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
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
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
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
Monday, November 15, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
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
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
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