Hello Family and Friends!
Happy Valentine's Day! We decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to go and visit our friend Brat Dmitri! We couldn't find his house, so we called him and he said that he was on his way to find us. He's like 65 or so and had a stroke a couple years ago so he only mumbles when he talks! Super hard to understand! We finally saw him after we actually found his house doing his "Brat Dmitri" run where he doesn't move any part of his body but his legs. (I think that he has chi running down dad!) Well, he insisted on feeding us... and IT WAS NASTY! He got these really old sticky noodles out of his fridge and put them in an old frying pan covered inch thick with black... who knows what, that had about 1/4 inch thick of oil that had sat in there for who knows how long. He then opened this can of creamed meat and put it over half the noodles and sister Whitaker is a vegetarian. After warming it up he set the pan in front of us and gave us each a fork. Mine had some kind of yellow dried something on it.... yes, we prayed and ate as much as we had to not to be rude. And we DID NOT get food poisoning!! Thank goodness! We gave Brat Dmitri a valentine heart that said, "i love you, love God" on it and talked about the love of God! He's fun!
We had a good time contacting this week too. We had a lesson with a member and so just knocked one of the buildings around where they live. We had a couple lessons and gave away a Book of Mormon! They can't run because we know where they live!! haha :) This week we really focused on asking for referrals. We got to meet with a friend of one of our members. She wasn't really interested but took a "Finding Faith in Christ" video and enjoyed talking with us.
WE also had Zone Conference this week. As President didn't come to the Zone Conference's this transfer Sister LeBaron and I got to talk! We spent most of Wednesday and then Thursday preparing. We talked about the role of the spirit in conversion. We really enjoyed Elder Yamoshita's talk from General Conference. None of our parents have served in Russia so we didn't inherit their coat or love for Russia, but we wear the name of Jesus Christ on our tags. He knows each of the people here and what they need! We can inherit His love for them and then we can feel it! As we worked on testifying more when we talk to people instead of just talking with people I felt the spirit more strongly and a stronger love for the Russian people!
Our Zone Leaders did a great presentation about the doctrine of Christ and re-enacted the steps with the help of an Elder and a dirty sheet, representing sin. They had to carry him at first, then he worked to clean himself and then as he committed to be baptized was baptized he got a new clean sheet, could see again, and got a cell phone (like the Holy Ghost) a txt said that if he remained clean he could have constant contact with our Heavenly Father! IT was cool!
Zulya, the girl we met at pavel's house last week, was sick this week. But she is planning on meeting us this week. Pavel himself is not interested in changing, but it's interesting to see how God puts people into our paths so that we can then meet other people through them. She said that she has been reading the Book of Mormon!
Sister Yulya's granddaughter came to church this week. She is turning 13 this week and wants to be baptized but her parents won't let her be baptized but let her come to church with her grandmother. We wanted to ask her parents and get permission to teach her. I know that her parents may not be open to her getting baptized at this point, but as we talked with her I felt that we should teach her the basic principles of the gospel so that she has the tools and knowledge to stay close to God through her teenage years and hopefully make the choice to be baptized when she comes of age. She is very smart and has a deep understanding of the gospel already. Yulya just gave her her very own copy of her Book of Mormon. We don't want to waste time teaching her but both felt it would be something good to do. We came to center today so that we can see the Mamaev Korgan, a super famous statue here in Volgagrad! I'm really excited!
I love you All!!
Cectpa Cunningham
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Pictures from Ariel's companion, February 16, 2012
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Dmitri!! Hahahaha this guy is soooo old and so funny... He was trying to balance on these balls at sports night.
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Selling meat and a PIG HEAD out of the back of a truck!! GROSS!!!!!!!
Me, Sister Whitaker, and Sister Cunningham just waiting for the bus!
AIRPLANE RIDE!!!!!!
Sister Cunningham kissing a snowman.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Get the Work Rolling! February 13, 2012
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Considering that it was like -27 this week, it wasn't so bad that we had to stay in sick for most of the week. Sister LeBaron was not feeling up to par. But this week on Friday we picked up our new mini missionary. Her name is Sister Zaitzova. She is from Sochi, which is in our mission, and will serve with sister LeBaron for the rest of the transfer. She served a full-time mission in Ekaternberg and is so excited to be able to serve again for a little bit. She has brought a lot of energy, laughter, and fun to our little apartment! We love her.
I haven't really described the winters here, so I thought I should give some details! It is SO SO SO COLD!! When you have to wait for a Marshrootkaf for like 10 minutes you go numb! We try to dance around and run around, but my feet usually loose most of their feeling! Everyone is bundled up with their fur coats, and fur Russian Shopkas. The little kids look like little Pilsbury dough boys and their parents carry them around on little sleds that they pull. While crossing over a tramvai track this week I stepped in the middle of the track and sank knee deep into the snow! It was rather funny! The Marshrootkas themselves are always fun because when you flag them down and they stop they usually slide for a good 5-10 feet on the ice before stopping!
Because of the whether, when we went contacting we usually go knocking. This one time I got a little carried away wasn't patient enough to wait for an answer. I had rung both doorbells and the people both came out from their doors (they usually have an outside apartment door with several different house doorbells next to it, then when you open that door there is a hallway or little entry way with more personal aparment doors). We said we were missionaries and they were like, "we don't need them, do you?" "I don't need to talk to them do you?" and then as one person was going back into his house he told his neighbor to shut his door on us! haha
This week we knocked this one apartment building and this young like 17 year old girl answered. She stepped outside her door and was like, "yes, I do want to hear more! Tell me something." Usually we just get no's and so her "tell me something" took me off guard and I didn't know what to say! haha I just sat there like, "uh...uh... well.." It was way sad as her mom then came to the door and made her come back in.. .we hope that she'll maybe come to English Club.
This transfer has been an interesting part of my mission. I felt almost like I had hit a wall. I've seen miracles happen, but I just felt SO tired and had become content and lazy. When Sister Zaitzova came she brought so much fire and love of missionary work. I knew that now with just me and Sister Whitaker in our companionship there were some things that needed to change. We hadn't been as strictly obedient and had become lazy about looking to make every opportunity a finding opportunity. I had a bit of repenting to do and wanted to commit myself again to the work. On Saturday morning I apologized to Sister Whitaker for my bad example and together we talked and made goals about what we could do to be more 100% obedient. We also planned in a different way than I had been taught by my other companions. We made the goals first, as a step of faith, and then make plans of how to reach our goal!
After setting our goals we have already seen some miracles. Just on our way to and from the music night that we had in center on Saturday we were able to place two Books of Mormon. One was a young girl and I talked with her for like an hour and a half. She said that her mom had cancer and so she'd prayed. She said she's always believed in God and prayed to him. The lady on the way home, we also talked to for like an hour. Her husband died 3 years ago and she has 2 daughters, a 26 year old and 6 year old. I told her that families could be together forever, but then she said that she'd had this dream where her dad had appeared to her but he was with another woman... i wasn't quite sure what to respond to that... so I just said, "but, families can be together forever!" Hopefully we'll see them both again! We told her we could come and teach them how to do FHE (thanks for that idea dad). It felt SO good to see how many people are just so open and wonderful to talk with us.
Yesterday we met with Pavel, that man who fixed the zipper on my coat. He invited some of his friends to be there when we came and we also brought Brat Komo along. They fed us chicken and potatoes with tortillas, a carrot dish, and then got some cake and fruit for us. We were able to place another Book of Mormon with Pavel's friend Zulya. He was not very interested. He just wants to have good friends and he said that he could tell we are good people, but he doesn't seem interested to change or learn. Zulya, however, seems very open and is interested to meet again. As sister Whitaker said the closing prayer she paused as she was struggling to find some words and suddenly pavel speaks up and just finishes her prayer for her! It was really funny! Unfortunately Zulya lives in center Volgagrad, so we will probably need to hand her off to the Elder's this week, but I'm so excited to see and feel like the work is moving along again here. We're committing to be more obedient and the Lord is blessing us! Just on the ride over to write home a lady got on and was like, "What beautiful girls." It can be kind of awkward talking to people with my very strong accent on perfectly quiet transportation, but we took the opportunity to talk with her and gave her a church invite!
I love you all! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
Cectpa Cunningham
Considering that it was like -27 this week, it wasn't so bad that we had to stay in sick for most of the week. Sister LeBaron was not feeling up to par. But this week on Friday we picked up our new mini missionary. Her name is Sister Zaitzova. She is from Sochi, which is in our mission, and will serve with sister LeBaron for the rest of the transfer. She served a full-time mission in Ekaternberg and is so excited to be able to serve again for a little bit. She has brought a lot of energy, laughter, and fun to our little apartment! We love her.
I haven't really described the winters here, so I thought I should give some details! It is SO SO SO COLD!! When you have to wait for a Marshrootkaf for like 10 minutes you go numb! We try to dance around and run around, but my feet usually loose most of their feeling! Everyone is bundled up with their fur coats, and fur Russian Shopkas. The little kids look like little Pilsbury dough boys and their parents carry them around on little sleds that they pull. While crossing over a tramvai track this week I stepped in the middle of the track and sank knee deep into the snow! It was rather funny! The Marshrootkas themselves are always fun because when you flag them down and they stop they usually slide for a good 5-10 feet on the ice before stopping!
Because of the whether, when we went contacting we usually go knocking. This one time I got a little carried away wasn't patient enough to wait for an answer. I had rung both doorbells and the people both came out from their doors (they usually have an outside apartment door with several different house doorbells next to it, then when you open that door there is a hallway or little entry way with more personal aparment doors). We said we were missionaries and they were like, "we don't need them, do you?" "I don't need to talk to them do you?" and then as one person was going back into his house he told his neighbor to shut his door on us! haha
This week we knocked this one apartment building and this young like 17 year old girl answered. She stepped outside her door and was like, "yes, I do want to hear more! Tell me something." Usually we just get no's and so her "tell me something" took me off guard and I didn't know what to say! haha I just sat there like, "uh...uh... well.." It was way sad as her mom then came to the door and made her come back in.. .we hope that she'll maybe come to English Club.
This transfer has been an interesting part of my mission. I felt almost like I had hit a wall. I've seen miracles happen, but I just felt SO tired and had become content and lazy. When Sister Zaitzova came she brought so much fire and love of missionary work. I knew that now with just me and Sister Whitaker in our companionship there were some things that needed to change. We hadn't been as strictly obedient and had become lazy about looking to make every opportunity a finding opportunity. I had a bit of repenting to do and wanted to commit myself again to the work. On Saturday morning I apologized to Sister Whitaker for my bad example and together we talked and made goals about what we could do to be more 100% obedient. We also planned in a different way than I had been taught by my other companions. We made the goals first, as a step of faith, and then make plans of how to reach our goal!
After setting our goals we have already seen some miracles. Just on our way to and from the music night that we had in center on Saturday we were able to place two Books of Mormon. One was a young girl and I talked with her for like an hour and a half. She said that her mom had cancer and so she'd prayed. She said she's always believed in God and prayed to him. The lady on the way home, we also talked to for like an hour. Her husband died 3 years ago and she has 2 daughters, a 26 year old and 6 year old. I told her that families could be together forever, but then she said that she'd had this dream where her dad had appeared to her but he was with another woman... i wasn't quite sure what to respond to that... so I just said, "but, families can be together forever!" Hopefully we'll see them both again! We told her we could come and teach them how to do FHE (thanks for that idea dad). It felt SO good to see how many people are just so open and wonderful to talk with us.
Yesterday we met with Pavel, that man who fixed the zipper on my coat. He invited some of his friends to be there when we came and we also brought Brat Komo along. They fed us chicken and potatoes with tortillas, a carrot dish, and then got some cake and fruit for us. We were able to place another Book of Mormon with Pavel's friend Zulya. He was not very interested. He just wants to have good friends and he said that he could tell we are good people, but he doesn't seem interested to change or learn. Zulya, however, seems very open and is interested to meet again. As sister Whitaker said the closing prayer she paused as she was struggling to find some words and suddenly pavel speaks up and just finishes her prayer for her! It was really funny! Unfortunately Zulya lives in center Volgagrad, so we will probably need to hand her off to the Elder's this week, but I'm so excited to see and feel like the work is moving along again here. We're committing to be more obedient and the Lord is blessing us! Just on the ride over to write home a lady got on and was like, "What beautiful girls." It can be kind of awkward talking to people with my very strong accent on perfectly quiet transportation, but we took the opportunity to talk with her and gave her a church invite!
I love you all! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!
Cectpa Cunningham
Monday, February 6, 2012
The things you learn on missions February 6, 2012
Guess What?!!
At sports night this week I learned to hoola hoop!! for the first time in my life I can hoola hoop! :) it was a metal hoola hoop though and it kept falling, so I have big bruises behind my knees, but I guess it was worth it! :) I also learned that I can touch my nose with my tongue! The things you learn on missions.... :) this week was SO cold so we did a little bit of what we call "the transport ministry." We got onto a tramvai and rode it to the end of the line and then back again. Our goal was to talk with people who sat next to us. My first lady was crazy and told me that she was a missionary to and wanted to come over to my house... creepy. But the next man that sat next to me when I sat in the back--- the coldest part of the tramvai next to the door-- was awesome. I was freezing and wishing that I hadn't been so stupid to sit next to the door, but then he sat down. He wasn't interested in my invitation to church, but then we just started talking and we talked about prayer! It was cool. I hope he'll think about it.
We also knocked a bit this week. We knocked on this door and this little girl opened the door. Her parents weren't home, so we just said OK and then she closed the door again. We had a "families can be together forever" DVD, so I knocked on the door again and we gave them the free movie with our invitation to church. At the next door the same thing happened, but we were ready this time and gave the little boy a DVD. Now we need to go back and check and see if the parents watched it!
We had a fantastic time at english club this week. We sang a song to help them learn the alphabet and then we played fruit basket. Brat Dmitri is maybe like 70 and never talks clearly. He just mumbles really softly. The russian can't even understand him. He LOVED that game. He was a nectarine. He doesn't move very fast though, but he always is doing is little shuffle jog everywhere. One time he didn't get up when his fruit was called so I went and stood over him and called out his fruit agian so he had to get up! He was SO cute and laughing! I think that we will play that game again.
On Sunday we met with our district leader. He is SO enthused about missionary work and LOVES it!! He gets SO excited about missionary work and has been thinking that he wants to hold fasts in our ward. He got so excited about the idea of having a 40 day fast where everyone in our branch fasts one day and then passes it off to the next family.... the only problem is that we only have like 20 people in our branch... haha Brat Peotr! He just makes us laugh! As we sang our opening song for the meeting he was so serious as he started conducting us and singing that I got the giggles and then sister Whitaker got the giggles so only Brat Peotr was singing as sister LeBaron accompanied on the piano.
I always love meeting with the members as they have the COOLEST conversion stories. This week we met with a family that has 5 daughters! And they had both had dreams that actually came true! The wife saw her wedding which happened when they got married in the church before they were baptized! I hope we'll find some investigators this week.... but it is SO cold!!! And my zipper broke, so I had to drop my coat off at a place to get it fixed. The guy there was super cool and asked us what we were doing here. We talked with him for a while and he invited us to come over to his house this Sunday and he would make us Armenian food!! He said that he would invite one of his friends that would be interested in talking about religion! Hopefully he's not just a creeper, but hey! He's fixing my coat for cheap! Hope you all have a GREAT week! Stay warm and drink lots of hot cocoa!
love,
Cectpa Cunningham
Monday, January 30, 2012
BRRRRRRRRRRRR January 30, 2012
Hello Family and Friends!!
Well, I am now in the coldest part of our mission for the winter!! But hey! That means that I will actually get to experience a kind of real Russian winter! So far it has only gotten down to -20 degrees Celsius. :)
This week was crazy and we did a LOT of traveling! On Monday we had a going away party in K-dar and Elder Potter made us all his world famous southern fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy!! It was AMAZING! It was hard to say goodbye to everyone in K-dar, and I did cry a bit, but not too much! Thank goodness for the Internet, so that we can always stay in touch! Dima said that he would come and pick us up to take us to the Voksal on Wednesday morning. Our train left at 6:50 and so we agreed that Dima would be there at 6:10. I called him around then and he said that he was on his way.
We got everything outside and the next time I look at my watch it is 6:30!!! I call him again realizing that I may very well miss my train and ask how far away he is! He says, "5 minutes!" I told him that I would miss my train and he says... no... you'll be fine... Well, at that very moment a taxi just happened to be driving down our not very busy side road and pulled over and asked us if we needed a ride! We said yes and took it! We told him we needed to get there fast and made it to the Voksal with about 5 minutes to spare! We to the platform and found the Elders and made it just in time to get on the train! It was a little bit stressful but amazing to see how the Lord takes care of us even in the littlest details of our lives. Well, after our 4 hour train ride up to Rostov we were at the mission office. It was GREAT to see Sister LeBaron again and then we got to meet our new companion right from the MTC. Sister Whitaker!! At first we thought she was super serious so we were really glad that we would be in a 3 some. We went out to get some food and then we had to all haul our luggage about 1/4 of a mile on the snow to the buses. We then had an 8 hour bus ride to Volgagrad while a HORRIBLY weird TV series played almost the whole time on the TV. Finally getting into V-grad I realized that it was COLD!! One of our branch members had come down with his friend and picked us up in his marshrootka. Our area is about an hour and a half from center. We got back to the apartment at about 11:30.
This week has been kind of slow as we have moved in and planned a bit. Sister Whitaker is AMAZING!! Her Russian is already SO good and her grammar is already better than mine!! She is a convert of 2 years and actually took the missionary discussions when she lived in St. Petersburg teaching English there. She has sacrificed a lot to be here and is the only member in her family! She can take our crazy sarcastic senses of humor and can even dish it back! We are having a MARVELOUS time all together! After going into district meeting on Friday we got on a marshrootka and someone had to tow us out so that the driving could then kick the stick shift into action... haha!
We love Russian transport! We to got to go and visit a less active who was sick in the hospital this week. Hospitals scare me in America...but here they are pretty dirty and some of the people and things you see make you feel just SO sad. We finally found her though and she was actually able to make it to church on Sunday!
Branch counsel on Sunday was a blast. Pretty much the whole ward is in the Branch counsel. there are only about 20 members who come regularly. This week the lady who was supposed to be speaking in church called and said that she didn't wanted to and asked if we could. when we called the Branch President to see what we needed to do he didn't quite understand that we didnt' necessarily want to speak. He was all, "well, of course you can speak!!" haha Well, we all ended up speaking our first Sunday. The speakers finished early, so with the extra time left the president has me and sister LeBaron teach the congregation a new hymn. We sang it 3 times... all 4 verses!! My voice and arm were extremely tired!! Our branch is SO interesting! We have the man Peotr who wears his bright blue suit every Sunday, brat dmitri who like never talks and just stares off into space with his thick glasses, our branch president who sings so loudly with his bass voice that he is the only one heard when we sing hymns together, and brat Valerie and his x-wife sister ulya who still live in the same house together but you can feel the tension between them!! haha! In the counsel meeting it was pretty much just a lot of arguing and disagreeing going on!! haha! I'm excited to serve here!
To deal with the cold we went out and bought lots of tights and nylons! We got these SUPER WARM leggings that have two layers. a fuzzy warm one on the inside and a spandexy one on the outside!
Sister LeBaron and I have taken to wearing our comfortable leggings them!! they are GREAT for dancing! Well, we will try to stay warm this week and get into a good schedule and get some good work done here! Sister Whitaker's Russian is already SO good and last night she pretty much told her conversion story by herself to brat valerie in Russian!! I love my new companions and am excited for this area!!
love,
Cectpa Cunningham
Well, I am now in the coldest part of our mission for the winter!! But hey! That means that I will actually get to experience a kind of real Russian winter! So far it has only gotten down to -20 degrees Celsius. :)
This week was crazy and we did a LOT of traveling! On Monday we had a going away party in K-dar and Elder Potter made us all his world famous southern fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy!! It was AMAZING! It was hard to say goodbye to everyone in K-dar, and I did cry a bit, but not too much! Thank goodness for the Internet, so that we can always stay in touch! Dima said that he would come and pick us up to take us to the Voksal on Wednesday morning. Our train left at 6:50 and so we agreed that Dima would be there at 6:10. I called him around then and he said that he was on his way.
We got everything outside and the next time I look at my watch it is 6:30!!! I call him again realizing that I may very well miss my train and ask how far away he is! He says, "5 minutes!" I told him that I would miss my train and he says... no... you'll be fine... Well, at that very moment a taxi just happened to be driving down our not very busy side road and pulled over and asked us if we needed a ride! We said yes and took it! We told him we needed to get there fast and made it to the Voksal with about 5 minutes to spare! We to the platform and found the Elders and made it just in time to get on the train! It was a little bit stressful but amazing to see how the Lord takes care of us even in the littlest details of our lives. Well, after our 4 hour train ride up to Rostov we were at the mission office. It was GREAT to see Sister LeBaron again and then we got to meet our new companion right from the MTC. Sister Whitaker!! At first we thought she was super serious so we were really glad that we would be in a 3 some. We went out to get some food and then we had to all haul our luggage about 1/4 of a mile on the snow to the buses. We then had an 8 hour bus ride to Volgagrad while a HORRIBLY weird TV series played almost the whole time on the TV. Finally getting into V-grad I realized that it was COLD!! One of our branch members had come down with his friend and picked us up in his marshrootka. Our area is about an hour and a half from center. We got back to the apartment at about 11:30.
This week has been kind of slow as we have moved in and planned a bit. Sister Whitaker is AMAZING!! Her Russian is already SO good and her grammar is already better than mine!! She is a convert of 2 years and actually took the missionary discussions when she lived in St. Petersburg teaching English there. She has sacrificed a lot to be here and is the only member in her family! She can take our crazy sarcastic senses of humor and can even dish it back! We are having a MARVELOUS time all together! After going into district meeting on Friday we got on a marshrootka and someone had to tow us out so that the driving could then kick the stick shift into action... haha!
We love Russian transport! We to got to go and visit a less active who was sick in the hospital this week. Hospitals scare me in America...but here they are pretty dirty and some of the people and things you see make you feel just SO sad. We finally found her though and she was actually able to make it to church on Sunday!
Branch counsel on Sunday was a blast. Pretty much the whole ward is in the Branch counsel. there are only about 20 members who come regularly. This week the lady who was supposed to be speaking in church called and said that she didn't wanted to and asked if we could. when we called the Branch President to see what we needed to do he didn't quite understand that we didnt' necessarily want to speak. He was all, "well, of course you can speak!!" haha Well, we all ended up speaking our first Sunday. The speakers finished early, so with the extra time left the president has me and sister LeBaron teach the congregation a new hymn. We sang it 3 times... all 4 verses!! My voice and arm were extremely tired!! Our branch is SO interesting! We have the man Peotr who wears his bright blue suit every Sunday, brat dmitri who like never talks and just stares off into space with his thick glasses, our branch president who sings so loudly with his bass voice that he is the only one heard when we sing hymns together, and brat Valerie and his x-wife sister ulya who still live in the same house together but you can feel the tension between them!! haha! In the counsel meeting it was pretty much just a lot of arguing and disagreeing going on!! haha! I'm excited to serve here!
To deal with the cold we went out and bought lots of tights and nylons! We got these SUPER WARM leggings that have two layers. a fuzzy warm one on the inside and a spandexy one on the outside!
Sister LeBaron and I have taken to wearing our comfortable leggings them!! they are GREAT for dancing! Well, we will try to stay warm this week and get into a good schedule and get some good work done here! Sister Whitaker's Russian is already SO good and last night she pretty much told her conversion story by herself to brat valerie in Russian!! I love my new companions and am excited for this area!!
love,
Cectpa Cunningham
Monday, January 23, 2012
Goodbye K-dar! January 23, 2012
This week went by SO fast, but so many things happened! On Monday we got broken up with.... by our investigator Laura.... :( She had apparently gone to a friends church and they told her that we were all rich and just paid our leaders and it was all about the money... which is completely opposite, as NO ONE in the branch leadership gets paid for their service in the church. We didn't know what to say and so just bore our testimonies and told her that she had felt the spirit here and was always welcome to come back if she would like to... :(
We were all very lucky not to get food poisoning again this week. We had decided to go over to a members house because she said that she was having one of our less-active sisters over. But then she invited the elders to come too... All of us didn't need to be there at the same time, but it ended up being a fun adventure. So, the Elders take us out there as they had been their before. Irina lives about 30-40 minutes out of town. When we got there the less-active, Elena, wasn't there yet. So Irina decided to serve us Borsch!!! YUMMY!! When we walked into the kitchen there was this beautiful looking braided kind of pie. It looked pretty, but I asked what was in the inside. Irina responds, "Oh, well I just used everything that I had laying around." and she literally did.... She said, "it has carrots, pumpkin, oats, apple, kiwi, and chocolate." I look at Sister TUnney..... and then we go and tell the Elders.... While she was out of the room we attempted to eat it as then we could make disgusted faces while she wasn't there. IT WAS SO NASTY!! She kept apologizing because she had burned it... but i was just thinking... the burnt part is the least of the problem...it's what you put inside it that's the problem!! haha!! We
got some funny pictures and it made for a good memory!!
Well, friends, just because I'm on a mission doesn't mean that I have been cured of making embarrassing stupid comments and I thought that I would share one of my latest with you. So, basically EVERYONE here in Russia who has a car drives a Lada (if you don't know what that is... look up a picture on-line). They have like cardboard seats that your back sinks into when you go over bumps and you better not put too much weight inside or it may just drag on the ground. Well... so we have a new sister coming into the area on Tuesday night. I was talking on the phone to our member Dima (he's about a 20 year old) and he has a nicer car that is kind of like a station wagon. I said, "Dima, do you think that you could help us pick up the new sister/ Missionaries have a lot of luggage and almost everyone else has a lada, but your car is nicer." He says, "I have a lada too...".... hahaha well, he does... it's just a newer one!! I felt like an idiot and probably offended him... but it made for a good laugh!
Well, we got transfer calls on Friday and I am leaving K-dar early Wednesday morning... :( I will really miss it here!! I have come to love the members SO much and working with Sister Tunney has been a dream!! SHE IS THE BEST COMPANION EVER!! But, it will be a new and exciting transfer! I am being sent up to the extremely cold VOGAGRAD area and will be serving as trainer to our new sister, Sister Whitacker. But we will be in a 3 some with Sister LeBaron who know the area and will be helping out A LOT!! It's CRAZY!! But it will be GREAT to serve again with Sister LeBaron and will be a definite NEW AND EXCITING ADVENTURE!!
Well, we had a wonderful baptism for Lubov! She really enjoyed our musical number where I played the violin and sister Tunney played on the piano. Elder Potter gave her the gift of the holy ghost and said that he felt that she was a wonderful lady!! She really is!! I'm sad to leave... but I couldn't have asked for anything better than being able to see her get baptized the Saturday before I go!! And then just to make Saturday even better we had another YSA activity!! I LOVE DANCING and It was basically me and the YSA all dancing!! haha!! It was SO fun!!
Sunday night Sasha Demchenko took us to his house and he taught us how to make Demchenkborsch!! His mom kept trying to make it her way, but he was all...no! We're making my borsch!! Sasha is the BEST!! He told us his conversion story too!! He had read a bit of the bible and felt that it was true. When he met the missionaries and started meeting with them he was doing EVERYTHING that he should, going to chruch, reading the BOM, keeping the commandments, but he wasn't getting an answer if the BOM was true. So, the missionaries decided to hold a fast with him. He woke up early Sunday morning of his fast and decided to pray if the BOM was true. If that was true he said he'd pray about President Hinckley if he was a prophet and if that was true he said that he would pray to know if the church was true. He was at the table and all he said was "Dear Heavenly Father" and he was overcome with the most powerful feeling of joy that he just laid his got my answer about everything... should I finish my prayer?!! he is now one of the most active members here and has served a mission and is just AWESOME!! We love him!
Well, I love you all and next time I will write you from the Siberian Volgagrad!! haha Maybe it will freeze some fat off! A lady at chruch poked my stomach on Sunday and said in English, "Getting a little fat?" hey!!!! HAHA gotta love Russian honesty I guess...
love you all!
Cectpa Cunningham
We were all very lucky not to get food poisoning again this week. We had decided to go over to a members house because she said that she was having one of our less-active sisters over. But then she invited the elders to come too... All of us didn't need to be there at the same time, but it ended up being a fun adventure. So, the Elders take us out there as they had been their before. Irina lives about 30-40 minutes out of town. When we got there the less-active, Elena, wasn't there yet. So Irina decided to serve us Borsch!!! YUMMY!! When we walked into the kitchen there was this beautiful looking braided kind of pie. It looked pretty, but I asked what was in the inside. Irina responds, "Oh, well I just used everything that I had laying around." and she literally did.... She said, "it has carrots, pumpkin, oats, apple, kiwi, and chocolate." I look at Sister TUnney..... and then we go and tell the Elders.... While she was out of the room we attempted to eat it as then we could make disgusted faces while she wasn't there. IT WAS SO NASTY!! She kept apologizing because she had burned it... but i was just thinking... the burnt part is the least of the problem...it's what you put inside it that's the problem!! haha!! We
got some funny pictures and it made for a good memory!!
Well, friends, just because I'm on a mission doesn't mean that I have been cured of making embarrassing stupid comments and I thought that I would share one of my latest with you. So, basically EVERYONE here in Russia who has a car drives a Lada (if you don't know what that is... look up a picture on-line). They have like cardboard seats that your back sinks into when you go over bumps and you better not put too much weight inside or it may just drag on the ground. Well... so we have a new sister coming into the area on Tuesday night. I was talking on the phone to our member Dima (he's about a 20 year old) and he has a nicer car that is kind of like a station wagon. I said, "Dima, do you think that you could help us pick up the new sister/ Missionaries have a lot of luggage and almost everyone else has a lada, but your car is nicer." He says, "I have a lada too...".... hahaha well, he does... it's just a newer one!! I felt like an idiot and probably offended him... but it made for a good laugh!
Well, we got transfer calls on Friday and I am leaving K-dar early Wednesday morning... :( I will really miss it here!! I have come to love the members SO much and working with Sister Tunney has been a dream!! SHE IS THE BEST COMPANION EVER!! But, it will be a new and exciting transfer! I am being sent up to the extremely cold VOGAGRAD area and will be serving as trainer to our new sister, Sister Whitacker. But we will be in a 3 some with Sister LeBaron who know the area and will be helping out A LOT!! It's CRAZY!! But it will be GREAT to serve again with Sister LeBaron and will be a definite NEW AND EXCITING ADVENTURE!!
Well, we had a wonderful baptism for Lubov! She really enjoyed our musical number where I played the violin and sister Tunney played on the piano. Elder Potter gave her the gift of the holy ghost and said that he felt that she was a wonderful lady!! She really is!! I'm sad to leave... but I couldn't have asked for anything better than being able to see her get baptized the Saturday before I go!! And then just to make Saturday even better we had another YSA activity!! I LOVE DANCING and It was basically me and the YSA all dancing!! haha!! It was SO fun!!
Sunday night Sasha Demchenko took us to his house and he taught us how to make Demchenkborsch!! His mom kept trying to make it her way, but he was all...no! We're making my borsch!! Sasha is the BEST!! He told us his conversion story too!! He had read a bit of the bible and felt that it was true. When he met the missionaries and started meeting with them he was doing EVERYTHING that he should, going to chruch, reading the BOM, keeping the commandments, but he wasn't getting an answer if the BOM was true. So, the missionaries decided to hold a fast with him. He woke up early Sunday morning of his fast and decided to pray if the BOM was true. If that was true he said he'd pray about President Hinckley if he was a prophet and if that was true he said that he would pray to know if the church was true. He was at the table and all he said was "Dear Heavenly Father" and he was overcome with the most powerful feeling of joy that he just laid his got my answer about everything... should I finish my prayer?!! he is now one of the most active members here and has served a mission and is just AWESOME!! We love him!
Well, I love you all and next time I will write you from the Siberian Volgagrad!! haha Maybe it will freeze some fat off! A lady at chruch poked my stomach on Sunday and said in English, "Getting a little fat?" hey!!!! HAHA gotta love Russian honesty I guess...
love you all!
Cectpa Cunningham
Monday, January 16, 2012
Old New Year! January 16, 2012
Happy OLD NEW YEARS from Russia!
Sister Tunney was a bit sick this week, so we had a bit of time at home. I have enjoyed taking time to read the Book of Mormon out loud in Russian with Margo and Marina (our girls who live next door). They help me with my pronunciation and it's just SO fun to spend time with them! We had some good miracles this week. We met with Lubov this week. She was able to tell her husband that she was being baptized and we planned her baptism for this Saturday. We asked her to choose who she would like her to baptize her and she said, "Well of course, sister Kany!" haha! I was flattered... except for the fact that we as women do not hold the priesthood. It's so interesting when things like that happen because I wouldn't have even thought that she didn't know that men only hold the priesthood! It was funny though!! and there's a first time for everything, right? She talked with Lidya before she got her interview with Elder Tropnikov to be baptized and she said that she had invited her husband to come to her baptism. He said that he would like to come and see what it is like! Coming from a man who was SO against anything that she had to do with us... it was a miracle! We are SO excited!!
We went out to the Erominka's again this week. But it was so frustrating because Vanya kept asking all of these questions but he wouldn't listen to our answer... They were questions that he wouldn't
have if he understood the basic principles of the gospel and would actually just really listen to what we said instead of just looking for another point to argue about. He's just not open right now, so we
just bore our testimonies and said that we couldn't answer his questions if he wasn't willing to listen.
This week we got some bad news about Laura (our miracle lady who wanted to be baptized). Apparently she went to a friends church and said that it was what she needed and everything in our church was confusing... We think that she just heard some bad information about our church. She is coming today to give us back the Book of Mormon that we gave her, but I hope that we, with Lidya, will be able to talk with her and help remove any fear from rumors that she heard. We know that she felt the spirit when she was with us, and we hope to remind her of that. If not right now, I hope that one day she will remember what she felt and come back. It's hard when something like this happens, especially when we felt like it was such a miracle and know she felt it was right, but everyone has their agency.
This Saturday we had a very exhausting day. We were going out to visit one of our members who lives WAY out of town. We asked which bus stop was the right one and the people on the bus told us where to get off... well it ended up being the wrong one, so we had to go back and wait another 20 or so minutes for another bus. The Lady who had told us it was that stop came back and apologized as she'd realized we were talking about another stop... haha Well, we finally got there, but then on the way back we waited for like 40 minutes for a non-existent Marshrootka. So, we finally decided to go wait at the nearby bus stop but then saw another Marshrootka coming that we could take. IT was
raining, so we were of course FREEZING, but we started running to grab it! The driving laughed at me when I got in, but we made it. So after our 5 hour adventure to get out to our members house we didn't even want to go back outside again that day, but we headed to sports night at the church after a brief lunch at home and got splashed by two cars that drove through these HUGE puddle way too fast! haha oh well, it was an adventure! At sports night we tried to teach the hand slapping game "Down by the banks of the Hanky-panky.".... I don't know what it is though here... A riot always breaks out whenever we want to teach a new game and someone always complains and says that they don't
want to play!! haha
I hope that everyone is doing well!! I sure love you all!
love,
Cectpa Cunningham
Sister Tunney was a bit sick this week, so we had a bit of time at home. I have enjoyed taking time to read the Book of Mormon out loud in Russian with Margo and Marina (our girls who live next door). They help me with my pronunciation and it's just SO fun to spend time with them! We had some good miracles this week. We met with Lubov this week. She was able to tell her husband that she was being baptized and we planned her baptism for this Saturday. We asked her to choose who she would like her to baptize her and she said, "Well of course, sister Kany!" haha! I was flattered... except for the fact that we as women do not hold the priesthood. It's so interesting when things like that happen because I wouldn't have even thought that she didn't know that men only hold the priesthood! It was funny though!! and there's a first time for everything, right? She talked with Lidya before she got her interview with Elder Tropnikov to be baptized and she said that she had invited her husband to come to her baptism. He said that he would like to come and see what it is like! Coming from a man who was SO against anything that she had to do with us... it was a miracle! We are SO excited!!
We went out to the Erominka's again this week. But it was so frustrating because Vanya kept asking all of these questions but he wouldn't listen to our answer... They were questions that he wouldn't
have if he understood the basic principles of the gospel and would actually just really listen to what we said instead of just looking for another point to argue about. He's just not open right now, so we
just bore our testimonies and said that we couldn't answer his questions if he wasn't willing to listen.
This week we got some bad news about Laura (our miracle lady who wanted to be baptized). Apparently she went to a friends church and said that it was what she needed and everything in our church was confusing... We think that she just heard some bad information about our church. She is coming today to give us back the Book of Mormon that we gave her, but I hope that we, with Lidya, will be able to talk with her and help remove any fear from rumors that she heard. We know that she felt the spirit when she was with us, and we hope to remind her of that. If not right now, I hope that one day she will remember what she felt and come back. It's hard when something like this happens, especially when we felt like it was such a miracle and know she felt it was right, but everyone has their agency.
This Saturday we had a very exhausting day. We were going out to visit one of our members who lives WAY out of town. We asked which bus stop was the right one and the people on the bus told us where to get off... well it ended up being the wrong one, so we had to go back and wait another 20 or so minutes for another bus. The Lady who had told us it was that stop came back and apologized as she'd realized we were talking about another stop... haha Well, we finally got there, but then on the way back we waited for like 40 minutes for a non-existent Marshrootka. So, we finally decided to go wait at the nearby bus stop but then saw another Marshrootka coming that we could take. IT was
raining, so we were of course FREEZING, but we started running to grab it! The driving laughed at me when I got in, but we made it. So after our 5 hour adventure to get out to our members house we didn't even want to go back outside again that day, but we headed to sports night at the church after a brief lunch at home and got splashed by two cars that drove through these HUGE puddle way too fast! haha oh well, it was an adventure! At sports night we tried to teach the hand slapping game "Down by the banks of the Hanky-panky.".... I don't know what it is though here... A riot always breaks out whenever we want to teach a new game and someone always complains and says that they don't
want to play!! haha
I hope that everyone is doing well!! I sure love you all!
love,
Cectpa Cunningham
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