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

hello my loves

Hello family!!

Good to hear from you all! I love you! This week has been pretty normal and good as usual. And yes, I guess you have heard about all the fires. But we are all good. The fires have been in the outer skirts of the city surrounding the city. But there were a lot i tell you! I didn't think that you would have heard about it because you are in America, but i guess you have. I honestly didn't hear a ton myself, because the russian language was a barrier, but i just know that there were lots of fires and heavy smoke in the whole city for a day or two. Last P-day we finished writing home and then went to the store, and on our way out the wind was blowing so crazy!!!! It was like a blizzard of dirt and sticks instead of snow. (i don't know why but the wind here always tends to blow pretty hard sometimes, its crazy). But anyways the wind was blowing really hard and as we got closer to our apt. we noticed big clouds of smoke and that is when we found out the fires had started. I guess it is because it has just been so hot, and it hadn't rained for a while, and the wind helped to fuel it. But i heard what helped start it is some people who were smoking outside the city and threw the cigarettes on the ground. Smart!!!! anyways, yes, we are good and well and continue on with the missionary work as always. But i did hear from someone the other day that the news said it would be hot here like this until oct. That would be weird! and from mom it sounds like some weird weather happened there today too. Crazy Crazy! Every here is really freaking out and complaining and saying that the world is going to end very very soon. Those that are members think that the second coming is almost here, and those that are not just believe that the world is ending in 2012 like that one movie that i guess is really popular. and if they don't stop i will probably start freaking out too!

oh i got the package this week and the envelope from grandma. Thank you thank you thank you!!! I love it! and the pictures in there of the family are the best part! You are look great!....I am for sure that i have the best looking family ever! anyways, thank you.

So this week has been another normal week of missionary work. Oh and sat. we had zone conference here so President and his wife were here with the AP's. It was a day of very good training, and i enjoyed it a lot. It is always nice to get some good training. We learned a lot about really giving baptismal commitments and not being scared to do so. So it was good and we did some fun practicing and such. I came home that day deciding that i need to be a better missionary. We have been working with our investigators, and we are really working hard at helping them to keep their commitments and gain their own testimonies. I gained a stronger testimony this week of when as a missionary you are out doing what you are supposed to be doing, that the Lord puts people in your path. We were just out contacting on the street the other night and we weren't having much success. We would stop people and as usual they did not want much to do with us. We were walking back to the next bus stop, and as we were walking this lady just stopped us and was like Hello! I have been wanting to talk to you! We were so surprised! But i guess it turns out she knows a family in the ward, and she actually took the discussions from the sisters a long time ago. She said she has been wanting to get in contact with us, but just never has gotten around to doing it. And so when she saw us she was very excited. We were too! And sunday was fast sunday. None the less, after church meetings and such, we went out contacting. That was probably the last thing that i wanted to do because it was so blazing hot and i had not had any water all day. I thought i was dying. But i made myself go outside and contact, and that day the Lord placed in our path some lovely ladies that we had the opportunity to talk to and share the gospel with. I know that as we do as the Lord would have us do and work hard, the Lord blesses us. And if we just take the time to slow down and look at it, we will see all the times the Lord has blessed us and helped us along.

Well family, not much else to say. I guess i will close for this week. But remember that i love you all! Until next week!

Sister Brown

hello my loverly fam

Hello Family!!

It is great to hear from you as always, and i am glad to hear everyone had such an exciting and busy week! I hope you told everyone down in kanab hello for me. Dallin from what i hear your birthday sounded like a lot of fun! for that i am glad. So how is the driving going dad? and you broke your nose? oh my goodness. noelle already broke a bone and now you too? who next?! honestly dad when i heard that you would be driving buses around i got a little nervous! you be careful driving those big things around ok? Spencer!! I heard about the big engagement!!! CONGRATS cuz!! that is very exciting!

welp, missionary work is moving along as usual this week. We are still working with our investigators. Things are going a little slow, but we try to use all our extra time to find more people that are ready to accept the gospel. Oh, my companion and i have a new goal to find a family!!! Families are rarely found and taught the gospel here, but we always see this cute little family outside playin on the playground with their son, and we really have a desire to bring a family into the church. We are excited, and we continue to pray that we may be able to find those that the Lord has prepared, and that those the Lord has prepared will some how find us. The temple dedication for the Kiev, Ukraine temple will be on August 29, and everyone is getting very excited for it. It will be closer for the people here than the finland temple. Most of the members around here travel about 30 hours i think to get to the Finland temple, and the kiev temple will be a little closer so that is great! I can't wait until the day that we can see a temple built in Russia! I don't know how soon that will be, but when the day comes it will be amazing. The sacrifices people make here to get to the temple are amazing. And all we have to do is walk out our door and a temple is in sight. And if you drive 20 minutes north or south, you will see many more temples. Wow! I feel spoiled. My companion just laughs and thinks it is absolutely crazy at how many temples we have in utah. I told her maybe someday down the road Russia will be the same :)

It is has been extremely hot as usual this week. It has made the contacting and missionary work a lot harder. Not as many people seem to be outside because of the heat, and walking around in the blazing sun is just not so comfortable all the time. But you do what you gotta do. The last couple nights when we have gone to bed (10:30) it has been 90 degrees in our apartment!! crazy huh? and thats at night! I go to bed all nasty and sweaty, and i wake up again in the morning all sweaty. its fun. There is like no use taking a shower because the moment you step out your already sweating again. who knew it ever got this hot in russia? and why did no one tell me??? The days here often reach over 100 degrees, and its not dry like utah. I would actually compare it to south carolina with the humidity and everything.

So yes, my adventure to kiev was pretty eventful, and by the end of the day i was completely exhausted! Thursday afternoon i got on a night train with the other elders and sisters being transferred around. And this was the hottest night train i have ever been on! it was ridiculous. anyways. So we arrived in moscow at 5 am on friday, and headed over to the central church building there. And then we met up with the 7 of us who were going on the visa trip and headed to the airport. We just sat there and waited for a few hours and then got on our flight to kiev. We got to kiev, only stayed in the airport, grabbed our new visas, and headed right back to moscow on our next plane(after a little delay). Then we got to moscow in the evening, went to the mission office to get some paper work done, saw a few of the missionaries who were transferring, and then that night i headed back to voronezh on another night train, and got back here early saturday morning. I was exhausted, but i think all i really wanted to do was to take a nice shower because when we left thursday i never had the time to take a shower, because they turned off our water without telling us. and then by the time it came back on, the water was bright red from all the rust and nasties. Ah, oh well. its good now. BUT, i am grateful because i now have a visa and can be in russia for at least three more months, until i have to make another trip in october.

Well, i think thats enough for this week. Oh my funny story. Well its not something funny i did...but something funny someone said to me and i just wanted to tell you. So you know that the people here are kinda blunt right? ok, so we met with a woman the other day, and one of the first things she says is she tells my companion and me that it looks like i am getting fatter. I didn't understand at the moment, but i could tell that she said something a little fishy, So i asked my companion about it later, and thats what she said. I feel like normally i'd be really offended and upset about it, but i just had to laugh about it. I just think its hilarious that that woman felt that was an appropriate thing to say. But then again, here you just say what you think and there is nothing else to it!

dman, i heard about your birthday from everyone else but i want to hear about it from you! XOxoxoXoXOXo

Ok, sorry, well back to closing. I love you all! Stay safe and be good! Until next week!

All my love,

Sister Brown

hello!!

Hello family!!

Thank you family for the emails. As always, it was great to hear from everyone. Everyone seems to be doing well and just moving along with the fast pace life we have these days. Rhen that stinks about your finger, but i pray that it heals soon. Dad, what is this part time UTA bus driving job? Whatever it is I just hope that you like it and stay safe while doing it. As always, im praying for you.

Well, transfers were last week. President called me and I have actually been reassigned to the Cancun mission, with swimming rights. hahahaha. yep, i know that joke was lame, that's why i put it there. But nope, in all seriousness, I did not receive a transfer, and i will still be here in voronezh with sis. Gorkavenko. Im excited. The two sisters in our apartment received transfers (well one is going home because she is a mini missionary). So our apt. will be back to two. weird. and there won't be so many russian conversations going on. double weird! 2 of the elders in our district also received a transfer, so today we will get two new elders. One a greenie. Wohooo!!

But even though i am not making a trip to a new area today, I will be taking my first visa trip!!!!!! So i will get on a night train tonight with all the others transferring, be in moscow tomorrow morning at 5 (yuck!), take a quick plane ride with some others to Kiev, Ukraine. Get back into moscow, and then tomorrow night catch another night train back down to voronezh (by myself! ahhhh! we will see how that goes!) so that is my little adventure for the weekend. So while i am traveling ill think about you all traveling to the good ol' kanab. fun!

So, lets get down to business. No, Olga's baptism was not on saturday, but we are of course still meeting with her and working with her on setting a new baptism date. She just has such a sweet spirit about her. We also started teaching a new investigator on saturday, whom we met at english club. She is an artist and drew pictures of me and my companion while we were there. cool huh?! Sunday we were excited because we had two of our investigators come to church and stay for all three hours. It always feels good when that happens. Lets see, im trying to think if anything else went on this week other than the usual of contacting, teaching, and testifying. I can't really think of anything else.

My russian is still coming. It is weird because somedays i feel like im doing good and understanding more, and then other days i feel like i just haven't learned anything! But thats ok. At least i can tell that i know more than i did when i first arrived here. Sis. Gorkavenko has also been very helpful in helping me to learn the language. And she always talks slow for me and uses words that i mostly know when we are talking, so i can understand whats going on. Yesterday it is was funny because i was reading this english thing out loud for someone in an english lesson, and it took me like a minute to figure out how to say the word "truthfulness". it was funny and we all laughed. I kept on trying to put some weird 'r' roll on it! but then that night we went to a lesson and i felt like i just couldn't say a thing. I was struggling so hard to say what i wanted to say, and nothing came out right. it was annoying. Sometimes i feel like a mute here and i can't ever say anything or express myself like i would like too. its weird. but life i guess.

So culture section for the week. They drink tea (like the good kind, herbal and such) like all the time here. no joke. All the time!!! even when it is like so so hot!!! seriously. We were in a lesson the other day, and it has been so hot here lately. I even heard that russia has been on national news for how hot it has been in some places. But so we were having a lesson, and it was so hot we were, well at least i was, like just dripping sweat. And then, we drank steaming hot tea! and we did the next day too! oh my gosh. i don't know how they do it! but i better get used to it, cause i hear that happens all the time.

(DALLIN!!! yea!!! its your birthday! so here is a little birthday wish for you. "happy birthday to you! happy birthday to you! happy birthday dear d man! happy birthday to you!" Yeah!!!!! So for you birthday this year, i thought i would write you and tell you all the things you would love about russia and are really missing out on over here.

1. They absolutely LOVE lady gaga!! There is someone in our apt. complex who has been playing bad romance and poker face for the past week, every morning and every night. its funny and i totally thought of you!!!

2. Girls love to dress up in public and wear really nice clothes and high heels...

3. ...while the men wear really short shorts, flip flops, and t shirts. its super funny.

4. They have some really cool clothes here. I wish i could go shopping and buy everything. When i walk buy a store and see something cute in the window, its really hard to not think about it.

well..sorry i think that's it for now. ill have to add more to the list as time goes on. but i hope your bday is wonderful and that you have fun with family and friends and that you know i love you!!!! kisses and hugs!!!!!!!)

Well family, i am out of things to say. Have a wonderful week, and please drive safely to your awesome pioneer day celebrations. I will be thinking about you! I love you and hope everyone is doing well! Until next week!

All my russian love!

Sister Brown

Pics of our apartment: Bedroom and bathroom...

...kitchen, study room, study desk, view out our window and our district before everyone transfers!!

wow!

Family!!!

First off, I loved everyones emails! It was really great to hear from everyone and it sounds like everyone is doing pretty well. Terence and rhen, I am so happy to hear from you and glad that school and your families are doing well. I have to admit I am a little sad that football season is coming up....but you'll just have to kick some butt out there and then tell me all about it. Dallin, im sorry about that food poisoning and all. Keep doin well and keep yourself healthy, k bro? (and that is coming from your sister who has eaten more chocolate and ice cream on her mission then she has in her entire life!) anyways...so dad you asked about the pictures. yes, i took some pictures but i just forgot my camera today. So, i will try to get those too you as soon as i can. But no, our apt. is actually not ghetto at all. Pres. says it is the nicest apt in the mission he thinks. And i really really love it. It is very nice and clean. Pres. really likes our apt. to be comfortable and well lit and clean, etc...because everything outside just seems to be so crappy sometimes. And yea, that bread soda (kvas) is pretty good. But i just found out from the other missionaries and from even a russian elder here that buying kvas off the street (like me and my companion do) is actually not a good idea. He says that you have no idea what they put in it or how long its been there etc. So i thought, oh great!! Now i have some crazy disease and worms and i didn't even know about it. good times! But they said oh don't worry too much cause if you have worms now, every missionary who serves in russia takes pills at the end of their mission to get D-wormed, so you'll be good then. so i guess ill just have to wait until then! Oh yea dad, and i also thought that maybe in russia there would be ac, but yea, like NO ONE has ac like anywhere. The transportation, the businesses, etc. If there is ac, it is usually in the apartments of the rich people, and it is usually just one of those swamp cooler systems that sticks out the window. So yes, it has been really hot lately. And when at home it was super hot you would just walk into a building or go home or turn on the ac in your car. But here, there is like no way of running away from it. it always finds you. So needless to say, by the end of the day i and my clothing am just so gross and sweaty and wet that i just can't even think about it or ill be sick. I know its not as bad as central or south america. But it's pretty dang hot! Oh, and yes, that was nastia's brother in the picture. He is 19. and yes, women in russia get baptized way way way more often then the men here.

So, we are still pluggin along and trying to work really hard with our investigators. The work seems to have been slowing down a little bit here in voronezh, but we are doing our best to try and pick it up. Our investigators baptism has been called off. She came to meet with us and just said that she didn't want to get baptized anymore. Sad. We want to work with her on working towards another baptismal date, so if that is really what she desires, I pray her testimony can be strengthened and that we can do whatever we can too help. I guess a baptism just after another one was too good to be true. But....we did get another letter this week from our mission pres. And he said that our mission is doing a lot better than it was a couple months ago. He was telling us some numbers, and even though these may not sound great to other missions around the world, we are all very happy to see that we are still improving. To give you a little idea of the missionary work around these parts....for our mission in may we had 1 baptism. In june we had 3. And so far in July we have already had 5. IMPROVEMENT. thats good.

Yesterday all of us missionaries here in voronezh took a trip up to the city of lipitscks and did a little missionary "blitz". There were a total of 12 missionaries there yesterday, and we just contacted all day and handed out book of mormons in parks, etc. The work there i think has been quite slow for a while, so it was good to help out and get the 4 missionaries in that city some good contacts. I pray they all turn out well.

Oh, so transfers are next week! crazy crazy huh. We all find out tonight about transfers and the such. Pres. says that this transfer one missionary is going home and we are getting a new elder. So yea i think in our mission right now there are about 44 missionaries total or something. And pres. also said that this transfer is going to be a big one, so i guess we will see. I think I will just stay here in voronezh with sis. gorkavenko. Which i would be very excited to do. Cause she is great and I feel like i have just gotten started here in voronezh with getting to know people with my limited speaking abilities.

I love you all!! Keep up the great work! You are all in my prayers! I love hearing from you every week, and i pray this week is a great one for you all! Until next week!

All my love!
Sister Brown

PS. i just watched the new mormon messages video on lds.org. And i loved it!!!! I don't know if you watch those often or not. But here on the mission they are one of my joys. i just wanted to say to D-man and Ange....Watch this weeks new mormon messages video about our true identity. I loved it and i thought of you both when i watched it. Really listen to what elder uchtdorf says, and I hope you take his words to heart. Love you!!!!!!