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.