email received Dec. 23, 2012

You know how you say once its over 110, you cant feel a difference. I tried telling myself that about the cold, I think my nose can tell a difference though...

 email received Dec. 16, 2012

Hello family!

As for the week, it has been another good one! I had my first "first lesson" haha with a girl who met with missionaries about a year ago and the lesson started with her asking about the end of the world. Is that something people are concerned about in the US? But eventually we were able to get it back on the right track. We pray that she actually wants to know truth and isn't just curious about asking random questions about energy and stuff like that. We are continuing to teach the 9 yr old. And when we came back the time after singing "once there was a snowman" she had it all memorized! So we promised to find another fun one for her. Some of the songs dont work quite as well with the translations but we figured we can just make up hand motions and she wont know the difference. 

On Saturday, the branch had Missionary Saturday where all the members were supposed to show up at 4 and help us visit less-actives and talk to people in the streets. Well...President and his wife were there. After he had cleaned the whole building, which I'm pretty sure he does every week. 2 of our elders weren't going to come if there werent enough elders so they didnt have to use time going to the church but he called them to come and 6 missionaries and the president and his wife opened with a song and prayer and spiritual thought. At first, i smiled to think we had some one conducting music and everything but then I realized how much this man was magnifying his calling. He pointed out that while there werent many members, it was still a special day because it was "misssionary saturday" and we should treat it as such when we were talking to people. Basically, he's awesome. Later, Sis C showed up to help us teach a less active but when she didnt show up, Sis C was game to go contacting with us! In super cold weather. And it totally went better than when its just Sis Huber and I. She can be your typical bold, firery Russian and we testify about how our message was NEEDED! It was so fun! Im not sure we could have her do it again soon since her feet were frozed by the end but thats ok. Someone at English Club told me it would start getting cold this week. I'm not sure what they call what its been...

I think thats about all but know that I love you all! And while there isn't much of an all-around Christmas Spirit here (its the music they're missing out on, seriously) I know we celebrate Christs birth and that by focusing on that, we will be so much happier! I'm so grateful for all of you and to know that Christ is my Savior and the Savior to all who don't even realize it. Love you all! (Talk to you next week, noon my time!)

Sister Allison

email received Dec. 2, 2012

Hello all!

Well, I'm still alive! The flight was ridiculously long and by the
time we got to the Brintons we all just wanted to crash. The next day
we had a women's conference so all 12 of the sisters from the mission
were there. It was lots of fun to get to know everyone, and it was in
English!  Anyway, that night after some meetings with President and 

our trainers, we went out and contacted on
the street for an hour or so. English Club is pretty big here so
usually we just start out talking to people about that.

Friday morning we got up at 4:45 to catch a flight to Khabarovsk. The
airport is super small but nice, it reminds me of the airport in
Cusco. On the plane I sat next to a man who lives in Khab. and while
he wasn't interested in the Church he did tell me about the city and
we got to know each other, he was super nice! And I found out that
after the new year, they do ice sculptures here which are really neat.
And we're only a few miles from the Chinese border so apparently a lot
of people come over to see. Right now, there is much snow on the
ground but its still so cold and windy. When we got in, the taxi
driver said it was -19. Im not sure if thats F or C but either way.
Also, because of the price of luggage on Russian airlines, I could
only take one suitcase of 44 lbs. Luckily the Brintons were coming up
the next day to bring some of my heavy stuff in their carry ons but I
definitely feel like I'm living off of basic necessities. I left my
flats and wool coat in Vlad b/c they said I would only need boots
(which I bought) and my huge Michelin man coat. Its true. When we were
walking around Friday I realized that it is possible for your head to
be cold through your hat and down into the insides of my ears! Its
such a weird feeling!

Sister Huber is also new to the area so we don't have any investigators 

but we were able to meet the members yesterday.  There were probably 12 

people at church and I played the piano so I felt like I contributed a little. 
A lot of them speak really good English so the lady sitting next to me 
basically translated testimony meeting haha. Last night, we

visited with the RS president which was quite the adventure, because
we are both new to the area we kept taking wrong turns and didn't have
her number so we were half an hour late. Interesting fact about
Russia, they dont care how the outside of the buildings look so it
looks super ghetto and then you get in and realize the apt is super
nice. We don't have much in our apt since we are new to the area but
Sis Brinton is helping us. When we were shopping for beds, nowhere
carries 2. Its basically what they have on the floor and cups and
everything come in 3s. You can imagine the surprise when they find out
how big our family is! While we don't have much to work with right
now, Sister Huber and I are excited about working hard, getting to
know the members, and helping them however we can. And of course lots
of finding people! The city is huge so its just a matter of talking to
people! Its awesome to finally be in Russia and talking to the Russian
people! Everyone has been super nice so far and I wouldn't want to be
anywhere else. I love being on a mission and hope you all are doing
well! Love you!

Sister Allison

email received Nov. 14, 2012

Hello all!

Another week down and another week closer to Russia! This week we sent off all the missionaries going to moscow and Ukraine which means two of my good friends Sister Snell and Sister Pharris. It's sad to see them go but more exciting to think they are actually in the field and will be teaching real Russians today or tomorrow! We got up early to see them off tuesday, which meant for a long day from lack of sleep but it was fun.

This week we had the chance to meet two of our Senior Couples going to Vlad. We ran into the Walkers in the cafeteria, and we've been trying our whole time to meet any of them going to our mission. They came up to our class later and we pulled all 10 or so missionaries going to Vlad from the other districts and they talked to us for a few minutes. They said they would be CES missionaries traveling to all of the cities setting up Youth After Hour programs or something. I guess they have them in Europe, a place after institute where YSAs can hang out, do homework, etc They were so energetic and enthusiastic, and said they've been skyping with the Brintons, and were just so excited to serve with us and take care of us!

Last Friday was In-Field Orientation. While we're not leaving they had us to all the departure activities to stay on schedule. It was a little anti-climatic knowing we were actually going to be on a plane soon like they kept saying but it was a good reminder and good tips on working with members and tips like that. Then Sunday we had our last combined District Meeting with the other district in our zone where they went over different white-handbook rules about not being able to pick up children(sad:( but i guess legal stuff makes sense). Sister Esplin of the Primary Presidency came to Relief Society, and tender mercy of the Lord, she talked all about her recent trip to Russia! She went to St. Petersburg and Yekaturinburg and road the train with member to the temple in Kiev. So she experienced a lot of Russia and met a lot of members and said they are all converts and cant wait to share their conversion story with you. She talked about how her driver told her people would think she was crazy because she smiled so much but she said, its ok if they think that, I'm gonna smile anyway! So that's happening. Later Sunday night, we had our departure devotional with the presidency of the MTC and they had people stand up when they called your country or state. Because all the Russians come in every 6 weeks there were 3 whole rows of us and everyone was shocked. Gotta love it! 

We have also met the Knigards (not sure how to spell that) another couple going to our mission. They aren't actually missionaries yet but they come for a week of language training and leave in dec. So if i'm worried about my Russian I just need to remember some people go with a lot less than me. Last night, Elder Foster spoke at our devotional and talked about John Tanner who donated a bunch of money to the church in its early days. It was an awesome story of faith and living a consecrated life. He also gave us the tip to pray every night like its our last night as a missionary and he promised that would help us not waste any time as missionaries and would improve our selves every day. Which I think is good advice for life in general. As you all know, I tend to procrastinate occasionally...But I know through the Atonement of Christ we can be better with His help than we can be on our own and accomplish more than we can on our own. I'm so grateful to be at the MTC right now and to be blessed with an awesome family! I love you all! And happy thanksgiving prep!

Sister Allison

email received Nov. 28, 2012

Hello mother and father! 
Just a quick email to let you know I made it in safely.  The flight was super 
long but the airport in Vlad was surprisingly easy to navigate. The Brintons 
were right there to greet us, take us to the mission office, go over logistics 
and then to the mission home for a delicious meal by Sister Brinton! My new 
companion will be Sister Huber! And we will be serving in Khabarask. I made that 
spelling up but its an hour and a half flight north of Vlad on the Chinese 
Border. We have a Sisters Conference tomorrow with all the sisters in the 
mission where we meet our comps and then off to khabarask friday morning, where 
we will both be new to the area! I'm super tired but soooo excited to be here 
and get to work! I love you both!
Sister Allison

email received Nov. 21, 2012

We officially have our flight plans! We aren't leaving the MTC til 1:30 on monday then our flight leaves slc at 5:30 i think and then we have a 5 hour layover in lax. so as far as calling im not sure when it would be better for everyone. maybe i'll try in slc and then if i need to call back we see. If you have preference I should get dear elder on friday but after that its RUssia here i come!! I cant explain how excited i am! And thanks for all the well wishes everyone! I'll respond to emails in a letter but I don't have much time on here. 

Some quick stories from the week. Because our class schedule is kinda crazy they have let us help prep for the Thanks giving day service project which will be putting together kits for people in Mali or some other African country, Crystal can probably spell it. Its been nice to do something that I feel like I can accomplish so its been super fun and I'm excited for Thanksgiving here, and possibly an apostle:) 

Yesterday morning we got to skype with a member in moscow so we prepared a short little ten minute lesson and it was so fun! Her name was katya and she was a college student who had been a member for 3 years. I love hearing everyone's conversion stories and I'm so excited to meet these people that I love so much. While doing service President McIff told us more of the background story to the church in RUssia. I guess after the Soviet Union broke up there were problems again about getting representation in Russia and not just the former soviet countries like Ukraine. So yearly or something, all of the christian leaders across the world get together to discuss issues and that year everyone wanted to know about Russia. And the Russian that was there basically said, right now there is nothing you can do unless you are like the LDS church and got grandfathered in. Apparently the church had spent lots of time and money trying to figure this out and we didn't even realize we were good to go until this guy said we were just grandfathered in because of how we filled out the original paperwork. Coincidence, i think not. The Lord seriously does know what He doing, even when we don't know why. 

Last thought and then I have to go, on Sunday we watched a talk from the 2009 GC, i forget his name but you all should watch it haha. but he talked about how he served in finland and they prayed for Russian to be opened so they could take the gospel to his mission president's wifes home. and then his son got called to st petersburg and how missionaries today are answering prayers from long ago. I know the Lord works in his own time and that if we give ourselves to him he will use us as an instrument in his hands. I so grateful to be able to serve and love the Russian people and am grateful to all of you for being so supportive. my testimony is strengthened every day by your examples and i love you all so much! Happy thanksgiving! And eat seconds for me! Say hello to everyone else! Love you all!

Sister Allison

email received from Amber on Nov. 7, 2012

Hello family!


An update on the visa situation. Apparently we had visas, because we all signed them but the Church is trying to get us "preacher" visas instead of educational visas which means we only have to renew every 6 months officially. Which is cool that the church would be recognized for reals in Russia! The first few days were rough mainly because our teachers were acting all excited  and talking about how awesome it would be that our districts would be split so we could teach the new Russian missionaries but tender mercy number 1, on Sunday our branch president came and said he talked to our teachers about their ideas for us and he vetoed their ideas because he wants us to be able to continue progressing in these next few weeks. So we think they will be able to find us a class room and just go to the other classes when we can help. Which I love that idea. Also, he said he's going to try one of the days to come to a half day seminar about language study in the Russian BOM which would be awesome! We wont have teachers after next monday or tuesday so lots of personal study time which i'm excited for! 

Last wednesday, we did How To Begin Teaching with all the new missionaries. It was so fun!! The first was a stereotypical uninterested woman who was super unresponsive, didn't give us much information about anything and the second was a sweet old man who was so nice and open about everything. The first was super good practice for what I'm sure I'll encounter in Russia but the neatest part of the night was realizing I loved  them both the same and that Heavenly Father loved them both the same and that the gospel could bless both of their lives so much! I'm so excited to be able to talk to real people about how this can change their life for the better. We also had 2 opportunities to do a Plan, Study, Teach, cycle with some of the younger missionaries. Basically, we walked them through a 3 hour block of doing a short personal study, comp study, language study, and then teach with them. We prayed for opportunities to work on improving as missionaries and not worry too much about the language and Heavenly Father has blessed us with chances to do that. It was neat to see that our language has improved (a little) since then but more than that how much we've learned about planning for our investigators etc. And this next comment is for mom and dad: after our second time teaching with these sisters their teacher commented that I spoke really fast Russian for still being in the MTC. While I'm sure my grammar was nothing to speak of, at least my fast talking will pay off for 15 months and that the Russians will appreciate it:) 

Saturday night, we wrote our testimonies like we were saying them the first Sunday in Russia and then said them to the class. It was so neat to think someday we will actually be there! And then Monday night we practiced talking after knocking on doors which is super nerve racking to think about! But it was so fun!! Finally real life application is happening!

 I'm so grateful to be able to serve the Lord right now! I know I need to work each and every day to become like Christ and that I still have a long way to go. But how grateful I am for the Atonement so I can repent every single day! I love this gospel and love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Allison