I may or may not have thrown a cat at someone...

Want to know a secret? I had to sing in sacrament meeting. We were in missionary meeting before church, and this man in the bishopric asked me to conduct the music in sacrament meeting, and I said yes, and then he asked something else which I THOUGHT had to do with conducting the music, but then to my surprise, in sacrament meeting, "K", the legend (RM in our branch who makes everyone cry from his testimony) announced that I was singing. I had NOOOOO idea. It was really humbling, and really hilarious as I tried to figure out what the heck I was supposed to do. I wish you could've seen the shock on my face haha it really was the worst/ best surprise. I sang because I have been given much. And then, at the end of the song, I looked at the congregation and lots of people were crying because it sounded so bad. hahaha just kiddin, they were crying because they felt the spirit, but still, I think it may be because the other reason. I never realized how much I like to sing though. I don't have the best voice, but it's always so fun to use as a way to help people feel the spirit. 

 At the end of planning every night, I make a list of five things I"m grateful for from that day. Last night on the list, one of the things was "I'm grateful I threw a cat at "S" Here's the Story:

Baba K, the one eyed wonder has a new house mate. His name is "S"., and he is the son of the elders investigator named "L". Well, long story short, he is the silliest human, but in the sense that he really is strange. He is SO angsty. He always says "I love angst." and he has yin yang tattoos and skull tattoos and he wears this creepy silly bandana on his long hair and he always wears a tank top with a burning skull on it and his nipples always fly out. Well, he always talks about antichrist who he believes was christ's brother? So you best believe we whipped out Alma chapter 30 on him last night. GOTCHA! When it started talking about Korihor, he was SUPER intrigued. Then at the end we testified of christ, and he just started saying "I need to see a sign to know that Jesus really did miracles. I won't believe unless I see." And we got so worked up and said "YOU SOUND JUST LIKE KORIHOR! DID YOU EVEN LISTEN TO THE STORY?!" Long story short, he was saying some bad things about Christ and just being really rude and immature so I threw baba "K"'s cat at him. Then I testified of Christ and then he listened because the cat really scared him straight. haha one of the worst things i've done, but it sounds a lot worse than it really was. It was really funny. Let's just say he respects us. And at the end of the lesson he even said, "I believed in Christ once. But I prayed to him and he didn't help me." So that was really cool because now we know more about his history and how to help him find that faith in christ again. I hope you don't think I'm a mean witch now.... it was just the right thing to do at the right time haha.

This week was so stagnant and I hate thinking about it. I have hit this rut where I just feel like I am not progressing, and I don't know how to progress, and it's really hard to not beat myself up about the language, and etc. I know it's just satan though. Our mission has a goal to baptize 140 people this year, and in our mission president's letter to us this week he said, "IT'S CRUNCH TIME." So that's scary. It's just freaky because I definitely see Satan's influence really strong on the people here, and I also see him trying to discourage our mission into believing that there aren't many people that are ready to accept baptism. It's the worst and it's super discouraging, but I know that WE have power to call down miracles from heaven. I have been studying in the book of Mark lately, and it's been soooo cool to read about Christ and his miracles and teachings. I read today how we really do have power to call down miracles, but it's just the act of faith of calling them down which is the hardest part. I am guilty of that too. I don't pray for miracles enough. BUT I know that Satan really attacks hard because the biggest miracles of all are about to happen, so I have faith that BIG things are about to happen! BIG THINGS.

We had a meeting fall through with "A" which was super annoying because she didn't even tell us, she just didn't even show up to the branch building. Our member help who is our branch mission leader lives really far away, so we ended up just talking to him for a few minutes about our area and how we can improve the work. He told us that two sundays ago when President Rushetnikov who is the head honcho in Saratov. Well he was at our branch building, he said "a lot of people will be coming into your branch, lot's of different people; different characters." That really struck me hard when he told us that. We were out last night contacting, and met a woman who really was THE biggest character I have ever met. She was wondering around like a lost puppy. Her story is she had an interview for a job, and she thought that it was morning time, but it was really night time. It was interesting because the spirit inclined my arm with the Book of Mormon in it to her, and just said, "This is yours." She quickly accepted it, and then we got to explain to her why it's important and how it can change her life. She really was probably one of the biggest characters i have met on my mission thus far, and after talking with her the words from President Reshutnikov came into my mind; " lots of different characters."  

I hate to end now but I am all out of time. I love you all and pray for you always. Thanks for your prayers and for writing me. My advice this week READ THE BOOK OF MORMON. just as we need food each day to keep us from being cranky, we need spiritual food. 

Love you all!!

Love sissy T

 new coat

 our yummy honey

we love Penza

21 in Russia

Thanks for all the bday wishes. It was a treat to read emails from all my best family and best friends and to just feel your LOVE!!! Can I tell you about my birthday? Okay! Alright... soooooooooo..... fate just happened so that we had weekly planning on my birthday..... whoooooop. It was WAYYYY exciting! haha but really it was. 

So, I woke up, opened the bday package from mom and dad which was the best. I ate all four packages of reeses so.... i guess you can say i have no shame. I ate at McDonalds for lunch....(no shame again).. and it was soooo tasty! I then ate at the tastiest pizza place called "Yes, Pizza for Dinner". I tell you what, russian pizza is soooo spicy and so tasty. Every pepperoni pizza comes with mushrooms on top. so yummy! Our investigator "A" has the same birthday, so we ate with her. she gave me a gift! it is a jewelery box with a way sweet russian snow painting on it. I'll attach a photo... but don't look too closely because there is pizza in my mouth. haha anyway, it was great. Then We had a meeting with a less active and his name is "V" and.... he bought me two cakes. I would normally be stoked about that but.... russian cakes are really really sickly sweet and i was so full from dinner that I almost passed out. Some of my best friends from the branch were there.. which consists of "AP" and his wife "T" and their baby "M" and then crazy "AG". and of course "V" and sissy M. they all sang happy birthday to me which was funny because when russians say happy birthday in english, it sounds something like "heppy bwessdei" it was great. Then.... on the 17th of october (friday) it's technically my birthday in america so sister mckell and I went to Cinnabon for dinner.... and it was soooo tasty. #fatgirllife

Something pretty funny happened on friday night.  We received a text from "L" after not talking with her for a week, which said "the j-dubs witnesses are coming to our house tonight." I think she did it to get under our skin, and it worked. Haha silly, but true. We wanted to respond in a number of ways 1) "We hope THEY can buy you the wireless keyboard that you told us to buy you." or 2)"You know, the jehovah's witnesses don't have the priesthood." but intstead, we went with number 3 because we wanted to be christlike "We hope that you find the happiness you are looking for, but we just want you to know that we love you, and that we are always here for you." THAT was a tought thing to do, but I can tell you that it feels good have done the christ-like thing, and I know that he was proud of us for putting off the natural man, or the natural brat in this case.  I know it's all part of god's plan though, so I feel at peace knowing that all things happen according to his timing.

Okay, so HERES a crazy story. We go to baba "K"'s house once a week to read with her, and to help her clean. We had time to spend contacting before going to her house last tuesday. Lately I really haven't had any desire to contact, I don't know why. But, despite this fact, we scheduled specific time to contact prior to going to this babushka's home. We had just given a Book of Mormon to a really kind lady who worked at a bank. We saw this older woman in a red coat, who we felt we needed to talk to. We got to know her, and she really opened up to us. She showed us her family photos which she had with her, and told us all about her life. Her name is "N", she is from Maldova and was on her way to a court case which she had to settle with her sister who "wanted to hurt her." We testified to her about how she can find comfort and peace from the book of mormon and she was SO happy that we had given it to her. She promised to read it. Well, she asked us where we were going, and told her the street where we were headed, and she said "Let's go!" She started walking with us and it was a miracle what happened next...

 We started walking with her, and talking with her to the street that we needed. She was SO funny and such a light and had us all laughing. Well, other women saw this, and would stop in their tracks and ask us why we were all so happy! We told them that we have a message about happiness and gave them all brochures since we were out of books of mormon at the time. Well, there was a specific time were THREE women stopped in their tracks to talk to us. Cute "N" told them that she was our translator and that we were representatives of Jesus Christ. So dang funny. It was such a miracle and I know that all these women saw the light that we have which is the light of christ. The blood of israel is really curious and they're definitely here in Penza. One of the women that stopped us was like "come to my mom's work she works at a museum!" We told her we didn't have time, but she said she just wanted us to meet her mom. So we go ... and it was a drama theater a really small one. It used to be the house of this REALLY famous play writer/actor in russia. It was way cool because they gave us a quick tour for free! we know that it helped "N" a ton because she was on her way to court but she ended up hanging out and contacting people with us for an hour and she really had so much fun and just laughed all along the way. Apparently she was into drama when she was young which makes sense because she is LITERALLY one of the kookiest people I have ever met in my whole life. 

Things are going reeeeeally slow with "A", so slow in fact that every lesson we have we invite her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, but she just isn't keeping her comitments. I don't really understand what to do because her dad is islam, and her mom is prvoslovni. She really wants to read the book of mormon but tells us every time we call her after work that she's too tired to read. We explain even just five minutes, and she says that she will, but she still hasn't. So we will pray and hope that she will keep her commitment, and if not we will read with her. She believes that every religion is true because "whatever people believe in must be true." She believes the Book of Mormon is true even though she hasn't read it so we will pray that the spirit can help her recognize the truth and help her receive a desire to find out all of these things are true for herself. 

-THAT'S ALL FOLKS! I love you all and I miss you all. Thanks for caring about me and sending me your love! I miss you all and love you more than you will ever know. You're the best around. And don't you forget to read your scriptures and say your prayers because you'll receive so much help and strength! alright, LOVE YOU ALL BYE!

 bday package

 bday cakes

 gbye fall

 cool musem

 PERVWEE SNEG haha i am too lazy to type russian. first snow

jewelry box

Helloooo chocolate! reunited and it feels so goooood! But not.

WELCOME HOME TO MY ERIN (miriam) BERG! I LOVE YOU MY PRECIOUS! I can't wait to see you soon! in almost 11 months! 

Wasn't conference just the biggest dream? I LOVED IT! One of my favorite talks was by Jorg..... I don't remember his last name, but he's the guy from the 70 who is german and he sounds really feminine but he's really just german. Well, I loved how his talk was centered on how we can become spiritually confident and the steps we need to take to become spiritually confident. some of the steps included taking care of our bodies... eating healthy and exercising not because we want to, but because our bodies need it. haha when me and sister mckell heard him say that, we turned to each other and said... "well... here we go..." haha it's just a bummer because we love pastries! But lately i have been feeling the worst i have ever felt... just super slow and pudgy and just gross and I also feel like I haven't been able to teach the gospel very well. Well, come to find out it's because i have a very big lack of spiritual confidence! So... we will be running stairs in our apartment.... and attempting to eat healthy. Nothing can keep me away from my sweets though! Also how we need to repent daily to become spiritually confident, and forgive immediately. It was all just really refreshing to hear. I also loved Richard G Scott's. Hes just the funniest when he was like, "We come to life to be tested.... tried.... and STRETTTTTCHED!!!" It's true. I feel so stretched so basically i will have the saggiest skin when i come home. helooooooooo oldies!

We had something really heart breaking and devastating happen this past week. We had planned a lesson for our investigators "L" and "M" to talk about tithing. Well, they have been having big problems with money lately. This isn't the first time either. The first month that we met them back in July is the first time they asked us for money. We kindly told them that we don't do that, and then they went on their way. Months later, and after many meetings with them where they have felt the spirit, where they have decided to be baptized, the issue of not having enough money came up again. Long story short, "L" was really uncomfortable with the idea of tithing (even though we hadn't explained it in deeper detail) because they barely have enough money to "get by". We went to their house to teach them tithing, but the lesson ended up falling through. The next morning, "L" texted us and said; " last night I had a dream. I dreamed that you and your church can't help us with our money problem. Thanks for everything, but I don't need your church. All I need is God. He is the only one that can help us." We had a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally long cry after that text. We really felt like we didn't need to say anything to them after that, so what did we decide to do? Buy chocolate. We got a phone call from "M" later that night, after eating lots of chocolate. He said "Where are you? It's my birthday!" So we bought him a candy bar, wrote a note saying happy birthday and that we are always here for him and his family and more importantly god is here for him and his family and that he is making the right steps in his life. Well, we went over, wished him a happy birthday, and it was as if "L" never sent us that text earlier. It was all really confusing. Long story short, he asked us if we were still not eating chocolate, but somehow we avoided the question. (fewwf dodged a bullet there!) 

We decided that we were going to stop eating chocolate again because we really needed to sort everything out with them. We invited them to conference and they said that they wanted to come but had no money for the bus because "M" doesn't have a job. Saturday came, and we had arranged a ride for them. We called "L" and she said she wasn't home, but was at her sister's house which was really far from where she lived, so she obviously took a bus there. We asked her if "M" wanted to come, and she replied telling us that he was at work.It's really confusing and we really didn't know what to do so we just went to conference and everything felt great after being spiritually uplifted. Yesterday we were eating dinner after church, and "L" texted us. The text read, "Buy "M" a wireless keyboard. He needs it for his work." we replied telling her "We can't, sorry." and then she said "Thanks for everything, I thought that the giving hands (me and sister mckel) would give. But no, your hands are just greedy." Basically, we are really hurt and really don't understand what went wrong. I feel like I have been blind to it this whole time. It just really hurts because we have shown nothing but love toward them, and we thought that they really truly desired to be baptized but now we just aren't sure. The members have been telling us too, that they are just sneaky people and that we shouldn't meet with them for a long time. I just don't want to give up hope because all people need the opportunity to be baptized, it's really sad and difficult. But both sister Mckell and I feel that we just need to take a break with them for a while. 

But on a happier note... we can eat chocolate now! Right? We may or may not have spent 15 dollars on chocolate and eaten it all within three days... But that's a different story. 

We have a miracle though. Her name is "A". She is really prepared! We gave her a book of mormon last week, and she has been reading it. She told us that she had a lot of questions. We answered her questions which were about our heritage and if we are lamanites or nephites. Our conversation led to the word of wisdom somehow, and we told her that we don't drink black or green tea or coffee. I said to her "some people think it's weird, but once you understand that it is a commandment from God then it's really not weird at all." Her response was priceless; "Well, now I know not to drink those anymore! I don't think it's weird at all. The people that think it's weird just aren't the elect." I repeat........... "the people that think it's weird just aren't the elect." "A"! DO YOU EVEN KNOW THAT YOU'RE AN ELECT DAUGHTER OF GOD!?  So basically we have a meeting with her this week and we'll invite her to be baptized.

All out of time here..... i love you all and i love my mission and i love the lord and i encourage you all to watch some conference videos online! they're the greatest!

love hayster sissy

 creepy panorama

 having a good day

 the fall ball.. they dressed me up like fall.

bye elder glad and meredith! good district... probably the best.

I ate caviar that was imported..... from Moscow.

It was the tastiest caviar and it was also insane. It was at "K's" house! the one with the tattoo and the nice nice house, remember? Well basically she is a milionairre and it was nuts. Sister Mckell hated it and i kinda did too because it was A LOT. Super rich and fishy. But hey, now I have a cool story to tell when I'm home!

Transfers are coming next week and I don't know if i will be staying in penza :( i really hope so though because there is so much work for sister mckell and i here! I love her too much and I love our investigators too much.

A wayyyyyyy cool miracle happened this past week.. "L" and "M" FINALLY answered their phones! "L" called us and asked us to go over to their house the other night, and told us that she really needed our help. We went over, and our member help just talked and talked and it was really a frustrating moment, and I was so frustrated because we hadn't spoken with "L" and "M" for 2 weeks and when we asked them what happened, they acted like everything was fine, but it wasn't beacuse last week "L" called us, clearly she was out drinking at a bar, and said some things that only drunk people say like... "YOU'RE NEVER THERE FOR ME WHEN TIMES ARE HARD!"  Well, anyway it was a crazy lesson we had with them. "M" and "L" told us that they have the desire to stop drinking and smoking, but they don't have the will power. They then told us that they had been talking with a hypnotist who said that he could cure them of their addictions and desires to drink and smoke. For one of the first times in my life the spirit literally welled up within me, and i just started bawling. I don't really remember what I said because it was the spirit working through me, but I do remember telling them, "you are NOT going to find a cure to this through a hypnotist, or from anyone or ANYTHING else. The only one that can help you through this is Jesus Christ." The room went silent, and the spirit was really strong. Even their crazy 2 year old just stopped and stared. At the end of the lesson, "L" begged us to come back to their house the next day, which we did. We talked with them about repentance when we went back to them, and reset their baptismal date to november 8th. I really hope that they will committ to this, and see that baptism is a lifelong committment. 

Creepy story of the week.The other night, evil spirits followed us home. It was really creepy. We started our planning with prayer, and guess what? sister mckell couldn't even speak and she was just shaking and it was really scary. I started to rebuke the spirits and I almost couldn't speak either. I offered a fast prayer and just asked God with his priesthood to rebuke the spirits that followed us home that night. It's really cool because we sisters don't have the priesthood, and president Schwab told me once before that we sisters have the power to call down the blessings of heaven. I know it's true because I have called for those blessings many times here on my mission. Anyway, the priesthood is REAL, It was way cool too because we just felt angels fill the room and we felt really safe. It was really scary for a little bit though. Satan definitely has power, but God's power is FAR more powerful and he will ALWAYS overpower the adversary.

One more really cool miracle happened on Wednesday. We were on splits working with the sister training leaders. Sister Johnson (i loooove this gal) and I had an appointment with a less active named "V". He's so kind and nobody gives him the time of day because he's kinda strange, but he really just comes off that way. He's actually a very smart man!  It really was an incredible experience because as we were doing personal study, I thought of these little photos that I have of temples. We had planned the night before to talk about the word of wisdom, due to the fact that sister Mckell and I saw him smoking on the streets a week prior. We also wanted to encorporate temples, and how our bodies are temples from god. Well, during companionship study, we were sharing our insights we received, and both sister johnson and I felt strongly to bring those little temple photos with us to our meeting with "V". We listened to that prompting, and brought them with us to our lesson. It was really great because when we got there, our member help "I" just bluntly asked "so are you going to prepare to go to the temple!?" "I"! SPOILER!!!  THAT WAS OUR COMMITTMENT! 

      Anyway, it was perfect because he said, "yes that is definitely where I want to go." We started our lesson by showing "V" the temple photos and asked him what words came to his mind. He said clean, holy, the place where god lives and where I want to be too. It was weird because he told us that it wasn't hard for him to quit smoking, and that he really only smokes 1 cigarette a day. I asked why he even smoked then if it wasn't hard to quit. He then told us that it was Satan tempting him, and we assured him that yes, it was Satan, and that he didn't want "V" to go to the temple. We asked "will you quit smoking in two months?" he said "No." .........................................."I will quit in 2 WEEKS!" How great is that!? He doesn't hold the priesthood either, so we are going to be doing a lot of work to help him be ready for everything. It's great because the branch wants to plan a temple trip soon and we know that he will be ready by the time that trip comes. He asked us at the end if he could keep the little photos of the temples so that "I can look at them each day to remind me that the temple is my goal!" and of course we said yes. At church yesterday, he says, "SISTER TWEDE, LOOK!" and shows me his screen saver, which was a picture of the temple. It's such a blessing and a miracle to see these people feel the holy ghost and strive to do better, I know that with faith and prayers he will be ready to go to the temple. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!

We found a gal named "E".  She's way rad! she told us "I think it's so cool that you dress modest.? and "i don't drink or smoke either!" basically she's super prepared and she jumped up and down when we gave her the book of mormon after our lesson. 

Anway that's all for the week. I love you all and keep you all in my prayers always~!!!! love you!!!!

WE JUST GOT TRANSFER CALLS AND WE ARE STAYING TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love sissy T

fur hat... getting ready for winter.

baby fur hats

 beautimous sister mckell

sister training leaders

 the paper factory at night

 chastnee domes

"J".... IS A MORMON!?

In other news.... CLAIRE STARTED WALKING!!!!! Can you believe it?! She's going to be running around all over the place when I get home! CLAIREY YOU'RE THE BEST AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND THE SMARTEST!! And you keep reading that russian book so that when I get home, we can talk to each other and nobody can understand :)

So, bummer nation..our investigator 'L' hasn't answered our phonecalls for about a couple of weeks now. We got the thought "call 'L'!" so we did, for about the hundreth time. We called, and to our surprise, SHE ANSWERED! It was such a miracle. She talked with us as if we had been talking for the two weeks that we hadn't spoken. She was just her same self and told us that she missed us and loves us. Well, then she said "I'm at work right now, and my colleague LOVES the bible and her whole family loves it too. Well, we talked to her and set up a time to go over to their house this week and it was a big miracle. "L" said she would come to church the next day, and we were really excited! We told her that we would be at her house before church so that we could go together and she agreed to that idea. Well, Sunday morning came and we went over to her house to pick her up, and to our surprise, she didn't answer. She wouldn't answer our phonecalls, and it seemed to us that nobody was home. We waited, and knocked, and made a lot of noise to try and wake them up in case they were sleeping, but nothing happened. like.. we were throwing rocks by their windows. hahaha luckily none of them broke!

Anway, we said a prayer, and walked away with our heads hung low. She didn't end up coming at all to church. We called her later that night, and she was clearly drunk on the phone which really was sad because she hasn't drank for a whole month and realllly was trying to live the word of wisdom to a T, but then she was drinking again. It really was such a sad thing. We called her again this morning, and guess what? She's in the hospital now. Apparently she fell (because she was drunk) and broke her hand and hit her head really hard and apparently will be in the hospital for two weeks. It really broke my heart. I hope she remembers the terrible feeling she feels after she drank, and how clean and wonderful she feels when she meets with us. (her own words not mine!) haha I'm not cocky, I swear. I want to believe that she will be ready for baptism soon, but all these things that have been going on just push her away from baptism. There was a glimpse of hope, however, when she told us on the phone today that she is going to ask "M" to bring her her book of mormon so that she can read it while she heals at the hospital. Maybe this experience was needed to really show her that party lifestyle is not a good one and that true joy only comes in and through christ and his gospel. I know that baptism is the first step toward christ and it's one of the most important ones. I just want all these dang russians to feel the JOY!

A crazy miracle we had: We were on a marshrytka (tiny van) last monday. There was a boy, who looked like he was from south america, on the same marshrytka as us, and he just was looking at us and our nametags for quite some time. He then said, "Where is your church?" to sister Mckell. She told him, and then he went on to explain that he really wants to come to our church and we told him we would be happy to see him there. Well, the next day, he called! His name is "J", and he is 21. We set up a meeting for Sunday (yesterday). He couldn't come to church, but we met with him after church in the center of the city. He brought his friend, "N". We learned that they are from Nicaragua and are studying here and have been studying here for 2 years. "J" was telling us how he has been looking for our church for the two years that he has lived here, but hasn't been able to find it. We expressed to him how stoked we were that the lord put us into each others paths, and THEN he says the unthinkable. "I saw your churches all over in Nicaragua. My parents and siblings are baptized into your church." And then the awkward question from me and sister Mckell: "Well.. are you baptized?" and he said.. "YEAH! I was baptized when I was 10!" WHAT! Okay, miracle. Then the next miracle is that his friend "N", also from Nicaragua, told us how he is protestant and how his uncle is mormon, and talked to him about the book of mormon years ago. "N" said that he has always been interested in the gospel, but had never asked his uncle about it. We asked them if they wanted books of mormon in spanish, and they said yes, and were SOOOO excited to hear that was a possibility. We asked "N" if he was interested in meeting with us to learn more, and he said yes! What is this world?!?!! SO COOL!  What the heck, right? What is a nicaraguan doing in Penza? Stuyding engineering of course! 

2nd miracle: less active named "L". We had just finished doing service at a babyshka's house when we had the thought to call "L", which was wierd because she is always too busy to meet with us. We called her anyway, and she told us she had just gotten off work and wanted us to go over. We had planned to meet with her during the week to talk about prayer. We went over, and to our surprise, she told us her friend was coming over. We asked if we could wait for her friend to do our lesson, and she said no let's just get started. We got started, read all the scriptures, and right as we were about to share the experiences, her friend came over. I turned around and.. SURPRISE! It's "T", a woman that we had given a book of mormon to months ago. Then the coooolest thing happend. "L" said, "they just finished talking about prayer and we want to talk to YOU about prayer!" so then we re-read the scriptures and it was SO spiritual as we shared experiences we have all had with prayer. "T" was in tears, and we were all in tears as we talked about how big of a blessing it us. It was amazing to see the less active, "L", teach her friend "T" about prayer and why it's important. I know that this work is just about to explode as the members, and less actives invite their friends and loved ones over to lessons with the missionaries. Then, after our lesson, "T" BEGGED us to go over to her house and talk to her sons about the gospel, and we did so. We have been meeting with them lately and "T" is practically mormon already, so we will just be teaching her and her sons! (side story. Her one son "t" who is 24 wants to know english, and already knows a little bit. He asked us to teach him a phrase. What phrase was that you ask? "I LOVE TO POP ZITS!" hahahahaha hearing him say it with his russian accent was literally the funniest thing I almost peed.) ANYWAY, "T". She's the funniest human being. She's not even real, I swear.  She said a 10 minute prayer too at the end of our lesson and it was literally the most hilarious prayer I have ever heard. "HEAVENLY FATHER THANK YOU FOR SENDING ME THESE BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL GIRLS FROM AMERICA WHO LOVE JESUS! GOD, WE ARE STUPID BECAUSE WE DON'T READ THE BIBLE BUT YOU, YOU LOVE US AND SENT US THESE AMERICAN GIRLS TO TEACH US TO BE SMART AND TO READ THE BIBLE AND THE BOOK OF MORMON!" -along those lines. Literally I couldn't hold in the laughs and both sissy mckkell and i had tears streaming down our faces. 

Weeks like this one make me love being a missionary. It's literally the HARDEST thing I have ever decided to do, but it's the most fulfilling and most worth it. So much heart ache, so much joy, so much laughter, and so much lack of sleep. I have never been so tired in my life, but that's a good thing. It's so boring sometimes, and sometimes the days just drag on, but it's also the most fun and some other times the days FLLLYYYYY by. Either way, I really love it and especially love Russia. These are definitely my people. I know I am exactly where I need to be at this time.

Well, I love you all so much. I just want to say, never forget how much the Lord loves you. he is aware of YOU. He wants you to turn to him, and you can do that through prayer. Even if it's a crazy prayer like crazy "T". AHHH seriously that was the funniest moment. But really, Christ is always around you. I challenge ALL of you, to get on LDS.org right now and watch "because of him" the video from easter. Me and sister mckell are literally in heaven because we got a dvd with mormon.org clips and all other sorts of videos, and we have been watching that one every single day.... like... probably 6 times a day. I love the savior and I know because of him we can do ALL things! Turn to him!

I love you all. OVER AND OUT

сестра твид

 scary cigarette packaging, just in time for halloween.

 i love my sissy M!

IT"S FALL!

hahaha she'd kill me if she saw this

A Watermelon Night!

HEY YALL

Today during personal study, i learned a very valuable lesson from Alma 32. When Alma is talking to the Zoramites who were cast out because they were poor, his testimony to them really taught me something important. We must plant the seed of faith within ourselves, and even when we have a hard time having faith, just believe and hoping that faith will come and once it does, the seed will grow. However, that's not enough, just to simply have faith. We need to "exercise" our faith and nurture it and help it to grow. I know that this time in "L" and "M"'s progression in the gospel, is one where all four of us need to exercise our faith; we need to keep the seeds that the spirit has planted in them, and help nurture and care for them. We do this by prayer, and we do this by casting out the doubts and the fears. I will be reading this chapter everytime that the doubts and the fears creep into my mind. 

We had a funny miracle last night. While we were out contacting, we walked passed this 20 year old girl, and said "hello!" she stopped in her place and said, "Oh my! Hi! I know this is probably weird but I have been dreaming about meeting you girls for a really long time. I see you walking on the streets all the time but I haven't had the opportunity to talk with you." Can you say, miracle!? She was short for time because she was on her way to work, but we got her number and we are SO excited to contact her during the week. I know that these elect people are out here in Penza, and this week we will be focusing on finding these elect people. 

This week we are in charge of district training.  Sister Mckell and I are doing ours on finding, and we are going to have a scavenger hunt and hide chocolate in the branch building and tell them to find it. But we'll hide the big candy bars really good and give them instructions how to find them and then once they find them, relate the instructions to the holy ghost and host important it is to have instruction from the holy ghost so that we can find the big russians.. haha it sounds lame but I hope it's good because every training i've been to is reading out of the book and soooooo boring so look. Look at us spicing things up! i hope.

This week we had an activity at the branch and guess what it was called.... "a watermelon night!" and we went, and they had these skits about the history of the watermelon and they had this reeeeeeally terrible song about watermelons. The crowning event was when everyone started dancing... even the babyshik.. it was quite the sight to behold. Our branch president is hilarious and in his prayer he said " please bless that we won't have to pee too much after we eat so much watermelon." Russians, having no shame even when they talk to God! It was fun and it was a great turn out. 

So I told you how we gave up chocolate while "L" and "M" quit smoking... well... something terrible happened. They didn't come to church for a third time before their baptism.. so now we have to reschedule their baptism. It's really sad beacuse they really were looking forward to it... but it's also really sad because now sister mckell and I can't eat chocolate this saturday. haha but that's not even the worst part. The worst part is that they can't get baptized this week... and it's also bad because they haven't been answering our phone calls and last time this happened, we couldn't get in contact with them fro 2 weeks. So I'm just praying for a miracle over here. I know that with God they can do all things. I know that it's impossible for them to quit smoking without the help of the Lord. I have been being taught by the lord lately that we really can't do anything without his help. I can't learn this language without his help: I can't find his elect children without his help. I am so grateful to have the knowledge that he is ALWAYS here and there for us. Never forget to rely on him... because you literally can't do anything without him. HE IS THERE! I know this is true. 

I pray for you all and miss you and love you all the most!!!

love sissy hayster :) 

 Fancy train ride food

Life is like a box... without chocolate - because I gave it up!

So... i'm not eating chocolate and it's the HARDEST THING EVER because russian chocolate is outta this world delicious. More of that story later. 

Hayd's aunt Shauna passed away this week.  I really felt sad when I heard that she passed away. However: if there's one thing I learned from coping with Harry's passing and from recovering from going to a russian morgue it's this: GOD LIVES. He has a plan for EACH one of us, and this life is not the end. Like Harry, Shauna can now get the help that she needs to mend her broken spirit without having the distractions of addictions and the pain that come from living on earth. I know that she is in loving arms in the spirit world, and that she is getting retaught the gospel right now and that all will be well with her. I don't know if anyone knows this, but I really had a hard time with the plan of salvation before coming on my mission. I felt like it was such an abstract idea and I really didn't know if it was true. I believed that it was, and hoped that it was, but I really didn't know that it was. I know that Heavenly Father gives us trials to stregthen us, or in my case, specifically to strengthen my testimony. I now know, that the plan of salvation is REAL. It is TRUE. the Sprit confirmed the truth of it to me as I testified of it to our investigators whose friend died. I know that all is well with shauna and that she is now free from her sick frail body and can focus of all things spiritual. I love D&C 112:13 which just talks about after temptations and the trial of our faith, we can be healed through jesus christ. It's so true. I know we can overcome all things, but only when the savior is involved!

This week we met with the lady who thinks that her mom is a white cat. She owns a cafe and she insisted on us coming so that she could feed us for free. We went, and it was such a cute little dainty place... but the food was so bad. AHAHA  Russian food is so gross... like the food at restaurants. Russian cuisine really isn't special, but it's really good when you can prepare it yourself. She brought out this beet salad that was just straight up beets, SMOTHERED in sour cream. I ate all the sour cream because it's DELICIOUS here, but the rest was just too beety. Then, she brought out the unthinkable: A RAW FISH! hahaha I wanted to gag. It looked like it just got done swimming! The scales were on it and everything. It's a blessing that one of the rules in our mission is that we can't eat the fish in russia (because germs) so we just told her we are allergic. What a blessing!

The other day we were on a bus coming home, and this man just started arguing with us. He was like "YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN ICONS, (they pray to icons and the icons deliver their prayers to Jesus who they also think is heavenly father aka one being.) and I said, you're right. We don't believe in icons because it's a commandment from God." and he was like "AND WHAT COMMANDMENT IS THAT?!" and we told him thou shalt have no other god's before me. We stumped him pretty good. I love those "gotcha" moments though, they really are the best. All the people on the bus were listening, so we got to give out some pamphlets which was pretty dang cool.

Our investigators "L" and "M" are doing SO well. It's CRAZY to see their progress. They stopped drinking about four weeks ago, and haven't drunk since. We committed them to stop smoking too. It's just crazy because the DAY that we met them the first time, is the day they bought electronic cigarettes to quit smoking. They already had the desire. Well, we committed them to stop smoking and sister Mckell and I wanted to do something to show the Lord that we want to help them quit.. so what did we decide to sacrifice? CHOCOLATE. haha it sounds ridiculous, but it's the best in russia! like I mentioned earlier. I swear. All the chocolate tastes just like it would in Willie Wonka. It's soooo delicious, Haha it was funny though. We said to "M" "we are going to give up chocolate while you give up smoking." and then he said "wait..... so chocolate is against the word of wisdom too?" hahaha no way. If it was, I'd be the biggest sinner in the world. It was way funny. We explained to him that no, it's not against the word of wisdom, it's just something that we are doing to help them quit too. It's been good so far, They went from one day, smoking 2 packs, to the next day, smoking half of 1 pack, and then they went to smoking 8, and then they're still at 8 so far. They went out of town though, so I hope that they didn't fall back into old habits. They get baptized on the 27th so I hope that they can be ready by that point. 

Yesterday I woke up with 100 degree fever.. but all was well because sissy Mckell took good care of me! (love that lady.)  But I am feeling better now. I didn't get to go to church or anything which really was a  bummer. We just watched all the church movies in our apartment and then I slept and then read my scriptures. Good time I tell you what. It's the worst being sick on the mission, butt it's also the best because I caught up on sleep that I will be losing when we take another train to Samara tomorrow night. We have another zone conference there... which I'm so stoked because I LOVE my mission president and we get interviews with him! I can't wait for you to meet him someday. We will most definitely take them out to dinner when they get home! 

Well i gotta jet but I love you all the most and I am so blessed to have you all in my life. I miss you all more than I can explain but I know that the Lord is looking after you all. PLEASE don't forget him, he never forgets you. He loves you, and you can always rely on him for help. I know this is true. I love you all! bye!

love sissy T

the nasty beet salad

love sissy mckell