July 14 2014

Hello!

Well transfers are over, and I'm still trying to settle into my new area here in Ekaterinburg. It's funny receiving a transfer within the city because I knew my old area decently well for one transfer having been there, but I feel like a lost puppy in this area because it's on the total opposite side of the city and a whole new branch. I'm now the branch pianist and the primary pianist! Wahoo.

We had some great meetings this week and even got two new investigators! There's a less-active family in the branch, and the sisters just started working with them this week. On Saturday we went over to their house for a scheduled appointment and the mom wasn't super excited to see us and explained she didn't have time for us today and maybe another time we could come over-- but she didn't seem too excited about it. We did a really quick version of our lesson for her and her two unbaptized children (our new investigators) and were on the way out the door when I felt like I should play my flute for them. The mom was soooo excited. I asked what her favorite hymn was (I was not expecting a reply because she's been less-active a long time), but she unexpectedly started singing "I am a Child of God." I played the song while she, her children, and my companion sang along, and we sang another couple of primary songs too. It was wonderful.  At the end of all of this her whole demeanor had changed, and she seemed much more interested in us coming back. I promised to bring my flute next time too! It was wonderful to visibly see her heart soften and her willingness to hear the Gospel again increase because of the Spirit brought into the meeting because of music.

We had a really cool taxi driver this week named Aleksei. He basically just wanted to date us but backed off when we told him that we both had "serious boyfriends" back home in America (sometimes being a sister missionary requires lots of exaggeration). He was decently interested in the Gospel, and we gifted him a Book of Mormon as well as receiving his number to give to the Elders!

We had sisters come stay at our apartment because there was a big visa trip on Friday. I haven't unpacked my suitcases because we're actually in the process of moving apartments, so it was crazy having two other sisters stay with us as well as having me brand new there without any kind of routine for myself yet. I hate feeling homeless as a missionary, but what can you do? Nothing!

Church on Sunday was not what I was expecting. The other branch in Ekaterinburg functions basically like a normal ward in Utah-- very self-sustaining, a decent amount of members, beautiful building,etc. But the 2nd branch here is not quite the same. There's a lot of strengthening to be done amongst the active and the less-active members. 

The weather here has been just miserable. One of the days this week the high was 7C. It's been rainy, windy, and cold. Yesterday I put on two pairs of tights, one of which was fleece-lined. Today the sun came out for the first time in about a week so that was wonderful.

Have a wonderful week!

Sister Brown

Many, many pictures

Times Are Changing!

Dear Family,

Well, hey! What a wonderful week in Ekaterinburg it was this week. It was either blazing hot or pouring rain. We had a wonderful zone conference (Ekat 1, Tyumen, and Kurgan missionaries), and I found out..... I'm going to be sister trainer next transfer! My companion is Sister Whitlock (we were in the MTC together but different zones), and we'll have a lot of work cut out for us. I go over to President's this afternoon for a rundown of my job description, and then I'm off to work Wednesday. I'm super excited and a little nervous. It's going to be a big load of stress, but it will be really good for me I think. The sisters travel to all the cities (one a week) to go on splits with the sisters there and assist in training, etc. I'll let you know how I feel next week!!

This last week in our area was incredible, especially totaling our counts in the end of it all. We have successfully doubled all of our numbers since the transfer before I came, and it made me really happy to see a visual representation of the improvement that has been done here. The work is progressing! I really believe that I have left this area "stronger than when [I] found it" (PMG chp. 8), so I feel satisfied with all of the work that has been done. Most importantly, I think that I have instilled a good work ethic and attitude of diligence with my companion. I, of course, have also learned a LOT from Sister Hellewell.

We had a miraculous family home evening with two actives, a potential, and one less active at the senior couple's apartment. It went amazingly! We had a dinner, ate dessert, then had a lesson about the restoration, and played Uno. It was wonderful because the two actives were able to bear strong testimony (one of them has recently returned from inactivity) and could bear testimony about how the Gospel has worked wonders in their family. The potential investigator's face just lit up during the whole thing, and when we told her that she could have the Book of Mormon, she was super interested and kept asking questions about it. She loves reading books, so I'm super excited for her to read this one! She's the single mother of two kids, and I know that the Gospel will bless her family a lot. The less active at the lesson was also able to bear her testimony, we met with her later that week, AND she came to church on Sunday. Uh...wow!

This week we were able to go help at the garden of a crippled little old lady. It was super fun! We weeded a bunch and helped her cook and did lots of fun things. We took an electric train out of the city (just a couple of stations) and when we got off the train, we had no idea where to go, so we went and asked one of the other passengers where the garden was, and luckily (miraculously!) it happened to be her neighbor. Such a miracle because we never would have found it without her.

We've befriended a 15-year-old girl in the branch that has been having some struggles recently. She really loves us and looks up to us, but the problem is is that she looks up to and has lots of other awful examples in her life. She's definitely hit her "15-year-old rebellion" stage, and I think her mom is just lost and doesn't know what to do with her! Luckily, this girl trusts us a lot and loves being with us. We've been able to take her on lessons with us to less-actives and investigators several times, and she's been such a help. She knows that Gospel so well (she was baptized at age 8), but she's hitting the Utah problem of "I've been in the church my whole life, how do I know that it's true?" kind of thing. We spent all day with her Saturday (went to a baptism, ate lunch at Subway, then went to do service at a less-active's house), and she had so much fun with us! As we walk around and do things, we always try to sneak a little bit of Gospel in there for her. She really just needed friends this last month, and I'm so glad that we could be those friends for her. 

This has been the best transfer of my mission so far, and I'm so excited for the 3.5 transfers ahead of me! Can you believe how fast times flies? My release date is Dec. 9th.

I love you all, and I pray for you all the time. Remember that I love you a lot!

Love,

Sister Brown

Long time, no see!

Well hello everyone! Long time, no see.... literally!

Updates from the life of Sister Brown:

• serving in my "namesake" city of Yekaterinburg and LOVING it. Even though there are two branches here, it still takes an hour and a half (one subway and one bus) to get to church every week!
  
• training my #4--- the first from Utah! She's a music therapy major from Utah State, so we have lots of things to chat about! I love her to death.
• there are mosquitos everywhere here, and I'm literally scratching myself to death
• the work is really picking up in this mission and we're up 38% on member-present lessons since last year and lots of other statistics that probably won't interest you :) but the work is progressing in Russia! 
• there are now three 3 stakes in Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk)-- we're doing our best to get the priesthood to establish a stake here
• yesterday I spoke in church for a good 15 minutes! The subject was "Our Heavenly Family"-- I was really proud of myself since I can't even speak that long in English!
• I get my travel plans HOME in just a couple of weeks-----what?!?!
• The summer solstice was this last week-- made me think of the Death Cab for Cutie song. Sometimes I just really miss popping in some tunes!
• Sister Christensen told me that I'm the best Russian-English translator in the mission! Wahoo!!!
• We had a really beautiful picnic as a branch at a scenic lake just outside of Yekaterinburg. Beautiful! But I got crazy attacked by stinging nettle while playing frisbee--- got some good tips from a Russian elder and slathered sour cream all over my legs.
• One of the Seventies in charge of our mission came and spoke during the third hour on Sunday and was really frank with the members. He said, "The Lord doesn't require statistics to have a temple... he requires your hearts. Evaluate yourselves... are you doing everything to show the Lord that you want to establish Zion here and build a temple in Russia?" It was a wonderful and riveting talk. 
• I bought a beautiful shirt at..... GAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They just built one here in Ekat and we went there last PDay. I got a Gap card in Russian! Cool, huh? Anyway, I love the shirt. So beautiful. I also love Gap....so :)
• We cleaned the walls at a potential investigator's apartment on Wednesday. I wish I had taken pictures, but I didn't even think about it. Just know, that Sister Hellowell and I are really good at cleaning walls.

That's about it-- just know that I love and care about all of you so much! You're the best. The church is true! Being a missionary is the best! I love being in Russia and serving all the people here. Sacrifice truly does bring forth the blessings of heaven.

Have a wonderful week!!!!

Sister Brown

Another letter

This week was hard because a sister in the mission got really sick, so I had her companion come this week (who is also in training). So basically that was hard. Livable but hard. She'll be with us through this week. It's wonderful being a trio but having this amount of responsibility kind of ruins your emotional capacity. We went out to Burger King to celebrate my year mark. I have some cute pictures I want to send but this computer is dumb so I'll try next week.

Something cool that happened this week, we were on our way to stop by a potential investigator and give her a Book of Mormon, but she couldn't answer the door because she was sick. We also had waited around a good chunk of the afternoon for our landlord to come over, so we could give him rent. As we were walking home, it was later than we had originally scheduled, and we were waiting at an intersection as this guy walks by having walked across the other side of the street (he had a green light, we had a red light...make sense?) Well, he stops to read our name tags as we're waiting there, and I just let him read mine as my companions started to walk across the street (light had turned green at this point-- they noticed and came on back), he was surprisingly interested and asked for any literature that we had and gave us his number. We gave him the Book of Mormon we had planned to give the potential! It was really cool. 

I love little coincidences that aren't just coincidences. If our landlord hadn't been as late as he was, and if the potential hadn't been sick, we wouldn't have been at that intersection at the exacttime that the man walked by us. Crazy, huh? It's so nuts to think that missionary work is so much bigger than us. God really does have a plan!

We had a really good missionary musical number this week at church. We sang "Be Still my Soul" and I played the flute for a little of it while Sister Hellewell accompanied us. It was awesome.

That's basically it in the life of Sister Brown this week.

Have a great week!

Sister Brown

Letter

Dear Family,

Well, this has probably been one of the most exhausting but rewarding weeks of my life! Sister Hellewell and I have worked so hard in this area. We followed the guidance from President Laurence given last week as well as guidance from our dear President Christensen, and I know that we're going to turn this area (Yuralmash/Elmash) into the most successful area in the mission!  After just our first week together, we've already increased our numbers by 33% compared to what they've been in this area for a long time. And there are many more weeks ahead of us!! 

P-day last week was awesome, and we went to this store by our apartment named Metro. It has things from America there at a reasonable price! The problem is the store requires a membership card the store (like Costco but wayyy harder to get a membership) but our landlord is loaning us his, so that's so great! They sell Reese's big cups there (yummmmm) and lots of foreign food that's directly imported. All the food from America has the "Nutrition Facts" box just like in America! It's awesome. :) 

We cleaned our apartment like crazy as well and ended P-day early to make phone calls to try to get a member to come to our investigator meeting that night. Despite the fact that we called everyone that we could, we couldn't get a member. It ended up being for the best though, because our investigator (she's been to church off-and-on for a couple of years) expressed some concerns about reverence in the 1st branch, so we were able to talk through that with her. She's awesome.

 

Wednesday we had a really good lesson with an investigator. She's incredible. She has a very basic understanding of the Gospel and is a little forgetful (it's been a while since she's been taught), but we're really trying to establish a relationship of trust and love with her. She's been a little neglected, but we've stopped by a ton this week to drop off cute notes to her and such. She really wants to get baptized, and we're going to try to set a date for her soon! 

This particular investigator was going to come to church Sunday but she texted us before the meeting and said she was really sick and couldn't make it (we had a lesson planned with her after church). Sister Hellewell and I decided to stop by and drop off a note to her. We did that and were walking to our traimvai stop and waited there forever in the hot sun-- 45 min. Our tramvai didn't come. But-- the waiting enabled us to attempt conversations with people waiting for other tramvais and one of the conversations ended up being super successful. We met a lady named Alla (a more common name than you would expect) who wasn't interested in our message, but talked to us for a long time. I was super sad when she said "no" when I asked if we could teach her the Gospel of Christ, but then I asked the follow-up question "whom do you know that would be interested?" And she immediately gave us a name, number, and information about her friend and then begged us not to tell her friend that it was her who referred her. Her friend also knows English really well, so she said she'd tell him about our English Group! 

Saturday was a really cool day, and I'll try to explain that. We had a sports activity and were supposed to have a member-present meeting with an investigator that evening but the investigator cancelled about 45 minutes before (bummer), so we went home and made former investigator phone calls. We called everyone. Literally everyone. One former investigator that we called ended up coming to church on Sunday and agreed to start meeting with us again! So, even though we weren't able to meet with our new investigator on Saturday, we were able to get a new investigator on Sunday!

Another crazy thing happened Sunday (lots of miracles!):  we stopped by a former investigator who ended up not being there, but we did a lesson with her 78-year-old mother (who loved it!) and as we were walking away from the apartment building we passed some men drinking (not super uncommon). As we continued to walk, we heard a man chasing after us and shouting "girls! girls!" Sister Hellewell said "walk faster!" so we did, but he kept chasing us. I actually stopped and turned around to start talking to him which led into a very interesting conversation:

I'm not baptized!!!!

Alright. Well, our church has free baptism but you have to take lessons with missionaries like us, but they're boys, first. Do you want to do that?

Yes! I want to get baptized so bad. I'm not baptized!

Alright. Well, what's your name?

Mihail. 

Alright. What's your number?

(gives me his number)

Alright Mihail. How should you prepare for baptism?

Um....I don't know.

We need to follow the commandments, pray, and go to church. Are you willing to do that?

Yes! 

Alright. Do you usually drink?

No.... I don't.

Just on holidays?

Yeah.

Alright. Well, I'll give your number to missionaries just like us but they're boys, and they'll call you and start preparing you for baptism. Ok?

Alright! thanks so much.

It's just kind of a funny incident that I thought I'd share with you. We texted the elders his number, and they replied "We'll baptize him soon!" And we will! He was a really nice man; just a little too much beer on a Sunday afternoon. :)

I finished the Book of Mormon again this week (I've lost track of how many times I've read it on my mission already). And I'm always blown away that I read things that I've never seen before. I especially enjoyed Ether 12:18 "And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God." 

We had a training meeting with President Christensen this week, and he talked about how nothing will change in this mission unless we call down the powers of heaven for miracles. We talked about how FAITH is what leads to miracles, and we discussed how we can increase our faith. We read lots of scriptures and made a huge list on the board of attributes of people with a lot of faith (think sons of Mosiah). If we do everything that they did, we will increase our faith, and that will lead to miracles. I really believe in that, and I attribute that to all the miracles or "coincidences" (but really they were miracles) that happened this last week. I'm ready to call down the powers of heaven and be as consecrated as I can be. Sister Hellewell and I are both in it to win it. We are ready to work hard!

As I'm reading through the Book of Mormon this time, I'm marking attributes of the followers of Christ, and I've decided to number the times that the promised land is referenced. It's awesome that God always has promises and rewards for us if we keep the commandments and do what we're supposed to do. Even though Laman and Lemuel grumbled the whole way and thought that rules were restricting, in the end -- the rules made them free. They were able to go to a new world with new opportunities and govern themselves! That's what I would call freedom anyhow. :) 

I'm really excited to be here in this area at this time. I've had it confirmed to me so many times that this is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now. We really are working so hard and seeing miracles. People are receiving our message very well here, and people are actually interested in it. 

The church is true! The Atonement is real, and it's for everyone. The great thing is that God has given us free agency, and it's our choice to use the Atonement or not. Everyone can change. Situations can get better. 

There's a song by Cherie Call called "Believe" that has some really uplifting lyrics that we've been listening to:

Sometimes Christmases are white

Sometimes wedding days are clear

Sometimes rain falls right on time 

To wipe away your tears

You just have to have faith to believe that things will turn out all right in the end. I used to think that optimism was dumb, but then I actually started doing it. It works. God wants us to be positive no matter what. 

Have a wonderful week and know that I love you!!

Love,

Sister Brown

A Beautiful Day in Ekaterinburg

Well, I'm beating myself up today because I forgot the cord to connect my sd card to the computer, and I took a ton of pictures this last week!  Expect more photos soon.

  

As some of you may know already (Mom and Dad...haha), I got transferred! I'm serving in Ekaterinburg now in the 1st branch. Yes, it's the branch that President Christensen attends when he's not touring around, and I've joked that only the "problem" children get sent here, but in all reality it isn't so. 

My last week in Chelyabinsk was great. Sister Blau and I had some really successful lessons with investigators (several people even cried when I said I was getting transferred!) I found out about transfers on Wednesday...or was it Thursday? Well, regardless, I had more time than I expected to pack, so that ended up being a good thing. We woke up at 4:15 am on Sunday to take a huge bus to Ekaterinburg. 

I was sad to leave Chelyabinsk, but I wasn't sad to leave the mosquitoes that infest the city. I have bites all over! I was able to pick up some nifty souveniers before I left and I might try to mail them home so I don't have to carry them around for the rest of my mission.

 We had a big "stake conference"-type meeting yesterday where all the missionaries and members from all the cities had the opportunity to come to Ekaterinburg and hear President Laurence (the area president) and Gerald Causse (a seventy). After the main meeting, there was a separate meeting just for the missionaries, and it was super spiritual and amazing. I got a bloody nose in the middle of it, so that was a classic "Catie Brown" moment, but my "Sister Brown"-self handled it with class.

Thoughts about what I learned from the conference:

President Laurence talked about the three things that need to change in this mission specifically to improve productivity:

1. exact obedience

2. member present lessons

3. act in faith

*Firstly, I would like to say that I'm one hundred percent, totally obedient. It's funny to hear other missionaries talk about my reputation in the mission-- but that's one of the aspects of my service that they talk about. I am 100% obedient no matter the cost. I don't care if it can be annoying because guess what? My first priority (and the person that I'm accountable to first) is the Lord. When I honestly only care about what God thinks, things always fall into the right places behind it. 

*Secondly, I would like to say that I do understand the importance of member-present lessons. Sometimes it's a little bit hard to instigate it if you don't know the members. Right now that's a little bit of a problem for me (new transfer!) but I will do my best. Sister Hellewell and I had a lesson last night with a potential, and Sister Hellewell and her former companion hadn't called anyone to be on the lesson, so guess what I did? I called everyone that I could, and we were able to have a member-present lesson that turned out really well. The potential even asked to meet with us tonight, and so we have a new investigator! Member present lessons are important, and I will try not to let any excuse prevent us from having them.

In Chelyabinsk this last week, Sister Blau and I had an amazing member-present lesson with a couple that we've been meeting with. The wife is ready to be baptized but is not willing to do it without the husband. The husband's problem is that he likes to argue with us and is not willing to come to church. But-- we had an amazing lesson with them this week, and I definitely think things are on the uphill with them. We had the Elder's Quorum President on the lesson with us, and he and the husband really hit it off together. The EQP bore straight testimony of the power of the church to change and improve our lives and was able to quell any concerns that they had at all. I know that couple will be baptized. 

*Acting in faith was an interesting thing for President Laurence to talk about, but I especially liked it because it's definitely something that I struggle with at times. I believe in God, and I believe in His timing, so sometimes it's hard for me to have faith that things will happen (for example, if we plan for miracles, etc.) because I believe in the agency of others (not everyone will accept a baptismal date-- it's a fact of life). But I really liked how he specified and broke that down more. He said that we can increase our faith by:

setting a goalbe absolutely believingpray about it always!commit yourself fullybe creativedon't waste timeyou're ____ years in the making, so tap into your skills!expect trials and obstaclesexpect and know that the Lord will respond (Jacob 4:6-7)

I definitely know that I can increase my faith in missionary work and in other people. It requires trusting the Lord a lot, but I think I'm up for it. I have the desire to have more faith, so I think that's just the start of things. :)

I know that everything that has happened to me in my life has prepared me for my mission and that everything in my mission so far has prepared me for my time here in Ekaterinburg. I have the skills, the desire, and the work ethic. I'm so excited to get started here, and I know that this area will grow and blossom with me and Sister Hellewell here. 

Well, I hope this letter made sense to you all. I love you and I miss you. Can you believe that my year mark is coming up in just a week from Thursday? Time flies!

I love you all!!! Have an awesome, amazing week!

Loveeeeee,

Sister Brown