Life Goes On!

Hello Family and Friends!
Well it is COLD in Penza but everything is good. Thanks so much for your emails and love and support! So life goes on here in Penza and everything is just good, good, good. I have a new companion and she is absolutely and completely adorable! I love her! Her name is Sister Ostapchuk and she is from the Ukraine. She is new to the mission and I love it because she has so much energy and faith to do the work. It is
soooo great to get new missionaries from the MTC because they are just so ready to do the work and baptize EVERYONE! She has no fears and I have loved getting to know her and to get to know her sweet personality and powerful testimony. We are really looking forward to a couple good months in Penza! So I think that because I have little time left I will do bullet points today. Monday: Christmas. We decided that we needed to just do Christmas so we decorated a tree in our house, ate french toast for breakfast, twice baked potatoes for lunch, gave each other Christmas resents and stockings and basically had a great day. Who doesn't like to celebrate
Christmas in October? We loved it! Tuesday: We hurriedly got Sister Jackson all packed to go to... SARATOV.... tear, I miss that place, and then had a couple last
meetings with members and an investigator hear. We were able to call one of my favorite members here in Penza and sing with her over the phone. It was definitely a "journaling" experience. We bought some gloves from under the BOKZAL because my hands were FREEZING and bought bus tickets to head down to Saratov the next morning.
Wednesday: I DROVE ALL DAY! We started on a bus from Penza to Saratov and 7 in the morning. Luckily, one of our fantastic members gave us a ride to the Bokzal, I don't know how we would have gotten all of the stuff there without him. IN Saratove we met with the sisters and they had just talked to Valentina(former hazaika) and she gave them zefir (my favorite) to give to me, so sweet. From Saratov I got in the van
with Roman and drove to Samara (about 11 at night) after picking up random other missionaries and their stuff. Overall the drive wasn't too bad and I enjoyed being able to see different missionaries and hearing what is going on in different parts of the mission. It's so weird when you are just stuck in your little area and you have no idea what is going on! Thursday: WE got back into the van with Roman at 7 and drove to PENZA with my new companion. We got into our area, got ready and did our
weekly planning. I explained how things work in our area and we just had a good time. That night we had our first meeting with my new companion with a member and it was fantastic! Friday: Just a normal working day, and my companion's first on the
mission (I'm so proud of her-- she hasn't complained ONCE!) We had a lesson with an investigator that was fantastic and we were also able to have District meeting with the Elders. Saturday: We had a SPORTS NIGHT! WOohoo! WE played ping pong and indoor hockey and it was really fun. Lada, a recent convert, came and really enjoyed it and we were able to teach a couple lessons there to members. It was great to be able to see them and just interact with them in a non-formal and fun atmosphere. Sunday: CHURCH! My companion met the branch and loved them (of course). We were able to have some great lessons with members and at the last minute, decided to try and knock on a door of a former investigator. We had decided that if we had time we would knock but weren't exactly sure. As we sat on the bus I decided, we'll do it. AS we approached the door, my companion just said, with a little nervousness, "what do we say?" I said, "who knows, posmotrim." and we went. They LUCKILY were home and we were able to go in and have a great lesson with them about the church and prayer. At the end we were able to pray and set up another meeting. It truly was a MIRACLE! They
were so friendly and we were so glad to be able to see them! We are excited to keep working with them (a mom and her daughter) and so were so glad that we decided to follow the spirit and just go. So here we are. As I said my companion is on fire and I love working with her and just being able to have the SPIRIT of the MTC with me. It
is so good to be reminded how we felt when we first came out. I think this next week is going to be fantastic! Thanks for your emails and love., I love you so so so so much! Until next week, Sister Morris