Immortality Comes From A Lake

Hey friends!

Another wonderful week in the best city in the world:) 

One of my favorite parts of this week was making buuza's, those beef dumpling things I talked about in one of my earlier emails. They are so so good!! We went over to Olga's, a member in the branch here, and she taught us how to make them. 

Another fun thing that we did this week was we went to Lake Baikal, the largest fresh water lake in the world, with one of our friends, Ksusha. Baikal is so amazing! It was gorgeous weather, and we got to climb a lighthouse, do a boat tour, and walk in the lake (up to our knees, because that's what's allowed). I also drank a little bit of the water (obviously so that I could live longer, according to legend)! If anyone is interested, there is also a marathon ON Baikal when it is still frozen in the spring... which is now part of my bucketlist.

We had a really great lesson this week with one of the members in the branch here, Ludmilla. Ludmilla had a stroke a number of years ago, and is not able to walk very well, use one of her arms, or talk. The not talking thing makes our phone calls very interesting. We only ask yes or no questions, and she either breathes really heavy for "yes" or says nothing for "no". This also made for a very interesting lesson. We talked to her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and read a little bit of Elder Callisters talk from last conference (here is the link if anyone is interested. It is a wonderful talk!  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/45callister?lang=eng). As we talked to her about the Atonement and what it means to us, she agreed, and kept nodding her head and raising her hand. When I started talking about how I loved that Elder Callister focused on the broad scope of the Atonement but also how it is individual to each of us, she grabbed my arm, and stared at me with tears in her eyes, and pointed at me over and over. Ludmilla has gone through a lot of hard things in her life. She had an extremely abusive ex-husband, which is actually how she ended up having a stroke, not to mention the physical limitations she currently faces. I think that is why that moment was so powerful to me. Some people in her situation would refuse to see God. They would harden, they would be angry, they would refuse to believe that a God who loves them, or any God at all for that matter, would allow such awful things to happen to them. But Ludmilla's trials are exactly why the Atonement of Jesus Christ is so important to her. It has healed her in a way that nothing else can. Instead of being bitter and upset with the cards she's been dealt, she accepts them and LOVES people. Even with her limited capabilities, she is always trying to reach out to those around her in love. 

Я очень вас люблю! I love you all! Have a great week:)

Sister Jones

What Is Time

Heyyyy everyoneee!!

This week was fast and short and I don't even really think time exists anymore, honestly. It all blurs together and it's all going wayyy too fast. Basically, it hurts my brain to think about, so I'm just gonna skip ahead to talking about what I did this week!

One of my favorite things that we did this week was sports contacting, or making friends by playing soccer. I am completely awful at soccer, but it's a lot of fun to get out and run around with some friends! Also, on the way there, one of our friends, Aleosha (idk how to spell that in English letters) was trying to teach me different random words for things. We discovered that I have an awful memory, but I remembered the word for "fence", so maybe it's not all bad! 

Another exciting about this week is that one of the members who was recently baptized is recieving the Aaronic priesthood soon! The Aaronic priesthood is authority from God given to worthy men (starting at age 12) so that they can baptize, pass the sacrament, and preform other important functions that are essential to the church. Here in Russia, there are not a lot of priesthood holders, which is very hard on the members here. We had a lesson with him and his girlfriend (also a member) on Sunday about what the priesthood is and why it's important. We also talked about patriarchal blessings, as the patriarch is coming to town soon. Patriarchal blessings are blessings that any worthy member of the church can recieve. They are given by men who are set apart to preform them, and they are kinda like personal and individualized scripture from God. They are typed out after they are given, and give you comfort and guidance throughout your life. They also promise specific blessings if you live your life according to the way God wants us to live. That was probably one of my favorite lessons. I am really grateful for priesthood power. I may not hold the priesthood, but I don't need to. There are so many blessings we recieve from other people holding it, and I am so grateful that God has given His power to men on Earth to help carry out His work, and help us to be happy.

This week was good, but there were also a few things that made me a little bit anxious and scared. I won't go into details, but I will say the power of prayer is very real. There were a few nights this week that I really had to pray for comfort and trust in the Lord. Trusting in God is a hard thing to do. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know why things happen. But, trusting in God, and trusting that everything will work out in the end is liberating. You begin to enjoy life. You learn from your fears, your mistakes, and your trials. I am still not perfect at it and I probably never will be, but putting my trust in God allowed me to feel a comfort and peace that I have never felt before. He is there. He listens. He cares.

I hope you all had a great week! 

любовью,

Sister Jones

Pictures:

1. Some wall thing at the Buddhist temple... not actually sure what it is, but it's pretty cool!

2. Me and a wall

3. Sister Staiger and me looking like we hate each other lol (we don't I promise)

4. The giant Lenin head in the middle of town

AMERICA

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!

I kept forgetting that was this week. My German companion had to remind me, whoops! 

The weeks just keep flying by. This was another good one! One of my favorite parts of this week was exchanges. I was with one of the Russian sisters for exchanges, which means that I was with just her for pretty much the whole day. She speaks some English, but I speak Russian better than she speaks English. It was good practice! It was another one of those tender mercies where God's like "it's ok, Russian is hard. But you can talk!". I could kinda feel like myself again. 

While on exchanges, we visited the cutest nursing home. It was really humbling. It's in an old crumbly building with only 3 rooms or so. We went and just talked with the people there. There was a really cute old Mongolian who used to be in the Soviet army. He also happens to be an amazing singer, and he sang us some Soviet army songs! They then asked US to sing something, so we sang a little something for them. Next time, I'm going to bring my ukulele!

I also tried two new things this week, buuza's and kvass. Buuza's are from Buryatia and they are like this big dumpling thing with meat in them. You take a small bite out of the dough, drink the juice in it, and then eat the rest. They're so good!! Kvass is sold on the street here EVERYWHERE in the summer. It's basically non alcoholic beer. It's ... interesting. I'm not really sure if I like it or not. It really just kinda tastes like bread. 

That was my week this week! Everything is going great, Russian is coming along, I'm loving the people, the food, and the church. I also have been reading in Hebrews this week in the New Testament and I came across this verse in the Joseph Smith Translation of Hebrews 11:40.

JST Heb. 11:40 God having provided some better things for them through their sufferings, for without sufferings they could not be made perfect. 

Life is full of hard things. However, this life is a time for us to be tested. We believe that our Heavenly Parents love us so much that they want us to become as they are. How can we become as they are if we never learn and we never grow? A child can't learn right from wrong if his parents never let him experience opposition. Likewise, why would our loving Heavenly Father shield us from everything in the world? Our trials and sins don't define us, but how we react and learn from them does.

I love you all and hope you all had a wonderful week and a wonderful 4th of July!

с любовю,

Sister Jones

P.S. Sorry for no pictures this week, I left my camera at home:(