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!
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