The Power Of The бабушка -Babushka-Grandmother

Hello everyone!!!

As you can probably guess, Monday's are now my Pdays so that's when I'll be able to respond to everything! Also, my new email address while I'm here in Russia is jones.emma@latter-daysaints.ru , so if you want to get ahold of me, please use that email. So... I'm in Russia!! How crazy is that? Right now, I am serving in a city called Vladivostok. It is so gorgeous here! It's all the way on the eastern side of Russia and it borders the ocean. I absolutely love this city already! 

The end of the MTC was great. Don't get me wrong, I made so many friends there and I'm really grateful for the experience, but I was so ready to leave! I traveled with one of the Elders also serving in Novosibirsk, Elder Carlsson. Sister Maccabee left really early the next morning. The whole "getting to Russia" thing was such a long process. My flight plans got changed, so I actually flew from Salt Lake to LA to Moscow to Novosibirsk, and wow it was crazy long. As soon as we got to the mission home in Novosibirsk, they gave us food and let us sleep for a long time. I met my trainer, Sister Krumperman, in Novosibirsk, and then we flew to Vladivostok together which was another 6 hour journey by planes. So, this week was one of little sleep and just a lot of general confusion. I didn't know what day it was half the time. But I'm here now and wow Russia is so wonderful! Also, Sister Krumperman is so great. She's from Seattle, and has a dog named Griffey:)

My very first day in Vladivostok (on Friday) was a lot of sleeping. We had an overnight flight from Novosibirsk, so we didn't really sleep the night before. But that evening, we had разговоры, which is an English discussion group. That was super cool! I got to meet some of the people in the area who aren't necessarily members of our church, but just want to come and practice their English! I also got to meet the two sets of Elders that are in this city as well. Sister Krumperman and I are the only two sisters in our district. We had another разговоры on Saturday, and it was so fun. We mostly just play games and talk in English, and that's really nice, especially for me because I don't speak Russian yet! We went and got drinks with a girl named Вероника (Veronica) afterwards. She isn't a member, but she's really good friends with Sister Krumperman. It was so cool, she opened up a lot about her life and the things that she's struggling with right now, and Sister Krumperman said that she hadn't done that before. It was nice to just sit there and to listen to her and try to help her. She also told this way cool story about her бабушка (grandma) that I think really shows the power of the бабушки in Russia:

One day, this woman was out gardening when she hears a noise. She looks up at the house and front of her, and through the window, she sees a man frantically pointing at something behind her and yelling at her to come inside. She turned around, and a tiger was 100 feet away from her, getting ready to pounce. A normal person, aka me, would have just ran inside, or maybe screamed. But, that is not what бабушки do. This lady starts telling off this tiger! She startes scolding him, and telling him to go home. And he did! The tiger just turned around and left. So there you go, that is a Russian grandma for you. They are wonderful and slightly terrifying, so don't make them mad.

Another super exciting thing that happened this week was that the elders in Vladivostok have 3 baptismal dates set right now, which is so cool! We also just started teaching two young girls and a grandma. I've only been here for like 3 days, but I can see the Lord's hand at work here! I am so so excited to be here and to be working with these people. I have already been able to make so many friends here, and I don't even speak Russian!

There is one more story that I wanted to tell from this week. Yesterday was Лаура (Laura)'s birthday! Лаура is a recent convert, and she just turned 14. We got to go over to her house for a birthday party! We were there with the branch president and his family, Лаура and her grandma, and Лаура's aunt, uncle, and cousin. At the beginning of it, I was very nervous. I understood nothing that was going on, and people kept talking and I couldn't even pick out a single word. I just sat there thinking, "Oh my goodness, I have to learn this language". We ate food, and after we ate pizza, the branch president leaves the room. When he comes back in, he is in a full on clown suit, from a hat with curly neon orange hair to brightly colored toe socks! He started pulling things out of his bag and talking in really fast Russian, and we started playing games! It was actually so much fun, and I am so grateful for the branch president and his wife. They are a little crazy, but they are such sweet, genuine people. His wife talked to me a little bit in English too! The Russian people are really so sweet, even if some of them have hard exteriors. She served a mission, and didn't know any English. She had to learn so she could talk with her companion and teach some of the people they were teaching, and she told me that after the first two weeks, she was crying and ready to go home because she didn't understand anything. But, she didn't, and she just told me that it would all be ok and that I would learn!

There were so many other things that happened this week, but those were some of the highlights. I just wanted to end with a little reminder that God knows and loves each of us so so much. There have been many many times in the past couple of days where I feel absolutely terrified and anxious and overall stressed. But, each and everytime I have felt that, there was a little something that reminded me that I was ok. I know that those are from God. I know that as we learn of Him and try to be like Him and help other people, He will bless us and He will keep us safe.

I love you all! I am praying for all of you. I hope this next week is wonderful:) 

Сестра Джонз  (Sister Jones)


Pictures:
Mom: Here are a couple photos that Emma sent of her and her companion!  My fav is seeing Emma's very long Russian coat.