Hello!
as always, it is great to hear from everyone!!! i just love it! I am glad everyone had a great easter and enjoyed being together as a family. thank you gma for those pictures, it was great to see everyone holding up all those awesome letters i wrote them. sister gorkavenko and her companion are here emailing too, and I showed her the picture and the awesome card she wrote you. She was excited. it is so weird that we wrote those letters, they traveled across the country, and now you have them!
So lets see. What did i want to tell you this week. well, it was kinda disappointing, but our "miracle investigator" turned into just one massive big no show. I honestly don't know what happened. We called her and she was so excited to come to the baptism and the activity and church, and then all the sudden she just showed up to nothing and she never answers our phone calls anymore. Really weird and lame. oh well. we will keep working i guess. Kinda strange how those things happen, i guess miracles just don't ever really happen that fast? So sunday was easter right? and so saturday night at midnight they had the midnight mass at the Russian Orthodox church. So president wanted us to go to experience the culture, and so we got together as a district that night and went to the mass. When we first got there I was totally a little creeped out. It was dark outside and there were just tons and tons of people gathered outside the cathedral. And there was this creepy sounding bell that kept ringing, and the mood honestly I felt like someone just died. It was interesting. And then we went into the church, and at midnight the priests filed in by chanting things and singing songs, and holding icons and candles and incense and stuff like that. Then we followed them out in this huge crowd of people. it felt like a mosh pit. And then the preists just kept circling the church saying "Christ is risen, Christ is risen" And we and all the people would say back "in truth, He has risen" and that just happened over and over again. People that night walked around with candles that they would then set in the church, and then all carried around this traditional cake that everyone makes for easter. After the ceremony though, it started to feel more like a party than church, because everyone was smoking and started drinking. it was interesting. But I really enjoyed the experience. I honestly thought that ceremonies like that were only in the movies. I didn't really think that people still did masses like that. And then we were just thinking about how this all came about. And how did the Russian Orthodox church think up to do all these rituals and icons just from reading from the bible. It was all very interesting to us, and i would like to read more and learn more about it all.
On Sunday, there was a special sacrament at church for easter. and then after church we had a lesson at a members house with an investigator that is american. she is here for work and has heard a lot about the church because her boyfriend in america is a member. But we are her first missionaries, so that is kinda cool. So, it was totally weird teaching a discussion in front of like 5 american people. I am just not used to it. And I kept on trying to speak english, but all my filler words (like umm and hmm and things like that) turned into russian filler words, so it just sounded kind of funny and me and the only other russian that was there just laughed about it together. So easter evening, all the missionaries and the americans around here gathered at an american's family home in the branch here. We had really yummy food and desserts. it was great. And sister cianflone and I gave the spiritual thought. I think it went super well. There were young kids there, and so we had to do a lesson that would keep them occupied and interested. So we thought what can we do? And then I remembered that when we were young you used to have those eggs that we filled with objects that symbolized the story of the resurrection of Jesus. And so i thought lets to something like that. And we thought they would enjoy to break real eggs, and it was difficult finding the plastic ones to buy. So, we took real eggs and blew out the egg in the middle by making the two holes on the top and bottom, and then we died them cool colors, and then instead of putting an object in because that is like impossible, we drew pictures of the object on little pieces of paper and rolled them up super tiny and stuck them inside. So for our thought we first had the children find the eggs, and then they took turns breaking open the egg and finding out what was inside and we would read the story together. It was lots of fun and I think they enjoyed it. So, we were happy.
So our investigator Ipara still has her baptismal date on. she is very nervous though, and I can really sympathize with her. She is strong to make this decision even though she is scared about her family. I just don't know how to teach and comfort her. But, I pray that the holy spirit will be with us to help us teach her. We went to here home on friday and she made us a delicious national meal. It was great to be there with her and fun to watch how she home made some awesome noodles. it was cool. she is great.
So today sister cianflone and the other greenies here are flying to moscow to get there 6 month visa. So, she will probably be gone for about a week our something. Which kinda stinks cause it gets in the way of our work a little bit. So, i will be with a young girl from the ward and sister Gorkavenko will be with another young girl from the ward. I hope it all works out ok. and then when they get back, I will soon after leave to go to moscow also to get me a new visa, if president is still planning on having me stay the rest of my mission here in almaty. We will see! and i will keep you updated for sure!
I just wanted to tell you all too that I absolutely love meeting with the members here. Hearing their stories and about their lives and how they came to the church and things. Their strength and courage is amazing to me. I absolutely love them. Lately, when I visit members, I just get so happy and just want to cry. I know this is bad, but I start thinking about, "what will it be like when I am home!!!" I will miss these people so so much you don't even know. All the members, and the investigators, and the missionaries and my companions. Every time I think about going home, that part makes me super depressed. Just thinking wow, what if I never see them again. That is horrible. I want to cry every time. The Lord has greatly blessed me with this opportunity to meet all these wonderful people.
anyways! I love you all. thank you for writing. It sounds like things are going well. Keep up the great work! I love you very much and never forget it! Until next week!
All my love!
The one and only, Sister Brown!
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