw happened. 300 Asians just flooded behind us! 300. LITERALLY. They came to Russia for an excursion and it was just so amazing to see all these chinese friends. They were all just so nice! I really realized in that moment, that we really don't speak the same languages at all in this world... but we all speak the language of love and kindness, and EVERYONE knows what a smile means. I got some really cute asian smiles that night. I can go ahead and check that right off my bucket list: Seeing a sea of asian friends at the Moscow airport. CHECK.

You're all probably wondering about my new companion.... well here's the story: Me and all my pals sister Mckell, sis Wilson, sis Wagstaff, and sis Palmer are all training this cycle. We got to have a huge sleepover on tuesday night which RULED. And then On wednesday morning we went to meet our trainees. It was really fun to walk into the room and guess which ones will become our companions. and guess what? I GUESS RIGHT!

Kilie Hullinger from Vancouver Washington. She's a dang hoot. Her personality is a lot like Amy Sorenson’s actually.... (shout out to my Amos. I miss and love you!)So obviously she and I get along just great. She's got firey red hair and blue eyes and she actually thinks my stupid jokes are funny so that's great. She's a lil rockstar too and she isn't afraid at all to talk to people and she just LOVES Russia as much as me so it's way great. 

She and I both got into our area on Thursday during the day. Our apartment used to be the old branch presidents house, but he just moved to Moscow for work. So we have his apartment. It's pretty nice, but there's no AC. So we make do with the fan and the fridge (i really do sit in the fridge.) Anyway, Sister Hullinger and I were both a bit uneasy about the whole white washing an area (two new missionaries in one area) but anyway, we got to our apartment and guess whow as there? THE MEMBER “L”!!! I wrote home about her in May... but I'll retell it. Once upon a time in may, there was a conference for the branches in the zone of our mission and Tolyatti's branch came down for it. We had lunch at the Dunns house after, and then this member "L" grabs my arm, looks me in the eye, and said "see you in August sister twede!" OKAY WHAT THE HECK. Anyway she was standing in our new apartment to greet us when we got here. She said to me "I TOLD YOU YOU'D COME HERE IN AUGUST!!!" I asked her how she knew, and she told me that she really just guessed and hoped because she really wanted me to come to Tolyatti. It's just weird that she guess it. 

Anyway, it was a huge blessing though, because she ended up showing us around our area a little bit and then she sneakliy said "Come over with me to my house so I can drop off my bags." So we went with her and... SURPRISE!!! A nice homemade dinner was waiting for us! AHH I wanted to cry honestly. She made us Ragu (so tasty) and then she fed us fresh bread, and tea, and fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from her Dacha (summer home) and then way yummy sweet rolls covered in sugar. It was just the best. SHE'S the best! Her daughter “OL” and her husband “VT” got married last year, and they were over for a little bit at dinner. I have met them in the past in samara, so it was good to see them again! 

You think that's crazy? GET THIS: "L"'s husband came home right as we finished dinner, and then they said "alright sisters let's go to Lenta!" which basically sounds a lot like "C'mon sisters.... let's go to COSTCO!!!" Lenta is the Russian Costco and it's THEEEE best!!!!! So we went with them and they bought us bread and bananas and journals to write in and then gave us bags FULL of home grown tomatoes and cucumbers and apples and cherries from their Daha. AND THEN they walked us home with all our groceries that we bought. It was so amazing. I was so grateful that night because the Lord really knew how nervous I was and He worked through "L" and her family to comfort and serve us. It was the best, and it really strengthened my testimony of service just like we read in Mosiah "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God." It's so true. Anyway, MAKE SURE that you keep an eye out for all those people the Lord sends your way to strengthen and uplift and serve you because I really do know that He works through His children. 

We've been seeing a lot of sweet miracles lately. We went out one night and met this girl named “KT”. She's 19 and recently moved here to Tolyatti. She told us that she has been thinking about God recently for the first time in her life. She said that she has been feeling pretty alone lately since she's moved here and all of the sudden she has this really huge desire to know more about God through scripture. So we gave her the Book of Mormon and she promised to read! We also got her number so we are really hoping and praying that this week we will be able to work out a lesson with her.

What else what else..... On saturday night we set a goal to buy ice cream in the evening because... duh ice cream is the best friend! Anyway, while contacting, we see this girl walking as if she'd be late getting somewhere. I had this feeling to talk to her but she was just walking way too fast and was way too far ahead of us to catch up.So what did we do? We ran after her and just yelled "HEY GIRL!" Probably scared the crap outta her haha. But we had to be loud enough so that she could hear through the head phones she was wearing! Anyway, she stopped and talked with us. She was on her way to develop photos at the store, but the store was closed, so she ended up walking with us. We really got to know each other, and we even got ice cream at Mcdonalds which was the tastiest part of all. Reaching goals one at a time haha. Anyway, she was with us for about an hour and 15 minutes and it was way sweet. She LOVES reading and was really stoked to get the Book of Mormon. We are meeting with her tomorrow so that's just going to be the best time. SO STOKED! 

I actually gotta jet now beacacuse the Matroyshka dolls await me. I am going to go and buy dolls today. It's going to be so great! Anyway, I love you all so much. The biggest thing I learned this past week, is to just trust God, and to not take other people's judgements and create our judgements based off of others. I have heard many things about all the companions that I serve with just prior to serving with them, and then I make false opinions of them and it's just lame! I do that with people on the streets too. I think "This woman is too rich and probably won't accept the Gospel." or "This family is too pretty and I don't want to disturb their evening together." But really I should make these judgements with Heavenly eyes. Does that make sense? Here's an example in the scriptures to paint in your minds what I'm talking about. In Mosiah 17:11-12 King Noah has Abinadi preaching to him and his priests as they are deciding how to deal with Abinadi. Should they kill him or let him go? So Abinadi has this moment where the Lord confounds the mouths of king noah and his servants and priests because the message that Abinadi was to deliver had not yet been given. It just so happened, that King Noah was convinced of Abinadi and his words and even feared God after hearing Abinadi's prophesying. But, then he feared man (his priests and servants and their opinions of Abinadi and what to do with him) more than the warnings of God through Abinidi's words. And thus we see... we shouldn't base our opinions of people, places and things off of other peoples because we too are entitled to our own opinions and we are all so very different. HOWEVER.... before judging, we should look at the people places and things with heaven's eyes (just like that song from one of my favorite films the Prince of Egypt.) I know that we won't be confounded before men as we do this, and we will be showing the Lord humililty and charity which is so central to our progression here on earth. 

Anyway, I love you all so dang much! I wish you the happiest week! I wish you all "happy lives, a successful job, a beautiful husband, many obedient kids, health, and love." - all the babushki here wish me all these things every single day. Now it's your turn!

LOVE YOU have a happy week. Miss you so much. We're under the 100's now people! See you soon!

Love, Sissy Twede

My ice cream cone purse that my cute “KS” from Samara made me! 

She's the sickest member in town. Love her.

TRAINING!

My silly companion and this sassy member in Samara "O".

The car factory of Tolyatti everyone

Hayd this is the guy I spoke hmong to! He is from Vietnam haha.

I just had to take a photo with him and his tiny friend.

This is our new dome!

and this is our huge elevator

I told you i sit in the fridge.... NO AC

My compy loves me and i love her

She's great and these trees are divine they're called rubina

Tolyatti

МАМА ДАЙ 50 РУБЛЕЙ

This letter is short..... I feel really bad because I have no time at all today. I found out my transfer.......................... it's pretty crazy...... you ready to hear it?

I am reopening an area called Tolyatti! There have been sisters there before, but they closed it because of the lack of sisters. So yeah, me and sister reed are getting separated. I really love. Anyway, guess who my companion will be? I DON'T KNOW YET! because I'm training again. I am so nervous because I don't know anything about this city other than the branch is huge there, and that the bus routes are really weird and it's hard to find where you are going. But I just can't believe that the Lord trusts me enough with such a big task! It's a huge blessing and I am really nervous but I know that it'll all be okay. AHHHH changes in the mission it's just so crazy. It's always so scandalous. but Tolyatti is only one hour away from Samara, so it's really great because the Dunns, that senior couple that I am obsessed with have to go to Tolyatti every once in a while and they said that when they come they will call me so that we get to see each other.

I accidentally stayed up until 1am last week..... twice.........beacuse my sister Martinez came into town because she had to fly out of Samara and so I got to see her and we just had SOOOO much to catch up on! She's just the mexican pal. Anyway, we just stayed up and talked about Hayd and talked about beto (her bf) and it was just the best time. And there was this huge storm that came out of nowhere, so there we were, at 1 am just chilling in our pj's, watching this rainstorm, and enjoying each others presence while we still could before she flew home.. and it was just so fun. I really did miss sister Martinez a ton, and I can't believe that she is on her way home right now as we speak! Also, last night I was helping her get all her luggage down to the correct size before she left.. I really won't be letting that happen again.I'm so dang exhausted today it's wild.... and I get to wake up at 3am tonight and fly to Latvia for my last visa trip! And get this: I'm the ONLY sister on the whole flight so that's going to be great. It'll be good though, because my pals elder peterson and elder Stauffer who were with me in the MTC will be on the trip so we'll just be a trio all day. It's going to be weird. The elder life.... you can just go ahead and call me elder Twede.

The coolest miracle happened this week. to keep it short, basically we had a throw down with our investigator "IR". What ended up happening is that "IR" was on date for baptism. We were really excited and she even asked us to go to her house everyday in order to help her prepare for her baptism. We tried that, and then she stopped answering our phone calls, and then she stopped letting us in when we would go over to her house. I really worry that she has some sort of bipolar or something because it was really weird. Anyway, we decided that we needed to go and tell her that we can't teach her anymore because she isn't progressing and there are people here that are really ready and just so thirsty for the gospel. Anyway, we went to her house and she wasn't home. So because we know where her mother in law lives, and because her kids are there very often, we walked on over to her mother in law's home. We were there waiting to see if they came out. Because she wasn't on the street, we went to talk to these people. They are a muslim family who ended up taking the book of mormon! It was a huge blessing, and they invited us to come back. While talking to them, we saw "IR". We walked over to her and said hi, and she just straight up ignored us really really hardcore. We were standing right in front of her face and she just wouldn't acknowledge our presence. So we just told her "Alright "IR", we aren't going to bother you anymore. We are looking for those who are ready to accept the Gospel and we can't keep coming to see you if you don't want to." Then, she and her two girls took off walking in the other direction from us. It was really tough, and it really broke both of our hearts, but sister Reed's especially. Her first heartbreak on the mission. We went to take a time out to cry it out on some tires, when about 30 minutes after we had sat down, we see "IR", and she just stared us down as she pushed the stroller with her 3 year old in it with the biggest smile on her face like a "neener neener neener" type of faces. Anyway, she ends up walking over to us, and sitting down with us, and talked to us. We basically talked to her about why we can't see her anymore, and how sad we are because of the tremendous blessings that she will be missing out on, and just asked her why she was ignoring us. She then told us "my daughters just drive me CRAZY that's why i've been avoiding you." We explained to her that the Holy Ghost which she will receive after baptism will really help her to raise her kids as a single mom. She really opened up to us. She then talked about how scared she was from her neighbors because they judge her for meeting with the mormons. We talked about fearing God more than man, and the blessings that we receive as we do so. Then, in the end, the Spirit prompted me to tell her "If you don't get baptized now, you are never going to be baptized because you're going to lose your testimony." That really hit her straight to the bone. She sat there, thinking about all we had said. We told her "if this is something that you want, if you want to choose to trust God rather than not trusting Him, then you have to call us when YOU want to meet because it's just too hard on us not knowing whether or not you'll open the door when we come over." She then said "i want to be baptized. I really want to." Then she said that she'd call us on monday. The funniest part about this whole night was when her daughter "ZL" who is 7 started stomping around saying to her mom, "МАМА ДАЙ 50 РУБЛЕЙ МАМА ДАЙ 50 РУБЛЕЙ МАМА ДАЙ 50 РУБЛЕЙ МАМА ДАЙ 50 РУБЛЕЙ!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (which means MOM GIVE ME 50 RUBLES!!!) because she wanted ice cream so she was begging for 50 rubles so that she could buy it. I think that she said it about 400 times and it was soooo annoying.

So then "IR" got this way funny idea to start mimicking "ZL", and so she started stomping around and chanting МАМА ДАЙ 50 РУБЛЕЙ! and then me and sister reed started doing it too and it was just SOOOOOOOOOOO funny. And then "ZL" realized how ridiculous she looked, so she hit herself in the face and said "AHHH CRAP!!!" basically, and then she went to sit down on a stump. I went over to her and told her ""ZL", go and tell your mom that you love her, and then say "mama, can I PLEEEEASE have 50 rubles to buy ice cream??" And then she did, and then her mom gave it to her after she asked nicely, and then I told her to hug and kiss her mom and she did and it was so cute and funny. It was bad though, because when "ZL" was doing it at first, "IR" was so annoyed and she reached in her pocket and almost rewarded "ZL"'s bad behavior. But then, we said "NO DON'T YOU DARE "IR"!" and so she didn't, and after that we all started chanting together and stomping our feet. It was just the funniest thing and I loved every second of it! HAHAHA ahh so great. I never thought that me, a 21 year old girl, would teach a 45 year old parent how to parent. The mission does weird things to you bruthas and sistahs. 

Well, saturday comes along, and we get a phonecall from "IR". She said "I have been thinking about our conversation the other night without end and.................... I want you sisters to come over today." Such a miracle! Me and sister wilson went over because we were on splits, and ended up having a really spiritual lesson with her. Her house was really messy, so we helped her clean it, and then we asked what else we could do to help, and she said "read with me." So we read 2 nephi 32 with her which talks more about the Holy Ghost, and it was exactly what she needed to hear because the Spirit prompted us to invite her to be baptized on the 15th of august, and she said YES SO EXCITEDLY! And it's just been a huge miracle because for the first time in the 5 months that I have been teaching "IR" with my companions, each time she has had a baptismal date, she never vocally prays about it. But at the end of this meeting, she did it. She prayed vocally and asked to be protected from Satan the next two weeks so that she can finally be baptized in order to have the Holy Ghost to be her companion to help her raise her children. It was really so sincere and so special, and I have faith that she is serious this time. It was really a huge miracle... and now i'm leaving so I won't see the baptism! but it's okay, because I'm cool with it, as long as she just keeps meeting with the sisters and gets baptized, that will make me the happiest. 

Saying bye to the branch here yesterday was rough, but it was really good too because I knew that I would be back there for my last sunday in russia. I am REALLY excited to see them all again! It's going to be hard to be away from them, but I already have a few young adult friends from the branch in tolyatti because they came to samara for several young adult activites that we were able to go to, so I am stoked to see them again! It's going to be so great. 

I really hate that I am out of time, but I really am terribly out of time. I have to go pack up all my things, but I have to send photos home too! I have lots this week. Please don't forget how much I love you all and that I am over here praying for you. Please don't forget that the Lord truly does soften hearts, I witnessed Him do it with "IR" this week. This really is His work!

LOVE YOU!

Love Sissy T

PS we talked to this man that was 93 this week named Vasili and we walked with him and then he danced with me and it was just the funniest happiest thing. He had the HAIRIEST ears i've ever seen. hahaha anyway, have a grand week!

cute old 93 year old vasili, just out for a stroll.

the district pals

cookies and milk is my favorite time of day.

sister reed when she's 90

sad boys smoke a lot.

sweet new apartments

me and "IR" after the lesson with sister wilson