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