I can't believe another week has flown by since my last p-day. Time here flies by so quickly. The weather here is getting chillier everyday, and lemme tell you-- everyone here has cranked out the fur. The snow hasn't even begun to fly, but everyone is....dressed like your stereotypical Russian, I guess you could say. I'm excited to see how everyone dresses when it's -40. Sister Galli says everyone looks like marshmallows (still haven't gotten around to buying me a puffy coat yet, but any day now).
Dad, I'm so grateful you bought me those reusable handwarmers! They're been immensely useful already. I'm excited to use them for when it's super-duper cold!
The Sister leaders came this week to do splits this week, and I went with Sister Robbins. She's a really great girl, and she's actually from Orem! Right by Cascade. (Her dad is a doctor, so if dad knows him, tell him hi!)Anyway, we had a lot of fun. It's always a little stressful to do splits because I actually have to know my way around our area instead of always relying on Sister Galli and her awesome navigation skills. Sister Robbins and I got turned around a little bit (I had never been in that area at dark before), but we were able to have a lesson with a potential investigator that Sister Galli and I had taught a first lesson to a while ago. We've tried to get ahold of her, but she's always busy. Sister Robbins and I stopped by, and she was there! We taught her a little bit about the Book of Mormon and why it's important to read everyday and committed her to read every day. We said "one verse is better than none" so she agreed.
Basically, the miracle this week has been our investigator Alice. Her name is a strange Russian/Bashkirian name). She's AMAZING. Her friend has been sick and in the hospital (apparently everyone goes to the hospital whenever they're sick here, so I don't know how serious it is), but the first girl has been dutifully meeting with us. She absolutely loves the Book of Mormon. She said "when I read it, I feel like it's written for me. Like, I can really apply what I read to my life." She does every reading assignment and comes with questions. She bookmarks every other scripture reference we make during lessons. We taught her the plan of salvation yesterday, and I think we kind of blew her mind, but she agreed to pray about it. It's hard to hear all of that the first time, I would imagine. It's a strange concept, but hey! It's true, so pray about it. :) We're hoping that as she continues to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, she'll agree to get baptized for a set date. She said when she reads she feels like she's finding out truth. She even brought one of her friends to a lesson with us who is now one of our new investigators.
After prayerfully setting goals last week for this week, we did our very best this week to accomplish every goal. We planned on one new investigator, and (seemingly) out of nowhere we got one. Our zone has really been focusing on member present lessons, but this week was a tricky one. We got the correct number of lessons for investigators by Sunday, but the numbers for member present and other were switched. But for the most part, we accomplished our goals. We had plans every day on how to add to our key indicators. We had enough lessons planned to accomplish everything, but as humans are, things fell through. But I felt really blessed because even though every goal wasn't 100% completed, we still had an amazing week with all of our investigators.
I'm just so extremely blessed to have been born into the Gospel. It's so interesting to see the people here who have never had it. As we teach people more and more, it's so easy to see an increasing light grow within them. I've never experienced anything like this before where you can physically see the Gospel improving someone's life. And the people who have chosen to go inactive (there are a lot of those here too)? Well, it's interesting seeing how truly sad their lives are. They have sinned against the greater light they had, and that's just really sad. It's sometimes hard to be a member of the church, but it's always been worth it to me. This church is true, and if you follow its teachings and principles EXACTLY, then you'll be happy. The happiness that the church gives us isn't the happiness that the world gives us. It's so much better and so much more worth it. I truly feel like my testimony has grown leaps and bounds since coming on my mission. My whole life before my mission was insignificant because all the work I'm helping with here is life-changing. I'm truly helping change people's lives, and I'm so grateful to have been blessed with this opportunity. The church is true, the book is blue, see you in two (minus 8 months).
Love always,
Sister Brown
cecmpa Brown
cectpa Brown
Catie Brown :)
p.s. after the fast Sunday for October, only 14 more left until I'm back. Isn't that strange? It makes me feel like there's not time at all here. So much to do, so little time!
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