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.