Visa Trip #1

Dearest Family and people who love me,

Today it's like a big wet blizzard and my book of mormon in my hand is
covered in snow. I need to fix that. But it's a beautiful day in
Siberia!

This week has been CRAZY!

CRAZY AWESOME!

Basically Monday-Wednesday were jam packed with lessons and meetings
with members and zone training and all this great stuff so that we
could get ready for the weekend! To sum it all up we still have 2
solid investigators who are afraid to committ to baptism. And a really
awesome new investigator Katya who got a book of mormon from some
elders a long time ago and has been reading it ever since! She wants
to be baptized and we're working on a date. Basically the meeting was
very incredible and she talked about how she used to be Buddhist and
how she learned it's not really a religion but more of a philosophy
and so she's been searching and she feels the spirit in the Book of
Mormon and when she meets with us and feels that it's right! It can't
get any better than that right?! So anywhoo. I'll let you know how
that all works out. We also have a baptismal date with Nadexjda's
husband Valeree and they live in Berdsk and guess what. Berdsk is
going to have a branch! Elder Bunnell (my pal from the MTC) and Elder
Leonhardt are opening up the city this next transfer! It's so great
but I'm kind of sad to leave all my wonderful people who live in
Berdsk! But I have a feeling they might need some help and I might
still get to see them every once in a while : )

So you're probably wondering why we had to get ready for the Weekend.
As you know Russian Visas are tricky. And they are only good for 3
months. So every three months I have to leave the country and get a
new one! So can you believe it's already been 3 months in Russia? It
seems like 2 days but also my whole life sometimes. Time is a really
weird thing. So anywhoo- me and about 23 other of my fellow
missionaries who also needed visas headed to FINLAND! I never in my
life thought I'd go to Finland. Well and Russia for that matter. But
look at me now!

Visa trip is a weird thing. Because You're still a missionary but
you're not doing missionary work. And you're hanging out with all
these others missionaries. I kind of felt like EFY on crack again or
something. It's a weird feeling but a lot of fun. Which is probably
why it feels so weird.. haha

So we left Thursday Morning for Moscow and had a 6 hour layover. I sat
next to this dad and his daughter who were flying to Moscow to see-
THE JONAS BROTHERS! haha. Weird right? She made a video and won
tickets to go see them! She had asked her dad like a year or 2 ago to
fly to america to see them and he told her no but promised her that if
they were ever in Russia he'd take her (thinking they would never
come) Lo and behold they came to Moscow! He had to pay for the plane
tickets but they got to meet and greet them. They were a way cool
family. I gave him a Book of Mormon and he was really interested. Only
problem is he lives in a city without missionaries. But he'll be ready
when they come!

Anywhoo- Flash foward to Moscow- 6 hr layover. What do you do?
Run to RED SQUARE! We hopped on this train and then on the metro and
had about 2 hours to walk around red square take lots of pictures. Buy
some souveniers and eat McDonalds. (they don't have one in siberia...)
It was crazy to be there. It's a place I've seen so many pictures of
and have wanted to visit but I finally got to go! Then we ran back to
the airport went through security and hopped on the plane to Finland!

We got to Finland at like 11:00 at night Novo time but it was only 5 o
clock pm in Finland. We stayed at this hostel were the olympics were
and got some food and that was pretty much it. Everyone speaks english
there and it's so clean and beautiful. We were all commenting on how
the streets were even and not filled with holes and how we didn't
smell cigarette smoke or beer. On the way to the grocery store we
actually ran into some Elders serving in Finland! (don't worry their
okay) All like 15 of us. They were way cool.

Friday- Our flight didn't leave until 6:50 that night so what do you
do in Finland for 12 hours? You go exploring! A group of 13 of us
headed to the ISLAND. We hopped on this little ferry and the sun was
shining and it was so beautiful. The island is like this old military
base thingy. I'm not quite sure. Basically there's cannons and bunkers
and it kind of looks like The Lord of the Rings they have little caves
built into these big green hills and it's just really beautiful. We
walked around for a while and played and took lots of pictures. Then
headed back for mainland Helsinki. We went to the American Food Store
and to the post office (christmas is coming....keep your eyes
peeled...) and then had a chinese buffett and hit up H&M. Then we went
to the Temple! The helsinki temple is so beautiful! IT's so cool
because the signs and all the books and things on the doors are
written in Finnish and Russian. And it's just this beautiful little
temple and it has this dark beautiful wood trimming and it was so
great to be in there! We did some initiatories and one lady did it in
English, one in Russian and one in finnish! It was a neat experience.
Then we literally RAN back to the airport. It's hard to stay on time
with 13 people in your group and we were cutting it very close to make
it to the airport in time. We flagged down a bus and ran through
security and made it to the terminal with like 10 min to spare. It was
a little scary but good thing prayers are answered and God loves his
missionaries. We flew to Moscow and chilled for a few hours and then
flew to Novo arriving at 8:30 am and tired as heck. So we slept and
ate and showered and sent some missionaries off onto trains back to
their cities and then tried to do missionary work. It's kind of really
hard when you have jet lag and it's snowing. Sister Barlow and I were
stopping by some inactives and just walking down the street like
zombies.

But all is well. I'm rested and recovered, I think. But this week is
transfers so we'll likely have some craziness happening and I have to
send Sister Barlow off to sunny kazakhstan but all is well. I'm
excited to be back and to get to work. Lots of stuff to do and new
people to find, teach and baptize!

I know this church is true and it's really a gospel of happiness. In
our meeting with Katya she said that was one of the things that
impressed her about our church. It's of happiness. She said other
churches believe that you have to suffer and suffer and that's the
only way to return to God. But we know that's not true. Although it
will be hard and we will go through trials, this gospel is of
happiness. God loves us and wants us to be happy. I know that if we
live the principles and commandments of the gospel we really truly can
be happy. Sometimes I wonder why I'm so happy. This work is hard.
Siberia is cold. People are not always nice. But I realized I am so
happy because I really can see God's hand in my life and I get to see
his hand work in other people's lives to. I love you all and am so
grateful for your support and love and letters. Keep up the good work!
: )

Sister Carling