Helloooooooooooo I am running out of creative ways to start these emails.
This week was COLD. I am cold. Why is life cold. Darn Russia. And every time I say I'm cold, everyone's like "wait until winter!" and I'm like "you just told me it was going to snow next week! Isn't it already winter?!?" So yeah. That is my life at the moment, just in case y'all were wondering.
Anyways, other than the fact that it's the beginning of October and I'm already freezing (but really who's surprised?), this week was really really really good!
First of all, this week, we met with our friend Lada to help her quit smoking. There's a program that our church has, and there are 15 steps that she can do every day for 7 days and then she will no longer be a smoker! It sounds kinda crazy, but I've read it and it makes a lot of sense! There are some funny things on there though. One of them is that after every single meal, she has to drink a glass of non-sweetened grapefruit juice and eat a healthy breakfast every single morning. After the first day, she called us and said "I HATE oatmeal and I HATE this grapefruit juice!" but she's on day 5 now of not smoking, so I'd say it's working! Woohoo!
We also met with our friend Ksusha this week. We walked with her just around the city and talked for a while. We actually ended up lost in a part of the city that neither I, Ksusha, or Sister Bybee had ever seen before. The worst part was that Ksusha's phone was glitching and kept telling us we were standing in the middle of the river:/ But it's ok, we got back safe (except my legs really hurt). Anyways, while talking with Ksusha, we asked her if she would be interested in talking more about what we believe in... and she said yes! So, we are meeting with her next week:)
This weekend was probably the most eventful weekend. It started on Friday night with Game Night. We had 15 people there (including the volunteers) and 9 were non-members which was actually pretty cool! It was a little stressful, but we all had a fun time and all the people enjoyed themselves:)
Then, on Saturday, we met with our friends Nika and Tuiana to get sushi, and we brought Polina along with us. We wanted our friend Alacia (the one who came to church last week) to come with us, but she couldn't make it. They are really cool, and we invited them to come with us afterwards to a party we were having at the church to celebrate Polina and Sasha having been baptized for a year. We let them know there was going to be a spiritual thought and everything, and they came! We had Polina and Sasha share how they found the church and how the church has blessed their lives. The spirit was very strong, and it was really cool to see how very different experiences they had in joining the church. It was a testament to me that God does know us individually, and he helps us with our specific needs. On our way out the door, Olga called out to them, and invited them to testimony meeting on Sunday. As we walked with them to the tramvay, they asked us lots of questions about it, and told us that they would come! Also, side note, I now love sushi... well, chicken sushi:) I hate seafood still.
Sunday morning, we actually ran into them on the tramvay on their way to church! In sacrament meeting, I asked Nika (who I was sitting next to) a little bit about her religious background. She has been to the Russian Orthodox church, but she didn't like it. It scared her a little bit. But she said she really liked our church because it's very peaceful. I couldn't read either of them very well during church, but afterwards they just kept talking about how nice people were and things like that. They still like us at least, so we can follow up next week. We are going to put on a little showing of Womens Conference on Saturday night, and we are going to invite them. Hopefully they will come!
Our friend Alacia couldn't make it to church this week because she went on a camping trip with some friends, but she is going to try to make it next week! We also want to meet up with her soon and see how she felt about church a little bit more in depth.
Also, one of our investigators, Alyona, came to church this week! We hadn't see her in a while, and I think it might have something to do with her husband, but this week she came! That was really good.
I have not been able to watch General conference yet, but we will watch it next week, and I am sooo exciteeeddd!!!
This week, I want to share a little clip from last General Conference. It's from President Russell M. Nelson's talk, "Come, Follow Me".
“Pour out your heart to God. Ask Him if these things are true. Make time to study His words. Really study! If you truly love your family and if you desire to be exalted with them throughout eternity, pay the price now—through serious study and fervent prayer—to know these eternal truths and then to abide by them.
“If you are not sure you even believe in God, start there. Understand that in the absence of experiences with God, one can doubt the existence of God. So, put yourself in a position to begin having experiences with Him. Humble yourself. Pray to have eyes to see God’s hand in your life and in the world around you. Ask Him to tell you if He is really there—if He knows you. Ask Him how He feels about you. And then listen.” God cares. He is there. And He listens.
I love you all!
Sister Jones
Pictures:
1. Me and Sister Bybee in front of Memorial "Победы" (Victory)
2. THE NEW TRAMVAY!!!!
3. THe old tramvay to compare to the picture I sent of the new tramvay
3. THe old tramvay to compare to the picture I sent of the new tramvay
4. My chicken sushi:)
5. Me freezing every single day
6. Our friend Kristina took us to the Datsan (Buddhist temple place)
7-13. More fun pictures at the Datsan
7-13. More fun pictures at the Datsan
