Hailey in Russia: Now for THE MIRACLES!

Hello all my people!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE BEST PARENTS IN THIS GALAXY! 36 years goin strong. Thank you my sibs for spoiling them as they deserve! I will pay you back with russian dolls in.... several months haha. Also congrats to my marebare on getting engaged! I love you and nate. In the words of classy people, "handsome couple right there."

Guess what? Maria and Brenton get married in 12 days! so stoked for you guys. RIA SEND ME PHOTO OF YOUR DRESS OR ELSE! And hayley and braden get married on august ninth dang. My babies are all just growing up! leaving the nest.

RUBY AND JON! you are going to italy!?!? when!? are you going to pick up hayley there or something? So stoked you guys are living the dream!!!

already so where to begin.... OKAY In two weeks we go to tolyatti which is where they build cars!!! we are going there for zone conference. I am excited to see a different city than penza. I love penza though soooo much! it's such a wonderland magic.

This last week was a tough one. I have a lot of anxiety with learning Russian and with believing that I am a good missionary. But i think that is normal! I just hope that I am trying hard enough! I feel that I am but there is always room for improvement. We had the RADDEST things happen last week though!

Now for THE MIRACLES! I REALLY don't know why, but both sister Coleman and I felt really off this past week. I don't really know exactly why. We both just felt emotionally, spiritually, and physically drained. Regardless of these feelings, we got to work. We contacted SO hard! It really was such a cool thing to see how contacting as hard as we could resulted in getting 10+ people's numbers who really are interested in our message! SO amazing. One night that we received blessings and witnessed miracles was one of the roughest days i have had on the mission. i think it was the first rough day actually, because i just love it here too much. anway, Following dinner, we went and contacted a richer part of the city in our area. We had a goal to sing to three people and to give out two books of mormon. We accomplished these goals and were satisfied. As the night was coming to a close, we found ourselves walking back to our apartment. We were contacting along this road, and this man and his wife come walking along the path. We said hello and told them who we were, and the woman was SO curious and interested. She told us all about how she went to a church years ago and how they read things during the service (didn't sound like our church) and we exchanged numbers with her and both she and her husband agreed to meet with us. NOT only this but she said, "my friend would LOVE to meet with you!" So we went and met her friend who was a small 48 year old man who just had a soul looking for light. THEN she told us about ANOTHER friend who has a sick baby who would love to talk to us. This lady is already a missionary and she doesn't even know it! They agreed to meet us the next night (friday.) Saturday evening came around. We met "L" (that's the womans name) and her husband M, where we had met them the night before. They brought with them their little 2 year old baby who is just the cutest thing ever.

They had SO many questions about our church. They asked us about infant baptism and we told them that babies aren't held accountable because they cannot sin. She seemed very relieved to hear this. Sister coleman and I felt impressed to give them books of mormon and we did so. We testified and they promised they would read. We ended that meeting with singing them a hymn. As we both began to sing, the setting sun hit our faces, and the spirit just FILLED our souls and theirs as well. They told us that they would come to church. Before bed that night, "L" texted us and told us that she read the introduction to the Book of mormon and LOVED it! We were excited to see them at church. Well, they didn't end up coming because she had to go to the dentist to get her teeth pulled out, but told us to go over to her house to talk about the gospel that night. We did EXACTLY that and she had so many questions. We taught the restoration. A member came with us and helped SO much. Her testimony is beautiful. I felt prompted to tell "L" that just like joseph smith was seeking truth, as she was (and she nodded and said YES i am looking for the truth) she could find the truth from reading the book of mormon and from praying to know it is true. It was just so powerful and she AND her husband agreed to meet with us again! We KNOW they will be baptized, and we are doing everything in our power to be worthy of heavenly fathers trust with this precious family. Please pray for them! They need every prayer. They have the richest hearts.

I know that as we do ALL that we can as missionaries and as people in general to have faith in christ and know that miracles can and will happen, they will! This family is the family we prayed for and i know god hears our prayers! this letter is short because i am low on time but know i love you all and pray for you all always!

love hayster