Hidden Talents and a Big Fluffy Rabbit

Family and Friends!
Well first things first, "c dnome rojdenia tebe" or in English, HAPPY
BIRTHDAY SARA!!! YEA for Sisters. I'm almost certain that sitsers are
the best thing in the world and I want to tell everyone how much I
love my sister and how happy I am that it is her birthday! She is an
amazing example and an even better mom! I love to watch her with her
kids, she writes me every week and gives me inspiration and love, she
is a great wife, she knows how to cook like a pro, she is beautiful,
she is nice and funny, and I LOVE HER! Thanks Sara for being such a
great sister, for supporting me on my mission, and for being such an
incredible mom. You are doing a great work and I look up to you!
Well this week was good as usual. How can it not be when you live in
Saratov, Russia. Monday was filled with a HUGE hail strom and wind
storm after burning heat which was a lot of fun. Luckily it was P-day
so we were inside and just watched it all from our windows. Tuesday
was also really really HOT but hey, how can I complain, it's not -40.
Looking back on the week, I tihnk we can defintiely say that Friday
was a day of miracles! We had a lesson with an investigator at 7:30 in
the morning-- WHAT? And had a good talk about Faith and read from the
Alma with her about seeds. She gave us a HUGE bag of strawberries from
her Dacha and so it all just seemed so fitting. We also had a REALLY
successful night tracting. We were able to meet a great family and
talk with the mom for a long time and hopefully we will be able to
meet with them sometime this week. We found out that my "hidden
talent" (roommates-- I hope you're reading this) is talking to
Grandpa's. I can't figure it out but they seem to like me. So of
course we had some good discussions with a few grandpa's-- I think it
might be that i'm on their age level;) We also ran into an
investigator in the park and that was great. It was so fun to see her
adn we set up a lesson with her for this coming week.
We had an AMAZING lesson this week with one investigator about the
atonement and had some of our amazing members there to help us. We
were able to role-play the atonement story by Elder Packer about the
man who takes out a loan with a creditor and can't pay it and so his
friend helps him. We all had parts and so it was really great to do
the story and then discuss why it was so important and what it can
give us NOW. The atonement is such an intersting topic and I think as
every missionary can say, has become more and more intersting on my
mission. It is just something we will never be able to understand as
long as we study the Gospel but the more and more we know about it,
the more and more we see what a miracle, gift and blessing it is. It
was great to be able to talk to our investigator about it and our
members that were with us.
Sunday night is always a little hard because there is a little lack of
energy and focus (you know P-day is in like 3 hours and your'e TIRED
from the whole week of missionarying and Sunday is just always
stressful as a missionary). SO we decided to knock a podezd but had no
success. People were either not home or just didn't want to talk and
so we were feeling a little low. We walked through the park and
sitting on a bench was a... rabbit!? How can you not be curious. So I
stopped and said, "why do you have a rabbitt" and started talking with
the mom that was standing there. Well turns out that it is their pet,
they don't like cats and so they have a rabbitt, and it was AMAZING!
We talked to her for a really long time and we were able to share a
little about our church and give her a Finding Faith in Christ DVD
which she said they will watch as a family. She was in the park with
her two kids and so we had a great time talking to her and her kids.
They are a FUN family and she is fantastic. We had an interesting
discussion about moms. She is trained as a nurse type person and
finished schooling and even worked for a little bit in a hospital but
she decided that she needed to sit at home with her kids and raise
them. She doesn't work right now and she says sometimes it's hard
because people think she should work but she doesn't want to because
of her kids. I was able to share how my mom was such a good example
and also sat at home with us to take care of us and I tihnk it is a
HUGE sacrifice and harder work a lot of the time than going into the
office from 8-5. "Sitting at home" means you are always "at work" and
you are in charge of who your kids are. It is so important to raise
your kids and help them to develop in faith, Christlike attributes and
help them nurture their testimony. It is a great work and like I said
I am so proud of my sister and sister-in-law, cousins, aunts, grandmas
and mom who made that decision to put aside a career and take care of
their kids IT IS IMPORTANT. So it was a GREAT night and made Sunday
night go by really really fast. I also have to say that I petted the
rabbitt. I'm a little against animals, I don't love cats and dogs can
be OKAY but I don't go and pet them etc, but I decided I needed to pet
a rabbitt-- how can you not. I pet him and ended up sitting down with
him and peting him for like 15 minutes and feeding him Cheetos. It was
amazing. I loved him-- he may be my new favorite person in Russia
becasue he was so soft, calm and peaceful. I don't know what's really
happened to me but it was fun. Maybe cats will be next....????
(secretly I hope not). I guess we can that this week I found two
hidden talents, Grandpas and rabbitts-- how could life be better?
But all in all it was a good week.. We continue to be amazed by the
Lord's ability and willlingness to bless us and to help us out here as
missionaries. This is a great work and we need to do it. People truly
need the GOspel and the blessings it brings into their lives and their
families. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Continue to
see the Lord's hand and blesssings in your lives and go pet a
rabbitt-- I highly recommend it. I love you, the church is true.
Sister Morris