just the beginning...

where has the time gone

2011-10-04T16:39:00.002-06:00

I'm back. Back to blogging. We shall see how i do on updating this sucker.

wow...is this really happening???!!! 28 July 2011

2011-07-28T08:23:00.000-06:00

Well,

Hello. Take in a deep breath and enjoy this awesome and short email, because it is probably the last one you will receive from me as I make my way home to the other side of the world. I don't even know what to say this week. It is weird and quite hard to express my feelings. All I know, is that I started crying tears of buckets when dad wrote and said that he just talked to the stake president about my release and reporting to the high council. I cannot believe this. It is so strange. You spend your entire mission, never believing that it will ever come to an end, and then bam....its already time to go home and to leave the people that you have grown to love so strongly. I thank my Father in Heaven with all my heart, for the opportunity that I have had, to really learn how to love people here on my mission. There have been bonds that have been created with this culture, these people, members, investigators, my mission president, companions, other missionaries and leaders and senior couples, that words cannot even describe. I love all these people so much. I feel so extremely blessed. I never knew at the beginning of my mission that I would come to love so many many people here on my mission. I love this work. I love my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. I love this gospel. I love all my family and friends. They have been a huge support to me in this time on my mission, and for that I will be forever grateful.

I gave my lesson on sunday and it went well. Kinda funny, but well. Tuesday I went to my first and hopefully last russian funeral, for a member in the ward who passed away. It was very different from funerals I have seen, and very sad. The traditions they have are very interesting. I will have to tell you more later. Yesterday was my last district meeting. And today is my last p-day. it is all so strange. But I am loving it and enjoying every moment.

President called the other day to tell me that sunday I will be going into moscow on the train. And then sunday night I will stay with sister kelly, and monday we have the opportunity to be in moscow and do what we want, etc. Then monday night we will have the program president and his wife do, and the dinner and stuff, interviews, etc. And then tuesday morning I think the four of us missionaries in our group fly out. and as you said, you already know the time the plane comes in and stuff. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, i honestly don't know what else to say. I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week! Until next week!!!............when I will see you and hug you and give you all big fat juicy kisses!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All my love,

The one and only (for one more week) Sister Brown

what a week 21 July 2011

2011-07-22T10:32:00.000-06:00

Well it really sounds like all of you have been having a great and wonderfully busy week. as i always say, y'all are such the partiers. Dad, i am glad that you had fun in kanab with the little kids. I love the good ol kanab. Angela thank you for the email. sounds like you are doing great and having fun. don't forget your lonely little sis out here in russia, YOU are too cool for school! i am glad harry potter was good. you are the best and totally cool!!!

Lets see, this week was a good week. Rachel left this week to go back home to visit her family in africa. I think she is about 21ish, and she is here because she is studying at one of the universities. Her brother is also here studying. I don't know why, but a lot of africans come here to study at the colleges. it is cool. She came to our family night on monday, and we were really excited to see her. But then she said she was going home, so that was a little sad that we could not meet with her. she is great.

This week has been a little better as far as finding some lessons to teach. President has told me time and time again that my companion has not really had many good opportunities to teach, and so I am really trying to find more lessons, even if they are just with the members in the branch. But meeting with the members in the branch is totally awesome, and you can really build up a great relationship with them, and they really help in the missionary work. They are awesome. When they trust the missionaries, that is when they will bring their friends and family to come meet with you, because they know that you as missionaries will love them and take care of them. So, we have had a few more lessons this week, and that has been very nice. I am very very grateful for that.

Saturday we moved back up to the upper apartment. I feel like I am in heaven because the apt is way way nicer and the area is really great and it is really close to the branch. So, i really love it. And, the apt is high enough in the air that we don't get many mosquitos flying in and biting us. So that is super awesome. AND, when the landlord was just here fixing things up, there was a dishwasher in the apt. that never worked, and then they fixed it. It is totally AWESOME!!! and it takes so less time to wash the dishes. just give the dishes a quick rinse, stick them in the washer, and WALLA! your ready to go! when i used it the other day for the first time it was totally totally weird. at the same time i kinda want to go back to washing all the dishes by hand. I am just so used to it already. I have not used a dishwasher in a year and a half now. weird.

Sunday was a good meeting. I spoke in sacrament about the scriptures. It was short and to the point, but I think it went well. Luckily, i wasn't too nervous about the speaking russian in front of a large group thing. But, i am a little more nervous about the sunday school lesson that they asked me to give this next sunday. Because i have to speak in russian and involve all the people and make it interesting for them and such. And i can't just read from a paper. And the words i may need to use are quite large. I am speaking about the second coming and about the signs of the second coming. We will see how it goes. it will be great!!

So the other day I was humbled and realized that i need to have more faith in the Lord and in other people. As you know we have been having trouble finding people to teach, and contacting all the time is not super effective. And so I decided to start calling people from the area book. Most of them didn't answer or didn't want to meet or didn't have time, etc. etc. etc. And then I called this one girl Nastia, and asked her if she wanted to meet. And she right off the bat said "ya, maybe tomorrow! what time?!" i was a little surprised and was like oh cool, maybe 12. And she said ok, lets meet at the one square by the statue. and i thought cool!!! But then i started thinking too much about it and thought, there is no way that she is going to come. This is sketchy. She probably just asked us to meet there and she just wont even show up. And so the next day we waiting at the square. And she hadn't come for about 10 minutes. and i thought yep, i am right. she probably won't show up. And i was getting ready to be like ok, lets go. But then, i saw this girl like running up to us and i thought weird. that is probably her. And it was!!!! i was totally surprised but way excited. We took her to the branch and taught her english and then talked about the restoration. She said she already had a book of mormon, and that she would actually read it, and then she was like I want to meet again, maybe tomorrow?! And i was like sweet. of course we can meet tomorrow. Sadly, she forgot about our lesson yesterday evening.......but, it was a little miracle about seeing her in general. And we might meet with her on friday. She does go away for a week to some kind of camp, but I was still grateful that I had the chance to meet her and get to know her. I really pray the sisters after me keep in touch with her and teach her. she is really great.

So something i was thinking a lot about yesterday. We had a lesson with a member, and then she started asking us about why we came on a mission in general. If someone made us, or if we wanted too, or if we felt we needed to. etc etc. And so i started telling her about my story and how i received my answer, and how even though i was really scared and nervous about the whole thing, i had received my answer and could not deny the fact. So anyways, she said "you were scared? That's weird, because you don't seem at all scared to me now. You seem very confident to me" And i got thinking about this. Because I do feel good. And president keeps telling me about how he has seen my confidence grow in the mission field. And that is great. But at the same time a little sad and confusing. Because it is like the moment you feel comfortable, the moment you feel like you know kinda what you are doing, the moment you really get used to things, the moment you really start to love the people and the place, the moment you really start to just feel happy where you are, that is the exact moment that you got to leave to go home, and then just leave that all behind you. If sisters stayed in the mission field 6 more months like the elders, i really think they could do a lot more. and if only we came out into the mission field feeling like this, think of all the amazing things and wonders we could do on the mission just right off the bat. It is kinda interesting. I don't understand it all. I guess it just teaches us to love today, and make every moment count. Don't get me wrong, it is exciting and seems like a new adventure to start "normal life" again. But at the same time it makes you nervous, and I just wish that we could always feel comfortable and confident in what we are doing at all times. I wanted to explain that all in different words. don't really know if it all makes sense. It my mind in does, but for some reason when I try to put the words on paper it just doesn't sound the same : )

D-MAN!!!! Happy birthday next week!!!! the big 20!!!! yea! have a party for me!!!! Love you lots! to the moon and back!

Well, i love you all. Thanks for the emails. glad the week was good. Have fun this week and be safe and do what is right. Remember i love you. Until next week!!!

Hugs and kisses!

Sister Brown

welp, it's me again 14 July 2011

2011-07-22T10:14:00.000-06:00

Hello my loves!

As always, thanks for the emails! Good luck family in all your travels and work and things. Stay safe and do what is right and have fun. I am excited to see how kanab is. Man, fun times.

This week has picked up maybe just a little bit in missionary work. Still trying to find people to teach. But we did have a new investigator, a young girl from africa. So it was fun teaching her and we have another lesson with her this evening, I think she will be a great investigator. She is super sweet and friendly and personable.

Lets see, our visa trip was fun on friday. I went with 4 other elders that were all in the mtc with me. we spent the day in the airport and on the planes back and forth from kiev and moscow. It was fun talking and sharing missionary stories, but towards the end of the day we were getting tired. We even went to Wendy's to eat dinner! cool right!? they just opened up a wendy's in moscow, so we walked over there before we needed to get on our night train back to nizhney. They had no such thing as a junior bacon cheese burger, so i went with the spicy chicken sandwich instead, and of course got myself a good ol' frosty (vanilla of course, its the best!) it was very tasty and it was so funny because the elders were just freaking out and so so excited! Man food really does make them happy. its funny. We also had a lot of time to spare and nothing to do because no one was in the office. and it was a friday night and not safe to wander around the moscow streets. so we spent our time in the metro going in circles and getting off at any of the metro stations that looked pretty and taking pictures of the design and architecture and stuff. it was fun! I was so excited to get back on the night train that night and just go to sleep! but, i didn't sleep too well because for some reason my bed was extremely short and i didn't really fit. it was weird. oh well.

Saturday was zone conference and President woolley and the ap's were in town. it was a great conference and i absolutely loved it. it was my last conference ever on the mission. crazy. and so i just soaked it all in and really had fun. They had me bear my testimony as one of the missionaries going home. it was totally weird, and yes i cried a little, it was embarrassing, but it was great. I love my missionary family. they are totally awesome. Sunday was church as usual, and i was supposed to give a talk, but then they didn't want me too. i think i will give one next week or something. other than that the week has been pretty normal. trying to find good productive things to do to find people here who are searching for the gospel. I have been trying to be really good at exercising on my mission, and so I ran a lot with sis gorkavenko and with sister cianflone, and now i am running with sister taggart too. it is so much fun. i love it. lately we have been running up and down the stairs in our apartment building. it is not the greatest view. but it is definitely a work out. i like it. and at girls camp in almaty, sister dick taught us how to do yoga. So i have been working on some yoga too. it is very fun and relaxing. So yea, i guess that is enough about my little exercising tangent ; )

Oh i forgot to say that one of my old companions who already went home, sister chetina, came to nizhney on sunday to visit people. So i got to see and talk to her. it was really great and fun. Also, on a bus the other day I totally heard the bee gees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was awesome i wanted to cry!!!!!!!! they sang "how deep is your love" it reminded of all the times we would be in the red truck with the other siblings just rocking out to our bee gees and beach boys. awesome. pure awesome. Also, my little funny story, well kinda funny, for the week. I woke up one morning and out of my left eye it was hard to see and all i saw was an obstruction in my view. i felt my face and my eye and cheek was puffy. and i thought, oh no!!!!!!!! what has happened to me! i went and looked into the mirror and was so scared to what i would see, and my whole left cheek and bottom eyelid was swollen. i felt like hunchback face. it ended up that a stupid bug bit me and for some reason my face reacted that way. it is pretty much gone by now though. and then a few nights later i woke up, and a bug bit me on my forehead and i had a huge swollen knot on my forehead. that didn't look to attractive either. luckily i have bangs to cover it up, and i didn't scare people outside. it was funny. man those bugs are killer. my body has never reacted to bug bites like that before. needless to say, we have closed the windows.

I would like to make a shout out to grandma and grandpa brown to say thank you for the sweet letter i just got in the mail! love you! and thank you aunt julie for your email also. that was sweet. shout out to dallin too...i am glad you enjoy your new job! have fun! ps..where are my emails??? and to angela too...what's up girlfriend! you sound like super busy america's most hottest top model. you are so busy! where are my emails???????????

well, great to hear from everyone. remember i love you. Remember who you are. Have a wonderful week and be smart and safe. Until next week!!!!!!!!

All my love!

Sister Brown

I just love you 7 July 2011

2011-07-22T09:59:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone!!!!!

Wow, can i just say wow. it sounds like everyone had a pretty exciting week, and that everyone is still planning some more exciting things. Have fun and be safe in all your travels. I am so happy to hear that D-man got the job at Nuskin!! way to go man! that will be fun! And you will do great! it is always fun to talk to random people on the phones. at least in english! but dude, that is awesome. keep up the good work and do what is right and just have fun in your job. I hope you meet some great friends there too. Here for the fourth of july we had family night at the branch. 1 investigator came and a few members. For our "celebration" we had cookies and juice and red and blue napkins. Fun right?! nothing like your fireworks, but it was fun. I always love being around the members. They are great.

So, Ipara did get baptized on saturday!!!! I was so so so happy for her. Before the baptism I called her and talked to her for a little bit. She sounded great and was excited i called. I have talked with sis cianflone already too, and she said the baptism was also wonderful. I wish i could have been there, but my heart was there and I am glad I had the opportunity to call Ipara before the baptism. I pray she felt my support. Sis. cianflone said that at the baptism Ipara probably told her like 5 times "hey, did i tell you that sister brown called me? sister brown called me, cool right!" i was so excited.

tonight i get on the night train with two other elders in my mtc group, we all need to go to get new visas. you may be thinking "what?", you just got a visa and just came to russia. it is not a big deal but just a long logistics story of passports to tell, so i won't spend the time typing all the lame details. We will arrive in moscow early tomorrow morning, and then take a flight over to kiev to switch over our visas. I think sister kelly will be in our group too, but i am not sure yet. after the airport the elders are super excited and planning to go to the new wendy's in moscow that just opening up! so we might go there, and then we take another night train tomorrow night back to nizhney. and then get in early saturday morning, and then head to the zone conference with president and the ap's. I hope i will be able to stay awake!!! it should be great. I always love conferences and I love to see president woolley and talk to him.

Well, missionary work here has not been to hot lately. I hope it is not all bad luck that i brought with me. we have gotten a lot of no shows with not many lessons set up in the first place. We really don't have any progressing investigators, and contacting has not been super effective lately. It is so hot and humid outside that people don't seem to want to talk for too long. But, we are trying. Just gotta keep pressing forward. My problem is that I always worry to much about what others think about me, and I don't what people looking at our statistics and being like "wow, what is sister brown doing up there in nizhney??? does she think she can just sit back for her last transfer?""" I am sure they don;t do that. And I know it is not all about statistics. But when that is all you count and report all the time, sometimes it gets a little consuming. But, we are trying hard, and I just need to trust in the Lord and not worry about the numbers. I just want to know that I am doing all that the Lord would have me do and being the type of person and missionary the Lord would have me be.

The other day we had a lovely lesson with a member family. After the lesson the mother walked us home to our apt., and I was talking to her about her conversion story. It was an amazing miraculous story. I loved listening to her tell it. It is mind blowing the things that she has gone through, and how they all somehow led her to where she is now. How it led her to first believe in God, and then search for His true church. I was just thinking and looking at her as she was talking and I just thought "wow" to myself. It is amazing how some people are really just so prepared. Just so prepared to accept the message, and be strong strong members of faith who continue to bring people into the church for generations. She has blessed her entire extended family for the great decisions that she made. It was just awesome to listen to her. The spirit was just so strong and I was just getting goose bumps. I could not help but just smile to myself. It was just a few minutes of pure joy. It is amazing those moments on the mission. They honestly don't happen all the time (contrary to what i thought before I came to the mission field) But they do happen. And measured up to those disappointing and sometime monotonous events, those joyful moments just seem all the sweeter.

Well family. i love you. I love this work. I love these people. I love this place and this country. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. I love this gospel. I love how we are "all in this together" (lovely quote from a high school musical song i think, wow, i am such a nerd). I love how we have been given the opportunity, duty, means, and ability to share this gospel and the knowledge we have with the world around us. I know that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. And we all need to love all those around, no matter how different we may think they are from us. Thank you for writing. As always i love to hear. Thank you for your loves and support and prayers. I am doing my very best each and everyday to not give up or get trunky. At times it is a very real temptation, especially with all the missionaries reminding you that this is your last transfer. Reminding you that you will leave soon, etc etc. But all is good. I love you! Have a wonderful week. Do what is right! Until next week!

Hugs and kisses from afar!

the one and only sister Brown

hello Nizhney!!! 30 June 2011

2011-06-30T12:33:00.005-06:00

Me with Ipara and her daughter : )

My last FHE in almaty!!

Hello everyone!

Great to hear from you! As always, I love hearing from you. Everyone sounds good. That is great. Dad, I have seen that video, I watched it last week. Pretty cool right? And yea, that is the language that I speak. I don’t sound too much like her, because she is Russian and has a real accent. I have an American one. Oh well.

So, I am writing you right now from the seniors couple in Nizhney Novgorod. They are the Lovetts from las vegas. They are cool. So yea, I got a call Friday telling me that I would be on the early flight from almaty to Moscow on Monday. So, it was very quick having to say goodbye to everyone, but, I think I got it all done.

I am excited to be here. It is just different. I am here with sister taggart. Except for right now we are in a 3 some with another sister who is waiting for her visa to go to Kazakhstan and take my spot. I got into the office Monday morning and hung out there and did random assignments there, and then Monday night I took the train to nizhney. It was weird and is kinda spastic because Tuesday we spent the day packing up and calling taxis, because we have to move to the other sisters apartment that is here. They are doing a remodel on the one we were in, and so we moved into the other. To make a long story short, there were 2 companionship's of sisters here before, one had the upper area above the river, the other worked in the lower area below the river. And each area has its own branch. But just before I came president took one companionship out, and so now it is just me and sister taggart. And we are living in the lower branch area, but are supposed to work in both areas and take turns attending the different sacrament meetings. So, it will be busy with traveling time from place to place, and I am worried that none of the members will even get to know me because we will be switching so much and I don’t have much time here. But, that is ok. I am wanting to get to work and to really set up some great lessons and really get to know the investigators and the members here.

So tuesday we moved. We opened the apt. door and I just looked and said “wow, now this is truly a Russian grandma apartment!” It is not like a horrible apt. and I don’t want to complain, but it is definitely the oldest and most un-nice apartment that I have seen on my entire mission. It is just kinda a dark and old place. There is no room for a fridge in the kitchen, so it sits in our front hallway by the front door : ) And there is one of those creepy old looking gas water heaters that we have to turn on to warm our water and showers. So, that kinda freaks me out a little bit, but its all good. I'm getting used to it. I like the apt. I just need some time to clean it up and organize it and make it look better : )

So Nizhney is good. I miss almaty, but it is great to get to know a new place too. Ipara in almaty has a baptismal date on Saturday. So I am really excited for her. I will not be there, but I can still call and talk to her. It was sad to say goodbye, but she is in good hands with sister cianflone there. Ps…..it is pretty hot here in nizhney. I don’t know why it is so hot here, because it is like the most northern city in the mission. But it is definitely hotter here than in almaty . which is weird. It reminds me of last summer in Voronezh. The good ol’ days when you wake up and are sweating, and your makeup is sweating off as you are putting it on. Yep, those days are back. I missed them!

Well, I honestly don't know what else to tell you. Not a whole lot of things have been going on right now. Just sayin goodbye in Almaty and coming here and moving and trying to get settled in and used to the new area. It should be great. And I keep praying that these will be some great weeks here also. Sister gorkavenko wrote me a quick email, and she is home. She just said that things were good and she was busy. Crazy she is already home, and that we live half a world apart. She is great. I am glad that she seems to be doing well. Anyways. Things are good. I am glad to hear that things are going well. I am praying for dallin and hope all things work out to the Lord's will with his job and things. I hope ange had fun at camp. Our camp was good. Just one night. Our investigators came, so that was awesome. Well, I love you all! Have a great week! Until next!!!

All my love!

Sister Brown

I hate goodbyes........22 June 2011

2011-06-30T12:20:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!!!

First off, I loved those pictures!!!!! It was so great to see everyone in them. that is so fun! Im glad you all enjoyed yourselves and stayed safe. Those cottages look huge!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so surprised, I have not seen something that big and amazing in years! And what is up with rhen and terence's facial hair? And those lovely camouflage pants of rhen's?! man, they look like some nice rednecks that grew up in south carolina. but that's fun. It gave me a good laugh. It really sounds like everyone is keeping busy. Don't go crazy though. Angela, don't try to get tan like I was that summer before I left on my mission. I was stupid and will probably have sun cancer sometime soon. but anyways, I am so white now you won't even believe it! but I am proud of it. just so you know, we are taking a girls day when i get home and getting pedicures. I neeed one terribly terribly bad! And my companion reminds me of it everyday. but we have decided that my horrible feet are the glory that I have received from all my work. So, we both decided I need to go home and show off all my glory feet before I fix them. ok, that was a gross story, but whatev, its my life.

Welp, this past tuesday was a sad sad day. My lovely Sister Gorkavenko left me...its was super sad and weird. She left at like 4 am, and so all the sisters slept together at their apt. And then when it was 4 I had to say goodbye. It was super weird. We were both so tired and she was running out the door because her ride was waiting, So it was a super quick goodbye. I didn't cry when she was there. But immediately when she left and I went back to bed I cried. And then when I woke up in the morning, I realized, wow, she is really really gone. Crazy. So, i have really been missing her these past days. I am trying super hard to stay focused, but sometimes it is hard. A huge group of missionaries left with sis G, and they are all amazing. And Elder Cecil (who goes home with me) is getting super trunky. So with Sister G leaving, and so many others, and an Elder to help me get trunky, sometimes it is hard to focus and difficult to not think about all those things. But I am trying really hard. I know, I told sister G so many times that we would love love for her to come visit. She kept saying she doesn't know. I think for one it is very expensive, and she might be a little stubborn about visiting the "amazing and perfect America" that everyone talks about around here. But we will see. If she doesn't make it out to America, then sometime down the road I would love to save up enough money to go back to Russia and see her family. But yes, I would really really really want her to come see all of my lovely family. She would think that you are all super funny and crazy, because you are!!

Welp, you have probably learned that this mission here and our president loves to throw curve balls. So, we had zone conference last friday, and president was here, and had interviews with us. And, he threw me another curve ball. So, I supposedly will not be serving in Kazakhstan until the end. He wants to send me to Nizhney Novgorod again, for the last transfer, to be with sister taggart again (girl from my freshman ward at BYU). So, i guess i will be going there. but there have been a few problems with my visa, so by the time I get there i will probably have like 4 weeks there or so. so we will see. Next time I write I am hoping that I will already be in Nizhney, but we will have to see. President just said he wanted me to have an opportunity to serve in more than just 2 areas on my mission. I am excited but sad of course. In my head i really expected to be here till the end and had been telling all the members and investigators that. So, this was just a surprise. But, those things just come with the mission. I don't know if I will be here for Ipara's baptism. But, I know that Sister Cianflone will take very good care of her and all our investigators. She is a great missionary and powerful testifier.

So, let me tell you the super cool and spiritual news of this week. So do you remember me telling you about our investigator who is american? She is from arizona I believe, and she is here in Kazakhstan because she is working with the peace corps for two years. she has been placed in a super small city super far away, so we have lessons with her over the phone. She knows a lot about the church because her boyfriend is a member, and they have talked about it. And she went to church a few times in the states. But she has never investigated with the missionaries. So, we are her first missionaries, and it is pretty cool. We invited her to be baptized, and she had concerns about what her family would think, and she wanted to do this for herself and not just for her boyfriend. She is amazing though, always reading and praying. She already follows like all the commandments, and knows a ton. She really has been searching and wanting to know for herself. And so we invited her to be baptized, but she wasn't sure and asked us to ask her again on our next lesson. And so we called back and she started telling us about how she had been thinking about baptism of course, and all the answers she has received from the Lord, and she realized that she already had received all the answers she needed. She called up her boyfriend in america and asked him to come to almaty, Kazakhstan and bring her mother with him, because she wanted to be baptized. So, she will be baptized in November of this year, when she will come to almaty for a work conference. We are so so so excited for her! And the whole time we were talking to her I just thought wow. It is so true that the Lord is really in all the details of our lives. Who knew that she needed to come to Kazakhstan to find out the truth for herself. Who knew that President woolley would put two american sisters together in Almaty so that we could teach this sister in english (he doesn't put american sisters together very often in almaty). Who knew?! It is pretty amazing that I can be involved in this work. I feel honored to teach her, and to help her grow closer to our Savior. I know the Lord knows all. And as we listen to the still small spirit, we will be where we need to be when we need to be and with whom we need to be. And this helps us to become all that the Lord would have us to be. I am so happy the Lord prepared me throughout my life to be ready for this mission, even though I personally never planned on it or thought about it. And when the time came, I was ready, and I could get my papers ready quickly and just take off. If I didn't leave on my mission when I did, I may have never met the amazing people I know here, and may have never known the amazing sisters I have had the opportunity to serve with. And I may have never had the opportunity to teach Ipara or this wonderful amazing spiritual and sweet girl from america. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father and Savior. I know they watch out for us, always.

So this week president told us that we get to go to girls camp here with the young women. so we are super excited and it should be way fun. We are having some investigators come too. It is only for one night, but it should be great! We are really excited. Our mission president is super cool.

Well. I think that is about it for the week. I am glad to hear from you all. Remember I love you. Remember who you are, and that the gospel is true!!! Have a great week! Until next week!

All my love, hugs and kisses!!!!!!

XoXoOOXxxOOoxoxoOXoXO

Sister Brown

15 June 2011

2011-06-30T11:44:00.005-06:00

So this picture was taken a little while ago, when our greenies came. It is of our district, my new companion, Sister Cianflone, is the one next to me on my right.

Us in the hail storm!!!! hahaha

Hello!!

I am glad to hear from you all and hear that things are going well! Angela, thanks for writing, and I am glad that trek was a great experience for you. To be honest, i don't remember who my parents were on trek, but that is pretty awesome that you have them too! Hey, tell dman if he has time to write me an email next time and let me know how life is going for him. I miss him tons. oh, before i forget.....Happy Father's day daddy!!!!!!!! I hope you have a great one and remember how much I love you and what a great example you are to me!!!!! Have fun with the fam up at the ranch, and stay safe! Ride a horse and catch a fish for me! do you remember that one time we went fishing in provo with rhen and one of his roommates, and then joe totally took a huge fall into that mucky water!!!?? that was super funny i remember!

Oh man, what to tell you about this week. Well, we have been in a companionship of three with sister dick. It has been lots of fun, and at the same time we have kept busy and worked hard. Sister G is with Olga from Voronezh, and it has been very fun to have her here and to see how much she has grown since I taught her as an investigator.

So i guess i will start off at the beginning of the week. So, last thursday after I wrote to y'all, we went up into the mountains as a district. And down here in the city it was super hot and sunny and we were like dying. And then, we got a taxi up pretty high, and then started hiking from there. It didn't seem like we were hiking up super high, but it was getting a little chilly. We found this beautiful waterfall and then we stopped to have a little lunch. And then, the fun started. It started raining a little bit, and then little tiny hail started to fall slowly. So we just hung out there and thought we could wait it out. NOPE!!!! the hail starting getting so big and fast and hard. And it hurt so dang bad!!!! we just started screaming and grabbed our stuff and started running down the mountain as fast a we could. It was so painful we literally thought something real bad was gonna happen. and it didn't let up. our arms and body were so red because we got pelted so hard by the hail. We finally found a little overhang and hung out there. It still didn't let up. But we just booked it and ran from little overhang to little overhang. It was pretty scary, but pretty funny too. I will send you some pictures if i can get them.

ps....mom, i just read your email, and loved it!!!! have fun out at dinner with the big married kids!

Friday was a good day too. The moore's took us out to our final "cleaning check lunch" with them. They took us to this beautiful uzbekistan restaurant, and it was very delicious!!!! I need to learn how to make some awesome traditional foods like that. Saturday as a district we went and sang hymns in a park and contacted. it was fun. But then people got upset with us being there and said that we are not allowed to be there. And the policemen came, twice, and tried to kick us out, but then after showing them our papers and documents, they realized that we have every right to be there and to proselyte. They are all just upset because so many muslims are here, and they don't like to hear from Christians. Sunday was another good sunday. I love meeting with the members and seeing them there! Other than those events, this week has pretty much been the same. We have met with a few new people, and that has been great. I hope things work out with them. Tomorrow we are having zone conference with president. So that will be great. And it is sister Dick's birthday, and we need to think of something awesome to do for her. We will probably do something today for p day with president, because he flew in this morning. So we will see!

Our investigators are doing well! I love working with them and continue to pray that we can help them to draw closer to Christ and resolve their concerns.

Welp, i love you all, and I love my mission. I pray that I can stay happy and positive and do all that I can do. I am really trying not to get trunky, but everyone else around me is!!!! Have a safe week and a wonderful time. Remember how much I love you!!!! Until next week!

Sister Brown

what up?! 8 June 2011

2011-06-30T11:28:00.000-06:00

Hello!!!

Hey everyone! it is good to hear from you! wow, i didn't even know that Melissa was pregnant!!!!! and now she has another baby, that is crazy! but awesome. I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well. I hope things go well this week for ange at trek. have fun and be good!!! I always loved trek, at least i think : ) And boys, have fun at your little camping outing together, and be safe. I pray that you all have fun and are safe in all your travels. Dad, I told Sister Gorkavenko that you will clean out a room for her, and she laughed. She leaves her mission in 2 weeks, and I am actually super depressed about it. I will cry buckets that day! I try not to think about it too much, but she has honestly become like my best friend on the mission, like a 3rd sister to me. She is great. But yesterday I thought about it a lot, because she was telling me that for her it is just now starting to hit her, that her mission is ending. weird. This morning we got a mini sister missionary. From voronezh!!!! I know i told you about Olga in voronezh. The girl that sister gorkavenko and i were teaching for a really long time. And then i left, and eventually sister gorkavenko left, and then the elders kept teaching her. and she was baptized in december, and now she is on a mini mission with sister gorkavenko. awesome right! It is fun to see her. But it also makes it that me and sister cianflone and sister dick will be in a three-some for the next 2 weeks, until sister dick gets her real new companion when sister gorka and Olga leave. So, we will be the 3 of us awesome american sisters together. It should be pretty fun, but probably a little crazy too. We will try to work really hard. It is always awkward attacking a person on the street with three people though!

Lets see. Our investigators Ipara and Elmira are still doing well. We love them. I love the members here too. They are so great. Lately we have had some more lessons, and that has been really really nice. I hope we can keep that up and stay busy, so i don't have too much time to think and go crazy.

Ok, so i just had another really great haircut experience again this week. It is the same man that has been cutting my hair, and usually he does pretty well. So i told him again what I wanted, and he is like ok cool i understand. But then he didn't just give me a trim. He cut it like super short!!! shorter than i have ever had it. So i was pretty annoyed, and hate waking up the the morning and lookin in the mirror. i feel like a man! i know its not that bad. I just exaggerate. I just wish that hair cutting people would just listen to me!!

I am still working on reading Jesus the Christ. and it has been awesome. It is also a mission goal to read and ponder on the Pearl of Great Price. So i need to start that too. And I also have a personal goal to finish the Doctrine and Covenants before the end of my mission. I have so many things that I feel like I haven't completed on my mission, that when I think about them all I just get really frustrated with myself.

All in all, things are going pretty well. Even though there are hard days, and I get down on myself (it seems like more often than not these days,) I am trying my best to be happy and not let satan bring me down. The work is going well, and I still want to do great things.

Well family, i don't know what else to say. Letters seems so hard for me to write these days : ) Oh gma! thank you for the card! i just received it and read it. thank you!! I love you all! keep doin what is right and be happy! have a great week! Until next week!!

Love always!

Sister Brown

hello hello! 1 June 2011

2011-06-30T11:16:00.001-06:00

Hello my loves!!

Ok, so, lets get done with the dirty business first. I know that the moores are arriving home sometime in the Middle of july, but the exact date of their talks i do not know, but i will write and tell you. lets see, that is super freaky you already received my flight plans. But, i would assume that it is the last email you received about the 4th. Because i heard there is one elder in our group going home and he needs to be there a day earlier, so i heard they are just sending us all a day earlier too, or something like that. Tell Dallin and Angela that I love them so much too! And thank them for their love and support. Tell them not to freak out too much. Just keep doing whats right and keep on keepin on, like grandma always says (at least i think so!) Ok, i have to say that all this talk about the snow and hail and rain and floods are really starting to make me worry. That is super scary!! I just pray that everyone is safe and well and that the snow and rain will stop. And yes mom, we can just wait until i get back to figure out housing. I am fine with that.

This week has been a good one. And kinda interesting. The one woman that came and we set a baptismal date with her on the first lesson has completely fallen away. She never answered her phone. and then finally we got a hold of her, and she said that she was sick and that maybe and i quote..."maybe I can meet with you on June the 10th, on the year of 2011. I think I will be better then"....ok, funny right? like i just totally laughed about that, and thought, "oh really are you sure. Are you sure maybe your didn't mean on the year of 2012 or even 2013?" sorry, i am just being totally sarcastic, but i thought it was funny and we laughed about it. but at the same time it is kinda sad. I feel like a lot of our miracles turn out to be crazy people. and it is hard for me, because than i have a hard time believing in miracles like that. but whatever. I know miracles happen. Some times just really awkward and strange experiences happen on the mission too. Yesterday sister cianflone and I had about probably the most awkward lesson of my whole mission (at least that i can remember). I won't go into the details, but it was super funny. And we just knew that these girls were super creeped out, and probably think we are the biggest freaks ever.

So i think Ipara is doing pretty well. We have not met with her in a while cause she is so busy with work, but we have talked to her on the phone. We have a meeting with her tomorrow, so i am excited to see her. One of our investigators came to church on sunday with her son, so we were very excited. Afterwards she told us that it was kinda boring, but I pray next time she has a better experience.

Last week as a district we all tried camel milk together. It was so gross!! It tasted like just super sour milk, with carbonation!! weird right? who knew camels produced carbonation?

My whole mission I have really been trying to read "Jesus the Christ". it has been difficult for me because the book is so big and the words are just soo big. But, i have made a goal to finish it. And it has been really awesome. It is a really inspired book, and I love all the new things I am learning!!!! Everyday my testimony of the Savior grows as I read the book.

I am sorry, I have read over this email, and I feel like it is a pretty lame email for the week...i just don't know what else to add. I need to be better like my companion and write down what I want to say throughout the week, and then when i email i will know what awesome stories and experiences to tell you : )

But remember that i love you and that the church is true! stay safe and do what is right!!! All my love! Until next week!!!!!

oh my gosh! I totally forgot to tell you that Sister Gorkavenko told me to tell you hello!!!! And that her mission ends this transfer and that you need to wait for her and she will come visit as a guest (i think she is totally getting trunky!) She always tells me how it is weird that she has heard so much about you and seen your pictures, but it is still so hard for her to imagine that you are REAL people!!

Love,

Sister Brown

wow...25 May 2011

2011-05-27T10:38:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!

So, i just read the article that you sent to me mom. pretty awesome. Terence looks pretty intense and scary in that picture. That is very awesome though. I am excited for you T! Keep doing well and keep yourself safe and healthy! Love you!!! Yes, and I need to tell grandma late happy birthday!!! I thought about you all day yesterday! And, it is very sad to hear about all the bad weather and that kinda news that is going on with floods and tornados. seriously, that is crazy, what is going on?! I really just pray that there will be a land for me to fly back to! That is very exciting to hear about Tanners mission call. What great news! and what a cool place to serve. Spanish speaking right? That will be awesome and he will have a wonderful experience on his mission! for this i know!

Lets see news for this week. Well, we have seen a lot of miracles happen. Which has been wonderful. The hand of the Lord is truly in this work, and He truly prepares people to receive the gospel. We have met with Ipara, and she has put her baptismal date back until she is off of work for the summer. She will be baptized in the first week of July. So, we are really working on getting her prepared, and we pray that satan does not have time to come in and destroy her faith. We had a new investigator on saturday who did not show up until an hour and a half later, and we had already left the branch. And luckily the RS pres was there when she got there and told her about church services on sunday. We called her later that night and she was like yea, I will be there tomorrow. And I was like wow, cool! So she not only showed up to church on sunday, but she showed up a hole hour and a half early! and she just sat and listened to the choir and really enjoyed all the meetings. Our district had 14 investigators at the meeting on sunday, which is a record for sure. It was awesome. And, after we had a meeting with this women and then set a baptismal date with her!!!!! The date is in two weeks.....but we are a little bit skeptical about that, because after we got so excited about this awesome miracle on sunday, She has not showed up to any meetings we have set up with her, and she doesn't answer her phone. Very strange. I don't know what happened. Part of me thinks, well, it was too good to be true. But then another part of me does not want to give up on her. We will see and I will let you know. And monday was awesome because we stopped by the branch for like 2 minutes to grab some more book of mormons, and just at that moment a women that sister dick and gorkavenko had contacted into the day before, came and wanted to talk to someone and say that she would not be able to come to church this sunday. we told her we could call the other sisters and they could come and meet with her, but she said no i don't have that much time to wait for them to get here. And so we asked her what she knew, and she said not much. Me and sister cianflone sat outside with her and gave her the first lesson. And the spirit was honestly so amazing. probably one of the most spiritual lessons I have had on my mission. She said she was atheist, and we testified so strongly that God exists, and that he has created a plan and a way to return back to him. We gave her a book of mormon and prayed with her, and asked her that when she reads and finds out the book of mormon is true and that joseph smith was a prophet, if she would be baptized. And she said yes, I would like to do that. So, it was a great lesson. Since the other sisters are the ones that gave her the church invitation outside, we gave her to them as their investigator. But we were very excited that we were there and that we were able to teach her about the restoration. It was really great. I hope it all works out for the other sisters to meet with her and bring her into the waters of baptism.

So this past week i received my "death papers". Those are the papers that you get that you need to fill out and tell you when you will fly home. So, i have been told that I will fly into the salt lake airport on August the 5th. and that is all i have been told. It is kinda crazy, and i like freaked out when I got the papers, not wanting to fill them out. but anyways, that is the news. the other day in district meeting we were playing a russian grammer game together and i was doing absolutely horrible!!!! and i got a little stressed out and down on myself, thinking, wow, i already have my death papers and I can't even speak russian fluently! I felt a little stupid and wondered what the heck i have been doing with my russian the past year and a half! oh well, i guess i just need to work harder and not worry about it too much. my greeny I swear almost speaks like better than i do already!!

ps....dman, we are sitting in the internet club and lady gaga with her "paparatsi" song came on. (sorry, i know i totally spelled that wrong. my english is horrible lately! I said the other day "He teached....and she understanded...." and they just sounded so right to me until my companion corrected me and convinced me that that was not correct english grammer. ahhh!! anyways, i totally thought about you when I heard that song! yea for d man!!!!! love you!!

Well, i love you all! It was great to hear from you. and I pray that everyone is safe and well this week! Until next week!

All my love!

Sister Brown

hey!! 18 May 2011

2011-05-19T18:10:00.001-06:00

Hello my loves!!

well, after 2 weeks to the day, I am finally back in Kazakhstan!! it honestly seems like it has been forever! I am excited to be back and get to work with all our investigators again. It was lovely being in Nizhney and meeting the people there, but it is good to be back "home" too.

So yea, this past week I have just been in Nizhney working with the sisters there. I enjoyed the experience, but again it was kinda hard working in a threesome in an area I don't know to well, but it was good. and we had fun and got along great. So i really enjoyed the experience. I rode the train into moscow on tuesday and got my visa then. So, because of visa problems I missed the conference in almaty, for which i was sad. But, president let me stay wednesday in moscow, and I went to the whole mission conference that we as almaty missionaries never get to go to. So, it was pretty awesome. and i saw missionaries i haven't seen in ages, so it was really great. Elder Schwitzer from the general authority was there and taught us really well. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to be there, because it will probably be the last time i see those missionaries if i still fly home straight from almaty, which are still the plans as of now. When i was there i got my summer clothes back out from the office, because it is supposed to get pretty hot here. and i even bought a few souvenirs, just in case that was my last time in Russia. It was totally bitter sweet as I sat in the car with the mission driver as he drove me to the airport last night. it was a beautiful evening with a beautiful moscow sunset, and I just looked out the window and was thinking a lot. Weird to think how fast time has flown and reminisce about the first time i was in moscow. And it was weird to me to think that maybe that was my last time there....for who knows how long. crazy crazy. I got a little teary eyed, but I tried not to think about it to much. it was kinda weird. ok, anyways.

so yea, i am back in almaty. Got in this morning and unpacked, and now i am writing you! i am super tired, so i hope we can get our things done today and then maybe take a little nap before we go out and work again tonight. So Ipara's baptismal date has been put off. My companion told me that they all think this is a good thing. Her brothers are very strong muslim, and they all think it would be best for her to get things worked out with that before she is baptized. So, I think the baptismal date will be sometime in June. So, we will continue to work closely with her. I totally miss her! I am excited to meet with her tomorrow!

Oh my gosh! I totally forgot to tell you last week! But, there will be the first stake in Russia being formed on the 5th of June!! isn't that awesome! the stake will be in moscow, and elder nelson will come in june. We will not be there because the city of moscow is not our mission, but isn't that just awesome! A stake! in Russia! can you believe it! i am so excited. I wonder how long it will be until there will be a stake in our mission. Probably a little while. We need more priesthood.

Ok, well, i guess not much more to report this week. I love you all! Thank you for your support! Things are going well here. It was rainy in moscow when i left, and is rainy here too. So, we are all in the same weather boat! good joke right? I am a pretty funny person, and I think i have become funnier since being a missionary. haha (jk, angela and dman, that was totally all for you, because I know you just love my cheesy stupid jokes that aren't even jokes...and I love how you think that i am some strange nerdy missionary : ) ok anyways. Loves! Have a great week! Until next week!

Loves!

Sister Brown

party in the house!!! 12 May 2011

2011-05-19T17:38:00.000-06:00

Hello!

I love you all! And as always, sounds like you are just partyin it up there in the Brown house! man, good good times. Angela I hope you had a wonderful birthday and gave thanks to all the people that were so wonderful to you on your birthday. I hope you gave dallin a giant hug too (one from me too) because knowing the amazing d-man, I am sure he really gave you a party there at home. well, thats awesome. I hope you had fun. It was so great to hear you all on Sunday!!! as always, it was hard to hang up the phone, but I enjoyed every minute that I got to talk to you. It seems like it has been forever, but at the same time, all your voices sound the same. For some reason I expected them to be different.

Anyways, this week has been good. I am still just getting used to some things here. And it is kinda an awkward stage here, because I know i won't be here for long. As i told you I am in nizhney novogorod. And I was expecting to leave today back to almaty, but there have been some problems with my visa, and so i have not received it yet. I really hope it comes soon! So yea, i am here with sister taggart (friend from freshman ward), and it has been pretty fun having this opportunity to serve with her, and reminisce about the good ole freshman year, chipman hall dormitory times! Her real companion, Sister Rosenblatt, is in Lativa getting her new russian visa. She is Estonian, and so she needs to go to Latvia to get a new visa. So, me and sister taggart have been together. I don't know much of the ropes here in the town, but I am tryin to really help out, and we are trying to get some good lessons, this week. After I talked to you on Sunday, we got Sister Rosseblatt off to the train station. And on Monday, it was Victory day in russia. A very big holiday here. So that day we were asked not to contact and we were allowed to go to the parade that morning. So we went to the parade, but sadly the weather was very cold and rainy, and with everyones umbrellas it was impossible to really see anything. So I have some nice pictures of peoples umbrellas and the backs of there heads : ) I told the other missionaries that it was funny, because for both victory days that I have had in russia, I have been in a city that isn't really "my city" where I am serving. A year ago i was in Lipistcks with the sisters there, waiting for my companion to come back from her visa trip. And now I am in Nizhney, on my own visa trip. Kinda funny. But that day was good, had some lessons, and also family night which was fun. The elders gave a great spiritual thought, and then we played a game. So we had lots of fun, and there was a good turn out of investigators there, so that was awesome. Also, Sister Muhina (my mini missionary that I had in January) is in the branch here. So I got to see her and that was lots of fun. That night we watched the fireworks from our 9 story apt. and we honestly had the best seats in town. So that was fun. Yesterday we had district meeting, and it went well. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve here in Nizhney and to meet other great missionaries that I don't really know since I have been in Almaty this whole time. So, it has been fun serving here and meeting them. Oh, and there is an Elder Brown in this district. And it has been fun to finally meet him and talk to him, because I feel like every city I go to, they all say "Hey! we know elder brown! Is he your brother?!" And i always just have to say no, no, he is not my brother. So now, I finally met my missionary "brother"! Anyways, district meeting. Sister Taggart and I were in charge of doing the training, and I think it went very well. We taught about helping our recent converts stay active, and activating those that are inactive. It was a very great discussion I think, and I enjoyed teaching it. Yesterday was also english club, and that was pretty fun. And, yesterday was angela's birthday, and I thought about her a lot!! Today is p-day, and we are going to get some things done, and then sister taggart wants to go shopping. and then i believe we will meet up with the other missionaries and do something fun and play games or something. I am excited. As I sat in the bus on the way to a lesson yesterday, I just thought really quickly about how grateful I am for the missionaries, senior missionaries, and members here. Throughout my mission, they truly have become my second family away from home, and I am so grateful for that. They are all wonderful!

Back to this visa thing, I heard that maybe MAYBE i might get my visa on friday, but most likely monday i will get it. And I am a little bit bummed and sad about that, because president is going down to almaty and there will be a conference there with the almaty and astana missionaries. And the reason I left early on my visa trip was so that I could be back in time for that. So, i just really pray that I will get my visa earlier than that, and that I can be in almaty for the conference. If not, that might have been my last one. But we will see, it will all work out for the best. And, I have been worried about the baptism of Ipara, but the sisters said that she has pushed it back until the 21st. So i should be there. And I didn't pick up on if she moved it just so I could be there, or if she moved it because there will be others being baptized on the 21st too. I am not sure, but I am grateful that I can be there for her on this very special and important day of her life.

So, all in all, things are going well here. And yes mom, at times I feel like i don't know much and that I am running around with my head cut off, but that's ok. I have felt like that most of my mission. just kidding. only sometimes. But anyways, it has been wonderful to see a new city and to get to know the members and investigators of a new place. I do miss almaty too, and I will also be excited when I can get back and settled in there again. I feel bad for my greeny companion. We have only served together like 3 weeks so far, and the transfer ends sunday. So, hopefully soon we can get back into the swing of things, and that we will see each other more.

Well, i love you all and thank you all for your examples and sweet kindness. It is great to hear from everyone, and was so fun to see that video of joe hitting the baseball. You are awesome joe! I love you! But make sure you don't eat too much ketchup. That is just not good for anyone. I can't believe that school ends soon. Crazy stuff. Well i love you. I love my mission. Everyday I am so grateful to my loving Heavenly Father who gave me this opportunity to serve on a mission. And I am grateful to all of you who were so supportive and happy for that "out of the blue" decision that I made not long ago to serve a mission. And I am grateful to this day for the support that you still give to me. I feel it everyday. I love the people of Russia and Kazakhstan. I love this work. I cannot even begin to express the joy that I feel because of all I have learned here. Of course its not easy. I don't think it is ever easy. But it is so worth it. So worth it. The joy that comes from missionary work is indescribable. I truly have been greatly blessed with this wonderful opportunity. Ok, well, i love you. have a wonderful week! Be safe and have fun! Do what's right! Until next week!

All my love,

the one and only,

SISTER Brown

Happy Mom's Day!!! 5 May 2011

2011-05-19T10:40:00.001-06:00

Hello my loved ones!

I am in the office right now, and I am glad that I have a chance today to read your emails and to email you before I head off to some city somewhere for a week. Everyone sounds great, and I hope that the weather warms up for you there. The weather in Almaty is very warm right now and very sunny. But here in Moscow it is a little chiller, and kinda cloudy, but still nice.

So like i said in the early email, get a hold of Sister Moore and tell her the calling phone card information, because right now i have no idea what number you need to call. And then she will just pass on the information to me.

So I am a little sad and nervous about being here in Russia for this week. I mean, i love russia and it is great to be back. But Ipara is getting ready for her baptism on the 13th, and I won't be there to help finalize things and make sure she is calm and things are good to go. I left her in good hands, with Sister Gorkavenko and sister Dick and Sister Cianflone, but still, I really would like to be there. But its ok. Life goes on.

So I guess you have heard about the whole Osama bin laden thing, right? well, since almaty is an area with a lot of muslims, we have a few rules just to make sure we take good precautions. They don't want people knowing we are americans. and so on public transportation and buses and things we are not allowed to wear our name tags. and we should not talk in english on the streets like we were used to doing when we would invite people to our english program. But, yea, just a few little rules. No biggies.

So Sunday there were a few earthquakes in almaty. Now don't freak out. All it well. Me and my mini missionary were sitting in our apt. sunday morning at about 830 and we were studying before church. and then all the sudden the apt started to shake, and then it shook again a little harder. It was kinda crazy. I just thought to myself, oops, what do I do if it starts shaking again, and harder? Where to run? Where to hide?! but it was all good. And then in testimony meeting on sunday at church all people talked about was the earthquake that happened and how scary it was and how we all need to be prepared. And then that night, we were planning for our next day. And we get calls and information for ward members that all over the news they are saying there will be a huge earthquake, size 9, right in the heart of almaty. Sister Gorkavenko's mini missionary was already getting packed up and ready to run out the door. And members were already outside, sleeping in cars or staying the nights in the streets. Honestly, I didn't believe it. I thought," come on, you can't predict that an earthquake will be tonight, and that it will be a size 9, and that it will happen at exactly 1015." I thought it was all a little ridiculous and that people were just being way over reactive. So i didn't do anything. And then i decided to call the elders and see what they had heard. They said that yea, they had heard the same things, and that just to be safe they were getting together little bags and praying, ready to run out the door if anything happened. I thought come on, this is silly!!! I usually freak out about things, and so i decided to be chill about this one and play it cool, while everyone else was getting worried. Then the moore's called, and some of the elders were a little nervous, and so they decided that we would all get bags together of a few important things, and then meet at the branch building as missionaries. So we met there, talked about procedures and what we would do if an earthquake were to happen, and then we all went back home. We all said a pray together and were calm. And, in the end of all of it, there was no giant size 9 earthquake at exactly 1015. People said that there was an earthquake early in the morning at 230 and another at like 9 in the morning, but we did not feel a thing. I don't know why. I decided in the end that at least we were prepared if anything were to happen, even though i thought the whole thing was just silly.

So yea, this past week my companion has been in moscow getting a new visa too, and so I was with Sister Gorkavenko for a few days, and then I was with a mini missionary. It was good. We got more no shows then I wanted, but I think it was a good experience for my young little mini missionary. I think she had fun and enjoyed sharing her testimony. So yea, this past week we have just been working on trying to get Ipara ready for her baptism. And I pray everything goes well this next week when I will be in Tula I think. It will be fun to see a new city, and to meet some new sister missionaries here. I don't know anyone in our mission anymore. They are all new, and I have been down in Almaty where we see no one. When I was sitting in the plane this morning, I looked out the window and thought to myself, "wow, i cannot believe that it has already been six months since I have been to russia." crazy how time flies. And last night i cried myself to sleep, thinking about going on the plane. Because it made me think" wow, what will it be like when I really have to leave, for good." and it was scary to think about, and hard to explain. It is just a weird feeling. And I am doing my best to enjoy every minute, and not think about how sad it will be when I need to say goodbye to the families I have met here on the mission. anyways, lets get off that subject.

Well i love you all! Thank you for your support and encouraging words every week. Keep up the good work and have a wonderful week! and happy mother's day mom and grandma's!!! I love you all so much!!!! seriously!!! I don't think I have said that enough before. I love you! Until Sunday when we talk! and then our email again next week!

Loves, hugs, and kisses!!

Sister Brown

what up! 27 April 2011

2011-05-19T10:26:00.000-06:00

Hello!

as always, it is great to hear from everyone!!! i just love it! I am glad everyone had a great easter and enjoyed being together as a family. thank you gma for those pictures, it was great to see everyone holding up all those awesome letters i wrote them. sister gorkavenko and her companion are here emailing too, and I showed her the picture and the awesome card she wrote you. She was excited. it is so weird that we wrote those letters, they traveled across the country, and now you have them!

So lets see. What did i want to tell you this week. well, it was kinda disappointing, but our "miracle investigator" turned into just one massive big no show. I honestly don't know what happened. We called her and she was so excited to come to the baptism and the activity and church, and then all the sudden she just showed up to nothing and she never answers our phone calls anymore. Really weird and lame. oh well. we will keep working i guess. Kinda strange how those things happen, i guess miracles just don't ever really happen that fast? So sunday was easter right? and so saturday night at midnight they had the midnight mass at the Russian Orthodox church. So president wanted us to go to experience the culture, and so we got together as a district that night and went to the mass. When we first got there I was totally a little creeped out. It was dark outside and there were just tons and tons of people gathered outside the cathedral. And there was this creepy sounding bell that kept ringing, and the mood honestly I felt like someone just died. It was interesting. And then we went into the church, and at midnight the priests filed in by chanting things and singing songs, and holding icons and candles and incense and stuff like that. Then we followed them out in this huge crowd of people. it felt like a mosh pit. And then the preists just kept circling the church saying "Christ is risen, Christ is risen" And we and all the people would say back "in truth, He has risen" and that just happened over and over again. People that night walked around with candles that they would then set in the church, and then all carried around this traditional cake that everyone makes for easter. After the ceremony though, it started to feel more like a party than church, because everyone was smoking and started drinking. it was interesting. But I really enjoyed the experience. I honestly thought that ceremonies like that were only in the movies. I didn't really think that people still did masses like that. And then we were just thinking about how this all came about. And how did the Russian Orthodox church think up to do all these rituals and icons just from reading from the bible. It was all very interesting to us, and i would like to read more and learn more about it all.

On Sunday, there was a special sacrament at church for easter. and then after church we had a lesson at a members house with an investigator that is american. she is here for work and has heard a lot about the church because her boyfriend in america is a member. But we are her first missionaries, so that is kinda cool. So, it was totally weird teaching a discussion in front of like 5 american people. I am just not used to it. And I kept on trying to speak english, but all my filler words (like umm and hmm and things like that) turned into russian filler words, so it just sounded kind of funny and me and the only other russian that was there just laughed about it together. So easter evening, all the missionaries and the americans around here gathered at an american's family home in the branch here. We had really yummy food and desserts. it was great. And sister cianflone and I gave the spiritual thought. I think it went super well. There were young kids there, and so we had to do a lesson that would keep them occupied and interested. So we thought what can we do? And then I remembered that when we were young you used to have those eggs that we filled with objects that symbolized the story of the resurrection of Jesus. And so i thought lets to something like that. And we thought they would enjoy to break real eggs, and it was difficult finding the plastic ones to buy. So, we took real eggs and blew out the egg in the middle by making the two holes on the top and bottom, and then we died them cool colors, and then instead of putting an object in because that is like impossible, we drew pictures of the object on little pieces of paper and rolled them up super tiny and stuck them inside. So for our thought we first had the children find the eggs, and then they took turns breaking open the egg and finding out what was inside and we would read the story together. It was lots of fun and I think they enjoyed it. So, we were happy.

So our investigator Ipara still has her baptismal date on. she is very nervous though, and I can really sympathize with her. She is strong to make this decision even though she is scared about her family. I just don't know how to teach and comfort her. But, I pray that the holy spirit will be with us to help us teach her. We went to here home on friday and she made us a delicious national meal. It was great to be there with her and fun to watch how she home made some awesome noodles. it was cool. she is great.

So today sister cianflone and the other greenies here are flying to moscow to get there 6 month visa. So, she will probably be gone for about a week our something. Which kinda stinks cause it gets in the way of our work a little bit. So, i will be with a young girl from the ward and sister Gorkavenko will be with another young girl from the ward. I hope it all works out ok. and then when they get back, I will soon after leave to go to moscow also to get me a new visa, if president is still planning on having me stay the rest of my mission here in almaty. We will see! and i will keep you updated for sure!

I just wanted to tell you all too that I absolutely love meeting with the members here. Hearing their stories and about their lives and how they came to the church and things. Their strength and courage is amazing to me. I absolutely love them. Lately, when I visit members, I just get so happy and just want to cry. I know this is bad, but I start thinking about, "what will it be like when I am home!!!" I will miss these people so so much you don't even know. All the members, and the investigators, and the missionaries and my companions. Every time I think about going home, that part makes me super depressed. Just thinking wow, what if I never see them again. That is horrible. I want to cry every time. The Lord has greatly blessed me with this opportunity to meet all these wonderful people.

anyways! I love you all. thank you for writing. It sounds like things are going well. Keep up the great work! I love you very much and never forget it! Until next week!

All my love!

The one and only, Sister Brown!

Sister Acacia Brown 20 April 2011

2011-04-21T11:53:00.001-06:00

Hello!!

wow! thank you thank you for all the wonderful and fun pictures!!! I very much enjoyed them! I am glad you all had fun and got back safely. And mom, I am glad that everything turned out with the taxes and things. Those really sound like fun.

Lets see. Looking back at this week it has been pretty eventful. It has had its ups, and its downs. First of all, Friday we set a baptismal date with Ipara!!! She will be baptized on the 14th of May. We are so happy for her!!! And my companion is just an amazing missionary. She relates so well with the investigators and members, and she is an amazing teacher. I am learning more from her than I am teaching her. Saturday President Woolley called me and told me some news. Who knows, things in this mission change quite often, so maybe it won't really end up like this. But he was telling me that there were some problems with how my russian visa and kazak visa line up or something. And that my kazak visa ends in the middle of May, and that I will go to russia and get a new kazak visa, and he said that I will stay in almaty for the rest of my mission!!! I was so shocked! I never expected voronezh to be my first and last city in russia! crazy right? And he said also that if that is what we will do, that i will stay here till the end, and then i won't have a visa to get back to russia. And, so i won't be on my last dinner and meeting with all the elders and sisters going home with me in moscow. sad right? He said I would just fly home by myself straight from almaty to america. And he said that he and sister woolley would try to get a tourist visa or something to come down to almaty and say goodbye before i head off. So that is the news now, but honestly, it changes ALL the time. So i was super shocked about it, but I guess Im not getting too set on it. You don't know here until like a week before! I love Russia!!!! i miss it!

After we have split our investigators with the other sisters, we have spent a lot of time contacting, and have had a lot of difficulty finding people that want to meet with us. we have received contacts, but they all give us no shows or say they don't or can't meet. And yesterday, after another day of calling and calling and trying to find out meetings, and getting absolutely nothing, I was completely down on myself. I sat there and wondered, what have I done wrong. Why every time i become the senior missionary, our statistics go super down and it is just very hard to find people to teach. I was very excited about the baptismal date with Ipara, but at the same time, I wanted to have other investigators also, and other people to teach to keep our teaching pool going. And I just got super down, didn't want to do anything, didn't understand what to do because i was already trying to do all that I can. And so I talked to my companion for a little bit, she gave me a good little psychology session talk, and then we headed back outside again to go contacting. I didn't want to, but as we started talking to people my mood got better. And just as we were walking near the branch building, I saw a young woman, who looked happy and sweet, and we went to talk to her. she started talking to us in english, asking us if we knew english. She started getting interested too in what we were doing there, and she was interested in learning more about our church. She converted to muslim religion not long ago, but she still is way open to learning about other religions. We asked her if she had time at that moment to meet with us and learn more, and she was like "yea! of course!" And so we went to the branch building and taught her the first lesson. She prayed at the end of the lesson. She took the Book of Mormon and wants to read and pray about it. She took the Liahona's to read. She is coming to another baptism and easter activity we have on saturday. She is coming to church on Sunday. And, we have another lesson with her on Monday. Can you believe that?!!!! The entire time we were teaching her, I just looked at her and thought to myself, "There I was early today, complaining about how hard it is for us right now. Asking why it can't always be easy to teach the gospel, and I wanted to give up. I just felt, when, when will we see some progress. We are trying so hard!!! And then, just like that, we experienced this amazing amazing amazing miracle!!
I was shocked and so grateful, and just wanted to cry. I expressed thanks to our Heavenly Father the rest of the night. It was amazing! He just watches over us. He sees our different struggles, and He truly blesses us. Usually it is not always as quickly as this miracle was we witnessed yesterday, but the blessings and the miracles come. We just need the faith and the patience. God never leaves us stranded : )

So on to your questions, yea dad, the duck meat was pretty greasy, but it was good, probably like chicken or something. And I hope everything is ok with all the rain and water and that flooding does not happen. Everyone here keeps telling us about tornadoes and floods in America and how they watch tv and just hear that it is "horrible" over there. So what's up over there? Ok, so i forgot to tell you that my companion is from the Newbury Park Stake there in California. That is where Jenelle and David are from, right? She said she did not know them though. She is from Agoura Hills. How close is that to you, Jenelle?

Well, that is probably about it for this week. I think i wanted to say something else, but i forgot, and I didn't write it down. darn! Oh well. I love you! Never forget it! Keep up the good work and do what is right! Be safe! I love you! Have a wonderful week! Until next week!

All my love!
Sister Brown, the one and only

PS. Oh my gosh! I forgot to tell you happy easter! so..... Happy Easter!!! I hope you have a great one, and let us all remember the real reason we celebrate Easter. I am so grateful to my Savior and His atonement, and that through Him all is made possible. Never forget how much our Heavenly Father and Savior love you!!! Have a wonderful Holiday!

Loves! sis brown

another week! 14 April 2011

2011-04-21T11:51:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!

This has been a good week. Pretty busy, with its own ups and downs. So last P-day, we went to the canyons. it was beautiful and fun. Thursday was my last day as a companion with Sister Gorkavenko, we taught some really good lessons, and then tried to get me moved into my new apt : ) funny funny, because when we went to go move in, the lock had completely given up on us, and did not work at all. So we were kinda excited, because we thought that we would all have to live together in a four-some while we waited for the lock to be fixed. But, we woke up friday and went and picked up our new greeny companions!!! They were super tired. I remember that day : ) We had some lessons, and then the man already changed our lock, so Sister Cianflone and I moved into our new apartment and unpacked and did some good planning. Lets see, so that was friday, and then saturday we watched conference. It was wonderful!!! I loved the spirit. The weather was great too and we had our weekly sports activity with our investigators after the two conference sessions. Sunday, we watched the last 2 conference sessions. It was great again. I really enjoyed the talk by Uckdorf and by Scott and Holland. But everyone had wonderful messages and I enjoyed it all. I thought about how growing up I always watched conference at home in my pj's and almost always undoubtedly, fell asleep and never really got much out of conference. man! silly girl!! what was I thinking?!! I don't want to do that again. Conference is a wonderful opportunity to feel the spirit and to receive inspiration and guidance. I really love it, and always look forward to it. Let's see, so the rest of the week has been pretty good so far. It has been a little difficult because we don't have as many lessons as usual, because we just split all our meetings and investigators with the other sisters. And we have gotten a lot of no shows, and then when that happens, i think, and my companion asks, "so what do we do now?" And i think "um, good question"? I need to be better at making good back up plans. but usually we just end up contacting during that time. We have had some pretty successful contacting.

So my companion is Sister Cianflone from LA california. She is 21 and went to byu and is majoring in international and public relations. She is very outgoing and very excited about the work. So, I thought I was going to do a lot of talking and thought that this would be good because I really need to improve my speaking skills. But, she talks about as much as I do! Her russian is very good, and even when she doesn't speak it correctly, she still speaks something. It is pretty funny, but she is a great example to me with how courageous she is about talking to people. She honestly talks to everyone! Seriously. Sometimes it is super funny and a little awkward, but its good. The more people we talk to the more people we will find. I do really miss being companions with Sister Gorkavenko, we became great friends. But, I am glad she is still in our district and that we can see her. But it is weird not teaching together and contacting together and having the same investigators and things. But, I am really excited about my new companion, and as I rely on the Lord and do my best to be happy where I am, I know that we can really see miracles happen.

Lets see. We have a meeting on Friday with Ipara. She came to conference on Sunday and really enjoyed it. She loved it! We are working on setting a baptismal date with her. We will see how it goes!!

Ok, so we just got back from the mountains. and i don't have a ton of time until it is time to go out and work. the mountains were fun. And we ate duck!!!! yea, it was actually super good. and I got sunburned uber bad, but it was fun in the nice fresh mountain air. The weather has been sunny and nice and very warm lately. We love it. I am nervous though, because all my summer clothes i left in moscow, not thinking I would be here that long! so i am basically burning up!

I am glad you are all having a wonderful time and thank you so much for the emails!!! And I loved the pics of rhen! that is awesome! and I do wish with all my heart too that I could have been there. That would have been sweet. I look at those pictures and just get a big smile. In that first picture you just look at him touch the ball and it looks like he just has a super big smile on his face. totally awesome!!

Well, i love you! Thank you again for you prayers and love. I pray for you all the time and love you all so much! Keep up the good work and doin what's right! Until next week!

All my love!
Sister Brown

my loves!! 5 April 2011

2011-04-06T16:03:00.000-06:00

Hello!

It is great to hear from you all! sounds like everyone is keeping busy as usual. thats good I guess. Oh my gosh! i just looked at all the pictures you sent and they were awesome! Angela is a hottie mic hot hot, and all of her clothes are new! and that purse! love it! Where are you finding all the money to get all these stylish clothes girl!!!! and your hair is so dang long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wow!!!!!!!!! it has grown so long since i left! my companion got her hair cut the other day and she wants to let it grow out long, so she just got a trim. And I was just dreaming a little bit about long hair and how awesome it would be if my hair were thick enough and I could have beautiful long locks of hair, (big sigh) oh well. enough about that. and that picture of us looking at the Russian dolls that Brant brought home from his mission was awesome! yea, no one ever knew that long ago that I too would be serving a mission in russia too! Pretty cool!

So i am glad that conference went well. We are very excited to watch, we will watch this weekend. And no, our new companions are not here yet, they are waiting in Russia for their kazak visas. But they will be here friday morning. I have to be honest, im nervous!!! but it will all work out. It is so weird to move out of the apartment that I am so used to, and to leave sister gorkavenko again. We have served together quite a while on our missions, and she really has became a great friend and honestly like a sister to me. I just can't think of the fact that both our missions will end soon, and if I don't earn up enough money, maybe it will be the last time I will see her. oh well, thinking about that is depressing : ( so we will just work super hard on our missions and live each day to the fullest, because it flies in
the blink of an eye.

Ipara is doing really well. She came to church again on Sunday with her sister in law and they both enjoyed it again. She keeps telling me that every time she comes to the church she feels like miracles are happening. I love her, she is a sweetheart. Her son and niece came to sports day last saturday and played with us. It was lots of fun and they really enjoyed it and want to come back. I will be teaching Ipara, she likes it when we teach her completely in english, so me and my new companion will do that. And then sister gorkavenko and her companion will teach ipara's niece and sister in law.

Dad, thanks for the little updates of what all the kids and you and mom are all doing. it is great to hear. The weather did get super lovely and warm, and then sunday was some crazy snow storm just all of the sudden. So now we have snow again and it is cold, and I pulled out the cheap boots of mine that are now literally falling apart. They should last me though if the sun and warmth will come out soon and
stay out!

that is awesome that you are going to see david and jenelle's family. Tell them I say hello!! and be safe and have fun!!!

yes, mom, things look good with the classes. it is honestly freaky and weird to think that I already know what I will be doing next fall semester. Me and sister gorkavenko sat and looked at my schedule and discussed how our universities are different. And we were just like wow, weird, that my fall semester is already planned out and I am still on the mission!

so can i just tell you that living in the real world is freaky to me. yesterday when sis. G got a hair trim really quick, there was a tv in the salon, and they were showing different famous people and stuff, you know, worldly things. And I was thinking ah, ah. get me out of here! i don't want to see this and I don't want to live in the real world. It was crazy. I wanted to leave as quick as possible and I never ever want to watch tv when i get home. And we just talked about how crazy it is as missionaries that we really contrast much with the world, and we like it that way : )

Well, family and friends, I love you! Keep working hard and doing what's right. Have a wonderful week, and next time I will give you an update on the new apt and new companion. Until next week!

All my love,
Sister Brown

yea!!! 30 March 2011

2011-04-03T14:02:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone!!!

This week has been pretty good. the weather has been wonderful and we have really really really loved that! We have worn shoes and I hope that our boots are in the closet for good this time. Sunday, our investigator, Ipara, came to church with her daughter, and also with her sister-in-law and her niece and nephew!!! it was awesome! They really enjoyed it. Yesterday, we had a meeting with Ipara, and we invited her to be baptized. She said that she wants to but this is a very big decision and that she is nervous about it. But, she is really praying and reading and searching for her answer. She said that when she does receive her answer, that she will be baptized. We pray that it is sooner than later so that Satan does not have too much time to work on her. But she is sweet and wonderful, and we love her. So, my new companion got into moscow today, and now they are just waiting for their visas to kazakhstan. So, hopefully in the next week or so they will make it down here to us. Yes, i do know where I am living. It is super close by, just the apt. that the elders who left to Astana lived it when they were here. We cleaned there the other day, and that is a whole other story. Ill tell you at the end...but today, Ipara is coming with us to a member's house to have dinner and a lesson. So we are very excited about that and hope that she will make great friends here in the branch. So it is kinda weird that we are about to have 2 sets of sisters here. We are working on dividing up our investigators and recent converts and things. We have already divided them up and things, but of course it is hard and a sad to know that you will not be teaching them again like you did earlier. but, hopefully I will still see them at the branch building when they come to meet with Sister G and her new companion.

Ok so my story about the apartment, i just cant think of anything else to write right now. We had some time the other day, and so we planned to go over to the apt. and clean, so that it would be all ready to go for me to move my things in and for my new companion to come home to a clean apartment. So we went over there, and did not expect to be cleaning for so long. But there was just dust and dirt and random things stuffed in places that had been there for years and years through i don't know how many elders. It was kinda funny how much stuff was there. But anyways, it was taking a while, and it was already lunch time and we wanted to run and grab something to eat. So we walked out the door, and I forgot the keys! The door slammed behind us, and it is one of those crazy doors with its own mind. When it closes it automatically locks halfway. It was horrible!!! I wanted to cry, because the apt. was still left in a pig sty, and it wasn't looking like we would get to finish that day. We had some lunch, and then we called the landlord to ask her if she had an extra key. We traveled on the bus to her home, she gave us all the keys she had. We tried them, and none of them were the correct key. We got to the branch building, and the elders wanted to help us out. We remembered that we left the window open, and that the apt. is on the 2nd floor. So we thought they could help out. Then we remember that the window has one of those iron bar fences on it. So...one of the elders who is super daring and loves to do crazy things like that, jumped fences, and jumped onto a ledge and tried to squeeze himself through the iron bars. It didn't work out and we were all worried for him, and the neighbors who saw us thought we were crazy, and called a key master for us. Finally the key master got there and worked on the key lock forever, while in the meantime the elders were still trying to get in through the window. They were stressing me out. I didn't want to witness an elders death that day because I forgot to grab the keys. So finally after forever, the man opened the door, and then we found the keys inside and he tested them. He kept telling us that this is the wrong key, it doesn't work! And i was like that is the only key we have and that is the right key. He is like no no it doesn't work. Finally we got the key to work but it works pretty bad. We think he messed up our lock as he was trying to open the door. So the key worked ok, but we just wanted to make sure that it opened up the door. I went inside and shut the door, and Sister G and the elders had the key and were working on opening the door. Then I don't know what happened, but they couldn't open the door with the key. And the door locked on me, and I could not open the door from the inside. it was horrible!!! I tried everything i could do to get the door open, but it was stuck or something and I couldn't do anything. And the key master man started yelling and screaming at me telling me all these things to do, and i was doing them!!! and he just kept yelling and saying that you are not doing it right. If you were it would open! Finally after what seemed like an eternity, I kept doing what i was doing, and then the door just opened. The key man ran away in a flash, because he knew he had destroyed our key lock!!! oh well, it works ok now and hopefully we won't get locked in again in the future. Welp, that is my story, it was a long day : ) and a long story, haha.

Thank you for sending me the email from president. And thank you for the pictures!!!!! They were very fun to see. Joe and Noelle are growing up big. What cuties!!! I want to squeeze them!!! I love you all and it sounds like things are going good. Keep me updated and have a wonderful week! until next week!!!

All my love!
Sister Brown

Oh My Gosh!!! 23 March 2011

2011-03-28T10:48:00.000-06:00

Hello!

First off, i cannot believe you found my camera!!! That is honestly so
crazy! How did we not see it before! I remember when I lost it
searching the house over and over and over again, and I don't know how
many times i searched your closet!!!! Seriously! how was it hidden? I
remember thinking maybe joe broke it into pieces and threw it away? i
was just so mad and frustrated that my camera disappeared!. Honestly,
that is crazy! I cannot believe that I did not find it there before.
Man, now im kinda frustrated. We wasted money on a new camera for me
when my old one was just hiding in your closet all this time! crazy
crazy!

Lets see. What about this week? The weather has been a lot nicer and
the sun has been out. We have enjoyed it. The last couple days has
been this holiday called Наурыз. It is a kazak and muslim new year. It
is supposed to symbolize the new year after winter and that spring is
coming. So there have been a lot of people outside and crazy bike
riding gangs because not many of the kids are in school. Its pretty
fun. Missionary work is going as usual. I am having a really great
time serving with Sister Gorkavenko. It is lots of fun. (ps dman, we
are in the internet club right now. and halo is playing, by beyonce.
and it is some awesome strange remix, but cool. I am totally thinking
of you right now!) ok. but yea, We are having a great time serving
together. So for the longest time I have known that president wants me
to train next transfer, but yesterday he called us and actually told
us who we will be training and a little bit about them. And it all
became super real to me and now I am super scared!!!! She is an
american from LA, California, and I am very excited and everything,
but at the same time super nervous. The first impression she has of
missionary work is from me, and I have to teach her how to live and
speak in a country and language that also isn't even my own. So, right
now I feel quite inadequate. But, i know that things will be ok. I
will still be here in almaty, but sister G with her new companion will
be in the apt. we have now, and i will move with my companion to a new
one. So that will take a little adjusting too. Just a new place and
all. And I don't like packing up and moving my things, but it will be
good and fun!!!

Last saturday there were two baptisms of the elders. It was great. And
yes, now finally all the elders that are serving in Astana have been
sent there and have started proselyting and things. We haven't heard
much, but I think things are going pretty well up there. It is pretty
exciting that the new city opened. I am trying to think if there is
any other news to tell you, but I can't really think. I think there is
something, but the music here is blasting, distracting, and I can't
think super well. So, I guess that is a sign that it is about time to
sign off.

Well, i love you all! Thank you for the emails and have a great week!
Until next week!

All my love,
Sister Brown

PS i just sent president an email for the week, and I decided that I
would copy and paste it for you to read. just super simple. enjoy!

Hello President!

This week has been a good one. We had a good lesson with our
investigator Ipara. I love her. She is super sweet and is really
looking for peace in her life. I pray that she can recognize that
peace in the gospel.

We also met with an old investigator that knew Sister Zhumazonova. It
was a good meeting and we are going to get her to come to church with
us this Sunday. She prayed on our lesson and said she had never prayed
out loud before in front of other people. So i was very excited and
happy for her!

Alla, Dima's wife, is doing very well. She looks very happy, and we
are also very happy for her.

Farida is amazing. She just got baptized and is already doing so much
missionary work. She is giving our address and invitations to people,
and just the other day, a woman called us and said that she met Farida
in a taxi and that Farida told her about us and that she needs to meet
with us ASAP! So she called us the next day and we set up a meeting.
It was great!!!

Well, I think that is about it for the week! Thank you for everything!

Love,
Sister Brown