HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADOO!!!!

HAPPY BIRT-DAY (as mom would say) DAD!!! haha jk mom i love you I love the way you say birthday. It's the cutest. DAD i hope you had the happiest day. You're the best friend of all and I miss you so much. I hope you had the most radical time skiing with Steve boy. What a fun prize! LOVE YOU DAD! Thanks for all you do for me, I look up to you in every way. You're the prince!

Happy BDAY to Ruby too!!!!! You're just such a sweet angel and I am so grateful to have you in my life. My other mother. Have the best time in hawaii getting your TAN ON! LOVE YOU RUBY!!!!! You don't look a day over 30 :)

HAPPY BDAY TO ANYONE ELSE I MISSED! You're just all the best. and I love you all.

It's ALWAYS  a bummer for me when my pdays get freaky so I am so sorry that I couldn't write home yesterday. I didn't even know, but they were like "surrprise zone conference in 4 days!" It was such a great zone conference though. Really inspired and really uplifting and super hilarious. I love my mission and all the missionaries here because we're all such close friends and we're all just trying our best and we all enjoy a good laugh and a good time. 

I went on my visa trip to Latvia like I mentioned last week, and guess who got detained.... again.  NOT ME! FIRST TIME EVER! They built a new airport in samara and it is sooo swanky and nice. OOOOH my. Everything is so new there, it was really col. Anway, hahaha it was a miracle i didn't get detained. None of us had problems this time. It was a success. It was ACTUALLY a fun visa trip! It was so fun because I got to hang out with my pals. They're all nuts and you best believe that there was the best surprise in the Moscow airprort.... FRO YO!!! I got it twice. You know I love my sweets! It's funny because there's a burger king there, and we all ate there for lunch, and there was this black kid waiting in line and he was just on his cell phone the whole time and he was speaking english and didn't know all us missionaries spoke english and while he was on the phone he was talking to his girlfriend and was like "Hode up honey I gotta orderrrrrr. Have yew been a guuuuud girrrrrrrl?" hahaha I almost peed. then he said "Honey I need yo help orderain'. Then I just said, "What do you want? I'll order for you." haha he was surprised when he realized that we spoke english, and he was grateful for the help. Turns out he is from new york and his girlfriend lives in DUBAI and he was just waiting for his connecting flight to go to Dubai. the best part is that he told us his girlfriend is korean. hahaha what the.... Don't really know but it was cool. He was a nice kid and I was really happy to help him out. A MAN'S GOTTA EAT!

Funny story real quick. We had a lesson with a members non member mom named "aunt S” and she always makes us food. She made us bleeni this last time which are like crepes but SO MUCH TASTIER!! Anyway, she made us watch this music video of russian folk music. It's this band called white day and it's all pretty terrible but it's all reaaaaally catchy and I would be lying if I didn't say that I liked the music.... 

GUESS WHAT I DID ON SUNDAY!?? I gave a talk. My first talk in Russian. The topic was "How can I show gratitude to God and to loved ones?" It was really rough, but everyone just smiled at me when I spoke. I don't think that it was understandable, but I hope that it was. I read the verse from Mosiah 4:17 ( i think that's the chapter) about "When you serve others you serve God." I changed the words a little and said "When you show gratitude to others, you show gratitude to God." It turned out okay and I felt really good after. 

Our Zone conference was really good. We talked a lot about Christ and making our testimonies stronger in Him. We also talked about getting out on time and just the importance of a thing we call flow in my mission. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Love, Obedience with exactness, and Work with unwearingess. It was really good, and I got to see sister coleman and that was just the best. I love my sissy C! I sure missed that GAL!

SO many amazing miracles it blows my mind! This week we met with the new convert, 15 year old “SH”. We had planned to just talk with her and find out what has been going on because of the message that she sent to “N”, a member in our branch saying that she "stopped reading her scriptures and praying." We really didn't know what was up. We went to her house to pick her up, and just planned on walking with her outside and talking with her, because meeting at her house usually isn't allowed because her dad is against our church. Well, we waited for her, and after waiting for a few minutes, she came down to us and said "C'mon I want to have you as guests!" Well..... you best believe that we were stoked out of our minds to hear that! We went to her house, and her mom was home with “SH’s” 1 year old baby brother. The story about how the sisters found, taught, and baptized “SH” is really great. Long story short, Sister Martinez and Sister Wilson were contacting, and started talking to this woman about our message we share. She said, "Y'know, I'm not too interested, I have a baby and I"m really busy, but I think that my 15 year old daughter would be really interested." They got her number, started meeting with her, and “SH” was baptized 3 weeks later. Really such an amazing story. 

Well, it was of course devastating to us when last week we heard that she stopped reading her scriptures and praying. We hadn't really planned a specific lesson to have with "SH" because we were just planning to get down to the problem and find out how we can help "SH" come back. Well, when we met with her nothing had changed! She was still spunky positive "SH". We ended up sitting in her bedroom and her mom "L" came in to sit with us. We just listened to the Spirit, and he did his work. We came to find out that "SH" really didn't have any desire to go to church, so she chose not to go. She told us that because of that decision she felt really sad and down knowing that she hadn't been to church. She was really honest, and told us that she didn't even want to read her scriptures or pray, but monday she decided to because she felt really bad and sad, and said that after reading and praying she instantly felt better. We testified that is true. Then guess what? "L" PIPED IN! She said "Yeah, there have been a lot of days when I just feel really bad and really overwhelmed, and I'm having a problem with whatever problem it is i'm having at that time, then I just open the Book of Mormon to a random page and my answer is there and I instantly feel better." WHAT?!?!?!?! It was sooooo great! We just testifed that, that is true and that because the Book of Mormon is the word of God, it is how he speaks to/with us in our day. She then expressed to us her desire to come to church with "SH". She told us "Each week I want to go to church, but then I get afraid because my husband will get mad at me for leaving "J"(the 1 year old baby) with him while I go to church." She told us that she wants to go every week but she also doesn't want to have havoc in her home or contention with her husband. We read 3 Nephi 17:17 about how the Savior prays for US, and that he will pray for her always and that only he can soften her husbands heart. We promised her that if she read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and prayed with "SH" after we left, that her husband's heart would be softened and that she would be able to come to church. She was really doubtful and then "SH" piped in and said "C'mon mom, let's just try it! Let's just try!" It was so great. Well, sunday came, and "SH" ended up coming to church alone, without her mom, but I have so much faith that "L" will be able to come soon. We plan on making sacrifying a lot of ourselves to show the Lord that we really want "L" to have this. We have no doubt that she really is ready for baptism, and she often tells us about the light that she sees in "SH" following her baptism, and how much the gospel has blessed "SH"'s life. We always tell her that their family will be blessed at "L" begins coming to church, and that eventually her husband will come around as well. It was an amazing lesson and they even invited us to come back this saturday while her husband is at work! 

I had the FAAAABULOUS opportunity to sit in primary with little "VK" on sunday. During primary, we talked about Alma the younger, and the importance of being kind and always serving the Lord. The teacher sister "VA" asked the class a question. "What is the necessary step we need to make in order to live with God and Jesus Christ after this life?" Then "VK" said "Baptism!" It is unbelievable to me how prepared she is. She even said the opening prayer and said as she prayed "I am so grateful that I got to come to church with my brother "VL" today." We set up a meeting with them for this week and we are SOOOO EXCITED to invite "VK" to be baptized. "VL" told us that sunday morning before church, his mom "O" woke up "VK" and said "GET READY FOR CHURCH!" and then said "If you don't go to them they'll come to us!" hahaha I laughed pretty hard but I was also scared what that meant, but then "VL" told me that she was joking of course. We don't know why "O" doesn't come with them, I think she works but we'll find that out when we meet with them this week. She was on date for baptism in December but wasn't baptized because she has a drinking problem. "VK" was also on date and we don't really know what happened. We have some digging to do. "VK" is going to get baptized, and she's going to get baptized soon, and her brother "VL" gets to baptize her! SOOOO CUTE!

Well, I hate to say it but I am out of time. I love you all. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that it is a POWERFUL powerful testimony. I know she's a true book, and I know that if she wasn't, I wouldn't be here right now. Don't forget to read tonight. I know all the questions that you have in life can be answered there on every page. Just try it.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Love sissy T

FRO YO with sissy Leavitt the cutes. It was so tasty I wanted to cry

Latvia with the homies (me elder weber elder jorgenson and sister leavitt)

a shot from the taxi window in samara

stopped in the tiniest town to pee on the week home from samara... 

and this little temple said hi. So pretty huh?

SISSY C! reunited and it felt soooo gooooood

I borrowed sister palmers glasses because everyone thinks that me and sister coleman are twins and we wanted to trick people that we were each other.

New samara airport so swanky

saying goodbye to sister bussmann! she was headed home to sweden. I love her

Love this lady

My lil' "VK"

Wild week over here..... But before any of that.....

ERIN AND DYLAN I LOVE YOU GUYS! I can't believe you're getting married. I just want to squeeze you both! I'm super stoked for you both. 

This week... where to begin..... Me and sister Martinez got transfer calls, and we will be together another 6 weeks in balakova! And Sissy M is now a sister training leader, so we get to go on exchanges with the sisters in Saratov which means.... I'LL GET TO SEE MY MOM SISTER COLEMAN and work with her one last time before she heads home!!! SOOO stoked. I miss that lady. 

So we had a lesson this week with the new convert “SV’s” parents. Their names are “L” and “G”. They are so dang funny and so dang old. We knew that we were going to their house for the lesson, but somehow we just "forgot" that we were walking to their house. We took the long way, and when we realized it we were like... "Well... alright let's just go the long way." We went the long way, and we saw this lady watching us from a really far distance. We get closer and say hi, and then she gestures to us that she is deaf. The first thing she said to us was "I believe in God!" She spoke really well for being a deaf woman. So, what did we do? We just wrote down what we wanted to say to her. We said that we are from our church and that the Book of mormon is true and that Jesus Christ loves us and that we can learn more about Christ as we read the Book of Mormon. She smiled and said thank you soooo much. She took the book, and then just went back into her apartment door. We asked her if we could come over and see her sometime, and she said no. But that's just too bad because now we know where she lives and she even told us which floor she lives on, just not the door. Her name is “T”.  She was a little miracle and it was really so cool just to know that we didn't just "coincidentally forget" that we were wakling to ”L” and “’G”s house, but that it really was directed by the Spirit, because the Lord really needed her to have the book of mormon. I just love when that happens it's just the best.

SOMETHING SAD: Ugh my heart. Such a bummer. Yesterday we were at branch council after church. “SH”, the 15 year old new convert hasn't been to church in quite a while as well. We texted her and she just wouldn't answer us. We were at church, and a young member named “N” was talking to "SH" on facebook. ("N" is the biggest brat but it's hilarious and i love her.) Then, "N" showed us her conversation she was having with "SH". "SH" sent a message to "N" that she stopped reading her scriptures and praying, and she didn't give a reason why. We were really heart broken. We feel really bad because we feel that there was so much more that we could have done to prevent this from happening. The worst part is, is after church we called "SH" and she acted like everything is fine over the phone. We don't know what is going on, but we know it's just Satan and he's REALLY getting annoying. I don't really know what it is we can to do help "SH". We have set up meetings to teach the following baptism lessons, but they always fall through, or she just can't make it. So we will just keep hoping on, having faith that it'll all work out. 

SOMETHING COOL: Guess whose back in the picture? THAT'S RIGHT! "O" AND "VK"! Do you remember when I told you about the new convert named "V", his family? "VK" his little sister who prayed for the first time when we were with her and it was just really amazing? Well..... they're back!!! So "V"..He is the 23 year old who lives with his mom and his little 12 year old sister. He stopped answering our phone calls. It's really sad and we're worried about him a little bit because he hasn't been at church lately. It's been frustrating because he is our only way to meeting with his mom and his little sister "VK". Both His mom "O" and his sister, "VK", were on date for baptism in December. "O" never gave us her number, just told us to call "V" to get a hold of her. Well, we tried that so many times but "V" had a new excuse every time as to why we couldn't go meet with his mom. A while ago, sister martinez and I made "VK" a prayer calendar and asked her to pray every day, and she did so. So we promised her a prize and so we wanted to take it to her! Sister Martinez and I finally decided to just go over anyway without talking to "V", just to see how they were doing and to take them a treat and "VK"'s prize. We went over last night, and "O" invited us in! It was really cool. We followed up on prayer, and the Spirit just took over. "O" opened up to us and told us about the problem that is going on in their family. She told us that the apartment in which they live right now, is owned by her husband and they are currently going through a divorce and it's just been really hard for them. We read 3 nephi 17:17 with them, and explained to them that Christ prays for them. We testified of how Christ is completely aware of our lives and all of our situations, then we were bold with them. We said, ""O", we know that when we come over you feel lighter and you feel happier." (she nodded in agreement) then we continued "So we want to come over, and we want to come over often, and we want to share our message with you which will bring you more joy than you com comprehend in this moment." She then said "let me give you my number." It was such a miracle! Especially because "VK" is just ready for baptism. When she comes to church she just gets it and is so mature and attentive for an 11 year old. One of our members who teaches primary, told us that once at church when "VK" came, she answered every question really spiritually and she just really is prone to spiritual things. Isn't that amazing? We are STOKED so so so so so so stoked to start teaching them on a frequent basis.  AHH my little "VK" is just the best I just want to squeeze her! 

SOMETHING FUNNY: We were contacting on a bus, and every SINGLE PERSON just shut us down. Haha it's always really funny when that happens, but of course it kinda hurts too. Well, there were these two 25 year old (ish) boys sitting across from us on their phones. When they got off at their bus stop, we gave them mormon.org cards and told them to look up our churc's website. They said thanks, then got off the bus. Well, this is the funniest part. The next night, saturday, we had our english group. Following english group, we got on a bus to go home and two of the boys that come to our english group too got on the bus with us. Well, guess what? We were all on the bus, and there were just people everywhere, and then “D” (the one who has me on his screensaver) just started laughing sooooo hard. We asked him what what what what!? So then, he gave us his phone, and showed us what he was laughing at. So it was on this site called contacti... the russian facebook. And guess what he was laughing at? SOMEBODY TOOK A PICTURE OF US WHILE WE WERE CONTACTING ON THE BUS AND GUESS WHAT?! It was those two 25 year old punks. hahahahahahahaha the caption was the best part though "Has anybody else seen these american girls? Every babushka runs away from them." hahaha it was hilarious. The picture of us is sooo ugly hahaha oh my word. But the best part is that they took another picture of our mormon.org card which has the address to our branch building on the back of it, so we were like.... "SWEET!" Now all the people that see that can come to our branch. hahaha it was so awesome and so strange and I felt violated and spied on but also flattered and stoked all at the same time haha. 

I hate to end there, but I gotta jet. Headed to Samara then to Latvia. Vis trips woooo! Let's all cross our fingers that I don't get detained again.... SO much anxiety, amiright? Well, I hope that you have the best week! LOVE YOU ALL!

Love, Sissy T

A little goodie from last monday

Also.. Russians nail creepy stuffed animals in their trees aaaaaallll the time. 

And they paint cute things on their domes

This building said forbidden territory so of course i just had to get a photo there. RIOT

Me with "N" a new member. She's just a treat

Looking at old photos drinking chai cookies and treats

District photo. Saying goodbye to edler Garlick! (far right) Such a pal. He's headed home to America. Also, that guy with the glasses is "V", "VK"'s brother.

Had a fun night working with our cute "VL" last night! She's so solid. 

Love her. She's a member here in Balakova

HAHAHA oh my gosh. This new investigator we have named "A". She and I have the same mole. Well, she gave us this comic book of bible stories... and this one is HILARIOUS. It says "Glory to God, I can walk!" Funnier in Russian though. Also, Jesus has red hair.

Me petting the cutest little friend named Golden look at her little ears!

Guess who made it onto a screensaver.... this gal.

HAPPY VALENTINES TO ALL MY FAVORITE PEOPLE THIS SATURDAY! Have a happy day and go out to dinner with the one you love most. Well, that's just too bad because the one you love most is here in Russia. Haha stupidest joke. But really, have the happiest day.

Zella I got your package! Thanks you SOOO much for the beautiful calendar! I love it so much. I immediately put it up on my wall, and I just think of you each time I see it! And the Savior too, of course. You're just so thoughtful, I am so grateful to have you as a best friend!!! SHAUNA McConkie! Thanks for the card! You're just so thoughtful. I always love to hear from you, thanks for being just so dang thoughtful.

Guess who emailed me this week and updated me on her life finally.... ERIN BERG! THANKS for that my little Miriam. 

Guess who came to Balakova this week? That's right brothers and sisters... Sister Mckell!!!!!! Oh my. You have no idea how happy I was to see her. It was so fun to be reunited with her. She really is one of my very best friends and it's just so sad that next cycle is her last cycle. But we had a great time tearing it up together. We even ate at Carls Jr together and that was just a jolly jolly time. I didn't realize how much I really did miss her. We had fun working together. There is a member here named “V” and she has a sister in law named "L". Me and Sister Mckell had a lesson with "L". Get this.... "L" is evangelist and she is definitely pretty prideful because she doesn't listen to us really at all, but I still love her. It was really cool though, because she asked if we could pray together and so we just sat down still in her chairs and she stood and said "can we pray standing up? I just think it's more respectful." So we all stood and prayed together, and she just started bawwwwwling. She was praying for her sons who are severe alcoholics. She really does have a sincere desire to follow Jesus Christ and she just wants her sons to find joy which comes from Christ! As she prayed I definitely felt how much love he had for her. She even closed her prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, so that was good! I just hope that one day she will just listen to us with an open heart. It was cool. We saw some other really cool miracles too as we worked together. We gave out 8 books of mormon during our day together which really was a miracle because these ruski's don't want anything to do with the book of mormon sometimes. Yesterday on a bus, this lady was like "I DON'T LIKE YOU MORMON FOLK. I don't like that you said that Jesus was born in America." We just laughed and said... yeah.... no He was born in jerusalem. He appeared to the people in America after His resurrection. It's okay though, because the word born and appeared sound pretty similiar in Russian, so i'll let it slide. 

So we were on exchanges and Sister Mckell is training this new sister named Sister Thomas. I made a goal to focus on talking to everyone last  week. While hurrying home to meet the other sisters for dinner, Sister Thomas and I handed a woman an invitation, which she immediately turned down. We almost walked away, but the spirit really did stop me. We just began speaking with her, and we saw her hard shell just crumble as she really opened up to us. She is from Moscow and is here visiting her friends. We had a really nice talk about our message and about our church, we told her our church is all around the world as well as in Moscow, and the conversation ended as she ran to get on her bus. Before she got on, we basically threw the Book of Mormon at her and just testified loud and proud and fast, and she smiled and said "Thank you soooo much I'm going to read it!" I really gained a testimony from that experience that sometimes, we just need to keep digging and digging and pushing the conversation because you never know what could happen from it. She went from being really hard shelled and scabby, and turning down the invitation, to being really soft and open and accepting the Book of Mormon. That really was a miracle to me. Shortly after that, we got placed in the path of the sweetest young mom named “LA”. We instantly talked about the Book of Mormon and she really wanted it, so of course we gave it to her. She then asked us if we could come over to her house some time to talk about it. WELL, YES WE CAN! It was so cool. It's really rare here for people to ask us to come over. Following that moment in time, there was a woman walking behind us, who saw the whole thing happen. We talked with her, and she just kept asking us about the Book of Mormon. We gave her her own book as well, and she was really grateful for it, and immediately gave us her number following giving her the book. These are just little miracles leading up to the big miracles that are just around the corner once we meet with these awesome people. We gave out soooo many Books of Mormon last week, that we literally gave all that we have out... and all of the books at the branch building.. and we have no books left. It's pretty terrible though, because we live sooooooo far away from Samara and we rarely rarely get supplies, so we're just going to have to improvise haha.

Lately I have been feeling pretty good. I feel that I am receiving help from the Lord to understand these people, and someway, somehow, they understand me. I see my language improving in the tiniest tiniest bit, and it is nothing I am doing seriously. It's amazing because it really is the Lord and I'm terrified that I'm going to forget all the russian that I know now when I get home because the Spirit is the one that does the talking and helps me to understand. I am such a bad studier, and I have such a hard time which is how I know that it is not me at all! It's pretty cool. Anyway, I have come to know that the gift of tongues isn't speaking gramatically correct, it's being able to speak enough that the spirit can testify to what we say. Of course we should strive to master the language, but sometimes it's really tooooooo difficult and can get really discouraging. I would say it's one of the more difficult things on my mission, but I really know that the Lord is constantly helping me out, and constantly sending the Spirit to testify to these people who so desperately need the Gospel.  Lately I have been trying to refocus my efforts on having faith in Jesus Christ. I find that when I read about the temple, I really come to feel so much peace and I feel that my testimony of the Savior grows as I do so. You should all do some readings about it, it's really incredible how EVERY principle which we talk about really does lead back to Jesus Christ. Every single time! It just makes it so clear to me that this really is His church. This is His Church and He leads it today!

So Today I read a couple of conference talks (october 2014) during personal study. I read the talk by Robert D. Hales, about the Savior and Heavenly Father, and how they are, in fact, two separate beings, and how in the scriptures they are constantly testifying of each other. (You should all go and re read it  So cool, I never realized that they really do support each other just like father and son. He also in his talk stressed the importance of gaining a strong testimony of Joseph Smith.  I then read Neil L. Andersen's talk all about the prophet Joseph Smith. I love that he based his talk on the several visits Joseph Smith had with the angel Moroni. And that Moroni warned Joseph Smith that his name would be spoken both for good, and for evil in the latter days. He urges each of us in his talk to read Joseph Smith's experience in Joseph Smith history and fulfill that prophecy and spread his name to be good in these last days. I  began to read JS's experience when he saw Moroni and as I did so, it just became so real to me that Joseph Smith really was called of God, and that through him, Heavenly Father restored the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's SOOOO COOL!   Man, it's so cool to be a member of Christ's Church. He's just the best!

So in a whole, this week was pretty normal, but the highlight would definitely have to be when after english club on saturday, we went sledding down this hill on plastic bags. It was hilarious. But the most hilarious part is that this kid named “D”, the 16 year old that comes to english who wears the suit to match the elders, well guess who is the background on his screen saver. You guessed right. This gal. It was really uncomfortable, especially because it was a picture that he took on his phone that I was in with some other missionaries but he cropped them out. I don't think he knows I saw it, but I saw it and sister martinez saw it and it was just really funny. Another highlight of the week: just kidding it was kinda scary and really sad. After english club we come home and walk up the stairs and the most drunk man i have EVER SEEN was just passed out in front of our door. It was scary because lately people have been knocking on our door really scarily and we didn't know if it had been him and especially didn't know if he was pretending to be asleep then just pull a quick one on us, so we called our friend “S” who lives by us, and he came and walked us up the stairs. All turned out okay but it was pretty funny. But mostly sad. I always get so sad when I see drunk people. He smelled SO strongly of alcohol, and i really wouldn't have been surprised if he just died while trying to go up the stairs because of how drunk he smelled and was. Pretty sad. Another one of my favorite moments this week was contacting and then this lady started barking at us and kept yelling mean things but the funniest part was when she told us "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU GIRLS." Hahaha it really was so dang funny. So you bet that I said "Okay, do it then, c'mon!" There are some mean bullies here but it's pretty funny. I mean c'mon we're two harmless gals in some homely skirts, what's scary about that? I guess that lady is right though.. I think homely skirts are pretty terrifying too. HAHHA but really these clothes though.

I love you all so much, you all make me the happiest! I hope you have a happy happy week and do something nice for somebody you don't know. Kind acts go a loooooooooooong long way.  I love you all, thanks for your love! I love Russia and I can't believe that I am here sometimes. It's such an incredible place. The best place! anyway, Happy Valentines day to all! Wanna know a secret? I think it might be one of my favorite holidays.

Love you!

Love Sissy Hayster

Walking by some chastni domes 

REUNITED AND IT WAS THE BEST!

How would you like a piece of this manmeat? 

all four of us in the podezd

cool living

:)

And one with our little teeny tiny russian mom “CV”

I fell really hard on a metal pole and this happened

I'm stoked that's not my car 

Ghetto sledding

my district, elder Peterson elder Garlick (he goes back to the US on monday) 

me and sissy Martine

The snow really isn't too deep as I thought it would be haha

Dang.

Dang.

I love you all so much.

Dang. This was the craziest week of all i am sooo exhausted! 

Sunday The president of the eastern Europe area named President Porter came to Saratov for a HUGE conference to see if Saratov is ready to have a stake. So, in order to do so, there had to be a number of people to attend so that he could discern if they were ready or not. Well, there is a HUGE church building in Saratov, and that is where we all go for all the conferences that we have in the Saratov Zone. We have been working for about two months to round people up and get them excited to go to Saratov for the conference and it was sweet because they ordered a bus for us all so it was free so people just couldn't say no. Well, Satan has just been stepping up his game soooo much because guess what happened? Everything bad. 

Apparently they were announcing every 15 minutes on the radio in Saratov the night before our conference that they needed protestors to protest our church and was telling the people that we are the most violent people. The police went and shut down our branch building and put up baracades so that we couldn't meet there on sunday. Jokes on them though because we have two branches in Saratov, but the protestors went to the main big building where we were planning on meeting and so our leaders and the branches met at the little building. But the government shut off the power there so that we couldn't meet there... but they met there anyway and guess what? Luckily someone had their laptop all charged up so we were able to skype in. It's just ridiculous the things satan does. We still had the bus ordered, and so instead of going to Saratov we went to this little city that is close to Balakova called Marks. And on our way to Marks to skype in with that branch there, OUR BUS BROKE DOWN. Hahaha literally one thing after another I just had to laugh. But then we ordered a mini bus that had not enough room so we were all sitting on laps. It was ridiculous and it was all just evidence to me that Satan is stepping up his game because just before good things happen, all the bad stuff happens from Satan because he is trying sooo hard to get this work to stop. Well, it won't stop, it's just going to explode because this is the Lord's work. Haha oh my gosh it was just so much at once, we ended up getting to Marks late so we missed a bit of the conference, but it's all good. It's all just evidence that there will be a stake here soon and nobody can do anything about it. Once Saratov gets a stake, that will be the third stake in Russia which means that's enough to build a temple someday! AHHH SO EXCITING and so exhausting.When we got home last night after all the madness, I wanted to sleep for days haha it was exhausting but very worth it. 

Want to know something CRAZY? My trainer Sister Coleman is companions right now with my MTC companion Sister Gerritsen. Guess what? Sister Gerritsen slipped on ice and just broke her ankle suuuuper bad. So she has to go home. She went home today. When I found out that she was going home I really did get sad about it. I really do love Sister Gerritsen so much. But, it's a big blessing in disguise it's all in the Lord's hands and he just blesses and blesses and blesses. I can't wait to take Sister Gerritsen out to lunch when I get home! 

Miracles are happening left and right though.There is a new convert here in Balakova named “N”. She's handicapped and has the most goldenest of hearts. She has a mom named "S" and from time to time as we go to meet with "N", her mom will listen through the door. We invite her in to hear our lesson, but she just says no and just listens through the door. As the date of conference grew closer and closer, we tried harder and harder to get "S" to sit in on our lessons with us. Well, she finally did, just for a little bit, and felt really touched. As we asked for permission to bring "N" with us to the conference, "S"'s answer surprised us. She said "Well of course.... but what if I want to come too?" Long story short, they both ended up coming to the conference, we called "S" after the conference to ask how she enjoyed the conference, and she told us she LOVED it! She then invited us to come back during the week. SO cool dang. You would just squeeze her if you knew her. Two other investigators came to the conference, two of which are two guys who attend our english group. Get this. The 16 year old named "D", he has been coming every week for about a month to our group. Well, just on saturday he came wearing a suit! We asked him why he was dressed up, and for what occasion, and his reply was "The elders wear suits, so I want to too." How cool is that? He's basically a missionary already.

Having faith in Jesus Christ has been the only thing keeping me going. We had a zone conference on saturday in Saratov with President Porter. He's so great it was a great conference. I realized after our zone conference  how much his message was needed for me to hear. I have really felt Satan step up his game in trying to discourage me. It really lifted me up, and I just love how much it helped me to remember the Savior. So many unfortunate events happened on Sunday as we were trying to get to the conference, all evidence of Satan trying to slow this work, but nothing stopped the determination of our branch from getting to that conference. They have such great faith in Jesus Christ. Their faith strengthens my faith! I really feel so blessed to serve with them here. They're just the silliest.

Right now I feel really afraid if i'm being honest. I feel really afraid of Satan. I am trying to cast out my doubts and my fears so that I can remember the Lord and just focus on serving Him. While we were on the streets last night contacting, I thought of our Savior.  In that moment when I thought of Him, I didn't feel that it was just me and sister martinez alone on the streets, the Lord was there along with us, and it took a lot of the fear away. That really just is the key to life my friends and family, just remembering Christ to cast out our doubts and our fears. The other key is just taking each day a day at a time.  Something really cool President Porter promised us that as we study the Savior more in our lives, our hearts will break because of how much we will love the Savior as we learn more about Him. I look forward to that day, and I pray for a stronger testimony always. 

FUNNY FUNNY FUNNY thing happened. We ordered a taxi, and long story short he waited forever as we were trying to get all of our things put together.... that he just left. It was pretty funny but maybe you had to be there. Literally.. we hadn't paid him his 170 rubles ($2.50) and he just took off without another word. Oh my gosh something is wrong with me! All the dumb stuff is funny! Hahaha YOU JUST HAD TO BE THERE, OKAY?!?. 

I love you all. I FINALLY got all my letters from christmas and packages too. Thank you all for your support and for helping me feel your love! You know who you are. Nelsons, Plehns, Brooks, GrandmaGrandpa, Grandma, Bonae, Hayd, Whit, Halpins, family friends. I love you all so much and appreciate all you do. 

I hope you have the best week of your lives. Be happy and if you have a bad day just remember that the Lord love you.... and THIS gal loves you. If that's not enough, then go treat yourself to some sweets because that's what I would do. I love you all more than you know!

Love Sissy 

We just looooove pizza

Opening prizes on the marshytka OH HAPPPPPPY DAY!

You have no idea how crazy she is. I LOVE her ahhh man what a dream

Dead Fishes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

haha Yum. White popsicles. 

Love, sissy T

Me with “CV” the new convert. She's the spunkiest and sooooo sassy I love her much

and another..... (look at my scarf my hayd!) I love it the most.

View out of our branch building

Just as the sun was setting. I don't live in this dome, but this is balakova in a nutshell.

dead FISHES

"CV" gave me a back rub. It was heaven on earth to say the least

and a baby cat in a tree. He was so high up there

WHAT A WEEK.

There is a new convert in our branch and his name is "V". He's 24 and he's SOOOOO sick. He just got baptized like 3 weeks ago, and he said to us "It's so weird that two months ago i was athiest." Isn't that insane? Anyway, so he just got baptized, and he has a little 11 year old sister and a mom. His mom, "O"is an alcoholic, and apparently she was on date for baptism in December, but she just is so addicted to drinking. Well, we found out through the Elders, that after "V" got baptized, "O" stopped drinking cold turkey,because I guess that he has just had such an impact on his mom. It's so great. Anyway, we had a meeting with "O"and "VK" tuesday night. We had the best lesson! So me and sister mckell last cycle came up with the most brilliant plan. To teach the steps of prayer as you make a pizza and every step of prayer is a different ingredient. Example, the dough is "start your prayer and adress your heavenly father." the tomato sauce is "Thank him for your blessings" then the cheese is the next step, and then all the personal toppings is all the questions you can ask God, all the things you can ask in your own words, and then the last step is putting the pizza in the oven and closing the over door, just like closing prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Well, we were SO stoked to use this with "O"and "VK" but to our horrendous surprise when we got to their apartment..........

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........... THEY HAD NO GAS! hahahahaa oh my gosh it was such a nightmare! They live in a waaay new nice apartment and it's so new that nobody in the apartment has gas yet (good thing I have enough gas to provide for the whole complex, amiright?) Not that kind of gas, but propane. hahaha anyway, it was just so funny and we just took the situation and made it work. We all sat together on the floor and had our lesson. We showed each step of prayer, and just showed the dough, the sauce, the pizza, and explained all of the steps without cooking it. It was so sweet because it was sooo spiritual. So spiritual. We just all bore our testimonies about prayer and just explained that it is literally a conversation with God. We asked "O"and "VK" if they even believed in God. "VK" said yes, and "O"said she didn't really know. It was way cool because we asked them if they had ever prayed to God using their own words (Russians are usually proveslovni and they only read prayers, and never say their own prayers from their hearts.) in their life, and they said no. We then just promised them that they WOULD feel God listening, and that they would come to know that he is their Father and that he loves them. We then invited little 11 year old "VK" to pray, for the VERY first time. She said she was shy, and we said "Don't be! We'll just close our eyes and you won't even know we're here." So then, she started praying. It was the most pure, innocent, beautiful prayer i have EVER heard in my life. It was interesting because during the middle of her prayer, she paused, so I opened my eyes to see if she needed help remembering how to close the prayer, and as I opened my eyes, I looked at her, and she just started bawling. Tears just running down her face and I felt the Spirit SO strong, as we all felt along with her, and then she closed her prayer. I was almost in tears beacuse it was her very first prayer and I got to experience it and the Spirit.... oh man. I think that was one of the top three times I've felt the spirit so strong in my life. After her prayer I asked her "Do you feel that?! Did you feel God listen to you?" and she said "yeah, I feel so good.!" we explained that it was the Spirit and that God know her and loves her. She knew it, and it was such a beautiful moment. 

We also made her a little prayer calendar to put sticker on each day that she prays and if she prays every day, then we'll get her a prize at the end of the month. Well guess what? GUESS WHAT?!?!?!! "V" came to church yesterday and guess what? "VK" came with him!!!! It was so cool! And then she told us that she has been praying every day. It was so touching, and one of the members named "VY" who is just the best, she teaches primary, and she told us ""VK" just GETS the gospel. She is so in tune with the spirit and she answered all the questions I asked with the most spiritual answers." It was sooooo great and we are soooo excited to invite her to be baptized! And "V" her brother can baptize her! AHHH so great I just want to pee my pants thinking about it. Next on the wagon is “O”, but she will be ready, I have no doubts. 

This week was a little bit crazy too because I was really sick most of the week with a fever and an ear infection, but that's just life. I think it's because the weather just keeps changing from coldish to extremelly warm. But yeah, I was really sick and we had district meeting and I asked the Elders to give me a blessing. I was feeling way better but I was just feeling really down and trunky and I wanted a blessing. Well, they said they would but they didn't because district meeting went over and they had to leave for a meeting which was fine, so I just asked the member that lives at the branch, his name is “B” and I asked him to give me a blessing. He did, and it was so cool. Such a cool experience because it was a testimony to me that the priesthood is the same in english, russian, hmong, spanish, chinese, and all the languages in the world. It's all the same, and it was way cool because Heavenly Father opened up my spiritual ears and I was able to understand everything he told me. It was so cool, I loved it. It was a funny blessing  because he was like "Sister Twede, you're sick. You have a fever and Heavenly Father is telling me that you need to go home. You can't be on the streets tonight, you need to go home, drink tea, and sleep." hahaha it was sweet, but I didn't feel sick enough to go home so we hit the streets. I really felt bad because “B” called when we were on the streets and got mad at me "You mean to say that you didn't listen to the blessing that God gave you? I didn't tell you to go home, the Lord did." I felt really bad, and the next morning I woke up so exhausted but I repented and Heavenly Father forgave me but now I know to always always listen to the council i receive in blessings. 

Friday was really a rough day though. I felt really exhausted with this work and I'm still trying to love this new area and just adjust to the pace here. There are a lot of times when I just want to quit the mission in general. It is just so easy to just get on a plane out of Russia and head home. However, when I get those thoughts I just think about what would have happened if Christ just gave up as he was atoning for all of us. I imagine what that would be like, if Christ, being perfect, having all power, just gave up and never completed all the Heavenly Father sent him to do. Of COURSE he didn't quit, he's our Savior!  And because he didn't quit, I won't either. The times we feel sick, the times we are so exhausted beyond belief, the times we have no desire to do this work, the times we miss our family and friends and all the comforts of life, or whtever challenge it is that we are facing in life, we should think of Him. I think of the fact that he never quit and that thought alone keeps me here! I know that Christ is perfect and he has perfect love and perfect motivation to help our imperfect motivations. Any obstacle we face in life, any questions we ever have in life, have one answer:The atonement of Jesus Christ! I am so grateful for Christ and His atonement. He has helped me so much in life, on the mission, and I know he will continue to help me. I am grateful because I feel I am starting to understand Christ and His sacrifice to us all more and more every day! He's just the best! He will help you all too. I know it because he has helped me. We just have to allow him to help us sometimes. The choice really is ours.

I love you all, you're all the best. I miss you all and pray for you always. Thanks for your prayers on my behalf and on behalf of these dear silly friends and siblings we have in Russia! They feel your love and prayers.

LOVE YOU

Love Sissy Hayster

 FRIEND BEAST! he lives at our branch building

 This is my home for now. Isn't is quaint? haha so beasty. 

But really it's so quiet and little here

New companion Cectpa Martinez