Cockroaches and pigeons

Well it's been another lovely week in Siberia. Not quite as exciting
as last week but still great.

1. We found a cockroach in our apartment. No I hope you're thinking
what I was thinking... Why the heck do cockroaches live in siberia?! I
thought they only lived in places like Alabama and the Phillipines.
But there was one. In our sink. I saw it while I was eating breakfast
and tried to drown it. But then I stabbed it with the cheese slicer.
We don't have a garbage disposal and I didn't want to touch it so I
left it in the sink to see what my companion would do. Turns out that
was a terrible idea. She hates bugs. I knew the minute she screamed I
was going to have to take care of it. hahaha. But it was really funny!
So I took a spoon and put him in the garbage and then sister barlow
had me check the rest of the house for cockroaches and pour bleach in
the sink. hahaha. He had an early death but I'm sure winter would have
got the best of him.

2. Every day at random times I have these. Holy crap I'm a missionary
moments. Or holy crap I'm in Russia. This week we knocked some doors.
Like for reals. That was one of those moments. The problem with
tracting in Russia is that people live in pods or apts. And you have
to call them from below and try to get in. Or just wait for some one
to open the door. But it's always scary because people ask you who you
know or why you're here and we just get freaked out. But anywhoo. We
went into this nice apartment building by our branch and knocked some
doors. It was scary. But we didn't have any terrible experiences. Most
people were not even home so we left a pass a long card. That might be
illegal. So we're going to have to check with Sister Olga-office olga
just to make sure. But we talked to some people. And they weren't
interested but we did it!

3. On september 6th. I wore tights. And a sweater. And a coat. My
babooshka coat. It was very cold. Weird thing. it felt like Billings
in  November. Windy. And cold. But just like Billings. It was nice
again the next day. In fact this weekend was beautiful. We did lots of
contacting in the park!

4. Once upon a time we had a lesson with our investigator who's mother and
son are very anti. So we meet on a bench. And literally every lesson
is an adventure. And every lesson is amazing. Like I feel the spirit
sooo strongly and it's so frustrating when she says oh yeah. I believe
in the word of wisdom. But i'm not going to be baptized and I'm not
going to go to church. But this week. She had crusty bread and we fed
it to the pigeons. Did I meantion there are a lot of pigeons? I'm not
kidding. Thousands. And they are all really fat. And not scared of
people. But i'm scared of them. They were almost eating my feet and
they were flying over our heads while we were trying to teach our
lesson and keep the spirit. It was an adventure that's for sure.

5. We had zone conference on friday. So we had 2 sister stay the night
with us and then the other 6 showed up at 7 am from the over night
trains. And we managed to get 8 girls to shower in 2 hrs! I know
you're impressed. Zone conference was amazing. We had the President of
the Eastern Europe missions President Bennett (one of the 70) came and
he gave us a smack down. But it was good. He told us straight with
love. We need to work harder. We need to be more obedient. We need to
talk to every single person we can. He told the elders to only contact
men and leave the women to us. Women are easier to contact and meet
with but we need more priesthood leaders. We need between 4 and 8 more
worthy full tithe paying melchizedek priesthood holders in each branch
to be qualified for a stake in siberia. We're sooo close! The branches
in Novo are ready. Our mission president has been applying for a stake
center. I really feel I will see the creation of a stake before I
leave. They created the second stake in Russia on Sunday in St.
Petersburg! We'll be the 3rd! It gives me chills to think about it.
President Gibbons also laid down the law about some rules. No more fun
on pdays. Last week we went bowling. And we were planning on going to
the zoo today but nope. Preparation day is to prepare to teach the
gospel for the next week. To clean our apartments. And yeah. he
reinstated other rules but they all make sense. But it's going to be
hard. No more district meetings at the Webb (senior couples house)
which means no more lunch. But it's okay. We're doing this because we
are sacrificing ourselves to the lord for the next 18 months to 2
years. He told us to put ourselves on the altar. To get rid of
distractions and the natural man tendencies for this one time to
consecrate ourselves to the lord. And we all said we'd do it! And I
can already see the blessings!

6. We had district confrence on Sunday. Which is basically stake
conference. It was great. It was broadcast to all the other branches.
Unfortunately it cut out for them at the best part... But it was nice
to hear from President Gibbons and Bennett and Elder Gueschen who is
an area 70 in our branch. There was a musical number and I'm pretty
sure you all would have loved it. It was an EFY song. If you thought
EFY music couldn't get any better. Put it russian with a bunch of
youth who are slightly tone deaf. It was grand. (okay that might have
been a little harsh. but i really did love it) President Bennett spoke
again and laid it down for the members. He told them, people keep
asking when a stake is going to be built, heavenly father knows who
the stake presidents going to be. he knows the bishops and high
council. But you're not ready. It's going to happen when you're ready.
When you accept callings. When you stop having contention. When you
help the missionaries. He laid it down for missionary work. I was
pumped. He said the missionaries should not be on the street
contacting because you all have plenty of freinds and people who they
should be teaching. No missionary should be on the street without a
Russian Member of the Church. They can't do the converting with out
you. And he told them that they need to come on lessons with us and
they need to be in their homes. So we no longer feel bad for bothering
the members because they've been asked by a priesthood leader to help
out. Anywhoo, I'm blabbing. But basically this next week is going to
be great. We're pumped to teach everyone and to use the members and
get their referrals. I hope that they were listening and got as much
out of it as I did.

But anywhoo. I love you all. I'm so grateful for you and your support
and prayers. I know that this gospel is true. I know our savior lives
and he loves us more than we can comprehend. I know he requires alot
of us. And sometimes being faithful is hard but it's totally worth it.
I can promise you that! I can't think of anything more sad than coming
into the church, knowing truth and then falling away. There are over
2,500 members in siberia but only 30% are active. So I challenge you
all to be a missionary! Talk to people and reach out to the less
actives. Cause you know what. THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND GOD LOVES YOU!

dos vee danya

Sister Carling