С Рождеством!

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas! I'm going to be so excited to say that to you in person. I got the lovely package that mom and dad so thoughtfully prepared for me. It was perfect! The Elders in Ekat who were around when I opened it were disappointed that there was no American candy inside and just CD's, sweaters, stickers, etc. I was super excited though! The two sweaters that mom got me fit perfectly. Dad's CD's work great (the burned ones only work on our portable DVD however...).

The most exciting thing to happen to me this week was an egg. A "rule" in this mission is that you have to put your eggs in water to see if they float before you eat them. If they float-- throw them out! You might get salmonella poisoning! Ahhhhh!! Well, Sister Fedas told me that was ridiculous, and I kind of agreed with her. I've been floating my eggs (or rather, they're NOT floating) for almost 5 months, and nothing has happened. Well, I was making brownies for our zone meetings (I'm nice), and I thought "should I just float the eggs one last time? well, alright" and did it. One of the eggs floated! It was a miracle. I saved 8 missionaries from food poisoning just by floating my egg. Miracles really do happen.

Something else cool to happen in Ufa this week was the Olympic torch. Because we're missionaries, we are extreeeeeemely out of the loop when it comes to current events like the Olympics and such. We live right in the middle of downtown and traffic was terrible on Friday. We were 90 min late to one appointment and had to cancel another because traffic in the city was so awful. We had to walk home three times over the weekend and it took about an hour each time. So ridiculous. Well, we found out why the traffic was so bad! We walked out of our apartment Saturday morning to wait for the bus to church. None came, and we couldn't figure out why. Then we realized (after waiting 20 min) that there were police EVERYwhere. Turns out transport on our end of the city was totally shut down because....the Olympic torch came to Ufa! Even though I didn't see it, I saw everyone else who saw it. :) They all had really cool flags with a map of Russia on it with every route of the Olympic torch drawn on. Would've been a really nifty souvenir.

The weather in Ufa took a pretty significant drop this week. The lowest forecast was -29 C but it ended up only being -25 C. I'm not freezing to death (yet) but it's coming close! I've heard that January and February are the coldest months, so I'm excited to experience that. I bought these really cool shoe inserts (they're like insoles) that you stick in the bottom of your shoe and it adds and extra two inches so your feet are farther away from the ground. It looks like cardboard and cotton mixed together. It's definitely a bargain because it was the equivalent of $1 and definitely keeps my feet warmer. The problem is is that since now my feet are slightly more elevated inside my shoe, it's made my boots really tight on top and there's tension around the zipper. But I figure it's worth it since I can always get them fixed if they break. Also, I'll definitely dump these boots when I come home next year. (Can you believe that I can say that? "come home next year"?? crazy!)

On the way to church on Sunday, while Sister Fedas and I were waiting at the bus stop, a GIGANTIC wolf/dog came up and stood by me. Those things freak me out really bad. Stray dogs breed with the wolves in the countryside and somehow they end up living in the city, and they are EVERYwhere. Anyway, our bus came and we got on the driver turns to us and said "who's dog is that?" because the dog followed us on the bus. We told him it wasn't ours, but I don't think he really believed us especially when our bus stop came and the dog got off with us (actually, he got off before us). He ended up leading us all the way to the church and then patiently stood outside as we scurried in, trying to make sure that he didn't also come in. It was the weirdest thing, but maybe he was there to protect us from something.

The branch here put on a gigantic Christmas party this last week. It was this nativity scene that they had turned into a short play and "Russian-ized" it a lot. I played the piano for the Angel choir. We had quite a turn-out for it, and then afterward we all feasted on pre-ordered food from Lido's. Yum.

First week as a trainer

Dear Family,

Well, last week was probably one of the most interesting of my life. Last Sunday (December 8), I was basically having an anxiety attack all day freaking out about training and such. Well, a lot of things. I'm quite the worrier sometimes. :) The Church has a really good book for missionaries called "Adjusting to Missionary Life" that I read quite frequently from beginning to end because it really just reminds me that all these "panic" feelings are actually really quite normal and it gives me ways to deal with them. Well, I love that book and I used some of the exercises in it to try to calm myself down. Nothing really worked except for sitting in all three meetings of church. By the end, I actually felt relatively calm and ready to face the world. Whew.

Well, Monday we (another Sister being transferred to Ekat-- whom I love dearly) took a taxi to the airport in Ufa. That was quite a hassle. My Russian is decently good, but apparently it's not good enough to talk to someone over the phone and order a taxi. I got hung up on. :) No worries, that's what zone leaders are for. I had him call a taxi and other than the driver getting lost finding our apartment (how is that even possible when we live on one of the main roads in the city?) Going to Ekat is like coming home. Other than of course being my namesake city (and name of my blog!), I love that place because that two times I've been there have just been so wonderful. First, when I came into the country and second, picking up my trainee!

Tuesday morning we woke up early because the two Ukrainian sisters were supposed to come in. Well, there was a big mix-up between the Madrid MTC and our mission because they didn't come in. We figured out the error ourselves and figured out that they would be coming in Wednesday morning instead. I was in training and on splits all day. Wednesday, we also woke up really early and went to the airport. No sister missionaries.... At this point it was awkward because it was too early to call the Madrid MTC and I had a flight out later that night to Ufa. In the end of the end, turns out the sisters came in on a completely different connection than the MTC told us (from Rome instead of Moscow.....) and they took a taxi to the mission office themselves. If it had been me, there would be no way I would've called a taxi. I just would've cried! Ha.

Anyway, my companion, Sister Fedas, is the best. She's really the perfect missionary already and we get along great. She's smart and always knows what to say in the moment (and it's not just because she already knows Russian). If people give us a tough question, I'm always like "uhhhhhhhh" trying to even think of an answer before I think of translating it into Russian, and by the time I come up with something to say, she's already said the exact thing (in perfect Russian of course). She also speaks Ukrainian too, which is pretty dang cool.

The only catch is that she doesn't speak English. She kind of speaks English but not really. And that's totally OK because she was called to preach the gospel in the Russian language and not in English. Haha. This just means that I've been speaking in Russian since Wednesday morning, and I have the biggest headache. I think my Russian has actually gotten worse with a Russian companion because I've been speaking Russian so much that it just exhausts my brain. We had a zone meeting on Friday, and I instantly translated the whole thing for her from English to Russian (except for a story about a bucket with holes in the bottom...) and that took all my strength to do. I was seriously yawning the whole rest of the day.

I really like our companionship, and I know that Sister Fedas and I both have a lot to learn from each other. We get along great already, and we're attempting to speak Russian in the evenings while we do planning and before bed. It's actually a struggle for me because I forget to speak in English.

We have three new missionaries in our zone (including Sister Fedas) one of whom was in the MTC with me and is a great guy. I really love our zone still. The strangest thing is that Sister Galli is still here but just in a different area of the city.

We had an absolute miracle in planning this week. Saturday we made plans for Sunday to visit a less-active that I had last visited several months ago. She and her family are all inactive for many reasons but the focal reason is that she feels like people at church aren't spiritual enough. My last meeting with her didn't go too well, and she has blocked our number from her phone. Well, we stopped by and her domophone didn't work. We stood there a minute trying to think of what we should do (call the neighbors?) but then a young man came out and let us in. We hurried in and went up the stairs. The door before her door was open, and we realized that young man must've come out of her apartment. Well, he came back and turns out that he had been there and let us in. It was a miracle that we even got into the padezd and an even greater miracle that the same man who let us into her padezd also let us into her apartment. We had a meeting with her, her daughter, and her husband, and it actually turned out surprisingly well. They assured us that they have strong testimonies, they just don't feel love at church. Sister Fedas and I have a plan of what to do with them (basically bring active members with us on lessons), and the lady said that we can. It was a big miracle.

We didn't have a lot of meetings because it was transfers week and also finals week for our investigators. We had a really good lesson, however, with our new member who was baptized last month about how she can build upon the rock of Christ. It was really interesting to me because she had no idea what a "rock" meant in this context. It's funny how having a strong Mormon background makes me not realize that sometimes people don't understand symbols in the scriptures. Once we explained that to her, she was able to understand the application. She has a 10 year old daughter who is scared of us missionaries (not exactly sure why...) and refuses to meet us or come to church. We encouraged her to start holding family home evening with her daughter so that she can explain to her what we believe and such.

I love being a clean missionary because I know that I'm able to discern people's feelings easier through the spirit.  It's really interesting and kind of cliche, but the more that I see these blessings from being obedient and consecrated the more that I want to receive more blessings through being exactly obedient.

I seriously love being here. Russia is the place for me to be even though it was seriously painful to leave America.

We had a cool little experience yesterday. On the way to a meeting, we were walking across this gigantic freeway in the middle of the city (also really windy and snowing a ton) when we ran into a little old lady walking the opposite direction. She was totally lost and couldn't find her home, and originally had gone out to look for her son who was supposed to come visit her. Sister Fedas wanted to just leave her and go to our appointment, but I really just couldn't bear the thought of leaving that poor little old lady out on the street alone at night. We helped her find her way home (took about 45 min) but the whole time I was thinking "This is what Jesus would do!!" and I knew it was the right thing to do even though it was freezing cold. There is only one path of trampled down snow and we had the old lady walk on that while we helped her on both sides and held her hands/grabbed her arms while walking in 2-3 feet of snow. It was freezing. In the end, my tights were soaking wet, but I didn't feel cold. It sounds cheesy, but I knew we had done the right thing and that made me warm on the inside.

It's hard to believe that it's the Christmas season already and that in just one week (one short week!!!) I will be skyping you. I really cannot believe it. I very clearly remember the day when we all crammed into our grey car and drove me five minutes to the MTC. It was kind of anti-climatic and surreal, but I hate when people make a good deal out of goodbyes anyway. I cannot believe that I've survived six months on a mission and that I'm one-third done. Time flies-- it really does!

I love all of you so much, and I love everyone here too. I love the branch. I love the zone. I love my companion. I really love (and totally respect) my mission president. This mission is the best in the world-- at least for me-- and I know that's why I was called here.

Have a very merry week before Christmas!! I will talk to you in just a few short days. :)

Love,

Catie

Well hey there!

Life is going great here in Ufa. It's been snowing BUCKETS over here, and it's pretty chilly. This last week I got food poisoning (yay!) which was convenient because we got to stay in most of the day on the coldest day of the week. The high was -14 C. My lungs were freezing, lemme tell you.

It's still been kinda slow here. Just like in America, all the final exams are happening here so nobody can meet. Kind of a disappointing week and since I'll be in Ekat all week picking up my new companion and going through training, I'm not going to be able to proselyte in my area again until Friday. Kind of stressful a little bit.

Most of this week was spent helping Sister Galli pack and move and such. I'm going to the airport today right after internet with one of my favorite sisters in the zone who is being transferred to Ekat. Since we're both going to the airport together, we've been on splits since yesterday after church (we had to move baggage across town and stuff and there is no time to do that today). It's been kind of fun being the "senior" companion, and having meetings last night helped me realize that I can, in fact, take care of this area without Sister Galli here by my side. I'm sooooo nervous to train (a native!), but I'm excited at the same time. It's going to be a different experience. Basically, for the last six months of my life, I've had someone else telling me what to do, but for the first time, I actually have to think for myself again. That's going to be so weird.

I've been on a mission for six months-- how crazy is that? December 5th I hit that mark and the very next day (December 6th), I hit my four-months-in-country mark! Things like that just cheer me up right away and give me something to look forward to.

Other things to look forward to? Christmas and New Years. We get to have some parties with our zone, so that's going to be a nice break.

On Christmas, I get to Skype you for 90 whopping minutes! How great is that. I'll keep you posted on what time that will be. You can request a time, but it's kind of out of my control to decide what time. I'll try though!

Things I love about Russia:
Strollers are BIG here. The strollers look like SUVS with gigantic wheels and such. Everywhere is "stroller accessible" which basically just means that cement has been dumped on parts of the stairs to make a ramp for the wheels. Now that there's snow everywhere, children are pushed around in sleds. I am not kidding.
Mothers here dress their children up in snow suits starting in September. Kids wear snow pants EVERYwhere-- even to church. The cutest thing is seeing the little babies just wrapped up in these super gigantic down snow outfits. They look like chubby space aliens.
Music-- music is everywhere. Whether it's live music from street musicians or blasting out of radios in cars, buses, or at the mall. I love music. I love "Roar" by Katy Perry and also "Safe and Sound". Who knew that they would blast so much American music here? I love it!
Members-- the members here are solid. All the trouble that goes into converting someone is worth it because for the most part, the members stay members for life. There are lots of inactives of course-- but they're inactive for reasons (usually) other than pure disbelief in the church anymore.
It's a very efficient country. Yes, it's inefficient in a lot of ways just like anywhere else, but Russians are very efficient in all they do. If you're not standing 2 inches behind the person in line ahead of you, you'll probably get cut in line. It's not rudeness, it's just efficiency.
I love my zone. I'm sad transfers are happening because we're "losing" three amazing missionaries to other zones. I've really loved my zone. I feel like we're just a great, dysfunctional family. :)
I love being able to read signs and understand the jokes in ads and stuff. It makes me feel smart to not be illiterate (totally).
Everyone is a PRO at giving directions. The verbs here are soooo complicated, so I don't really understand people but as long as you understand "straight," "left," "right," and so forth, you will understand decently well. The people will keep giving you directions until you understand, and they're always happy to help.
Everyone is a hard worker here. Everyone works sooo hard whether it be at an actual job or in school. It seems like everyone is either working or studying.
Everyone's puffy coats or animal skin coats. Everyone looks so stylish all the time, but everything they own is practical. (Apparently) fur is extremely warm in -40 weather, so that's why it's so big here. Everyone is also super big into hats.
I love the food-- need I say more? I'm still not sick of it after four months in the country. hooray! I like bread and soup and pastries and candy (there's a lot of it here....didn't expect that).

I hope you all have a great week! I'll let you know next week how my first week was with my new companion. :)

Also, the primary program in the branch here yesterday was sooooo cute.

I love you!!!

Always,
Catie

Letter from Mission President

Dear Brother and Sister Brown,

I am delighted to inform you that your daughter, Sister Brown, will be serving as a Trainer, beginning this week.  Her companion is Sister Fedas, from the Ukraine, who arrived from the MTC in Madrid, Spain today.

Your daughter is a wonderful missionary.  This is not an easy mission and she consistently works very hard and very effectively.  She already has excellent language skills despite the short length of time she has served here and communicates and teaches very effectively and beautifully in the Russian language.  She will be an excellent Trainer.  I have great confidence in her and expect that she will be an effective and important leader in the future of this mission.

You can be very proud of Sister Brown.  She has a loving, gentle spirit, with great faith and strong determination.  She has great musical talent and has an engaging and delightful personality. She is dearly loved by other missionaries in our mission.  I am so grateful to have the privilege of serving as her Mission President.  Sister Christensen and I love her dearly and thoroughly enjoy her kind, humble and deeply spiritual personality.

Thank you for raising such a wonderful daughter and sharing her with us for this brief season of her life.

With love,

President Val J. Christensen
Russia Yekaterinburg Mission

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello! Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone. I hope that you stuck to your diets or are about to make new ones! 

Sorry my email is a little late. We had extreme computer trouble this week. That was pretty devastating!

Well, I have some good (maybe bad?) news for you! Either I love Russia/my mission SO much that I don't miss you at all...or I'm turning into a robot. Really. I miss you occasionally, but I'm just having so much dang fun over here that it's hard to stay sad for too long. I haven't cried once since coming to Russia, and with the holiday season (and training....and Skyping...) ahead, let's hope I can stay that way!

Well, Thanksgiving was fun and no, there's nothing like Thanksgiving in Russia. They have all kinds of holidays but Thanksgiving isn't one of them. We had a gigantic dinner together as a zone, and I made mashed potatoes and Grandma Brown's rolls-- everyone raved about the rolls. Seriously. Who would know that just the right ingredients makes my entire zone just start slobbering? ;)

Also, English group started up again but despite our multiple hours of contacting for it a whopping total of three non-members showed up. This was kind of how it was the last time we re-started, and I hope it picks up. We start and stop English group every eight weeks so that we can get a new crowd of people coming (who will eventually start investigating the church). We figure after eight weeks of hearing our spiritual thoughts (we teach one point of the first lesson every week) they either are interested or not, so it's time to get a new round of people. I get anxiety before English group starts (don't ask me why...it must be the pressure of having to speak English??) but it always fades as the hour goes by. I did a music number on the flute with an elder accompanying on the guitar (come thou fount) and then the third verse (technically it's the third verse but when it starts the original melody again) the missionaries sang and I dropped out. Well, the flute and guitar sounded interestingly bluegrass together (probably not my favorite sound), but it turned out OK. 

It wasn't the most spiritual week in terms of lessons-- can you believe that people are too busy to meet with us?? But it was a good week nonetheless.

Some thoughts this week:
if you're ever seen the live-action 101 Dalmatians (with Glenn Close) just picture her 800 million coats on every Russian person here. I've never seen so much fur in my entire life.
Sister Missionaries get extra blessings than regular missionaries. Also, Sister Missionaries who ride bikes get TRIPLE extra blessings. Also, Sister Missionaries serving in Russia and walking around in the wind/snow/blizzards attempting to speak a strange language should also get triple blessings even if they're not riding bikes. yep.
it's really cold here, and I think my toes are going to fall off
I'm really nervous/excited to train! I feel like I have more of an idea about how to train an American than a Ukrainian....but we'll see!

Fast and Testimony meeting was really cute yesterday. We've been visiting this nice old lady in Dioma practically every week since we got here. She lives about an hour and half away from the church and is 80-ish and still manages to go to church every Sunday. She's such a gem but has been struggling with her health lately. She can't see very well and her first request to us when we came was about somehow getting the Book of Mormon on CD so that she can listen to it. Well, it was about a two and a half month ordeal. The office kept sending the wrong format or the office would send them to the wrong city or the CDs that would come hadn't even been burned. Well! Finally, the new CDs came and we really doubted that they would work. They didn't work on our stereo or our DVD player but we brought them and decided to try them out on hers. We really thought it would be like all the other times and we'd have to say "We are so sorry! We'll have to call someone and have them send you new CDs!" Well, we popped them in and behold! They worked! Well, she got up in testimony meeting yesterday and just talked about how the Book of Mormon has blessed her life and she's so happy she's been able to listen to the Book of Mormon on CD. She talked about how much the missionaries have blessed her life and continue to bless her life every day. It was really touching.

I'm really grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve a mission here in Ekat. President Christensen is such an inspired man, and I'm so grateful that he is the president here. The more I follow his counsel, the more I see the blessings that he has promised. Being a missionary is tough-- I'll be honest. People don't always want to talk to you and sometimes they insult you but they're not the people we're here to teach. We're here to teach the people that are prepared to receive the Gospel. Anyone that's not prepared? Well, they will be with time so there's no use worrying about them. 

I hope you have a great week, and I pray for you all the time.  I love you all very much, and I pray for you all the time. You're so great!

With all the love in the world,
Sister Brown
your very favorite daughter, aunt, niece, granddaughter, etc.

Hey hey hey!

Well hey everyone!

This week in Russia (I still cannot believe that I live here!!!) was great. Clear, sunny skies. It was beautiful. The only downside to that, though is that if there are no clouds to hold in what little heat is here, that means that it's cold. Well, it was cold! Cold and windy. But hey, it's Russia.

I was in a really good mood all week long despite the fact that we only had two investigator meetings. Kind of disappointing since that's about a third of our usual.... but it is finals around here and our investigators are all young and in college. We're hoping it picks up more this week!

Okay, so here's a funny story. Tuesday, because we had all our meetings cancel on us, Sister Galli and I did less-active stop-bys. Unfortunately, these three less-actives live nowhere near each other. We literally had the whole day though and since they raised transport prices (ridiculously high), we decided to walk to each less-active while contacting. Well, it was dang cold outside especially when you're walking in the shade of big buildings the whole way. I was pretttttty cold. Well, we're handing out church invitations and trying to get people to talk to us and nobody is. The colder it gets here the less friendly people are (and they were hardly friendly to begin with...). Well, I saw some cool wool mittens for sale on the side of the road (handmade!) with the Olympic rings and snowflakes, so I bought those and I've been wearing them this week. But anyway, so we're still contacting and it's freezing. Well, we're walking on the sidewalk when all of a sudden "thwuuuuuuck" my boot gets stuck in something, and I look down.... CEMENT. Oh my gosh. As is typical in Russia, they decided to fix the side walk and put a little board over one corner. Well, we stood on the side of the road wiping cement off my boot with leaves. We looked like....well, idiots standing there-- but I had to get the cement off! The funniest thing was standing there and seeing everyone else walk by either almost stepping in the cement or fully stepping in it. That was an adventure. Well, now the zipper on my boot won't work because of the cement (luckily, my foot was NOT in it when the zipper broke). 

The rest of the week was kind of a slow one. Meetings kept cancelling on us and everything, but we just met with a bunch of less-actives so that was good. English group and Thanksgiving are this Thursday, so that will be fun. Also, the Sister Trainers and President are coming to town! This week is going to be jam-packed. And then....transfers!

We got a phone call last night....duh duh duh duh duh DUHHHHH. Sister Galli is being transferred to Sipailavo (smallest area in the mission but still in Ufa!) and I am going to be training a Ukrainian girl who may or may not speak English! I'm so excited. Training in this area will be kind of a joke though because the area is so big and we moved apartments-- I hardly know the area myself! I'm so excited and also really terrified! 

But do you know what this means? I will probably be in Ufa for the next two transfers training. I'm SO lucky to be in the WARMEST city in the mission during the WARMEST winter on record. Remember how I prayed about putting Raynaud's on my mission papers and felt that it wasn't a big deal? Well, I'll be here all winter because I'm training for two transfers at least here. So I'll be here all winter! I'm soooo happy

Sorry this is kinda a scatter-brained letter. Life is so great, and I'm happy. There are Christmas lights up all over the city, and I'm excited for Christmas. Who's ready to Skype Sister Brown? :)

Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Brown

p.s. here are some answers to questions that a FUTURE EKAT MISSIONARY emailed me :) 
I love being blog-stalked ;)

How is the weather? This is the warmest winter on record for a while. It's been hitting up to negative 5 Celsius, so if you're from Orem it's been about normal Utah weather. The city I am in (the most southern in the mission) is warm -- of course. But some of the members here have told me that it's been up to negative 40 here before. It just depends, of course. Bring long underwear but not necessarily thermal garments. Tights, tights, tights. Thin tights, thick tights-- you'll want a lot. It's pretty windy (I've been here since August) so bring skirts that don't get blown around easily (I had to give some away because it's just such a bother to walk around like that). It's REALLY hot and humid in the summer. Feels hotter than Utah just because of the humidity. Bring light polyester material shirts that DO NOT need layering underneath. You will REGRET having "Shade" or "DownEast" shirts under your clothes with garments also. We were outside in the sun a lot of the day and sweating pretty bad. :)

What are the rules as far as music? It was different before I came, but the Christensen's rule is this (directly from an email to my parents) : Mormon Tabernacle Choir music and other LDS artists who sing sacred music. (Please avoid the       pop-sounding modern gospel music-we want them to invite the spirit to their homes). Classical music is also acceptable. Please use good judgment where this is concerned.

What day is P day? Pday is Mondaaaaaaaay.

Did you have any problems getting your visa? No visa problems. From what I've noticed, it's uncommon. We were supposed to get an Elder who was adopted from Russia to America when he was younger and he was denied a visa and sent to Ukraine. Another Elder was delayed a day or two but could still come. Just don't worry about it and fill out all your forms honestly, throughly, and timely.

Advice for preparing?
Read Preach My Gospel at least once. You use it ALL the time out here. All the time. President Christensen is definitely a "preach my gospel" missionary. Also, really don't bring as many clothes as you think you're gonna need. Bring some skirts that work for both summer and fall and one or two "winter" skirts. The shirts you use for spring can be layered over with cardigans and such but don't feel like you have to go out and buy 10 turtlenecks. It's not worth the weight. Bring a hat or two, some nice warm mittens or gloves for fall, and lots of scarves. Russians are big into scarves. You can definitely buy some here too that are inexpensive.

The MTC is hard on purpose but just make sure that you look at the big picture -- the count down 'til your mission. Use your MTC time wisely to prepare mentally, physically, spiritually, and intellectually. Just remember when you're feeling down-- you're going to Russia! You've been called here for a reason because only YOU can work miracles here. Don't let anything get you down-- not the language, not your age, not family problems. It's just not worth it. Satan wants to thwart you, but don't let him! Always remember the reason you decided to serve a mission (or the 800 reasons) and stick close to those. When you feel low and want to go home, just remember how you felt opening your call. God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. I know this is true for you and me!

Were you on west campus in the MTC?
I was on main campus. My friend going to Rostov was on West, and he said he liked it better than Main. I've heard (from an Elder who just got here) that they're starting to send Americans to the Madrid MTC who are going to Ekat and all the missions east of it in Russia.

Do all of the areas travel by public transportation?
Of course. We walk a lot too, but we take buses, "taxis", and weird "Mormon bus" vans a lot of places. Ekat has a metro.

How many missionaries are over there?
When I arrived there were 51 and one mini missionary (a Native from the area who serves for six weeks). There's generally about 50. It's a tinnnnny mission as far as people, but you grow really close to everyone. It's great!

Can you upload pictures on the computers there?
Depends on the computer....the ones we use in our area- no. I mail pictures home. We COULD use the computers at the church but they're really old and take forever. We opted for fast, convenient computers rather than slow ones that take an hour to get to.  There are computers in other areas where they can upload pictures, but I've heard bad things like sometimes there's a virus that erases all the pictures on your camera and such... kinda scary!

What a wonderful week!

What a wonderful week it was in Russia! There's officially snow on the ground, and it's freezing. I'm trying to picture it about 35 degrees colder than it currently is, and I really can't. This whole week all I was thinking about was how NEVER am I EVER living somewhere cold/snowy/windy ever again. There is no way. Ever. Which basically narrows down my future to either Hawaii or California....maybe Lake Arrowhead? Then I can ski. 

Sometimes, I wonder if sending missionaries to Russia was some kind of cruel joke

but THEN..........

duh duh duh duh duh DUHHHHHHH

Our investigator was baptized. It was the first baptism in this branch since June. She was an hour late to the service (her phone was off....) so it was a HUGE relief when she showed up. It's just awkward when the members and investigators who wanted to watch the baptism are waiting around for an hour...haha. Well, she finally showed up and the service went great. The font had malfunctioned earlier in the day (and by that I mean the Elders forgot to put in the plug) so it ended up being a blessing because up 'til about 20 min before the baptism was supposed to start, we were filling up the font with water from the kitchen sink in the church. Her only request had been "make sure the water isn't cold!!" We tried boiling water and using the electric kettles, but there wasn't really anything we could do. The water was freezing and when she got into it....well, she wasn't the most reverent person. :) I did a musical number (pre-recorded the piano part) on the flute with one of the Sisters singing. It was "Beautiful Savior". A great song which I thought was a fitting song for a fitting occasion. 

Well, the next day at church (I guess this was just yesterday...) we had told her that she HAD to be on time or else it was practically a sin. She joked "like coffee!" and agreed to be on time. Well, she was almost an hour late to sacrament meeting (Sister Galli and I were just sitting there sweating the whole time because her phone had been off). She got confirmed though! That was great. She's a solid person and right after church she even jumped in and actually ran the last half of the branch Christmas activity committee meeting. She's a great lady. 

One sad/funny thing happened this week. Another investigator met with us and told us that she can't go to church anymore. The reason why? She's madly in love with one of the Elders here and she knows that it's forbidden (she's assuming he likes her back....he doesn't) so she thinks it's best for both of them if she doesn't come to church. But she's willing to keep meeting with us! That was a good thing. 

Another cool thing happened this week. We went over to this 65 yr-old lady's apartment because we received a referral about her a couple months ago. We've taught her a couple lessons, but she's never seemed too interested. Well, Sister Galli said "we'll teach her the plan of salvation! that'll get her interested!!" And boy it did. We used the little wooden display of the plan of salvation (they sell it at the BYU bookstore...) and that is fascinating because she could visually see how much comes after death without us even putting those pieces down yet (they were just blank spots). And then! Her friend walks in who apparently is decently religious and so we retaught the whole lesson and her friend asked all kinds of questions and wants to meet with us again! She didn't want to take the Book of Mormon because she has "too much literature" already, but we know she'll take it when we have a chance to explain the importance of it. It was cool because our zone made a goal this week to get more referrals from people and we didn't even have to ask for this referral for it to happen!

There's snow on the ground in Ufa and so far....that hasn't been fun. I think this may be the first time ever I haven't been excited to see snow. Maybe it's because I know that 1. I'll be outside doing missionary work in it and 2. it's not going to melt for another six months. I love Russia but sometimes I wonder why people would want to live here....it's beautiful but freezing.

I hope everyone has a good and super safe week! I pray for you all the time (probably like 14 times a day on average....). I'm excited to Skype you in just a few short weeks. I'm also really excited for my Christmas package ;)

LOVE!!!
Catie
Sister Brown

Hello!!!!

Well hello hello,

It's been another really great week in Ufa and life is just peachy here. 

Monday we went to an investigator's house out in the country and it took quite a while to get there by bus. We stayed there all day and they LITERALLY fed us for 4 straight hours. I really thought I was going to puke. The food was absolutely delicious (traditional Bashkirian food) but they kept shoving it at us, and it's rude to say no. I kid you not--I gained about 5 pounds after that. :)

Her family was really nice, and Dad, even though you're cool installing solar panels by yourself on our roof (assisted by Luke), her dad built the house he lives in with his own hands. And it's a verrrrry nice house. Wow. I was really impressed. But hey, solar panels are impressive too!

The funniest thing about a mission I guess is that you literally have your entire day planned out, hour by hour, of what you're going to teach/accomplish/do etc. but there's still not enough time in a day to accomplish everything. In the MTC, I wrote in my journal every day, but here, I'm lucky if I can write in it a couple times a week! I've been writing my friends who are on missions (and those you aren't!) via mail/snail mail and even then, it's impossible! There's not enough time to do laundry, hang up laundry, FOLD laundry... who would have thought that I would be so busy? :) The work of salvation is pretty busy though.

We had a really cool miracle this week. After a confusing chain of events Thursday during weekly planning, we adjourned to head over to the church to meet up with an investigator. Well, she ended up not being able to meet us, but we decided to go over to the church anyway and finish planning there. Well, well, well! When we arrived, there was a member milling around outside who was late to seminary and the door was locked. Apparently seminary was cancelled (we found out when we let her in) and no sooner had we turned around inside the church when we saw a lady standing outside the front door reading the sign. Do you know what that means? Church tour time! So, we went outside and invited her in. She was pretty reluctant but agreed. We ended up doing the "intro to the BoM" with her (basic summary of history, sharing some key scriptures, etc) and then asked if she had time to hear a little more right now. She said yes, and since that girl was there for seminary, we ended up being able to have a member present lesson! It wouldn't have even have been possible if we hadn't decided to go early to the church early. President Christensen says "expect miracles"-- we do and they always happen!

Friday was kind of a stressful day. We had a lesson with two beloved investigators. They were theoretically supposed to already be baptized but our lesson didn't go so well. We didn't find them (the sisters before us did) but we've taught them the majority of the lessons. At the end of the lesson, one of them said "I just don't get why your church has such an emphasis on baptism." Sometimes, I swear people just don't listen, you know? Wow. 

Saturday was also interesting (actually, I swear weekends are the most stressful days in general...). Our plans fell through. Our back up plans fell through, and all in all it was just a great day. We did some contacting for our English group that will start up again soon, and it's so funny hearing people's reactions to our English group. One guy said (in perfect English), "of course I know English-- it's a hobby of mine!" it was just really funny. Some people we hand our English cards say the only English they know-- "I love you!" "zzaaaaank you!" One girl even replied in Bashkirian and then started laughing like crazy (she speaks Russian) because she had tried to speak in English but then Bashkirian came out. The foreign language side of the brain is a funny thing. One lady said "I only speak French!" and she started speaking in French. How shocked she was to hear ME reply in French. Oh Russia, it's so hilarious. If I'm not laughing at myself, I definitely take the liberty to laugh a little bit at other people. Cheers me up.

Sunday was interesting. Sister Galli and I got to church a little early (like....45 min) to help set up chairs in the chapel. Well, when we arrived, the chapel was blocked off and the chairs were set up a different way than usual (not towards the podium) and facing a projector screen. After asking one of the men fiddling with the projector, he said, "oh, we're watching conference". Sometimes, you have to question things like this because the church is pretty new here, and we weren't sure if they knew they were allowed to watch conference instead of having sacrament meeting.... none of the other members had any idea what was going on and kept asking us. Well, surprise surprise! Apparently even though there's not a stake here, it was a DVD recording of "stake" conference! It was a broadcast for all of the "Europe East Area" which does in fact, include several stakes (four, I think). It was filmed in SLC and conducted by Bruce Porter who speaks very good Russian. That was pretty surprising to say the least. The rest of the meeting was in English with Russian dubbed over. Russell M. Nelson spoke, and if I understood him correctly, his son served in Russia. That was cool to find out. The meeting was very good and answered questions that investigators had brought up to us. 

Some things that prepared me for a mission, in no particular order:
Having a love of learning prepared me for learning to love the Russian language.
Being a bookworm from a young age (thanks to Mom for taking me to libraries!) has made me be able to be able to read and learn from the scriptures.
being a lifeguard taught me how important it is to stick to the rules, even if you don't know why they're there
being a swim teacher taught me how to teach people and have patience because everyone really does learn at different speeds
being a student at BYU taught me that if I sign up for something (the Honor Code) then I gosh dang better follow through and keep what I committed to.
being in Dr. Fullmer's band at Timpview High School taught me that I need to look and act my best at all times. I need to love unconditionally. And most of all, life is full of politics that you can't control. 
Moving a bunch in my childhood taught me that you better be accepting of change because there's nothing you can do about it.
Steve dying taught me that families really, truly can be together forever.
Being a journalism editor in high school taught me that you really just have to do your best, and in the end, you have to make your deadlines no matter what. If needs be, the deadlines can be moved.
Having a job from the age of 15 taught me the value of paying for things myself and being independent. 
loving running and swimming taught me that good hard work really can be fun. Being physically active makes me not tired.
Video games taught me that there's literally always a way to accomplish a seemingly impossible task-- you just have to think outside the box. 
Having siblings taught me that even if you get in fights with people, you really can choose to love them in the end. 
Cleaning toilets at my jobs (lifeguarding! wahoo) prepared me to clean all the bathrooms in our building at the MTC and eventually our bathroom in our apartment here.
Being a lifeguard and working at 5 am taught me that waking up early and staying awake is, in fact, possible. Sometimes it seems a little impossible though....
Flute and piano taught me that MUSIC TOUCHES THE SOUL. It really does. I've used those talents so much on my mission.

Well, that's all for today folks. I love you!!! Have a great day!!

Love,

Sister Brown

First day out of training

First day out of training, and do I feel any different? Nope! ha. Transfer calls came in over the weekend and President calls whether you're getting transferred or not. Sister Galli and I didn't get a phone call though....so we assume that we'll still be in Ufa this transfer! 

This transfer (my 3rd "in country") I will hit my "6 months on a mission mark!" which means that I only have a year left which is WEIRD that I'm one-third done already. Where has my childhood gone?

Our move was able to be delayed one week because the mission hasn't been able to find an apartment for us to live in yet....and as of last night, they still haven't found one. Regardless, our landlord needs our apartment Saturday, so Sister Galli and I have decided that we'll probably just be living at the church and bathing in the baptismal font. Sounds like quite the adventure to me!

Our investigator wasn't able to get baptized this last week for numerous reasons. She still is afraid of praying to get an answer, and Sister Galli and I feel that it's for certain that she's scared the answer is going to be "yes, the church is true and get baptized!" because that means she has to give up coffee (which she said is her second love in life besides her daughter). She also opened up to us yesterday and said that her whole family and all her friends are really against this church. If she receives an answer, that means resolving a lot of conflicts.... sometimes our lessons our just really emotionally draining with her, but we love her and we're always there for her.

We had two considerable miracles this week. We sat with one investigator after English talking to her about life.  Basically, she had had a really rough week and we were talking to her about it. Basically: roommate drama. So we were talking to her about that, and then I just whipped out Alma 36:3 and said that if we trust in the Lord, we will be supported in our trials. It's one of my favorite scriptures, especially since I usually just insert the name of the person in there as I read it. It was a great transition because then we started talking about Gospel things and how she really enjoys reading the Book of Mormon and she loves going home on weekends because then she can read "such a holy book" in a quiet place. Pretty touching, right? She's so great. We've challenged her to baptism before, and she's willing to prepare herself, but she's someone that needs a lot of time to absorb and think about things because she's so intellectual. We're praying that she'll accept a baptismal date.

Second miracle: We really needed another lesson last week to fulfill our goals, so we planned one during daily planning on Thursday, but we didn't know who it would be with. Then, in the middle of the night another dear investigator texted us and said "hey, let's meet at the church tomorrow at 5. OK?" She's the best! We had a really good lesson with her, and committed her to pray about baptism. She said she LOVES the Book of Mormon because if she has a problem, she opens it up and has always been able to find an answer there. Every. single. time. How cool is that? The only reason why she hasn't been baptized yet is because she comes from a Muslim family. We're going over to their house next week (they live about 45 min outside the city) because they invited us over for dinner! We hope that if they see us and realize we're not strange, they'll be open to her getting baptized. She even told us that she really wants to be sealed in the temple one day and would maybe even go on a mission! 

It's cold here, but not super duper cold. I mean, it's not as cold as last winter in Utah which means that it's tolerable. Snow still hasn't stuck on the ground yet, but there's definitely ice and slush everywhere in the mornings. It's warmed up a little bit this last weekend, but next week is definitely supposed to be cold again.

The food is still good as usual, and I'm so glad that I'm staying in Ufa because that means I can continue on my weekly rounds to Lido's-- the best cafe/restaurant/bakery around. They do wedding receptions there, and I KNOW if there was one in Provo, UT that's where I would have my wedding reception. The food is so stinking good and the decorations are adorable during weddings. That place would be so hopping if it was just south of campus. Oh man. 

The last couple of P-days, Sister Galli and I have taken a bus out of the city to a place called Mega. I think I mentioned it last week. Well, it's a GIGANTIC mall (it's where I bought my puffy coat), and there's so much to do there. There's a gigantic Ikea and another gigantic Costco-like store called Ashan where the food is dirt-cheap. We got sooooo many groceries last week and it was cheaper than groceries usually. There's an ice-skating rink at Mega, so Sister Galli and I watched all the little Russian girls taking figure skating lessons there. It was pretty nifty. Our first time at Mega (2 or 3 weeks ago?) Sister Galli and I got Subway (I got an Italian BMT with no sauces-- melted) and then went and bought carrot-orange juice from a juice stand. I felt like I was at BYU again because those were my favorite things to buy in the Cougareat. Subway Italian BMTs and Jamba orange-carrot juice. Also, it was when we were shopping for my coat, so I had a big shopping bag. I really felt like I was somehow back in Provo, UT again, and it was a strange feeling-- lemme tell you. :)

Yes mom, I'm warm. I wear a scarf, gloves, and a hat everyday. 
Yes mom, I'm safe. A city is as safe as one makes it, and we don't jay-walk.

Yes mom, my homesickness is doing just fine. If I don't think about my family back home, I do great. But I do pray for you EVERY SINGLE DAY. So I hope you feel the prayers coming your way. :)

I have managed not to cry once since coming to the country (last time I cried was saying good-bye to my Novosibirsk Elders the night before they left for Russia). I'm just a little worried that when and if I do cry, that it will be a fountain. But I've really managed to be not that homesick. If I get homesick at all, I try to immediately just start talking about BYU since I'm attached to that place but not enough to make me cry :)

 Sister Galli is really so great. She only has two transfers left! It's funny because I just realized that she definitely might have been in the MTC the same time as Tiffanie. I can't believe it's already been 18 months since we dropped her off at the MTC. That's absolutely nuts! Time flies. It really does. Tomorrow I might wake up and be an old lady-- who knows?

I'm really doing great, but keep praying for me (especially with the language!!!!). I love you all. Feel free to email me pics and such. :)

LOVE,
your very favorite,
Sister Brown!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Hello!!!!!!

Well, hello family! how's life on the other side of the world? Here it's just....cold. and getting colder. and darker. and colder. and darker. It rained practically every day last week. 

Our "new" apartment is nice. It's not really new since it's a realllllly old building, but it's new to us and we like it a lot. It's much more convenient because it's really close to many main bus stops in the city, so that's going to be a blessing.

This week was chaotic because of the move, but we were still able to get a lot of things done. 

We were on the bus to Dioma this week, and this lady came and sat next to me (even though there were empty spaces....it was pretty unusual). She asked to read my name tag (also unusual), so I decided to give her a church invitation. She accepted it (unusual.....), and Sister Galli to the side of me is whispering (loudly) "TALK TO HER" (which I was already thinking of doing....), so then I said "I DON'T SPEAK RUSSIAN" (she hates me saying that), and on that note, I turned to the lady and asked about her religious beliefs. Well! She works in the arctic (the North Pole!) at an airport (why is she down south? not sure exactly) and also in Perm (....far away....), but she seemed really interested in the Book of Mormon and actually shocked that I gave it to her free! I introduced it to her and she even gave me her number. We're planning on setting something up with her this week (like I already said, last week was a little crazy). So cool, huh?

We're going to one investigator's house in the country today to visit her family, so Sister Galli and I are excited for that. It takes up our whole P-day and we also have to miss the branch talent show (such a shame....) but we're so excited! And so is the investigator. She's called us every day this week to remind us that we're coming over-- as if we could forget. 

We committed two investigators to baptism last week, and that was quite the ordeal. They didn't seem too freaked out about it (they're really high strung people), but it's so hard to meet with them because they're doctors and always busy. Our member on that lesson was absolutely inspired because we mentioned to him before hand that they're nervous about baptism but we wanted to commit them. They ended up having a lot of questions about the Bible (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel) which would have been a struggle for me and Sister Galli to try to answer but because he was there, he handled it wonderfully and tied it in to why baptism is absolutely necessary. At the end of the lesson when we offered them the commitment, they accepted!

Another investigator is....struggling. We had a rough meeting at the beginning of the week but towards the end, things had turned around. I really just don't understand why people refuse to pray about things (God knows everything, so ask Him!), and I think she's finally starting to accept that fact. She remember for the first time to close in the name of Jesus Christ in her prayer with us and during the prayer she actually asked for Heavenly Father to help her find an answer. That was quite a miracle to me and Sister Galli since that's been about three weeks in the works. It's hard for her to understand how to ask for help, etc. in prayer since she's just used to praying for her family. She really opened up to us about Scientology, and it's great that Dad sent me that Wikipedia article. Because of that, Sister Galli and I knew exactly what she was saying instead of being caught up trying to understand the meaning of her words.

Well, I'm running out of time, but it's been a great week! I love all of you and keep being awesome!!!

Love, 
Sister Brown

Dave's questions

1) How do you find new investigators?  Are you mainly street contacting, knocking on doors, or talking to people in public transportation?

We do a TON of contacting. we tract, street contact, and talk to people on buses. Believe me, there's nothing MORE difficult than trying to talk to strangers, while speaking Russian, while driving down an extremely bumpy road, in a bus that's going a million miles an hour! Tracting isn't very successful for us so far but that's because Russians are so afraid of strangers-- especially funny sounding accents (we haven't had success but other companionships do-- it just depends).

2) How often do you teach with members?  How big is your ward/branch?  Do you have any callings on Sunday?

We try to teach WITH members every lesson but it's difficult because of work schedules, etc. We teach actives and less actives weekly (our total lessons per week for everybody is about 15) the number of people that come to church on Sunday is probably around 50-60 but there are WAY more members than that here, soooo many are inactive. there used to be a branch in every part of the city (and also the small town I also serve in called Dioma) but several years ago they combined them all together to get the Priesthood together (they went from five branches to one) and that caused a lot of inactivity because it's really hard to take a 1-2 hour bus ride to church every Sunday (time-wise and financially).  It's hard. I don't have any callings because our branch is self-sustaining, but I do play the piano in Relief Society (not an official calling) and I rotate for Sacrament meeting.

3) What are the challenges in helping people become interested in meeting with you?  How are you overcoming them?

Challenges in getting people to meet with us? Well, it's hard to find people that are sincerely interested and motivated enough to meet with us. A lot of people just think it's cool to speak with Americans, but it's pretty obvious to figure that out since they don't do their reading etc. We have five progressing investigators this week, and the cool thing is that every investigator we have (and in other companionships) has really, sincerely been prepared to hear the Gospel. just experiences in their lives have led them to the church. actually, five of the six people we currently meet with literally walked into the church themselves. Cool, huh?

4) What are you studying in the scriptures?  How are you studying Russian?  How are your language abilities and teaching going?

I'm studying a lot in the scriptures. currently attempting to read the Book of Mormon in both English and Russian right now-- currently beginning 2 Nephi. Russian is.....hard. I carry around about 70 flashcards on a ring with me EVERYWHERE and I do them if/when I have time. It's hard to explain how hard Russian is, but it is. I've used French a couple of times too here. Language abilities are GREAT. I understand basically everything that's going on right now (which is amazing) and from what I've heard from other missionaries my transfer and the transfer above....it's not the same for them quite yet, so I feel really blessed. Teaching has always been great for me because I taught swimming lessons, so I'm used to teaching and being patient with people. The hardest thing I guess is listening for the Spirit instead of fretting about what to say next.

Last week of training

Hellllllllllllllllllllo!!! Or as they say here in Russia, "zdravstvuite"! It's my last week of training, and I'm so excited (but it's not like this changes anything about my life.....). I've decided that Sister Galli and I are probably staying together next transfer and according to some rumors floating around, our zone in Ufa will stay the same next transfer. Also, we're moving apartments this week, so that will be really exciting (NOT). Even though I may not being transferred, I still have to pack up all my stuff (as well as everything that is owned by the mission that is in the apartment) and move via taxi to the new place (apartment still hasn't been found yet.....hmm). So, depending on where we end up living and how far away it is from internet, expect my weekly emails to maybe come at a different time next week. I don't know, sorry!

Also, something that's exciting, our zone got special permission to go see the ballet "Swan Lake" next week! We had to use our own money (about $20), and I'm super excited! A realy Russian ballet!!! I've only seen these on Netflix before, and I'm sure real life will be much more exciting :)

But anyway, it's been another typically exciting week here in Ufa. It's been raining A LOT and the weather reports have said it's been in the negative numbers (Celsius)  and only heading colder. It snows every once in a while. Everyone wears hats (berets, ski hats, etc.), big coats, scarves, and boots all day every day. There's nothing more unpleasant than being in the same wet stuff all day long.

Our investigators are great. We went bowling with an investigator and her friend last Monday. And then randomly in the middle of our game (which they were an hour late for...), she turned to me and said she had to go meet up with a guy. So she leaves and comes back 20 min later. Apparently she has a boyfriend! He was interesting. They both came to the Open House at the church on Saturday (2 hours later than she had said) and the ward missionaries talked to him for a while. He had some decent questions, and because of that, he kind of grew on me. But he's still kind of....not deserving of her. She's awesome! She's been trying to quit coffee and because she's really been struggling with it, we found out the root of the problem is that she hasn't really gotten a clear answer yet. She reads everything we tell her, but as far as getting a testimony for herself, she's just been trusting in us and what we tell her. We're encouraging her to stand on her own two feet and find out if it's true or not. At the open house, I think she really learned a lot. There are big display boards about temples, Joseph Smith, Baptism, the Book of Mormon, etc. and we were able to talk with her and have another Elder come and talk with her too about the importance of prayer and finding an answer for herself. I really think it gave her a lot to think about. 

Another investigator told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true. We had what started out to be a great lesson with her, but as it progressed things got worse. She asked a really good question about why Jesus has to come again. I answered and said it's for the last judgment. We pulled out the diagram of the plan of salvation to remind her. The member present started to go REALLY off topic at this point and started to talk about the Millennium and Satan being bound and basically stuff that had NOTHING to do with the lesson at hand. I was on splits with another sister because Sister Galli and I had two appointments at the same time. We both didn't know what to do to handle the situation. If we interrupted in the wrong way, it would have looked like we're trying to hide something. Well, the Spirit was completely gone during the whole lesson. Whereas the investigator had been glowing at the beginning, telling us that she knew the Book of Mormon is true and that there's a lot to be learned from reading between the lines, by the end, she looked absolutely overwhelmed and really confused. Update: she literally just texted me and said she hopes our day is going well. Looks like we didn't mess up too bad!

Her friend is kind of struggling with the Book of Mormon. She also reads everything we give her, but she's suuuuuuper intellectual and so thinks about things wayyyyy too much and over complicates everything she reads. Our plan with this is to try to read a chapter with both of them together and discuss it. Reading the scriptures out loud with investigators always brings the spirit, and hopefully if we're reading collectively, she won't have time to try to literarally analyze everything-- which isn't bad, of course! She's just trying to get a testimony and get an answer to her prayers and it's hard to do that if you're analyzing the writing instead of thinking about the meaning of the words. 

The struggle with both of these investigators is that they can't come to church because their families live way outside the city, and they go home on weekends to see them. It's going to be kind of hard to get them to church (and it's already hard). What are we supposed to say, "don't see your families anymore?" Ughhhhhhh.

But......a miracle happened this week: one of the companionships of Elders was at the church last Monday and they saw two girls (about 22 years old) peering in the windows of the church and walking around the outside. So, like any good missionaries would do, as the girls were walking away, the Elders literally chased them down outside and dragged them inside for a tour of the INSIDE of the church. Well, turns out only one of them is sincerely interested in the church, so the Elders gave her a Book of Mormon. She lives in our area (keep in mind, our area is HUGE) which is about 45 min. outside the city, so she's now our investigator! She came to church yesterday, and she really liked it! Our grand total of investigators at church was four, which is a record for me and Sister Galli.

I played a musical number in church yesterday. I played the flute, another sister sang, a member (11 yrs old) played the violin, and another girl (10 years old) played the piano. We did "I Love to See the Temple," and it was AMAZING. There is a lot of musical talent growing up in this branch, for sure! Our other investigators were just absolutely so pleased to hear the musical number and couldn't stop talking about it. They're doctors which means they're excessively busy, and we've only been able to have a handful of meetings with them. They come to church when they can, but it's kind of hard to forge a relationship with them when we never meet or they never show up to meetings. I think the music really helped though because apparently one of them is (or used to be?) a professional dancer, so now she's just so excited that I love music. Also, one of the Elders' investigators plays the guitar and he offered to teach me if I can teach him to play the piano! There's a branch talent show this week, and we'll see what amazing thing I can come up with for it. 

We've been using the Book of Mormon with a less active in the branch who has been a member a little over a year and doesn't feel like she has friends in the branch. She's constantly sick, so we've been able to share lots of spiritual thoughts with her. It's so great to see that as we've been meeting with her, the light in her eyes has grown and grown. We read the Book of Mormon with her and share verses from it. She finally came to the conclusion last time that it's probably Satan that doesn't want her to go to church which is why she always gets sick before church. We definitely agreed with her on that and challenged her to come to church. She came yesterday, and she was just glowing! She brought her little boy and a non-member friend and everyone looked so happy to see her. Our last meeting she had asked us if we "made" her visiting teachers come over and visit her, and she seemed actually shocked that we had nothing to do with it! I really hope that she continues to come to church, and we will definitely keep working with her. 

The third hour of church was a little strange yesterday but in the end, Sister Galli and I were in a room with all the investigators who had come to church, and together we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with them. The Spirit was definitely in the room, and after the movie, Sister Galli and I stood up and bore our testimonies on the life of Christ and how we can grow closer to him. I talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about how each of us needs to have faith to repent. It felt really good to testify about this, knowing that I've been able to use His Atonement in my own life. I talked about how we need to use the Atonement because Jesus died for us so that we can become perfect through him. One of the investigators was in the front row just nodding to everything I said, and I felt so happy inside. I love being a missionary. It's really hard sometimes, but it's always worth it when I know that someone is feeling the spirit. 

I love Russia. It definitely feels like home to me. It's surreal thinking about how life is just going right along back in Provo, UT without me there. In just two months, we'll be Skyping!!!

Also, fun fact: I'm pretty sure the french "de la" turned into the Russian "для". They both sound exactly the same (basically) and mean roughly the same thing. It's funny to find all kind of crazy almost French words here.

Have a great, fantastic, awesome week! I love you all! I pray for you all the time. 

Love,
Cectpa Brown

Hey!

I can officially say that in Russia, it was snowing like cray-cray (crazy) this morning. Oh.my.gosh. I have never heard the wind howl compared with what I heard. I turned to Sister Galli and said "I don't want to go anywhere today." she then said, "hm...what do we even have planned?" opened her planner and said, "oh my gosh! It's P-day, and you don't want to do INTERNET?!!?" 

Ha. Well, needless to say, I am now here. I am also the proud owner of the fluffiest, poofiest coat in the entire world (maybe not the entirrrrre world). I wore it today and even though I looked like a well-dressed homeless person (gigantic hat, glasses, huuuuuuge coat, gigantic side bag), I at least knew that I looked like a very warm, well-dressed homeless person. 

Speaking of my sense of style (of which I have a lot!), at conference yesterday I was wearing my Scottish kilt skirt, a pink t-shirt, a pink flower scarf, and a grey sweater. I thought it looked fine, but the sisters in the other area came up to me and said something like, "we don't know how you do it but you wear stuff that we never thought would 'go' together and it looks so good!!!" Apparently they talk about my sense of style a lot? Ha. Either way, apparently I'm an eccentric dresser-- thought I toned that down for the mission though-- but I'm flattered! :)

This week was interesting. I'm not going to lie, but I was kind of in a downer mood Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It's honestly just probably my personality combined with the weather here. It has rained every.single.day. and lemme tell you, my white coat looks a little muddy.It's also gotten considerably darker here too, but that's just part of Russia! I started getting really excited towards the end of the week because we had Zone Conference on Friday with just our zone (not combined with other zones as is the usual). The President and his wife and the Assistants came, and it was a great day! It was a little stressful because the night before we were told to be at the church at 9 am on Friday but then on Friday morning at 7:15 am, we were texted by our zone leader and told me needed to be at the church in an hour. Talk about stressful since Sister Galli had just taken a shower (luckily, I had taken one the night before) and it takes an hour to get to the church. Yay hectic mornings!

Zone conference was great and President really emphasized using Preach My Gospel in everything we do, including language study. He wants us to memorize every "medium lesson plan" at the end of the lessons and also every single follow up question in Russian as well as any other "zinger sentences".  He said the speaking profiency for Russian has steadily gone downhill since they got rid of memorized lessons, and he promised us that if we memorize these things and get all of our vocab out of Preach My Gospel, we will be incredible missionaries. Russian is so hard that memorizing these sentence patterns and case patterns will definitely be beneficial. We have the best mission president. He's a genius. In his setting apart blessing, he was promised that any promise that he gives us, the Lord will fulfill, so he's really careful in giving out promises. His promise to us was: "

By so doing, you will become master finders and teachers who consistently teach powerfully with the Spirit. You will receive clear spiritual guidance every day. You will feel overwhelming love for your mission and each other and for the Russian people. You will lose your appetite for anything that might distract you from your purpose. "

Also in zone conference we talked about what it means to be absolutely consecrated and not just obedient. To be consecrated means: there are no loopholes in the rules, the rules are a part of who you are, you are dedicated, there is total surrender of yourself, and your Divine Nature has triumphed over your natural man.

"Consecration is the only surrender that is an actual victory." --Neal A. Maxwell

Anyway, life here is dandy. I LOVED general conference. Every talk was amazing. Inbetween sessions on Saturday and Sunday we had a lunch with ward members. On Saturday we made American pancakes (an Elder had maple leaf extract, so we made syrup-- the members went nuts over it!! they started putting it in their tea and just plain drinking it....I'm not kidding.) Sunday we made chili and scones with honey-butter. The Russians also went nuts over the honey-butter. They'd never had that before either, but they loved it!! 

I loved Elder Cook's talk on Bondage and also....well, everything. It was all great. These were the main subjects that I noticed were hit upon: 
tithing
Don't set your heart upon the things of the world.
CHASTITY
Missionary Work is a Member's Work too
God will ALWAYS love you and will always take you back.
ATONEMENT
Keeping covenants and how important that is
Live what we believe.
Conversion-- what is true conversion and why it's important
TAKING ON THE SAVIOR'S YOKE
Women/Family Proclamation/Gender Roles
The Apostle Paul
Search the scriptures diligently. 
Good, better, best.
Legalized sin is still sin.
I know that's a lot but every talk in the 12 hours of conference fit into that somehow. Oh! Also, I saw Amy McGreevy singing in the sister missionary choir at the Relief Society Session. I'm so proud of her!

Being an obedient missionary has been great because as Sister Galli and I have prayerfully set goals, we always have opportunities for those goals to be fulfilled (such as a street-lesson), so that even if we start teaching a street-lesson and the person rejects us, we know that we still planned for that opportunity but ultimately it was that person's free agency that kept our goal from being completed. That did happen to us this week when we were street-teaching people. We planned for one street-lesson, but hadn't had any success. There was one man that was willing to start talking with us, but he wasn't willing to meet with us so we parted ways. Even though we didn't fulfill our goal that day of street-lessons, we superseded our goal of invitations given out, and I know that the Lord blessed us. 

Sister Galli and I always try to teach from the Book of Mormon in every lesson we give, whether it's an investigator, a less-active, or an active-member (and of course, a street-lesson). We're hoping that as we ask the questions "What do we want them to feel?" and "What do we want them to do?" that we can continue to help bless people's lives through the Book of Mormon. I think as I continue to memorize killer lines from Preach My Gospel that I will be able to talk about the Book of Mormon much better and participate more in street lessons. 

Basically, I love Russia. I love it here. I'm so excited every day that I get to help build up Zion in this beautiful country. I know the church is true, and I really loved conference this year. Don't forget the messages you learned there. I really felt the Spirit as the apostles testified about the importance of women making time for their children. I know they're prophecying the future where we won't be able to "juggle three balls" anymore-- one of them is bound to drop.

I love you all! Have a great week in America. I dreamed I went skiing with the family last night, so tell Eric to have fun for me this season. :)

Love,
cecmpa Brown

Hello!

Well, once again I'm wondering to myself, "how is it p-day already?" It's nuts. I was thinking about ALL of you this last weekend enjoying conference...haha. Well, I'm just excited to watch it this upcoming weekend! I've heard some great things happened, so we'll see! It's steadily been getting colder and colder and darker and darker every day here. My cashmere-lined leather gloves  have definitely come in handy. Phew. I use dad's reusable handwarmers on the REALLY cold days when we're outside for a long time (Saturday morning soccer in negative weather anyone?) We've been wearing tights for a couple of weeks but no long underwear yet! I've heard from one of our investigators that it's supposed to be a "warm winter"....whatever that means for Russia! ha. 

What I've been reading this week: lots of things! If you haven't read the talk "the Fourth Missionary," you should probably read it. It's written by a mission president in 2002, and it's really good. I think it really can be applied to just normal people in terms of the plan of salvation instead of just missionaries. It's made me think about what kind of missionary and what kind of person I want to be. I've been studying up on the Attributes of Christ (Preach My Gospel, Chapter 6), and well---He was perfect! But this life is all about perfecting ourselves to become like Him. It's hard, but salvation was never meant to be easy. The way we respond to trials really shows what kind of person we are. Are you just going to give up and sulk? Or are we going to buckle down, suck up our pride, and do what needs to be done? It's all about the eternal perspective. I lose sight of that sometimes, but it's important to remember. :)

This was a fantastic week for our investigator. She came to church last week but was 2 hours late (missed sacrament meeting), but she was ON TIME for church yesterday (and by on time, I mean only 20 minutes late-- but for her that's realllllllly good). I just love her to death. She's an amazing woman who has had a really hard life. Our Sunday school lesson was law of chastity (always an interesting one), but she responded really well to it and didn't have too "feminist" of a stance, if you get my drift. Our lesson after church went well. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ (she had lots of Law of Chastity questions), and we talked about her upcoming baptism. She remembered it was for the 12th, and said she was working that day. So we successfully moved to the 26th. She's not very diligent at praying, but we send her scripture texts every day so that she reads. She said "I feel like I'm reading truth." It's really hard not to start clapping when people say things like that. Using the Book of Mormon as her primary source of learning has been really great because she's able to get the answers straight from the source instead of a pamphlet or something. She's a really smart lady, and I love her. She always tells me to stop cracking my knuckles, and I told her she reminds me of mom. She laughed and said she'll be my mom over here. If everything keeps going smoothly, she'll get baptized in just a few weeks!

Another investigator got better this week, and we were able to meet with her. She's really receptive, and really enjoys reading the Book of Mormon. Nothing super spectacular happened in her lesson, but both she and her friend came to English on Thursday and after (instead of having a lesson like Sister Galli and I planned) we ended up just talking about American pop culture. It was cool to kind of bond with them as friends though because sometimes they think we're a little strange ;) They've invited us to the movies SEVERAL times, to restaurants (twice) on Sunday, to a Halloween themed dance, among other things. And we always have to tell them no. It's kind of funny, but I do feel a little bad that we have a "serious" relationship sometimes, so it felt good to just talk about horror movies, Justin Bieber, and McDonald's like a bunch of girls. 

Setting goals is just great. Sister Galli and I are doing our best to do all we can to be the best missionaries we can be. Sometimes it's hard because I'm so tired all the time (the investigator told me that she felt really bad at our meeting last week because I just looked "absolutely exhausted"--she's a gem). I take naps during lunch sometimes. But I am so-so-so grateful that we don't have to bike everywhere. Can you imagine? At our departure devotional at the MTC, the speaker told about her mission in one of the north missions in Japan and how they had to bike everywhere in several feet of snow. We're the lucky ones I guess! (But I'm sure some people wouldn't think getting sent to Russia is lucky, but I sure do! :) )  

Our meeting with our investigator was a little stressful to prepare for. We had a goal of one member-present lesson, but everyone we called was just really busy that day or would cancel on us. We prayed about it and felt like we shouldn't worry anymore about trying to get a member (an hour before the lesson started). When we got to the church, there happened to be a member there who was more than happy to sit in on the lesson with us! It was amazing and a huge answer to several prayers. Having members at lessons is a fantabulous idea because: 1) they speak Russian fluently (of course) so they understand more clearly than we do and, 2) they've been in the investigator's place before so they can relate really well. I love the members here.

I really feel the Spirit when we teach lessons here. I feel the Spirit when we teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I feel the Spirit when we teach about the Plan of Salvation. I feel the Spirit when we teach about Joseph Smith being called of God. I know all of these are true because it's testified to me again and again. I love how being here on a mission has strengthened these basic aspects of my testimony so much. Can you believe that I've only been gone four months? It seems just yesterday that I was dropped off at the MTC on that day in June. This growing up business is pretty strange, but I know that after my time spent in the service of the Lord, I don't think I'll ever be the same again. Being here is hard sometimes, especially as I think about my family and how much I really do love you all. You have all taught my lessons that have shaped me into who I am today. And who I am today is a missionary. Isn't that cool? You've helped shape me into a missionary. And now I'm here (in Russia!) helping other people come unto Christ, and it's all because of you. I love you all so much. Have an amazing week!

As always, love,
(from your very favorite)
Sister Brown

Pictures!