Til Kingdom Come

Week six of this transfer came and went really fast. I can't believe my short time with Sister Whitlock is over. Sister Whitlock will be training next transfer (we're dividing the Elder's area), so lots of work was involved getting an apartment in Himmash. We did SO much work for the Himmash apartment this week. Tuesday we had to go find out how much stuff was there, Friday we went and bought the stuff, and Saturday evening we went and cleaned out the apartment a ton so that Sister Whitlock and Sister Miller don't have to stress about doing that. 

My companion next transfer is Sister Smith! Flashback to the MTC days. Secretly we always planned on being Sister Trainers at the end of our missions together. 

Tuesday we went and did splits in Chelyabinsk. I got to be with Sister Blau, and we had so much fun! Going back to Chelyabinsk was surreal, and this time I felt like I was the one in training because she's now been there quadruple the time I was!

We had a meeting Thursday with our new investigator. She's a wonderful lady who is interested in learning how our church is different from the Russian Orthodox church and asked so many wonderful questions (all of which were answered by us teaching the Restoration lesson). She is wonderful and even prayed at the end of our lesson! It's really neat to meet people that are willing to keep all commitments and pray in lessons.

I have always been good (I thought) about speaking Russian on the street but after analyzing myself, I have made a new goal for myself to not ever, ever, ever speak a word of English on the street (unless it's an emergency phone call or something else like that). I'm excited for it. I love Russian, and the only way to get better is to keep speaking it! I have made some pretty lofty Russian goals for myself this transfer. My problem is vocabulary -- I just run out of ways to keep learning vocabulary (I get bored easily, I guess). Well, on splits a couple weeks ago, I had the thought pop into my head that I should tape lists of words to the inside of the bathroom door to learn. I have learned so many words that way! I know that's probably too much information, but I think it's hilarious. I'm also painstakingly going through every exercise in the back of the chapters of Modern Russian-- they're killers. Most of the words that are tested are words I haven't actually learned (I know 100% Gospel vocabulary...) but it's really showing me where the weaknesses are in my language. Always lots to keep learning!

This last weekend was the branch picnic-- so fun! We had a former investigator come with her son. It was such a fun picnic. Lots of games, great food, and more members than I have ever seen at the 2nd branch! Lots of people invited their friends too. I even gave out a Book of Mormon to a member of the Unification Church who was there (watch out...). 

Sunday was... kind of a rough day because I was sick in bed literally all day. We're not entirely sure why, but probably food poisoning. Other than the occasional trips to the bathroom, I literally slept from 7am - 5:30 pm. It was crazy. It was sad to not go to church even, but there is no way I would have lasted that long. I'm feeling better today.

I hope you all have wonderful lives, and I always pray for you. Thanks to everyone who has written me so diligently my whole mission-- it feels good to not be forgotten.

Love!
Sister Brown

August 11, 2014

Dear Family,

What a great week! We had the opportunity to go on splits with two sets of sisters (from Kurgan and Ekat 1st branch). It's crazy how fast the weeks fly by, and this one was one of them! I'm kind of expecting every week to fly by from now to December 9th. 

My week from the beginning:

Monday was a really good day for our companionship because we were able to set a baptismal date with one of our investigators. She's been investigating several months and is one of the most diligent readers of the Book of Mormon that I've ever seen. She should have finished the war chapters this last week. We had a meeting with her and decided to have a deep review of the Restoration lesson. She learns a lot through reading, and so we made copies of Preach My Gospel to read with her and our member and went around in turns reading from the first lesson. It was wonderful! She had really good questions (that were answered in later paragraphs of the reading), and we were able to answer and discuss all the questions that she's had. We got to the end of the lesson and asked her how she felt about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and she bore her testimony that she knew it's all true. We then extended her the baptismal commitment boldly. She balked a little at first (she's had one baptismal date before and church attendance is a problem with her because of her garden) but as we talked with her and discussed when she really could and would be ready to enter the waters of baptism, she realized that she was more ready than she had thought earlier. She picked her date out herself, and now we're all working towards it with her. It's wonderful! 

Going to Kurgan was quite the adventure (six hours in a rickety, hot bus and my chair didn't recline) but it was worth it! We had SUCH a miracle. To ride a bus here (a long distance one), you just show up at the bus depot about 15 minutes early and pay for a ticket. The buses are usually empty because everyone flies or takes trains (they're faster), but we couldn't get tickets for the times we wanted, so we were stuck with a bus. We showed up at the station 30 minutes early and all the tickets were sold out to Kurgan. That was BAD NEWS because we had splits planned already, and we couldn't just cancel on the sisters-- we were kind of freaking out (I miss cars). We were freaking out in the bus station and trying to figure out how much it would cost to take a taxi from Ekat to Kurgan, when the lady at the ticket window started yelling for us to come up. Somehow, MIRACULOUSLY, there were two seats on the bus that had just opened up, and she was able to jump on them and grab them for us. It was SUCH a miracle. I wasn't even too bummed that my seat didn't recline and there was no leg room or anything-- I had never been so happy to be on a bus in my life. Kurgan is a really neat city, and I loved being there on splits for one day and meeting tons of people. The only thing that I didn't like about Kurgan was the mosquitoes EVERYWHERE. I got bitten to death.

We returned from Kurgan early Thursday morning and "slept in" (it's not actually sleeping in because we didn't get in until 2 am...) Then we had English group, and it was a really good one. One of the assistants gave the spiritual thought (the subject of English group was making decisions), and everyone really loved it and wanted to keep talking about making choices and hear about our church more. Several of the attendees had some really good questions for us, and we gave them some Book of Mormon assignments to read!

Friday and Saturday we were on splits with the sisters in the first branch. Sister Hellewell and I had a lesson fall through, so we went street contacting with a member and were able to get lots of people's information to follow up on later. I'm really proud of Sister Hellewell because she's SO good at talking to people on transport. For her, it has never been a problem. Contacting on a street was good practice for both of us (it's been a long time since I've done that), and we both learned a lot. We were able to casually start conversations with people and talk about the Gospel. It was wonderful! At the end of the split, Sister Hellewell told me that she had always wondered how to casually start conversations with people while walking and now we both know!

This has been somewhat of a "boring" week (it wasn't really boring, it just seems boring to read/write about it now), but it was a happy one. I think that I'm at one of the happiest places in my mission right now-- physically, mentally, spiritually, etc. It's wonderful. I'm honestly so happy where I am right now, and I'm excited for the months ahead.

Being a missionary is the best decision that I have ever made. Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Russia sounds super crazy, but it's actually 100% possible. My mission is having amazing amounts of success right now, and we're all reaching for the same goals. We're all super united with each other, and it's wonderful. I love everyone here. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thank you so much for your emails- I really love reading them. I pray for you all daily, so don't forget to pray for me.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Sister Brown