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
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
10.20.10
Hey its me ur russian missionary!!!!!!
Well its been another great week in russia!!! So finally after much waiting i have my new companion, well we have been together for almost a week now!! She is awesome!! Like I told you before her name is Siter Schwab and she is from Germany. She speaks great english and is working now on her russian. She is a greenie so this is her first transfer and week in russia. Everthing is so new to her and she doesnt understand a lot of things that people say in russian, but I'm trying to help her alot. Its interesting being a trainer, but I like it. It helps me to be a better missionary because I really want her to start her mission off good and get into good habits as a missionary. So I'm trying to do things different and to be better in my missionary work so I can be a good example for her. We are having a good time together though. I really love her already.
So things are still going great with Marina. Her baptism is still set for the 30th and she is still excited about it, just scared of the water. We talk to our mission president about it though and he said we can do a test run/dip with her a couple days before her mission so that she will not be scared of the water and be ready for her baptism. So we will be doing a fake baptism, interesting huh!!!!! haha She is just a great girl and im so grateful for the opportunity to teach her. Please continue to pray for her that all will go well with her baptism next week.
So to answer your questions mom. First about the jobs, yeah I would really like to get right into work when I get back. So yeah do what you can to find some options for me and I really want to just stay in rexburg until school starts in april. So a job in rexburg would be great.
Dont worry about sending me a package for Christmas. The package you sent and I just got was AWESOME!!!!!!! Thanks soooo much, it was filled with so much stuff that I needed!! Im enjoying everything you sent!! So you dont need to send anything for Christmas, i will be home soon after that and we will celebrate then!
I havent bought any boots yet. I'm looking to see if i can borrow some from someone since i will only have to wear them for about a month or so. So i will let you know. I did buy some other things that I needed so you will notice that on my debit card.
So last week we finally watched general conference and it was sooooo great!! I wish we could have conference every week or at least month, 6 months is just toooooooo long of a wait. I learned so much. Also this weekend we are having the Novosibirsk district conference and Pres Lawerence who is in the east europe area presidency is coming with his wife. So it will be a 2 day conference, kind of like stake conference but a little different. I was asked to be Sister Trejo's (our mission presidents wife) translator. So i will follow her around and translate what she says into Russian and then tell her what people say to her. Then when she gives any talks or something i have to translate in front of EVERYBODY!!!!!!!! I'm a little scared, so please pray for me that I will be able to do a good job. It will be a good conference though. It happens i think once a year and is always alot of help for the members here.
Well right now I cant think of anything else to say, so I will just tell you how much I love you. Well I love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!! Have a great week!
love,
Sister Gneiting
Well its been another great week in russia!!! So finally after much waiting i have my new companion, well we have been together for almost a week now!! She is awesome!! Like I told you before her name is Siter Schwab and she is from Germany. She speaks great english and is working now on her russian. She is a greenie so this is her first transfer and week in russia. Everthing is so new to her and she doesnt understand a lot of things that people say in russian, but I'm trying to help her alot. Its interesting being a trainer, but I like it. It helps me to be a better missionary because I really want her to start her mission off good and get into good habits as a missionary. So I'm trying to do things different and to be better in my missionary work so I can be a good example for her. We are having a good time together though. I really love her already.
So things are still going great with Marina. Her baptism is still set for the 30th and she is still excited about it, just scared of the water. We talk to our mission president about it though and he said we can do a test run/dip with her a couple days before her mission so that she will not be scared of the water and be ready for her baptism. So we will be doing a fake baptism, interesting huh!!!!! haha She is just a great girl and im so grateful for the opportunity to teach her. Please continue to pray for her that all will go well with her baptism next week.
So to answer your questions mom. First about the jobs, yeah I would really like to get right into work when I get back. So yeah do what you can to find some options for me and I really want to just stay in rexburg until school starts in april. So a job in rexburg would be great.
Dont worry about sending me a package for Christmas. The package you sent and I just got was AWESOME!!!!!!! Thanks soooo much, it was filled with so much stuff that I needed!! Im enjoying everything you sent!! So you dont need to send anything for Christmas, i will be home soon after that and we will celebrate then!
I havent bought any boots yet. I'm looking to see if i can borrow some from someone since i will only have to wear them for about a month or so. So i will let you know. I did buy some other things that I needed so you will notice that on my debit card.
So last week we finally watched general conference and it was sooooo great!! I wish we could have conference every week or at least month, 6 months is just toooooooo long of a wait. I learned so much. Also this weekend we are having the Novosibirsk district conference and Pres Lawerence who is in the east europe area presidency is coming with his wife. So it will be a 2 day conference, kind of like stake conference but a little different. I was asked to be Sister Trejo's (our mission presidents wife) translator. So i will follow her around and translate what she says into Russian and then tell her what people say to her. Then when she gives any talks or something i have to translate in front of EVERYBODY!!!!!!!! I'm a little scared, so please pray for me that I will be able to do a good job. It will be a good conference though. It happens i think once a year and is always alot of help for the members here.
Well right now I cant think of anything else to say, so I will just tell you how much I love you. Well I love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!! Have a great week!
love,
Sister Gneiting
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
10.13.10
HELLO AGAIN!!!!!!!
Well not much has happened since I emailed you last since last week we has pday on saturday. So sorry mom this email might not be to long. Well I have been without a companion since Monday. My companion Sister Antonova was transferred to a different city and they needed her to get there early. So since then I have had to find church members to be my companion. Its a cool experience to have the members as companions. It help them to strengthen their testimonies and well it help us. Since I am not Russian it useful to have these members with me because they can relate with the people we are teaching and can share their experience of when they joined the church, and also the speak russian PERFECTLY!!!!!! haha Well anyway I get my new companion, my greenie, tomorrow afternoon. She got here to Novo from america early this morning but they are with President Trejo and his wife that their house. They are actually probably sleeping right now since the flight over here is so long and you changed so many time zones. Then tonight and tomorrow they have orientation and then after that I will go pick her up at the office. I'm excited to be training. I hope I can help her start off on the right foot here in Russia. Did I tell you she is german. So maybe I will learn some german and make our german ancestors happy!!! So next week I will tell you all about her and how things are going.
So we have had some great lessons with our investigator Marina. She has a baptismal date for the 30th of this month. She is really progressing and is really wanting to get baptized. While teaching her lately we have realized she had some concerns about baptism, but we couldnt figure out what they were and she wasnt flat out telling us. Yesterday she told us though and we are relieved to know it is only because she is scared of the water and being dunked in the water. We talked with her about how there would we an strong, tall elder with her who would make sure she was ok and that the water isnt very high, but she was still scared after talking about that. I have talk with the zone leaders and we think we will have an elder show her how it works and where to put her hands and feet so that she can feel more comfortable. She asked me if before her baptism if she could like be dunked a couple time to practice so she would know what it was like and so she would be ready for her baptism and it would be a surprise. Well I dont know if that is allowed to do, but we are figuring out how we can help her. She is great though and has really accepted the gospel!! Another cool thing happened. Well we have been doing a service for a girl named Nastya and going private english lessons every so often. Well one time after the lesson i asked her if we could do a spiritual thought with her about she said no. Well my comp and I talked about it and wondered if it was worth our time to teach her if she wasnt interested in learning about the church. Well we decided to do it maybe once a week. SO yesterday we had an english lesson with her and at the end she herself ask for us to share a spiritual thought. So we taught about the restoration and Joseph Smith and in the end she was really interested and said she really like what we told her. So we are going to meet with her again and we hope to continue teaching her about the gospel. It helped me to see how doing service and showing our love for someone is a very important part of sharing the gospel. Thats something that all of us can do, if we are full time missionaries or not. Service is always needed around us.
Well i need to get going to meet the other missionaries we are going to go to a park and ride bike today!!! Its been awhile since i rode a bike so hopefully i dont fall off!!! :) well as usual I love you all soo much and hope you have a great day!!
love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting
Well not much has happened since I emailed you last since last week we has pday on saturday. So sorry mom this email might not be to long. Well I have been without a companion since Monday. My companion Sister Antonova was transferred to a different city and they needed her to get there early. So since then I have had to find church members to be my companion. Its a cool experience to have the members as companions. It help them to strengthen their testimonies and well it help us. Since I am not Russian it useful to have these members with me because they can relate with the people we are teaching and can share their experience of when they joined the church, and also the speak russian PERFECTLY!!!!!! haha Well anyway I get my new companion, my greenie, tomorrow afternoon. She got here to Novo from america early this morning but they are with President Trejo and his wife that their house. They are actually probably sleeping right now since the flight over here is so long and you changed so many time zones. Then tonight and tomorrow they have orientation and then after that I will go pick her up at the office. I'm excited to be training. I hope I can help her start off on the right foot here in Russia. Did I tell you she is german. So maybe I will learn some german and make our german ancestors happy!!! So next week I will tell you all about her and how things are going.
So we have had some great lessons with our investigator Marina. She has a baptismal date for the 30th of this month. She is really progressing and is really wanting to get baptized. While teaching her lately we have realized she had some concerns about baptism, but we couldnt figure out what they were and she wasnt flat out telling us. Yesterday she told us though and we are relieved to know it is only because she is scared of the water and being dunked in the water. We talked with her about how there would we an strong, tall elder with her who would make sure she was ok and that the water isnt very high, but she was still scared after talking about that. I have talk with the zone leaders and we think we will have an elder show her how it works and where to put her hands and feet so that she can feel more comfortable. She asked me if before her baptism if she could like be dunked a couple time to practice so she would know what it was like and so she would be ready for her baptism and it would be a surprise. Well I dont know if that is allowed to do, but we are figuring out how we can help her. She is great though and has really accepted the gospel!! Another cool thing happened. Well we have been doing a service for a girl named Nastya and going private english lessons every so often. Well one time after the lesson i asked her if we could do a spiritual thought with her about she said no. Well my comp and I talked about it and wondered if it was worth our time to teach her if she wasnt interested in learning about the church. Well we decided to do it maybe once a week. SO yesterday we had an english lesson with her and at the end she herself ask for us to share a spiritual thought. So we taught about the restoration and Joseph Smith and in the end she was really interested and said she really like what we told her. So we are going to meet with her again and we hope to continue teaching her about the gospel. It helped me to see how doing service and showing our love for someone is a very important part of sharing the gospel. Thats something that all of us can do, if we are full time missionaries or not. Service is always needed around us.
Well i need to get going to meet the other missionaries we are going to go to a park and ride bike today!!! Its been awhile since i rode a bike so hopefully i dont fall off!!! :) well as usual I love you all soo much and hope you have a great day!!
love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Lots of Pictures
Here are a bunch of pictures of Mindy on her mission. As you can see by her
smile she is loving serving the Lord.
Enjoy!!
Mindys companion, Senior missionary, Mindy, members
Mindys companion, Senior missionary, Mindy, members
Ice Cream with companion
Sisters in the Gospel
Wall Art
Companions
Yes thats Mindy on top
Relaxing at home
Senior couple, Mindy and her companion
Cooking? Baking? Dancing . . . . ?
Yummy cake!!!
Kiss? More wall art
I'm not sure about this one but may be her branch in her last area
Mindy and her comp with the branch president and his wife
Missionaries having lunch at a statue
I see you . . .
Cectpa Gneiting
Mindy with a member
Saturday, October 9, 2010
10.9.10
HELLOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Sorry I am emailing you a few day late, I hope were not scared I died or something!!! This week we had a 3 day training with our Mission President so we didnt have our usual pday on Wednesday so today is pday instead. I will just say WOW!!!!!!! This training we just did was AMAZING!!!! This training is being done all over the world for all the missionaries. Salt Lake wants us to be better teachers as missionaries. So they have made a new training program and have changed som thing about missionary work and now through out all the world we are starting this program. The training was so awesome and it really helped us to see how we can be better missionaries. We went over alot of stuff, 3 days worth of learning. I am really excited to talk from what i learned for the rest of my mission and do a lot better work.
Well I have great news... our investigator Marina, who i told you has been waiting for her answer about baptism, decided on a date to get baptised. Her one concern about getting baptized is that she doesnt want to to it with out being ready. She has told us many times that she knows the church and everything we teach her is true and she is living by the commandments. She really is ready top be baptized, but she know that baptism is a very important thing and she wants to feel completely ready. So anyway we set a date with her for the 30th of october and told her that we would help her prepare and be ready for her baptism. Please keep her is your prayer that we will be ready to be baptised. She is such a great girl. Her mom was baptised about a month ago and together they are both so strong in the gospel other then the fact that Marina isnt baptized. It is so great to see families come into the gospel together. Another investigator Valentina we think is close to excepting baptism. She believe 99.9% that the church is true, so we need to work with her on that other .1%. We need to get her to church though, she didnt come last week. So maybe thats why there is .1%. Anyway I'm excited to be working with her.
Oh I almost forgot the BIG news!!!!!........... I'm pregnant!!!!!!!!!!! haha well not really. That is mission slang for that I will be training next transfer. We always call out trainer our mom or dad for the elders. So i will be getting a greenie or daughter right from the MTC!!! The way cool thing is that she is from Germany!! Cool huh? I hear she speaks english though, so that will be good. She will get here from the MTC on wednesday and then probably be with me on thursday. So this means that it is transfer time again, but I will be staying here in Novo and be training Sister Shwab. It will be great! I hope I will be a good trainer for her. So I'll tell you all about her in 2 weeks cuz next week when i email i wont know her yet.
Amy I'm not sure what your surprise for me is, but I'm way excited about it!!! Dont give it to anyone else. Good luck on your last semester of school!!! I cant believe you are finishing, thats awesome! Keep working hard your almost done. As we say on the mission alot "Endure to the end"!!!!!
Well its really starting to cool off here. We have been wearing coats for a couple weeks now. No snow yet thought but probably soon. I miss the warm weather, but what can i do? Nothing, so i will live with it :) It has actually been raining a lot lately. Siberian winters are awesome though!!! I can say that i lived through 2 siberian winter if i make it through this next 3 months!!! That's pretty impressive!!
So I can't really think of much to say, Oh actually i know!! I pierced my ears!!! Many of you probably thought i had pierced ears, but i didnt. Anyway last pday i pierced them. I got some ear rings for my birthday but couldnt wear them, so i fixed that problem. Right now i have to wear the ugly beginner earrings though, but soon i will have cute one :) haha so thats more news!
Well another Internet session has come to an end :( I love you all sooooo much!!!! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting
Sorry I am emailing you a few day late, I hope were not scared I died or something!!! This week we had a 3 day training with our Mission President so we didnt have our usual pday on Wednesday so today is pday instead. I will just say WOW!!!!!!! This training we just did was AMAZING!!!! This training is being done all over the world for all the missionaries. Salt Lake wants us to be better teachers as missionaries. So they have made a new training program and have changed som thing about missionary work and now through out all the world we are starting this program. The training was so awesome and it really helped us to see how we can be better missionaries. We went over alot of stuff, 3 days worth of learning. I am really excited to talk from what i learned for the rest of my mission and do a lot better work.
Well I have great news... our investigator Marina, who i told you has been waiting for her answer about baptism, decided on a date to get baptised. Her one concern about getting baptized is that she doesnt want to to it with out being ready. She has told us many times that she knows the church and everything we teach her is true and she is living by the commandments. She really is ready top be baptized, but she know that baptism is a very important thing and she wants to feel completely ready. So anyway we set a date with her for the 30th of october and told her that we would help her prepare and be ready for her baptism. Please keep her is your prayer that we will be ready to be baptised. She is such a great girl. Her mom was baptised about a month ago and together they are both so strong in the gospel other then the fact that Marina isnt baptized. It is so great to see families come into the gospel together. Another investigator Valentina we think is close to excepting baptism. She believe 99.9% that the church is true, so we need to work with her on that other .1%. We need to get her to church though, she didnt come last week. So maybe thats why there is .1%. Anyway I'm excited to be working with her.
Oh I almost forgot the BIG news!!!!!........... I'm pregnant!!!!!!!!!!! haha well not really. That is mission slang for that I will be training next transfer. We always call out trainer our mom or dad for the elders. So i will be getting a greenie or daughter right from the MTC!!! The way cool thing is that she is from Germany!! Cool huh? I hear she speaks english though, so that will be good. She will get here from the MTC on wednesday and then probably be with me on thursday. So this means that it is transfer time again, but I will be staying here in Novo and be training Sister Shwab. It will be great! I hope I will be a good trainer for her. So I'll tell you all about her in 2 weeks cuz next week when i email i wont know her yet.
Amy I'm not sure what your surprise for me is, but I'm way excited about it!!! Dont give it to anyone else. Good luck on your last semester of school!!! I cant believe you are finishing, thats awesome! Keep working hard your almost done. As we say on the mission alot "Endure to the end"!!!!!
Well its really starting to cool off here. We have been wearing coats for a couple weeks now. No snow yet thought but probably soon. I miss the warm weather, but what can i do? Nothing, so i will live with it :) It has actually been raining a lot lately. Siberian winters are awesome though!!! I can say that i lived through 2 siberian winter if i make it through this next 3 months!!! That's pretty impressive!!
So I can't really think of much to say, Oh actually i know!! I pierced my ears!!! Many of you probably thought i had pierced ears, but i didnt. Anyway last pday i pierced them. I got some ear rings for my birthday but couldnt wear them, so i fixed that problem. Right now i have to wear the ugly beginner earrings though, but soon i will have cute one :) haha so thats more news!
Well another Internet session has come to an end :( I love you all sooooo much!!!! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Mindy Gneiting
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
9.29.10
Hello everyone!!!!
Well it has been another great week in Russian! Filled with lots of missionary work, which is the best work ever!! Well this last week has been great and we have had no big distractions like we had in the past. No sicknesses and no moving apartments. Its was been very nice to get back to work. We have had a lot of meetings with people and have found some new investigators.
On Sunday we meet with Masha and her mom Valentina who had meet with the missionaries in the past but it had been a while since meeting with the missionaries. They are both great! Masha has excepted the gospel and our message for the most part and her mom is very much looking for the truth and the help of God. Valentina though has a lot of questions and some really hard ones to answer at times. We have more work to do with them but they are interested in learning more.
Also on Monday we went to a inactive ladies house to visit her and our branch president came with us and it was just an amazing visit. Her husband was there who is not a member and at the end of our meeting he was crying because he felt the spirit so much. We talk about eternal families and how through the temple they can be together forever. She really wants him to get baptized and for them to go to the temple together. We asked him if he wanted to be with his wife forever and he said of course he did. The spirit was really strong at that lesson and he invited us back to teach him more. So we will work with them to get her active and him baptized. It is so amazing to see families strengthened through the gospel.
We also had a great lesson yesterday with another investigator Valentine, who also is just a fabulous lady. We watched the movie about the Joseph Smith and the restoration and she really enjoyed it and told us that she believes it 99.9% and that she wants so much to believe it all and accept it. She has known about the church for a few year and has family members who are church members and my companion and I both dont understand why she hasnt been baptized yet. We plan on talking about baptism with her at our next meeting.
Our other investigator Marina whos mom was baptized a month ago is doing great as well, it was been hard lately to meet with her because of her schedule but tonight we are going to their house and will have a meeting and teach about the Holy Ghost and how to receive answers to prayers and revelation. She is soooo close to baptism but is waiting for her answer about what to do. Well so that is basically what we are doing right now with our work her in Nove. We do have more inactive members that we are trying to work with to increase their faith and desire to come back to church. Thanks for all your prayers for the work her in our mission, your prayers are a strong help to us.
Well what else to say????? On sunday I taught primary :) Well actually basically i just translated. We have a new family that moved into our branch from america. The parents both know russian pretty well and are teaching in a university here. They have a 3 year old girl and 4 months baby girl. They are members of the church as so they started coming to out branch. Their little daughter is soooooo cute and it is really fun to talk to her in english. All the russians from the branch just love her. Well she is only 3 and the youngest in primary and the only one in her class. So a young girl named Anya from the branch was little Elizabeth's teacher and came and asked me if I could help her since Elizabeth doesnt speak russian. Anya knows english pretty well but wanted Elizabeth to understand. So anyway Anya taught the lesson in Russian and I translated. It was soooo fun. We taught about prophets and Elizabeth is already soooo smart in the gospel because her parents have done a very good job teaching her and she was able to answer all the questions really well. So it was cool. I hope to help again!! We even got to color pictures and have snack time :) any missionary would love that!!!!
I cant believe I have been in Russia for a year!!! I remember when i first got here and somethings seems so weird and different from american, but now they are sooo normal to me and I am use to being here. I love Russia and love being here and communicating with these people. I wish you all could come here to Russia and see why it is I love it so much. I am so grateful the Lord sent me here on my mission. I have no desire to be anywhere else on my mission. From the time being here I have had many wonderful and spiritual experiences that have helped me to see why I am here. It is not just by luck that we serve in a certain mission. Every missionary is meant to be in their mission for a reason and those reasons are real. There are people here that I know the Lord sent me here to help them. Every missionary has different reasons and different people that they were personal sent to help. We dont know ahead who they are but there are times on the mission when you stop and think "WOW this is why I am here. The Lord needed me here for this person of for this reason." This mission has strengthened me in many ways and I will forever be thankful for this experience. I know this church is true and know it is lead by Christ himself. I know he is our savior and that through him we can change and always become better. His atonement is real and it is the biggest blessing we have. Through his atonement we CAN be forgiven of sin, no matter the sin. Repentance works and through forgiveness of sin we receive so much joy and happiness. Being here and seeing people change and become better and have a desire to repent and then seeing how joyful they are when they know the Lord has forgiven them is amazing.
Well my time is up :( I love you soo much and cant wait to hear from you next week!!!!! Keep being awesome and working hard!!!
love always,
Sister Mindy Gneiting
Well it has been another great week in Russian! Filled with lots of missionary work, which is the best work ever!! Well this last week has been great and we have had no big distractions like we had in the past. No sicknesses and no moving apartments. Its was been very nice to get back to work. We have had a lot of meetings with people and have found some new investigators.
On Sunday we meet with Masha and her mom Valentina who had meet with the missionaries in the past but it had been a while since meeting with the missionaries. They are both great! Masha has excepted the gospel and our message for the most part and her mom is very much looking for the truth and the help of God. Valentina though has a lot of questions and some really hard ones to answer at times. We have more work to do with them but they are interested in learning more.
Also on Monday we went to a inactive ladies house to visit her and our branch president came with us and it was just an amazing visit. Her husband was there who is not a member and at the end of our meeting he was crying because he felt the spirit so much. We talk about eternal families and how through the temple they can be together forever. She really wants him to get baptized and for them to go to the temple together. We asked him if he wanted to be with his wife forever and he said of course he did. The spirit was really strong at that lesson and he invited us back to teach him more. So we will work with them to get her active and him baptized. It is so amazing to see families strengthened through the gospel.
We also had a great lesson yesterday with another investigator Valentine, who also is just a fabulous lady. We watched the movie about the Joseph Smith and the restoration and she really enjoyed it and told us that she believes it 99.9% and that she wants so much to believe it all and accept it. She has known about the church for a few year and has family members who are church members and my companion and I both dont understand why she hasnt been baptized yet. We plan on talking about baptism with her at our next meeting.
Our other investigator Marina whos mom was baptized a month ago is doing great as well, it was been hard lately to meet with her because of her schedule but tonight we are going to their house and will have a meeting and teach about the Holy Ghost and how to receive answers to prayers and revelation. She is soooo close to baptism but is waiting for her answer about what to do. Well so that is basically what we are doing right now with our work her in Nove. We do have more inactive members that we are trying to work with to increase their faith and desire to come back to church. Thanks for all your prayers for the work her in our mission, your prayers are a strong help to us.
Well what else to say????? On sunday I taught primary :) Well actually basically i just translated. We have a new family that moved into our branch from america. The parents both know russian pretty well and are teaching in a university here. They have a 3 year old girl and 4 months baby girl. They are members of the church as so they started coming to out branch. Their little daughter is soooooo cute and it is really fun to talk to her in english. All the russians from the branch just love her. Well she is only 3 and the youngest in primary and the only one in her class. So a young girl named Anya from the branch was little Elizabeth's teacher and came and asked me if I could help her since Elizabeth doesnt speak russian. Anya knows english pretty well but wanted Elizabeth to understand. So anyway Anya taught the lesson in Russian and I translated. It was soooo fun. We taught about prophets and Elizabeth is already soooo smart in the gospel because her parents have done a very good job teaching her and she was able to answer all the questions really well. So it was cool. I hope to help again!! We even got to color pictures and have snack time :) any missionary would love that!!!!
I cant believe I have been in Russia for a year!!! I remember when i first got here and somethings seems so weird and different from american, but now they are sooo normal to me and I am use to being here. I love Russia and love being here and communicating with these people. I wish you all could come here to Russia and see why it is I love it so much. I am so grateful the Lord sent me here on my mission. I have no desire to be anywhere else on my mission. From the time being here I have had many wonderful and spiritual experiences that have helped me to see why I am here. It is not just by luck that we serve in a certain mission. Every missionary is meant to be in their mission for a reason and those reasons are real. There are people here that I know the Lord sent me here to help them. Every missionary has different reasons and different people that they were personal sent to help. We dont know ahead who they are but there are times on the mission when you stop and think "WOW this is why I am here. The Lord needed me here for this person of for this reason." This mission has strengthened me in many ways and I will forever be thankful for this experience. I know this church is true and know it is lead by Christ himself. I know he is our savior and that through him we can change and always become better. His atonement is real and it is the biggest blessing we have. Through his atonement we CAN be forgiven of sin, no matter the sin. Repentance works and through forgiveness of sin we receive so much joy and happiness. Being here and seeing people change and become better and have a desire to repent and then seeing how joyful they are when they know the Lord has forgiven them is amazing.
Well my time is up :( I love you soo much and cant wait to hear from you next week!!!!! Keep being awesome and working hard!!!
love always,
Sister Mindy Gneiting
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Return Date
We received Mindy's itinerary for her flight home.
She will return on January 5, 2011
WOW!! That is only 3 1/2 months away.
She will be home before we know it.
If you are thinking about sending her a card or package please send it soon so that there is plenty of time for it to get to her before she leaves.
Thank you !!
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