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!!!!!!