I was glad to hear from everyone! yeah!! I love you so much and pray that you are all hanging in there and getting stuff done but also having a little relax time too!
So this week was another pretty good one out here in the mission field! Friday at zone conference we had someone from the 70 i think come and talk to us, Elder Paul, and I enjoyed his talk very much. It was good to hear from him. After zone conference, me and my companion went with some of the elders to red square again (ps...red square never gets old! i don't care how many times you go...it's the best!) But so we went to red square and took some fun pictures before we had to head back to voronezh on our night train. speaking of night trains, they are fun and all to be with the other missionaries in our district and play cheezy games that we make up to pass the time until sleep, but i think im already getting a little sick of them. which is horrible because im only 2 months into the mission and there are im sure a lot more of those train rides coming...oh well, i guess it's just life. it's kinda fun to "sleep" to the rolling sounds of the tracks and all, but it is always sooooo hot on those, and the bathrooms are a nasty smelly breeding place for all sorts of nastiness.
So yes! Nastia did have her baptism on saturday and we were all so very excited for her! Her brother was able to baptize her, and her aunt and uncle spoke at her baptism. There was a sweet spirit there. It was kinda funny, cause you hear all these stories you know, about missionaries and how this just overwhelming feeling of the spirit and peace just smacks them right upside the head or something at a baptism. Well, it didn't really happen that way for me. But i did just feel a sweet spirit, and prayed that Nastia felt it also. I pray that because of this decision she made to be baptized into the church, that she will also be able to stay strong through lifes struggles. And that she will desire to keep the commandments and enter into covenants in the temple, so that her own family and children in the next generation can be greatly blessed through her desires to do what is right and follow the example of the Lord. After the baptism we had the ward picnic, and again there were some great members there to help support Nastia.
We are still working with Anya and Olya. Speaking of Olya, we committed her to baptism on sun and she has a baptismal date for july 17th!! I am very excited for her. She says she is nervous though because she doesn't know what her parents will think about it all, but we pray for her and for her family and that their hearts will be softened, so that she will be able to get baptized. Oh, so last night we did a "movie night" at the branch and showed the testaments and tried to invite like everyone in this town to it with fliers and through the members and stuff. The turn out was ok. We wish that members helped more with bringin their friends, but we talked to a few new faces. Our investigators came to so that was good. We are just tryin to be creative on how we can get more people interested in the church out here.
As always, the language is coming very slowly but surely. We were in a lesson the other day with a member, and I was able to understand a lot, for which i was very excited. But the funny thing is somehow i am always able to understand the most when people are like harping on us for something or telling us how we are doing something wrong. So i was a little annoyed when we were in this lesson with a member, because she was telling us how she doesn't really agree with our decision to serve a mission, like she thinks it is great and all, but she thinks that the most important thing is having a family and children. And we were like yea, we agree. And she was like well then why are you here. And we tried to explain that we feel this is where the Lord needs us right now, and we can think of a family afterwards. Well, she came to the conclusion that we are serving a mission and putting off a family so that we can receive the blessings from serving a mission and serving the Lord's children. And she said that still, we are not doing the most important thing we could be doing right now. I had to laugh, but also just sat there thinking, "who does she think she is"? Cause for one, i am not just serving a mission for the blessings. I mean, it's not like a mission is a little fun joy ride and you get some blessings along the way. It's hard. There are definitely things i could be doing right now that would be "easier". And yea, i do want to be married and have a family. That has been my desire my entire life. But the thing is, The Lord had a different plan in mind. And even though it might be really hard and stretch you where you may not even want to be stretched, I know that as we follow the Savior, and as we follow the promptings of the spirit, and follow the Lords will, we will find the most joy in life. Ya there will be hard days and times when you question what you've done and you just want to give up, cause the world tells you your doing something stupid, but i know that after all that, when we do the Lord's will, we will find true joy and happiness. And I know that the Lord keeps His promises!
So a few items of culture for the week. This week its about food. I was tryin to think about the weirdest things i have eaten here. There is nothing really. We don't get fed alot, so we just cook for ourselves most of the time. But they do have this type of soda that is sold like on every corner of every street by these little vendors. It is called kvas. I don't know how they make it, but it is basically made with like carbonation and bread. (and no, it is not alcoholic...i think if they did some other stuff and let it sit long enough, it would be, but its not) But it is real famous out here and everyone LOVES it!! When i tried it at first it was ok. It looks like root beer and kind of tastes like it at the first sip, but then you kinda have this strange bready after taste. Needless to say, I actually kinda like it. And it is yummy to have after a long day of contacting in the sun. The other thing they love to eat here is called akroshka. It is a cold soup that is made out of kvas or mineral carbonated water, and then they put green onions, cucumbers, boiled eggs, and sometimes potatoes in it. Oh, and they also put mayonnaise or sour cream in it. At first i was a little nervous to eat it cause it sounds super strange, like soda with cucumbers, but it is actually pretty good! I can only have a little bit though, cause after a while the carbonation gets to you, and i feel like im gonna explode. But i figure if i want to be a true russian, that i gotta learn to like this stuff, right?! So yea, thats the only food stuff i can think of. They put sour cream and mayonnaise on everything too. On bread, in soup, on pancakes, on cake, on cookies, in salad, on fruit. here you can put mayonnaise and sour cream on anything!!
Well i guess that's it for this week! sorry if i spent too much time on unimportant things and not enough time on the real missionary work. Love you all! Keep up the great work! Keep bein nice and doing what's right! Oh, and watch my favorite mormon message on Lds.org by elder holland. 'good things to come"....makes me cry every time. Love you all! Until next week!
Sister Brown
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