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