No more snow!! April 2, 2012

Happy April!! And April Fool's!
To be honest we forgot about April Fool's day... but o-well.  The beginning of this week was actually pretty frustrating.  Literally no one wanted to meet with us. We had been making goals to be able to be more obedient and work  hard, but then nothing seemed to be working out.  On the way home from FHE on Monday Brat Komo drove us home in his Marshrutka.  When we dropped Brat Dmitir off another girl tried to get on.  He really wasn't working but decided to let her on.... Perfect opportunity for us to get her!! haha Us and Brat Komo and one other girl. She had no idea that she was trapped by all Mormon's!  Well, we talked to her and gave her an invitation, but she didn't pass along her number... o-well!

Nothing seemed to be working out... but then suddenly this week SO many people came out of the woodwork and we were able to meet with so many new people!  One day for companionship study I decided to practice teaching about the priesthood, as that is not one of my strong points.  The priesthood is such a deep principle and hard to explain to people.  We always try to explain it very simply and emphasize that we need that same power that Jesus gave his apostles in order to be able to be baptized as Jesus Christ was baptized.  That night we had a lesson with a family that we had found in the area book.  As we were talking we started talking about the priesthood.  I turned to Sister Whitaker and said... "it's a good thing that I practiced teaching this this morning." As I talked I could feel the Holy Ghost guiding my thoughts and what I needed to say.  Explaining the priesthood suddenly just felt so clear with the scriptures that came to mind, and they seemed to understand.  I knew that I had been helped so much to be able to explain the priesthood.  After Sister Whitaker said that she had been praying for me as I explained that principle... and I needed it!

The family we met from the area book is an Armenian family.  But the mom doesn't understand everything that we say in Russian.  Her Russian is good, but we use words that she doesn't know and she uses words that we don't know... so many times we have our dictionary out and it's always fun to share a scripture... find it in Russian and then try to find it in Armenian.  She is meeting with another church right now and working with them to get baptized.  Her husband doesn't really believe in God, but she wants her family to be united.  When we met with them he was involved and had some good questions. We hope to see them move along this week.  Nona, the mom, understands about priesthood, but doesn't understand that it can only be found in one church. They have the cutest kids too!! Oh my goodness!! the little girl Sonya is SO cute and a sassy little model!! :)  She demonstrated her model walks for us! SO CUTE!!  The son Gor showed us his yoyo and tried to show me how to do it!  They are such a neat family and we already love them.

On the way to district meeting this week we were riding in a Marshrutka with people all around.  I knew I needed to talk with someone and so I started talking with the lady next to me.  She talked SO loud!!!  She asked where we were from and I responded America, and then she yelled, "from America?!!!" So, by this time pretty much the whole Marshrutka was listening.  I knew I shouldn't be embarrassed, and then she proceeded to ask us what we are doing her.  The lady across from us kept looking up and smiling and pretty much everyone on the Marshrutka could hear.  It was so funny!  Then at this one stop this younger girl gets on. As there were no seats she ended up standing up right in front of where this lady and I are sitting.  (a marshrutka is like a big van with seats that kind of face each other in the middle and then another section in the back with facing seats)  She turned to me and asked, "Are you missionaries?" I said yes.  She then said that her uncle was a priest.  The lady next to me went on to say that she didn't think it was right that we traveled around telling people about what we believe, but then this girl said, "Well, my uncle preaches to his congregation that they shouldn't just sit around.  The savior himself said that we should go out and preach the gospel." haha!!  The lady next to me kept saying she was just sharing her opinion and didn't want me to be offended!  The younger girl Sasha said that she was SUPER interested to meet with us and gave us her number.  I really hope that we can meet with her!

We have a lot going on here and are hoping to keep seeing the miracles!  We went to the piano concert this week and Peotr plays SO amazingly!! We got to meet with him on Sunday and he brought his friend. They had apparently both met with the missionaries 5 years ago.  We had a good time just getting acquainted and it was SO nice to talk with them because they have actually themselves studied and thought about many things.  They talked about how the Bible had been translated so many times and how the churches often just take people's money.


love,
Cectpa Cunningham

P.S.  OH my goodness!! Tell Britt how much I love her and miss her!! and i better get to see here SUPER SOON after I get home!! Let Anne know too! I'd really like to see her!!