8.31.10

Another one bites the dust!!!!!!! Haha i mean the week ofcourse.I still cant believe how time flys by.

Well the big news of the week is TRANSFERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So where in the Novosibirsk Mission will Sister Gneiting go.................. well I am getting transfered and will be going back to serve in the city of Novosibirsk, but in a different area of the city. I am really excited to go back to Novo because I really love that city, but I am sooooooo sad to leave Irkutsk. I have been here since January so I have grown to love this city and the people here very much. I leave today and its been really hard to say goodbye to everyone here. Of course though I know that transfers lie in the hands of the Lord and that its his decision where I go. He has allowed me to be here in Irkutsk for almost 8 months and I am so thankful that I had that opportunity, but now i know there is work prepared for me in Novo. So I will go willing to my new area to serve. I really do love the city of Novosibirsk and the people there and am looking forward to serving there again. Like I said though I will be in a different part of the city and in a different branch. So it wont be completely the same as before. Also my new companion will be Sister Antonova, who I already served with here in Irkutsk. She is great and I am excited to serve with her again.

So today I get to started my long journey to Novo on the train. I will be on the train for over 30 hours. I wont be alone though, my companion Sister Semonova is leaving too, so we will be on the train together. So yesterday we bought a bunch of food and later today we load the train with all of our suit cases and head down the tracks. I like train rides, they are fun. It can definitely be an interesting experience. I will let you know all about it next week. Actually I dont know when i will email you next week because next week I have another visa trip and will be going to Finland again. So i have a lot of traveling in the next week and a a half.

Sunday was a special day. We got to watch the broadcast of the Kiev Ukraine Temple dedication. It was so great. President Monson, Pres. Utchdorf, and Elder Nelson were there. There was a bunch of members of the branch that received recommends and were able to come to watch it too. The sacrament room was where we watched it. The coolest part was that new convert Natasha that we taught and who was baptized in July was at it. Being baptized is only the beginning right? You see what we do as missionaries helps prepare people to eventually make it to the temple. So it was really special to see this young girl who was just baptized have the opportunity to participate in the temple dedication. I felt as if i was actually with her in the temple. I pray she will continue to grow in the gospel so that she will have the opportunity to attend the temple someday.

So our investigator Tamara is doing great! We had a baptismal date set for her last saturday, but we decided to move it back a couple weeks. Like I told you, she is 82 yrs old and its hard for her to remember everything. She wants to get baptized and keeps asking when she can get baptized, but we just want to make her she understands completely before she does. So I wont be here for that baptism, but the new sisters coming to Irkutsk will continue to work with her. She is a great lady. It is sad to have to leave while she is so close, but it happens in missionary work sometime.

So i bought you guys a bunch of souvenirs, but instead of sending them i think i will wait and give them to you when i get back. So you can look forward to stuff from Russia!!!!!! :)

Well I cant really think of anything else interesting to tell you. next week I should have a lot of news!! So look forward to that :) Well of course I love you all so so so so so so much!!!!

Love,

Sister Mindy Gneiting

PS Parachute pants are a huge fashion right now in Russia! Funny huh?!!!!

8.24.10

Hey Hey Hey its Sister Gneiting!!!!!!

Ok this last week has gone by soooooo fast. Its was a good but interesting week. Monday was a normal day as a missionary. Tuesday morning and afternoon were normal, but then that evening we were at the train station alot. First the senior couple Elder and Sister Southam left to go home to america. So we went and said goodbye to them. It was really sad because I have been here in Irkutsk with them for 7 months and they have become like my mission parents. So it was sad to say goodbye. Then a couple hrs after that my companion, who is a mini missionary and a youth from the mission, left with the other youth from Irkutsk on another train to head to the Youth Conference and they were there all week. Then on Weds was pday and then Thursday morning I got on a train and spent the whole day traveling to Ulan-Ude and got there in the evening. So Thrs night until Sunday afternoon I was serving with the sister in Ulan-Ude. Ulan-Ude is a great city. Its a very beautiful city. This city is very close to Mongolia so there is a lot of asian people there. It was a really great city. Well then I got back to Irkutsk Sunday night and then my companion got back Monday morning, but she came back sick so we spent the day home so she could rest. So the last week has been interesting and a little unusual. Yesterday though was a full day of missionary work, so we are back to it. It was hard being away from Irkutsk that long, because this is were my work is. So I had to leave the people I have been working with. Im back now so things are great!!

So I told you about our investigator Tamara who is 82 yrs old. Well things are going well with her. She is supposed to be getting baptized this saturday, but she is not quit ready so we will move the date back a little. Its just kind of hard with her because she is older and forgets thing easily, so we have to repeat a lot of things with her. We just want to make sure she really understands the gospel and about Joseph Smith and the Restoration before she get baptized. So we will continue to work with her. So please pray that she will be able to become ready for baptism. Sorry I dont have a lot to tell about my mission work here in Irkutsk because i was in different city for most of the week. The work in Ulan-Ude is great though. We met with some of their investigators, member, and less actives and they are working hard down there too.

Well the weather is starting to cool off here slowly. Thats a booger though because it makes me sad because I love the warm weather and im not very excited about putting my warm clothes back on. Right now the weather is ok but soon it will get colder. How is the weather there, is it still pretty warm.

So you asked about my Russian, well its coming along one day at a time. My russian is not perfect, but the most important thing is that I am able to do the work. The Lord really does bless us to learn this language. It is a very hard language to learn, but its amazing to thing a year ago I didnt know any russian really and now I am able to teach people the gospel and get along fine her in Russia. Everyday I just continue to study and show the Lord I'm willing to be here in Russia as a missionary. Even though the language is a booger and very hard to learn, its when I show my faith in the Lord and show that i am willing to struggle to do what he has called me to do as a missionary that he blesses me. Work Work Work is what we can do to show our faith.

Well I love you all so much and again I hope you have a great week. Stay strong, read your scriptures, and say your prayers!!

Love always,

Sister Mindy Gneiting

8.17.10

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

Well things are great here in the beautiful city of Irkutsk Russia!!! I just love being here so much. I love being on a mission and I cant even dream of being anywhere else. So things are great right now. So I think I told you last week about our investigator Tamara who is 82 yrs old. Well........ great news........... She is getting baptised :) She loves meeting with us and coming to church with us and she has accepted everything we teach her. So this last week we talk to her about baptism and she told us that she was already baptized when she was a baby. So ofcourse we talk to her about how only our church has the priesthood and the authority to baptize. Then I asked her what she remembered about her baptism and she said "nothing ofcourse I was a baby" and then we talk about how Christ said that little children dont need to be baptizd and we talked about how it should be our choose if we want to be baptized and she said "yeah I mom made the decision not me" and then she said she wanted to be baptized in the true church of Christ and the right way. So I am very excited that she has made this decision. So if everything goes as planned she will be baptized on the 28th of August.

So this week I will be in a different city. Tomorrow morning I get on a train and ride to Ulan-Ude. I will spend the rest of the week until Monday there and then come back here to Irkutsk. I am doing this because right now I am without a companion. My companion is a mini missionary which means she is just a young girl from my mission who is serving one transfer as a missionary. This week is the young single adults conference for the mission so she is at that. So I am being sent to Ulan-Ude to be with the sisters there. So that will be exciting.

Yesterday the senior couple Elder and Sister Southam left to go back to America. They have finished their mission. It was sad. They have become like the missionaries parent. They take care of us. I just love them so it was sad to say goodbye. They had been here in Irkutsk for a 18 months, so the members here love them so much too. so everyone was sad to say goodbye.

Ok so right now I am with a girl from the branch, she is my companion for the day. Well she is awesome and she has a car!!!!!!! Of course the missionaries in Russia dont have cars, so its so awesome that she has a car and is driving me around haha I didnt realize how much i missed my car until yesterday when we went to the gas station and I begged her to let me fill it up with gas :) So I am on cloud 9 right now!!!!

Well I have to get going to meet with the elders for an activity. I love you all sooooo much!! Have a great week and everyone should send me pictures

Love you
sister gneiting

8.3.10

Hello family and friends!!!!

How are you all doing? I hope you are doing great! Seriously, where does time go!!!!!!!! Well first off all I have very little time to write, I spent to much time reading emails sent to me and then realized my time is almost done :(((( sorry. You know forgiveness is a very important characteristic!!! haha Well I will type fast, so excuse my many mistakes in spelling.

Well it has been a great week! Our investigator Katya is coming along great. She is still searching for her answer to if the church is true, but we have had some great meetings with her and I she will find her answer soon. She is very involved in our meetings and really likes what we teach and is always paying attention and listening and giving great answers to questions. She is a great girl and I am very grateful for the opportunityty to teach her. She has been to church and many activities and is developing great friendships with the branch members. We also have a new investigator named Tamara who is 82 years old!! She is soooo cute. She was a former investigator like a year or two ago but the sisters only had i think 1 meeting with her. Well anyway we have meet with her twice and she is great. The thing is that she talks a lot and gets side tracked, so its hard to teach much. You know how grandparents like to talk and tell lots of stories about their life. The stories are great and its really great to hear about her life, we just hope to be able to teach her more. We will continue to meet with her. Well you remember Natasha who was baptized a few weeks ago? Well she is continuing to be great and continuing to grow. Well the next cool things is that her and her mom have a young girl living with them. We went to there house yesterday and had a lesson with them and this girl named Anya joined in on our lesson and she was very interested. We invited her to meet with us again and she said she would like to. So we are really excited about that because Natasha and Lyudmela will be great examples and help for teaching her.

Well today is pday of course and today we are going to watch the movie Saints and Soldiers on the projector at the church building. Im excited because I really like that movie and its been a long time since i watched it. Dont worry we have permission to watch the movie :)

Also this week we are having zone conference. We have zone conference ever transfer and the president of our mission always comes to Irkutsk for it. Usually we have it later in the transfer but this time they want to do it earlier for some reason. So I am excited for that. Its is always such a spiritual experience and I always learn so much from President and Sister Trejo and the assistants to the president. So next week I will write you about that.

So soon will be the Temple dedication for the Kiev Ukraine Temple. All of russia will be in its temple district and so its a really big deal here. Its almost as if there was a temple coming to russia. Ukraine is a different country ofcourse but in a lot of ways like russia. Its make us here in russia excited for the future temple to come to russia. Ukraine is being an example for Russia. We will be able to watch the dedication for our branch building and right now all the members are getting their interviews for the branch president so they can attend. It will be a great event. Also in a few weeks the patriarch for russian is coming to our mission and our city. There is only one for russia and he has to travel around to all the area through out russia. so he is only comes very rarely. Its been along time since he was here. So we are preparing the members for the great blessing of receiving a patriartical blessings. They are very excited for him to come.

Well my time is done. So until next week!!! I love you all sososososososos much!!! Have a great week and I cant wait to hear from ALL of you :)

love you all,

Sister Mindy Gneiting

7.27.10

Hello again from Russia!!!

I hope you all are doing great. Things here in Russia are great, but very hot!! The weather has been very beautiful lately. I just want it to stay this way because I know in the near future the temperature will get VERY cold!!!!! So I am enjoying the hot weather while it lasts!!!!!

So I am with my new companion, her name is Lyuda Semenova, and like I said last week she is a mini missionary. She is great. She is 21 years old and was baptized a year ago in another city in our mission. She is the only member on the church in her family but is very strong. I was a little worried to get a mini missionary at first because sometimes it is hard when your companion isnt a full time missionary and just a member because they haven't been through the training at the MTC or the experience of being a full time missionary so they dont understand completely what our role is.... but Lyuda is great and I am so thankful to have her as my companion right now, I think she has already taught me more than I have taught her. I know this will be a great transfer with her. It might not be a full transfer with her though because well first of all in a couple weeks there is a young single adults conference and she will be leaving to go to that for a week and then we heard that maybe after the conference she will be going back to Tomsk where she is from instead of coming back here. So that might happen but at this point we are not sure. So I will keep you updated.

So Natasha who just was baptised is doing great. I was a little worried this last week because when I called her a couple times she didnt seem herself. So i was praying everything was alright. It even seemed like she didnt want to meet with us, but we were able to see her a few times and she is back to normal. She has a pretty hard life and I think she was a stressed with some stuff. She came to church though on sunday and that helped her alot too. It was her moms birthday as well on monday. Her mom is a member and a very kind and sweet lady. Well they dont have really any money so Natasha asked me to help her do something for her moms bday. So we asked the Southams (the senior couple serving here) if we could have a family home evening at thier home and invite some people from the branch. So on monday we had a little surprise bday and fhe and it was so fun. There was about 15 people there and once again it was a good event to help bring unity to the branch. We taught a spiritual thought about friends and why friends are important and that we need to be good friends and love and serve each other. It was a very good thing for Lyudmela (natasha's mom) because she lives a very humble life and it was great for her to feel loved and supported. Its so important for us to love one another. I have attached some pics from that party. One of a group of us at the party and also one of Natasha and her mom. Also there is a pic of me with FRESH strawberries for lake baikal that the branch president's family gave us SOOOOOOOO GOOD. They picked them yesterday themselves and then brought them to us last night. WOW what a blessing!!!!

So I hope you all are reading you scriptures. I love the Book of Mormon. It is such a blessing for us, written for us. We always can find answers to our questions about life. A girl here was telling me about how she will pray to Heavenly Father about a question or concern she has and then right after praying she opens up the book of mormon and just starts reading a random verse. She told me that it is amazing because she always opens up to a verse that is exactly what she needs to hear. Thats way cool! We should all try that, I think that really shows trust in God and it shows our desire to find the answers we need. He will always give us answers, advice, and counsel, but we need to be watching for the answers.

Well once again I love you all so much and I hope all is well for you. Have a great week!!!

Sister Mindy Gneiting

7.20.10

Hello everybody!!!!!
So transfers are here again!!!!!!!! Can you believe that??? Well what do you think is happening to me?..................... Well I am staying here in Irkutsk!!!! I am very happy because I love this city. Well my companion was transfered to Novosibirsk so I will be getting a new companion, but it is a little different then usual. My new companion is what we call a mini missionary. She isn't actually a missionary but she's a member from one of the cities in our mission. She is from Tomsk. Right now we have a lack of sister missionaries in our mission, so when that happens the President finds some worthy young sisters who can serve for a transfer. Her name is Lyuda and i hear she is great. So this transfer will be a little different but I'm sure it will be great.
Well great news!!!!! Natasha was baptized!!!! YAY!!! It was such a great service and she was soooo happy. I am so happy for her. It has been so amazing to see her from beginning to end. Of course when I say the end I mean to her baptism, of course there is much more we need to do after baptism. Well anyway she has been interested in the church since we first started teaching her and has grown so much and has changed many things to follow the savior and his teachings. She is great because she is always asking quesiton and wanting to know what she can do to be better.
So this last week we had an activity with the whole branch. My companion and one of the girls from the branch planned it and it was great. The branch here really needs to strenthen their relationships with each other so they can make the branch stronger. These branches are small, not like our wards in america. Well this activity was great and a lot of the members came and they had a lot of fun with each other. Unity is so important with a branch or ward. We need to always work together to strengthen the church where we are a part of it. The thing is that here in russia missionary work is a lot different then in america. We work very close with the members because they themselves are new converts and need to be strengthened. We have many activities and things we do with the members to help them and then ultimately they help us with our missionary work. The members are a very important part to missionary work.
Im so greatful for this oppurtunity to serve a mission. The work is hard, long, and sometimes it feels like its not going anywhere, but the best part is that as we continue working hard through the hard times the Lord always helps us to do his work. We are working very hard here in Russia to bring these people this joy from the gospel and that work we are doing is with investigators, inactive members, less active members, active members, and non members. This work is so amazing. This mission is the best thing that has ever happened to me. To this point of my life I have never felt more joy then i have while being on my mission. It is so joyful to serve and help people come unto christ. I currently have only 4 transfer left and it breaks my heart. I feel like i could stay here forever serving these people. This makes me want to work even harder, i know my time is becoming shorter with everyday, so I must work the most I can everyday so i can complete the work the Lord has for me. I love being a missionary.
Well I am out of time again and I am sorry i didnt send pics next week for sure I will :)

I love you all so so so so so much!!! Have great week :)

7.6.10 and 7.13.10

7.13.10

Hello again from Russia!!!!!

So it has been another week, interesting week I'd say. Well told you about my tooth last week right..... well last wednesday wasnt quit the end of the story. Well my tooth was pulled on Monday and then on Tuesday and Wednesday the area where it was pulled still hurt really bad. We finally called my dentist and she said to come back in. So i went on Thursday and she said i had an infection. What had happened was when she pulled the tooth the blood clot in the hole didnt form fast enough which caused an infection. So on thursday, friday, and monday and i had to go in for her to treat the infection. Now basically everything is ok, the infection i think is gone but now i just have a huge hole in my mouth. Hopefully it will heal soon. Cameron what do you think, am i ok?

Well this last week we had zone conference and is was great!!! I learned a lot in which i can do to be a better missionary, now i just need to apply it my work. President and Sister Trejo were here and it was ofcourse great to see them. They have just become like our parents on the mission. Its really cool to see how we develop a family like bond with them and with the other missionaries. In our mission we are just a big family. Because our mission is so big and president is usually far away in a different city, we have to be like a family in our own cities so we can help each other and get the work done. I have heard from a lot of other missions that a lot of time the missionaries dont get along very well, but here it is a totally different story.

So on saturday Natasha will be baptized. We will be continuing to work with her this week to be ready for for great day. There is nothing better then to see someone accept Christ and his teaching and enter the waters of baptism in his true church. I will tell you all about her baptism next week.

So something interesting happened this last week with all the senior couple in our mission. So there was a senior couple conference at lake baikal this last week. So all the husbands and wifes who are serving in our mission and also president and sister trejo. Well on like the second day of there conference they all get very sick. Some very sick and others just alittle. But every single on of them got it a little. At first they couldnt figure out why they got sick, but just a couple days ago they found out it was food poisoning. At one point they were told it was because of the wind coming up fromMongolia haha but anyway some of them were really think and didnt eat for 4 days and just stayed in bed. We were all praying for them because the work they do for us is so important. They all for the most part are almost all recovered. The was one bad chicken dinner :)

A group a ladies from the branch here just got back from the temple for the first time. It is amazing to see people who just with in the last few years were baptized make it to the temple. The are great women and are striving to follow chirst and stay active members. What a great blessing for them to go to the temple and preform endowments for themselves and then for members of their families so have died. They are great missionaries. The temple is such an important part of the plan of salvation and its so great to know we can help others receive these saving ordinances. I hope you all are attending the temple regularly, if not start now!

They weather here is beautiful. Really hot most day lately, which is a suprise because i am in siberia. I am getting a pretty good farmers tan, the first one i think i have ever day, but not as bad as that time a had the sock tan from working at the golf course :) but also i have soooo many mosquito bite, they love me and bite me so much. My companion has like none. I was told that mosquitoes like A+ blood the most, which is what i have. Its the most disairable to them. So if thats true it makes sense. My companion and I refer to my blood and Belle blood, for those twilight fans you will understand!!! haha

Well tomorrow is my year mark! WOW!!!! One year ago I entered the MTC. Can you believe that? I cant. I only have 6 month, lets just not think about it. I dont want my mission to end, there is so much more to do.

I love you all so much!!!!! Have a great week!!!!

Love always from your missionary in Russia,

Sister Mindy Gneiting

7.6.10

Wow really these weeks just fly by so fast!!!

Well i hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend. Mine was great too, we went to the parade, went swimming, had a bonfire, and then did fireworks!!!!!! HAHA JUST KIDDING!! Of course not, anyway I am in Russia so there was no celebration, but i still thought about it and how thankful I am for America and to be a citizen. Well every night our zone leaders call us to see if we are home safe and how our day went. So they called on the night of the 4th and when we answered they had the other elders on a different phone and then they started playing the song that goes "this land is your land this land is my land from california...." So we all listened together and we all sand along. My companion is the only one in our zone who is not american, so she didnt really care that much haha, but the rest of us very much enjoyed it!!! It is weird being soooo far away from america on the 4th of July, but i can say that even all the way in the middle of Siberian Russia the 4th of July was celebrated!!!! YAY I LOVE AMERICA!!!!!!!

So actually this 4th of July weekend wasnt the best. I had a horrible tooth ache. I noticed on saturday night that my tooth kind of hurt when i ate and then I woke up on Sunday and it hurt a lot worse. As sunday went on it kept getting worse and worse and worse. If anything would just barely touch that tooth it would just explode in pain. So the pain was really bad at church but the branch president's wife and daughter, so have become like my russian family took good care of me and gave me some medicine. So I took the medicine and then we went off to a meeting on the other side of the town and soon i felt really bad. I has really weak and dizzy and couldnt talk cuz my mouth hurt so much. So after the meeting we called a taxi and just went home and i went to bed. That night I couldn't sleep very much because it hurt so bad. Then the next morning my mouth was swollen and numb, which took some of the pain away. The branch president and his family told us of a good dentist, so on monday we went. Well the sad part is that they said they couldn't do anything about it and had to pull it :) So now i am missing a part of me and have a big hole in my mouth, yeah i kind of feel like less of a person haha but the most important thing is that the pain is gone. SO what had happened is that i had a root canalin this tooth a few years ago and the dentist here said that whoever did the root canal broke part of my tooth and then it caused a infection. Im not sure if i was in american if anything could have been done to fix it, but here i guess not. So when i get back to america i guess i will get a fake tooth. So thats i guess how i celebrated the 4th :)

Well this transfer is just moving along. This week we have Zone Conference again, which i am always excited about. I always learn so much from my mission president and his wife. They are both amazing and help us so much!!! Well Natasha is progressing great, she will be baptized on the 17th of this month. We are very excited and happy for her. She has excepted the gospel so well and is continuing to learn more and more. Marina who was baptized a month or so ago is leaving this week to go back home to Ukraine. We are sad that she is leaving. We have really been teaching her about how she can continue to strengthen her testimony when is in Ukraine and how she can be a member missionary. We will miss her but she is already so strong in the gospel and is always finding ways to learn more.

Well i am really sorry this email is short. I will try for a better one next week! I love you all so much though, so dont forget it. Have fantastic week!!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Mindy Gneiting