Hello again from your favorite russian missionary (i hope) haha

Well i want you all to know how much i love you, its ALOT. So everything is going great here in Novosibirsk. We just started our new tranfser, so that means i am no long a brand new missionary!! YAY There are now 7 new missionaries that just got here from the mtc, so i am now basically an old missionary :) My new companion Sister Bystrova is great. She is from a small town near Moscow and she has been serving for 10 months. So she is my new senior comp. The first little while with a new companion can been a little different because you dont know each other but you are with each other 24/7, but her and i are adjusting very well together.

So not much exciting has happened this last week, sorry. This last week unfortunately was a little slow with the work. With my companion Sister kiselyova leaving and getting her to the right place to leave to go home took almost a whole day and i wasnt able to have an meetings and then I had to wait 2 days for my new companion to come. So for two day I was either with sister boggs (She has been in the mission the same amount of time as me, which means we both dont speak much russian) or with Danna, who i was on an exchange with for half a day. So that was hard because first sister boggs and I are used to being the jr companion and having our senior companions basically planning what we would do. So haha sister boggs and I felt a little lost. And then when i was on the exchange with Danna all of the meetings i had set up with investigators and members fell through and they all had to cancel. Haha so then we had to scramble to get some new meetings. But it all worked out. Danna has only been a member for a few weeks but she did so great as my companion for the day. She taught and testified about the gospel in our meetings as if she had always been a member. She is awesome and has so much faith in the lord. The things I am seeing as a missionary are amazing. Growing up in rexburg can cause you to forget that not everyone in the world are members of the church. Here is Russian the only people who were born in the church are teenagers or little kids, everyone else are converts and when they tell their stories of how they became members its amazing to hear. Its amazing to personally see the revelations about how the gospel will be preached to every nation, kindred, and tounge be fullfilled. Its happening in Russia. Russia is new to the gospel, missionaries have only been here for a short time, but the Lord loves EVERYONE, here in Russian, in America, in Africa, England, Mecixo, EVERYWHERE!!! The Lord will provide a way for everyone to hear the Gospel, but he needs our help. The gospel will not penetrate the hearts of the poeple of the world if someone (members) doesnt first share it with them. There are people around us everyday that the Lord is placing in our path for us to help. They may be people who have never heard of the gospel or they may be inactive members who need a helping hand and a friend in the gospel. We are so blessed to have the knowledge of the gospel, we learn more and more about it every day as we study the scriptures, words of the prophets, attend church, ect. This is all preparation for us to be prepared to SHARE the gospel. Why gain a knowledge of the gospel and the truth of a message that is the way to salvation and not share it with all we now. I pray that you all will look for opportunities to help in this great work. There is no greater feeling then seeing someone you know and love accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and choose to follow him and either be baptized or change their lives in accordance with the gospel. REMEMBER the Lord needs OUR help!

So mom about that cereal you asked about, yes i know what your are talking about, and yes it is really good. I havent had any for awhile so thanks for reminding me. If you want i can try to send some home. Yeah its like Chex with creamy vanilla or chocolate inside.
So I do want a new coat, but i am not sure how much it will be. I will look around and see what the prices are let you know how much to put in my account. I also need some new glove because i left mine on a bus the other day, but i will prob get those soon. So basically only the coat for christmas.

Well i love you all so much and cant wait to get emails from every single person reading this email :) love ya love ya love ya

Sister Gneiting

Hello my wonderful family and friends,
Well it has been another great week in Novosibirsk Russia. Mom I will answer this questions you sent me and then try to write more so i can make dad happy haha. btw dad YAYYYYYYYYY THE YANKEES ROCK!!!! great time to be a yankees fan!!


Who is your new companion?
So we had transfers this week and my old companion finished her mission and flew home this morning. She was great and i will miss her. My new companion will be Sister Bystrova. I dont really know anything about her , she gets here tomorrow night.

Are you still in Novo?
YES IM IN NOVO!!!!! Im so happy cuz i am not ready to leave here yet. there is still to much work here and i have some great investiators.

Who else are you teaching and what do you spend most of your time doing?
We teach investigators, new converts, and member (so we can get them involved and excited about during missionary work and get referrals from them). Era is one of our investigators, she is 22 and is great. We found her in the area book which is a book that has info on old investigators. She was taught once by some sisters 2 years ago. We stared meeting with her almost two weeks ago. She is very interested in the church and learning more. She always has great questions. I think she will be baptized, but we arent puching her because she told us she didnt like how the last sisters tried to puch her into baptism. She is coming to alot of church actives and is making friends with the young single adults in Novo, which is great. So i am excited about her and rthe progress she is making. We also teaching Ula who has a baptismal date for later this month. she loves the church and knows it is true, but she smokes and we are working with her on that. Also we are teaching Looda, she is 22 and knows alot about the church, her sister is a member. She likes the church but we are helping her to see that the church is true. We havent been able to meet with her for about a week or so but we have a meeting with her tomorrow. There is also another girl named Ula who is 23 and we have taught althrough last transfer. She has ups and downs of he excitment about the church. But this last week we had a good meeting with her and she is thinking about baptism. So those a some of our many investigators. They are all great and I feel like they all will be baptized sometime, when im not sure, but they are great

Have you had any other baptisms?
Me and my companion personal no, but in our zone we have had 2 others. In our mission right now we have a goal of getting a total of 144 baptisms for the year. WE have 56 left to get. Now this goal is quit a stretch for a Russian mission, but all the missionaries in the mission are working really hard to get this goal. There was been some amazing stories of miracles that have happened has we have worked to accomplish this goal. We know the Lord is helping us and we wants us to get 144 baptism, and if we can faith in the lord and are obidient and work hard we will get our goal and miracles will and are already happening to bring Gods children unto baptism.

Do you go tracking?
I havent spent much time tracking. We have alot of meeting with investigators, new converts, less actives, and members through out the day that we dont track much. On our way to places though on buses, subways, and on the sidewalks we track.

What kind of food do you eat?
A really popular food in Russia is blini, which is like a crap rolled up like a burrito with stuff inside. My companion (well old companion) and i would eat those alot. We would buy frozen ones at the grocery store and cook them through out thr week. I have had borsh a few times, but i dont really like it. I am still searching for borsh i like because most poeple seem to say borsh is really good. Also there are these things called palmini which is kind of like ravioli, those are good. Inside them is different kinds of meet. We eat pretty normal stuff though. I dont like Russian salads though, which is a bummer cuz i love salad.

Is there McDonalds in Russia? hahaha
There are McDonalds, but none is Novo that i am aware of. When I was in Moscow i saw one though. Russia doesnt have any fast food place. In america there are fast food places on like every corner, but here there are like none, that why people are so skinny here probably. On every corner in Russia though there is a ice cream stand, like how in rexburg there are a bunch of snow shack, thats what it reminds me off. But seriously on ever corner you can get ice cream and they stay open all through winter.

Are you warm enough and have all of your winter clothes?
Yeah i am warm, come on Im from Rexburg. I think I will get a new coat maybe with the money for christmas. The coat i have when i wear it i feel like an old lady, but i havent decided for sure if i will get a new one.

Are you still able to open the pictures that I send in my emails?
Yes i have been able to open all of them, thank you thank you. Send more


OK so i answered all the questions, unfortunatly I am out of time haha sorry dad. But i think i went into detail about most of those questions and thats basically tells you alot about my life here haha. i did want to tell you one thing that happened this week. We were at a meeting at this ladies house who is inactive and as we were talking with her her son and a friend of his came into the kitchen where we were. They were probably abut 23 or 24. Well the friend started talking to me but i couldnt understand his Russian and waht he was saying, so the lady whos house it was told him, "she is american and she is learning russian" well then the kid starts talking to more and i have no idea what he is saying. I though he was telling me that i needed to go to school and learn russian so i could talk to him, haha so i say in russian " OK good" and then my companion say " NO sister No not good" and then I though AHHHHHHH What did i jsut say good too. Well i just stop talking and everyone is laughing and finally the boys leave. So i turn to my comp and ask what did i say and she told me " You said you would go on a date with him" haha I though oh my goodness!!! haha so that was way funny. So i am doing missionary work and getting dates, haha great life.

Well i have to go, but i love you all so much and thanks for all your love, support, and emails.

love,
Sister Gneiting

Hello from Russia!!
So today is a holiday, it is The Day of Unity, or something like that. I have asked a couple Russians what this holiday is all about and they dont really know haha. Danna said its not important, but i said important enough to get school off!! yeah
DANNA WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!! it was beatiful! She is such an amazing girl and so such a strong follower of christ. She is so knowledgable in the gospel too, she is very impressive. So on saturday she was baptized and then sunday confirmed! OH It was just amazing. There is no greater joy then seeing someone choice to follow Christ and then be baptized. Missionary work is amazing. So to answer your question mom about why Danna said she would need your prayers more then ever is because, well i am assuming she meant, her parents still dont agree with the church and they dont know she was baptized. She is an adult though so she decided for her self to be baptized. She is scared what they will do if they find out, she lives with them and they are her means of income. They had threatened her before that if she was baptized they would kick her out of the house. So that is why she needs all your prayers. That shows how amazing she is and how strong of a testimony she has in the Lord and the Gospel. She knows the Lord will take care of her, she has the faith.
So as we were walking to this internet cafe there was a celebration from the holiday today and there was a stage with some people singing Russian musica and bunch of people dancing. We started dancing with them and i took some picture. I will attach some. They are of my companion and I and Sister Boggs and Sister woodhouse (the one who feel into the hole at the simmons house haha she is the one that looks hawiian).
So the last few days all the snow melted, so that was sad. I thought I was in for the sibirian winter, but then it went away. But then this morning we woke up to more white snow. So we are in a winter wonderland again :) its not very cold yet though.
So transfers are next week. Transfer calls are on saturday, which is when Pres Trejo will call us and tell us where we will be going and who our new companions will be. My amazing companion Sister Kiseylova is leaving me :( she is done with her mission. So she is heading home to St. petersburg next week. I am pretty sure i am staying here in Novo, because i have heard through the grape vine. I will let you know next week though. Or maybe Danna will tell you on facebook sooner. Funny story, yesterday I called Danna to see if she would help us with a teaching appointment and as i was talking to her she told me she was on facebook looking at moms and amys facebooks haha yup funny so she read a few things that were on your pages. She knows more about you then I do.
Sorry this email isnt very long. I promise next week it will be longer. I only have a few mins so i am going to use it to attach pictures. So I love you all so so so much.

Love always,
Sister Gneiting

Zone Conference

Birthday party for Danna

Halloween Party

Mindy and Danna

Day of Danna's Baptism