February 24, 2020

Fwd: she's good. she's old.

Thanks for the bday wishes everyone!! So good!!! 

We got transfer calls this week, and I will be staying in Rostov for the fourth cycle, my second one with Sister Fender. SOOO excited. I know what I need to do this transfer, and I am SO excited to do it. чуть-чуть heatbroken I didn't make it to Kazan for the last bit of winter, but all is good. I still have plenty more transfers to make my way up north ;) Also sad because turns out the Assistants aren't going to be in our branch anymore. So me and Sister Fender are taking over all the work. This will be good I hope!!! Now we just have to get the branch president to meet with us (lol we scheduled a meeting 5 weeks ago, and about 30 meetings since and still... nothing:))

Аня (Anya) is so good. Such a gem. Love her so much. We invited her to pray this week and ask God if everything we have taught her so far is true. The Assistants told me beforehand that I was going to get transfered, and I was so worried because I love Аня so much. But bless last minute changes. She always asks questions that are deep and thoughful. When we ask her what she's feeling in lessons, she tells us that she feels peace and knows that what we are saying is true. 

Turns out Наташа (Natasha) is moving to St. Petersburg. So there is that... :'( She has been such a good friend of ours. I'll send a pic with her and some paintings we did one night. So funny. 

Our lesson with Маша (Masha) last week was a little bit difficult. She wasn't paying attention, was all over the place, and had a carefree attitude. Of course all normal for a 10 year old girl. It wasn't too good because her mom was kind of forcing her to stay there and listen to us and Sister Fender and I weren't 100% sure on what to do. But then Sister Fender just asked Маша if she was even interested. And let her know that it is her choice if we are there or not. It really put a good decision into Маша's hands. She is old enough to make the decision if she wants to hear the lessons or not. We shouldn't be forcing her to listen. But once that question was asked, she calmed down a lot and told us that she wanted to hear. She sat down and started doing the lesson with us. And of course asking questions that were so good. She asks thoughtful questions as well. And she came to church! 

Also church was my birthday!!! So cute. The members here are gems!!! They were singing to me all day and giving me gifts and always wishing me health, posterity, prosperity, happy year, all of these good things. So cute. BUT THE HIGHLIGHT FROM MY BDAY. So good. Turns out Feb 23 is Men's Day in Russia. So lol @ me getting to celebrate my bday with a day for men. So funny. One of the elders who called me to wish my happyy birthday just wished me happy mens day instead. Then said "ok bye see you at church today." But all is forgiven because he gave me some of my fav chocolate bars later :)))) Yum. Also we pretty much had a party because this week is transfer week. So all of the sisters in my mission (except for 3 sisters rip to them) (also we only have like 18 sisters in my whole mission) are staying at our house this week for transfers, going home, coming in, or visa trip. And 4 of them are already here so we ate cheesecake together and sloppy joes. Looked for chocolate ice cream, but не получилось. Sad, but what can ya do. And the sisters from Kazan are HOMIES bringing me some cool Russian socks and bowl from Kazan. Also a flip coin that says "нет" (no) and "да" (yes) on it. So basically, now I don't have to make any decisions. Just carry that around with me everywhere. If I don't make it to Kazan, at least I have that. Such a good bday. All the volunteers here and members here are so cute. I will have chocolate bars for weeks. :)))))

ALSO I GET TO SEE MY FAV trainer/comp/sister/german/person in the world today!!!! My trainer, Sister Richter flies in!!!!! SO EXCITED TO SEE HER AGAIN!!! I was worried she was going to go home without me seeing her, but all is good!!! Missed her so much!! Catch me going on splits with her all week here!! 

OK ALSO Got to visit Дина (Dina) in the hospital again on my bday. Love her love her love her. She is awesome. We went to her home and taught her mom and two kids a lesson. None of them are members, but are very receptive. We will see how this plays out but I am excited. Also Дина's roomates in the hospital are interested. So maybe that will pan out as well. The Lord works in mysterious ways...

 

We also had Mission Tour with President Golden. Basically got roasted by him the whole time. Turns out I will be waking up at 6:28 from now on! 

pics: 

making борщ with Аня (making borscht with anya)

shopping at the renic

me and natasha and masha!

sister rance eating cheesecake lol

me +sister rance +elder roggow +elder reynolds after our hospital trip

the district!!!! rip. 

Zone conf with President and Sister Golden 

our random pics with natasha

February 10, 2020

what a meme, what a mess

This next week marks 50% done with my mission. 9.5 months. So fun. So great.

Sorry for the longgg email but legit it's a good one. Promise. This means you MIKAELA. Better read this all ;). This transfer has been so busy. Lots has happened. I got my new companion, Sister Fender, from Moscow Idaho. She is awesome! We get along really well and are learning so much together. I am six weeks older than her in the mission, but she is 100x better than me. She works really hard and we have a great time doing the work together.

We got in a car crash this past week (lol mom I am fine, still able to write this email to you).

WINTER HAS COME! Up until this week in Russia, the only snow I have seen is a slight frost. For one day. But this week, it was snowing the entire week! So crazy. Especially now that it is February, and it is the first real snow. I will send pictures!! But lol at me because I have already slipped and fallen on the ice... several times... and it has only been here for like 3 or 4 days.... :)

Decided to go off chocolate with my companion. Lasted three days. But didn't even last because we ate chocolate cereal. And chocolate at members houses lol. And then I broke and had to face the penalty of sleeping in elder roggow's bed (lol long story. we moved apartments, and it is the bed one of the elders used to sleep in).

Broke the glass kitchen table at our apartment 4 weeks ago (when we moved in). And we have been eating out of our laps for months. Maybe one day we will get a new kitchen table.

I was also able to go to Sochi (the California of Russia) again!!! So fun. And this time I got to see the BLACK SEA! Took a lit night train. Got so muchhhh food. It was like airplane meals, but on the train. Not good. Would not recommend.

We have found several new people to teach this transfer as well! One of the 9 year old girls named маша (masha) in our branch has not been baptized yet, so we recently started teaching her the lessons (In the past we have been just visiting with her less-active mom). It is difficult to get her to concentrate for longer than 2 seconds at a time, so we have to make our lessons very interactive and fun so she will want to participate. This last lesson we talked about the restoration of the gospel. We used an orange, had her peel the orange and take apart each of the pieces. Compared each piece to various truths of the gospel, and how they weren't connected anymore. Then we put the orange back together and explained the fullness and sweetness of the restoration. That lessons really kept her on her toes. She paid attention the whole time it was awesome! At the end she was telling us of all the stuff that she had learned in primary and about the prophets. It was awesome because she usually never mentions anything about that when we go over. So fun.

We also invited one of our friends to hear about the gospel. Her name is Аня (Anya). So cute!! I love her so so so so so much. I never want to leave Rostov. And I want to teach Anya forever!!! <3 She has so many questions which is awesome. We had a plan to teach her today, but she ended up getting sick and so our meeting got cancelled (which is actually why I now have the time to send this email lol) She is so curious with everything we teach. She even texts us to set up times to meet together and have lessons. She takes the gospel very seriously. Everything we say she ponders it and thinks about it. We are trying to get her to come to church, and that is a bit difficult. She works as an English teacher and teaches lessons during the time of church. But either way, I think she is trying her best to come next week. As we have been teaching her, I am reminded more and more of the simple truths of the gospel. Because me and my companion are not the most immaculate Russian speakers, we teach a lot of simple truths. And the times we fall short with words, the Spirit is always there to help in words and in feelings.
We also invited our other friend наташа (natasha) to listen. She said she's for it, so hopefully we can have a first lesson with her this next week.

Two weeks ago at church, we had a girl from Congo (Sana) come to church with one of her friends. She is a member and has been looking for the church (she doesn't speak very good Russian) since she got her in the fall for school. So she recruited one of her Congo friends who has lived here for seven years and speaks Russian to come help her. He wasn't a member, so me and Sister Fender had a little introduction of our church with him (first investigator lesson on the mission!!). AND GET THIS. We don't really keep tons of Books of Mormon or various religious materials in the branch (the Russian laws and what-not), but we just by chance happened to have a French Book of Mormon. How that happened... I don't know. That was truly a testament to me that God knows all his children. That French Book of Mormon has been sitting in our branch building for who knows how long, but God knew that eventually his son would need it. (Also here in Rostov it is VERY strange to meet foreigners. So having a French Book of Mormon is really really abnormal). But then it was kind of sad because the next week Sana came back and told us her friend had read some weird stuff on the internet and didn't think our church was very fun so he probably wasn't going to come back. Kind of a let-down, but we texted him and also let her know that we still have game night every Friday and would love to see them there. :)

That same day lots of crazy stuff happened. Some random lady in an authentic Russian hat (love them so much) came into our branch building with one of her friends who apparently works around there and walks by our church all the time. The proceeded to do a tour of the church, and made sure to stop by where we stack the hymn books and did a photo shoot with them. SO fun. Great lady. Then they left. And that was it.

Then (still the same Sunday) we had another big thing happen. We got some food from the relief society sisters to bring to a sister in the hospital (they don't give you food in the hospital here). The elders are usually the ones who bring it to her, but they weren't there that week. So now it was up to me and Sister Fender. The food was in glass jars. We put the food in the library/secretary's office, close the door, then go to choir practice. After choir practice we go to get the bag and realized that while we were gone, something had happened to the bag and all the glass jars had broken. It looked like someone must have knocked it on the floor, then put it back on the shelf... where it leaked ALL over the books :/ So in our rush, we had to clean all the books and throw away most of the food with broken glass mixed in with it. By then it was like 4:30ish, and we didn't have much time until visiting hours closed, and the hospital is an hour away. So we decide to just run home and cook her what we were going to have for dinner. Hoped she didn't have any allergies. Cooked it all up. Put it in our own jars (lol hoping these ones wouldn't break). Have to go to the store and buy mask things and footie things you apparently need for the hospital. Then at that time, we have to call a taxi because no way we are making it on time with the bus. Taxi there. Get there. We walk through this creeeepy forest in the middle of nowhere. Get to the hospital. We are the ONLY ones there. Only one security guard watching a horror soap opera in Russian (so funny). Then we make our way to the eleventh floor. And when we get there, this lady starts yelling at us. Telling us there are only TWO people allowed in her room and there are already TWO people in there and WE NEED  to go DOWNSTAIRS immeDIATELY . So we were like ahhh okokokokokok. Go downstairs. Chill in this dark room for like thirty minutes.

Finally the security guard comes up to us and tells us visiting hours ended like 5 minutes ago and we were like ?? All we want to do is give her this food ! (and say hi to her lol). So we go ask the lady upstairs again. She is not having it. She is like "GIRLS. I TOLD you to go DOWNstairs." And we just want to give diana in the hospital food. So we just ask the main lady if we can just give her the food to pass it along to diana. Nope. And we were getting so frustrated. So we went back downstairs. Called the rs president. And she's like "oh it's no big deal! was just a good service thing to do on a Sunday, but looks like it just won't work" and we are like ............. ok. So ya. Fought (as in we said two words lol) with the lady and didn't even get in. The food was not eaten. And we didn't even get to see and meet Diana. We were so sad.

BUT yesterday, all was good!!!! WE MADE it to see her!!!!! She is such an amazing person. She was baptized about a year ago. Sweetest heart ever. She has tuberculosis and has been in the hospital for months. She has a 6 year old and 4 year old she barely gets to see. She bore her testimony to us, and it was so strong. She knows the Lord is mindful of her and knows He is watching over her and her family. It truly strengthened my testimony so much seeing how strong she is. She believes so much and is just continuing in her faith even when things are hard for her. I can't wait until the next time I see her.

This past month or two I have seen so many incredible people dedicated to the gospel. Their dedication to the gospel is awe-inspiring to me. The distances they travel to church. The money they give when they have none. The care for each of the members, and the ministering being done here. Sometimes I get disappointed because I feel like no one here is working and the members just don't get it. But then I take a step back and see all the great things they are doing. There are such great members and people here. Strong testimonies. Great sacrifices. It isn't easy to live the gospel when you are the only one in cities with hundreds of thousands of millions of people. And the laws of the country are against you.

Overall. Great times. Honestly. This past transfer has increased my love for Russia so much. I love the mission. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ and bearing His truth. I have been praying a lot this past week. I wouldn't have made it this far in my mission without prayer. The Lord hears our prayers. He knows our burdens and trials. He is watching over all of us and cares about us. Life isn't always how we imagined, it but if we take our concerns to the Lord, He will answer.


ALSO DO COME FOLLOW ME THIS WEEK!!! 2 Nephi  6-10 :) so good!

сестра каммингз
pics: 

snow !!! (x2)

the black sea & the classic nametag pic ;) love splits

also just the regular black sea with a seagull and cool crashing waves 

sochi!! palm trees! 

hospital masks! 

russian buildings in the snow! 

January 13, 2020

palm trees, christmas, new years, transfers

another transfer has come and passed
the volunteers can never last
wake me up when the winter ends

lol just a classic twist on a good tune. 

We got transfer calls this week! My companion, Sister Dzierzon, is dying and returning home. I will be staying in Rostov and Sister Fender from Mocow, Idaho will be coming to serve with me! I will be senior companion, which is very funny because there are still only two sisters younger than me in the mission. We will have a good time together I hope! I am excited!

Highlights from this past transfer: 

-Had a GREAT training at Christmas Conference. Me and Sister Dzierzon shared how to become a good dater! Tips and tricks for becoming good at dating (and also at meetings with our friends of course). Everyone participated. Lots better than our last training we gave!

-Went to the nutcracker ballet here in Russia! So cool! We went with two of the elders, and one of our friends, Lev!

-Celebrated Christmas! On New Years, we ate at our mission presidents house, shared traditions, and watched a movie. Got home a little late, but its okay because president approved it ;) 

-Talked to my entire family on Christmas!!!!!!

-Did a few Christmas concerts. Almost every weekend in December and a little in January, we were playing at a branch or district activity. Sister Dzierzon is a genius at the violin and piano, so sometimes we both played the violin, and sometimes I played violin while she played piano. It was so fun! Russian Christmas songs have been sung to the max!

-We did service at the Red Cross for kids. We sung songs and played games with them (a game called "do you love your neighbor"). But I accidentally made a little girl cry there! it was so sad. One minute we were friends, the next she was crying when I asked her "do you love your neighbor?" 

-On New Years, we ate at the senior couples apartment. Then on the way out, we got stuck in the elevator with the other volunteers! I thought for sure this was the end of my mission and I was going to die! Thankfully, 30 minutes later we made it out. We then went home, ate some traditional Russian food, and watched our neighbor shoot fireworks into the middle of the city out of an apartment building on the 14th floor. :)

-Had splits with the sisters! 

                We did splits with the Krassnadar sisters over New Years. It was fun having another companionship there with us. We did facemasks, had good meetings, deep cleaned the apartment, ate good food, watched cocoa. And most importantly-watched the fireworks! So cool! They were all over the city. I participated in this fun tradition where you have 12 seconds at the beginning of the new year to light a paper on fire that you had written your wish on, and throw it in your drink and drink it all. It was a little tricky, but lets just say I have no doubts my wish will come true this year... :)

                We also did splits with the Sochi sisters! We took a night train to sochi, and then were there for two days. The entire time I felt like I was in california because there are palm trees EVERYWHERE there! But then I would look around, and see the soviet era apartment buildings and get thrown for a loop. so fun! We had a musical night while we were there, and me and Sister Dzierzon played another duet on our violins. 

-Had a karaoke night with our branch. We got to sing so many christmas songs in Russian and in English. so fun! Everyone was dancing and singing. Just good times. 

Here in Russia, Santa comes on the 31 of December. New Years for them is the combination of 3 holidays: thanksgiving, new years and christmas. They party hard. It was so cool to attend all of the activities and feel the excitment of the holiday season here. Then they celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January. We went to Tagonrog (a sattelite branch 3 hours away) for Christmas and performed a few songs on the violin there and watched them do this adorable Christmas program. 

This week is transfer week. We will also be moving apartments. And I have a visa trip to Latvia! Busy busy busy! 

-сестра каммингз

also i hope youre ready for pictures!!!! we can send pictures of russians as long as no one on this email chain posts them anywhere :)))))) 

-went ice skating with my comp and one of our friends!

-the CUTEST little girl, Vika, in Sochi

-getting stuck in the elevator on new years 

-last game night with sister dzierzon, elder hartly and cook (they elders are just getting transfered)

-a picture with masha and natasha from one of our christmas concerts

-splits with sister marchuk and sister pack in sochi!

January 6, 2020

Fwd: Jan 6

PresidentUstyuzhaninov, 

 

This week was awesome! We were able to have the Krassnadar sisters up here for splits. Both of them seem to be doing well and to be enjoying their missions. It was awesome getting lots of "end of mission advice" from Sister Pack and to practice my Russian a lot more with Sister Klevakana. I love both of them so much. Such great sisters who have a power and a motivation for the work. While we were not able to schedule as many meetings as we had hopes (probably from the side-effects of New Years), we still were able to go contacting, get studies in, and get one or two meetings in. Overall, it was a successful time and well worth it. 

In addition to working with the sisters this past week, we celebrated New Years together!! My love for Russia grew 10x this week. I loved all the celebrations and excitement and well-wishes going around the city. However I am still a little sad there wasn't snow! As much as I don't like the snow and the cold, its kind of a bummer to have it be cold without the snow. But, I love Rostov and wouldn't change this area for any other area.  

Come Follow Me Book of Mormon started. I have started following along. So far so good. 

This upcoming week will be Sochi splits and Sister Dzierzon's last week on the mission. Hopefully all will end well and it will be a good last week. 

Thank you for all you do President!

Sister Cummings 

December 9, 2019

eating sushi. killing sisters. doing facemasks.

Lots of updates. Hit an elder in the face. Soccer is a dirty game. After scoring a goal, I went around giving the usual high fives, and of course (me with my usual clumsiness:) hit one of the elders in the face instead of hitting his hand. In my defense, it was rather close to his head. But, what can you do. I до свидания-ed out of there real quick. 

I am still serving in Rostov with Sister Dzierzon. She returns home (to Germany) in 5 weeks, so it is my job to kill her, and then host her funeral. I am already making some big plans! ;) I also hit 6 months on the mission, 4 months in Russia!

We had Zone Conference. As Sister Training Leader (STL), me and my companion were in charge of giving a training. We taught how to become master teachers while teaching the first PMG lesson (The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ). It was super fun, but not many people paid attention since we were also getting flu shots at that time, and we got told when we started that our time got cut down from 45 minutes to 10 because everyone else took too long. Hopefully our training at Zone Conference next week will be better. 

But the rest of Zone Conference was awesome! We got to go on splits with the Sochi and Krassnadar sisters. Had pizza. HAD SUSHI! It was actually pretty fine. I was scared at first to have sushi in Russia, but all is good. Made it through. Not sick. 

We had transfer week. Two sisters and two elders died, and we were able to kill the sisters (aka they returned home, and we sent the sisters to the airport). We recieved one new sister, and five new elders. We also had 4 other sisters who were travelling to different areas, or who had visa trips that came to stay at our apartment. So needless to say, we got no sleep this past transfer week. 

For p-day we usually get together with all the other volunteers. A few weeks ago, we did facemasks! The avocados here don't mush, so the three avocados had to be thrown. Instead we did a cocoa powder, honey, banana facemask/soup thing lol. So funny. My skin never felt more alive ;) 

side note-just letting those special people know that sunday night face masks are still alive and thriving here in Russia. It's been hard to find them, not going to lie, but I am dedicated to a cause and to keeping traditions alive. 

We visited a less active family this past transfer as well. The dad was not supposed to be there, but he had gotten home early from his trip. He is against the church and doesn't like that his family is a part of it. He was passed out on the couch after having a little bit too much to drink. So while we were teaching the mom and three of her kids, we sat on the same couch the dad was on, and had to speak in whispers. The whole time we were just praying he wouldn't wake up. Then they came to church this past Sunday which is amazing!!! I was so happy to see them! 

We also visited another less-active family. She sells perfume, and sprayed us all up and down with various sents from England and Paris. Then throughout other various points of the night, she would just grab my arm and start smelling. Bringing her nose up and down my arm. So funny. Loved it. I am pretty sure I smelt the perfume on me for the rest of the week, no matter how much I showered. Smelt good though. :)

We celebrated Thanksgiving! So much fun! Each of the volunteers brought something to the senior couple (Elder and Sister Jaussi) in Rostov's apartment. One of the elders gave his final teaching at district meeting. We went around and shared various experiences on how we have seen the pure love of Christ on our mission, and how that should be the focus of us being here. The Spirit was so strong, it was awesome! Everyone had amazing examples of seeing how other people can emulate the pure love of Christ. 

I shared about the youth here. I am not a big fan of hugs or people invading my personal bubble, and the youth here are just the opposite. They give you like 20 hugs, cuddle up to you, hold your hand, and invade every inch of personal space you once had. So that has been super hard for me to adapt to. But it also has been a huge example to me on how quickly they come to care about everyone. They didn't even know me my first week here, and they all were hugging me and asking about me and took an interest in me. Every time we bring someone new to an activity where the youth are, the youth are so great at fellowshiping them. It doesn't matter who they are, what they look like, where they are from, etc. They just accept them. To me, that is a great example of how we should treat others when we meet them. Without reservations. Treating them like the son or daughter of God that they are. Showing them the love that Christ would show them. 

Still haven't taught an investigator lesson yet, but that is okay. I have shared LOTS of principles with our friends. Some things I have shared with our friends: 

-law of chastity

-first vision

-book of mormon

-word of wisdom (a lot)

-plan of salvation

-law of tithing 

-priesthood

-baptism

-sacrament

-ressurection 

-jesus christ coming to the americas

-atonement/life of jesus christ 

-lots more

Sometimes I get down on myself for never having the chance to teach someone the gospel. But then I look back, and I can see all the little opportunities I have had to still share important truths. In addition to sharing things with our friends, I have also been to many member lessons where I have been able to strengthen their faith in addition to mine. 

A couple other things: 

-Me (an american) and my companion (a german) ate at an ikea (sweedish) waffles (belgium), and meatballs (sweedish) in our area (russia).

-went to a women's handball game here in russia! so fun and cool!

-got lost like 234970247 times. come across cool things everytime we get lost

-started light the world! do it! 

-it snowed here! just a little. and it melted super quick. but it is coming! 

still not allowed to share pictures of russians, so again you get lots of pics of me and my companion :) 

-a long day on the mission ;) 

-it is getting cold and dark here! 

-splits with sochi! 

-pizza @ zone conference :) 

-me and sister dzierzon in front of a church here

-cinnabon w/ sister rance on splits !!

-handball game! 

November 4, 2019

Lots has changed since my last email! 

Since the work in Saratov was not going too well, our mission president decided to take my companion and I out of the area. She got transferred to Samara, and I got transferred to... ROSTOV! I have already been here two weeks and I love this area so much! 

So here is a summary from my last two weeks in Saratov: 

-I became really good friends with a girl named Noor from Egypt! It was so fun because we were swapping stories about Egypt and various places we had been. I got to ask her a ton of language questions and cultural questions since I haven't been there in forever. 

It was quite funny, because she has been living in Russia for a year and a half now, but my Russian is better than hers and I have only been here a few months. It is very interesting for me to see how much the Lord qualifies His servants to speak to His children. 

-We hosted Bob Ross night again. This time, we invited all our friends again, and were blessed with one person showing up!!!!! It was awesome! We ended up actually having an actual conversation about the gospel with a non-church member!!!! That was my first time doing so the entire time I've been in Russia!!!! It lasted like 2 hours just talking about various things we believe, and things that she believes. The following week, we made palmini with her at the senior couple's apartment, and gave her a Book of Mormon. It was an amazing experience! First time handing out a BOM in my LIFE!!!! Super cool. She was so gracious. Hopefully the volunteers in Saratov now are meeting with her and following up on the BOM (we gave it to her the night before we left). 

-We had to say goodbye to one of our favorite friends Diana. We went to her cafe one last time, and got blueberry pie. This is our favorite thing to order there, because it is SUPER yummy, and stains your teeth blue the rest of the day :)

Said goodbye to Sister Richter...aka the best trainer ever!!!!! <3 love her!!

THEN I FLEW TO ROSTOV. Me and Elder Roggow flew from Saratov, to Moscow, to Rostov. Almost had to check my violin (yikes, but thankfully elder roggow saved it), and almost missed our flight because elder roggow had been gifted a knife by one of the members and they almost didn't let him take it on the plane. 

When I got to Rostov, I met my new companion! Sister Dzierzon! She is from Germany as well! She only has two transfers left (this one, and then one more), so I will probably be the one who kills her!!!! (mission slang for sending someone home from their mission). She is a hard worker and is the best non-native Russian speaking sister we have in the mission! I am so blessed to be companions with her. Together we are STL's (sister training leaders). This means we help other sisters in the zone, solve their problems, and go on splits/exchanges with them to help give new ideas and keep the work going. That's basically it. lol. 

These past two weeks in Rostov, we have done A LOT. There is much more work here than in Saratov.

-we have been meeting with several members who say that they want our help sharing the gospel with their friends. we are working with them on how they can be member missionaries. Everyone here is so proactive. Especially the youth. They show up to all our game nights and activity nights. They really help foster a community of unity and togetherness. They include all the newcomers, and try to do as much for the church as they can. 

-Sister Dzierzon almost ended her mission 10 weeks early and got deported. After her visa trip (we have to leave the country every 3 months to renew our visa's), the Russian government decided that she had overextended one of her visas and had a hearing on whether to deport her or not. Thank goodness we have an amazing office couple, and they were able to sort everything out so Sister Dzierzon could finish her volunteering service:)

 

-Couldn't celebrate Halloween, but got to carve pumpkins with one of our friends here :)))) My fav holiday:))) 

Also--s/o to my fam:) got my christmas package two months early. I had to hide it so I wouldn't look at it everyday and be tempted to open it early lol

ALSO found some ice cream here called "большой папа" (big papa)  it was good.