The joy that comes from spreading the gospel is indescribable!

Hello everyone who I love so much!!!!

How are you all doing? I hope great! I hope you had a wonderful christmas. My russian christmas here was fabulous!






Well as some of you know this is my last email. I leave early morning next pday (wednesday) to fly home to Idaho, so that means I wont be doing email next week.

This last week though was great and we had a lot of success. We had some really good meeting and saw some small miracles that I would love to tell you about....... but I'll just tell you about all of that next week when I see you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHA Well have a great week and New Years and see and talk to you all next week!!!!!!!! :)))))))))))

I can't end though without telling you all how much I am thankful that I served on a mission. This last 18 months I have spent on this mission have been the best of my life. The joy that comes from spreading the gospel is indescribable but one of the most joy full feelings ever. I dont know why i am so lucky to have been born into the true church and to have had the opportunity to be raised in the gospel with a wonderful, loving, and faithful family. The Savior and his gospel is EVERYTHING to me! A life without it is not one i want to live. My time here in Russia is to quickly coming to an end, and it hurts. I have grown so much to love these people here and this great country of Russia. As Ammon said, "Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die." I wish i could be with these people forever, but I know thats not possible and it hurts. I am so thankful for the time that the lord has given me to be here. I know I will think of my mission every day for the rest of my life and remember the amazing time that it has been.

Well i cant wait to see you all and tell you A LOT more about my mission :)

Love Always,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

Lots of pictures

Here's some pictures of Mindy enjoying the Siberian Winter.

This is her zone in Novosibirsk and the picture they sent to all of their parents in a Christmas card!

Modeling some of her winter wear!

Not sure if they are dancing or doing Karate. But it looks like she is having fun as usual.

Playing dress up?

Sister Gneiting with Russian members.

Mindy's time is winding down. She will arrive home on Jan 6. I cant believe that it is time for her to come home. It really has gone by very fast. It has been a joy to have a missionary again, from our family, serving the Lord. It really has brought such a sweet spirit into our home. Her emails have been a weekly gift that we have looked forward to and enjoyed and we will truly miss those emails.

I am having mixed feelings about her time being almost done. I am so excited to see her again of course but I know how much she has absolutely has loved her mission and my heart feels sad for her that this wonderful experience is almost over for her. I know that she has met some wonderful people in the past 18 months and I know that she will have a hard time saying goodbye to her fellow missionaries, but especially to the wonderful people of Russia. And of coarse it has been wonderful to see her testimony and faith grow over the past 18 months.

We look forward with anticipation to feeling of her spirit when she gets home and of coarse

to get to hear her speak Russian.

12.22.10

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FROZEN LAND OF SIBERIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all I need to start my email like i did last week and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOLLIE!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you have an amazing day tomorrow, that means Cameron you should have something great planned! I love you so much Hollie and am so thankful to have you as a sister. Im sending you a HUGE birthday huge and kiss with this email. I hope it gets to you!

I cant believe it is already Christmas and I cant believe how cold it is here. Here in Novosibirsk we are forsure having a white christmas and very cold one too!! Today we were out on the street for a long time doing some errands and I thought my feet were going to fall off. It is sooooo cold right now! We have been inside for almost a hour and Im still frozen. I need hot chocolate desperately!!! Dont worry I'll drink some soon!! Its fun though being in this much cold.

I cant wait to talk to you in a few days on Christmas!!! I cant believe it has already been a year since last christmas. I am so excited for Christmas. We will have a fun day at President's house. Just like for Thanksgiving we will be at his house for a good part of the day and then after that we will go back to work. Im sure there will be delicious food and fun games and things. Also on Christmas eve our zone here in Novosibirsk is going to the Nutcracker. I am so excited to watch it. I cant believe that is in a couple days!!!!

On saturday we had a district (like stake) christmas party. So all the branches for the city of Novo were there. We had a choir and then the little children acted out the nativity and then there were some games after. It was a really great night. Three of our investigators came and they really liked it. Two of them are two young girls who have grown up in a culture that believes in nature gods. Its a very interesting religion. So these girls dont really know anything about Christ. So the nativity was really new to them, but they really enjoyed it.

I just love the christmas time so much! I love feeling the christmas spirit. Russians dont celebrate Christmas much. It is a holiday, but New Years is more celebrated. So the spirit of christmas or the feeling of christmas isnt as big here, but i'm still feeling it. Most of our meetings the we have been having with people have been focused of Christmas and the importance of Christ in our lives. At this time of the year we always think more about him and his life dedicated to us. Its sad though that we cant continue to feel this spirit all year long. At christmas time we can think more about what we can give back to Christ. He has given us so much. A great thing to do is to make a difference in someone elses life. There is so much power in service and showing our love to others. As we give of ourselves we in return receive so much happiness. We everyday so find a way to bring light into someones life.

So an update of investigators. Irina is doing great. We had a good meeting with her yesterday and she said she thinks the restoration really could have happened and that she knows through prayer she can find out. She is great and I know she will find her anwser. She said she is waiting for the answer but that she knows sometimes god doesnt answer right a way. So we will continue to meet with her and help her to understand the Holy ghost and his role in receiving answers. Next is Anya the little girl. We werent able to meet with them this last week. WE are waiting for her mom to give her permission to get baptized. Her mom is inactive and try to do all that we can to activate her. Anya really wants to get baptized but she needs support from her mom since she is so young that makes it hard for her to progress alone. These two are really close to baptism so we are trying to work with them to help them be ready.

I hope you all have a great Christmas! I will be thinking about you all the way from Russia. I hope Santa finds you all and gives you something great and not coal!!!! I love you and cant wait to talk to you soon and see you soon too but its to early to be talking about that.

love,
Sister Gneiting

12.15.10

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!!!!!!!!

Well to start off I want to wish Amy a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! It is coming up in a couple days and I hope you have a wonderful day!!!!! So Amy here is a happy birthday wish coming all the way from Russia!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you soooooooo much!!!

Well today we went sledding for pday. It was really fun. We just went to a park nearby the mission office where a hill has been made from all the snow cover the stairs. So its really just stairs, but since there is so much snow, it is now a sledding hill. We were the only ones there, but it was really fun. There is so much snow here and its so fun to play in. I told you last week that I just wanted to go around jumping in all the snow cuz it is so deep everywhere.... well last pday I actually did. One girl who is a member of the church was with us and her and I just started jumping into the snow and it was way awesome!!!! haha I want to go ice skating now, i think next pday we will try.
Its beginning to feel a lot like christmas!!! No really compared to how it feels in america because chirstmas isnt celebrated as big as in America and actually they celebrate in on the 7th of january. Anyway though we are stared to have christmas things go on. This week we are having a district (like a stake) Christmas party for all the branches in Novosibirsk. It will be really fun. We are singing in a choir and some little kids are doing the nativity seen and there will be other stuff too. It will be great!! I cant believe christmas is already next week. Mom I got the package you sent!!!! My companion wrapped up all the stuff inside and put them under of little christmas tree. So i dont know what was in the package, but i will in a week when I open them!!!!!
The work is progressing as usually here. Our little investigator Anya really wants to get baptized, but her mom has not yet given her permission. Her mom is an inactive members, so we are working on activating her so that she can be a help for her daughter. Her daughter really wants to get baptized and come to church and activities, but Tatyana her mom doesnt want to. We are getting the branch involved, certain members that we think she could relate to an find friendship with them. This way she would feel more comfortable to come back to church. WE are just praying that Tatyana will come around so that anya can get baptized. We met a new family that is really interested in meeting with us. They were going to come to a family home evening that we had on Monday but at the last minute the wife called saying that we was waiting for her husband to get home and didnt think that they would make it. She was really sad and said she really wanted to go next time. We are really excited about this family. It is so amazing to see families come into the gospel together.
Next week we get to go to the Nutcracker on Christmas eve. Im so excited to watch it. I have heard this production is amazing, and come on I am in Russia and they are famous for the ballets. Next week we will be sending part of the day at President's home for christmas. It is always fun to get together on the holidays to celebrate.
We have had a water pipe problem in a house for a while. For the last we have been going to the senior couples house to shower and we have not been able to use the water at home. It was pretty frustrating. ALso our ladyland is living in a different town so we had to wait for her to come to town to get the problem fix. We today she came with a plumber and he supposedly fixed it. We really hope so because it will be sooooo nice to take showers at home again :)
So I hope you all have a great week before christmas and get all you shopping done. OHHHHH for the secret santa thing we are doing, I would like to say to my secret santa that I would just like some new clothes. My missionary clothes are getting really old and I know wont be in fashion when I get back!! HAHA

Well I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!!

Love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

12.15.10

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!!!!!!!!

Well to start off I want to wish Amy a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! It is coming up in a couple days and I hope you have a wonderful day!!!!! So Amy here is a happy birthday wish coming all the way from Russia!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you soooooooo much!!!

Well today we went sledding for pday. It was really fun. We just went to a park nearby the mission office where a hill has been made from all the snow cover the stairs. So its really just stairs, but since there is so much snow, it is now a sledding hill. We were the only ones there, but it was really fun. There is so much snow here and its so fun to play in. I told you last week that I just wanted to go around jumping in all the snow cuz it is so deep everywhere.... well last pday I actually did. One girl who is a member of the church was with us and her and I just started jumping into the snow and it was way awesome!!!! haha I want to go ice skating now, i think next pday we will try.
Its beginning to feel a lot like christmas!!! No really compared to how it feels in america because chirstmas isnt celebrated as big as in America and actually they celebrate in on the 7th of january. Anyway though we are stared to have christmas things go on. This week we are having a district (like a stake) Christmas party for all the branches in Novosibirsk. It will be really fun. We are singing in a choir and some little kids are doing the nativity seen and there will be other stuff too. It will be great!! I cant believe christmas is already next week. Mom I got the package you sent!!!! My companion wrapped up all the stuff inside and put them under of little christmas tree. So i dont know what was in the package, but i will in a week when I open them!!!!!
The work is progressing as usually here. Our little investigator Anya really wants to get baptized, but her mom has not yet given her permission. Her mom is an inactive members, so we are working on activating her so that she can be a help for her daughter. Her daughter really wants to get baptized and come to church and activities, but Tatyana her mom doesnt want to. We are getting the branch involved, certain members that we think she could relate to an find friendship with them. This way she would feel more comfortable to come back to church. WE are just praying that Tatyana will come around so that anya can get baptized. We met a new family that is really interested in meeting with us. They were going to come to a family home evening that we had on Monday but at the last minute the wife called saying that we was waiting for her husband to get home and didnt think that they would make it. She was really sad and said she really wanted to go next time. We are really excited about this family. It is so amazing to see families come into the gospel together.
Next week we get to go to the Nutcracker on Christmas eve. Im so excited to watch it. I have heard this production is amazing, and come on I am in Russia and they are famous for the ballets. Next week we will be sending part of the day at President's home for christmas. It is always fun to get together on the holidays to celebrate.
We have had a water pipe problem in a house for a while. For the last we have been going to the senior couples house to shower and we have not been able to use the water at home. It was pretty frustrating. ALso our ladyland is living in a different town so we had to wait for her to come to town to get the problem fix. We today she came with a plumber and he supposedly fixed it. We really hope so because it will be sooooo nice to take showers at home again :)
So I hope you all have a great week before christmas and get all you shopping done. OHHHHH for the secret santa thing we are doing, I would like to say to my secret santa that I would just like some new clothes. My missionary clothes are getting really old and I know wont be in fashion when I get back!! HAHA

Well I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!!

Love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting


HELLO HELLO HELLO!!!!!!!!!

Well to start off I want to wish Amy a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! It is coming up in a couple days and I hope you have a wonderful day!!!!! So Amy here is a happy birthday wish coming all the way from Russia!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you soooooooo much!!!

Well today we went sledding for pday. It was really fun. We just went to a park nearby the mission office where a hill has been made from all the snow cover the stairs. So its really just stairs, but since there is so much snow, it is now a sledding hill. We were the only ones there, but it was really fun. There is so much snow here and its so fun to play in. I told you last week that I just wanted to go around jumping in all the snow cuz it is so deep everywhere.... well last pday I actually did. One girl who is a member of the church was with us and her and I just started jumping into the snow and it was way awesome!!!! haha I want to go ice skating now, i think next pday we will try.
Its beginning to feel a lot like christmas!!! No really compared to how it feels in america because chirstmas isnt celebrated as big as in America and actually they celebrate in on the 7th of january. Anyway though we are stared to have christmas things go on. This week we are having a district (like a stake) Christmas party for all the branches in Novosibirsk. It will be really fun. We are singing in a choir and some little kids are doing the nativity seen and there will be other stuff too. It will be great!! I cant believe christmas is already next week. Mom I got the package you sent!!!! My companion wrapped up all the stuff inside and put them under of little christmas tree. So i dont know what was in the package, but i will in a week when I open them!!!!!
The work is progressing as usually here. Our little investigator Anya really wants to get baptized, but her mom has not yet given her permission. Her mom is an inactive members, so we are working on activating her so that she can be a help for her daughter. Her daughter really wants to get baptized and come to church and activities, but Tatyana her mom doesnt want to. We are getting the branch involved, certain members that we think she could relate to an find friendship with them. This way she would feel more comfortable to come back to church. WE are just praying that Tatyana will come around so that anya can get baptized. We met a new family that is really interested in meeting with us. They were going to come to a family home evening that we had on Monday but at the last minute the wife called saying that we was waiting for her husband to get home and didnt think that they would make it. She was really sad and said she really wanted to go next time. We are really excited about this family. It is so amazing to see families come into the gospel together.
Next week we get to go to the Nutcracker on Christmas eve. Im so excited to watch it. I have heard this production is amazing, and come on I am in Russia and they are famous for the ballets. Next week we will be sending part of the day at President's home for christmas. It is always fun to get together on the holidays to celebrate.
We have had a water pipe problem in a house for a while. For the last we have been going to the senior couples house to shower and we have not been able to use the water at home. It was pretty frustrating. ALso our ladyland is living in a different town so we had to wait for her to come to town to get the problem fix. We today she came with a plumber and he supposedly fixed it. We really hope so because it will be sooooo nice to take showers at home again :)
So I hope you all have a great week before christmas and get all you shopping done. OHHHHH for the secret santa thing we are doing, I would like to say to my secret santa that I would just like some new clothes. My missionary clothes are getting really old and I know wont be in fashion when I get back!! HAHA

Well I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!!

Love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

12.8.10

Hello from frozen Siberia!!!!

There is SOOOOOO much snow right now!! I LOVE IT!!! I dont remember there being this much snow last year. The drifts of snow are so big and dip. I keep jumping in them. haha yes in my skirt!! haha I'll say to my companion. "Look at how deep that is!!!! Here hold my bag Im going to jump in it!" haha its so fun!!!! I keep telling her tha for pday we shuld just go around jumping into snow piles, but we havent done it yet :(

So first thing is first!! Rhiana your poems you send me are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never read better poems then yours!! They are fabulous!!!! There you go, was that good enough??? Sorry everyone but that was a inside joke with her!

So the work here is going great right now. I told you that the last few week have been hard and it seemed like even after all our efforts nothing was happening. Well now I can see that the Lord was giving us the opportunity to show our diligence and desire to work. The last week and a half have been so rewarding and we have found 5 new investigators.One is a young girl Anya wo is 8. Her mom is an inactive member of the church. Anya wants to get baptized, but we dont know how much her mom wants her too. Her mom is not against the church, but I just think she has lost her testimony. We are working on activating her so that she will be supportive of anya. We asked her mom about her baptism and how she found out the church is true and her answers were very great. She said her baptism in our church was very special and a new start for her and she also said she knew this church was true and she received an answer through prayer. We plan one getting Tanya (anya's mom) around some ladies from the branch that can befriend her and help her to return. Another new investigator in Irina and she is just great. She is a lady we found contacting on the street and has come to english many times and is interested in the church. We met with her yesterday and she said she really likes what we has found out about our church and that she thinks that if there is something better or more true then she would want to be apart of that. She said she would pray about the the church. There are also some other great investigators that we have found, but right now i dont have time to tell you about all of them. My time is short today to email.
Things are awesome here though, other then we are having plumbing problems again. Right now we cant use the shower, so we had to go to the senior couples house to use theirs. WE hope it all gets fixed soon.
OK im sorry that this email is so short, but know that i love you all so much. Mom i thought of some recipes for you cook book, remind me to email them next week. Everyone have a great week and enjoy the christmas spirit and celebrations!!!

Love as always,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

12.1.10

Here is your weekly hello from Russia!!!!

Well another week has come and gone, and it has been a great one!! Well I guess the week started off with Thanksgiving. I hope you all had a great thanksgiving. Out thanksgiving here was great. My zone here in Novosibirsk plus the new missionaries that just got here from the MTC all went to president's house for thanksgiving. We were there from 11 to 4:30 and had a fabulous dinner and played games and watched "Bolt" the disney movie about the little dog. I had never seen it before cuz i think it came out while I have been here. It was a cute movie though and I really liked because Miley Cyrus was one of the voices :) haha anyway I hear she has changed a lot... well nothing i can do about that, to bad. Ok anyway back on subject. So Thanksgiving was great. That night also we had a thanksgiving party at English club which we have every tuesday and thursday. So people brought food and we all just ate and talked and it was great!!!! So even though I was away from you for thanksgiving it was still great, but I did miss your food mom.

So this week has been great and very successful. This week I really saw how the Lord has blessed us for our hard work. The last couple weeks have been hard ones. Our work had come to a peak a few weeks ago and then all of a sudden took a drastic dive. We were struggling to find people to meet with and not much seemed to be happening. Despite this we keep working hard and a lot of the time it was just us putting in effort but nothing really happening. This happened to about 2 weeks but I knew that as we continued to work hard that things would get better and that the Lord would bless us. Well this last week was great and we found 4 new investigators and few more great contacts. These people seemed to just fall in our laps. The Lord truly blessed us. This was a good experience for me to see how we are given trials and difficulties in life for our blessing and when we endure and are diligent and obedient to the Lord he always helps us and blesses us. So we are very excited to start working with these new people that we have found. We have a goal to get 2 more baptisms as a companionship before the end of the year and we are really working to reach this goal.

We have had a couple funny things happen the last few days. Well first last night we were coming home and we live in a 5 storey building and we live on the 5th floor and have no elevator. Also a need to know for this story is that the light on the 5th floor has been burnt out for the last couple of days and then last night the light on the 4th floor was out too. So as were climbing the stairs and got to the 4th floor I though, "Well maybe the lights are just turned off." So I started looking for the light switch. Well I finally found it and went to it and right as I flipped it... we heard a "Ding Dong." haha it wasnt really a light switch it was our neighbors door bell. So as soon as a heard it I was so surprised and i said "AHHH RUN!!!!!" haha so we started running up to our floor but then stoped so that they wouldnt hear us. I made it to the top of the floor but my companion was still on the stairs trying to hide. Our neighbor didnt open the door but just yelled out a few times "who's there!!" we were trying not to laugh and finally made it into our apartment and started laughing so hard. haha it was so funny. We were scared too because that neighbor doesnt like us because we had a water problem with our pipes last month and flooded her. So we were scared of what she would say to us. haha is was so funny though. We should of just stoped and said hello to them but we were so surprised that we just acted on reflex and my reflex said to RUN!!!! haha Well some other funny things happened but i dont have enough time to tell you about them today :( remind me to tell you a story about a cramped bus and my companion getting stuck in the door when i get home in January!!

So speaking of getting home in January... I am sooooooo excited that you are getting endowed Amy and that we will all be in the temple together as a FAMILY!!!!! OMG its going to be so spiritual and amazing. It will feel as if we are all in the celestial kingdom together!!! WOW its going to be wonderful!! A perfect thing to come home to!

So Mom, Dad, Rhiana, Scott, Amy J, Trent, Amy, Hollie, and Cameron....... I AM YOU SECRET PARTNER... What do you want for Christmas!!!!!!! haha So from the emails I guess this is want I am supposed to do. Well let me know so I can be apart of this game.

Well the library is closing so I have to go. Dont forget through out the week that I love you all sooooo much!!!!

Sister Mindy Gneiting

11.24.10

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

WOW can you believe that it is already Thanksgiving again?!!!!!! This last year has flown by! So tomorrow is actually thanksgiving and we will be spending part of the day at President's house to eat thanksgiving dinner and hang out for awhile. It will be fun ans ofcourse I am excited to EAT!!!!!! So I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving. Today we sort of started our thanksgiving celebration. Today for pday we had a turkey bowl football game!! HAHA it was so fun. It was some of the missionaries and a couple members and we met and played football in the snow. It was really cold, but as we ran around we got a bit warmer. We had a lot of fun!! Also tomorrow after we go to president's we will have english club and we are going to celebrate with them there too. They are all really excited to celebrate this american holiday with us. We told them that they can bring food and then we all will eat together and then do some other celebrating with them. It will be fun!!

Well this week, actually today begins the new transfer...... But no new news for me. I am staying here in Novosibirsk and my companion is still Sister Schwab. I am very happy to stay here and with her. I just love her so much. We have become great friends and really enjoy being together. She is such an awesome missionary for only just beginning. She is already speaking russian very well, even though she thinks she doesnt. Russian is a hard language, but she is doing great.
So on the side of Thanksgiving. i want to tell you mom and dad how much I am thankful for you!! I love you both so much. You are the best. I am so thankful for all that you have done for me throughout my life and also I am thankful for the examples of righteous church members and just great people that you are to me. I tell people all the time about you and about how grateful i am for you!!! Also i am so thankful to you Rhiana, Scott, Amy, and Hollie.You are the best siblings ever!! We have had so many amazing, great, funny, and just awesome times together. Your examples to me always helped me in my life as I went through things that I saw you go through when I was younger. You all have taught me so much. Amy Joy and Cameron I also am so grateful for you and the great additions you are to our family. You have also been very loving and supporting always to me. Then little Trent, I dont know you yet, but Im thankful for all the cute pictures that are sent to me of you. I know that I will just love you soooo much when we finally meet. Then to all of my relatives and friends reading this. Im so thankful for you all as well and love you all so much. Thank you for all that you have done for me. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!! Thanksgiving is such a great time to remember all that we are thankful for.

So my most excited news happened yesterday. On our way to english club last night we saw a lady with a son struggling a little to get him and the other stuff she had with her out of the subway station and through the street where there was a lot of ice. So we helped her and then headed off to english. Well surprisingly she and her son came to english. Her son in 3 and knows russian and armenian and now she wants him to learn english. Well the english club isnt very effective for him because there is a lot of people and he was getting distracted. So afterward I offered that my companion and I could go to her house and do family english lessons with them. She was so excited about that and we are going to their house tonight. I think it will be a great way to share the gospel with them. She was a very nice lady. Right now in our mission we have a goal to teach more families so that we can bring whole families into the gospel that can help and strengthen one another. I really think this family will be interested. Please pray that we will be able to start teaching this family.

So thats crazy that you are having a really bad storm. I wish I could see it!! We have snow here too, but no blizzards really. It just gets really cold. The last couple days have been -12C and it felt really cold, but then I remembered that last winter it was in the -40sC. I have forgotten how cold it gets here. I hope to experience that again before i go home. Warm clothes make a big difference though. I am very thankful for my winter clothes.

Well in the end I just want to say how thankful I am for my Heavenly Father, his son Jesus Christ, and my knowledge/testimony of their true church. I dont understand why I was so lucky to have been born into a family who already knew about the true church and then to have been raised to have a strong testimony that it is true, but i am so thankful for that. All the joy and happiness that I have had, now have, and will have in life is because of this gospel. Its the biggest blessing to me in my life. This church is true and I know that with no doubts.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and dont forget how much I love each one of you!!!

love always,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

11.17.10

Hey Hey Hey its Fat Albert!!!!!!!

haha actually its not him, its me, Sister Gneiting, and Im not fat!! Which is a good thing!!! Im basically the same weight as ever. So that answers your question mom, Im the same size in clothes :) Well enough talking about how I havent gained any weight, lets talk about more important stuff!!!!
Well the mission and its work is continuing and I am just so thankful for this opportunity to serve. Its amazing how much someone can learn and grow on a mission. This was truly just been the most rewarding time of my life. A couple times in the last couple days we have been taught about sacrificing for the Lord. We talked about how when we sacrifice something we ultimately in the return receive much more blessing worth more then what we sacrificed. There is a story about a little girl whos parents gave a a pretty but fake pearl necklace. This little girl just loved this necklace and never took it off. Every night when her dad went to tuck her in to bed he would ask her if she loved him. She of course would respond and and say yes of course I love you dad. He then would say to her, well if you love me give me your necklace. She would always acted sad and didnt want to give it away but would offer one of her other toys. After many days one night when her dad went to tuck her in she was just sitting on her bed and before he could say anything she said,I love you dad so much so her i my necklace. The dad took it from her and then gave her a little box. She opened it and inside was a new and REAL pearl necklace. Every night we took the box with him and was just waiting for her to give him her old necklace. I just love this story and we can learn so much from it. The same thing happens with our Heavenly Father. As we sacrifice things for him, he in return will give us soooo many wonderful blessings. We each can think about how we can show our love to Heavenly Father and what we can sacrifice to him. I think about when I was trying to decided to come on a mission. There were many things that I thought I couldnt sacrifice to take the time to serve a mission, but now I see that I have received so many blessings from coming on the mission. Now I see that it really wasnt a sacrifice considering all that I have been given because of serving a mission.

I have also learned that in missionary work we must sacrifice much for the lord to bless us in our work. This last week was a hard week. I felt like EVERYTHING had crashed. Everything that we had been working for before that just seemed to come to a halt. People that we had been working with in the past seemed to just disappear and we were trying to find new people, but we werent successful. Many things happened last week in my life here in Russia that just weighed me down and I felt stressed. There was a part of me that was losing faith. I felt like I was doing so much to be diligent, obedient, and hard working but yet nothing last week seemed to go well. So at the end of the week I started thinking about it and what I could learn from this experience. Even though a part of me was losing faith and even felt like giving up, the other bigger part of me was saying that the Lord had given me this experience for a reason and i needed to find that reason. Well I actually now have come to realize that last week was a blessing for me. I was humbled and have realized the things the Lord want me to learn. I need to as that little girl, sacrifice my time, my talents,my everything to this time that i have left on the mission. Although I was working hard last week, I can be working harder. There is more I can be doing. I have already seen the blessing from this sacrifice already in this new week. The work here is already getting better.
Well what else has happened. Yesterday a cool thing happened. We were at a meeting with a member from the branch who is less active. She was telling us about her mom and that her mom is really sick. Ofcourse we always start our meetings with a prayer and she asked me to say it and pleaded for me to pray for her mom. she said, "i know god will listen to you." Well I offered the prayer and asked god to bless her mom with health. Then about 5 mins after that her phone rang and it was her mom on the other end. After this lady hung up the phone she was so amazed. She said, " I was just with my mom about 30 mins ago and she was too sick and weak to even get out of bed and could barely talk. She just called me and the phone is in a completely different room then were she was laying. I have no idea how she got to the phone. She also just sounded so alive, when before she sounded so sick. Your prayer worked, God answered it" I was actually so surprised. I have never seen a prayer work like that before. It was a huge testimony builder for me. Prayer is real and it does work.
So funny story. Yesterday we were contacting and talking to people about the gospel on the streets. I saw this lady selling milk on a little table. We decided to go and talk to her. Well to make the story short, we decided to buy some milk and cheese from her so that we could start a conversation about the gospel with her and that maybe she would like us more if we bought stuff from her, you know like build a friendship. Well my plane was to buy it and then start the conversation. So we payed for it and then this other lady came up and started asking her how much her milk and stuff was and then things got real awkward. WE were basically just standing there and they were looking at us funny cuz we already bought stuff and should have already walked away. So I just awkwardly said we were missionaries and then gave here a little p[pamphlet about out church. She looked at me and then the other lady and then me again and took the pamphlet and then started talking to the other lady about prices and stuff. SO then we turned and walked away and bursted into laughter. HAHA it was sooo funny!!!! The moral of the story it.... YOu shouldnt try to buy investigators!!!!! But in the long run, the milk was very good :) haha
Well my time is up :( i love you all so much!!! Have a another great week. Thanks for you love, prayers, and emails!

Sister Gneiting

11.11.10

Hello again,

Well its been a great week! Last saturday Marina was baptized!!! It was such a beautiful ceremony. Many people were there to support her. She was so happy. Before the baptism she a little scared again about the water, but everything was great in the end. The whole ceremony was very spiritual. She and her mom were so happy after the ceremony. Then on sunday she was confirmed and received the gift of the holy ghost. Once again she was so happy!!!! So it was a great weekend.

So this morning i got back to Novosibirsk from my visa trip to Finland. It was a nice trip and no problems. It was just me and one other sister, so it was more relaxing then having a bunch of crazy elders with us haha!! This time we were able to go to the temple in Finland. It was the first think we did when we got off the plane, we went straight to the temple. It was so amazing to spend that time in the house of the lord. Ahhh i wish i could go everyday. The temple is just such an amazing place. The feelings and knowledge we receive inside is priceless. Im so thankful for the temple. After the temple to just hung around the temple hotel where we stayed. The next day we woke up early and headed to the airport and flew to Moscow. Then we had the about a 12 hr layover there. So we went to Red Square and walk around looking at things around there. Its was really fun. Then last night I had a red eye flight back home. Now Im back to mission work :) well right now im emailing but after this i will work :)

Well Im sorry this is a short email, but really i have no news. SInce i was gone on visa trip, that is basically all my news. And since this isnt pday we dont have as much time to email. Well i wanted to let you know im alive and doing great!

So as for the two days that are an option for me going home, i have decided on the 5th. So yeah thats the plan.

Im so sorry this is sooo short. Next week will be better I hope!! I love you all so much and hope you all the best.

Love you daughter, sister, friend, and whoever else,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

11.3.10

Hello everyone!!!
Every week is going by faster, i still cant believe it. Well this last week has been great!!. Well I dont have much time to email to day, but i will try to make this interesting. So last wednesday we had the fake baptism and it was GREAT!!! This girl Marina is 17 and she is getting baptized this saturday but she was very scared of the water and being dunked under. So last week we did a fake baptism and now she is so ready for her real baptism. It was really cool. She was in the white gown and the elder who will be baptizing her also was in white and then he showed her how it would work and then dunked her a couple times. She says she isnt scared anymore. She is really excited for her baptism, well we all are. So this saturday will be her baptism and i will tell you all about it next time.
So i have something to talk to you about that President Trejo has asked me to ask you. So my realise date is supposed to be on the 5th of January, but that is considered a national holiday in Russia. So they cant send the new missionaries from provo here because they first need to go to the embassy in moscow and it will be closed. So they wont get here until the 12th and so they want to keep us here til the 12th also. So president asked me if that would be a problem with starting so and i told him no and they he wanted me to ask you because maybe family members have planned to come at the 5th to see me. Anyway so think about it and let me know if it would be better for me to come home on the 5th. I can go home either the 5th or the 12th, so let me know what your thoughts are.
Well next week i go on visa trip again. Im going a month earlier then usual, so it was a surprise when I found out about it. Me and just one other sister will be going together, but for part of the trip i will be alone because she is serving in a different city. So anyway we are going to Finland again. This will be my last visa trip.
So yesterday the coolest thing happened. I went to english club and i heard a girl calling my name and i turned around and it was one of my old investigators from Irkutsk. It was a total surprise. She is living here now and so im totally excited about that and hopefully start working with her again. Also we have a new investigator named Galina so is a friend of a member. We have had one meeting with her and it was really good and tonight we have another one. She is really interested in learning more.
On Sunday was Danna's year anniversary since her baptism. It was a very speacial day and she was really happy. I cant believe it has been a whole year.

Well sorry i have to go and i might not get a email sent to you next wednesday because i will be in finland. so dont worry if that happens. Well i love you all!!

Sister Mindy Gneiting

10.27.10

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!!!!!!

Wow I really cant believe how fast these weeks fly by!!!!! I trying to think back through out this last week to think about what has even happened. Well it has been a great and busy week and I think thats why it went by so fast. I'll try to make this email worth reading.
So last thursday my companion and I did some service for a lady from our branch. Most people here in Russia have what is called a dacha. Its like how alot of people in Idaho have cabins, well people here have dacha. They only spend time there during the summer and it is were they have a big garden and plant a lot of stuff. Well most people are done harvesting and doing everything at their dacha and all have moved back to their real homes. Well this lady wasnt quit done so we went out to her dacha, which is just out of Novo, and helped her dig up her potatoes!!! YAY thats right I said POTATOES!!!!! Well actually helped her again on monday, just a couple days ago. I felt so at home like in Idaho, like as if it was potato harvest. The smell of dirt and potatoes, wow I didnt realized what a comfort it is to me and how much i missed it until i was out there with a shovel in hand digging up those potatoes, yeah I will never get ride of the DIGGER in me!!! I wonder how the sugar city diggers are doing in sport..... haha fill me in someone!

Well so we had district conference this last week end. It was very good. President Lawrence from the seventy and his wife came for it. I was asked to be Sister Trejo's (our mission presidents wife) translator. So it began on saturday. Saturday their was a auxiliary training for the leaders in the branches. So I followed Sister Trejo around and translated for her when it was needed. Then on Sunday for the conference Sister Trejo spoke and I translated that too. I did pretty good, but there was a couple times I didnt know how to say something she said the right way in russian. So i looked into the audience for help from people who knew both english and russian. It was kind of funny. I made them laugh, so it lightened the mood. Afterwards alot of people told me good job translating and then a young girl came up to me and gave me a big hug and said your trusting was soooo awesome, it was funny!! haha and Sister Trejo thanked me and said that she was really scared and nervous to be speaking but because i was a fun or funny translator it helped her to calm down! HAHA so yeah thats that!

So today we have a interesting thing happening. This may be one of the first times if not the first time that this has ever happened. Tonight we are having a fake baptism, yes you read right, a FAKE baptism. So our investigator Marina is getting baptised next saturday, but she is really scared of the water and being dunked down into it. So we talked to President Trejo about it and he said we can do a fake baptism so that she can try it out first so that she will be ready for her real baptism and not scared. So tonight her, her mom, our zone leaders, and us will be doing a fake baptism. Of course the elder baptizing her wont say the prayer, but we will just show her what it will be like and dunk her down. Interesting huh!!!!! It will be fun :) I'll tell you how it goes. We are really hoping it will help her be ready and not scared for her baptism.

This last week has been great. Well one thing that isnt to great is that some of our investigators are really busy right now and cant meet much. So we realized we needed to find more people to meet with. We have been working really hard and trying to talk to alot more people on the street and any places we are. From our hard work we have found some new people and not just that - we have received blessing and small miricales from the Lord for our hard work. I know that as we keep working hard, we will find these people who are ready to receive the gospel. We had been praying alot for some certain things and people for the Lord to help us with and we have seen many of those prayers answered. I know that as we work hard and so the Lord we are willing to do what he needs of us then he will give us the help we need. That isnt only in missionary work but just in life general.
Well i have to get going. We have a really busy day today and a lot of stuff to get done. I love you all so much!!!

love always,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

10.20.10

Hey its me ur russian missionary!!!!!!

Well its been another great week in russia!!! So finally after much waiting i have my new companion, well we have been together for almost a week now!! She is awesome!! Like I told you before her name is Siter Schwab and she is from Germany. She speaks great english and is working now on her russian. She is a greenie so this is her first transfer and week in russia. Everthing is so new to her and she doesnt understand a lot of things that people say in russian, but I'm trying to help her alot. Its interesting being a trainer, but I like it. It helps me to be a better missionary because I really want her to start her mission off good and get into good habits as a missionary. So I'm trying to do things different and to be better in my missionary work so I can be a good example for her. We are having a good time together though. I really love her already.

So things are still going great with Marina. Her baptism is still set for the 30th and she is still excited about it, just scared of the water. We talk to our mission president about it though and he said we can do a test run/dip with her a couple days before her mission so that she will not be scared of the water and be ready for her baptism. So we will be doing a fake baptism, interesting huh!!!!! haha She is just a great girl and im so grateful for the opportunity to teach her. Please continue to pray for her that all will go well with her baptism next week.

So to answer your questions mom. First about the jobs, yeah I would really like to get right into work when I get back. So yeah do what you can to find some options for me and I really want to just stay in rexburg until school starts in april. So a job in rexburg would be great.

Dont worry about sending me a package for Christmas. The package you sent and I just got was AWESOME!!!!!!! Thanks soooo much, it was filled with so much stuff that I needed!! Im enjoying everything you sent!! So you dont need to send anything for Christmas, i will be home soon after that and we will celebrate then!

I havent bought any boots yet. I'm looking to see if i can borrow some from someone since i will only have to wear them for about a month or so. So i will let you know. I did buy some other things that I needed so you will notice that on my debit card.

So last week we finally watched general conference and it was sooooo great!! I wish we could have conference every week or at least month, 6 months is just toooooooo long of a wait. I learned so much. Also this weekend we are having the Novosibirsk district conference and Pres Lawerence who is in the east europe area presidency is coming with his wife. So it will be a 2 day conference, kind of like stake conference but a little different. I was asked to be Sister Trejo's (our mission presidents wife) translator. So i will follow her around and translate what she says into Russian and then tell her what people say to her. Then when she gives any talks or something i have to translate in front of EVERYBODY!!!!!!!! I'm a little scared, so please pray for me that I will be able to do a good job. It will be a good conference though. It happens i think once a year and is always alot of help for the members here.

Well right now I cant think of anything else to say, so I will just tell you how much I love you. Well I love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!! Have a great week!

love,
Sister Gneiting

10.13.10

HELLO AGAIN!!!!!!!

Well not much has happened since I emailed you last since last week we has pday on saturday. So sorry mom this email might not be to long. Well I have been without a companion since Monday. My companion Sister Antonova was transferred to a different city and they needed her to get there early. So since then I have had to find church members to be my companion. Its a cool experience to have the members as companions. It help them to strengthen their testimonies and well it help us. Since I am not Russian it useful to have these members with me because they can relate with the people we are teaching and can share their experience of when they joined the church, and also the speak russian PERFECTLY!!!!!! haha Well anyway I get my new companion, my greenie, tomorrow afternoon. She got here to Novo from america early this morning but they are with President Trejo and his wife that their house. They are actually probably sleeping right now since the flight over here is so long and you changed so many time zones. Then tonight and tomorrow they have orientation and then after that I will go pick her up at the office. I'm excited to be training. I hope I can help her start off on the right foot here in Russia. Did I tell you she is german. So maybe I will learn some german and make our german ancestors happy!!! So next week I will tell you all about her and how things are going.
So we have had some great lessons with our investigator Marina. She has a baptismal date for the 30th of this month. She is really progressing and is really wanting to get baptized. While teaching her lately we have realized she had some concerns about baptism, but we couldnt figure out what they were and she wasnt flat out telling us. Yesterday she told us though and we are relieved to know it is only because she is scared of the water and being dunked in the water. We talked with her about how there would we an strong, tall elder with her who would make sure she was ok and that the water isnt very high, but she was still scared after talking about that. I have talk with the zone leaders and we think we will have an elder show her how it works and where to put her hands and feet so that she can feel more comfortable. She asked me if before her baptism if she could like be dunked a couple time to practice so she would know what it was like and so she would be ready for her baptism and it would be a surprise. Well I dont know if that is allowed to do, but we are figuring out how we can help her. She is great though and has really accepted the gospel!! Another cool thing happened. Well we have been doing a service for a girl named Nastya and going private english lessons every so often. Well one time after the lesson i asked her if we could do a spiritual thought with her about she said no. Well my comp and I talked about it and wondered if it was worth our time to teach her if she wasnt interested in learning about the church. Well we decided to do it maybe once a week. SO yesterday we had an english lesson with her and at the end she herself ask for us to share a spiritual thought. So we taught about the restoration and Joseph Smith and in the end she was really interested and said she really like what we told her. So we are going to meet with her again and we hope to continue teaching her about the gospel. It helped me to see how doing service and showing our love for someone is a very important part of sharing the gospel. Thats something that all of us can do, if we are full time missionaries or not. Service is always needed around us.

Well i need to get going to meet the other missionaries we are going to go to a park and ride bike today!!! Its been awhile since i rode a bike so hopefully i dont fall off!!! :) well as usual I love you all soo much and hope you have a great day!!

love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

Lots of Pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures of Mindy on her mission. As you can see by her

smile she is loving serving the Lord.

Enjoy!!

Mindys companion, Senior missionary, Mindy, members

Ice Cream with companion Sisters in the Gospel
Wall Art
Companions
Yes thats Mindy on top
Relaxing at home
Senior couple, Mindy and her companion
Cooking? Baking? Dancing . . . . ?
Yummy cake!!!
Kiss? More wall art
I'm not sure about this one but may be her branch in her last area
Mindy and her comp with the branch president and his wife
Missionaries having lunch at a statue
I see you . . .
Cectpa Gneiting

Mindy with a member

10.9.10

HELLOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Sorry I am emailing you a few day late, I hope were not scared I died or something!!! This week we had a 3 day training with our Mission President so we didnt have our usual pday on Wednesday so today is pday instead. I will just say WOW!!!!!!! This training we just did was AMAZING!!!! This training is being done all over the world for all the missionaries. Salt Lake wants us to be better teachers as missionaries. So they have made a new training program and have changed som thing about missionary work and now through out all the world we are starting this program. The training was so awesome and it really helped us to see how we can be better missionaries. We went over alot of stuff, 3 days worth of learning. I am really excited to talk from what i learned for the rest of my mission and do a lot better work.

Well I have great news... our investigator Marina, who i told you has been waiting for her answer about baptism, decided on a date to get baptised. Her one concern about getting baptized is that she doesnt want to to it with out being ready. She has told us many times that she knows the church and everything we teach her is true and she is living by the commandments. She really is ready top be baptized, but she know that baptism is a very important thing and she wants to feel completely ready. So anyway we set a date with her for the 30th of october and told her that we would help her prepare and be ready for her baptism. Please keep her is your prayer that we will be ready to be baptised. She is such a great girl. Her mom was baptised about a month ago and together they are both so strong in the gospel other then the fact that Marina isnt baptized. It is so great to see families come into the gospel together. Another investigator Valentina we think is close to excepting baptism. She believe 99.9% that the church is true, so we need to work with her on that other .1%. We need to get her to church though, she didnt come last week. So maybe thats why there is .1%. Anyway I'm excited to be working with her.

Oh I almost forgot the BIG news!!!!!........... I'm pregnant!!!!!!!!!!! haha well not really. That is mission slang for that I will be training next transfer. We always call out trainer our mom or dad for the elders. So i will be getting a greenie or daughter right from the MTC!!! The way cool thing is that she is from Germany!! Cool huh? I hear she speaks english though, so that will be good. She will get here from the MTC on wednesday and then probably be with me on thursday. So this means that it is transfer time again, but I will be staying here in Novo and be training Sister Shwab. It will be great! I hope I will be a good trainer for her. So I'll tell you all about her in 2 weeks cuz next week when i email i wont know her yet.
Amy I'm not sure what your surprise for me is, but I'm way excited about it!!! Dont give it to anyone else. Good luck on your last semester of school!!! I cant believe you are finishing, thats awesome! Keep working hard your almost done. As we say on the mission alot "Endure to the end"!!!!!

Well its really starting to cool off here. We have been wearing coats for a couple weeks now. No snow yet thought but probably soon. I miss the warm weather, but what can i do? Nothing, so i will live with it :) It has actually been raining a lot lately. Siberian winters are awesome though!!! I can say that i lived through 2 siberian winter if i make it through this next 3 months!!! That's pretty impressive!!

So I can't really think of much to say, Oh actually i know!! I pierced my ears!!! Many of you probably thought i had pierced ears, but i didnt. Anyway last pday i pierced them. I got some ear rings for my birthday but couldnt wear them, so i fixed that problem. Right now i have to wear the ugly beginner earrings though, but soon i will have cute one :) haha so thats more news!
Well another Internet session has come to an end :( I love you all sooooo much!!!! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

9.29.10

Hello everyone!!!!
Well it has been another great week in Russian! Filled with lots of missionary work, which is the best work ever!! Well this last week has been great and we have had no big distractions like we had in the past. No sicknesses and no moving apartments. Its was been very nice to get back to work. We have had a lot of meetings with people and have found some new investigators.

On Sunday we meet with Masha and her mom Valentina who had meet with the missionaries in the past but it had been a while since meeting with the missionaries. They are both great! Masha has excepted the gospel and our message for the most part and her mom is very much looking for the truth and the help of God. Valentina though has a lot of questions and some really hard ones to answer at times. We have more work to do with them but they are interested in learning more.

Also on Monday we went to a inactive ladies house to visit her and our branch president came with us and it was just an amazing visit. Her husband was there who is not a member and at the end of our meeting he was crying because he felt the spirit so much. We talk about eternal families and how through the temple they can be together forever. She really wants him to get baptized and for them to go to the temple together. We asked him if he wanted to be with his wife forever and he said of course he did. The spirit was really strong at that lesson and he invited us back to teach him more. So we will work with them to get her active and him baptized. It is so amazing to see families strengthened through the gospel.

We also had a great lesson yesterday with another investigator Valentine, who also is just a fabulous lady. We watched the movie about the Joseph Smith and the restoration and she really enjoyed it and told us that she believes it 99.9% and that she wants so much to believe it all and accept it. She has known about the church for a few year and has family members who are church members and my companion and I both dont understand why she hasnt been baptized yet. We plan on talking about baptism with her at our next meeting.

Our other investigator Marina whos mom was baptized a month ago is doing great as well, it was been hard lately to meet with her because of her schedule but tonight we are going to their house and will have a meeting and teach about the Holy Ghost and how to receive answers to prayers and revelation. She is soooo close to baptism but is waiting for her answer about what to do. Well so that is basically what we are doing right now with our work her in Nove. We do have more inactive members that we are trying to work with to increase their faith and desire to come back to church. Thanks for all your prayers for the work her in our mission, your prayers are a strong help to us.

Well what else to say????? On sunday I taught primary :) Well actually basically i just translated. We have a new family that moved into our branch from america. The parents both know russian pretty well and are teaching in a university here. They have a 3 year old girl and 4 months baby girl. They are members of the church as so they started coming to out branch. Their little daughter is soooooo cute and it is really fun to talk to her in english. All the russians from the branch just love her. Well she is only 3 and the youngest in primary and the only one in her class. So a young girl named Anya from the branch was little Elizabeth's teacher and came and asked me if I could help her since Elizabeth doesnt speak russian. Anya knows english pretty well but wanted Elizabeth to understand. So anyway Anya taught the lesson in Russian and I translated. It was soooo fun. We taught about prophets and Elizabeth is already soooo smart in the gospel because her parents have done a very good job teaching her and she was able to answer all the questions really well. So it was cool. I hope to help again!! We even got to color pictures and have snack time :) any missionary would love that!!!!

I cant believe I have been in Russia for a year!!! I remember when i first got here and somethings seems so weird and different from american, but now they are sooo normal to me and I am use to being here. I love Russia and love being here and communicating with these people. I wish you all could come here to Russia and see why it is I love it so much. I am so grateful the Lord sent me here on my mission. I have no desire to be anywhere else on my mission. From the time being here I have had many wonderful and spiritual experiences that have helped me to see why I am here. It is not just by luck that we serve in a certain mission. Every missionary is meant to be in their mission for a reason and those reasons are real. There are people here that I know the Lord sent me here to help them. Every missionary has different reasons and different people that they were personal sent to help. We dont know ahead who they are but there are times on the mission when you stop and think "WOW this is why I am here. The Lord needed me here for this person of for this reason." This mission has strengthened me in many ways and I will forever be thankful for this experience. I know this church is true and know it is lead by Christ himself. I know he is our savior and that through him we can change and always become better. His atonement is real and it is the biggest blessing we have. Through his atonement we CAN be forgiven of sin, no matter the sin. Repentance works and through forgiveness of sin we receive so much joy and happiness. Being here and seeing people change and become better and have a desire to repent and then seeing how joyful they are when they know the Lord has forgiven them is amazing.

Well my time is up :( I love you soo much and cant wait to hear from you next week!!!!! Keep being awesome and working hard!!!

love always,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

Return Date

We received Mindy's itinerary for her flight home.

She will return on January 5, 2011

WOW!! That is only 3 1/2 months away.

She will be home before we know it.

If you are thinking about sending her a card or package please send it soon so that there is plenty of time for it to get to her before she leaves.

Thank you !!

Packages to Sister Gneiting

We received this letter from the mission office about sending packages to the missionaries. So I thought I would pass this on so those of you that would like to send something to her for Christmas - you need to get on it soon. Thanks.

Dear Missionary Family,

As the holiday season fast approaches, we want to remind you of a couple things:

1. Your missionary loves getting mail from family and friends.

2. NOW is the time to send your holiday greetings- cards, letters, or packages- in order for your missionary to get them for Christmas. Packages from America can take 2-3 months as the season gets busier. And then they only get the packages when someone is going to the city where they are serving and that could be only once a month.

3. They love special treats that are consumable and non-perishable. Remember, our missionaries move often and carrying extra “stuff” is very hard for them. Please keep this in mind when making your gift selections. They may not transfer or go home with more than 2 bags 20 kg each and some are collecting a lot of things. Please don’t add to that. Also remember that someone has to carry those packages to their cities and if there are 12 missionaries in a city and each one gets several packages that weight 20lbs each, you can see it will be difficult to get the packages to them.

4. Please don’t send any electronic equipment. Missionaries are not permitted to use them (but family tapes are fine).

5. If you send CD’s remember that just because you find it in Deseret Book does not mean that it is missionary acceptable. The only music that does not need pre-approval by Sister Trejo is Tabernacle Choir, classical music and EFY (and some of that is questionable). Sister Trejo can approve other music but some that has come has not been acceptable. Please help your missionary obey the music rules. Music can be a great aid or a great distraction. And sometimes CDs doesn’t make it through customs.

6. As missionaries have come through the office I have asked for ideas they like in packages. These are only a few and you will need to adjust this to your missionary’s particular tastes. Missionaries can buy just about anything they NEED here in Siberia manufactured in Russia. In other words, don’t send shampoo or deodorant or socks unless they like a special brand from home. There are plenty of candy bars but some special kinds not found here are 100,000 Grand, Butterfingers, Nutrageous, Reese Peanut Butter Cups are a few. They do have Snickers here.

7. Other ideas: Past and current pictures, Koolaid, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce dry mix, Tide pens, Spray and Wash stain sticks, dry cider mix, vanilla, maple and rootbeer extract, games (no face cards), games that can be used for family home evenings or Single Young Adult gatherings that could involve a lot of people, things to be used for object lessons, stickers to use in other missionaries’ journals, American souvenirs or pins to give away, jerky, dry BBQ sauce, any favorite spices, homemade candy, Doritos, hot sauce, dry taco seasoning, ranch dressing mix, jello. Missionaries spend a lot of time traveling (buses, trains, planes) and an inflatable travel pillow may save a few necks. They only carry their backpacks on these trips so there is no room for anything that can’t be deflated.

8. If you will write Merry Christmas on the outside somewhere or put on a Christmas sticker so we know that this is for Christmas, we will try to save it for Christmas time if it comes in early.

Send your mail/packages to the mission office address:

630102 Novosibirsk, Russia

ul. Kirova 46

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Russia Novosibirsk Mission

Elder/Sister ___________

Our missionaries are the very best of Heavenly Father’s servants. We love and appreciate them, as you do. Thanks for sharing your missionary with us and the good people of Siberia.

Love from Novosibirsk office couple,

Elder and Sister McCauley