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
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
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
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
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