Dear Mom and Dad ;)
Hello! Greetings from a COLD Russia! The last couple days have been cold here in Russia but it is exciting to see all the winter clothes being brought out. First things first: Sis. Pike is still my companion! YEA! Wednesday after she had all packed and we were about to go to bed, the AP called and told her she would be staying in Oktabrasky for a few more days after the conference. It was such great news to us because our investigators had been doing so well and so Thursday we headed off to the Conference and then she came back with me. We will pick up our mini missionary today in about an hour and then be in a threesome until Sis. Pike leaves maybe Wednesday or Thursday, we're still not sure. BUT all in all she is still here and we have had a GREAT week!
Thanks for everyone's emails, especially dad. It was awesome! So I'm not sure if I should start with the sprititual stuff or the boring everday stuff. I think I will start with the boring and end with the good spiritual stuff!
This week was pretty normal as far as missionary standards go. We had some great lessons with our investigators and had a really fun lesson with a less inactive lady we have been working with in our ward. I remember I told you about Luba (the opera singer in our ward) last week, but this week we took Luba and her boyfriend Artur (who was baptized about a month ago and is also an opera singer here). We had a great time singing hyms for the member and inviting her to come to church. She felt so special to have Artur and Luba there and as we were leaving Artur told her she could get her some tickets to the Philharmonic here if she would like to go (she's in her 70's and doesn't ever leave her house). Oh I wish everyone could have seen her cute face! She felt on top of the world to have a handsome young opera singer invite her to the philharmonic. The face was fleeting as she turned back into her normal self and said, 'hmph... I don't know.' It was awesome! I love missionary work!
We have continue working with Valentina and she continues to be as funny as ever. Just the other day we were at her house and had tea, afterwards we were doing the dishes for her. She then came into our house and did our dishes! What do we do with her! She also shared her 'big secret' for the week with us. She loves to know how we do things and what types of things we cook etc. Sis. Pike told her that in America we don't iron very many things. She asked if we ironed our sheets and we said 'NO!' She seemed a little apalled but a couple days later she told Sis. Pike very quietly, that very morning she had put her sheets on the bed, and didn't even iron them! Oh sweet freedom! I LOVE THE PEOPLE HERE!
Here we have many mnay people who are willing to be our mom's. Yesterday the weather was terrible. There were winds that were worse than Rexburg winds, cold cold cold pouring rain and just cold weather. By the time Sis. Pike and I got to church in a different area (Our investigator Natalya was going to church!!!!) Her boots were completely and totally soaked and she had to take them off. She took them off and her socks were all wet, she turned to me and said 'some babyshkas are going to get MAD at me and sure enough...our investogator saw, and being the mother she is,
made her take off the socks, put on some boots that were just lying around the church and, best part, hung her socks in front of the oven, on a broom, with the oven on all during church so her socks would dry out. She was so cute and worried about us being cold she gave us her pair of gloves (I had left my little mittens somewhere in Samara, whoops:() As we headed out she then wrapped Sis. Pike's feet in plastic bags and then had her put on her boots etc. The people here are so nice and loving and they just want to take care of you! It was great!
We had a lesson with her later that night and took a member of the church who is awesome. Renant was recently baptized and is our Branch Mission Leader. He is about 19 and studying here in Samara. I love seeing the dedication of these members here in Russia. They are so willing to go on lessons and help out with missionary work they really are an example for us and how we should be. Natalya LOVES Renant and so we had a good lesson talking about the tree of life etc. I love her and am so excited to continue working with her and see her progress. She went to church the first time this week and it was so fun to see her take the sacrament. I had to play the piano and so I watched as it got to her and she just winked at me and I just thought, this is why I'm here! The Gospel has just a powerful influence in people's lives and can change them! Oh it is so cool to be a part of this work! I am so grateful for the opportuinity to serve these people! I learn more from them about life etc. than I'm sure they learn from me about the Gospel but it so so cool to see the change that takes place and to see their love for this Gospel grow!
One last funny story! One day Sis. Pike and I had not had very much success at all! No one wanted to talk to us, it was cold, it was a little overcast and we were tired. Sis. Pike had just dropped her favorite earring off the balcony and so we were searching for it below in the bushes. There was a guy on his balcony smoking above us and as we were looking I felt something hit my head. I felt my head and sure enough, he had spit on me... awesome. Now I know he wasn't trying to, I think he just didn't realize we were down there but I just thought to myself...missionary work is awesome, I just got spit on and no one will talk to us. That is like the summary of a bad day in missionary work. I didn't want to complain and I knew that Sis. Pike was having a bad day too (her earring had broken) so I didn't want to complain and so I didn't say anything until last night. When I told her the story we both just laughed really hard for a few minutes and said I guess that's why its okay to have hard days, you get to laugh about them later.
Ok... time for the spiritual part. We had the conference with Elder Nelson this week and it was amazing. We were able to hear from President Schweitzer and his wife and Elder Nelson. We were also able to shake his hand and that was cool! I shook the hand of an apostle! YEA! He was so powerful and the spirit was so strong in that conference. We were able to sing Called to Serve and it was so neat to sing with all of us missionaries and an apostle, what we are doing here! While he was speaking I knew that this was WHERE I'm supposed to be and WHEN i'm supposed to be here. It is such a short time in the eternal perspective to give to the Lord. A year and a half and I'll be back home doing 'normal' things but right now I get to do AMAZING things. I get to talk about things that you can't talk about normally, I get to meet people and talk about their family with them, I get to testify about Jospeh Smith and the Book of Mormon on a regular basis and it is so cool! This truly is a once in a lifetime experience and I get to do it. I think my favorite thing that I learned from Elder Nelson was an answer to the question 'why me?' Why a 19/21 year old? His answer was simply, the Lord has always chosen the unlikely. Look at history. He gave the example of picking the army and the narrowed it down to 300 men judging by how they drunk the water (thanks dad! Those Old Testament FHE;s really payed off, I remembered that story!) Look at Joseph Smith. Look at Nephi. Look at Moses, David and Goliath, Abinadi, etc. We will always be in the minority but as long as we are on the Lord's side we will win. It was so cool to hear an apostle testify that it is the unikely, the people who can't speak Russian, the people who don't know what every scripture says (missionaries) that the Lord can bring about his grand purposes and bring about a great and marvelous work. He also talked a lot about finding common ground with those you talk to. He told the story of President Hinckly meeting Gorbachov(sp.) and asking if he saw the wood paneling in the room. He then explained that it was some type of walnut and it was actually the walnut from where Gorbachov grew up (I can't remember the name of the wood) but it is important to be smart and to talk to people about what they like, do etc. He also talked about the importance of questions and like a doctor asking the question 'where does it hurt?' Find out how the Gospel can heal them and teach that principle. Overall it was a great conference and I learned a lot about being a missionary and it got me excited to keep serving and doing this work. It is a great work! This is where I need to be and I'm doing what I need to.
Well time is up but I love you all! Thanks for the letters, the recipes, and all the love and support. You are all amazing! Do MISSIONARY work! Go out with the missionaries, invite them to teach in your homes, talk to their investigator's at church. The church is true, I know it! It will be exciting to work with my new companion and although it is sad to say goodbye to Sis. Pike she has served a great mission and is a fantastic missionary. I am so grateful for her example of how to make a mission fun. You don't have to be serious and intense with your investigator's. Love them, show them love and find out 'where it hurts' for them. That is the way to do missionary work!
Have a good week! Love,
Whitney
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
October in Oktabrasky
My Crazy Babushka socks!
My boots
Our tree of life that our landlady gave us! Little did she know there is a real tree of life...
Family and Friends,
SORRY!!!! I am so sad right now thinking about you not getting the email especially because it was the best one I have written on my mission as of right now. It makes me so sad to think you didn’t get to read about the interesting people I met while tracting and all the fun stuff that Sis. Pike and I have been doing! GRRRR! Oh well, we will continue. This week has been good as well and filled with lots of fun and exciting new things. Russia is beautiful right now with all of the leaves changing color and our weather is FANTASTIC! It has been so nice and I have loved being able to walk around and see what Russia is really like. We have continued to explore our area and have really been loving it. Our area is HUGE! And Saturday night we discovered we have “mountains” in our area. What an adventure! Anyway, like usual the best way for me to organize my thoughts is to just tell you what has been happening everyday.
Monday was P-day and we came to the mail and then went to the RINOK! YEA! The Rinok is just a really big market and it was really fun! We bought all of our fresh fruit and vegetables there. We also bought a lot of nuts and dried fruit and everything was so cheap. It was a lot of fun to be in the Rinok and see all the people and hear what was going on. Luckily Sis. Pike has been in Russia a year and a half now and so was able to deal with all of the sellers etc. It was a lot of fun but tiring! We also bought a pumpkin and hauled it home. We have been eating everything PUMPKIN lately especially pumpkin in our oatmeal every morning. It is delicious so everyone should try it this week. Monday was also interesting for another reason. As Sis. Pike and I were getting ready for the day we hear a big pop and then smoke started coming from my straightener. Needless to say it doesn’t work anymore so my hair has been… a little out of control. I think my favorite part of having it curly is the comment I received this morning. We have become good friends with the fruit lady outside our house and so we were there this morning buying some fruit and when she first saw me she just said, “Where are you coming from?!” I just laughed and she said she liked my hair. She then asked Sis. Pike when she was going to get her hair done. All in all I’ve gotten some awesome comments and looks for my big “80’s” hair.
This week we have worked with one of investigator’s Natalya who I LOVE! She is so sweet and nice and I am so excited with her progress. This week unfortunately her cat died and so we went out to her (she leaves in the outskirts of Saratov) and had a lesson. It ended up being a really great experience and we were able to teach her about the Spirit and how Jesus Christ is always there to comfort us. We also talked about having faith. She has said that she knows she needs to get baptized but that she just needs some time. I am excited to see how she will progress and am so excited to keep working with her! She is awesome and so sweet and humble! The people here in Russia are so genuine and care about you so much, I love it!
Our other investigator Valentina—who is our landlady—is in the hospital! It has been a rough week. We have been going to her everyday while there and singing hymns and sharing a message. Although she is in the hospital, it has given her a lot of time to read and she has started reading the last conference Liahona. She always has a lot of questions but she is interested in what they say. We also had a great lesson with her Friday night. She has been sneaking out of the hospital and going home to clean and feed her husband and so we found her there the other night. I think it is so funny that here you can just leave and it’s totally fine. I guess the doctor’s are only there on the week days and so EVERYBODY leaves on the weekends but she has been sneaking out other days to do stuff at home and then returning in the evening. I think it is hilarious! We brought a young adult from our ward, Luba, who is an opera singer here and we sang for her and talked a lot about the church and what we do at church. It was a great lesson and she of course loved Luba who is super sweet and cute and has an AMAZING voice. Hopefully we will be able to continue to work with her and have her read the Book of Mormon more.
We also have a new investigator who is a 14 year old boy named Sasha. His mom is an semiactive member in our ward and we taught them this week and will continue to teach them. They were both at church this week and it was so fun to see them! It is an amazing feeling when you see your investigator’s at church and when they continue to progress.
I think the best tracting story from this week (there were some good ones last week ) was when we accidentally tracted into the Reshetnakov’s house. He is the member of the 70 I was talking about. I was talking and we knocked and just said “we were taking a family survey”. The lady at the door just started laughing and opened it and said “I don’t know anyone else who would open the door for that accent”. They invited us in and we had a great meeting with them and their family. There is such a difference the Gospel brings into people’s lives that makes them happy and filled with purpose. We were able to get some great referrals from them (they know everyone and where everything is). We also helped him with his English, he is going to conference this next session (April) and so is working hard on his English. It was great to have him help me with my Russian and I helped him with his English. They are an amazing family and Sunday they brought me a really cute hat to wear. The night we tracted I wasn’t wearing a hat and so she was worried and brought me one. It was so nice! The members here are AWESOME and I love them and love working with them.
So yeah I think that is the highlights of the week. Sis. Pike and I continue to have a great time and are talking and meeting lots of people. We love our area and working with the people we are working with. I am really really really sad because she will leave the area on Thursday and work in Samara for a little bit and then head home. I will go up to Samara with her to hear Elder Nelson speak this week and then come back down with a new companion. We have heard that she is a returned missionary from the Temple Square mission who is from the Samara area and she will serve with me for a week and a half and then I don’t know what will happen to me. It will be interesting and I will just go with the flow. I really thought I would get to be with Sis. Pike until she left but unfortunately she is leaving me early I feel like I got cheated a couple weeks of a trainer but that is okay. I am excited to meet my new companion and to be with a Native Russian companion. I know it will really help my Russian.
Well all is well here. The church is true! Help the missionaries in your area! Write me emails (siblings). Love you all, thanks for your love and support,
Whitney
Finally a picture of Whitney pointing to the MTC map
My boots
Our tree of life that our landlady gave us! Little did she know there is a real tree of life...
Family and Friends,
SORRY!!!! I am so sad right now thinking about you not getting the email especially because it was the best one I have written on my mission as of right now. It makes me so sad to think you didn’t get to read about the interesting people I met while tracting and all the fun stuff that Sis. Pike and I have been doing! GRRRR! Oh well, we will continue. This week has been good as well and filled with lots of fun and exciting new things. Russia is beautiful right now with all of the leaves changing color and our weather is FANTASTIC! It has been so nice and I have loved being able to walk around and see what Russia is really like. We have continued to explore our area and have really been loving it. Our area is HUGE! And Saturday night we discovered we have “mountains” in our area. What an adventure! Anyway, like usual the best way for me to organize my thoughts is to just tell you what has been happening everyday.
Monday was P-day and we came to the mail and then went to the RINOK! YEA! The Rinok is just a really big market and it was really fun! We bought all of our fresh fruit and vegetables there. We also bought a lot of nuts and dried fruit and everything was so cheap. It was a lot of fun to be in the Rinok and see all the people and hear what was going on. Luckily Sis. Pike has been in Russia a year and a half now and so was able to deal with all of the sellers etc. It was a lot of fun but tiring! We also bought a pumpkin and hauled it home. We have been eating everything PUMPKIN lately especially pumpkin in our oatmeal every morning. It is delicious so everyone should try it this week. Monday was also interesting for another reason. As Sis. Pike and I were getting ready for the day we hear a big pop and then smoke started coming from my straightener. Needless to say it doesn’t work anymore so my hair has been… a little out of control. I think my favorite part of having it curly is the comment I received this morning. We have become good friends with the fruit lady outside our house and so we were there this morning buying some fruit and when she first saw me she just said, “Where are you coming from?!” I just laughed and she said she liked my hair. She then asked Sis. Pike when she was going to get her hair done. All in all I’ve gotten some awesome comments and looks for my big “80’s” hair.
This week we have worked with one of investigator’s Natalya who I LOVE! She is so sweet and nice and I am so excited with her progress. This week unfortunately her cat died and so we went out to her (she leaves in the outskirts of Saratov) and had a lesson. It ended up being a really great experience and we were able to teach her about the Spirit and how Jesus Christ is always there to comfort us. We also talked about having faith. She has said that she knows she needs to get baptized but that she just needs some time. I am excited to see how she will progress and am so excited to keep working with her! She is awesome and so sweet and humble! The people here in Russia are so genuine and care about you so much, I love it!
Our other investigator Valentina—who is our landlady—is in the hospital! It has been a rough week. We have been going to her everyday while there and singing hymns and sharing a message. Although she is in the hospital, it has given her a lot of time to read and she has started reading the last conference Liahona. She always has a lot of questions but she is interested in what they say. We also had a great lesson with her Friday night. She has been sneaking out of the hospital and going home to clean and feed her husband and so we found her there the other night. I think it is so funny that here you can just leave and it’s totally fine. I guess the doctor’s are only there on the week days and so EVERYBODY leaves on the weekends but she has been sneaking out other days to do stuff at home and then returning in the evening. I think it is hilarious! We brought a young adult from our ward, Luba, who is an opera singer here and we sang for her and talked a lot about the church and what we do at church. It was a great lesson and she of course loved Luba who is super sweet and cute and has an AMAZING voice. Hopefully we will be able to continue to work with her and have her read the Book of Mormon more.
We also have a new investigator who is a 14 year old boy named Sasha. His mom is an semiactive member in our ward and we taught them this week and will continue to teach them. They were both at church this week and it was so fun to see them! It is an amazing feeling when you see your investigator’s at church and when they continue to progress.
I think the best tracting story from this week (there were some good ones last week ) was when we accidentally tracted into the Reshetnakov’s house. He is the member of the 70 I was talking about. I was talking and we knocked and just said “we were taking a family survey”. The lady at the door just started laughing and opened it and said “I don’t know anyone else who would open the door for that accent”. They invited us in and we had a great meeting with them and their family. There is such a difference the Gospel brings into people’s lives that makes them happy and filled with purpose. We were able to get some great referrals from them (they know everyone and where everything is). We also helped him with his English, he is going to conference this next session (April) and so is working hard on his English. It was great to have him help me with my Russian and I helped him with his English. They are an amazing family and Sunday they brought me a really cute hat to wear. The night we tracted I wasn’t wearing a hat and so she was worried and brought me one. It was so nice! The members here are AWESOME and I love them and love working with them.
So yeah I think that is the highlights of the week. Sis. Pike and I continue to have a great time and are talking and meeting lots of people. We love our area and working with the people we are working with. I am really really really sad because she will leave the area on Thursday and work in Samara for a little bit and then head home. I will go up to Samara with her to hear Elder Nelson speak this week and then come back down with a new companion. We have heard that she is a returned missionary from the Temple Square mission who is from the Samara area and she will serve with me for a week and a half and then I don’t know what will happen to me. It will be interesting and I will just go with the flow. I really thought I would get to be with Sis. Pike until she left but unfortunately she is leaving me early I feel like I got cheated a couple weeks of a trainer but that is okay. I am excited to meet my new companion and to be with a Native Russian companion. I know it will really help my Russian.
Well all is well here. The church is true! Help the missionaries in your area! Write me emails (siblings). Love you all, thanks for your love and support,
Whitney
Finally a picture of Whitney pointing to the MTC map
Monday, October 12, 2009
Through the eyes of Sister Pike (Whitney's companion)
Tender mercy time - We didn't get an email from Whitney this week (not sure what happened) but I forwarded a picture of Whitney and Sister Pike to Sister Pike's Mom. She wrote me back and thanked me and included the last two emails that Sister Pike sent home, so we got to hear what Sister Morris and Sister Pike's week was like last week! She sounds like an amazing missionary and we feel so blessed that Whitney gets to work with her!
Brave Members and an Amazing Landlady
Monday, October 12, 2009 2:51:31 AM
As for the work- Our land lady is awesome! She always is bringing things over for us… serving us and making sure we are happy. Borsht, Kasha… pechenky… gorky shakolad (beet soup, warm cereal, cookies, dark chocolate!) We went over to her house and got to know her and her husband and we sang for them – my companion’s voice is so beautiful and she can sing any bottom line at the drop of a hat! They really enjoyed it. Her husband, Alexander Sergeovich, got out his accordion and played it for us while she, Valintina Petrovna sang Russian songs. We just love them! We thought of things we could do for them and so we made banana bread and gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet. She took it with her to her datcha and read it to her mother. They enjoyed it together, but she adds… we are Russian orthodox. Almost with my arms up I think I never asked you so become LDs.
We gave her the Book of Mormon and the family Proclamation and asked her to read 3 Nephi 11 she read it and liked it but because she was Russian Orthodox, she wanted to give it back to us. But she said I will keep this Family Proclamation… I want to read it to my son- I already read it to my daughter. (Later she had another set of twins who would now be in their thirties.) Earlier she had told us about how she bore twins when she and Sasha (Alexander Sergeovich) were newly weds. They both didn’t make it long in the world. We told her to read Alma 40 to answer some of her questions about where they are now.
She accepted and then the next day we didn’t see her. Then the day after that we saw her husband and he said she was having heart problems and that she is in the hospital across the street. We came to her and sang to her there and gave her the new Liahona which is all about temple work. Oh and a card which we wrote a verse of one of the hymns in it. She read the whole liahona. And said she will copy down the words of the hymn for her daughter so that she can read it to make her in a good mood as well. She said the words were so powerful they made her happy immediately. She wanted to know all about temples and we brought Katia Gorina a returned missionary (who is one of my favorite members here) and they just seemed to get along so well.
The liahona was all about temple baptisms and celestial marriage. She was worried about her twins that she had which died without baptism. She thought they were stuck in purgatory. Needless to say the plan of Salvation and the knowledge of temple work was the exact knowledge she has been waiting for. I know the plan of salvation is what each of us needs to study with in our lives if we want to know how to be happy. There is power in scriptural knowledge it will make us happy. I love this work. I love the opportunity I have to serve a little longer… to meet wonderful people like Valentina which helps me remember why it is all so important, so crucial, so something I never ever want to live without. I love you; Stand Tall go forward with faith, Sister Pike
PS we are now going on splits with members every night from seven to nine. These members are brave and bold. I love them and cherish our friendships. A fifty-five year old went trackting with me and was one of the best trackting partners I’ve ever been out with! We can all learn from the Russian saints. Make some time in your busy schedule to do some real and maybe even scary missionary work.
Brave Members and an Amazing Landlady
Monday, October 12, 2009 2:51:31 AM
As for the work- Our land lady is awesome! She always is bringing things over for us… serving us and making sure we are happy. Borsht, Kasha… pechenky… gorky shakolad (beet soup, warm cereal, cookies, dark chocolate!) We went over to her house and got to know her and her husband and we sang for them – my companion’s voice is so beautiful and she can sing any bottom line at the drop of a hat! They really enjoyed it. Her husband, Alexander Sergeovich, got out his accordion and played it for us while she, Valintina Petrovna sang Russian songs. We just love them! We thought of things we could do for them and so we made banana bread and gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet. She took it with her to her datcha and read it to her mother. They enjoyed it together, but she adds… we are Russian orthodox. Almost with my arms up I think I never asked you so become LDs.
We gave her the Book of Mormon and the family Proclamation and asked her to read 3 Nephi 11 she read it and liked it but because she was Russian Orthodox, she wanted to give it back to us. But she said I will keep this Family Proclamation… I want to read it to my son- I already read it to my daughter. (Later she had another set of twins who would now be in their thirties.) Earlier she had told us about how she bore twins when she and Sasha (Alexander Sergeovich) were newly weds. They both didn’t make it long in the world. We told her to read Alma 40 to answer some of her questions about where they are now.
She accepted and then the next day we didn’t see her. Then the day after that we saw her husband and he said she was having heart problems and that she is in the hospital across the street. We came to her and sang to her there and gave her the new Liahona which is all about temple work. Oh and a card which we wrote a verse of one of the hymns in it. She read the whole liahona. And said she will copy down the words of the hymn for her daughter so that she can read it to make her in a good mood as well. She said the words were so powerful they made her happy immediately. She wanted to know all about temples and we brought Katia Gorina a returned missionary (who is one of my favorite members here) and they just seemed to get along so well.
The liahona was all about temple baptisms and celestial marriage. She was worried about her twins that she had which died without baptism. She thought they were stuck in purgatory. Needless to say the plan of Salvation and the knowledge of temple work was the exact knowledge she has been waiting for. I know the plan of salvation is what each of us needs to study with in our lives if we want to know how to be happy. There is power in scriptural knowledge it will make us happy. I love this work. I love the opportunity I have to serve a little longer… to meet wonderful people like Valentina which helps me remember why it is all so important, so crucial, so something I never ever want to live without. I love you; Stand Tall go forward with faith, Sister Pike
PS we are now going on splits with members every night from seven to nine. These members are brave and bold. I love them and cherish our friendships. A fifty-five year old went trackting with me and was one of the best trackting partners I’ve ever been out with! We can all learn from the Russian saints. Make some time in your busy schedule to do some real and maybe even scary missionary work.
Email mix up
Whitney showing off her socks!
Whitney dressed to go out contacting! Isn't she so cute?
Whitney and Sister Pike
The only email we got this week, besides some pictures, was an email written for Whitney's mission president. I don't know how we got his email but she must have copied and pasted wrong or something. So it isn't much of an update like what we're used to, but at least we know she's healthy, happy, and working hard! :)
"This has been a good week as Sis. Pike and I have continued to get to know our area and meet with people in the Branch and area. We have met a lot of great people and we are both loving the area and working with the members. We have set goals this week to have more lessons with members present and to get more members to come out and teach with us. We will do this by calling more members daily and finding people to teach each night! I look forward to trying to get more lessons with members present! We had a great night of splits with a couple members and so are looking forward to continuing that. We will also continue to try and get members to every lesson we teach with investigators. Sis. Pike is a fantastic companion and I have loved serving with her and learning from her, I am just sad she leaves so soon! We will continue this week to find people to teach and work with our investigators!" Thanks for the love and support,
Sis Whitney Morris
Whitney dressed to go out contacting! Isn't she so cute?
Whitney and Sister Pike
The only email we got this week, besides some pictures, was an email written for Whitney's mission president. I don't know how we got his email but she must have copied and pasted wrong or something. So it isn't much of an update like what we're used to, but at least we know she's healthy, happy, and working hard! :)"This has been a good week as Sis. Pike and I have continued to get to know our area and meet with people in the Branch and area. We have met a lot of great people and we are both loving the area and working with the members. We have set goals this week to have more lessons with members present and to get more members to come out and teach with us. We will do this by calling more members daily and finding people to teach each night! I look forward to trying to get more lessons with members present! We had a great night of splits with a couple members and so are looking forward to continuing that. We will also continue to try and get members to every lesson we teach with investigators. Sis. Pike is a fantastic companion and I have loved serving with her and learning from her, I am just sad she leaves so soon! We will continue this week to find people to teach and work with our investigators!" Thanks for the love and support,
Sis Whitney Morris
Monday, October 5, 2009
Mother Russia
FAMILY and Friends!!!
OH WOW! I am in Mother Russia as many of you pointed out! Weird? yes Awesome? yes
So I thought I would briefly mention the first few things I love about Russia and then give a run down of my first week here. Things I love:
• All of the boots I see
• The produce and food- really good
• MY COMPANION
• My mission president
• the “Fall” weather (more like winter)
• My apartment—очень nice
• Our landlady—she is crazy and nice and motherly all at the same time
• The PARKS
• The juice—that one is for Devin, I know he will be jealous with all of the juice I get to drink
• The Marshutka’s (van’s like buses)
• The church here
• THE PEOPLE—everyone we have met has been very friendly and nice
Rundown of my week:
Well we got here and got of the plane and it was about 10 at night. The plane ride wasn’t too bad but I can definitely say I am grateful for the Native Russians we had with us when we got to Russia to help us understand the baggage people and all of that. Elder Kazakov (I think he was from NovoSibirsk) was awesome at helping us deal with the airport people. When we finally got to Samara the Bennett’s picked us up and took us to where we would be staying. My companion and I stayed with a Senior Couple, the Perry’s in their home. It was a short night for everyone because we didn’t get settled til around 12 and then were up at 6 to go to Zone Conference. Zone Conference was in Samara and all of the missionaries met at a really nice building there. It was really neat to be with everyone from the mission and to see what it was going to be like. We had some workshops and conference about preparing food, eating healthy etc. Then we heard from our Mission President. He is AWESOME! I really really like him and his wife and think this is going to be an awesome mission. He is very convicted in his feelings for missionary work and is very intense when speaking sometimes. I can definitely see how he threw a shoe He loves this work and loves the missionaries and I feel completely safe with him as a president and trust that he knows what is best and what we should be doing. We had lunch and then got our new companions. I definitely won the lottery with this one! MY companion is completely and totally amazing!!! Her name is Sister Pike and she is from California. The sad part is that she leaves in less than a month to go home. She leaves October 31! AH! I have just a little time to learn as much as I possibly can. She is super cute and super nice and just so full of energy and happiness. I love it! So we had more conference and then that night we went out CONTACTING. WHAT? First real night in Russia and I was contacting? Yep. And I did it! We met a lot of great people and got some phone numbers. We stayed that night at the sister’s apartment in Samara and then went to Zone Conference the next day as well. We had more talks and then heard from Elder Hurst. He and his wife are missionaries for the Eastern part of Europe and he goes around and talks about relationships, stress, eating, sleeping, depression etc. He was really awesome and cute. I really enjoyed everything he talked about. Then we got on a bus and went to… SARATOV. I am in Saratov this transfer in the Oktabrasky area (I don’t know how to spell it in Russian). It is a new area for sister’s but I am really excited to start serving here. WE had a long bus ride to get here and it was fun to see the Russian countryside and look at all the little towns on the way to Saratov. We stopped at a bathroom on the way and it was…interesting. Little did I know that bathrooms here are holes in the ground. Awesome! It just reminded me of camping and I LOVE Camping so Huzzah! We got to our apartment and it is super nice. We were also really lucky because one of the prominent members of the Church here helped us to our apartment and came with us in our taxi. Then he carried my luggage (not an easy task) all the way into our apartment! He was aweomse! Sis. Pike later told me he is in our ward and he is the first Russian to be in a quorum of the Seventy. Mom, you’ll have to look him up, he is an awesome guy! We are near a really nice park that we like to contact in and by a hospital and some other things I’m not sure what they are yet. We have a lot of really great fruit stands right by us so that is nice for carrying groceries. We also have a hilarious landlady. She is a perfectionist and comes in and tells us where to put things etc. On Friday night we had tea with her and her husband who is SO cute (don’t worry, they are OLD). The table was set so nice and everything was perfect. He plays the accordion and he was so excited to show us, he got it out and started playing all of these old Russian songs. It was so fun! She started singing and we had a good time. We taught them a little about what missionaries do and shared a thought from the Book of Mormon with them. It was really fun! We hope to keep teaching them about the church!
Our schedule here is different than I thought it would be but I have liked it a lot. We are out everyday from 7-9 because that is when people are headed to work. Then we go in from 9-12 to get ready, eat , do our personal study and companion study. Then we are back out from 12-2. At 2 we have our lunch and then language study and then are out from 4-9:30. It is a good schedule but the 4-9:30 block gets long but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. My companion has been amazing and prepared all of my meals for me. She reminds me a lot of Sarah P. She loves to cook beans and rice and stuff so we have had a lot of that but I have liked it. I have also had a lot of каша which is like oatmeal or any type of hot cereal. She also made me borsht which was really good. I liked it. I have eaten a lot of hot cereal, lentils, rice, borsht and fruit- it is so cheap here and really good. I have also tried the yogurt and juice which I really like and of course the CHOCOLATE. Delicious.
As far as clothes have gone I have been wearing my longjohn things (wintersilks) everyday and Sis. Pike has let me borrow a pair of her thick tights. I wear that and my wool skirt and I am pretty warm. When we go out at night I put on a pair of thick wool socks which is really nice. I have been wearing that blue coat that Grandma gave me everyday and I can’t even explain how grateful I am that I have it! It has been so nice and keeps me warm. Sis. Pike has also let me borrow a pair of her warm gloves so I have been fine. It gets cold walking around at night and sometimes in the morning but the day time is really nice.
So Saturday we went Tracting for the first time and it was…intimidating but okay. Sis. Pike is so good at being encouraging and pushing me to do “scary” things. In order to get into a building you have to call someone in the building to let you in so I talked on the domaphone for the first time and it was funny. It took about 7 people before someone let me in. No one understood me the first time I talked on the phone and they would always ask “what?” multiple times. Oh well. Then we would go up to the top of the stairwell and work our way down. Out of two stairwells we only got a couple people to talk to us but that’s okay. It was a good experience. We will go again tonight and hopefully I will be more brave! Saturday we also contacted a lot which was good. It is just a different experience to be a missionary and try to get people to talk to you. We met a lot of really nice people and a couple people who gave us their phone number so hopefully we will be able to meet with them sometime this week and teach them the first lesson.
Sunday was awesome! I met our Branch and the Branch President etc and it was really cool. I LOVE my BRANCH! They are all amazing. It was Fast Sunday here because they will watch conference this coming weekend. We were all encouraged as missionaries to bear our testimonies in church and tell the people of the reality of a temple here if the members will work with us. We are trying a new program where the members go on splits with the missionaries every night from 7-9 and teach and contact with us. People can also sign up to have their house open and if you have a lesson you can go straight to their house. There is a HUGE push here to have every lesson with an investigator with a member and I think it will be great. I bore my testimony and told them how excited I was to serve in the Branch. It is a big branch and everyone was so nice! I loved it. The member of the 70 was there and also bore his testimony. They also blessed two babies in the ward and it just made me so happy to see that these cute babies were born into the church and the church truly is growing in Russia. This Gospel is so great! It brings so many blessings into people’s lives. I love it! Well I’m almost out of time but everything here is good. I love Russia, I love the people, I love my companion, and I love all of you! Thanks for your love and support and for all you do for me. Keep praying for the missionaries and that people will be ready everywhere to hear the Gospel! It changes lives!
Love you all,
Whitney
OH WOW! I am in Mother Russia as many of you pointed out! Weird? yes Awesome? yes
So I thought I would briefly mention the first few things I love about Russia and then give a run down of my first week here. Things I love:
• All of the boots I see
• The produce and food- really good
• MY COMPANION
• My mission president
• the “Fall” weather (more like winter)
• My apartment—очень nice
• Our landlady—she is crazy and nice and motherly all at the same time
• The PARKS
• The juice—that one is for Devin, I know he will be jealous with all of the juice I get to drink
• The Marshutka’s (van’s like buses)
• The church here
• THE PEOPLE—everyone we have met has been very friendly and nice
Rundown of my week:
Well we got here and got of the plane and it was about 10 at night. The plane ride wasn’t too bad but I can definitely say I am grateful for the Native Russians we had with us when we got to Russia to help us understand the baggage people and all of that. Elder Kazakov (I think he was from NovoSibirsk) was awesome at helping us deal with the airport people. When we finally got to Samara the Bennett’s picked us up and took us to where we would be staying. My companion and I stayed with a Senior Couple, the Perry’s in their home. It was a short night for everyone because we didn’t get settled til around 12 and then were up at 6 to go to Zone Conference. Zone Conference was in Samara and all of the missionaries met at a really nice building there. It was really neat to be with everyone from the mission and to see what it was going to be like. We had some workshops and conference about preparing food, eating healthy etc. Then we heard from our Mission President. He is AWESOME! I really really like him and his wife and think this is going to be an awesome mission. He is very convicted in his feelings for missionary work and is very intense when speaking sometimes. I can definitely see how he threw a shoe He loves this work and loves the missionaries and I feel completely safe with him as a president and trust that he knows what is best and what we should be doing. We had lunch and then got our new companions. I definitely won the lottery with this one! MY companion is completely and totally amazing!!! Her name is Sister Pike and she is from California. The sad part is that she leaves in less than a month to go home. She leaves October 31! AH! I have just a little time to learn as much as I possibly can. She is super cute and super nice and just so full of energy and happiness. I love it! So we had more conference and then that night we went out CONTACTING. WHAT? First real night in Russia and I was contacting? Yep. And I did it! We met a lot of great people and got some phone numbers. We stayed that night at the sister’s apartment in Samara and then went to Zone Conference the next day as well. We had more talks and then heard from Elder Hurst. He and his wife are missionaries for the Eastern part of Europe and he goes around and talks about relationships, stress, eating, sleeping, depression etc. He was really awesome and cute. I really enjoyed everything he talked about. Then we got on a bus and went to… SARATOV. I am in Saratov this transfer in the Oktabrasky area (I don’t know how to spell it in Russian). It is a new area for sister’s but I am really excited to start serving here. WE had a long bus ride to get here and it was fun to see the Russian countryside and look at all the little towns on the way to Saratov. We stopped at a bathroom on the way and it was…interesting. Little did I know that bathrooms here are holes in the ground. Awesome! It just reminded me of camping and I LOVE Camping so Huzzah! We got to our apartment and it is super nice. We were also really lucky because one of the prominent members of the Church here helped us to our apartment and came with us in our taxi. Then he carried my luggage (not an easy task) all the way into our apartment! He was aweomse! Sis. Pike later told me he is in our ward and he is the first Russian to be in a quorum of the Seventy. Mom, you’ll have to look him up, he is an awesome guy! We are near a really nice park that we like to contact in and by a hospital and some other things I’m not sure what they are yet. We have a lot of really great fruit stands right by us so that is nice for carrying groceries. We also have a hilarious landlady. She is a perfectionist and comes in and tells us where to put things etc. On Friday night we had tea with her and her husband who is SO cute (don’t worry, they are OLD). The table was set so nice and everything was perfect. He plays the accordion and he was so excited to show us, he got it out and started playing all of these old Russian songs. It was so fun! She started singing and we had a good time. We taught them a little about what missionaries do and shared a thought from the Book of Mormon with them. It was really fun! We hope to keep teaching them about the church!
Our schedule here is different than I thought it would be but I have liked it a lot. We are out everyday from 7-9 because that is when people are headed to work. Then we go in from 9-12 to get ready, eat , do our personal study and companion study. Then we are back out from 12-2. At 2 we have our lunch and then language study and then are out from 4-9:30. It is a good schedule but the 4-9:30 block gets long but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. My companion has been amazing and prepared all of my meals for me. She reminds me a lot of Sarah P. She loves to cook beans and rice and stuff so we have had a lot of that but I have liked it. I have also had a lot of каша which is like oatmeal or any type of hot cereal. She also made me borsht which was really good. I liked it. I have eaten a lot of hot cereal, lentils, rice, borsht and fruit- it is so cheap here and really good. I have also tried the yogurt and juice which I really like and of course the CHOCOLATE. Delicious.
As far as clothes have gone I have been wearing my longjohn things (wintersilks) everyday and Sis. Pike has let me borrow a pair of her thick tights. I wear that and my wool skirt and I am pretty warm. When we go out at night I put on a pair of thick wool socks which is really nice. I have been wearing that blue coat that Grandma gave me everyday and I can’t even explain how grateful I am that I have it! It has been so nice and keeps me warm. Sis. Pike has also let me borrow a pair of her warm gloves so I have been fine. It gets cold walking around at night and sometimes in the morning but the day time is really nice.
So Saturday we went Tracting for the first time and it was…intimidating but okay. Sis. Pike is so good at being encouraging and pushing me to do “scary” things. In order to get into a building you have to call someone in the building to let you in so I talked on the domaphone for the first time and it was funny. It took about 7 people before someone let me in. No one understood me the first time I talked on the phone and they would always ask “what?” multiple times. Oh well. Then we would go up to the top of the stairwell and work our way down. Out of two stairwells we only got a couple people to talk to us but that’s okay. It was a good experience. We will go again tonight and hopefully I will be more brave! Saturday we also contacted a lot which was good. It is just a different experience to be a missionary and try to get people to talk to you. We met a lot of really nice people and a couple people who gave us their phone number so hopefully we will be able to meet with them sometime this week and teach them the first lesson.
Sunday was awesome! I met our Branch and the Branch President etc and it was really cool. I LOVE my BRANCH! They are all amazing. It was Fast Sunday here because they will watch conference this coming weekend. We were all encouraged as missionaries to bear our testimonies in church and tell the people of the reality of a temple here if the members will work with us. We are trying a new program where the members go on splits with the missionaries every night from 7-9 and teach and contact with us. People can also sign up to have their house open and if you have a lesson you can go straight to their house. There is a HUGE push here to have every lesson with an investigator with a member and I think it will be great. I bore my testimony and told them how excited I was to serve in the Branch. It is a big branch and everyone was so nice! I loved it. The member of the 70 was there and also bore his testimony. They also blessed two babies in the ward and it just made me so happy to see that these cute babies were born into the church and the church truly is growing in Russia. This Gospel is so great! It brings so many blessings into people’s lives. I love it! Well I’m almost out of time but everything here is good. I love Russia, I love the people, I love my companion, and I love all of you! Thanks for your love and support and for all you do for me. Keep praying for the missionaries and that people will be ready everywhere to hear the Gospel! It changes lives!
Love you all,
Whitney
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
