Hi Family!
To start off I got to see Sister Jackman and Sister Oswald this week! It was so nice to see some familiar faces!
To explain the subject title....our elders figured out how to play rock, paper, scissors in Russian. Our teacher, Sister Thomas, then told us that the order is a little different. Also, in Ukraine "a well of lemonade" rhymes with paper, so that is tacked on at the end. Now that elders add "a well of lemonade" to the end and whoever loses can't say any English words for the rest of the day, which is a non-problem!
Something different that happened this week is that we did companionship exchanges to help some sisters in our district. It was super weird not to be with Sister Peterson all the time!
This week we picked up some new investigators... ourselves! Our companionship's have been moved around so we have the opportunity to teach with another missionary and to be investigators. It worked out that I teach by myself and my companion, Sister Peterson, and Sister Bowhuis teach me. It was really weird to teach by myself. Sister Peterson and I have developed a rhythm for teaching and now I had to do it all alone! I really like being an investigator, though. It gave me the opportunity to what parts of our lessons we need to work on explaining better. Also, since day one everyone has been telling us that it is alright that our Russian isn't that great because the Spirit will make up for it. I believed them, but sometimes I wasn't so sure. When the other Sisters taught me I was able to feel what an investigator feels. They definitely couldn't teach a perfect lesson in Russian, but the Spirit was still so strong. I definitely felt that if I was a real investigator I would want to hear more.
We also "lost" one of investigators this week. Sister Hyde is going to change her investigator since she based her investigator off someone that she taught on her mission. She taught Nastia, but then was transferred. She later found out that Nastia when to church a few times, but after decided that she wasn't going to investigate the Church anymore. She had no support from her family or friends and when she went to church she didn't feel welcome or like she had support from the ward members. Fellowship people who are investigating the Church and love them! It could make all the difference.
Since we are so old and "wise" now, our district Skyped with Russian on Monday! We were freaking out because we didn't know that we were going to start this week. We are sitting in the computer lab and we can see all the people that normally Skyped with the missionaries. Our member is already pulled up and she looks like she is nice. Then there was all this confusion and before we know it we are set up to Skyped with a grandma! We were freaking out because some missionaries have talked about when they have Skyped with grandmas before and how they were really mean to them! Maybe we were just ready for the worst because she really was not that bad. She tried to help us with our Russia and helped us with our pronunciation when we were reading the scriptures. One weird thing that happened though is that when we asked what she did for a living she said something about staying at home and then held up a hammer. So we basically have no idea what that means and we she keeps a hammer next to her computer.
Since I'm a missionary and missionaries give commitments, here's one for you. Read Ether 12 this week. I really liked verse 27 were it talks about how God will show you your weaknesses. Sometimes He allows us to be broken down, so He can build us make up. Through this we can have stronger faith.
I love you and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Sister Merrill
To start off I got to see Sister Jackman and Sister Oswald this week! It was so nice to see some familiar faces!
To explain the subject title....our elders figured out how to play rock, paper, scissors in Russian. Our teacher, Sister Thomas, then told us that the order is a little different. Also, in Ukraine "a well of lemonade" rhymes with paper, so that is tacked on at the end. Now that elders add "a well of lemonade" to the end and whoever loses can't say any English words for the rest of the day, which is a non-problem!
Something different that happened this week is that we did companionship exchanges to help some sisters in our district. It was super weird not to be with Sister Peterson all the time!
This week we picked up some new investigators... ourselves! Our companionship's have been moved around so we have the opportunity to teach with another missionary and to be investigators. It worked out that I teach by myself and my companion, Sister Peterson, and Sister Bowhuis teach me. It was really weird to teach by myself. Sister Peterson and I have developed a rhythm for teaching and now I had to do it all alone! I really like being an investigator, though. It gave me the opportunity to what parts of our lessons we need to work on explaining better. Also, since day one everyone has been telling us that it is alright that our Russian isn't that great because the Spirit will make up for it. I believed them, but sometimes I wasn't so sure. When the other Sisters taught me I was able to feel what an investigator feels. They definitely couldn't teach a perfect lesson in Russian, but the Spirit was still so strong. I definitely felt that if I was a real investigator I would want to hear more.
We also "lost" one of investigators this week. Sister Hyde is going to change her investigator since she based her investigator off someone that she taught on her mission. She taught Nastia, but then was transferred. She later found out that Nastia when to church a few times, but after decided that she wasn't going to investigate the Church anymore. She had no support from her family or friends and when she went to church she didn't feel welcome or like she had support from the ward members. Fellowship people who are investigating the Church and love them! It could make all the difference.
Since we are so old and "wise" now, our district Skyped with Russian on Monday! We were freaking out because we didn't know that we were going to start this week. We are sitting in the computer lab and we can see all the people that normally Skyped with the missionaries. Our member is already pulled up and she looks like she is nice. Then there was all this confusion and before we know it we are set up to Skyped with a grandma! We were freaking out because some missionaries have talked about when they have Skyped with grandmas before and how they were really mean to them! Maybe we were just ready for the worst because she really was not that bad. She tried to help us with our Russia and helped us with our pronunciation when we were reading the scriptures. One weird thing that happened though is that when we asked what she did for a living she said something about staying at home and then held up a hammer. So we basically have no idea what that means and we she keeps a hammer next to her computer.
Since I'm a missionary and missionaries give commitments, here's one for you. Read Ether 12 this week. I really liked verse 27 were it talks about how God will show you your weaknesses. Sometimes He allows us to be broken down, so He can build us make up. Through this we can have stronger faith.
I love you and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Sister Merrill