Spitting in the wind

Hello there,

Well it's a beautiful day in the great city of Rostov-na-Donu. As dad mentioned in his email -our heat has definitely broken with a nice cool breeze pretty much 24/7 and it's been an amazing change. The first day I'll admit I was a little chilled (after all I'm still a Southerner) but now I really like it and hope we get this great weather for awhile and a late winter 8)

So this past week some of the highlights were that our mission President came back (was out of town for visa/mission president conference) and our senior couples who were serving in the office went home this week-sad! They were so great-especially sister Cameron. One day she seemed a lil sad and we asked her if everything was ok and she said no and started to cry. Of course we sisters swarmed and gave her plenty of hugs -just having a stressful day in the office I guess.

She just talked about how great we were and how she has loved serving with all the young missionaries. She told a funny story about how she read an article in the ensign and a girl wrote about her experience on the mission in Atlanta, Georgia. How her first six months were great and then she started to get depressed because it was so hard and they didn't have a lot of success. But then she read in Alma 27 where it talks about the sons of Mosiah getting spit on, thrown in jail, beaten etc. and she realized that it could be worse and she felt better. Sister Cameron said: "I want to write to that girl in the ensign and say, You're serving in ATLANTA, GEORGIA! I know 100 young missionaries who go out and work everyday and they DO get spit on, beaten, and thrown into prison, and they keep working and keep smiling, not to mention the language barrier that they have to overcome -honey, your mission doesn't count as hard!" (Her words not mine -I recognize that every mission is hard regardless of location.) But it was just really moving to hear her love for us and how she got emotional about it. And just for the stats, no I have not been spit on -someone tried but it was a windy day 8) Anywho, they were great missionaries and I'll miss them. We have a few more pairs scheduled to come out soon.

Me and my comp have really been focusing on planning every hour of every day with goals etc. and it's been amazing the difference it has made in the work. (I know, duh!) But yea, and we've also started contacting in a very small circle around the church building and inviting people off the streets to come and see and learn more and it's been working. We found 7 new investigators this past week and half of them were from contacting which is not common. We really love this new bold way of contacting and have been getting many great new experiences in teaching and helping people have a good first experience with the church. If nothing else hopefully they'll remember the spirit they felt in that church one day.

The soccer game was great! I took some pics and videos from it -it was a big stadium but the turn out was kinda sad. They had a full section that I guess you could call "the front row fanatics". They had all these complicated cheers, etc. and they all did them together so we could hear them from where we were. We won (of course 1-0). We played some other town from the north -forgot the name. It was way fun but not too crazy, lots of words that I didn't' understand were being yelled and so I figured they were "motts" (means cuss words).

Today from 1-4 we are having another game day at the mission home which means: homemade cookies, popcorn, etc. and fun card games with the funny elders in our zone = 8) Then the sisters will be staying for the night and half of tomorrow for my first ever sisters' conference. I'm sooo excited because there are only 9 of us and we have never all been together at the same time before. Plus it will be great to learn from each other and hear specific counsel from our president and leaders.

Also, we will stop using mini missionaries -too hard with school starting so there will be a three some for one transfer so we will need to get that all figured out. I think I will stay here but I feel like Cectpa Fourtina will move on prolly -already been here 3 transfers and it's her first area on the mission. But we both want to stay together because we really have found a rhythm and I dunno ...I have really felt like we have both worked hard to improve ourselves as missionaries, teachers, etc. and I love setting goals with her and learning how to be better. At least the Lord knows what we need and where we need to be so we'll see.

One of the lessons from a referral we received from the elders went really well yesterday. She's really interested in religion and feels like none of her friends care so she can never talk about it with them. When I told her about the first vision etc. she had all this excitement in her eyes and said: "Class" (like classic -slang that they're using here) and wanted to meet with us today but we had no time so we're meeting on Friday -such a great girl! And sooo smart, talks about how she doesn't agree that people can just decide to become priests/have priesthood etc. Or that it's just dependant on how long they are in the monastery etc. -becomes a matter of time more than a matter of God. So yea..real great.

Sounds like everyone is doing great and it was great to hear about the latest news and see the pics. Good luck with all those tropical storms (luckies...) and Go Cougs! I was way excited to hear that we won. I love you all sooo much and am so excited to be here and do this work. The more I'm focusing on improving myself and do my part to improve teaching/etc. the happier I am and I know it's because God is happy with us and our imperfect efforts.

As far as a package mom....uh...I dunno, haha....maybe some type of Halloween decorations. If we decide to do a Halloween activity at the branch etc. -would be cool. I feel like I'm forgetting something but I dunno what else to say. Did you need any more specific info as far as when to come out here or did you talk to the office couple? If not you'll have to a wait a lil cause we'll just have the office elders in there for awhile and I don't know how helpful they're gonna be 8) I love you all!!! Think of ways you can share the gospel with those around you and support the missionaries.

Cectpa Richards.
P.S. tell our neighbor "preevyet" from me and that he has a great homeland here 8)
Oh and Steve ...write!