Conference Weekend

Hey everyone!

Week two in Russia! I feel like I've been on my mission forever (in a good way). This past week has been crazy. We started the week with a prettybig teaching pool, then we saw it slowly get whittled down to a few so-so investigators. Last Monday we had a lesson with a young mother named Shenya (one day I'll find the cyrillic button on this keyboard). Anywho, she was absolutely golden. The spirit was so strong and she started talking about how she felt so impatient as a mother and how she felt that meeting with us was a small light into how she could be a better mother and create a better family. At one point she was pretty near tears. We both felt that she was ready to hear more about the church, then when we met with her two days later, she told us that she wasn't interested, that we "had our church and that was great," but that she couldn't go against family tradition, etc., etc. It was hard to hear, but we're not giving up on her. She's just a piece of gold that doesn't know how great she is yet.

We've also found a few new investigators this week, all in random ways. First of all, I am a babooskha machine! For some reason, these women love me. They yell at me for not dressing warm enough, look at me funny when they see "Sine" on my nametag, and then they love me for no reason at all! Haha. I don't get it. Anywho, I placed about 5 Book of Mormons this past week, all with babooshkas. One of then, Tatyana, we saw the day after we gave it to her (and read Moroni's promise with her) and she couldn't stop thanking me for it. She cluched it against her chest and keep saying, "spaciba-vam!" (thank you). It turns out she'd erad all the way to 2nd Nephi the night before and her daughter was interested in reading it too. It was nuts! Then there's Eura, who called us during general conference yesterday (Yes! we got to watch it. More on that later) and told us that he found our number on an invite that he'd been given months and months ago and that he wanted to meet with us and learn about the Book of Mormon. We thought, "Well, sure. We can do that." So we met with him later last night and introduced the Book of Mormon to him. He's the greatest. He's 60/70 years old and lives all by himself. He told us he's been searching for 'something' for a long time; my companion promised he'd find it in the Book of Mormon and there was just this moment where the spirit sort of shocked us. It was really, really powerful. I can't wait to meet with him again. 

Other than that, everything's peachy. I love this place. I love that life moves slower here, I love the food, I love the clothes that people pile on even when it's 60 degrees outside, I love the language, I love the weather. It's exactly where I'm meant to be. OH! we also made borsche this past week. Sister Pierce almost lost a few eyebrows in the process due to a few huge flames. It was hilarious. We laugh non-stop. She reminds me a lot of Elizabeth Brady. A lot! It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Now, conference. Who noticed the theme of becoming converted? Because I DID. Holy cow. The announcement about missionary work was incredible, then everything after that just expanded on it. Testimonies aren't enough anymore. It reminded me a lot of a lesson we had with Brat. Burdis and Brat Hofman in the MTC. (Hi, Brat Hofman!) He directed us to Matthew 5:48, which says that we are to be perfected like our Heavenly Father. THEN we went to 3 Nephi 13:48 (I hope that's the right chapter), where it says that we are to be perfect, "like Heavenly Father AND Jesus Christ." Christ was perfect while he was on the Earth, but he wasn't complete until he completed the resurrection and the atonement. WE might have testimonies, but we are not complete until we've been converted to the point where our will and the Lord's will are indentical. I love it. 


Anywho, I'm running out of time. I love you all! I miss you all everyday. I heard Bon Jovi on the bus the other day and REALLY missed singing in the car with Mary Alice. And LARK is thinking about a mission!!! That's the best news in the world! She's going to be the best missionary. Tell her I'm so, so, so proud of her. She'll never regret it. Anywho, thanks for all you guys do for me. Keep praying for the missionaries and their investigators. And work on that conversion, everyone :)


Love, Sister Sine

Last note: I've been having the craziest dreams since coming to Russia. The other night I dreamt that I was dating Bigfoot against Dad's wishes and last night I dreamt that I was Cinderella and my prince was Alec Baldwin. I have no idea what they mean, but I think it's something good...?