Hello all! I'm still in Russia. Crazy, I know. It's almost like America, except I understand nothing and all the signs are in Russian:) ALSO quick reminder that if you want to email me, my email is now jones.emma@latter-daysaints.ru .
First of all, I talked to random people at two different times ON MY OWN! I started a conversation with a cute lady about her coat, but I didn't know what they call those fur coats so I said "I like.." and then pointed to her coat. She talked to me though! I understood her ok actually. Another time, I told a бабушка that I liked her bag. She was very interested in me, and what the heck I was doing in Russia, but unfortunately I understood almost nothing she said. I tried answering her questions to the best of my ability, but we were both just laughing because nothing made any sense to either of us. It was great!
God has sent me such tender mercies this week. My brain is so exhausted from constantly hearing Russian and trying to understand it and trying to learn from it. There have been several points already where I'm like, ok, I just want to go to bed. I can't Russian anymore. But every single time that has happened, someone has complimented me on my Russian. My Russian is not good, and that's how I know it's from God. He knows what I am going through, and He is supporting me and encouraging me!
I also ate Kafe Lima this week, which is my new happy place. Basically, this Russian man went to Utah, ate at Cafe Rio, thought "Wow, this is good," learned how to make burritos, came back to Vladivostok, and opened up Kafe Lima. It looks like Cafe Rio too! Mexican food isn't really a thing here, but these burritos are really good. I am so grateful for Mexican food!!
We started teaching a woman we met on the bus named Татьяна (Tatiana), and that was one crazy lesson. When we met her, we told her we were from a church and she started almost yelling "You're from a church?? I'm from a church! I went to seminary this morning! Let's meet and talk about church!" and I just kept thinking "oh my goodness, this is not legal to be screaming about church." Most of our lesson was her trying to convert us to her Methodist church, and I was internally laughing because she kept trying to make us see how our lives would be better with God and we just kept agreeing with everything she said. She would say, "God is our Father and He loves us." and we would say "He totally does, I'm so glad that you know that!" She was very much taken aback. After a while of this, we handed her a Book of Mormon, and started reading it with her. The Book of Mormon is so powerful. She started accepting it. I could tell she was feeling something as we read. It interested her. We promised her that if she prayed about it, and read it, she could know for herself that it is from God. She was very interested, and is excited to show it to her pastor and her boyfriend (who is the pastor's son). We might have an angry pastor on our hands, but все хорошо (it's all good)!
This week, a lady we are teaching named Tatiana wants to get baptized (different Tatiana than the one above) ! We are so excited for her. We had the best lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She knows that God loves her, and she understands how much this gospel can bless her in her life. The thing that she is the most worried about at the moment is that she is a smoker. She has been trying to quit for a while, and for her to be baptized, she needs to quit. She was very worried that she is not going to be able to quit in time for her to be baptized. We told her that if she reads her scriptures every day, prays everyday, and attends church, that God will help her quit smoking. You can see how strong her faith is, because as soon as we said that, she immediately had so much confidence. She said, "You're right, He will help me." She is so ready for this, and I could not be more excited for her. It's amazing how much confidence I have in this gospel as well. As we were telling her what she needed to do to prepare for baptism, I got chills. I know with all my heart that this church is true, and I know that anyone who wants to know can also know through the Book of Mormon and praying to God about the truthfulness of it that this is the true church. The Book of Mormon and the Bible are the words of God, and this is His church. I am so grateful to be here teaching people about something that has made me and my family so happy.
I am so grateful that I am here. I can't believe that I get to be here with all of these wonderful people teaching them the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! I can't believe I get to eat Russian Mexican food! I can't believe I'm learning Russian! AHH! Life is so wonderful:) I love you all!!
Сестра Jones
