Monday, March 29, 2010

Time Marches On

Family and Friends!

Well time is short today but hopefully I will be able to gather my thoughts quickly and write a little bit about what has been going on in the amazing Oktyabrasky area. We had a great week this week and I think the key was the MEMBERS. WE had some great lessons with members this week and I absolutely love working with them. WE have a member with on us at every lesson we teach and it has been so great. I have also been able to talk to a lot of the youth in Saratov this week which was really good. We have a LOT of great youth in Saratov and so it has been fun to get to know them better. This week I definitley got a testimony-builder for how important it is to have good friends. It is intersting how things just work out and your week really focuses around one theme or topic and this week it just happened to be good friends that influence you to do what you should and need to. It is so important to find friends who have the same standards as you and want to progress in the Gospel as well. Friends definitely "make-it or break it". I am so grateful for all of my amazing friends that have given me support throughout these years, have built my testimony and really helped me to make the good decisions and become who I needed to be.
Well continue this week to look for the little things that bring JOY! Maybe it's the flowers that will soon be appearing (i hope;) Maybe it's the JAZZ music that is currently playing in our Internet Club. ***I miss jazz pretty seriously and so every Monday I'm pretty stoked to go to the internet club because one of the workers also loves jazz and always has it on-- Missionary rebel! Or maybe it's just being able to be around good friends that lift you and help you make those "tough" decisions. I know the church is true and that missionary work is one of the greatest works we can do! Help you friends to understand this gospel, share it with them and invite them to activities. It's our duty and our responsibility as members of this church. Help the missionaries and share the gospel! I love you all! Thanks for the love and support.
Sister Morris

Monday, March 22, 2010

Spring Has FINALLY Sprung

Friends and Family!
Welll as predicted we have started to SWIM here in Saratov but I personally feel that it is better than freezing in random people's podezd's as we gather strength and courage to face the wind and cold again:) Anyone who has served in Russia can appreciate the confused looks on people's faces when they walk down their stairwells and see two young-adults with tags standing in their stairwells bouncing up and down to try and warm up their feet;) BUT it's ALL worth it. It has been another great week in "missionary-world" or as Elder Holland says "the real world" and this mission is continuing to see miracle after miracle!!! It truly is a great time to be serving in the Russia Samara Mission.
Monday and Tuesday this week we were in Samara and then Wednesday the all-entertaining and fun VISA Trip. This time we again flew to Lithuania and had a great 30 minute lay-over, got on the same plane we had come on to go back to Russia. It really is fun to get back onto the same plane and see all the stewardesses faces as they see us again and wonder why a group of young-adults decided to take a 30 minute "vacation" to Lithuania but everything went well and we all made it back safely into Russia without any jail time or harassment.
Thursday we had interviews with President Bennett and I got to meet the new mission couple who will be serving in the office. The Templeton's! They are SO cute and I am so excited to get to know them better and to have them as a part of this mission. On the way to the office (about an hour bus ride) i got an awesome tour of downtown historic Samara from the lady I was sitting next to on the bus. She pointed out all of the main building, statues and what they were etc. It was so great to be able to talk to her and to know more about Samara and just Russians in general. She worked at the Police Station and she knew a lot about the history behind the buildings and the statues.
Friday I had the AMAZING privilege to ride back to Saratov with Sister and President Bennett and the mission drive, ROMAN. It was so great to be able to talk to Sister Bennett the whole ride down (less than 5 hours with Roman-- 7 in a bus;) We got to talk a lot about the mission and how a mission really changes who are you and more importantly who you will BECOME. It was so fun to be able to talk to her and I defintely felt very blessed to have that once-in-a-mission opportunity. I then returned to my area with Sister Stolyarova which was great. It was so nice to be back "home" and to start working normal again.
We had a good weekend and on Sunday it was District Conference. The meeting was fantastic and we were able to have an investigator there so it was really cool. I love to hear Presdient Bennett speak and the members just love him. It truly is amazing what he has done for this mission and how our mission has changed. We really are experiencing SO MUCH success here and it's thanks to him and his hard work (and of course the Lord). We had a good lesson with Natalya and Irina Ukrainskaya Sunday night. Overall it was a good week and we are looking forward to another good week this week. The time really is starting to go faster and that SCARES me to death. My companion goes home at the end of this cycle and then we'll see who gets to come "kick" it with me in Oktabrasky (the best area in the mission).
The highlight of the week was definitely our RUBBER BOOTS. We bought some really cheap rubber boots this week and Sunday night was the first night warm enough to wear them and it was fantastic. WE walked right through the middle of all of the puddles, just like when we were little, and I have to say I felt a little rebellious again. It was really fun and it just reminds me to take advantage of the little things. The little things in life are so important and really bring us the greatest joy. So this week (of course I have to have a committment in every email;) LOOK for the little things that bring JOY. Maybe its rubber boots, maybe it's the looks on people's faces in their stairwells and maybe it's just the little buds that are popping out of the ground. Heavenly Father loves us and gives us so much everyday if only we will look. I love you and hope everyone has a FATASTIC week! Stay dry and share the Gospel.
Sister Morris

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Pday in Samara

show details Mar 15 (2 days ago)

Well another week has gone by and... another cycle! Today officially stats the first day of the new cycle-- my 7th cycle on my mission! WHAT??? I can't believe it. The last cycle went by REALLY fast and I"m just afraid that all of the cycles after this will just get faster and faster and faster. I am still in Oktabrasky (huzzah) with Sister STolyarova (double huzzah). Today I am in Samara and will have my 2nd visa trip in just a couple of days. I am currently with the sisters in Bezamonski and will go to Lithuania on Wednesday and then return to my good old area Oktabrasky on Friday. It will be weird to be gone from "home" for a few days but everyone needs a vacation right? I mean my parents are kicking it in Mexico so I deserve a "vaca" also.
I came up on the bus to Samara this morning, leavning my companion with a "mini"-missionary-- a cute Grandma from Angles that has been serving in our mission. She is completely amazing and I was so happy to serve with her for a day. Sunday morning we headed to the train station to pick her up and then were in a threesome all day Sunday. She has a STRONG testimony and it is so cool to see the sacrifices she has given and what she is willing to give to the Lord . She has 5 children, 2 jobs and 5 grandchildren which she all left to serve on a "mini"-mission for 6 weeks. COOL. WE were able to teach a lesson to Valentina last night and I was able to hear how she came in contact with the missionaries and hear her sweet testimony. She is truly amazing and inspires me to continue to do missionary work after my mission and to really devote everything to the Lord. She is 56 and has been out on the street with missionaries 9 1/2 hours a day for 6 weeks... SERIOUSLY.
We had a good week. It has definitely been warmer (-5,-3,-9) etc. We are LOVING the weather! Today is even in the pluses. The only negative is that w continue to get dumped on with snow and so the water is rising higher and higher and the streets are becoming swimming pools. The snow has piled up here and so we are awaiting a VERY WET and dirty Spring but we are planning on buying rubber boots today so not to fear.
We were able to have some great conversations this week and have been really trying this week to have a mini-lesson with EVERY person we talk to. We try and teach at least one Gospel principle every conversation and testify and it has been really cool. Although we haven't seen a lot of change, we notice a change in how we FEEL. We really feel like missionaries! Cool huh? Of course we also bore testimony when we talked to people and invited EVERY person to church but now we are really tryng to TEACH something like how to pray, the nature of God, the importance of prophets, why we go to chuch etc. It has been really cool to challenge ourselves to just TEACH!!!
We have seen a lot of mirales this week and I want to challenge and commit everyone this week (there I go, being all missionary-like) to LOOK for miracles this week. I was reading in Helaman this week and I love the heading chapter for one of the last chapters in Helaman where it talks about the miracles that are occuring. It somply states "Many see mircles and others harden their hearts" (or somethng like that:) WHY? Because sometimes we just don't look. I really thought about that a lot this week. The miracles that took place in Helaman weren't just in closed rooms, to the elect, and to certain audiences. ANGELS were being seen, people were healed, miralces were literally occuring everywhere and some saw and some didn't. So this week, open your hears, open your minds. Don't rely on the wisdom and the strengths of the world as it goes on to say in that same chapter but have faith, rely on the Lord and miracles truly will occur! I love this work! I love this GOspel and I love Russia! thanks for the love and support. Pray for the missionaries and... look for miracles. I know they occur and I know they are around us EVERYDAY!
Love,
Sister Morris

****Shout out to Katie- I got your email today but it was the first one in about a month and a half-- I don't know if that is bad. Also Katie, you will understand when I say that sometimes I just sigh and say "stay classy Russia".

Monday, March 8, 2010

March seriously is madness-- Snowmageddon anyone?

Dear Family and Friends!
Well another week has gone by in the Winter Wonderland I now call "home". Needless to say, (i'm guessing you have looked on the internet) Russia is still in the depths of Winter. It has snowed the last 2 days STRAIGHT and when I say snowed, I mean SNOW! The tramvai(like a trolley car thing) which was unable to run last week for about 4 days was recently uncovered thanks to hours and hours and hours of work and today, closed again. It makes a nightmare for those who want to use the bus because everyone is forced to use the only form of tranpsportaion running. But all is well. The snow will eventually melt, right...???....??? They are saying that Russia hasn't seen a winter like this is YEARS! It's been colder, for longer with more snow than they have had for over 15 years. I think it's all a gift to me! So what do we do... contact and keep going! Yea for missionary work! This week has been good, a little snowy, but good.
First things first, Taylor you are amazing and my hero. Why didn't I do better in High School sports, I don't know but it's so fun to hear how awesome you are! Congrats on getting MVP and everything. Molodets. Well today is a big HOLIDAY in Russia and I love it. It is offical Women's Day and so everyone on the street congratulates you, women everywhere are carrying beautiful flowers and at church yesterday the members were AMAZING and gave us candy and zefir-- my absolute favorite. We bought some flowers on the street today for Valentina and will buy a card for her. She is amazing to us and so we feel we owe her something, even if it's a little small:)
We had some great lessons this week and one with a former investigator Suzanna and her sister Ryzanna( PIKE-- big, big, big, big, privet from both of them! They LOVE YOU!). They are truly amazing and I LOVE teaching them! We were able to teach them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and talk a little about baptism. There wil be a baptism service here in Saratov on Wednesday if all goes well and so we are hoping that they will be able to attend. We also had a lesson with Lidia which went well. For those of you know Sister Kenney, I found the Russian version. She is totally like Sister Kenney and she even worked as a music teacher in a Kindergarten so yeah, sersiouly, weird. She was able to come to church yesterday and we were so happy! She stayed the whole three hours and LOVES the hymns. That's her favorite part of church (mine too) and so we had a good time singing together.
Last Monday my companion and I wanted to go to REAL the Russian equivalent of WalMart and so we got on one tramvai which immediately turned the wrong way, waited for 40 minutes for the next one which didn't come, waited 20 minutes for a marshutka, got on a bus, missed the stop to REAL and went back a couple stops and FINALLY made it to Real. Of course what we wanted wasn't there so we headed back home to our good old Magnit where we bought what we wanted and FINALLY went home. It was a crazy day but luckily we were able to laugh the whole time and just keep "chalking it up to experience".
Wednesday night we were able to go to Natalya's for a lesson and on the bus we were able talk to a mom with a 2-month old baby and a 6 year old. She was getting off on the same stop so we helped her get her stroller off the bus and I was able to testify of the blessings of an eternal family and gave her the Proclamation to the World and a booklet on how to be a happier family and invite her to church. I pray that everything in her family works out and that they will be able to find the church and realize the joys that come from being an eternal family and strengthening reliationships through the Gospel. Overall it was a good week and we are looking forward to another good week, even with the snow. The Gospel is true and Heavenly Father truly answers prayers! Thanks for the love and support!
Sister Morris

Monday, March 1, 2010

The "First" Day of Spring



2 Pairs of Winters Boots
3 pairs of EXTREMELY warm wool socks (thanks mom and Sarah and Devin)
4 Pairs of gloves lost, dirty, or covered in holes
2 FULL boxes of Herbal Tea
23 Falls on the ice and snow
1 Missionary "Christmas" tree
2 packets of HOTTIES hand warmers
Countless number of times sitting in the snow when things just didn't go our way
6 pairs of tights with HOLES everywhere
Innumerable number of stairwells we stood in to get warm
One Full Winter in Russia---- PRICELESS

So the first day of Spring in Russia is officially March 1. I'm a little skeptical that "Spring has Sprung" but we'll see. The temperatures have been warmer (-4 avg.) and so we are excited to welcome in Spring. We are also very excited that "officially" winter is over. I hear that Russia will be beautiful in the Spring and so am very excited to see it!

Well all I can say this is week is "OH!!!" THis week! So much to write and not very much time but we will try!
1. TAYLOR! Congrats on BYU-- I am SOOOOOO excited that we will be there together and that we will be able to party at least one semester before you go on the adventure of your life- a mission. BYU is a special place, as cheesy as it sounds, and I am so happy we will get to be there together.
Well like I say this week has been interesting. We have seen a couple missionary miracles and had some of the missionary blues. As dad said in his talk "Oh there will be days" and I would like to expound on that by saying "oh there will be weeks". If something could go wrong, it did this week but we are still laughing, happy and seeing miracles. We had 5 lessons set up for this week with our investigators and new investigators and ALL 5 fell through. Awesome! But nevertheless, we were able to have some really good lessons this week and see some miracles with our investigators. We also were able to feed the squirrels in the park. In know this sounds strange but Russians are IN LOVE with squirrels and so it was pretty funny to watch my companion who was SO excited to feed the squirrels. They even sat on our hands which I thought was a little much but again, "when in Russia". The birds also realized we had sunflower seeds and so also landed on my hand and ate.

We were able to meet Natalya in the park this week for a "date". She has been living here for over 15 years and has never been Gradskoy Park a beautiful park in the middle of Saratov and in our area. So she called us this week on her way home from work and said "devchunki, let's meet in the park." We met and had a great time talking to her.
Thursday night we were able to meet with a new investigator Lidia Timofeevna. I have been calling her almost since I started working in this area. I met her on the street with Sister Pike (yeah, in October) and have called her almost every week to either meet or come to church and everytime she has had something to do, didn't want to or just wasn't intersted. BUT... she randomly came to church last Sunday! I was able to talk to her there and we set up a lesson for Thursday night (which actually worked). It was a great lesson with LUBA and we were able to talk about Joseph Smith adn give her a Book of Mormon. She said that she was unable to pray because God had enough to worry about without her concerns. I testified that he WANTS us to pray and listens and answers. We then tried to commit her to pray but she changed the subject immediately. I called her on Sunday to remind her about church and see how she was doing and... she had read the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY AND had PRAYED!!! I was so happy! We are so excited to keep working with her this week. I remember the first week I was here Valentina was explaining about the water in our house. In the mornings there isn't HOT water but you need to let the water run for a few minutes. She siad she usually gets up, turns on the water, does other things and then the water is hot. Being from the house of Tom, leaving the water is a big no-no but "when in Russia, do as the Russians do". So I learned how to have hot water on Sunday morning. Well, sometimes in life we also just need to "let the water run". After 3 months of calling I had all but given hope on my good friend Lidia but Heavenly Father knows and like the parable of the lost coin, will search and search and search, even if it takes 3 months. SO for everyone struggling with something or frustrated with life as it is right now remember the words of advice from Valentina. "MORRIS, you have to let the water run."
So everything is well and we are looking forward to a new week of MIRACLES and faith-filled finding and teaching. i love you all!
Sister Morris

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