Sister Acacia Brown 20 April 2011

Hello!!

wow! thank you thank you for all the wonderful and fun pictures!!! I very much enjoyed them! I am glad you all had fun and got back safely. And mom, I am glad that everything turned out with the taxes and things. Those really sound like fun.

Lets see. Looking back at this week it has been pretty eventful. It has had its ups, and its downs. First of all, Friday we set a baptismal date with Ipara!!! She will be baptized on the 14th of May. We are so happy for her!!! And my companion is just an amazing missionary. She relates so well with the investigators and members, and she is an amazing teacher. I am learning more from her than I am teaching her. Saturday President Woolley called me and told me some news. Who knows, things in this mission change quite often, so maybe it won't really end up like this. But he was telling me that there were some problems with how my russian visa and kazak visa line up or something. And that my kazak visa ends in the middle of May, and that I will go to russia and get a new kazak visa, and he said that I will stay in almaty for the rest of my mission!!! I was so shocked! I never expected voronezh to be my first and last city in russia! crazy right? And he said also that if that is what we will do, that i will stay here till the end, and then i won't have a visa to get back to russia. And, so i won't be on my last dinner and meeting with all the elders and sisters going home with me in moscow. sad right? He said I would just fly home by myself straight from almaty to america. And he said that he and sister woolley would try to get a tourist visa or something to come down to almaty and say goodbye before i head off. So that is the news now, but honestly, it changes ALL the time. So i was super shocked about it, but I guess Im not getting too set on it. You don't know here until like a week before! I love Russia!!!! i miss it!

After we have split our investigators with the other sisters, we have spent a lot of time contacting, and have had a lot of difficulty finding people that want to meet with us. we have received contacts, but they all give us no shows or say they don't or can't meet. And yesterday, after another day of calling and calling and trying to find out meetings, and getting absolutely nothing, I was completely down on myself. I sat there and wondered, what have I done wrong. Why every time i become the senior missionary, our statistics go super down and it is just very hard to find people to teach. I was very excited about the baptismal date with Ipara, but at the same time, I wanted to have other investigators also, and other people to teach to keep our teaching pool going. And I just got super down, didn't want to do anything, didn't understand what to do because i was already trying to do all that I can. And so I talked to my companion for a little bit, she gave me a good little psychology session talk, and then we headed back outside again to go contacting. I didn't want to, but as we started talking to people my mood got better. And just as we were walking near the branch building, I saw a young woman, who looked happy and sweet, and we went to talk to her. she started talking to us in english, asking us if we knew english. She started getting interested too in what we were doing there, and she was interested in learning more about our church. She converted to muslim religion not long ago, but she still is way open to learning about other religions. We asked her if she had time at that moment to meet with us and learn more, and she was like "yea! of course!" And so we went to the branch building and taught her the first lesson. She prayed at the end of the lesson. She took the Book of Mormon and wants to read and pray about it. She took the Liahona's to read. She is coming to another baptism and easter activity we have on saturday. She is coming to church on Sunday. And, we have another lesson with her on Monday. Can you believe that?!!!! The entire time we were teaching her, I just looked at her and thought to myself, "There I was early today, complaining about how hard it is for us right now. Asking why it can't always be easy to teach the gospel, and I wanted to give up. I just felt, when, when will we see some progress. We are trying so hard!!! And then, just like that, we experienced this amazing amazing amazing miracle!!
I was shocked and so grateful, and just wanted to cry. I expressed thanks to our Heavenly Father the rest of the night. It was amazing! He just watches over us. He sees our different struggles, and He truly blesses us. Usually it is not always as quickly as this miracle was we witnessed yesterday, but the blessings and the miracles come. We just need the faith and the patience. God never leaves us stranded : )

So on to your questions, yea dad, the duck meat was pretty greasy, but it was good, probably like chicken or something. And I hope everything is ok with all the rain and water and that flooding does not happen. Everyone here keeps telling us about tornadoes and floods in America and how they watch tv and just hear that it is "horrible" over there. So what's up over there? Ok, so i forgot to tell you that my companion is from the Newbury Park Stake there in California. That is where Jenelle and David are from, right? She said she did not know them though. She is from Agoura Hills. How close is that to you, Jenelle?

Well, that is probably about it for this week. I think i wanted to say something else, but i forgot, and I didn't write it down. darn! Oh well. I love you! Never forget it! Keep up the good work and do what is right! Be safe! I love you! Have a wonderful week! Until next week!

All my love!
Sister Brown, the one and only

PS. Oh my gosh! I forgot to tell you happy easter! so..... Happy Easter!!! I hope you have a great one, and let us all remember the real reason we celebrate Easter. I am so grateful to my Savior and His atonement, and that through Him all is made possible. Never forget how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love you!!! Have a wonderful Holiday!

Loves! sis brown

another week! 14 April 2011

Hello everyone!

This has been a good week. Pretty busy, with its own ups and downs. So last P-day, we went to the canyons. it was beautiful and fun. Thursday was my last day as a companion with Sister Gorkavenko, we taught some really good lessons, and then tried to get me moved into my new apt : ) funny funny, because when we went to go move in, the lock had completely given up on us, and did not work at all. So we were kinda excited, because we thought that we would all have to live together in a four-some while we waited for the lock to be fixed. But, we woke up friday and went and picked up our new greeny companions!!! They were super tired. I remember that day : ) We had some lessons, and then the man already changed our lock, so Sister Cianflone and I moved into our new apartment and unpacked and did some good planning. Lets see, so that was friday, and then saturday we watched conference. It was wonderful!!! I loved the spirit. The weather was great too and we had our weekly sports activity with our investigators after the two conference sessions. Sunday, we watched the last 2 conference sessions. It was great again. I really enjoyed the talk by Uckdorf and by Scott and Holland. But everyone had wonderful messages and I enjoyed it all. I thought about how growing up I always watched conference at home in my pj's and almost always undoubtedly, fell asleep and never really got much out of conference. man! silly girl!! what was I thinking?!! I don't want to do that again. Conference is a wonderful opportunity to feel the spirit and to receive inspiration and guidance. I really love it, and always look forward to it. Let's see, so the rest of the week has been pretty good so far. It has been a little difficult because we don't have as many lessons as usual, because we just split all our meetings and investigators with the other sisters. And we have gotten a lot of no shows, and then when that happens, i think, and my companion asks, "so what do we do now?" And i think "um, good question"? I need to be better at making good back up plans. but usually we just end up contacting during that time. We have had some pretty successful contacting.

So my companion is Sister Cianflone from LA california. She is 21 and went to byu and is majoring in international and public relations. She is very outgoing and very excited about the work. So, I thought I was going to do a lot of talking and thought that this would be good because I really need to improve my speaking skills. But, she talks about as much as I do! Her russian is very good, and even when she doesn't speak it correctly, she still speaks something. It is pretty funny, but she is a great example to me with how courageous she is about talking to people. She honestly talks to everyone! Seriously. Sometimes it is super funny and a little awkward, but its good. The more people we talk to the more people we will find. I do really miss being companions with Sister Gorkavenko, we became great friends. But, I am glad she is still in our district and that we can see her. But it is weird not teaching together and contacting together and having the same investigators and things. But, I am really excited about my new companion, and as I rely on the Lord and do my best to be happy where I am, I know that we can really see miracles happen.

Lets see. We have a meeting on Friday with Ipara. She came to conference on Sunday and really enjoyed it. She loved it! We are working on setting a baptismal date with her. We will see how it goes!!

Ok, so we just got back from the mountains. and i don't have a ton of time until it is time to go out and work. the mountains were fun. And we ate duck!!!! yea, it was actually super good. and I got sunburned uber bad, but it was fun in the nice fresh mountain air. The weather has been sunny and nice and very warm lately. We love it. I am nervous though, because all my summer clothes i left in moscow, not thinking I would be here that long! so i am basically burning up!

I am glad you are all having a wonderful time and thank you so much for the emails!!! And I loved the pics of rhen! that is awesome! and I do wish with all my heart too that I could have been there. That would have been sweet. I look at those pictures and just get a big smile. In that first picture you just look at him touch the ball and it looks like he just has a super big smile on his face. totally awesome!!

Well, i love you! Thank you again for you prayers and love. I pray for you all the time and love you all so much! Keep up the good work and doin what's right! Until next week!

All my love!
Sister Brown

my loves!! 5 April 2011

Hello!

It is great to hear from you all! sounds like everyone is keeping busy as usual. thats good I guess. Oh my gosh! i just looked at all the pictures you sent and they were awesome! Angela is a hottie mic hot hot, and all of her clothes are new! and that purse! love it! Where are you finding all the money to get all these stylish clothes girl!!!! and your hair is so dang long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow!!!!!!!!! it has grown so long since i left! my companion got her hair cut the other day and she wants to let it grow out long, so she just got a trim. And I was just dreaming a little bit about long hair and how awesome it would be if my hair were thick enough and I could have beautiful long locks of hair, (big sigh) oh well. enough about that. and that picture of us looking at the Russian dolls that Brant brought home from his mission was awesome! yea, no one ever knew that long ago that I too would be serving a mission in russia too! Pretty cool!

So i am glad that conference went well. We are very excited to watch, we will watch this weekend. And no, our new companions are not here yet, they are waiting in Russia for their kazak visas. But they will be here friday morning. I have to be honest, im nervous!!! but it will all work out. It is so weird to move out of the apartment that I am so used to, and to leave sister gorkavenko again. We have served together quite a while on our missions, and she really has became a great friend and honestly like a sister to me. I just can't think of the fact that both our missions will end soon, and if I don't earn up enough money, maybe it will be the last time I will see her. oh well, thinking about that is depressing : ( so we will just work super hard on our missions and live each day to the fullest, because it flies in
the blink of an eye.

Ipara is doing really well. She came to church again on Sunday with her sister in law and they both enjoyed it again. She keeps telling me that every time she comes to the church she feels like miracles are happening. I love her, she is a sweetheart. Her son and niece came to sports day last saturday and played with us. It was lots of fun and they really enjoyed it and want to come back. I will be teaching Ipara, she likes it when we teach her completely in english, so me and my new companion will do that. And then sister gorkavenko and her companion will teach ipara's niece and sister in law.

Dad, thanks for the little updates of what all the kids and you and mom are all doing. it is great to hear. The weather did get super lovely and warm, and then sunday was some crazy snow storm just all of the sudden. So now we have snow again and it is cold, and I pulled out the cheap boots of mine that are now literally falling apart. They should last me though if the sun and warmth will come out soon and
stay out!

that is awesome that you are going to see david and jenelle's family. Tell them I say hello!! and be safe and have fun!!!

yes, mom, things look good with the classes. it is honestly freaky and weird to think that I already know what I will be doing next fall semester. Me and sister gorkavenko sat and looked at my schedule and discussed how our universities are different. And we were just like wow, weird, that my fall semester is already planned out and I am still on the mission!

so can i just tell you that living in the real world is freaky to me. yesterday when sis. G got a hair trim really quick, there was a tv in the salon, and they were showing different famous people and stuff, you know, worldly things. And I was thinking ah, ah. get me out of here! i don't want to see this and I don't want to live in the real world. It was crazy. I wanted to leave as quick as possible and I never ever want to watch tv when i get home. And we just talked about how crazy it is as missionaries that we really contrast much with the world, and we like it that way : )

Well, family and friends, I love you! Keep working hard and doing what's right. Have a wonderful week, and next time I will give you an update on the new apt and new companion. Until next week!

All my love,
Sister Brown

yea!!! 30 March 2011

Hello everyone!!!

This week has been pretty good. the weather has been wonderful and we have really really really loved that! We have worn shoes and I hope that our boots are in the closet for good this time. Sunday, our investigator, Ipara, came to church with her daughter, and also with her sister-in-law and her niece and nephew!!! it was awesome! They really enjoyed it. Yesterday, we had a meeting with Ipara, and we invited her to be baptized. She said that she wants to but this is a very big decision and that she is nervous about it. But, she is really praying and reading and searching for her answer. She said that when she does receive her answer, that she will be baptized. We pray that it is sooner than later so that Satan does not have too much time to work on her. But she is sweet and wonderful, and we love her. So, my new companion got into moscow today, and now they are just waiting for their visas to kazakhstan. So, hopefully in the next week or so they will make it down here to us. Yes, i do know where I am living. It is super close by, just the apt. that the elders who left to Astana lived it when they were here. We cleaned there the other day, and that is a whole other story. Ill tell you at the end...but today, Ipara is coming with us to a member's house to have dinner and a lesson. So we are very excited about that and hope that she will make great friends here in the branch. So it is kinda weird that we are about to have 2 sets of sisters here. We are working on dividing up our investigators and recent converts and things. We have already divided them up and things, but of course it is hard and a sad to know that you will not be teaching them again like you did earlier. but, hopefully I will still see them at the branch building when they come to meet with Sister G and her new companion.

Ok so my story about the apartment, i just cant think of anything else to write right now. We had some time the other day, and so we planned to go over to the apt. and clean, so that it would be all ready to go for me to move my things in and for my new companion to come home to a clean apartment. So we went over there, and did not expect to be cleaning for so long. But there was just dust and dirt and random things stuffed in places that had been there for years and years through i don't know how many elders. It was kinda funny how much stuff was there. But anyways, it was taking a while, and it was already lunch time and we wanted to run and grab something to eat. So we walked out the door, and I forgot the keys! The door slammed behind us, and it is one of those crazy doors with its own mind. When it closes it automatically locks halfway. It was horrible!!! I wanted to cry, because the apt. was still left in a pig sty, and it wasn't looking like we would get to finish that day. We had some lunch, and then we called the landlord to ask her if she had an extra key. We traveled on the bus to her home, she gave us all the keys she had. We tried them, and none of them were the correct key. We got to the branch building, and the elders wanted to help us out. We remembered that we left the window open, and that the apt. is on the 2nd floor. So we thought they could help out. Then we remember that the window has one of those iron bar fences on it. So...one of the elders who is super daring and loves to do crazy things like that, jumped fences, and jumped onto a ledge and tried to squeeze himself through the iron bars. It didn't work out and we were all worried for him, and the neighbors who saw us thought we were crazy, and called a key master for us. Finally the key master got there and worked on the key lock forever, while in the meantime the elders were still trying to get in through the window. They were stressing me out. I didn't want to witness an elders death that day because I forgot to grab the keys. So finally after forever, the man opened the door, and then we found the keys inside and he tested them. He kept telling us that this is the wrong key, it doesn't work! And i was like that is the only key we have and that is the right key. He is like no no it doesn't work. Finally we got the key to work but it works pretty bad. We think he messed up our lock as he was trying to open the door. So the key worked ok, but we just wanted to make sure that it opened up the door. I went inside and shut the door, and Sister G and the elders had the key and were working on opening the door. Then I don't know what happened, but they couldn't open the door with the key. And the door locked on me, and I could not open the door from the inside. it was horrible!!! I tried everything i could do to get the door open, but it was stuck or something and I couldn't do anything. And the key master man started yelling and screaming at me telling me all these things to do, and i was doing them!!! and he just kept yelling and saying that you are not doing it right. If you were it would open! Finally after what seemed like an eternity, I kept doing what i was doing, and then the door just opened. The key man ran away in a flash, because he knew he had destroyed our key lock!!! oh well, it works ok now and hopefully we won't get locked in again in the future. Welp, that is my story, it was a long day : ) and a long story, haha.

Thank you for sending me the email from president. And thank you for the pictures!!!!! They were very fun to see. Joe and Noelle are growing up big. What cuties!!! I want to squeeze them!!! I love you all and it sounds like things are going good. Keep me updated and have a wonderful week! until next week!!!

All my love!
Sister Brown