С Рождеством!

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas! I'm going to be so excited to say that to you in person. I got the lovely package that mom and dad so thoughtfully prepared for me. It was perfect! The Elders in Ekat who were around when I opened it were disappointed that there was no American candy inside and just CD's, sweaters, stickers, etc. I was super excited though! The two sweaters that mom got me fit perfectly. Dad's CD's work great (the burned ones only work on our portable DVD however...).

The most exciting thing to happen to me this week was an egg. A "rule" in this mission is that you have to put your eggs in water to see if they float before you eat them. If they float-- throw them out! You might get salmonella poisoning! Ahhhhh!! Well, Sister Fedas told me that was ridiculous, and I kind of agreed with her. I've been floating my eggs (or rather, they're NOT floating) for almost 5 months, and nothing has happened. Well, I was making brownies for our zone meetings (I'm nice), and I thought "should I just float the eggs one last time? well, alright" and did it. One of the eggs floated! It was a miracle. I saved 8 missionaries from food poisoning just by floating my egg. Miracles really do happen.

Something else cool to happen in Ufa this week was the Olympic torch. Because we're missionaries, we are extreeeeeemely out of the loop when it comes to current events like the Olympics and such. We live right in the middle of downtown and traffic was terrible on Friday. We were 90 min late to one appointment and had to cancel another because traffic in the city was so awful. We had to walk home three times over the weekend and it took about an hour each time. So ridiculous. Well, we found out why the traffic was so bad! We walked out of our apartment Saturday morning to wait for the bus to church. None came, and we couldn't figure out why. Then we realized (after waiting 20 min) that there were police EVERYwhere. Turns out transport on our end of the city was totally shut down because....the Olympic torch came to Ufa! Even though I didn't see it, I saw everyone else who saw it. :) They all had really cool flags with a map of Russia on it with every route of the Olympic torch drawn on. Would've been a really nifty souvenir.

The weather in Ufa took a pretty significant drop this week. The lowest forecast was -29 C but it ended up only being -25 C. I'm not freezing to death (yet) but it's coming close! I've heard that January and February are the coldest months, so I'm excited to experience that. I bought these really cool shoe inserts (they're like insoles) that you stick in the bottom of your shoe and it adds and extra two inches so your feet are farther away from the ground. It looks like cardboard and cotton mixed together. It's definitely a bargain because it was the equivalent of $1 and definitely keeps my feet warmer. The problem is is that since now my feet are slightly more elevated inside my shoe, it's made my boots really tight on top and there's tension around the zipper. But I figure it's worth it since I can always get them fixed if they break. Also, I'll definitely dump these boots when I come home next year. (Can you believe that I can say that? "come home next year"?? crazy!)

On the way to church on Sunday, while Sister Fedas and I were waiting at the bus stop, a GIGANTIC wolf/dog came up and stood by me. Those things freak me out really bad. Stray dogs breed with the wolves in the countryside and somehow they end up living in the city, and they are EVERYwhere. Anyway, our bus came and we got on the driver turns to us and said "who's dog is that?" because the dog followed us on the bus. We told him it wasn't ours, but I don't think he really believed us especially when our bus stop came and the dog got off with us (actually, he got off before us). He ended up leading us all the way to the church and then patiently stood outside as we scurried in, trying to make sure that he didn't also come in. It was the weirdest thing, but maybe he was there to protect us from something.

The branch here put on a gigantic Christmas party this last week. It was this nativity scene that they had turned into a short play and "Russian-ized" it a lot. I played the piano for the Angel choir. We had quite a turn-out for it, and then afterward we all feasted on pre-ordered food from Lido's. Yum.

First week as a trainer

Dear Family,

Well, last week was probably one of the most interesting of my life. Last Sunday (December 8), I was basically having an anxiety attack all day freaking out about training and such. Well, a lot of things. I'm quite the worrier sometimes. :) The Church has a really good book for missionaries called "Adjusting to Missionary Life" that I read quite frequently from beginning to end because it really just reminds me that all these "panic" feelings are actually really quite normal and it gives me ways to deal with them. Well, I love that book and I used some of the exercises in it to try to calm myself down. Nothing really worked except for sitting in all three meetings of church. By the end, I actually felt relatively calm and ready to face the world. Whew.

Well, Monday we (another Sister being transferred to Ekat-- whom I love dearly) took a taxi to the airport in Ufa. That was quite a hassle. My Russian is decently good, but apparently it's not good enough to talk to someone over the phone and order a taxi. I got hung up on. :) No worries, that's what zone leaders are for. I had him call a taxi and other than the driver getting lost finding our apartment (how is that even possible when we live on one of the main roads in the city?) Going to Ekat is like coming home. Other than of course being my namesake city (and name of my blog!), I love that place because that two times I've been there have just been so wonderful. First, when I came into the country and second, picking up my trainee!

Tuesday morning we woke up early because the two Ukrainian sisters were supposed to come in. Well, there was a big mix-up between the Madrid MTC and our mission because they didn't come in. We figured out the error ourselves and figured out that they would be coming in Wednesday morning instead. I was in training and on splits all day. Wednesday, we also woke up really early and went to the airport. No sister missionaries.... At this point it was awkward because it was too early to call the Madrid MTC and I had a flight out later that night to Ufa. In the end of the end, turns out the sisters came in on a completely different connection than the MTC told us (from Rome instead of Moscow.....) and they took a taxi to the mission office themselves. If it had been me, there would be no way I would've called a taxi. I just would've cried! Ha.

Anyway, my companion, Sister Fedas, is the best. She's really the perfect missionary already and we get along great. She's smart and always knows what to say in the moment (and it's not just because she already knows Russian). If people give us a tough question, I'm always like "uhhhhhhhh" trying to even think of an answer before I think of translating it into Russian, and by the time I come up with something to say, she's already said the exact thing (in perfect Russian of course). She also speaks Ukrainian too, which is pretty dang cool.

The only catch is that she doesn't speak English. She kind of speaks English but not really. And that's totally OK because she was called to preach the gospel in the Russian language and not in English. Haha. This just means that I've been speaking in Russian since Wednesday morning, and I have the biggest headache. I think my Russian has actually gotten worse with a Russian companion because I've been speaking Russian so much that it just exhausts my brain. We had a zone meeting on Friday, and I instantly translated the whole thing for her from English to Russian (except for a story about a bucket with holes in the bottom...) and that took all my strength to do. I was seriously yawning the whole rest of the day.

I really like our companionship, and I know that Sister Fedas and I both have a lot to learn from each other. We get along great already, and we're attempting to speak Russian in the evenings while we do planning and before bed. It's actually a struggle for me because I forget to speak in English.

We have three new missionaries in our zone (including Sister Fedas) one of whom was in the MTC with me and is a great guy. I really love our zone still. The strangest thing is that Sister Galli is still here but just in a different area of the city.

We had an absolute miracle in planning this week. Saturday we made plans for Sunday to visit a less-active that I had last visited several months ago. She and her family are all inactive for many reasons but the focal reason is that she feels like people at church aren't spiritual enough. My last meeting with her didn't go too well, and she has blocked our number from her phone. Well, we stopped by and her domophone didn't work. We stood there a minute trying to think of what we should do (call the neighbors?) but then a young man came out and let us in. We hurried in and went up the stairs. The door before her door was open, and we realized that young man must've come out of her apartment. Well, he came back and turns out that he had been there and let us in. It was a miracle that we even got into the padezd and an even greater miracle that the same man who let us into her padezd also let us into her apartment. We had a meeting with her, her daughter, and her husband, and it actually turned out surprisingly well. They assured us that they have strong testimonies, they just don't feel love at church. Sister Fedas and I have a plan of what to do with them (basically bring active members with us on lessons), and the lady said that we can. It was a big miracle.

We didn't have a lot of meetings because it was transfers week and also finals week for our investigators. We had a really good lesson, however, with our new member who was baptized last month about how she can build upon the rock of Christ. It was really interesting to me because she had no idea what a "rock" meant in this context. It's funny how having a strong Mormon background makes me not realize that sometimes people don't understand symbols in the scriptures. Once we explained that to her, she was able to understand the application. She has a 10 year old daughter who is scared of us missionaries (not exactly sure why...) and refuses to meet us or come to church. We encouraged her to start holding family home evening with her daughter so that she can explain to her what we believe and such.

I love being a clean missionary because I know that I'm able to discern people's feelings easier through the spirit.  It's really interesting and kind of cliche, but the more that I see these blessings from being obedient and consecrated the more that I want to receive more blessings through being exactly obedient.

I seriously love being here. Russia is the place for me to be even though it was seriously painful to leave America.

We had a cool little experience yesterday. On the way to a meeting, we were walking across this gigantic freeway in the middle of the city (also really windy and snowing a ton) when we ran into a little old lady walking the opposite direction. She was totally lost and couldn't find her home, and originally had gone out to look for her son who was supposed to come visit her. Sister Fedas wanted to just leave her and go to our appointment, but I really just couldn't bear the thought of leaving that poor little old lady out on the street alone at night. We helped her find her way home (took about 45 min) but the whole time I was thinking "This is what Jesus would do!!" and I knew it was the right thing to do even though it was freezing cold. There is only one path of trampled down snow and we had the old lady walk on that while we helped her on both sides and held her hands/grabbed her arms while walking in 2-3 feet of snow. It was freezing. In the end, my tights were soaking wet, but I didn't feel cold. It sounds cheesy, but I knew we had done the right thing and that made me warm on the inside.

It's hard to believe that it's the Christmas season already and that in just one week (one short week!!!) I will be skyping you. I really cannot believe it. I very clearly remember the day when we all crammed into our grey car and drove me five minutes to the MTC. It was kind of anti-climatic and surreal, but I hate when people make a good deal out of goodbyes anyway. I cannot believe that I've survived six months on a mission and that I'm one-third done. Time flies-- it really does!

I love all of you so much, and I love everyone here too. I love the branch. I love the zone. I love my companion. I really love (and totally respect) my mission president. This mission is the best in the world-- at least for me-- and I know that's why I was called here.

Have a very merry week before Christmas!! I will talk to you in just a few short days. :)

Love,

Catie

Well hey there!

Life is going great here in Ufa. It's been snowing BUCKETS over here, and it's pretty chilly. This last week I got food poisoning (yay!) which was convenient because we got to stay in most of the day on the coldest day of the week. The high was -14 C. My lungs were freezing, lemme tell you.

It's still been kinda slow here. Just like in America, all the final exams are happening here so nobody can meet. Kind of a disappointing week and since I'll be in Ekat all week picking up my new companion and going through training, I'm not going to be able to proselyte in my area again until Friday. Kind of stressful a little bit.

Most of this week was spent helping Sister Galli pack and move and such. I'm going to the airport today right after internet with one of my favorite sisters in the zone who is being transferred to Ekat. Since we're both going to the airport together, we've been on splits since yesterday after church (we had to move baggage across town and stuff and there is no time to do that today). It's been kind of fun being the "senior" companion, and having meetings last night helped me realize that I can, in fact, take care of this area without Sister Galli here by my side. I'm sooooo nervous to train (a native!), but I'm excited at the same time. It's going to be a different experience. Basically, for the last six months of my life, I've had someone else telling me what to do, but for the first time, I actually have to think for myself again. That's going to be so weird.

I've been on a mission for six months-- how crazy is that? December 5th I hit that mark and the very next day (December 6th), I hit my four-months-in-country mark! Things like that just cheer me up right away and give me something to look forward to.

Other things to look forward to? Christmas and New Years. We get to have some parties with our zone, so that's going to be a nice break.

On Christmas, I get to Skype you for 90 whopping minutes! How great is that. I'll keep you posted on what time that will be. You can request a time, but it's kind of out of my control to decide what time. I'll try though!

Things I love about Russia:
Strollers are BIG here. The strollers look like SUVS with gigantic wheels and such. Everywhere is "stroller accessible" which basically just means that cement has been dumped on parts of the stairs to make a ramp for the wheels. Now that there's snow everywhere, children are pushed around in sleds. I am not kidding.
Mothers here dress their children up in snow suits starting in September. Kids wear snow pants EVERYwhere-- even to church. The cutest thing is seeing the little babies just wrapped up in these super gigantic down snow outfits. They look like chubby space aliens.
Music-- music is everywhere. Whether it's live music from street musicians or blasting out of radios in cars, buses, or at the mall. I love music. I love "Roar" by Katy Perry and also "Safe and Sound". Who knew that they would blast so much American music here? I love it!
Members-- the members here are solid. All the trouble that goes into converting someone is worth it because for the most part, the members stay members for life. There are lots of inactives of course-- but they're inactive for reasons (usually) other than pure disbelief in the church anymore.
It's a very efficient country. Yes, it's inefficient in a lot of ways just like anywhere else, but Russians are very efficient in all they do. If you're not standing 2 inches behind the person in line ahead of you, you'll probably get cut in line. It's not rudeness, it's just efficiency.
I love my zone. I'm sad transfers are happening because we're "losing" three amazing missionaries to other zones. I've really loved my zone. I feel like we're just a great, dysfunctional family. :)
I love being able to read signs and understand the jokes in ads and stuff. It makes me feel smart to not be illiterate (totally).
Everyone is a PRO at giving directions. The verbs here are soooo complicated, so I don't really understand people but as long as you understand "straight," "left," "right," and so forth, you will understand decently well. The people will keep giving you directions until you understand, and they're always happy to help.
Everyone is a hard worker here. Everyone works sooo hard whether it be at an actual job or in school. It seems like everyone is either working or studying.
Everyone's puffy coats or animal skin coats. Everyone looks so stylish all the time, but everything they own is practical. (Apparently) fur is extremely warm in -40 weather, so that's why it's so big here. Everyone is also super big into hats.
I love the food-- need I say more? I'm still not sick of it after four months in the country. hooray! I like bread and soup and pastries and candy (there's a lot of it here....didn't expect that).

I hope you all have a great week! I'll let you know next week how my first week was with my new companion. :)

Also, the primary program in the branch here yesterday was sooooo cute.

I love you!!!

Always,
Catie

Letter from Mission President

Dear Brother and Sister Brown,

I am delighted to inform you that your daughter, Sister Brown, will be serving as a Trainer, beginning this week.  Her companion is Sister Fedas, from the Ukraine, who arrived from the MTC in Madrid, Spain today.

Your daughter is a wonderful missionary.  This is not an easy mission and she consistently works very hard and very effectively.  She already has excellent language skills despite the short length of time she has served here and communicates and teaches very effectively and beautifully in the Russian language.  She will be an excellent Trainer.  I have great confidence in her and expect that she will be an effective and important leader in the future of this mission.

You can be very proud of Sister Brown.  She has a loving, gentle spirit, with great faith and strong determination.  She has great musical talent and has an engaging and delightful personality. She is dearly loved by other missionaries in our mission.  I am so grateful to have the privilege of serving as her Mission President.  Sister Christensen and I love her dearly and thoroughly enjoy her kind, humble and deeply spiritual personality.

Thank you for raising such a wonderful daughter and sharing her with us for this brief season of her life.

With love,

President Val J. Christensen
Russia Yekaterinburg Mission

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello! Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone. I hope that you stuck to your diets or are about to make new ones! 

Sorry my email is a little late. We had extreme computer trouble this week. That was pretty devastating!

Well, I have some good (maybe bad?) news for you! Either I love Russia/my mission SO much that I don't miss you at all...or I'm turning into a robot. Really. I miss you occasionally, but I'm just having so much dang fun over here that it's hard to stay sad for too long. I haven't cried once since coming to Russia, and with the holiday season (and training....and Skyping...) ahead, let's hope I can stay that way!

Well, Thanksgiving was fun and no, there's nothing like Thanksgiving in Russia. They have all kinds of holidays but Thanksgiving isn't one of them. We had a gigantic dinner together as a zone, and I made mashed potatoes and Grandma Brown's rolls-- everyone raved about the rolls. Seriously. Who would know that just the right ingredients makes my entire zone just start slobbering? ;)

Also, English group started up again but despite our multiple hours of contacting for it a whopping total of three non-members showed up. This was kind of how it was the last time we re-started, and I hope it picks up. We start and stop English group every eight weeks so that we can get a new crowd of people coming (who will eventually start investigating the church). We figure after eight weeks of hearing our spiritual thoughts (we teach one point of the first lesson every week) they either are interested or not, so it's time to get a new round of people. I get anxiety before English group starts (don't ask me why...it must be the pressure of having to speak English??) but it always fades as the hour goes by. I did a music number on the flute with an elder accompanying on the guitar (come thou fount) and then the third verse (technically it's the third verse but when it starts the original melody again) the missionaries sang and I dropped out. Well, the flute and guitar sounded interestingly bluegrass together (probably not my favorite sound), but it turned out OK. 

It wasn't the most spiritual week in terms of lessons-- can you believe that people are too busy to meet with us?? But it was a good week nonetheless.

Some thoughts this week:
if you're ever seen the live-action 101 Dalmatians (with Glenn Close) just picture her 800 million coats on every Russian person here. I've never seen so much fur in my entire life.
Sister Missionaries get extra blessings than regular missionaries. Also, Sister Missionaries who ride bikes get TRIPLE extra blessings. Also, Sister Missionaries serving in Russia and walking around in the wind/snow/blizzards attempting to speak a strange language should also get triple blessings even if they're not riding bikes. yep.
it's really cold here, and I think my toes are going to fall off
I'm really nervous/excited to train! I feel like I have more of an idea about how to train an American than a Ukrainian....but we'll see!

Fast and Testimony meeting was really cute yesterday. We've been visiting this nice old lady in Dioma practically every week since we got here. She lives about an hour and half away from the church and is 80-ish and still manages to go to church every Sunday. She's such a gem but has been struggling with her health lately. She can't see very well and her first request to us when we came was about somehow getting the Book of Mormon on CD so that she can listen to it. Well, it was about a two and a half month ordeal. The office kept sending the wrong format or the office would send them to the wrong city or the CDs that would come hadn't even been burned. Well! Finally, the new CDs came and we really doubted that they would work. They didn't work on our stereo or our DVD player but we brought them and decided to try them out on hers. We really thought it would be like all the other times and we'd have to say "We are so sorry! We'll have to call someone and have them send you new CDs!" Well, we popped them in and behold! They worked! Well, she got up in testimony meeting yesterday and just talked about how the Book of Mormon has blessed her life and she's so happy she's been able to listen to the Book of Mormon on CD. She talked about how much the missionaries have blessed her life and continue to bless her life every day. It was really touching.

I'm really grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve a mission here in Ekat. President Christensen is such an inspired man, and I'm so grateful that he is the president here. The more I follow his counsel, the more I see the blessings that he has promised. Being a missionary is tough-- I'll be honest. People don't always want to talk to you and sometimes they insult you but they're not the people we're here to teach. We're here to teach the people that are prepared to receive the Gospel. Anyone that's not prepared? Well, they will be with time so there's no use worrying about them. 

I hope you have a great week, and I pray for you all the time.  I love you all very much, and I pray for you all the time. You're so great!

With all the love in the world,
Sister Brown
your very favorite daughter, aunt, niece, granddaughter, etc.