wow, cool!! 24 February 2011

Hello everyone my loves!!

Welp, it sounds like everyone has had a fun and busy and good week! I am very glad to hear that. And I have to apologize that i did not say happy birthday to terence last email. I thought about him all day saturday, but i just forgot to say happy birthday in the email. but late happy birthday t!!! wow, 25? thats crazy sauce. we are having pday today, because the patriarch was in town and was giving blessings. So as missionaries we were at the branch building tues. wed. and thurs. helping out, making sure people were talking in whispers and taking peoples cell phones and recommends. it was a very cool experience. The patriarch is american from provo, utah, but he speaks very good russian too so he could give them the blessings. He is Patriarch Browning and was the first mission president here in Russia. It was a very cool experience to hear all the different tribes that the people are from here. In america we have mostly Ephraim and Manasseh, but many people from the branch received theirs this week and they are from all the tribes. Very very cool! It gave me goose bumps. Oh, and I have not gotten your package yet, but hopefully very soon. I don't have any plans for my birthday, just a visit to once again try and get my ugly buggery warts removed. They are stinkers. But it should be a good one in the mission field. It was a fun experience to have my 21st in the mtc, and now ill have my 22 in kazakhstan. Pretty cool. I am very glad to hear that dallin gave a wonderful talk in sacrament. I would have loved with all my heart to be there. Dallin, you will have to write me and tell me more about what you said, ok? were you nervous? I remember that when i gave talks i always got really nervous and my face got red. oh man, good times. NOT! oh, sister "G" says hello to you all!

Lets think, this week has been a pretty busy one as usual. The days seem to be flying by. saturday the elders had a baptism. It was great. and then there was a ward activity, a talent show. It was good and funny. I was a little stressed at first because they all asked me like at the last minute to play these piano songs for them that I had like never heard of, but, I did it anyways like a good little girl should do when she is asked ; ) and it went ok. I would have loved to practice more, but it went well. It is wonderful to be a piano player here and to share my talent, but at times it is a big responsibility when you are the only one that can. And everyone expects you to be a master at whipping out songs at the last minute! Lets see, sunday was good, and monday was awesome!!! The day started off weird and we had a lot of "no-shows". and in the evening our one new investigator was supposed to come for her second meeting, and we felt impressed to invite her to be baptized. But she didn't show up, and we were disappointed. We walked home to do some phone calling that we had not had time to do that day. And the moment we walked in the door the Moores called us and said that our investigator was at the building and would really really love for us to come back. So we went back to the building and were so grateful to the moores that they were at the building and told her to wait for us. So we got to the building, had a lesson with her. Me and sister Gorkavenko just sat in a daze like the whole lesson, we were talking about something and then she said "ok, yea, but what do I need to do to get ready for a baptism. Do i need to bring like a towel or clothes or something?" And we were like totally shocked because we hadn't really asked her to be baptized yet. And then, We just said that no we have everything here but most importantly you need to have a testimony that this gospel and what we teach you is true. And she was like" No, of course its true! Yea, yea, its all true!" So, we now have a baptismal date scheduled for her on March the 12th. We are both shocked but both very excited. It is cool to listen to her story and look back at the little tiny miracles that got her here. And it all started a year ago when two elders on the street gave her our brochure. And then a year later she remembered about that brochure and came searching for the church and found it. Cool! It is amazing how the Lord works! Nothing goes unnoticed to Him.

We are still working with our young investigator and I think getting closer to meeting with her mother. So I'll definitely let you know how that goes. Lets see, and yea, then tues. and wed. and thurs. we continued with meetings and such, contacting, the usual, and we were also able to be there when people came out from receiving there patriarchal blessings. It was awesome, and there was such a wonderful spirit in the branch building when the patriarch was here. it was great!

This week the 4 elders that will soon be heading to Astana to open up the city are here in Almaty. So there are a total of 8 elders and us 2 sisters. It has been a little crazy with a super overload of testosterone in the district!! but it has also been fun. We got together for district meeting on wednesday, and all the elders just go crazy together! I think in about a week the 4 will head to Astana, and then there will just be 4 elders here and us 2 sisters. That will be a super awesome experience for all those elders to be working in Astana. They are all way super over excited. The 4 of them are not only working on perfecting their russian, but are also now working on learning the kazak language. wow, crazy!

дорогие родители сестры Браун, у вас ЗАМЕЧАТЕЛЬНАЯ дочь!!!!!!!!!(sister Gorkavenko typed this for you all! Enjoy!)

Well, that is about it for the week I think. I love you all and pray for you! Hope everything is going well! Keep up the good work and remember that I love you. Until next week!!!!

Love,

the one and only Sister Brown

ps...Happy birthday to Kori!!! Loves!

Hello again!! 16 February 2011

Hello everyone!!!

thanks everyone! i got your emails. I hope everyone's week has been a great one! I have to tell you that this week I received a package....from myself!!! The package that i sent to you all with kazak chocolate just got sent back to me. I was a little disappointed because it has like already been over two months, so i was kinda surprised when i received it. oh well. I took out the letters in the package and will just send them to y'all separately. I don't want to have to go through the hassle of trying to send it again and having it sent back again, sorry! I'm sad you didn't get it, but I hope you feel my love anyways : )

Lets see. This week has been a good one. It is great to be working with sister gorkavenko. We get up every morning early and go running. It's pretty fun and sometimes super slippery, but fun! This week we have had the opportunity to teach some new investigators, and that has been great. A lot of them are english investigators, with also gospel, and some of them don't progress as fast as I would have dreamed of, but I realized this week that sometimes the Lord does things slowly. I realized that when we teach english to people that we are helping to bring them to Christ through "small and simple" means. When they come to the branch building they feel our love, they see smiles, they feel the spirit, and they just know that there is something different about us. I pray that even though they are not ready to give up their traditions and completely trust in the promises of the gospel, that they still slowly come unto Christ by the examples that we strive to set for them.

Oh, our young investigator came to see a baptism with her mother last saturday, so we were very excited that they were both there and that we could meet with her mother. We are slowly trying to build up a good relationship with her and be true friends to her.

The other day we had a cool experience. A lot of our lessons had fallen through, and we decided to go home and eat a quick dinner and do weekly planning because we had not done it yet. But just as we had arrived home, the elders called and said that there was a woman who had walked into the branch building and wanted to know more about the church. They all had lessons and were not able to teach her at the time. So, we dropped our stuff and headed back to the branch building. It was exciting to meet with her and hear about how she heard about the church. Over a year ago, she ran into missionaries outside and they gave her one of our church brochures. She, not long ago, was baptized into the russian orthodox church, and for some reason has just been kinda searching to find out more about churches. She remembered the brochure she had received from us a long time ago, and she began to search and search for it so that she could find our address. She couldn't find it, and she prayed that if the Lord wanted her to come visit us that she would be able to find the brochure. So, she found the brochure, and then after being told that that address doesn't exist, she found our branch building. I am very excited to meet with her, and I don't think it is just "coincidence" all of the events that brought her to the branch. We have only met with her once, and we are looking forward to many more wonderful meetings with her. I decided that I just once again need to open up my eyes and see the small miracles that the Lord is placing in our paths. I need to rededicate myself every morning when getting up that I am going to do all that I can to further the work of the Lord and find those people that are searching for the gospel. I know that as we do all we can, that the Lord will lead us to those people, or that He will lead them to us. I just need to keep the faith, and open my eyes and see.

I think that is about it for the week, sorry it is so little. Sometime I just have the hardest time brainstorming up things to tell y'all!! But anyways, I love you all! Keep doin what's right! Until next week!!

All my love and hugs and kisses,

Sister Brown

ps....i just wanted to tell you really quick. I was on lds.org and on the youth website found an awesome video!! It is a video about the kiev temple. Watch it! there are a lot of people there i know from russia, and it shows two young men in red and gold and white costumes talking about the "fighting dance". They are from almaty, and that is the national kazak dance. Pretty cool! so you should go to the lds website, then click on the youth section website, and then on the front page should be videos and the kiev temple. Also, i watched the video about tyler haws from our high school. that was pretty cool too and at the end when he got dropped off at the mtc, there are elders from my zone in the mtc helping with his bags and things. What a small world it is. Watch them! love you!

some pics!!

Me and Sister Chetina on Christmas Eve at the yummy restaurant!

Some of our elders at the restaurant ready to eat! Look at Elder Geddes's sweet Christmas shirt!!

Sister Chetina and I with Nastia and Masha who got baptized

On p-day in the mountains we found this awesome paradise graffiti!

Me with our Christmas tree : )

Me and Sister Muhina, mini missionary

This is me when I am bored and a bad missionary and don't want to study Russian...

We made pizza! yummy!!

Sister Acacia Brown 9 February 2011

Hello!!!

How is everyone?! I love you and it is great to hear from you all as
always! Janae thank you so much for the email. I am praying for you
and hope that everything goes well and that you are able to head back
into the mission field soon. And what are you talking about?! i still
have 6 whole months left and got a lot of things that I can still do.
Its weird. everyone keeps saying, wow, you are basically done. and I
think oh give me a break!! I have realized that I have let a whole
year fly by and that I could do a lot lot more. So I am really excited
to be with sister Gorkavenko and we are going to work super hard.

This week has been another pretty normal one. I was with 2 mini mini
missionaries for a few days, and then sister gorkavenko got here. We
have had lots of fun together, but we are determined to work super
hard too. I am excited to be with her again. We continue to work with
our investigators. As of late we have not really found any new
investigators to teach, but we are working on it. We committed our
sweet little investigator to be baptized again and to set a date, but
she has a few concerns because her mother is worried about it. So we
are going to meet with her mother as soon as we can and see if we can
help calm some of here concerns. They are both still reading the book
of mormon, so we are very excited about that.

Yesterday me and sister gorkavenko had a fun time contacting. It was
snowy and cold but it was beautiful and we got the opportunity to talk
to some really great people. I really need to work on my contacting
skills, I feel like every time i talk that I am super duper awkward,
but thats ok. On the bus ride on our way home i sat by a woman and
just started talking to her and it was very fun, I just felt the
spirit super strong. I was not able to get her contact, but I felt so
good because I had no fears of talking to her and carrying on a
conversation with her. She was super sweet and even though I did not
get her contact I just felt that I had done something good and maybe
made a difference for her that day. I was thinking about how on my
mission I feel like have a been one of those missionaries that has
made slow progress, but I am happy to see that I have at least made
some and tried to overcome my weaknesses and fears. I thought wow, a
year ago i would have never just sat down on a bus and starting up a
good old conversation with some random person on the bus, let alone in
the Russian language. It is amazing the growing experiences the Lord
gives us on our missions, and I am so so very grateful that the Lord
has given me this opportunity. I am so very grateful for the
whisperings of the Holy Spirit, because that is why I am here today.
Its a great feeling to ponder and look back on those events.

Dad, you asked about the new area opening up. Yes, the city of Astana
in kazakhstan is opening up in just a few weeks for the next transfer.
And no, sadly I will probably never serve there. I would love to, but
president is having 4 elders open up the city right now. There won't
be sisters there until they get a really good kinda solid branch
there. But I am really excited for the elders that are going to serve
there. One of them is my zone leader now and he is like freaking out
about the whole think. It is pretty funny and cool. All the elders
that will be there are really awesome and this will be a really great
opportunity for them. how fun. It is like every young missionaries
dream here to open up the city of Astana!

lets see. I think that is about it for the week. I love you all and am
always praying for you. Thank you for your love and support. Have a
wonderful week and be good! Until next week!

Loves,
Your favorite Sister Brown

hey hey!! 2 February 2011

Hello family!!

How has the week been? I hope good! I am on a little earlier today and
haven't received your emails yet, but I will just read them later
today I guess. Today we are just up early because president is letting
us go to the olympics today!!! Remember how i told you they have the
winter asian olympics here? So today we are going to the freestyle
event! we are all really excited! Have you gotten my package yet? i
hope it comes soon! .

So my mini missionary decided to leave yesterday. So in the next few
days I am with some young women from the ward. And then guess what?!
President said that sister Gorkavenko is coming to serve with me for
the rest of the transfer and next transfer! We are soo soo excited to
serve together again. We talked on the phone and talked about how we
are going to baptize everyone in almaty together!!

We still continue to do good missionary work here. We are still
teaching our sweet young little investigator. she is doing well. She
is reading the book of mormon and praying, and wants to get baptized
but her parents have some thoughts and concerns about it. Her mom is
reading the book of mormon though too and likes it. We are really
praying that her mother will want to meet with us sometime soon too.

so this past week we had zone conference and it was very helpful. The
spirit was strong and it was good to be there as a zone supporting
each other and missionaries. So President and his wife were down here
and Sister Moore cooked another wonderful lunch and it was a great
day. Sunday we had church meetings as usual and lessons, and then it
was also sister Muhina's birthday, so when we got home at night we ate
cake and I made some milkshakes. It was yummy.

Lately I have been reading in the four gospels in the new testament,
along with the book "Jesus the Christ". I have really really enjoyed
it. I have enjoyed learning more and studying more in depth the life
of my Savior. All the miracles He performed, the parables He told, and
just all the wonderful and miraculous things that He did for us. I am
excited to learn more and more about my Savior every day.

Well honestly, I don't know what else to write. Remember that I love
you. I look forward to reading your emails today, and after that until
next week! Remember who you are! I love you all very much and pray
this was another good week for you all.

All my love and hugs and kisses!
Sister Brown


Hello again my family!

well i hope this isn't illegal, but i just wanted to let you know that
i got your emails and everyone sounds great. Im glad that you all are
staying warm. Here it has not been too bad lately so that is good. We
bundle up pretty well, so i am grateful for thermal garments, tights,
wool socks, scarfs, gloves, hats, and coats at this time of year! dad
said that greg cloward gets home soon, that is crazy.

So the olympics today were awesome! They did some cool flips and
tricks and things. But it was so cold!!!!!!!!! We went way up in the
mountains, and we smart american missionaries didn't really dress
super warm, ha. The thing that made it bad was that it just rained and
rained and rained. So honestly every single inch of my body was
drenched. The water went all the way through our coats. But it was
fun! I don't have any pics because my camera ran out of battery after
the first pic, just my luck. But I'll copy some pics from the elders
and get them to you sometime soon, k? And dad, my mini missionary left
because she wanted to go visit relatives really bad that live in
kazakhstan, and president let her. She would have left next week
anyways, before transfers, because she needs to work at home. But it's
all good, im used to switching companions a lot, remember my first
transfer on the mission? good memories! well i love you all.

lots and lots of love! until next week!
Sister Brown

hello my sweeties 27 January 2011

Hello again!

Hello all my loves! I am glad to hear from everyone. Very happy that
things are going well. I am always praying for you. And I am very
happy and ever so grateful to hear that dad's appointment went well. I
thank the Lord every day. I am sad to hear about Janae. That is very
very hard. I remember when I was just in the MTC and they told me that
maybe I would need to go home and get put on thyroid medication, and I
was just so relieved and grateful when they decided i didn't need the
medication. Because looking back at it now, I don't know if I would
have had the courage and guts to go back into the mission field. It is
a testimony to me that the Lord knows me, and blessed me that things
could work out. But I know that Janae is a super strong girl with
great desire, and I pray that things will get better for her and that
she can be back in the mission field in no time. Tell her to email me
when she gets home. I was very excited to see those loverly pictures
of angela. I cried a few tears because my little sister is growing all
up, without me....It is just weird to see her all gorgeous and getting
all the boys, and going to school dances. I feel like I was just there
yesterday. times flies. it's scary.

Well missionary work is going well. Every week it picks up a little
more i think. We still get many people who tell us to call them when
it is warmer. They don't like to be outside when it is cold. It's
weird. I just think to myself, "well yea, it is cold, but that doesn't
mean that normal life stops, gotta keep going outside and doing the
usual things". That is why it is important that we are in tune with
the spirit when we meet with them outside, so that they can feel that
special spirit, and so that they will have a great desire to come out
and meet with us even when it is cold.

We continue to work with our investigators. We don't have a lot, so we
are trying to find some and also trying to work really hard with some
less active women too. I want them to know that we love them and want
to see them receive the blessings God has prepared for them by coming
to church and keeping the commandments.

This week we committed one of our investigators to be baptized, i was
very excited! the outcome wasn't' as I would have wanted it to be, but
she did say that she would definitely pray about it and think about
it. She is just young and i don't know how her parents feel about it
all.

I honestly don't know any more news to tell you all. Today we had a
breakfast at the Moore's apt. for my companion because it is her
birthday on sunday. So we did that little surprise for her with the
elders and I think she enjoyed it. This weekend we have zone
conference, so president will be here and I am excited about that. We
also have a member from the quorum of the 70 coming to our area. So he
will give a fireside for the branch on saturday. I am excited for that
too. But other than that no huge news i think.

Mom, i just wanted to say that that is kinda funny the dream you had.
and it reminded me about the weird dreams that I have been having
lately. I keep having these strange dreams that I have arrived home,
and everything is different and strange and everyone is different and
I just cry and cry all the time and tell you all to take me back to
kazakhstan. Kinda strange. I feel like my dreams are going a little
crazy and I have a hard time sleeping lately. Hopefully it gets
better. I just have WAY to good of an imagination. At times it is
annoying and really hindering, but if I root it in the right things,
this imagination could also be a good thing I guess. It helps me to be
creative. Remember when I watched the show 24 WAY to much and then had
super creepy dreams and had to stop watching 24? that was sad. and I
don't know why i just told you that. anyways.....haha

Well, i love you all. great to hear from you. You are always in my
prayers. Keep doin what's right and have fun. I love you and can't
wait until next week!

All my love!
Sister Brown