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