email to family January 13, 2013
Yesterday was Russia's Old New Year, which seems like an oxymoron but its from the old calendar. Definitely not as big as New Years, but there were some random fireworks and an interesting bus ride home at night. But we lucked out enough to have a lesson planned at a members and her mom was cooking for the holiday. So we had the most delicious things I've ever tasted. It was basically delicious beef and onions wrapped halfway in dough and fried so like a scone but the dough was so good and unfortunately like all things delcious, she doesnt measure anything so I have no hope of replicating. But I've also kinda learned blenie, which is basically crepes. I'm determined to be able to learn how to make a few Russian dishes and then I can celebrate Russian Orthodox Christmas and Old New Year with Russian food for the rest of my life. Who wouldn't want a longer holiday season?
With our new goal of teaching "other lessons", we have been meeting more with less active and active members. I definitely think its good for my language but it does feel a little strange to not be on the street as much. I see why President wants us to do it though...We literally cant be outside for more than 45 minutes or so and people don't really want to stop and talk and I don't blame them! so during our training a few weeks ago President talked about how we need to become better teachers so we know how to teach when we have investigators. We counted up the ladies in the branch who we at least have contact with and there are 25 or so less active women that have at least been nice to us. So we are determined to build up the Relief Society, which would make a huge difference and help when we brought investigators to church etc. And the members are awesome at helping! Saturday was Missionary Saturday again, so Sis Huber and I went with our 1st Counselor/ward mission leader to go visit a 14 yr old girl who got baptized in Spring. (Intro to Russian apts, most apts have codes on the door to the stairwell, like gated communites where you call people and they let you in. The one I live in has 10 metal buttons that you press the right ones to let you in, so no phone. And then you have missionaries' least favorite, doors that just use keys. And this girl lives in one of these, so we always stop by and then cant do anything.) So same story Sat. and Sis huber and I kind of look at each other like "now what" but Bro Victor was already going around knocking on peoples windows til someone answered and he asked them to open. Sounds super simple and we had joked about doing it but leave it to the Russian to get it done. I know, we're such girls. Anyway we finally met her, and then she came to church Sunday and we are going to a members to have an FHE with her tonight. Hopefully we can help her and if anything we are 2 girls closer to her age than any of the other members.
We have also been visiting a lady from English Club who is super nice and we are kind of going to start practicing the lessons with her. She super believes in God and that he has a plan for her, and when she gets baptized she'll have an awesome story about how she was led to english practice/church after looking for it and running into elders on the street, we just need to help her realize that just cuz we are young we can help her. So any advice on teaching someone who thinks she is teaching us I'm open to it. Really being missionary is so much more than teaching the lessons (although thats the only place to start Dad!) I meet so many nice people every day and wish they could understand how much better their lives could be. I think I'm learning more and more how much this gospel has blessed my life and how I literally would be nowhere without my testimony. Every single thing we teach makes people so much happier if they understand and embrace it. And then I look at myself and realize I could learn just as from myself if I would embrace stuff. I know that following God's will is literally the easiest and happiest way we can live life! And he wants us to be happy! Missions are awesome and I'm learning so much more about myself and the gospel than I even thought I could learn. I love you all and hang in there during the cold Utah and AZ winters:)
Sister Allison
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
email received Jan. 6, 2013
Today is Christmas in Russia! I'm definitely celbrating 2 Christmases forever. It will be my excuse for another holiday like 3 Kings Day:) At 11, we went to a kids activity at the church where theyhad the Russian version of Santa Claus and his grandaughter. There were 3 kids there so small but they had fun. There was 1 friend of a member who brought her daughter and she said she would come to English Club so maybe something good will come of it. Thats probably the biggest thing we have to do with a lot of people is build a relationship with people, through activities and english club. People here are super wary so in time I like to think a lof of the people we know here will get it and be awesome members.
New Years was rather uneventful. We heard fireworks, I finished the Book of Mormon!, we set goals about how to have the Spirit in our companionship more, made delicious pizza, and ate way too much candy, and even bought a pint of baskin robbins cookies and cream! Unfortunately i didnt eat much ice cream and the next day we gave it to our elders b/c we are going off suger at our house. We decided its ok with others cuz so many offer you tea and cookies but we would get rid of stuff at our place. New Years day we just handed out a bunch of english club cards. and i only know when someone is drunk when they smell like it, so it took me awhile to figure out why everyone was so happy and receptive...So maybe i am a little sheltered...So ya it wasnt a very productive day for us but maybe someone will find the card in their purse later:)
The next day, we had district meeting and Elder hutchings had just gotten back from zone leader council in Vlad, which Sis Brinton called War Council. Awesome I know. We set goals about each companionship getting 1 more person back each week to try and build our sac meeting attendance from 13 (including 6 missionaries) to 25 by the end of Jan. We had a Break-the Fast after church and from calling the entire list of women, had 2 less actives come! Success! We had 21 in sac too. What!! Haha we are going to start having weekly activities and I feel a little singles wardish but whatever works. We were able to find 2 more less actives this week and meet them so slowly but surely we'll get there!
Oh and story of the week. Mom, you asked about my red face. So that night after talking to you, my nose turned white at a bus stop. Like not pale but i guess like it looked like i had cream on it. So the member we were with got mad at me and made me cover my face. Then later, a less active's mom asked what kind of lotion i used and explained that moisterizer is the worst thing i can do here cuz the wind takes all the moisture out of your skin and then it can freeze on your face or something. So i bought new "protectant" lotion. Maybe it will help. Anyway, its a funny story to me.
Hope you all are doing well!
Loveyou!
Today is Christmas in Russia! I'm definitely celbrating 2 Christmases forever. It will be my excuse for another holiday like 3 Kings Day:) At 11, we went to a kids activity at the church where theyhad the Russian version of Santa Claus and his grandaughter. There were 3 kids there so small but they had fun. There was 1 friend of a member who brought her daughter and she said she would come to English Club so maybe something good will come of it. Thats probably the biggest thing we have to do with a lot of people is build a relationship with people, through activities and english club. People here are super wary so in time I like to think a lof of the people we know here will get it and be awesome members.
New Years was rather uneventful. We heard fireworks, I finished the Book of Mormon!, we set goals about how to have the Spirit in our companionship more, made delicious pizza, and ate way too much candy, and even bought a pint of baskin robbins cookies and cream! Unfortunately i didnt eat much ice cream and the next day we gave it to our elders b/c we are going off suger at our house. We decided its ok with others cuz so many offer you tea and cookies but we would get rid of stuff at our place. New Years day we just handed out a bunch of english club cards. and i only know when someone is drunk when they smell like it, so it took me awhile to figure out why everyone was so happy and receptive...So maybe i am a little sheltered...So ya it wasnt a very productive day for us but maybe someone will find the card in their purse later:)
The next day, we had district meeting and Elder hutchings had just gotten back from zone leader council in Vlad, which Sis Brinton called War Council. Awesome I know. We set goals about each companionship getting 1 more person back each week to try and build our sac meeting attendance from 13 (including 6 missionaries) to 25 by the end of Jan. We had a Break-the Fast after church and from calling the entire list of women, had 2 less actives come! Success! We had 21 in sac too. What!! Haha we are going to start having weekly activities and I feel a little singles wardish but whatever works. We were able to find 2 more less actives this week and meet them so slowly but surely we'll get there!
Oh and story of the week. Mom, you asked about my red face. So that night after talking to you, my nose turned white at a bus stop. Like not pale but i guess like it looked like i had cream on it. So the member we were with got mad at me and made me cover my face. Then later, a less active's mom asked what kind of lotion i used and explained that moisterizer is the worst thing i can do here cuz the wind takes all the moisture out of your skin and then it can freeze on your face or something. So i bought new "protectant" lotion. Maybe it will help. Anyway, its a funny story to me.
Hope you all are doing well!
Loveyou!
email received Dec. 30, 2012
Hello family!
I hope you all are enjoying the rest of the Christmas season and happy new years!! Tonight we have to be in by 6 and we can stay up til 12. We realized though that a 2nd story apartment is a little rough to see fireworks but we'll make food and eat candy or something:) Speaking of eating, last night, we were visiting a less active teenager and her mom fed us as soon as we came in. She heated up leftovers and then brought out sala, which I learned is literally pieces of fat that Russian eat, cold. So she cut it like you would cheese, and she gave us spicy mustardy sauce and then you just chew and try to swallow. I mean i guess bacon is sometimes basically the same concept but at least that is fat with meat and not meat with fat. Think about that while eating your leftover Christmas cookies with delicious frosting!
This week has been super busy. Tuesday was Christmas where we were at the Church eating chicken, which was cut with a spoon since our Church is sadly lacking utensils, and funeral potatoes and cookies. We made wassail too which is like cider. We watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional and then had a district meeting. That night we made cookies for our neighbors! Some didn't open their doors and said it wasn't needed, I don't think they understood what we were doing. But we did meet some super awesome people so it was fun and Christmasy. Then Wednesday I got to talk to all of you!!!! That night we had a meeting with a former who has had 2 previous baptismal dates and taught lesson 3 and at the end I extended the baptismal committment! Definitely was as scary as a thought it would be. She said she wanted too but not right now. The member we had with us was super awesome and testifed but then we starting talking about church etc so we never could really bring it back to setting a date to prepare for but in all we were happy with her questions and participation and sincerity.
Thursday we got up at 5:30 to catch a flight to Vlad. I ate my first Russian pizza in the airport, meaning ketchup and mayo instead of tomato sauce but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Then after waiting in vlad for a while everyone for ussurisk came which meant sister Christensen!! We rode back, just me and her while everyone else went to Korea. It was definitely a tender mercy to see her again. We had the whole ride back, like 90 minutes with our mission driver, to talk and while of course I would be super happy if she was fluent and had 10 new members, it was at least reassuring to know we were in the same boat. So it was funnyy to see how similar our experiences have been so far. The biggest difference though is my trainer has been here a year and hers is on her 4th or 5th transfer. So i feel super blessed to have Sister Huber both for her missionary skills and her Russian:) In ussurisk, we passed out a bunch of English Club cards then, helped a new member write a talk, which basically means bring True to the Faith in Russian and then provide moral support and she wrote her talk. The next morning after studying, we took a bus back to Vlad and then waited in the airport a while til our missionaries landed and we went our separate ways. Really we didn't do anything too exciting and it was only like 24 hours together but it was definitely needed.
Then Saturday, the Brintons were here with their daughter and son-in-law and we had a 3 hour training. We had pizza (with tomato sauce) for lunch and after we finished eating, the elders let us know one of them was cow tongue. I hadn't tried that one just because, but I think Sister Brinton was shocked.. for training we focused on finding and teaching, and the biggest things I think we need to take from it is how to make English Club more effective as well as finding through less actives. Sunday we heard from the Brintons, our APs were there too, and Sis Brinton played an awesome piano number!! It was a little overwhelming having them talk us up about how awesome they want us to be, the branch to be etc. Which makes me sound like a baby haha but we're excited for the new year to get the work going. The field is white!! Literally! Love you all and happy new year!!
Sister Allison
Hello family!
I hope you all are enjoying the rest of the Christmas season and happy new years!! Tonight we have to be in by 6 and we can stay up til 12. We realized though that a 2nd story apartment is a little rough to see fireworks but we'll make food and eat candy or something:) Speaking of eating, last night, we were visiting a less active teenager and her mom fed us as soon as we came in. She heated up leftovers and then brought out sala, which I learned is literally pieces of fat that Russian eat, cold. So she cut it like you would cheese, and she gave us spicy mustardy sauce and then you just chew and try to swallow. I mean i guess bacon is sometimes basically the same concept but at least that is fat with meat and not meat with fat. Think about that while eating your leftover Christmas cookies with delicious frosting!
This week has been super busy. Tuesday was Christmas where we were at the Church eating chicken, which was cut with a spoon since our Church is sadly lacking utensils, and funeral potatoes and cookies. We made wassail too which is like cider. We watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional and then had a district meeting. That night we made cookies for our neighbors! Some didn't open their doors and said it wasn't needed, I don't think they understood what we were doing. But we did meet some super awesome people so it was fun and Christmasy. Then Wednesday I got to talk to all of you!!!! That night we had a meeting with a former who has had 2 previous baptismal dates and taught lesson 3 and at the end I extended the baptismal committment! Definitely was as scary as a thought it would be. She said she wanted too but not right now. The member we had with us was super awesome and testifed but then we starting talking about church etc so we never could really bring it back to setting a date to prepare for but in all we were happy with her questions and participation and sincerity.
Thursday we got up at 5:30 to catch a flight to Vlad. I ate my first Russian pizza in the airport, meaning ketchup and mayo instead of tomato sauce but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Then after waiting in vlad for a while everyone for ussurisk came which meant sister Christensen!! We rode back, just me and her while everyone else went to Korea. It was definitely a tender mercy to see her again. We had the whole ride back, like 90 minutes with our mission driver, to talk and while of course I would be super happy if she was fluent and had 10 new members, it was at least reassuring to know we were in the same boat. So it was funnyy to see how similar our experiences have been so far. The biggest difference though is my trainer has been here a year and hers is on her 4th or 5th transfer. So i feel super blessed to have Sister Huber both for her missionary skills and her Russian:) In ussurisk, we passed out a bunch of English Club cards then, helped a new member write a talk, which basically means bring True to the Faith in Russian and then provide moral support and she wrote her talk. The next morning after studying, we took a bus back to Vlad and then waited in the airport a while til our missionaries landed and we went our separate ways. Really we didn't do anything too exciting and it was only like 24 hours together but it was definitely needed.
Then Saturday, the Brintons were here with their daughter and son-in-law and we had a 3 hour training. We had pizza (with tomato sauce) for lunch and after we finished eating, the elders let us know one of them was cow tongue. I hadn't tried that one just because, but I think Sister Brinton was shocked.. for training we focused on finding and teaching, and the biggest things I think we need to take from it is how to make English Club more effective as well as finding through less actives. Sunday we heard from the Brintons, our APs were there too, and Sis Brinton played an awesome piano number!! It was a little overwhelming having them talk us up about how awesome they want us to be, the branch to be etc. Which makes me sound like a baby haha but we're excited for the new year to get the work going. The field is white!! Literally! Love you all and happy new year!!
Sister Allison
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