Wrestling

So many things happened this week, I honestly don't even know where to begin!

So yeah Zone Conference was just the best. Sister Wilson came down and we got to work together she and I and go on a date with each other. We went and got bleeni and it was just a magical time to be had. We were so sick of the sass of the people by the end of the day. People were being really sassy on the marshrutkas but we decided to just go our and push hard for the last hour of the night. And we ended up finding two people that are really interested in hearing from us about the Church! One of them is this muslim DIME named "AF". She is SO kind, a 40 year old women with two young daughters. Well, she accepted us and invited us to celebrate the HUGE muslim holiday with her and her family which was on Thursday. We accepted the invitation, and she took the book of mormon and so it was just so awesome. So we went over to the house of her close friend named "GL".  Dang... i've never seen so much FOOD AT ONCE! It was so tasty too. Each year in the summer time muslims fast for two months. hey can't eat or drink all day long, but at 2 am they can wake up and eat and drink anything they want just as long as they fast all day and all evening. That is their life for two months, in the heat of the summer. They do it to show their love and gratitude to God, It's that awesome? They told us all about it as we ate together and this holiday we celebrated with them is when they break their fast. After testifying about how fasting also blesses our lives and allows us to all receive blessings from God, we gave them the Book of Mormon and they were really excited to read it. They invited us to not be shy and to come back any time! We will. It is going to be sweet. 

I am really so grateful for the zone training conference that we were able to have last week. We talked about how we should "wrestle with God" in our prayers just like we read in the book of Enos 1:2-5 and praying more earnestly like in Alma 8:5. 

I really left that meeting feeling inspired to do better and really excited to have more fervent prayers. And guess what? It's been amazing. I feel like I can really actually talk with God rather than just nag Him with my repetitive questions. On Saturday night I asked the Lord to bless that at least one investigator would come to church, and if it was none of our investigators, then just any investigators at all. The Lord really pulled through and just showed us His mighty miracles by giving the desire to TWO RANDOM WOMEN to come to church! And they were there, and they loved it. One of them was a woman named "V", who apparently was a forever investigator who hasn't been to church in over a year. And she was just the nicest lady of all! And then the friend of a family from the branch. She came for her first time and really enjoyed it. But... the best part of all is when a woman in relief society walked in late after we had all started the lesson.. and her skirt was down at her knees and she didn't notice hahahahahahhahaa good times in Tolyatti.  

Sweet sweet miracles. We met with "KT" last week. We found out the whole story with her. In august we were up in Kazan on exchanges with the sisters there. We got a phone call while there from a member named "VT". Long story short, "KT" called the branch phone number and usually nobody is at the branch at the time of day that she called, but for some reason “VT” was there at the right time doing some maintenance on the building. . Anyway, she said that she wanted to meet with us and practIce her english. Anyway, we met with her on Saturday night and asked her where she got the number for the church. She explained to us that she knows this boy from her english classes at the university named "BR", and apparently he spoke english VERY well. She asked him how he knew english so well, and he said "I practice with the mormons from America." She said that this happened a long time ago, and that with time she forgot that "BR" told her about us. She said "One day after my classes I felt so defeated and sad and I really didn't know what to do. I really needed help, so I prayed to God and when I prayed, God reminded me of that memory when "BR" told me about you, so I searched online, found  your branch here in Tolyatti with the phone number and the second I called a young man answered (VT)  and told me he'd give my number to you. And he did! Because 10 minutes later you two called me!

Isn't that crazy? God's timing is perfect. Well, we ended up trying to teach her the restoration but we were only able to talk about God is our long Heavenly Father because she asks SO many awesome questions! At the end of the lesson we felt inspired to invite her to be baptized once she comes to feel that this message is true through prayer and she looked at us and said the greatest answer I've ever heard. "Well, that's a huge decision! Surely I must pray about it." YES "KT"!!!!!!!!!!! YOU SHOULD PRAY ABOUT IT! It was an awesome answer. It wasn't yes, but it wasn't no, and it was so great to see that she understands the importance of asking God. We promised her that she will receive an answer.  We have faith that God will tell her what she needs to do. So that was just a sweet highlight from the week. 

I am really grateful to be here on a mission. I can't believe it ends in a few weeks! I am really excited to go home, honestly. BUT I am also still excited about this work, just as I was when I first got here. I feel very blessed to be here, serving with Sister Hullinger, and serving with the amazing members here in Tolyatti. I love it here and I thank the Lord for calling me here at this time. Sister Hullinger is doing great. I have been very impressed with her this last week as she had full on conversations with people without my help!  GUESS WHAT? I got drawn this week by the one... the only..... Nikolai Bleenov.... yeah, his last name is pancake. Such a great guy, I'll include photos.

I invite you to all "wrestle" with God in prayer, and to turn everything you have to Him. You will feel your burdens lifted, and you will see and come to know that we really do, in fact, talk WITH God as we pray. I love prayer, it is a blessing in my life! A HUGE ONE.

I love you and I can't wait to see you so soon! Miissing you all like crazy. See you soon pals n gals. LOVE YOU! Especially you Hayd. ^.^

Love Sister T

sun rises

the muslim feast

gooooood morning to all my orthodox pals

sweetest statue

ignore all the zits plz

this is an advertisement for a phone company haha funny huh?

THE SCANDAL

silly little friend

eternal flame here in tolyatti

jumping for joy haha whitest legs on the block.

she's a treat

FALLLLL!

they dress up logs here like children.................

Nikolai Bleenov the legend at work

the result

trying to sneak photos of mama

I finally held her down and got a pic with her. 

Funny thing (mama is a member and she hates photos.) 

Well she spanked me SO hard hahahaha you just cant see.

sweet lesson with the cute VS! She is from turjekistan

we matched ^.^

excuse my ugly hair, but sister schwab is the dang princess

this is so beasty but i love my new skirt it was 4 dollars

good times with sissy H

LITTLE FRIEND!

Are you married?

Another week just flew on by, no big deal. Happy birthday to Cato and to Maddy my sissy aka mama from the mish and also to Agg and Chan! I miss you cousins and I love you all. If I forgot your Bday and didn't mention your name here...... just know that I love you and wish you a happy magical birthday as well.

Good week over here in the dang Tolyatti. I LOVE it here still. 

So......................"ND" my gal pal in the branch has a house mate named "VL". "VL" has a little brother named "LS" and he is 23, and he just recently moved in with "VL" and "ND". "VL" and "LS" smoke together, and it's so evident in "LS" that he just really wants to start over. And that he's experienced some difficult things in his life. Anyway, "ND" has told us that "LS" is a spiritual kid and that he is interested in knowing more about the church. "LS" has one of the most SPECIAL spirits I have ever met. He's a great kid, just a little misguided. He and his brother "VL" read the bible together when they were kids and they told us several stories about Christ from the bible and shared with us their simple testimonies about how amazing Christ is. 

Anyway, so we met with "LS" and "ND" and "VL" last night after deciding through prayer with the elders who should teach him. We spent time getting to know each other. "LS" told us of his desire to know more about God and Christ. We talked about the Book of Mormon and the Bible and how they support each other. Then, "ND" chirped in with the sweetest testimony of the two books and how they led us back to Heavenly Father. We also taught him how to pray and he said such a sincere and simple prayer! Seriously... I think that could possibly my favorite part of the mission, is seeing people talk to Heavenly Father for the first time. It's always such an honor to be able to be a part of it! Anyway, We also read Moroni 10:3-5 with him, and he agreed to start reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We gave him his own book and he is really excited to read. We set up a meeting for wednesday which will also be at "ND"'s house so it's going to be great. We'll probably teach him the restoration. "ND" is just so dang cool! She served a mission 7 years ago and her testimony is so solid and she really is just like having a third companion. We're really excited to continue teaching "LS" and we have faith that he'll be baptized soon.

Did something new last week: went out with this member named "OL" who is 60 but acts like she's about 90 because she has bad ankles and can't walk for too long because of her back. Well, she signed up on our sign-up sheet to work together with us, and we figured out a time and went out to work with her. Usually when we contact, we approach people with friendly, warm greetings. But "OL"? hahahaha she's just a gem. She'd approach people and say things like "HELLO WOMAN! Would you like to know more about God?!" or "YOUR CHURCH IS WRONG AND OURS IS RIGHT. LISTEN TO US!" Haha so funny. Well, funny story: she yelled out to this man while we gave "OL"'s legs a rest sitting on a bench together. "YOUNG MAN ARE YOU MARRIED?!?!?!" The man informed us that no, he is in fact NOT married. and her priceless reply was "GOOD! Cause' today we're talking about the gospel!" Don't know how that's related at all but... really I can dig it. I'll have to try that approach sometime.

It was sweet though, because we went over to her neighbors house and found them outside sitting on a bench together as a family. An older man, his wife, and their handicapped son named "VC".He is 30 years old and he has a sweet spirit too. He asked me "Are you married?" haha not yet my friend... but soon. :) Haha anyway, they took the book of mormon and we found out that might have been the last time we would see them or even hear about them because apparently they don't always sit outside. But get this: yesterday at church, "OL" came up to us and told us that they've been reading the Book of Mormon together as a family! ISN'T THAT RAD?!?! The Lord is amazing and He just keeps on touching the hearts of people and melting them in the best way possbily. It's honestly such an honor to be a representative of Jesus Christ. I love this work SOOO MUCH DANG IT!

Something else that's worth writing about... THE DUNNS CAME TO TOLYATTI!! It was awesome. They're in charge of the young single adults and so they came to spend some time with the young singles. Well, Friday was great. We talked about how to improve the program for institute here in Tolyatti and then made pizza's! 3 investigators came and it was a great turn out. Saturday we went to the park by the forest and played games and ate snacks. 2 investigators came, including our cute "KT"!  The one who speaks english. She's a treat. We ended up later that evening going to the hotel where the Dunns stayed which was in the forest. SO PRETTY. It was a great time. We saw a wedding and the bride's dress was like a peacock! I have photos that I will include. Anyway, we went to dinner with them at this little restaurant that they have there which is just on the bank of the Volga river and it was just to die for.  The food rocked too. There were a couple of wedding parties going on at the outdoor restaurant, and it was interesting because when Russians want to see the couple kiss, they don't tap their glasses with forks.... they yell the word "GORKA GORKA GORKA GORKA GORKA GORKA!" Good dang times. I heard that word a thousand times on Friday haha. I love Russia. Anyway, being with the Dunns was just heaven. I love them so much, they have taken such good care of me. AND they understand my trunkiness because they're trunky too! "KT" came with us to dinner with them and it was awesome. Then.. on Sunday..... 7 less active came to church IT WAS SO AWESOME! I love my branch here in Tolyatti. 

I have to go, but before I do I will end with telling you about the study I had the other day. I asked a question before my scripture study "What do I need to do in order to have a solid faith in Jesus Christ?" Get this: I read Alma 5 and found SO many things that we can do in order to have solid testimonies in Christ. I invite you to all check it out and read it, but not only read it. Write down the things you can do according to the verses and see what things you can do to strengthen your faith in the Savior. I found 28 different things.This invitation isn't only because I'm a missionary... but it's because I love you all and I pray for you all and I know that when we have faith IN Christ we can do all things. He is the best and so omnipotent and amazing. I really love Him and please don't forget how much He loves you. 

I miss you all. I have 35 days left and I'm so trunky hahaha poor sister Hullinger. I just can't wait to see you all so soon. I love you and I hope you have a great week and........................................................................ SEE YOU IN 35! Love you.

Love Sissy Twede

This is literally the most adorable thing. Little girl in Samara wrote a note about how much she misses me and doesn't want me to leave russia.

just chillin with bart over here

just dangling around

"Smile. People love idiots!"

This one is for Harry. In high school when he put his number into my phone, 

he saved his name as moonshine. We love you Harry!

out in the trees with "OL". She's LB's daughter. I LOVE HER SO DANG MUCH.

Hayd pretty soon this tree is going to be you 

so fab and over saturated

I'm a beached whale

me and DS

playing chair soccer

hooking up Sister Dunn with the back massages. 

PS Hayd this will also be you in 5 weeks:)

me and "ND"

"KT" ahh man! She's great

fall

pals

dad you should start advertising this way

at the Volga in the forest

we saw a wedding there too.

view from the restaraunt with the dunns

my meal so tasty

after the lesson with "ND" "VL" and "LS"

"BI" gifted us "chicken chocolate" hahaha he wrote the word chicken on it.

smacking mosquitos off my arm

Dunns at dinner

this explains it all