Week #8

hey all! This is real life!! not like it was fake before...but it officially hit me. We got our travel plans in the mail on Thursday night!!! Right when we saw them we were all jumping up and down and squealing and crying...okay so I was the only one crying... haha It just hit me so hard that I bursted into tears! happy, terrified tears!

SO we take off from Salt Lake at 8:30 AM Monday the 28th and we have a layover at JFK in New York for like an hour and half, then we head straight to Moscow! then wednesday we have some training and street contacting, then thursday we get to spend the day contacting in Red Square. YES! RED SQUARE! eeep!! :) We also found out that we will be hosting tomorrow (giving the new missionaries brief tours). Kind of funny because we just got here last week...I have no idea where anything is still. It'll be fun though :) I love seeing new missionaries with their little pink stickers on their tags and excited and panicked looks on their faces. haha Its the best :D Wednesday at TRC we taught a man from Yekaterinburg. He was so awesome! He joined the church when in 2008 and just got back from a mission in Las Vegas. During the lesson, he told us his conversion story and it was so powerful. After, he gave us great language advice and missionary work advice, and then he wanted to take a picture with us...thats never happened before haha it was funny. I bought a baby Preach My Gospel, and I just love it! It is so convenient! It is going to be soooooo loved by the time Im done with it. Its already filling up fast with quotes, tips, and creative ideas. Little treasures from our teachers, and the General Authorities. Even with out all of the little treasures, PMG can help anyone!! not just missionaries! I encourage you to go get one if you dont have one and study it! You will find your own little treasures and insights from it. I was studying the "pray often" section yesterday along with some talks, and I found a great talk by Gordon B Hinckley that fits right in! It is called :"Blessings from Family Prayer." Read that talk too! I know..lots of hw for you this week. haha It totally got me thinking about the long term and short term benefits, and power of families praying together. OH!! DALLIN H OAKS came last tuesday!!! How could I forget!? He talked to us about the uniqueness of our church and what about it makes us that way. It was really cool! It really helped me to understand that embracing other cultures and beliefs is needed! We arent here to force our beliefs on anyone, we just want to help them understand why it is so different. It was way interesting :) Well I love you all so much! I know that even though going to another country is scary, it is what the Lord needs of me and I am willing and excited to do it! Have a great week! Take care.

Week #7

Sister Emily Downing Oct 29 Rus-Mos 2011 N 900 E Unit 236 Provo, Utah 84602 Family and Friends!! Its moving day!! We will be heading over to the main campus in a couple of hours. packing this morning was a little stressful but it is great practice for the real move in 2 weeks from today!! I saw Tenesia!!!! or....SIster Schroeder!!!! She is here on West Campus!!! She is such a cute wonderful little missionary and it was so good to see her! Cectpa Jackson and I have been doing a lot of practice contacting. One will do it in Russian while the other translates and then we swap for the next one. I love!! Even though is is kinda hard, it is probably the most fun thing to do! Something funny I learned about the language this week...is that commands are polite. In a crowd it is better to say, "move please." than to say excuse me..or would you please move out of the way? It gets to the point alot quicker. the person know exactly what you want them to do haha and if you make it elaborate with words like..."if it is convenient for you..or would you please...or do you mind... you are actually being rude. apparently it means that you see yourself as being in a higher status by using extreme politeness. so..I may have a problem with being too bossy when I come home.. hahahaha This week I have noticed a reoccurring theme within lessons, devotions, and meetings. the gospel of Jesus Christ is simple. As members of the church, most of us have known about the doctrines and simplicities for so long that we tend to get caught up in the hows and whys and analyses and historical details and facts. These things ARE interesting! and fun to learn, but iv really realized this week that those things are not as important. They are not the things that usually make up a testimony. Bearing simple testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel can be so much more powerful than a beautiful elaborate slightly complicated one. Christ tells us to become as a child; humble, meek, teachable, and simple. As I have taken a step back and looked at all of the lessons and doctrines in their simplest forms, I have come to better understand the principles and ordinances, and doctrines of His gospel. I love you all and hope you are doing great! :) have a wonderful week. Much love, Cectpa Emily Downing

Week #6

Hey Family and Friends! Hi! How is everybody?! I hope you all took the opportunity to watch General Conference this past weekend. We were able to be at the main campus all day sat and sun to watch it. What about it stood out to you? what did you learn? :) There seemed to be many common themes through out the sessions. One of them that I noticed was self mastery. There was a lot of emphasis on loving our neighbors, meekness, enduring and overcoming depression, and setting our priorities straight. It was wonderful. Lots of room for improvement for me. Also, Matthew 11:28-30 was mentioned over and over again. It must be something we need to better understand. "Come all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I shall give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." What does it mean to be equally yoke with Christ? We dont have to live this life alone. Christ is there waiting for us to be humble enough to seek and accept His help and wear his yoke. "Yeah, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God. For in His strength, I can do all things." (Alma 26:12) Okay time for a funny story. Let me first preface this. Cectpa Loveless in our district and apartment is totally into essential oils and loves using them to help other people. Last sunday--not this past one, but like the 9 days ago Sunday--I had an open sore on my foot and sweet cectpa loveless had the cure. Garlic Oil. SO she proceeded to rub it on my foot. (we did it on the porch so we wouldn't stink up the house) the next morning my foot felt great! the swelling, pain, and redness had gone away and everything was hunky dory! Except that it is Tuesday!! 9 days later! and our porch and my foot still smell like garlic!!!!!! and all of my clothes because I would put my socks in the hamper. 2 Pdays have passed mind you..that means I have washed my clothes twice. I suppose only time will heal the stench. haha our poor neighbors have no idea what is going on. They probably just think we are freak sisters who are trying to ward off vampires! In other news! We are most likely moving o main campus next Pday! God changed His mind and decided West Campus should be strictly spanish speakers. So I will be getting a new address and Ill let you know when I know it. but I will only be there for like 2 weeks. It will be a fun change :) We learned how to tell time in Russian this week. I still dont quite understand it. Its the worst! I dont think that Russians understand that 5:32 could totally be read as "five thirty two." Nope, instead they find it crucial to say "six without 28 minutes." I'll learn it eventually. Ah! we had a Vocal Point devotional! It was so cool! And what a humbling experience. They told stories about their missions and sang some hymn arrangements. One, was "I need Thee Every Hour." I bawled like a baby.... two specific things that they said that i absolutely loved were : " Dont just trust Him, give yourself up to Him." and It's not enough to endure to the end. Cross the finish line with a smile." so good :) Also!!! Last night we all got together and decided how we wanted to spell our names in Russian for our new name tags that they ordered today! So exciting!!! Well I hope you are all doing wonderful and embracing the nice fall/winter weather. :) And I hope you enjoyed General Conference. Jesus Christ lives and is waiting for us to rely on Him. The gospel is true, I know it! Im in the right place. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Much love, cectpa downing

Week #5

Happy Oktyabr everyone!! Its beginning to look a lot like fall:) I love all of the turning leaves and crispy air just cold enough to have to wear a light sweater but not cold enough for a jacket. love it. This week I met my dad's college room mate from BYU HAWAII ! He is the chef at the west campus and he is so nice! He sent a box of kneaders

cinnamon rolls to my district! They were amazing and he was so thoughtful. Also, we are starting to learn more and more about not only how to teach people, but how to teach russians. Especially the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. The word of wisdom is really difficult because it is such a huge culture thing. Not only alcohol, but tea. Tea is tricky but apparently it is the ultimate "I do not accept your friendship" gesture when you decline a cup of tea. It is so rude! So our native russian teacher, sister brewer gave us a whole lesson on the culture/manners of tea. what we can drink, what we cant and why, and tons of substitutes we can ask for instead, and bringing our own tea and plenty to share with us where ever we go. Basically we will probably be giving the word of wisdom lesson whenever we are offered tea. It was a very interesting lesson and Im excited to actually experience these culture things, even though it will be very hard to explain to them. Saturday night was the Relief Society General Broadcast. WOW. It was so amazing to be up in the choir spots in the conference center!! There was sooo many people. "A full house" (President Monson) haha. Singing the words to the hymns meant more to me then and now then ever before. the line, "More fit for the Kingdom-more used would I be" from "More holiness give me," gives me chills every time. We learned that when the song was first written it was called "My Prayer." That is very fitting I think. Then "I'll Go Where You want me to Go" totally relates to missionary work! Duh I know...but I had never thought about that before. "I'll go where you want me to go dear lord, over mountain or plain or sea."...or all of them! We were so close to the speakers too!! It was way cool. The speakers were amazing! I loved how all of the talks were about keeping baptismal covenants. I reflected back on my own baptism and unfortunately I dont remember much and I know that I didn't understand much either. It seems like the kids that age now are learning so much more and hopefully they are understanding more than I did when I was that age. Elder Holland waved at us! and the General Relief Society Presidency came and spoke to us before the meeting, and then again at the end of it. And we got to line up--all 300 and somethin sisters--and give hugs to the Relief society presidency and introduce ourselves and where we are headed. It took forever obviously but it was amazing!! I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to go and be a part of the choir. It strengthened my testimony so much! I loved it. Yesterday the 3 older disctricts left. We have grown so close to them lately so it was a bitter sweet goodbye for all of us. But We are excited for the experiences they will have in Samara!! They will be wonderful missionaries:) And that makes us the oldest. that was quick huh? haha i think so. Its been great getting to know the younger districts and helping them and such. we are almost finished with our "textbook" and after that we just review everything and memorize charts. Well, I am officially half way through the MTC. It was been a wonderful time..but it's time to get out. :) haha Sometimes I feel that way...then I remember how much I dont know about the russian language and I am thankful for the 4 weeks I have left. John 8:29-- "And he that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him." As we go throughout our days strive to do only the things that would please the Father. I know that this will bring so much happiness and peace and He will never forsake you. I love you all and I am thankful for your letters and the wonderful examples you are setting for me. Take care and God bless :) Cectpa Downing

Week#4

Hello Family and Friends! Very exciting news!!! The sister missionaries here at the MTC are singing at the General Relief Society Meeting on Sept. 28th!! This General Conference marks 1 year since the new age change announcement for missionaries, so it is very fitting :) Also, the 28th marks the 1/2 way point of my MTC experience haha. I am so excited for General Conference! Please watch it! Its always interesting and exciting to hear what the Lord needs to tell us through His prophet and apostles.(And mom I should have listened to you when you said to buy a solid colored button up shirt...cuz I had to buy one at the book store for the choir and it is u.g.l.y.) Look for me in the relief society broadcast! I'll be in a red cardboard box! ;) We had our 1st SYL experience this week! Speak Your Language. Our district made it a goal to speak only Russian for Lunchtime and soon we will have whole days for SYL. I loved it so much and cant wait for those. I learned so much more just by using words in context on the spot. Our 1st day in the MTC the district just older than us was on an SYL day and we thought they were so cool and we would never be that advanced during our time at the MTC. Tada! The gift of tongues is real. I know I've said it a hundred times but I seriously can't say it enough:) So maybe there is a little bit of confusion: Our investigators are not real. They are our teachers, who play the part of an investigator that they taught on their missions. And they play the part so well that it seems so very real. Anton is getting "baptized" in about 2 weeks and Lola "decided to talk to her boyfriend about marriage again...and she is getting married! So that she can be baptized on "Oct 19"" I'm sorry if this is all super confusing. haha Even though it seems super real I still cant wait to contact and teach actual investigators. We started Russian contacting this week too! Just with each other but it was so fun! I think I will have a lot of fun with that in Moscow in parks and on buses and trains and such. Sunday Night's devotional was given by Merrill J Bateman on the power and authority of missionary work. One thing that really stood out to me was this: "I believe that angels are given assignments to encircle and watch over us. In many instances, those angels are probably your relatives." I loved that. I have never seen an angel, but I know that they are here on Earth supporting each and every one of us, you and me, and are rooting for us on the other side. I got a picture with the famous MTC map at Main campus! Its a classic! had to have one :) I could hardly reach Moscow! also there is a picnic table at w. campus that elders and sister have signed. SO...I had to leave my mark! :) I hope you are all doing well. I am praying for you always and love you so much. God bless! Cectpa Downing

Week #3

This is Elder Ellis Valdez. We grew up together in California

Family and Friends! Its already pday!? It seriously feels like yesterday. This week has flown by so fast. We got new Russian Speakers this past Wednesday! We aren't the new ones anymore:) Its been fun speaking Russian around them and giving them advice and showing them around and such. It makes me feel so old! One of the new companionship moved into an empty room in our apartment and we just love them! Cectpa Bussmann is from Sweden and has a way cool accent! and Cectpa Scott is from Houston, TX. They are both so happy and wonderful:) We had our first TRC (Teaching Resource Center) which was pretty cool. Every Wednesday from now on we will go to TRC and teach 2 lessons of our choice to volunteers who speak Russian. I like it because it gives us some variety and helps us practice the lessons we will be teaching soon. And they totally understand that we are just barely learning so that's nice ;) Earlier this week I got to witness a little miracle. Unfortunately cectpa Loveless got really sick so we got the Zone leaders and they gave her a blessing. (Background story...Cectpa Loveless has sacrificed a lot to be here and her family is really struggling with some scary life changing events). So the elders gave her a blessing with the elders in our district. No doubt there were angels present. One of the elders gave the blessing and surprisingly, most of it had to do with her family. The elders didn't know what was going on with her family, but Heavenly Father does. It was such a powerful blessing and there wasn't a dry eye in room. I know that the Lord was speaking through Elder Greenburg. Immediately, cectpa Loveless was feeling much better. The Priesthood is a wonderful blessing and we are so blessed to be here surrounded by so many elders who are worthy to hold it and willing to use it immediately when asked. Yesterday we were teaching Lola about the Law of chastity because we know that her and her children are living with her boyfriend. yeah....so teaching that in English is hard! But it was a really powerful lesson and I could see that she felt the spirit and knew that what we were saying was true. She said she wanted to live it. She wants to marry him but i guess she brought it up about a year ago and he said that he doesn't want to get married. As she sat across from us she looked heartbroken and said she didn't know what to do. So we told her to pray about it and we would talk more about it next time and she asked us to pray for her. I cannot imagine being in her difficult situation, but I pray she will make the right choice. Also, I had a wonderful experience Sunday! So I know that if you want to know answers to doctrine questions you can ask the Lord, in fact, that is what we teach right? Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened. yeah. However, I have never taken a question about doctrine to the Lord before so I decided that I needed to try it. Before I even finished praying, I was prompted on where to find my answer and I turned there and POW! There was my answer. It all made sense. I know that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers and cares about what is going on in our lives. I know that if you faithfully take your struggles, worries, and questions to Him, He will help you. I know that to be true. Thank you all for your letters and prayers! I appreciate them so much! I love you all and i hope all is well with you. Have a wonderful week! :)

Week 2

Hi friends and family! I hope everything is going wonderful for all of you! This week has been really difficult as we finished teaching Lena but got 2 new investigators, Anton and Lola, and as we have been plunging into grammar! Joy... I take back every frustration or irritation that I have ever had about people who come to America and can't speak English. I get it! It's hard! I'm so blessed that I am not learning English as a second language because I've heard thats the worst! Last week (my 1st week) seemed to focus so much on learning Russian but this past week, we focused a ton on the doctrines and lessons in addition to the language. A reoccurring theme was definitely obedience. Mostly obedience in the mission. At devotional Tuesday night David Evans of the Seventy spoke to us and something he said really stood out to me so I thought I'd share it with you. "If you keep the commandments, the Lord will bless you--maybe not with what you want-- but you will learn to trust Him and there will come a time when you will do ANYTHING He wants not because you want or need blessings, but because you love Him." I loved that:) Also! I read a wonderful talk by Tad R Callister called, "A Consecrated Missionary" or something. It is soooooo good! Please look it up and read it. It is so honestly blunt about what it takes to to really devote yourself to the Lord. From returned missionaries and missionaries in the field I have heard the the mission makes them weepy. hahaha if you know me you probably know that I am already weepy without the mission. So I thought--OH NO!!! I used to cry when I feel the spirit so I thought that I'd be an extra weepy missionary. However, I haven't cried. Like...at all. Automatically I thought...what is wrong with me? Am I really not feeling the spirit? So I tried to make an extra effort to recognize the spirit throughout my days and I do recognize it. It's just different than before and I'm adjusting to it, and I'm okay with it :) I've come to the realization that we can feel the spirit in our lives in many different ways. OH! So Friday we taught Anton the restoration. Then Saturday we talked about the Atonement and Repentance and gave him HW to read the story of Alma the Younger. SO monday before we start our lesson(which was supposed to be about Prayer and Obedience) he asks us a question. Joseph Smith prayed and saw God. Alma the younger prayed and saw God. You guys pray a lot. Do you see God? I prayed last night, but I didn't see God. 1st of all, it was hard to understand what he was asking because it was off topic, and 2nd of all, once we understood him it was hard to explain that we have to have faith that God is listening to our prayers and that no we haven't seen Him, but we can feel Him through the Holy Ghost--without the vocabulary for it. Then! He asks us why we don't drink tea and coffee. Okay now, explaining that in English is hard! But we did our best answering all of his questions and the Lord made up the rest. I love teaching lessons because even though it is stressful, I feel the spirit the strongest while we are teaching and I love it! I love my district! I might have mentioned that before but I just can't say it enough! My district and zone are really amazing missionaries and I love them so much! We all get along so wonderfully and we know how to ease the stress--laughter, yoga, and singing. We sang a medley of Be still my soul and Nearer my god to thee on Sunday during Sacrament meeting and it was so powerful! Speaking of sundays! Fun fact. well...not so fun of a fact haha Every sunday 2 missionaries are called out of the congregation during the meeting to give a 3-5 minute talk. That means...that every week we each need to prepare a talk for the next week according to that weeks topic. I loved hearing the elders and sisters speak at the pulpit and I even understood almost all of it! Im getting over a cold but other than I am doing well. Nothing really eventful happened this week so I feel like I am kind of rambling haha Oh! there was a huge storm the other night and there were literally tree branches flying in the air! (detached from the trees!) walking around in the rain might explain the cold.... :) This morning we went to the temple and I just love the Temple so much! I ran into Jamie Barrus there!!! It was so good to see her! Today I also saw Mark Hudak right before getting on the bus so I wasn't able to talk to him really, but It was great to see him too. Brother Ellett!: I met Elder... Schmidt? I dont actually remember his name but he was like "Kent Ellett told me to look for you and say hi!" haha so hi!! I love it here and I know this what I am supposed to be doing! love you all and miss you :) Cectpa Downing
Here are some questions mom had and she answered The branch president just told us a new rule: no letter writing unless on pday. So I havent been able to respond to any of your dear elders. We meet in class at about 730 and we have study time. 845 is breakfast. class starts at 915 and goes til 1:50 then lunch and then personal and companion study from 230 to 350. class starts at 350 and goes til 650. dinners right after that and then we have study time/meetings/devos/gym time. depending on the day. sorry, thats just a really quick over view. My companion is good! She is from Baltimore Maryland. She is going to Moscow and we leave the same time. We got our "missionary certificates" and my exit date as of right now is later than i thought!! March 17. But that can change depending on transfer dates probably. I love sundays soooo much!!!!! we have study time and relief society as a west campus and sacrament mtg allll in russian as a branch(our zone--like 5 districts. 1 district is like 6-12 missionaries) we have choir practices and then devotionals. and we get to watch movies! kind of haha there are conference talks we can watch. We just watched the Character of Christ by David A bednar! look it up. its AMAZING!!!!