Hello from Yaroslavl

Sorry that the email did not go through. The computer told me that it did. Lately the system seems to be having some problems, especially when I want to send pictures. Speaking on the 18th would be great. I don't know how early I need to make an appointment but would you set a dentist appointment for maybe the Saturday I get back? Or sometime in the relative future. Also I received two of the three packages! Before my mission I told BYU that I would be back in January but I still need to make a trip there sometime and talk to advisors about major and whatnot. But as you said, we will have plenty of time to discuss these things. But a dentist and/or doctor checkup (or a massage =) would be great).

So the funny thing was that I heard the announcement about the mission age change live. So just think! I heard it exactly when you did! We were at the senior couple's apartment and got permission to watch it live with a recent convert and an investigator who did not end up coming. Actually it haven't been playing and the others were in the hallway so I was setting up the computer so I was the only one who heard it at first and no one initially believed me when I suddenly screamed it. I am reallly excited and I know for the international members this will be great and they might not have to sacrifice so much schooling. Also I think we will see a lot more sisters on missions. Remember my mini missionary? I immediately thought of her because she always said she didn't want to wait 2 more years to serve a mission. Well, here is her chance.

Since you didn't get my email last week you might be surprised to find out that I am in a different city, Yaroslavl. Surprise! Everyone was pretty surprised to find out that I was being transfered for my last transfer but after a few days here I can understand a little more why I am here. It has been fun to see how the Lord is using me and to see that the Lord wants me to share my experiences and to help others. Even to the end the Lord is putting me to work and giving me an interesting challenge.

Last week was a little crazy. We met with lots of people in Ryazan and had quite a few miracles. We met with Nina, who is so busy that we did not meet a lot with her when I was in Ryazan. But she was so sweet and brought little cakes and her brother, who is a member, came and he stayed for the lesson. We focused on the Book of Mormon, because although we cannot meet with her often we felt that if she will read the scriptures everyday she would be ready for baptism. She could progress without us. At the end of our lesson she said she would read everyday! There was no "I'll try" response and she agreed to let us call her every few days to check to see if she has been reading. I was so happy.

Then we met with Angela and had a great lesson about tithing. It was a bittersweet since I was leaving and Sister Hawkins and I first starting teaching her. But we had a good time and we talked about her baptism and she says she is ready and said she would be baptized in 2 weeks! I got a little teary eyed and was so happy for her. Although she has a lot of trials I know that the Gospel will bless her immensely and provide comfort during those dark times.

On Thursday we got to Moscow just fine and I met up with my new companion Sister O'Neal. She is from Payson, Utah and just finished her training. She came out the same time as Sister Hawkins. It is a weird dynamic since she will for sure stay in the area so I see my role as preparing her more fully. Our goals are to help her with Russian and help her become comfortable talking on the phone. She understands Russian fine but is struggling more with speaking or rather it is more confidence. I am actually very excited to be here and although I will not be here long I know that good things are going to happen.

We did see a lot of miracles getting to Yaroslavl. Sister O'Neal had her visa trip on Friday so we spent Thursday and mot of Friday in Moscow. It was a tender mercy because I was able to spend more time with Sister Horspool and Sister Workman, two of my favorite sisters, who went home on Friday. Did I ever mention that my big suitcase broke? Or rather the elders who helped me move to Ryazan broke two of the wheels. Well, my suitcase survived the trip to Yaroslavl thanks to President Makarov, the branch president from my very first area. As we headed to the train station we saw us and helped us. He bought us a cart that all the Russian babushki carry all their bags (we call them "bab carts") so we would roll my bag. Then he took us all the way to train station and helped us when we missed our train.

It has been very interesting to look at myself lately. As of late I have been taking time to think about the ways that I have grown. I have realized how many wonderful blessing the Lord has given me. I have seen traits in myself that I never realized were strengths. I remember at the very beginning of my mission I prayed a lot for a soft heart and for the gift of obedience. Only recently have I noticed that the Lord heard that prayer. Or course He answered my prayer in terms of mission standards and missionary rules because I have seen how inspiried they are rather than seeing them as restrictive. But more importantly the Lord has asked me to do a lot of things and whereas previously I might have gripped or complained I noticed a peace and a desire to do what He has asked. 

I have reflected on this attitude change as I have read 1 & 2 Nephi and noticed the difference between Nephi and Laman. We often forget that Laman and Lemeul did go. They followed their father, even through they weren't happy about it. They had to convinced and had to be calmed of their murmurings. They were exhorted and pleaded with and eventually they went. It wasn't like they were forced to come. Nephi told they they could go back but would face the same fate as those in Jersalem. They made it to the promised land but look at the long term effects. The difference between Nephi and his brothers comes down to faith and attitiude. Nephi had the faith to trust the Lord and as a result he made good things happen in his life. His example of a humble and submissive attitude is one I have been striving to cultivate. It isn't easy and it is hard for the pride but I can see the long term effects and I want to able to say to my Heavenly Father, "not my will, but thy will be done."

Sister Daniel

Preparing for the last move

If you haven't guessed from the title of the email I am moving to a new city this week for my very last transfer. The calls for transfers came this week and I am moving to Yaroslavl. I hear it is one of the prettiest cities in the mission. It is also the farthest city north in our mission and is typically is one of the first cities to get snow in our mission. I am pretty excited. It will be a little strange going into a city and knowing for sure when I am leaving. I just hope that although my time there will be short I can do lots of work and build a good relationship with the branch members. 

This week was a crazy week. Despite the wheelchair project, dinner with an investigator, being stuck in a small town outside of Ryazan with limited transport, translating for the branch and a trip to the woods to see a member, we did pretty well. We did a lot of traveling but our lessons went really well and we saw a lot of miracles. 

Thursday was a funny day. On Thursdays we go out to see Angela who is doing very well. She didn't feel good Sunday so she didn't come to church the week before. From Sunday to Wednesday we played a game of phone tag. But since we always go out to her on that day we went out to her. While we were standing on the bus the thought came into my mind: "What if Angela isn't home? What will we do?" As we walked to her apartment I shared my thought with Sister Hawkins and as we talked she told me that she had wondered the same thing. We got to the door of her apartment and no one was home. Whoops. We called her only to find out that she was actually in Ryazan! Thankfully, Sister Hawkins and I did not get frustrated. Instead we just laughed and tried to decide what to do for the next 2 hours as we waited for the next bus. We walked around, did our weekly planning, and talked to a few old ladies waiting for the same bus. 

For the past 3 months a member in our branch has been inviting us to come to her dacha. Either we were too busy or the weather did not cooperate with our plans. Well, the stars aligned and we went out to her. To get to her place is an adventure. She lives in a small village (meaning maybe 10-20 dachas) in the middle of the forest. We meet her at the bus stop and then we walked through the forest for 30 minutes to get to her home. She took us on a tour of the forest, fried us some zucchini from her garden, and then we had a lesson with her. Although the forest was a lot of fun the lesson was even better. The last time we met with her (about a month ago) we challenged her to read the Book of Mormon. She was skeptical because she had read it before but felt more of an affinity to the Doctrine and Covenants. (I don't know if this is a Russian thing but I have met a lot of people who love D&C but don't like the Book of Mormon). To prepare ourselves I made a chart for her to keep track of the chapters to help her. We arrived and she told us that she has been reading everyday for at least an hour! We were shocked and so happy. She has a lot of doubts but she is doing the rights things. She is reading the scriptures daily and praying. She has also been coming to church more and as she has she has seen some miracles. We left very happy.

Church yesterday was the highlight of the week. We had 27 people at sacrament meeting! Since it was my last Sunday I bore my testimony. As I stood up there and talked it was great to look out and see all of my favorite people at church. A few people who don't often come came. I'm glad I only bore my testimony and didn't give a talk because I said I would probably have cried my way through it. Church was great because I could really see the difference from when I first came and now. There are still a lot of things to fix but the branch is more united and starting to catch a vision of the future. I am excited for all that Sister Hawkins and her companion will see. Ryazan has a bright new future before it. We have been stressing to focus on the future, learn from the past but leave it behind, and adopting a "we can" attitude.

I have learned a lot from Ryazan and I will be grateful for my 3 months here. It hasn't been easy and I have had to work a lot and go outside of my comfort zone a lot more than I previously did. Every time I put myself out there and go outside of my comfort zone I have seen amazing blessings. More than that I have seen that miracles happen everyday. Often they are small to our understanding but that does not diminish the fact that it was a miracle. I am glad that I know our Heavenly Father lives and He sent His son, Jesus Christ to show us the way. I am thankful everyday that they see our potential and strengthen our weaknesses. Although I am weak and imperfect They can still use me to bring about their work here in Russia.

Until next week from Yaroslavl!

Sister Daniel

I'll admit that I am ready for this Preparation Day. Monday and Tuesday I fell asleep so fast from utter exhaustion.

First I'll explain the delay of Preparation Day. The humanitarian couple in charge of all projects in Russia had a wheelchair project here in Ryazan. They got permission from President Sorenson to use the missionaries as translators for both days. Thankfully, we had Tanya who is an amazing translator so we did not have to do a whole lot of translating. That sounds bad but we were translating medical terms and the district leader and I talked afterwards about how unprepared we would have been. Thankfully, Tanya did the bulk and she did an amazing job but she still allowed me to try translating some parts and I went around and helped people whenever we did things in groups. But now I know how to say words such as paralysis, pressure sores, ramp, wheelchair, scoliosis, brakes, amputee and disabilities in Russian. 

Another interesting note. The couple doing the training was from Richfield, UT. Their names were Jeff and Ilene Thalman. I asked if they knew the Bytheways and they said yes.

But I was able to help in other ways. Sister Hawkins and I helped with most of the set up. Then we helped with a lot of other errands. Such as yesterday, when a senior sister and I went on a 3 and 1/2 hour search for foam all around Ryazan. Most of the training was about the importance of wheelchair safety and helping those in wheelchairs prevent future medical problems such as scoliosis. Part of prevention is making sure that people fit in the wheelchairs and they have the right size. Well, for practice a young boy who is 10 came in and we fitted him. Unfortunately, we discovered that the wheelchairs we had were all too big for him but if we had foam pads it would fit him and he could grow into it. So a senior sister and I went on a hunt for more foam to make the padding. Sister Hawkins was with another senior sister. We went from home depot store to hardware store and it felt like a wild goose chase. At last on our 5th try we found some and last night the wheelchair was delivered to adorable Misha. So now I know how to say foam also in Russia: porolon. 

We did see a lot of little miracles this week. The biggest I think was my attitude. As we have been reading the Book of Mormon together I have noticed Nephi's attitude. He doesn't let anything rock his faith or his trust in the Lord. Even when his brothers are trying to kill him for the umpteenth time he still worship and thanks the Lord! That sort of attitude has been one I have been trying to cultivate and especially lately have been trying to emulate. I noticed a big difference in myself even during times where I might have freaked out or gotten discouraged. Last week a lot of plans fell through. Last Tuesday we made our plan and a backup plan and both of them fell through. We tried calling and dropping by people but no real luck. One contact we called agreed to meet, only the next day she called to cancel and inform us that she would be busy for the next two months. But despite everything we kept a good attitude and it all payed off by the end of the week.

We do have a few potential investigators for which I am very excited. We met with one lady to whom the previous sisters gave a Book of Mormon. Despite mixing up the meeting place we got to her in record time. We were in a park and she was with her son so we did not really get to teach but we explained church, invited her to come, and she consented to letting us come to her home and teach her. 

This past weekend Ryazan had a guest, a former sister missionary, Sister Baloshova. It was great having her visit because she helped us get in contact with former investigators and helped on a few lessons. She called almost every member of our branch and so a lot of people came to church! It was great to see the branch building so full and to have so many come. We met one of our district goals of having 30 people at church!

Perhaps one of the greatest miracles was finding Sasha (Alexandra). Sasha was a former investigator who had a baptismal date in September. The previous sisters met with her but until last week we had never met her. We tried calling her but no one answered. Unfortunately, we had no address so calling was about all that we could do. Well, Sister Baloshova called her and there was also no answer. However, Sister Baloshova knew where she lived. Everything worked out beautifully to find her. We found her home, wrote down her address, and the entry door was left open. Since Sister Baloshova was not a missionary and Russian she was able to get in and to the door of her apartment and Sasha was home! Sasha had no phone and had just returned to Ryazan. While she hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon she did remember her baptismal date and felt bad that she could not make it. She then expressed a desire to continue meeting with us. I can't describe the elation that I felt.

Like every week in missionary work there were ups and downs but I noticed a lot of miracles and tender mercies. Time is short but I could keep going on about all the miracles that I have seen. I have only written a small part. Everyday I am reminded that this is the Lord's work and I am so grateful to be a part of it. It is certainly challenging and taxing but the Lord is sustaining me. I know that my prayers are heard. I am so grateful for the knowledge that my Heavenly Father is never far and I can always talk to him.

Love, Sister Daniel

Wonder of wonder, miracles of miracles

This week turned out to be pretty good. I think in terms of numbers this week was one of the best of the my entire mission! I think this week we had the most amount of meetings with investigators that I have ever had on my mission.

Angela is doing just great. We met with her on Wednesday and Sunday and both lessons were great. She is progressing wonderfully towards baptism and she knows it too. I was so proud of her yesterday at church. She was going around to all the members and telling them that she was glad to see them. She even went up to a few members who were particularly rude to her last week. One cultural thing about Russians is that they are not particularly friendly on the first meeting. Once they warm up to you they are the nicest people. However, sometimes it can be hard for missionary work when you are introducing investigators to members and members are less than warm to investigators. I was a little teary eyed as I watched her go up to everyone. Since she is an orphan we have tried to empathsize that the branch is a big family. In our lesson this week she wanted to know how to say, "I don't have family" in English. Sister Hawkins was talking to her and responded in the best way, "Yes, you do. We are sisters." Her smile got bigger and she was much happier. 

Yesterday marked my two months left on my mission, as Sarah noted in her email. I realized this only yesterday when Angela asked me how much longer I will be in Russia. Lately I have changed from telling people 3 months to 2 months. Then as I was telling her it hit me that it was exactly two months to the day. I also had an interview with President this week. He came to Ryazan to interview the branch president and decided to meet with all of the missionaries. It was a little humorous because President kept saying things like, "I can't believe it's time for you and Sister Horspool" and talking as if I was going home in a few weeks. It wasn't until the end when I asked if he knew what would happen to me next transfer that he realized I still had another transfer! He was greatly relieved to hear that I still had another transfer. 

Yesterday was another landmark in my mission: my first tracking experience. For those of you who don't know what tracking is it is going door to door, knocking, and seeing if the people who live there are interested in hearing about the gospel. Some of you may be shocked that it was my first time. In Moscow tracking was discouraged, especially for sisters. We have enough incidents with drunk men on the street and tacking always brings the craziest stories. Well our elders sometimes go tracking and neither of our companionships could get lessons so the elders gave us a tutorial on tracking. The idea of it was terrifying and my heart was pounding the entire time. But it was fine. The elders and sisters alternated floors and for the first floor the elders waited by the stairs just in case. Most people didn't answer the door but one lady answered and took a Restoration pamphlet. I felt good afterwards especially because it was certainly outside of my comfort zone.

This week I have seen a lot of miracles. On Thursday we went contacting and I was shocked by how many people listened and gave me their number. It was a big faith builder because I know it was not me. I have been trying a lot harder to apply the scripture 2 Nephi 32:9 and really pray over my goals. If I know I am contacting that day then in every prayer I tell Heavenly Father my plan and pray for Him to bless me. Then I have tried to keep a good attitude no matter how things turns out. I remember when Elder Christoffersen came to our mission and someone asked us a question about patience. He quoted Romans 5:3: "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience;" He told us not to worry too much about patience because a mission is a trial of patience. He said that as time goes on the trials of a mission will work our patience. I have been so thankful to the Lord because I have started to notice that I have a lot more patience than I used to. We had quite a few figs this week but I didn't let it phase me. 

As a mission we just started reading the Book of Mormon as a mission from the beginning. The theme that President asked us to focus on was "faith to work miracles." I have learned to love Nephi even more. I have seen the importance of attitude and perseverance. Although he and his brothers were not successful the first two times he did not give up. As I read about Nephi attaining the plates this morning I realized that perhaps the previous attempts were trials of Nephi's faith. He was showing his faith and perhaps the other attempts built his faith so that he was able to perform the miracle needed to attain the plates. Trials do build our faith and patience. Of that I can testify. 

Have another great week! I can't wait to hear about all of your crazy adventures. Keep safe, dad! 

Love, Sister Daniel

September 10, 2012

Well, another week has passed and I realized that this week that I hit my 17 months on a mission mark. I realized it a few days after it happened. We had a combined zone conference and a lot of people asked how long I had been on my mission. As I calculated to tell them that's when I realized that I had hit my 17th month mark. Hooray!

Yesterday I did give a talk. On Tuesday our relief society president met with the branch president so Sister Hawkins and I went to translate. I helped her to ask all of her questions. After our meeting I asked the branch president who all would be speaking so I could gauge how long I should talk. He informed us that we would be the only speakers but we could sing a hymn in between our talks. Our topic was "Preach My Gospel", the missionary manual that missionaries use. I'll admit that I was wracking my brains try to come up with a talk that would not be scatter-brained. I prayed a lot in order to know what direction I should talk. I got my answer on Saturday when we got the new Liahona for September. I thought a lot about the phrase "Preach my Gospel" and what is the gospel. I talked about the missionary purpose, "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receiving the Restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." I focused my talk on the gospel and then talked about events I experienced with the gospel that lead me to want to serve a mission. Honestly, at this point I don't remember all that I said but I ended up talking a lot longer than I planned and everyone told me that I did a good job. 

Angela is doing well! We had a good lesson on the Restoration. She is reading the Book of Mormon and understanding quite a lot. And she is continuing to come to church. We tried talking to her about a baptismal date but she says she has a few concerns so we are working to resolve those issues. But she is doing great and we are all very happy.

Our mission has a goal to have 85 baptisms by the end of the year. We are doing pretty well as a mission and that is a focus of our mission. We are trying to find more people to teach. We are calling all of our people and going through old contact sheets. We are doing a lot more contacting and trying to follow up on our contacts. On Wednesday we went Book of Mormon contacting, trying to find people through the Book of Mormon. Despite how many people I talked to I did not manage to pass out a book but somehow I managed to get two numbers. Our mission is seeing a lot of miracles and I am positive that we will start seeing some more here in Ryazan. The biggest lesson I am learning is the importance of patience. I have noticed a difference within myself. We had a day where we called everyone that we knew and no one answered. Despite our hopes for lessons they all fell through. That left us with street contacting. A lot of people did not want to talk to us or they would take the brochure but did not want to give us their number. It was a day that would typically frustrate me but instead I kept a smile and tried to keep an open mind. I am trying to do my part, pray a little more, contact a little more, but I know that it is all in the hands of the Lord and there will be miracles so long as we do our part.

In terms of the branch things are slowing getting better. We are keeping contact with a lot more less active members and a few are coming to the church more often. We also recently found a photo album and an old ward list and found some members that used to be on the ward list but are now missing. We quickly divided the list. Although our first priority is finding new people to teach but now we are organized and we know who we should call at night.

Pray for me to learn the language even more. In the next few weeks a few missionaries will be participating in a humanitarian project here in Ryazan. The humanitarian missionaries asked President Sorenson if we could participate and present wheel chair training. He agreed so our district leader and I will be giving wheel chair training. I definitely will be praying a lot more for the gift of tongues!

Spiritual thought for the day comes from the new Liahona. Elder Christofferson wrote a wonderful article about faith and how we can increase faith. "The word that we declare, the word that generates faith in Christ, is the gospel, or good news, of Jesus Christ. Simply put, the good news is that death is not the end of existence and our separation from God is temporary. We have a Savior, Jesus Christ, the divine Son of God, who by His Atonement has overcome death and hell so that all will be resurrected and all who will repent and be baptized in His name may have place in the heavenly kingdom of God forever." I love these sentences because the gospel is the good news! That is exactly why I am on a mission. I know that death is not the end and that there is hope through Jesus Christ. Or course we have to remember that faith is hope for things which are not seen but are true. We need to have faith to ask God if these things are true and then be willing to listen to the Spirit which communicates to our heart and mind. I know that we can obtain this hope and experience the joy of the good news. I know because I have obtained it for myself. We can all obtain this hope if we are willing.

September 4, 2012

Things week turned out to be a good week. Or at least I felt like it all things considered. As you know on Monday Sister Hawkins and I travelled up to Moscow and on Tuesday I flew out to Riga. Traffic was bad coming back from the airport to the mission office so we were not able to head back to Ryazan Tuesday night because then we would have gotten home around 2-3am. We figured it would be better to wake up early on Wednesday and take an earlier bus. The last time we came back super early (or very late depending on how you look at it) we were dead the night day and effectiveness was not 100%.

Wednesday we got back and traffic for some reason was really bad in Ryazan. It has been raining a lot but this was some of the worst traffic I have seen in our small city. So it took a while to go to the hospital. One of our members, Uliyana, called us while we were in Moscow and told us that her daughter went into the hospital. We went to visit her and although we got a little lost and it was my first time traveling to a Russian hospital we found her room and sat with her. We told us that she was going through and it just about broke my heart. 

In terms of investigators we met with Angela, Oksana, and Alexander. Sadly, Nina is incredibly busy these next two week so keep her in your prayers. Right now our most progressing investigator is Angela. She is doing just great. We went out to her and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is reading the Book of Mormon and she asked her to repent in her prayers after we left and she did! She came to church on Sunday and after church we read the Book of Mormon with her. We also managed to resolve an issue over the phone. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes but did not agree to a date but she said she has some more repenting. On the phone we reminded her to pray about a baptismal date and she made the comment that she should be a member of the church first and then get baptized. I was very pleased to tell her that membership is the church is only after baptism and confirmation. I think that will help her have more of a desire. She really is doing so great and we are so happy with the progress she is making and her willingness to exercise her faith. As an orphan without work she has a lot of trials but I know the Lord is helping her.

Friday we met with both Oksana and Alexander. The lessons were good but they were draining. I love Oksana and she is reading the Book of Mormon and loves it. Our biggest hurdle is helping her understand the need for a Restoration. She likes learning about different religions but does not see a need to come to our church. But from our lesson I was able to understand her more and understand her definition of prophets. Our lesson with Alexander was also good. He is praying! That in and of itself is a miracle because our first three weeks with him he refused to pray. The phrase "easy to be intreated" would not be apt to describe Alexander. Right now our current hurdle is the Book of Mormon and getting him to read it. He has read about the Book of Mormon and church history on the internet but has not opened the book itself. By the end of our lesson he did agree to read for 5 minutes and we called him a few days later and he read! Now we need him to read from the beginning and not just flip open and the book and read whatever page to which he opens. 

I have also been working with Sister Hawkins and preparing her to take on more. I told her at the start of this transfer that during the last two weeks she would have the phone and be responsible for most of the phone calls. A lot of missionaries are going home and soon the mission is going to be all new again which increases the chance of these new missionaries will be training sooner than I did. At least it is better to learn these skills with someone who knows Russian as compared to learning it when your companion can't really help. So far she has been doing great and I'll admit it has been fun for me to watch. Watching her and seeing the things that she got the most frustrated out helped me see my own personal improvement. Yesterday we spent an hour calling old contacts sheets and trying to call people we had contacted recently. Most of them didn't pick up or the phone numbers didn't work. I could tell she was getting frustrated while I was amazed by how many people actually answered the phone. I thought it was a pretty successful call session. 

You can know that I am definitely being put to work. On Sunday our Relief Society President was released and Sister Ottley, the senior sister, was called to be the new Relief Society President. Since Sister Ottley does not speak Russian I get to do a lot of translating. A few weeks ago I had a thought that I needed to speak more Russian and I am definitely speaking a lot more and trying to speak Russian more with other missionaries. I am also learning a lot more about the organization of the church. This next week Sister Hawkins and I are giving talks so the Lord is definitely using me. It has required a lot of faith and a lot of patience. 

I am doing great, besides being sick, and I am excited to see what will happen this week. We are seeing a lot of miracles and praying for a lot of miracles. Already we are seeing good things happening in the branch. We are also trying to find new people to teach. Keep praying that we will find the people who are being prepared to receive the Gospel. They are there but we just need to find them.

With love, Sister Daniel

Photos included

So where to start with this week! It turned out to be a good week! We even got our first member present lessons since we have come to Ryazan! We also have a member referral that turned into an investigator! There are still plenty of hard times but I am trying my best to stay happy and optimistic and focused. Thankfully the focus part is not too hard because I just like to pretend that I am always going to be here in Russia so I don't have to think about decisions to be made after the mission. But I did set new goals to help me focus even more.

We met with Alexander and it was perhaps our best lesson with him yet. He asked us about the Holy Ghost and the lesson was great. Alexander has a habit of processing information and when we explain something he will always respond with, "Let me see if I understand you correctly..." and then typically what he says is something crazy and makes no sense. But during this lesson he actually understood! And he was not as argumentative. A great moment came at the end when he asked why we thought the Book of Mormon is so great and why we thought it could answer all of his questions. I beared my testimony and I was determined not to let him interrupt my testimony and I felt the Spirit strongly. I know he felt something because his response was, "No objections." Alexander has also starting giving us nicknames. Appartently Sister Hawkins is destined to either be a movie star or go into politics because her nickname is "Hollywood" or "Ms. Vice President." Alexander calls me "Doctor Freud" because he always thinks I am psychoanalyzing him. 

English club on Friday was hilarious. We are trying to grow our English club but sometimes it is really nice when there are less people so that we can talk more and get less stressed out making sure everyone has a good experience. There were only two people: Sasha (our Muslim Uzbeck friend) and a new lady Ira. We decided to talk about holidays and traditions. We talked about both American and Russian, Christian and Muslim holidays. We all learned a lot. The funniest part came when we talked about Christmas. We said the word and then Sasha looked at it and then said, "Last Christmas I gave you my heart." Sister Hawkins and I about died from laughter. He didn't know what Christmas was before we told him but he knew the words to the Wham song. It got better when as we were walking home Sasha walked with us and told us about music that he liked. He said that he liked a few American bands and asked if we knew them. He told us his favorite band, "Beck-" and we thought he was talking about the band Beck but then he continued, "-street Boys." And then he proceeded to play his favorite song, "Show me the meaning of being lonely." Like Sarah mentioned in an email last year, the 90s are still alive in Russia.

As I mentioned earlier we have a new investigator. I am really excited to work with her. Her name is Angela and she is the girlfriend of a member in the ward. She lives in a very small town outside of Ryazan and miraculously we managed to find her apartment. The town is so small that there are no real street names. The buildings only have numbers. I say that we miraculously found Angela's apartment because it was only with Heavenly Father's help that timing all worked out and their were people to help us. In Angela's town there is really no cell phone reception so although we had her number we could not get in touch with her. We got to the bus stop early but to go outside of Ryazan we had to find another small bus stop. I didn't know what her town was called and Angela didn't know her bus number. All that we knew was that a bus was heading out to her at 11:30. We wandered around and tried asking people where this small bus stop was located. Not a lot of people knew but finally a lady told us where it was. The time was about 11:28. We ran to the bus stop and made it onto the bus. As soon as we got in the doors closed behind us and we were off. Except we had no idea where to get off and we could not get a hold of Angela still. The plan was once we got on the bus we needed to call Angela so she knew we were coming and then she would meet us at the bus stop. Well, without getting in touch with her we rode the bus to the last stop and hoped that building 18 was the right building 18 in the right town. Well, miraculously it was her town and her building! Success! 

We had a good meeting with her. We talked about the Book of Mormon and she is excited to read it. She already reads the Bible and has her favorite scriptures written down and close by. Angela is an orphan and she told us about her story. Although she does have an aunt and uncle she grew up in an orphanage and moved out when she was 17. She believed in God but then she had a hard time and was angry at Him. Eventually, she realized that God existed and she was the one being rebellious and worked to change her life. She has come to church twice and loves it and she was the one who brought up baptism. We helped her prepare some lunch as we were talked to told us that she likes coffee. "But," she said, "After I am baptized I know I can't drink it anymore." Now that we know how to go to her we will go out there every week and meet with her. 

It really was a good week. We got to meet with some less actives member and are working to know the active members better. Every week we have a dinner at the Ottley's (our senior couple) with someone from the ward and it has been a great opportunity to know members outside of the church building. The weather has also been turning colder. Tuesday is particular was very cold and the wind made it even worse. I joked with a few Russians about where the summer went and they responded, "The summer is now over." It has definitely been chillier but Tuesday was the worst. We went contacting and occasionally we had to run to the nearby mall and have a warm up break. Also this week we got a new water filter! The water is Russia is not very good and every apartment should have a water filter. We did have one but it didn't work so for the last 7 weeks we had to buy filtered water from the store and carry jugs home every week. Well, our wonderful elders brought us a new system this week and we got it all set up last night. As Sister Hawkins said this morning, "We are queens. We have a water filter, a mircowave, a new pan, and an electric tea pot. What next? A waterbed?" 

Life is going pretty good. Every day there is so sort of new struggle, whether it is a struggle with the language, contacting, finding new people, or with the branch. But life overall is good and one thing I have learned about myself is that I can't not do anything. Even when it appears tempting to stop trying I learn that there is something a little bit more that I can do. In addition I know that I can always be happy no matter what is going on around me.

Enjoy the pictures! They are from last Preparation Day when we went out to Konstantinovo where Sergei Yesyenin was born (a famous Russian poet). It was so beautiful and no wonder he wrote poetry. The last photo is from today. We had to buy tickets for our bus to Moscow today (the office elders messed up and my visa trip is tomorrow so we have to go out tonight). We walked back from the Bus Station and that was a come stretch of the road. It was slightly terrifying but we survived