pictures!! 1 December 2010

ok everyone is rushing me and in a hurry, no time to write explanations. loves!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hello!!

It was great to hear from you all and hear how the week is going and everything. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!! isn't it crazy that this season is already here again? time does fly. But today we have been given an assignment to have a thanksgiving dinner with our investigators and all the missionaries. So we (me and my companion) will head on over to the store after we are done writing and then head back to the apartment and do some cooking. We will probably spend the whole day cooking. We are making mashed potatoes and bread. I also wanted to make some apples pies, so that should be fun i think. yea i heard that it is very cold there. It is not super cold here yet, i heard it doesn't get super cold like russia. But, today we went and I bought my set of winter boots. I swear they only make the cute boots for all the women with tiny skinny legs....oh well.

But anyways, this week has been a good one. We are still teaching our investigators. We are working really hard right now at keeping our goals in sight, and working towards those. My companion goes home in a transfer.....it is very weird. They already have Christmas lights up everywhere here. And I saw Santa Claus this morning! Pretty fun. I have to be honest, it is quite strange spending this time of year so far away from home. My first Christmas ever without the family.....weird. But thats ok, because the missionaries and investigators and church members here have been like family to us all. I have been a little sad lately thinking about the fact that all the missionaries will be in moscow for Christmas....and my friends and companions without me :( But Im sure Ill get over it. I just looked forward to seeing everyone in moscow for christmas, and then i got transferred to kazakhstan just right before the holidays. But I like kazakhstan. It is a great place.

Oh I forgot to tell you that the other day we had a great lesson with one of our new converts. And the awesome thing was, that during the lesson her sister that has not been very supportive of her came over with her son. We were so excited that she was with us on the last part of the lesson. And I feel that she really felt the spirit. We invited her to come to church with her sister, and she said that she really wants to, and has wanted to for a little while now. So, I was very excited, and I pray that she does come on Sunday.

This week I have been thinking a lot about all that I am grateful for. And there is just so much stuff I cannot even write it all down. But I really thought about how grateful I am this season for our differences. We are all different, and this is GOOD!! I cannot tell you how many things I have learned on my mission, all from people that are very different for me. Other people all have different good qualities than us, and we have different ones than them. And then we all help each other grow better and better together. And I just thought a lot about how we need not judge. We were all created differently, but we are all children of God. And God loves us all the same. I read a talk by elder wirthlin from conference the other day that I just loved. I want to type here some of the quotes that I wrote down. It is called Concern for the One, and he talks about how we need to bring lost ones into the fold.

He says....

"Today I would like to talk about those who are lost—some because they are different, some because they are weary, and some because they have strayed.Some are lost because they are different. They feel as though they don’t belong. Perhaps because they are different, they find themselves slipping away from the flock. They may look, act, think, and speak differently than those around them and that sometimes causes them to assume they don’t fit in. They conclude that they are not needed.Tied to this misconception is the erroneous belief that all members of the Church should look, talk, and be alike. The Lord did not people the earth with a vibrant orchestra of personalities only to value the piccolos of the world. Every instrument is precious and adds to the complex beauty of the symphony. All of Heavenly Father’s children are different in some degree, yet each has his own beautiful sound that adds depth and richness to the whole.Some are lost because they have strayed. Except for the Lord, we have all made mistakes. The question is not whether we will trip and fall but, rather, how will we respond? Some, after making mistakes, stray from the fold. This is unfortunate. Do you not know that the Church is a place for imperfect people to gather together—even with all their mortal frailties—and become better? Every Sunday in every meetinghouse throughout the world, we find mortal, imperfect men, women, and children who meet together in brotherhood and charity, striving to become better people, to learn of the Spirit, and to lend encouragement and support to others. I am not aware of any sign on the door of our meetinghouses that reads “Restricted Entrance—Perfect People Only.”Because of our imperfections, we need the Lord’s Church. It is there that His redemptive doctrines are taught and His saving ordinances are administered. The Church encourages and motivates us to be a better and happier people. It is also a place where we can lose ourselves in the service of others.The Lord knows we will make mistakes. That is why He suffered for our sins. He wants us to get back on our feet and strive to do better. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.To you who have strayed because you have been offended, can you not set your hurt and anger aside? Can you not fill your hearts with love? There is a place for you here. Come, join the fold, consecrate your abilities, talents, and skills. You will be better for it, and others will be blessed by your example."

I really enjoyed this article, and it really got me thinking. I know that as we look at everyone as children of God, and accept their differences, that we will all be a happier people. I know that our families will be stronger. Even in our families, we are all different. And you know, that's ok. That's just the way it is supposed to be. We would not learn and grow in love in our families if we were all exactly the same. And that would just be plain boring. So, there is my thought for the week.

I love you all!!! Have a wonderful thanksgiving day. You will probably get this thanksgiving morning. So yea! my little thanksgiving email present to you! I love you all and am very thankful this holiday season for your love, support, examples, optimism, good attitudes, cheerfulness, and kindness. Keep up the great work, and remember to count all your many many blessings!! All my love and until next week! it will be december!! WEIRD

с любовью,

Сестра Браун

привет!! 18 November 2010

Моя Семья!!!

Я так долго не писала вам по-русский так что я это сделю сечас.

Well, I have not written in russian in a very long time, so i thought i would write you a little sentence. Im not sure if i spelled everything right, but whatev, enjoy!

Well you will be surprised to know that I was not in moscow for a week, and that this past week I had some tugs on my heart, and one of my wildest dreams of my mission came true. Seriously!!!

So, i left thursday on the plane and headed to moscow. I am already getting sick of plane rides. you know how i just love them :) But anyways, i got into moscow thursday night and the office elders told me that while I waited for the embassy to process my visa application, I would be going to VORONEZH!!! I thought wait, what?! I was like is this a crude joke? and they were like no, President and his wife are going down there for the weekend to do a little conference and you will be going with them! My heart seriously jumped for joy. And then president told me the same thing, and so I knew it was true! I just couldn't believe it! It was awesome! And so friday I was in the office while they took my passport to the embassy and processed some things. And then one of the craziest things happened. It has always taken (at the least) a week for the embassy to process our visa's.....but then i was sitting in the office and just a few hours later the office elders walked in, with my visa for kazakhstan. We were all so surprised! And then i was happy, but then my heart was also a little broken because I would be flying back to almaty that night and would not be able to go to voronezh and see sister gorkavenko and the investigators. So i was very sad. But then.....they actually looked at the visa and the date did not start until monday. So.....I ended up going to Voronezh!! it was so awesome and amazing to see everyone there! It was quite short though, just a day, and went by so fast that now I feel like maybe it was all just a dream. But it was a wonderful experience to be there and to see everyone! I could not be more grateful. and then we went back to moscow, and I got on the plane monday morning, and got to almaty late Monday evening. So now I am here in my area, trying to get back into the groove of things. As much as I love voronezh and the people there, I know that this is where the Lord has called me to be. And that as I stay close to the spirit and search, I will know the work that He has here from me to do.

So you asked about thanksgiving, yes, we as missionaries have been given an assignment to do a whole thanksgiving dinner and we need to have investigators at the meeting. We are excited, i'll let you know how it all turns out. Tues. was a holiday break for the people here. I am not exactly sure what the holiday is called, but it is some kind of Islam religion holiday. And they did animal sacrifices. Interesting right? I didn't know that people still do that. I asked one of the people and she said that a 1/3 of the animal is given to the poor, and 1/3 to like close family or something i think, and then the last 1/3 is for you. It is very interesting to learn about the new culture and things here. Also, I learned this week how to make some korean food. They do a lot of korean food here. Who knew that I would one day be in kazakhstan, speaking russian, and making korean food!!! i didn't. But it's cool, real cool.

Ok, so missionary work here is still going. We have set some new goals, and we are all trying to reach those goals before the end of the year. It requires a lot of faith and hard work, but I think that we can do it. It is always exciting to set some new goals and put some more enthusiasm into the work. i want to tell you a great experience that we just had. Last week we fasted with one of our new converts. Her family was going through a rough time, and we wanted to fast with her. I didn't find this out until i got back from moscow, but the day that we fasted things worked out with her family, AND...her mother came to church with her on sunday. it was her first time to the sunday meetings there at the church. Isn't that awesome!!!! It was a huge smack right in the face to me saying, "you see, miracles still really do happen"! Sometimes I think that it is hard to see miracles in missionary work, but they are there, and if you have the eyes to see them, you can find them.

Well family, it was great to hear from you all as always. I love you all so very much and am praying for you. Keep up the great work! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and count you many blessings!!! All my love, and until next week!!

Sister Brown

good ol' football 11 November 2010

My dear Loves!!

oh man, those awesome pictures of the football game really make me miss home this time of year...but that's ok. And i love that picture of everyone together after the game. Awesome!!

i am glad everyone had a great week. That is sad to hear that terence got hurt. I pray for him and hope he heals fast. I always get very nervous for those boys playing football. They really tear their bodies up.

ok, so there were a lot of questions this week. I will try to answer those all first. yes, halloween was good, but no, halloween is not a holiday here. It is only brought over from american missionaries. And yes, i do have some opportunities to play the piano a lot. Actually the primary president here just asked me if I could play for primary, and she wants me to teach them a new song. Last sunday was my first time, and let me tell you it was very difficult to teach people to sing in a different language when they are all young and no one listens to you. I will need to study up on some music terms in russian and see what i can do :) The apartment here is a little smaller and older, but nice and cozy. I like it. And dad, yes, most of the baptisms in this mission do come from almaty. I am not exactly sure why. Maybe teaching english helps us just talk and teach to more people and so we have a bigger teaching pool here, or, i just think too that the people here are a little more open and maybe just a little more prepared for the gospel. And mom, no there is no daylight savings here. So i think you all are now 13 hours behind us, and the rest of the mission is now 3 hours behind us. And about the smoke stuff, im not sure what that means. Yea some times it is kinda foggy and maybe a little smoky, but i have not heard about fires. so i don't know. maybe it is fires, or yea maybe it is factories. And angela, yea, in voronezh they did not have mutual activities. Here I think they try to have them with the young women, but i don't know how often. They do have seminary though, but only once a week and in the evening, and only like 3 people come. it is definitely a whole new world. I also wanted to tell you all about the awesome "gypsie" cabs here. Taxis here are very very cheap, and all you need to do is put your arm out and a random car drives up. It is not even a job or anything. anyone can be a taxi, and it they want too and have time they can just pick you up and drop you off where you need. So its kinda funny. We ride with a lot of random people, and I just pray that they know how to drive somewhat safely!

So this week has been another good one. There was a baptism last saturday, and it went very well. I was very happy because the ward members were very welcoming and so nice and kind to her. We continue to teach a lot of english lessons, with a spiritual lesson also. We have one investigator that everything seems so very interesting to her. She asks so many many questions, and sometimes I have no idea what she is asking. So it is difficult to help answer her questions, and sometimes gets a little frustrating. But that is where my russian companion who understands everything comes in and helps out. I just really wish at times i knew how to speak more. During one of our lessons the other day about the plan of salvation she asked some pretty deep questions and i just stared at her and my companion talk because I barely understood what they were saying, let alone just thought and thought of how i could answer her, and what words i knew that i could say. I was a little disappointed after that i didn't talk more, but i know with time, little by little, it will get better. It will never be perfect, but day by day it will get better and better.

So i really love the members here and the investigators. they are great! And our district is very fun and the senior couple are amazing. she makes some really really awesome food for our district meetings. And just because they love us, sister moore got up early yesterday morning and made sis. chetina and I blueberry pancakes, eggs and ham, maple syrup, and maple butter, and then brought them over to our apartment. I thought WOW! We have the best couple missionaries in this mission. I cannot even tell you the blessings that senior couples bring to this mission. I want to do that when i am older!

So yea, things are going well here. I leave today on a plane for moscow, and there I will get my new visa for kazakhstan for 6 months. they said it takes about a week, so i will be in moscow and the city of tula with the sisters there for about the next week. Man, there is a ton of traveling in this mission. I never even imagined how much. But you gotta do what you gotta do, and if that is what we gotta do to preach the gospel here, that is what we will do! So if i don't have an opportunity to write or something while i am there or flying back next thursday don't worry. I'll try to see if i can get something sent through the senior couple or something if i don't have access to a computer.

Well i think that is again all for this week. As always, thank you for your support, love, and prayers. Know that I love you very much and am always praying for you. Keep up the good work! Have a great week! and until next week!

All my love,

Sister Brown

november!? 4 November 2010

Hello my beloved family!!

It was great to hear from you all and see those awesome pictures! everyones costumes were great! I love them, and the pumpkins were awesome too. You all have some real skill. Saturday we also had a little halloween party in the ward, me and sis. Chetina were gypsies. it was fun!

ok, so anyways this week has been a good and busy one. The weeks seem to fly by way fast it is so crazy, and it feels like we never get enough done. So i received my registration on friday and now by government I am allowed to wear my name tag. Sweet huh? So when out contacting i can talk about the gospel too. We haven't done a ton of that lately, we need to do more. But anyways, our investigators are good. We have a few that are having a very hard time keeping commitments, so we pray that we can know how to best help them and best use our time. I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting last sunday, they have all the new missionaries do that. It was nice to do that again. And, at a baptism last friday I played a musical number on the piano. Sadly, i don't know why, but my hands still shake when i play the piano. I thought I had gotten over that but i guess not. I was all good until i got to the piano and then i got nervous and my hands shook. It reminds me of when I was in middle school...yuck...But anyways i hoped that no one noticed. But my companion told me after that she saw my hands shaking really bad. So nope, everyone who was in eye sight of the piano saw my hands shaking. Great....oh well. I just feel like such a timid little 10 year old when that happens. Maybe sometime in my life it will get better. Anyways, thats not important. I just wanted to go off on a little tangent.

So the other day we were teaching a lesson, and all of the sudden our investigator just seemed to get it. It just seemed like it made sense to her and somewhere in her head it clicked. For some reason I just felt the spirit super strong and just felt really really happy. I thought about it a lot later and thought about how so many times on the mission things don't go the way we planned, and things may not always be super exciting and new. But it is good to have joy in the little moments and simple things. So, i am trying to find joy in the small, and simple things of life.

Dallin, i was very glad to hear from you and you sound great! I am so happy to hear that things are going well and that you are feeling well yourself. Continue to count your blessings and rely on the Lord. He loves you. and you know that.

Ange, you said you were scared in that missionary training. honestly, before i came on my mission, i was completely scared out of my mind too. And at times i wondered, wow acacia, what are you thinking?! Everything about being a missionary is everything you aren't. But i just know that the Lord is with me every step of the way. With the Lord on you side, it doesn't seem as scary. If you say something wrong or do something wrong, you might feel embarrassed at first, but then i just pray really hard and try to focus, and then i just laugh about it later with my companion. its pretty fun. Just do the best you can ange with your scripture study and prayer. Try very very hard and pray and if you have the desire you will find the time and a way to get it done. This I know.

Well family, not much time again today as usual. I always feel so rushed and hectic when I email here. We always have a ton of stuff to do on pday. But i guess ill just have to get used to it all. Sometimes i wish i could just sit on email and read your emails over and over again all day. But, that's not what I have been called to do. So, I continue to pray that I can focus and that my thoughts can be concentrated most on what the Lord would have my thoughts concentrate on. I love you all. I pray for you everyday! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers. Keep up the good work! Until next week!

Loves,

Sister Brown

my loves!! 27 October 2010

Hello my family!!

Thank you for all the emails, they are great as usual. And mom, yes i did get the package as i came through moscow last week.; Thank you!! it was fun to read all those letters!!! And the only thing that you might want to stick in the other package is just another bottle of the multi vitamins. I am good on everything else. And ange, the address is the same. When someone comes to kazakhstan they just bring us everything that went to the mission office. Actually i heard there might be an address here too for packages. i will ask and let you know.

So kazakhstan is good. We have a lot more investigators here, which i am not used to. And most of them are english investigators like I said, and then we also teach them the gospel. Some of them are progressing very well,and others are not quite as accepting. But we continue to work as best as we can with the investigators.

I like how joe called this place "the other part of Russia". To be honest it is nothing like Russia! it is crazy different. People speak Russian, but mostly the native language here is kazak language. All the signs and things outside are in kazak, and if you are a native you know how to speak kazak. So usually when we hear people talking outside or when we hear music outside it is always in the kazak language. I would say the language sounds like some kind of mix between the russian and chinese languages. So, people will talk to us in russian though. And english. There are a lot of international schools here and A LOT of people learn english. So in all of kazakhstan our city, almaty, is the only open city to missionaries right now. There are a total of 10 missionaries here in the city. A senior couple, 3 elder companionship's, and then one sister companionship. I think they are working on opening other cities, but i am not sure how soon that will be. Sometime i think they want to make kazakhstan its own mission, and the missionaries will learn the kazak language instead of russian. I heard that the kazak people here are very very patriotic, and a lot of them don't like it when russians and other people come to live here. I heard that they are slowly trying to make it harder and harder for other nationalities to come and live here as registered citizens. So yes, a lot of the people here do look chinese, but they are kazak. As we have been outside, the people seem to be a lot more open too. The culture is just very different. This city has many more rich business type people, and some really really nice cars!

Right now, for the first two weeks, I am not allowed to wear my name tag,and I am not allowed to talk to people about the gospel. So i just talk to them about our english club and lessons. So in about a week I will be able to wear my tag (i feel so weird without it!) and then not too long after that I need to make another trip to moscow to get my full 6 month visa. (They only give you a one month visa first, then you have to leave and get your 6 month visa and come back). Kinda crazy and a lot of traveling. But its all good i guess. And yes, there is only one branch here in almaty. It is not like huge, but it is not small either.

Last friday and saturday the mission president let me and sister chetina go to the relief society conference that they have here in almaty every year. It is up in the mountains in like a cabin type thing, and we went there and spent the night and did spiritual things with the women in the branch. It was fun to get to know some of the wonderful women here. They have very strong testimonies and really love the gospel. I am excited to get to know them better. Also, when we had conference with the president last week, for p day he wanted to do something fun with us, and so he took the district to these like grand canyon stuff. Of course it is not as big, But it was beautiful and i got some good pictures. We had a fun little picnic there also.

Let's see. I don't really know much of what else to say. Im sorry but i have the hardest time concentrating in here with all these gamers and loud music!! So i can't really think about what to say next.

Oh i forgot to tell you that there are a lot of muslims here. So it has been very interesting to talk to them and to learn about their traditions and beliefs. We know some islam people who their parents still choose their wife and husband for them. Crazy huh? Oh, and i can see mountains from my window here. cool huh!

I love the people here, and I love working with our investigators. My companion is great, and I am excited to be serving with her. She goes home in 2 months and i think it is very hard for her. She loves it here. I really miss voronezh, russia, the branch there, our investigators, and sister gorkavenko. But...the Lord needs me here in almaty now and I am doing my very best to stay focused and grow to love the new culture here. So far, i like what i have seen. But yes, I hope that I can grow to love the place and people here just as much as i did in voronezh. I love this work, and I know that it is the work of the Lord.

I love you all! Stay safe and do what's right. Remember to always say your prayers and read your scriptures. Live worthy of the influence of the Holy Ghost in your lives. God loves you! Show your love to Him by keeping His commandments. My prayers are with you, as always.

all my love, until next week!

Sister Brown

ps...funny story. I was talking with our mission president, and somehow the subject of xango came up. You remember how you told me that zach baxter's family was moving to moscow? Well, they are the neighbors of President wolley and his wife!!

hello from kazakhstan!! 21 October 2010

Hello my loverly family!!

Well honestly i don't have much time to write right now, we are in an internet club writing and we need to run home really quick soon and get some stuff done. Oh and how much i want to fill you in on everything new and my exhausting and exciting week. Lets see if i can do it fast ok?

so i literally have like 5 minutes now. I won't be able to tell all, but I like it here. It is very different from the rest of the mission. I feel like i have been picked up and put in a new mission. But it's good. Just need some time to get used to things. We teach english a lot here, and then have a 30 min. spiritual thought with the people we teach english to. It actually has worked very well. I went on a night bus sunday night to get to moscow, didn't sleep at all, and then got lost in the metro like 3 times at 7 in the morning on monday while dragging 3 bags around. By the time we got to the ap's i was tired and exhausted and probably not very happy :) So monday i sat in the office all day, and then that night took a night flight here to kazahkstan. and again, did not sleep. But I am here, safe and sound, have slept really good the last 2 nights, and things are going well. My companion is great! She is 25 and from eastern russian. She is a wonderful teacher and I pray I can learn a lot of great things from her. President told me that I will be training a new missionary in January probably, because many sisters are leaving in december and 5 new are coming. i am nervous, because by that time i would have never been even a senior companion. But i am also excited for the challenge and pray that I can pick it up and work hard. Things are going well with me. Sorry the email is so fast and short.

I loved the pictures gma sent me. I love you all and miss you! I pray for you all the time and hope things are going well at home. Remember that you are children of God and that He loves you and is always watching over you!!

All my love!

Sister Brown (i will have to talk in more detail about everything next week! loves!)

sorry to disappoint ya 13 October 2010

hello family!!

Well first off, I enjoyed all of your emails, but....Im not in kazakhstan yet! I thought I would be but we are still working on getting my visa for kazakhstan, and so right now i am still in voronezh. I will head to moscow sunday night not on a train, but a bus..(yahoo! this will be great fun!! maybe.......) All the members that have heard that are like eww..that's not fun. So we will see how it goes. But anyways, yes i will be up there monday morning and hopefully everything will be good with my visa, and then from there on out im not really sure when im getting to kazakhstan, but sometime i will take a plane from moscow and head on over there. I already have a fear of planes and everyone says the ones to kazakhstan are very small and not too fun. ahhh! all will be good i hope. But anyways, yes i am in voronezh right now still with sis Gorkavenko and it has been lots of fun. She has her new companion (a russian mini missionary) coming tomorrow night. So then it will be the 3 of us for a few days, and that should be pretty awesome. I am excited!

Thank you for the emails. I am glad that everyone had a great packed week as always. Send me some pics of the wedding and birthday ok? And no dad, i didn't get any poem. Oh and no i have not gotten the package but hopefully it will be in moscow when i go on monday. And yea just send things to the same address. We don't ever go anywhere out of almaty, but assistants and president come down for conferences every once in a while and bring things down to us. And ange and dal, what funny dance are you talking about? I don't dance funny. I dance like a pro!!

So didn't you all just love conference!!!! I did! it was so good and I was so happy that president let us watch all the sessions. The only thing is that they never broadcast the womens programs here. Weird right? My companion said that she has never seen the young womens or the relief soceity broadcast in her whole life. I was like WHAT! They need to do something about that so that the women are also able to get together and watch. But anyways, conference was wonderful and the spirit was strong, and I am so grateful for the prophet and the apostles. I have faith that their words are truly the words of God. And I know that if we follow what they teach we will not be led astray.

That is great that you are going to go through a talk each week. I think that is a great idea. We should have done that when i was at home, since i always fell asleep :( I really loved all the talks, but i especially remember the talks by president Monson (about gratitude and not judging others), elder uchtdorf, elder hales, elder holland, i thought the talk by elder ballard was very powerful and very well said, and I don't remember who said it, but I remember someone talked about the commandments. And how people say, well can't I still love Christ but not keep the law of chastity? And can't I still love Christ but not go to church on sunday? And then he flat out said NO, the scriptures say, If ye love me, keep my commandments. I was like wow. awesome!! But, the best part is, did you see the world report after the very first session on saturday? I hope so cause it was awesome. if not maybe you can find it online or something. But the very first segment on the world report was all about Russia and Ukraine! And about the temple! and then they talked to a few members here from Russia! it was awesome!! And if you watch it and see the streets and buildings and cars and everything, that is where i am! That's my life! sweet huh?!

Ok, so this week has been another good one. Things have slowed down a little bit with lessons and things that we have, and they have gotten a little crazy with transfers and things for everyone, but it has been a good one. We continue to meet with the investigators we have, and it has been nice that conference was just recently, and we love to share messages from conference with out investigators. Contacting outside has been tougher because not as many people are on the streets, and everyone seems to be in a huge hurry because they are like running to get to a warm place. So it does get frustrating when every person you stop wants to ignore you, and the only people who want to talk to you are strange men that you don't even have to stop, they just see my name tag, say "sister brown", chuckle a little, and then interrogate me. who are you, what is that church, why are you here, and on and on. I try really hard to understand and talk to them, but for some reason it is so difficult for me to understand random men that stop us on the streets. I don't know why, maybe it is just that their voices are low or something, but so i just stand there and am like huh, um, um, yea, um...it is probably pretty humorous to watch how uncomfortable sister brown gets when strange men off the street stop to talk to her. ok, sorry about that nice little tangent. But anyways, work as i said is pretty good. But it could definitely be better, so i am trying to have a positive attitude about it all and not let people that ignore us let me down.

I know that this is the Lord's work, and that as we are faithful and do all that we can do, that He will work through us, and that people will be brought to the gospel in the Lord's time, and in the Lord's way. The trick is just working as hard as you can, all the time, even when things get disappointing. But, God is always with us, as missionaries and as members who help the missionaries, and I know that through prayer and faith, we can all have the strength to do the work of the Lord.

I love you all, thank you always for all of your support, your positive attitudes, and your good examples to me. I am glad everyones week went well, and i pray that this week is another good one. Good luck in all your work and school and church activities. All my love! and until next week!!!

Sister Brown

I am sending a few pics because i am not sure how easy the emailing system will be in Kazakhstan :)

For a culture activity on pday we went to a puppet theater and watched "Aladdin and the Lamp". The puppets were amazing! This is our district outside the theater.

Me changing our water filter...the clean one is of course the white one!!

Our district after the puppet show. There was this little stand where kids could get their picture taken and then printed off and Sister Gorkanvenko wanted one of the whole district together...so after a lot of moving around and tryin to get situated in that tiny little place, we FINALLY got all 6 of us in there and looking good, and so this is how it turned out. If is doesn't look too well it is a picture of a picture, so sorry!

i'm definitely not in kansas anymore 6 October 2010

My dear beloved family!!

How are you! i love you!!! I wanted to say congrats first to skyler and jordan on the mission calls!! YAHOO!!! I love you guys! You are both awesome and will be amazing hardworking missionaries! Are you excited? I am! When do you both head into the mtc?

I am glad that everyone enjoyed conference, and I am very excited to see it this weekend. There will be an english translation for us americans who don't speak russian well yet, so that will be wonderful! Im glad that everyones week went pretty well and it sounds like everyone is just doing well and growin up. Mom i had to laugh when you said that joe and noelle had gotten home from school and were already raiding the fridge. I can totally picture it! because we all did the same thing. funny funny. I am sure they are both just growing up like bean stalks. Sad to hear about the loss in football again. man, what's goin on?! AND...Mom, Happy birthday!!! I hope you have a wonderful wonderful one and know that I love you very much!! It is crazy to think that it is already your birthday again, because i was thinking how just a year ago on your birthday was when i decided to serve a mission. I can remember it perfectly. It is so crazy. I remember I left your little birthday party that night and drove back down to provo, and then that night I called you and probably greatly surprised you with "umm...guess what?...I think I am going to serve a mission" And here I am! in RUSSIA.

Speaking of Russia, I have to tell you the big news of the week. President called me yesterday and i am having my first transfer of the mission. I will be serving in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with another russian sister there. So, i won't be able to experience an awesome russian winter :( I heard that in Kazakhstan it is a little warmer. But, I am very excited of course about the transfer. But i think a little more nervous (as always). It will be a whole new country and new food and new geography, weather, people, culture, etc. But, it should be exciting. And, I will miss out on all of the mission conferences that our mission has in moscow, and in december there is a big christmas party and all the missionaries go there for a day and are together, and i won't be there, sad :( (but anyways i guess that's not really important) It is like we are banished to our own little island out there! not really. Everyone who serves in kazakhstan actually just loves it. The missionaries talk about how it is a paradise there compared to the rest of our mission, because they say that the city is nicer and that the people that you meet on the streets are usually nicer and talk to you a lot more than you experience here. It will be another adjustment, but it will be good. I do really love voronezh though, and I would be perfectly fine spending the rest of my mission here. I have met some wonderful amazing people, and as always it will be difficult to leave our investigators. The members here are wonderful and really just love the missionaries. It will be sad to say goodbye to them. They have so much love and such strong and big hearts. I love them alot. It still hasn't set in with me yet that im leaving voronezh. It just all feels like a weird dream or something. sister kelly who was with me in the mtc will come and be companions here in voronezh with my beloved sis. Gorkavenko. It will be hard to leave her too. She has been such a strength and amazing example to me.

This week went well. We continue to work with our progressing investigators, and strive our best to spend the rest of the time meeting with inactives and searching the streets of voronezh for those people who are looking and are ready to receive the restored gospel. One of our investigators has not come to church yet because she has been really scared and nervous. But she says that she will come to conference this weekend and so we are very excited. She has struggled to feel the love of the Lord and other people, and so we had a wonderful lesson with her yesterday with a member also, and we just really strived to convey to her the love the Lord has for her, and the love that we have for her. And the love that all the members in the ward have for her. I think she feels less nervous so that is good. It is shocking and sad how many people in the world do not know the immense love that our Father in Heaven and Savior have for them.

Also sunday was fast and testimony meeting and it was very fun and sweet to see our new convert get up and bear her sweet testimony in sacrament.

So this past week has gotten very cold very fast all of the sudden. Im already wearing boots, gloves, scarfs, winter coats, and hats. Yesterday it was 0 degrees celcius. I think that is like 32 degrees or something, right? i don't really remember. But it has not snowed yet. I am waiting for the beautiful snow. But i may not see snow until i get to kazahstan. Man! And i always wanted to see some good ol russian snow. Anyways, yes it has been cold, and I don't know when the government turns on the heating systems, so its getting pretty cold inside too. Last sunday it was freezing and I wore my coat and gloves all through the 3 church meetings. The members laughed at me and told me they are worried because if i am that cold now i might die this winter. I told them ill just bundle up really good though. So to end this crazy and spastic email of the week, i will tell you about an awesome service project we did that will give you a little peek into a part of the russian culture. I think in English you would say that we glued a members windows closed for them. So first off, here a lot of the apartments and homes are very very old, and most of the windows are made out of wood and are not plastic and insulated and close tight like the ones we are used too. During the cold cold winters here the windows let in a nice freezing draft. So every winter when it gets cold they glue their windows shut, never to be opened again until summer. Anyways. So here is the process. First, you clean the windows, and the wood surrounding it the best that you can. Then you close the window as tight as you can. And then, we took this cotton material with a knife and shoved it into the cracks and crevices all around the window. Once you have that all shoved in nice you take either masking tape, or paper and tape all the windows closed. For this members house she had us take long strips of paper, and then we smothered them with a water and flour glue paste, and then we pasted them to the cracks and openings of the window. And then you are done. pretty crazy right? That takes a lot of preparation and time, and then when you take it off in the summer, you strip off the tape and then all the paint comes off with it. Anyways, that is how they keep warm in the winter. It is amazing that they have to do that every winter. I think that plastic insulated windows are becoming a little more popular here, but with all the homes and apartments being so old it gets pretty expensive to put in all new windows. So they just make do with what they have. anyways i don't know why i went on and on with that story, but there you go, and i will stop now.

Well i love you all! I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy spending time with the family at the wedding!! Wow, crazy crazy. My cuz spence is just growin up. Well have fun and i bet it will be beautiful. Dress, decorations and all. Send me pics ok? I love you all. And as always, keep up the good work!!

all my love and until next week! (in kazakhstan!!)

Sister Brown

it's getting colder....29 September 2010

Hello my loves!!

Hey! so first off i need to say happy birthday to g-ma brown, i know your birthday is coming up soon. Hope you have a great one!! Dman thanks for the email and get better! and you too ange and noelle...dang, why is everyone there sick!?? And...happy conference to everyone this weekend! I hope it is wonderful! We won't get to see it until the next week. And mom no we were not able to watch women's conference. I think they broadcast it somewhere at the same time they broadcast priesthood session here. So hopefully i will get to see it saturday. I heard it was good. And i can't believe that you are already putting up the halloween stuff, crazy crazy. I miss that. And sorry again to hear about the loss of byu. what is going on?! but really i thought about it and I have decided that the reason that they lose all the time is because my older bros don't even have time to write me. maybe if they wrote me more they would win more? i don't know, just a thought. hahahaha jk.

This week has been a good one. President has asked that the big branches (nizhney novgorod, voronezh, almaty...) spend a lot of their time right now activating inactive members. I guess there are a ton of people on the church records, and only about a 4th of those in voronezh are active. So, we are trying to seek out the inactive members and teach and befriend as many as we can.

Our investigators are doing well. The woman that we met and that is really excited about the gospel is doing well too. Yea dad we met her outside street contacting. She has a lot of questions though and has ran into many other faiths since we have met with her and just has a really hard time knowing what is right. We continue to give her commitments and pray that she will do them so that she can feel the spirit. And we strive our best to teach with the spirit. Because we can say as much as we want about the church, but she will not know for sure until the spirit testifies it to her heart.

I have a little funny story for this week. Last thursday we were running around trying to get a bunch of errands done, and we got unto a marshrootka (really small bus/van thing) which was really really really packed. There was no room to sit so there were a bunch of people just kinda half standing up with our heads crinked over. Me and sis. Gorkavenko were crouching near the door. And i was wearing my rainjacket that day because it was kinda windy and cold. So anyways, it was really cramped and we were by the door. And then at the next bus stop someone ripped open the door and next thing I know is that Im kinda going with it! The hood of my jacket had gotten caught in the top of the door and I was being pulled. But no one saw (or at least if they did they didn't help) and I was like being choked as more people were stuffing into the marshrootka. I didn't know how to yell, "hey stop my hood is caught in the door and you are choking me!" so i was just like "ow, ow, ow, wait, wait" My companion said she hadn't seen what happened but she couldn't figure out why i was saying ow,ow, and then she saw me pointing to my jacket, and helped me get it off the door. Of course this all happened in just a matter of seconds, but sis. Gorkavenko and I could just not stop laughing, and it probably looked really funny to the people on the bus. And then at the next bus stop the girl who slammed the door like basically slammed me in it. And then after our bus stop and on the way walking home the big bag of potatoes I was carrying split open and the potatoes spread all over the street. It was pretty funny and we enjoyed the laugh. so that was my story of almost dying on the marshrootka....not really. ah, another kinda funny packed bus story, some days the buses are so packed it is ridiculous!!! and not fun!! Anyway this day the bus had so many people on it that when it came to our bus stop and we had to get off, i could not get out. I told the people i was getting out and they were like ok, and then just stood there and stared at me because they couldn't move and probably just wondered how i was going to get out. There was honestly an inch of space between the two people that i was somehow expected to squeeze through with my bag, and that inch of space was not budging. It took us forever to squeeze our ways through, and i basically ended up having to like jump up and out of the bus onto the ground. It was pretty funny because people were still waiting to get on and then started yelling at the bus driver to not drive off, it started to sound like a jungle or something and reminded me of the funny story brian regan tells about people trying to squeeze themselves through the gate to load the airplane.

Sorry, that's about it for this week. Again I hope that everyone really enjoys conference this week and goes watching with an open heart. I don't know why but now on my mission i am more grateful for conference then ever before. And it has so much importance to me. To bad i would sleep or not pay attention when i watched conference before. I really wish I had. There are im sure a lot of great talks that i tuned out on. But anyways, enjoy conference everyone and I hope you are able to come out of this conference with more faith, love, hope, and endurance. I know Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, and I know that the words that come from his mouth and the mouth of the apostles are words that Heavenly Father himself would have us hear. Listen to the prophet, he will not lead us astray. I was also reading in Preach My Gospel this week and read about before everything we need to have faith. If we don't have faith we are not going to believe that through living the gospel we will receive blessings. And thus, we won't live by the commandments and won't receive those blessings that the Lord has promised. At times it can be hard to see how living the commandments will bless our lives, but that is where the faith comes in. At times it can be hard for people who have fallen off the path to see how reading the scriptures, saying prayers, going to church, partaking of the sacrament, fulfilling a calling,...can all make a great difference in our lives, when the acts seem so small, but they do make a difference. We have hope and we trust in God that what He says is true. And then we act and take that leap of faith and do something, having the hope that our lives will be blessed because of it, and having the hope that the spirit will be stronger in our lives. And then it happens, because we had the faith to do as the Lord has asked.

I love you all and pray that this week is a good one! keep up the good work! Until next week!

Love,

Sister Brown

A pic from the baptism 22 September 2010

hello..it's me!! 22 September 2010

Dear Family,

Im glad to hear that everyone is doing pretty well this week and had a good time at work and school and church and things. First I need to say thank you to grandma and grandpa for the letter that i got in the mail. It is always fun to hear about how things are going for you down in kanab. And mom, no i did not receive a package yet? what is it for?! Thank you dallin for you email. its always good to hear from you. and its always cool to get some thing in hand. Congrats ashley on the brand new baby! And i am sad to hear that noelle is not feeling well. What is her deal with getting that strep throat? i remember she has had it quite a lot. But noelle, know that I am praying for you and I hope you get better very soon! i love you and stay healthy and strong! And that stinks about the football game and that the QB is out for the WHOLE year! pretty crazy...and im pretty much positive it is because i am not there to watch and be the byu football teams good luck charm. haha.

So saturday was another baptism here. It went very well but at first it was a little ordeal. Whoever fills up the font forgot to fill it up, and so we all arrived here and there was no water. And it would take two hours to fill, and be freezing cold water. So we just started filling it, and then got a bunch of buckets and started filling it with hot water from the kitchen. and when the hot water ran out, we started boiling water and pouring that in. In the end, it still took forever to fill the font. And i saw the scariest and biggest spider I have ever seen. with it's legs and all it is like the size of my palm. Elder lowry told me it was a "hoe boe" and a really really poisonous spider. So i just let him kill that one for me. And the poor little babooshka got baptized in really cold water. But it ended up being great and she was very happy. You could see it in her face.

Another little fun experience this week is that one of the days sis Gorkavenko and I worked with one of our zone leaders. And we contacted into a man who is a taxi driver at the bus stop near where we live. And we got his contact information and gave him a book of mormon. And then the next to days as we walked to catch a bus, I saw him two times sitting in his taxi, and reading the book of mormon. It was kinda cool to actually see the process and see him read and do what he said he would.

This week we got a new investigator. And in slang missionary terms, you would probably call her our "golden" investigator. She has so many questions and wants to know about so many things, but she just soaks in everything we say and believes with all her heart that God answered her prays when she found us. I too believe that God heard her prayers and answered them. She says she has been searching for a very long time for the right church, and everyone she goes to just doesn't seem right. And then she met us, and she says she doesn't need to go searching anymore. so our first lesson with her was this past sunday, and i felt the spirit so strong there. It was wonderful. I don't know why, but it was one of the first times that I really felt the spirit that strong on my mission in a lesson, and when it finally kinda clicked in my head what we are doing as missionaries. How we are truly representatives of Christ, and how this gospel is truly for everyone. It was a good experience, and we pray everyday that she will have the strength to overcome her challenges, and that she will continue to turn to the Lord.

So last week just after i sent you the email, one of the ward members cut my companions hair. And I decided to have her cut mine too!! haha, again right? im sure you think i am crazy. But our leaders here have really been focusing on be very professional and good looking, and if my hair was long enough, I would always just put in up in a ponytail. So i decided to cut it short enough so that I don't do that anymore. It is like that short a-line bob cut that I had when i was in my first year of college. I am very sad that i don't have long hair anymore, but this is good too. I think i have finally accepted the fact that my hair is thin and i don't have very much (a lot has fallen out here for some reason) and that sometimes long hair is just a hard thing for me to do. My hair will never be long and beautiful and thick like some people you meet (ange....) but, im learning to like my own hair and just do with it what ya gotta do. im sure you liked that little spill about hair there. Speaking of looking professional. The missionary department has come out with completely new dress standards for the sister missionaries. Remember the pictures they had in the pamphlet before? well now the clothes are so cute!! and you can wear bright colors and be a lot more in style! And your skirts just have to cover the knee when you sit down. I really wish maybe i would have known this and i could have just brought clothes from home, and not spent so much time looking for long skirts and clothes that don't draw to much attention. Big Sigh...oh well.

Well family and friends, I think that is about it for this week. I always have lots of things to write, but somehow i always forget at least some of them. Im sure I left something out today. oh well. But i love you all and pray for you always! Please keep doing what's right, and noelle get better! I know that this work is the work of the Lord, and that even though at times He calls His weak ones to do the work, He will strengthen us. I know that as we put our trust in Him, that the work will be done, little by little, step by step, He will move the work along through us all. And this is not just for the full time missionaries. We all have a part in this missionary work. Every member of this church can help move the work along. Through our examples and sharing the word with neighbors and friends, we all have a great part in this marvelous work. I love you all! and keep up the good work!!

ps...it has been cooling down a little bit here, and so I had to buy some boots. I only wanted to buy one pair for both fall and winter, but i was told by everyone here that it is best to get a pair for the fall (kinda like the boots we wear in utah in the winter) and then get a really super duper warm pair for the winter. So, i finally broke down and bought some boots for the fall and spent more money than i would have hoped on them, but they should be very good quality so I am glad about that. And I hope they last a long time. They better! The people here are really intense about their boots and winter gear. I never knew buying boots was so difficult. In utah if they look cute you buy them, they don't really need to be uber warm because you'll probably be in a car or in a heated room the whole day. But here the boots have to be waterproof, comfortable, big enough to wear socks with if you need but small enough if you don't need to wear socks that day, warm, durable, long-lasting, and of course good-looking too. Who knew shoe shopping could be so stressful! well it was more stressful to me than i would have hoped, and it was in Russian. The ladies there were asking me questions about how they felt when i put them on and blah blah blah, and I didn't understand a word. So i just stared at them and had my companion translate for me into easier russian words that she knew i would know. But, it was fun too. And now i know how shoe shopping is done in russia. And I have a nice lookin pair of sleak boots too! D-man, I think you would be proud of me. When i tried them on, i thought "hmm...now if dallin were here, would he approve of me wearing these as a sister missionary? yes, Yes! I think he would!" haha. my new motto...WWDD (what would Dallin do?)

с любовью,

Сестра Браун

pics 15 September 2010

Me and my companion with my short hair :)

The yummy cake I made for Sister G's B-Day!

we're not in kansas anymore 15 September 2010

Hello my loverly family!

Well, as always i was very excited to hear from you all and hear that everything is going normal and well. Spencer it was great to hear from you, and i hope that everything is going well with your wedding plans. Crazy how time flies. Tell Jill i say hello and I want you to send me a pic of you engagements over email sometime if you can.

I have to apologize. I am like the worst sister and daughter ever. I totally thought about your birthdays and knew they were coming up, and was very excited for you and everything, but i just totally forget to say happy birthday in my email. So sorry...but late Happy birthday dad, rhen, and grandpa!!! I love you all!

And, i totally want to cry right now, i saw that picture of the family and those GORGEOUS pictures of angela, and everyone is growing up so fast!!! Wait wait, wait for me! But seriously, ange, DANG GIRL!!! those pictures are beautiful. Good job kate! and angela you are just growin up like a bean stalk. Try not to steal all the boys ok, leave some for me! But seriously, it is amazing what 7 months can do and how weird it is to see everyone changing. I'm still the same, so yall don't have to worry.

So this week we have just been up to the usual! We had zone conference again on monday with president and his wife, and also with President Lawrence and his wife, a new member of the 70 over this area. They gave some really great talks and some really great advice. It was fun to hear from them. He was a mission president in Novosobirsk Russia a few years back. Sister Lawrence talked all about the tribes of israel, and it was awesome! because I had been thinking about that about a week ago and realized that I really didn't understand much, and I talked to Elder Lowry a little about it, but then Monday Sis. Lawrence talked a ton about it and answered all my questions! so it was pretty sweet and very interesting. I realized that even before I was born I covenanted to share the gospel...So that is pretty cool that that is what I am doing now. Everyone morning me and Sis. Gorkanveko head out the door and when we contact we think..."ok, lets find the house of Israel!!" Another couple in the branch here had a wedding on sat., and then went to the temple to be sealed. So that was pretty awesome. It is always wonderful to hear about the ward members going to the temple and making covenants there. Me and sis. Gorkavenko also had some training with the ap's and zone leaders this week, so I learned a lot of things that I can improve. So im trying to set some good goals and striving to have the will to accomplish them.

This week I have received about 5 comments that I look like a pure russian girl...and about 10 more that I speak horrible russian!! It's funny, people just don't hold back on anything they say. Whatever they think, it always comes out. It is definitely different, and an adjustment i will have to make so that i don't get offended every time someone says something somewhat blunt to me. This week i did get kinda down on myself about the language. It is tough, because if i were to compare myself to others and how they speak the language, (which i would never do by the way! hehe) I would find myself somewhat falling behind on the scales. And at times i feel like people treat me like a child and don't listen or pay attention to what I say or my testimony, because im just a 21 year old girl whose from america and has had it all good and doesn't know how to speak. BUT...i know that's not always true (or at least i hope, ha). So, when i get down on myself and frustrated, I just try to think my best about how the Lord thinks of me. I try to do all that I can, and then just pray that that is enough. It doesn't matter if i get praises from the world or not (even though often times we want to world to recognize and praise us for the hard things we have done and our doing...well i don't know about you but at least i feel like that sometimes. Like when i see someone getting praised like "oh look what see did!", "look at how amazing they are!" "aren't they just the best!"...I think wait wait, what about me?!) But i know that doesn't matter one bit. I was reading the other day in 2 Nephi chapter 4. And i always love the verse where Nephi talks about how he will not put his trust in the arm of flesh. And for some reason I just thought about how the arm of flesh and the thoughts of man and the world don't matter. Whether or not we trust in God is what matters. We don't do things to please the world. When we have done all that we can, we know that Heavenly Father is proud of us. And that should be enough. So, when i ever get down on myself, I just do my best to work harder, and remember that the Lord is always on my side.

Family and friends, I love you. Keep up the good work. You are in my prayers. Have a wonderful week and keep doing what's right!! All my love and hugs and kisses! Until next week!

Sister Brown

wow! 8 September 2010

Hello my loves!

Wow, well it sounds like another busy and just life-livin week in the Brown household. Seriously, does it ever stop?! I know this is horrible, but i have to admit that I thought about you all saturday evening when i assumed that you all would be getting ready for the big game back in america. Im glad to hear that the game went well and that everyone played well. And i am also upset myself to hear about the camera. Im not even there but honestly? honestly!? I swear there is like some creepy curse in our household, or some monster, that steals our cameras, and then goes and sells them for money. He is gonna get pretty rich if he still keeps this up! Seriously though, you and dad have broken a few. I don't know where the heck mine went, and then yours, and now dallins?! wow. WEIRD is all i can say. and mom, like you said, when i think about it it just makes me crazy. so best not to think about it.

So, dad had quite a few questions this week, so lets see if i can get all those answered in one quick shot. Who knew you were all so interested in my life? So yes, it was my companions birthday last p-day, she turned 23, and we had a fun time. We got fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner by the people here. It was cool at first but then by the time our dinner appointment came around we were like "ah, please no, i can't eat anymore!!" ps...just a little side note. One lucky thing about being a sister here in russia rather then an elder is that they don't push the food as hard on you. Of course they are like come on eat, eat. You're missionaries and you need to eat. But with the elders its like pretty intense. The elders will be like no no i can't eat i will explode. and they will be like whatever thats not true and they will just keep putting food on their plates until literally the elders are sick. its kinda funny, but not. anyways. Yes, i think sis. Gorkavenka had a fun birthday. I made her a little birthday cake so that was fun. And yes dad, they do have birthday cakes here. They sell a lot of small birthday type cakes in the stores too. I don't know how popular the colored icing and all that jazz is, and I haven't seen candles around here yet but I haven't really looked and Im sure they have them. So we just pretended we had candles with sis. Gorkavnenko.

So monday and tues. of this week we helped put together some more kits for the people affected by the fires. And yesterday we took our trip out there and delivered them. As always, the people were very grateful. But yesterday was rainy and very wet and cold. And let me tell you, i did not really dress appropriately for the occasion. And i thought to myself wow, its like only 45 degrees now, and in the winter on average it will get down to -30. I think i will die. and if not lose a toe or a nose or ear or something! No not really. But it was cold. And i will just say that I am not to excited to experience a cold Russian winter. And dad, yes mostly i think that people have good feelings here about americans.

In answer to your question about the Kiev temple dedication, yes, it was live, and in the actual temple they had a translator to speak in russian when the prophet was speaking in english and things. And then us american missionaries were in another room in the church where we had the english translations channel turned on for when people only spoke in russian. I was very glad for that to because my russian is no where near to understanding that well. The people are very excited about the temple, and now it is probably about a day train ride or something to get there. And no, the school schedule here is a little different i think. Sis. Gorkavenko told me that every school starts on the 1st of Sept., and that they all end on the same day too. And, i learned yesterday that schools here don't have names or mascots. They are just numbers. like, "I go to school number 32" "Oh, really, I go to school number 17" Different right?

So we continue to work with our investigators. Our investigator now has a baptism for the 18th of sept. So we continue to really work with her. And we are really trying to pick up our finding and trying to do more contacting so that we can find those people that are really prepared by the Lord to accept baptism. It really is an act of faith here. I think I need some more of that.

Well family, enough for this week. I love you and pray for you. I hope school and work and play is going well for everyone. Keep up the good work and keep doing whats right and following the guidance of the spirit. There is an awesome mormon message video on lds.org about listening to the spirit. Watch it. It's GREAT!! Until next week!

With lots of love and hugs and kisses!

Sister Brown

ps....maybe a good idea would be for your to just duck tape your camera to yourself so it would be with you at all times and you would always know where it was...no questions.

hello hello!

Dear Family!!!

Hello my loves! First of all those pictures of the dolls were so cute and hilarious! how fun! We really laughed at the one of me with the awesome missionary nametag...the outfit was pretty rockin too! Well sounds like everyone is just busy as ever with school starting and jobs and football. I hope everyone is enjoyin it! By the way ange, i am in the process of writing a letter to you, so hopefully once i get it out it should be getting to you soon.

So this past week was a good one. Yes, i was sad that i didn't hear from you, but its all good. cause now ive heard from you! So i am still in voronezh with sister gorkavenko. Two of our elders in the district left, and then we are having another greenie from the mtc come in! so that should be fun. It is actually sister gorkavenko's birthday today, so elder and sister lowry are going to feed us breakfast. Sweet!!

so the humanitarian stuff went really well. We spent Thursday putting all the kits together. And then friday we drove three hours in the awesome popular and well known little yellow marshrootka to a small village where the fires had hit. We got there and there were a lot of people there, and as their family names were called they got to come up and we gave them all their kits. It was fun, and I think they were all very grateful. They knew that we were from america because Elder and Sister Lowry have worked on some projects there before, and I guess some of them were like surprised and like "hey, this is all products from russia, i thought they were going to give us products from america!" So i thought that was a little funny. but overall it was a great experience. It was amazing too to hear about some of the lives of these old babooskas that are here. It is honestly crazy how much stuff these people have been through, time and time again, and now their homes get burned down. But through all of this they still stay strong and do what they need to do to survive. Honestly, it is amazing to me how strong some of the people are out here. After all that they have been through, they still never give up. One thing that made me a little sad is that there was not enough kits for everyone on the list (thats why we are going back there again). But one of the people that did not get humanitarian kits that day was like "that's ok that's ok...I have never seen american's before and I am just glad I was able to come and see their beautiful faces, even if i didn't get anything." It really shocked me. And made me realize that honestly, I don't think we realize much of the time how blessed we are. So, count your many blessings.

No, our baptism did not happen on Saturday. so that was a little disappointing. We were all ready to go and then at the last minute that morning, things didn't quite come through as we had hoped or planned. But we are still working with her, and hope that she can be baptized this sat. I just think that she is scared and nervous, which is understandable. It is a big decision.

Sunday was the temple dedication and it was wonderful! I really loved it! It was great to hear the prophet speak. And i know that he is called of God. He is hilarious too. He even sang us a little song, and went on and on about how wonderful his family is. It was so cute. I am also very excited that the saints here have a temple that is much closer for them. I know it will be a huge blessing to them.

Well, i think that is it for the week. I love you all and as always love hearing from you. Thank you for everything and as always you are in my prayers. Hope school and work and everything is going good. Love you! Until next week!

oh ps...we have not had hot water for the past 3 weeks, and as it has been cooling down a little bit we were getting nervous and the cold showers were getting old. So sister gorkavenko told me that for her birthday all she wanted was hot water. And guess what, our little miracle. Yesterday we got home at night after a really long and tiring day, and there was HOT WATER!!! and there still was this morning! It was amazing, and we are happy!

oh pss...yesterday was the first day of school for everyone here in russia, and it is also a holiday. They come to school all dressed up in black and white and all beautiful, and they watch a concert and play and stuff like that. Today is there first day of actually learning. But this holiday is called day of knowledge. So....Happy Day of Knowledge!!!!!!

Sister Brown

another week!

Hello my loves!!

Well, i sit here and i open my email, and what do i see......nothing...haha. did you forget about me this week?? just kidding. We are writing today because we have switched our pday this week because of some work tomorrow. So i expected my email to be empty, because usually you don't write till tomorrow i believe. But that's ok! I'll just write you an awesome email right now and then hear from you all next week.

So first of all the reason we are writing today is because tomorrow we have some humanitarian work that i am very excited about! Elder and sister Lowry have worked with some people and tomorrow we will be putting humanitarian kits together all day for the victims of the fires around here. And then as missionaries, friday we get to go to the villages, and deliver them by hand!! I am very excited that something worked out and that we are able to help in some way. And this week is also especially special here because Sunday is the temple dedication of the Kiev Temple. So we are all very excited for that. I am excited to email next week and let you know how it all turns out.

We find out transfers this week, so you will find out next week if I'm in a new area or not. It is funny how big these transfers become in the life of a missionary. But seriously, this is like our life! It's like will i stay, will i go? i don't know! So its always kinda exciting around this time to see where your life will take you next!

So we continue to work with our investigators and do our best to invite people to be baptized. We actually have a baptism this saturday! But i am just a little bit worried because she did not show up to our meeting yesterday. And we know that her sister she lives with is very against the church. So we continue to pray for her and pray that she has the strength to do what she knows is right.

Well family, sorry i don't have more to write. This writing on wednesday thing has just kinda thrown me off a little bit and I don't know what else to write about. Oh the weather cooled down a little bit in the last week! This past weekend was beautiful! it was actually a little bit chilly, and just the smell of the air totally reminded me of fall. I love fall! I never thought i would say this, but now is the time that everyone is getting all ready for school....and i miss it. haha. When ever this weather comes around i think of school and friends and new classes and football games!, etc. But yea, i never thought in my life that I would say that i missed the feeling of a new school year starting but, now I'm saying it!!

ps..my companion wanted me to write and tell you that she is the bestest missionary in the world...and that she says hello!

well, i love you all and i hope that this week went very well for everyone. Remember that you are in my thoughts and prayers. I love you! and remember...God loves you!!! Until next week!

Sister Brown

mission fun

This is what you do for fun as a missionary. We had our zone training and before it started we decided we would be a bob sled team, with me being the leader. Here are some pictures from that. (and don't worry, my compaion is there. she is the one taking the picture) and as you probably have noticed, that was my hair before the hair cut ordeal!!

One Fine Day

Hello Family!!

Wow, how fun it was to see those cute pictures of the cute kids at the pool. My fav was of all of them and joe is all excited and doing the little peace out sign with his hands. who taught him how to do that?? wow, i kinda feel like those little babies have all grown up and i don't even know them anymore. I am glad everyone had a wonderful week though. And man dman and ange, you are just the partiers arn't you? That article about terence was good. thanks for sending it. That is one thing i will def miss this fall...seeing my awesome bros play some sweet football. And mom and dad. Everything sounds like it is going well and for that i am glad. I continue to pray that you both will be happy and enjoy your jobs and that everything will turn out.

Well this week was another pretty good one. Saturday evening they had a little activity for pioneer day. And dad, im not quite sure why they had it now. Maybe they just couldn't do it on the 24th or something. i don't know. People here don't know much about the history of the pioneers, so brother and sister lowry put most of it on for everyone. And as the missionaries we helped and the picture is us after we acted out a story of indians and bro. lowry's pioneer ancestors. I think the ward members that were there enjoyed it. Monday and tues. were both days that president was here and we had training all day. We were trained in this new program or whatever you would call it that the missionary department is putting out. It was good and we had a lot of practice, and we are ready to put it to work. We continue to work with our investigators, and as we do so we pray we can work with the spirit as we invite others to come unto Christ and be baptized.

This week has kinda been a harder week for me as far as the language goes. I don't know for some reason it just kinda goes like that. One week your feelin pretty good, and then one week it's just a hard one. And then you try so hard and then people on the streets tell you you can't talk. That always puts a little damper on things too. But, i continue to pray that with time my language skills will continue to improve. I assume too that my personal language study is not as good as it could be, i just don't know where to start! Having a russian companion has helped me a ton because it has forced me to speak, and for that i am very grateful!! Some times i feel like i am starting all over again, like in elementary school. I remember i was always very quiet and never liked to talk and was always nervous and always worried about what was coming out of my mouth. As time went on and especially when i went to college, i felt like i had overcome that. And now, learning a new language, i feel like it has started all over again! Like it takes a lot of courage to just say something in Russian. In lessons i always want to make sure that i am saying things correctly. But i know that as i just open my mouth it will come, whether its understandable or not. I know that the Lord just wants me to open my mouth, and even if I am not understandable, I know that the people we are teaching will be able to feel the spirit. It is very hard to just open up and express myself too. I didn't learn those kinda words in the mtc, haha, only gospel words. Sometimes it can get so frustrated trying to explain myself that i just think "ahhhhh...is anyone around that i can just have a conversation in english with?!" BUT...enough of the complaining...its all good. And i know i am not the first or the last person that will feel that way trying to learn the russian language. I just gotta keep moving forward and taking everything one day at a time, one baby step at a time.

I just asked my companion what happened this week that i can write more about. We can't really think of much. But, i do kinda have a funny (and to me kinda sad) story for the week. It happened yesterday. Yesterday all together was just a WEIRD day. But anyways, the story is that i went to get my haircut. And i came out wanting to cry. I have been wanting to grow my hair out, because i have never really done that before, and it was like honestly one of my goals. I told myself ok, i am finally gonna grow my hair out. i can do this. And it was finally getting kinda long for me, and i was very excited. And mom, you know how slow my hair grows, and I was just really proud of myself for getting it that long. And so we went and i couldn't explain in russian why i only wanted a little taken off and my whole reasoning behind it, but i just told her that i wanted a tiny bit taken off. Well, she decided that i would look better with a different haircut. So i took my glasses off and couldn't really see what she was doing, but after a while i noticed she just kept on cutting and cutting and cutting. And i didn't know what to say to get her to stop without hurting her feelings or being rude. So she just kept cutting and cutting. And ended up taking off like 5 more inches than i wanted. And not only that, my hair is now like 3 different lengths, with the shortest length in the front and the longest in the back. My companion says that she honestly thinks it looks really good. But i just wanted to cry. I can barely put it in a ponytail, and i can't braid it anymore. All that hard work, gone. And with my hair, it is gonna take forever to grow it out so that i can cut it all off at one length again, so it doesn't have these layers that greatly enhance my already round face. I was very sad about it yesterday. But im tryin to get over it. My hair is just very precious to me, haha, and i wanted all that i could get. Because ever since i have been in russia, my hair has actually started falling out. Every day my hair is less and less, and i think now it is actually about half the thickness it was before. crazy right. I just keep praying it won't all fall out. And if it does i guess i could find a wig somewhere! So that is my funny story for the week. And if i come home with no hair, just don't be alarmed, ok!!!?

Well family, i love you. Keep up the good work and you all are wonderful. I continue to pray for you all and hope everything is working out. I love you, i miss you, and can't wait to hear from you again next week. And remember: say your prayers, read your scriptures, go to church, attend the temple, have family home evening, etc. Just remember to keep doing those things that keep us on the straight and narrow, and keep the spirit in our daily lives. I love you!! until next week!

With all my heart,

Sister Brown

hot hot hot

Family!

It is great to hear from you as always. I love you! and yes, joe and noelle i wanted to wish you a happy birthday next wed! that is so crazy! yall will be 7! wow, everyone is just growing up so fast. Have fun and don't eat to much cake! Oh and Gma, yes i meant to tell you last week that i did get your little package and that little book. Thank you! Wow, i can't believe that school is starting up again for the kids. Fun stuff!

So we are surviving the hottest summer in Russia in 130 years is what i heard. Kinda crazy! And on average here in voronezh the highs are 20 degrees above normal! 20! The days always usually get above the 100's. I am always so nasty and sweaty it is just crazy, but if i think about it too much then it kinda makes me want to cry and miss the nice conveniences of an air conditioned place. Oh well, soon enough im sure the heat will calm down, and the cold will start coming in. I also heard that this winter is supposed to be really cold and a really bad one. Yea!!! I think the fires are calming down, but we don't watch the news or anything so im not really sure. But we don't really seem to smell the smoke anymore (or maybe were are just used to it!) I think if people would just stop smoking around hear a lot of the fires would not happen. Me and my companion were walking around street contacting yesterday evening and someone had just finishing smoking a cigarette and had thrown it in a little brush, and it was already starting a little tiny fire right there in the middle of the city. Sometimes i am just like, Come on people!!! Don't you see what you are doing!!!!! So the humanitarian couple here are working on getting stuff put together for us to do some really awesome service for all the fires and stuff. I was really excited about it and it all sounded like a great idea and we thought that it was going to go all through, but the last thing i heard from sis. Lowry was that that organization here in Russia is not letting us help. I think the Lowry's are looking for some other ins, so we will see. But I was quite disappointed when i heard that. You have fires destroying your city and some people offer to help with their time and money and you don't let them. Cool, Just cool!! So dad, congrats on getting your license. I continue to pray for you and think about you and hope everything is going well and everything works out well with your jobs. I hope you are enjoying it. Oh and you also talked about writing my experiences in my journal. I remember before i left on my mission i heard people talk about how at times it was hard and they didn't write in their journal a ton on their mission, and thought "what! ok i am going to be so good and write in my journal everyday! How can i not?!" And here i find myself on my mission not really accomplishing my goal. In the mtc i was very good about it, but there i didn't really have much to write about investigators or anything like that. And i try really hard here but somehow once we get home and get our planning done, that 30 min. to get ready for bed just flies by, and there went my journal writing opportunity. But i do probably get to write in my journal at least once a week. But the hard thing is that on a mission so much stuff goes on in just one day that by the time i write in my journal i forget what i wanted to say and i forget what happened...the days just seem to blend together. But yes, I do want to have those experiences in my journal, so i am working on it.

The work continues to move along with our investigators. The contacting has been more difficult with the heat and things. Nobody seems to want to be outside, and if they are they don't want to listen. But, the work still moves along. Slowly but surely. It was kinda funny because we had training the other week with president and they have some new videos of "the district". It is some mission training stuff. And the mission is in California. And we just watched it and enjoyed it, but all had to laugh too because of the amazing differences between that mission and ours. It is pretty crazy. But even though the work gets really difficult here at times, im still very excited to be here. And i know the Lord would not have the missionaries here in this mission anywhere else at this time.

So the other night before bed when me and my companion where both saying our prayers, i thought of something that i never really thought of before. We were both praying at the same time, which meant that Heavenly Father was listening to us both. At the same time. And He was hearing her prayer in Russian, and mine in English. And when i really thought about it i was just like wow, how does he do that! I don't know. But i know that God hears our prayers. Not only was He hearing me and my companions prayer at the same time in russian and english, but He was listening to millions of prayers around the world, in hundreds of languages all at that same time. It is so hard for my weak little human mind to comprehend how it is all possible. But i have a testimony that Heavenly Father hears our prayers. And i know that He answers our sincere prayers, but always in His own way and in His own time. We just need to be still and pay attention to those promptings of the spirit that He ALWAYS sends our way. Out of many many things that i have learned, that is one thing that i have learned so far on my mission. That God hears our prayers and He wants us to pray to Him. Prayer is a wonderful gift that we have been given, and the peace that comes through prayer is a gift like no other.

Well family. That is about it for this week. I love you all and never forget it. It sounds like everyone is doing pretty well and for that i am very happy. Have a wonderful week and until next!

All my love,

Sister Brown