6.16.10

Hello again from Russia!!!!!!!

Well I am back from Finland and back to work as a missionary. Finland was great though. It was sooooooo beautiful and green this time. While we were there we stayed at the temple guess house and ofcourse attend the temple. It was so great to be in the temple again. It was so relaxing and peaceful. We did an endowment session in Russian and it was so spiritual. Members from all across Russia save money and plan for along time to make a trip to Finland to attend the temple. As you know, or maybe you dont, there are no temples in Russia. So Russia is in the Helsinki Finland temple district. We have a group a members through out our whole mission preparing to attend the temple in July. Most of them will get on the trans siberian railroad and travel for like 5 days or something to go to the temple. These members are very dedicated. I can not wait for the day that the first temple in Russia will be announced!!!! It will be an amazing and happy day!!!!! This is in the future of Russia, but there is still alot of work here to prepare this great country for a house of the Lord. In August the first temple in Ukraine will be dedicated. Our mission will then be apart of the Kiev Ukraine temple district. Everyone here is soooo excited about the temple in Ukraine. We might even start going there on visa trips, so maybe i will see this temple while i am still on my mission!!!! That would be great!

DAD HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for ALL you have done for me! You are the best! I am sending you a HUGE bear huge and kiss through this email.... so i hope it reaches you :)

Well on to our work for the last week. The first news is that our investigator Natasha told us a couple days ago she wants to be baptized!!!!! YAY!!!!! The date is not official because we still have more to teach her, and it takes her time to understand everything. So we are thinking either the 26th of June or the 3rd of July. Please keep her in your prayers that she will continue to progress and be baptized. She is a great girl and really enjoys coming to church and meeting with us and talking about the gospel. She has also already made some great friends is the branch who are welcoming her in!!! As for our other investigators, really no new news :( it is still really hard right now to meet with most of them because they are busy with finals in school. So lately we have been trying to find new investigators and then working with the less active members who need help strengthening their testimonies and coming back to church. Reactivation is sooooo possible with less actives in the church and this is something at all members can help with. Here in Russia this is a big part of mission work. Our mission president really stresses working with these less actives. I have seen a lot of success with some of these members. Right now we are working with Galina, an older lady from the branch. My last companion sister reed and i started working with her and then sister antonova and I have continued. For the longest time we would go and get her every sunday morning and go with her to church. She was always standing outside her apartment building waiting for us to get there. There was a few weeks when we couldnt go and get her and those weeks she didnt come. We were trying to get her to come on her home...... well after some time and work with her, she has come the last 2 or 3 weeks on her own and is even there early. This last week she was the first one at the building and had to wait for someone to come open it for her hahaha She is great and it has been really rewarding to see her come back. We have also seen success with many others. So for those of you who are reading this, think of those less actives from you ward or branch who needs help coming back to church. Its so vital for them. Sometimes these poeple just need friends, so go and visit them or something. You will be surprise by the difference you can make in their lives. Always remember that God works through us to help this children.

So there is little boy, maybe 2 or 3 years old, who is the grandson of one of the ladies in my branch. Well he was at church on sunday and after church he was running around building and so then i started chasing him a little and running with him. But then i had to go into a meeting and soon he followed me in to this room and started telling me that he wanted me to run with him again.... but then i realized what he really said, "баба баба,побегай со мной" which translated means, "grandma grandma run with me" haha he was calling me grandma. EEEEEEEE!!!!!!! haha I thought HEY I'm not THAT old!!!! Haha it was really funny and everyone was laughing about it. So now i am a grandma :)

Well i love you all and again i hope you have a fabulous week and i cant wait to hear from you all next week!!!!!!!! YAY!!!

love always,

Sister Mindy Gneiting

sorry i have no time to send pic this week, next week :) and sorry this isnt a very long email, but i hope u still love me :))))))))))

6.9.10

Hello family and friends,
I know i always say this, but i cant believe how fast every week goes. I always feel like i just wrote you. So we are starting another transfer.................. and i will be staying here in Irkutsk :)))))))))) I am very happy to stay, I know there is work here for me to do. So this will be my 4th transfer in Irkutsk, which i cant believe because i feel like i just got here. It is a great city with great great great people.
Well this last week was great! We had another baptism here in Irkutsk on saturday. It was a man named Alexander who has been an investigator for many years. He finally took the step and was baptized and everyone was so happy for him. Soon he should receive the priesthood and become a strong priesthood leader here in russia. The number of priesthood leaders here is low, so everyone is valued extremely. One of our investigators, Natasha, was at the baptism. We think she will be baptized soon. She has alot more to learn and some things she doesnt understand very much, but she really has a desire to learn more and she loves reading the Book of Mormon. So we will continue to work with her and help her progress to baptism. Most of the people we meet with right now are younger and right now all the universities are winding down for the year, so all the students are very busy with homework and exams and things so it makes it hard to find time to meet with them. A couple of our progressing investigators are like this, so we arent able to meet with often. We are just praying for time to meet with them so we can help them.
So this last sunday was a holiday, well just here in Irkutsk. It was the Day of the City. Well where we meet for church is right on one of the main streets, so as we were at church, in sacrament meeting and we starting hearing loud noises and music outside. Well it was a parade. We were just finishing up sacrament meeting and then after we all hurried to the windows and watched the parade. Sunday school ended up starting late because everyone wanted to finish watching the parade. My companion and I go to the sunday school for the youth, so we went and dragged them all into class haha and then closed the windows so there werent distracted. It was really funny!! Tomorrow I leave to Finland. I am really excited to see it this time because Finland is just so beautiful and everything will be green this time. Last time i was there there was still snow. This trip is a little shorter than usual. We will only have a little time actually in Helsinki, but the most important thing is that we will be able to go to the temple. Mainly the trip will be just be traveling there and back, so we will be really tired when we get back.
Today Elder Scott was in Novosibirsk and he did a conference for the missionaries. All the missionaries in the mission except us here in Irkutsk and one other city were in Novo for it. We are just soooooo far away for it to work to get us there. It is like being on 2 different sides of the united states. They broad casted it for us though, which was great. President Powell, who is in the seventy and in the area presidency of like east Europe or something was there too. They both gave us great advice and counsel that will very much help our mission. It was amazing to hear the words of an apostle directed specifically to us here in the Novosibirsk mission.
This last week we had a concert at a childrens hospital. Us missionaries and some of the members went and did kind of like a talent show for them. These kids have tuberculosis and live at this hospital. The ones that came to the concert were about between the ages of 3-10. They were so cute and loved having us there. Elder Southam, who is here with his wife on a mission, did magic tricks and pulled money out of their ears and they just loved it. It was so great because they were so happy and had big smiles. They have hard lives and so it was a blessing for us to be there with them and see them happy. It is always great to do service and see how happy we can make people.
Sorry if this email wasnt very interesting, maybe next week will be better :))))) Well you all should already know this but........ I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooooo thankful for you all and you love and support. You are all great!!! Have a great week :)

Love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting

pictures: Marina's baptism, Alexander's baptism, my comp and i on the trans sibirian railroad, the parade, and us at the concert

6.2.10

Hello from Russia,
Ok so i only have a little time to write. So i got my birthday package!!!!! Thank you for everything, it was great. I loved it. I love all the cards from everyone, and I love how some of you attempted to write me in Russia haha it was great!!! Thanks for all the little gifts in there too!!!! I love you all soooooooooo much!!!
Well life is greater then ever! Yesterday we had Zone conference, so President Trejo (our mission president) and his wife are in town. Yesterdays conference was just amazing. I learned so much. A great thing about life is that we aren't prefect, yes some may think that is not a great thing but, that means we can always learn how to be better and always improve ourself. A mission is one of the biggest learning experience EVER. We are here to serve the Lord and help people accept the gospel of jesus christ, but we arent perfect, although some may thing that. I remember before i served a mission thinking that missionaries were perfect. I thought that as soon as a person was set apart to be a missionary they became perfect and set off on their journey as a missionary and did all that missionaries were supposed to do perfectly. Well soon after being set apart i realized that wasnt true. The more i learn as a missionary and the more I apply the atonement of jesus christ to my life, the better missionary i can become which means i am more prepared to help people come unto christ. The atonement is the biggest and most important blessing for us. Everyday through the atonement we can become better and become more like christ. No matter who we are our or what we do, the atonement works for all of us. Yesterday at conference i learned alot. I have been taught how i can become a better missionary, so i am excited to start doing the things i know i can be better at, and show the Lord i am willing to become the servant he wants me to be.
Well the greatest news right now!!!!! Marina was baptized!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! It was a beautiful ceremony too. She was sooooo happy. Then she was confirmed a member and recieved the Holy Ghost on sunday. It has been such a blessing to teach her. She is already so strong in the gospel and so willing to follow christ and his teachings. I have pics from her baptism but i forgot my camera, so i will send some next week.
So you wont believe it but....... it is already almost transfer time. This friday we will find out where we will be next transfer and then the beginning of next week we will all start moving to the new areas. So next week i will let you know were i will be. Also next week i go on my next visa trip already. We will be going to finland again. I am excited to see all my missionary friends that are serving in other areas that i havent seen for awhile. There is a group of us that always go together on visa trips.
Well i have to go. I love you all of course so so so so so much!!!!!!! Have a great week!!!

Love Sister Mindy Gneiting

PS Just to let you know, I first typed sister mingy gneiting hahaha