Hey fam! Thanks Mom and Dad for the letters and pictures! Glad to hear that the adoption and blessing went well and cool to see that so many people were there! What a great time. :) That's so fun that you could all be together. Thanks for all the details and stuff. :)
This week has for sure been interesting. I was with a member, Oksana, for a week. We had a good time... there's a pic of a day when we dressed alike and decided to take a pic. We are twins with my name tag on. :)
We got to visit with Tatiana again and as usual that was awesome. We reviewed the first half of the Plan of Salvation with her and then told her about the second half. It was way cool- she takes everything in so well and is always happy that she learned something new. She is so busy- I wish we could meet with her more than once a week!!! It's tough.
Also there is this really great woman who used to be completely non-active, but since we've met with her she's become just less-active. Her name is Elina. She is an english teacher and we've actually gone to her class to talk to her students. They are adults of ranging ages. She also has another class that is with beginners of the engish lang. It was way fun. But we finally squeezed in a little bit of time with her (because she is so so busy. She works from the morning until maybe 11 at night. She does all of this for her kids and to help support her family. Her husband also works.) and we decided to talk to her also about God's Plan of Happiness. Things are hard for her because she is the only member of the church in her family. We told her about what she needs to do to receive eternal life with God and with her family. She said that she wants us to come back and teach her kids and hopefully her husband as well about this plan. My heart just goes out for those people who are alone in their family as members of the church. They need so much support from those members who are their church family, because they get it from no where else except the missionaries. And eventually the missionaries leave. But it's hard for her because she also works her heart out and she's trying to raise this family of two kids. We testified to her about how if she places God first in her life always, He will bless her in all spheres of her life- family life, work, money. We just have to show Him our love for Him and our faith that He will make everything work out for us. But she's a really great woman- I love her a lot.
Besides that, you would not believe it, but I've been using my haircutting skills... haha! okay just once. There's this girl Djenna, who is 15 and starting up 9th class today. yesterday, I gave her a haircut. :) Her and her mom struggle with money, and she's wanted a haircut, but they haven't been able to pay for one. So that was fun. :)
And of course, so very important, we had the dedication of the Kiev temple on Sunday!! Oh it was wonderful. There were probably 30 members who came to the dedication. Our bishop made sure that it was a very special occasion- they deep-cleaned the church building a week before the dedication., and no one had been allowed to go in until Sunday. He wanted it to have a clean, pure feeling like is present at the temple. When we walked in, there was a slideshow playing of photographs of inside the temple. It was so cool. There really was a very special spirit there. And the temple looks soooo beautiful! Of course Pres Monson talked at the dedication, and it was super funny. Everything was of course also translated into Russian. There was this guy translation for Pres. Monson, and he was pretty good because Pres. Monson just winged the whole thing and most of the time, he was cracking jokes. :) But I was touched at how excited and inspired the members were here for a new temple even closer to them. It was a great day.
So I am still here in Barnaul and I have a new russian comp. Her name is Sister Fesenko. So I hope and pray that it will be a good transfer.
Well I love you all and I hope you have a super great week! Mom, tell me how your B-Day was! Dad, I hope you have fun riding your motorcycle! Hope it won't be too cold too soon! (p.s.- It is SO hot today!)
I love you!
Sister Reed :)
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