Walkin in a Winter Wonderland! ‏ 12/08/13

Dear Family!

The Christmas season is upon us! and I am loving it! :) i hope all of you are doing well and are getting ready for the holidays! It is so crazy how fast Christmas has come! It seems only yesterday we were getting ready for the fourth of July! crazy!

We received our transfer calls this last Saturday! We were actually on the bus on the way back from a zone training and so we were all waiting anxiously! And we are all staying! This will be my fourth transfer in my area! I really love where I am serving, and it's so awesome to focus on an area for so long and really get used to it!

This last week was really awesome! Especially with the constant snowfall it has really just been so fun. The sidewalks are all ice so we have to shuffle/ski around everywhere. It definitely keeps things entertaining. :)
This week we started FHE at the branch and I am really excited to get this up and running! It is going to be so good for people to start getting involved more and having more activities to invite people too. We are still doing English and that is awesome too. In my area there isn't much of a branch so the missionaries are the branch counsel, we planned and set the goals for the branch for the coming year and a big part of that was reacting less actives! They are so important because they have already made the covenants of baptism and already have a testimony but have just fallen away! We are now working hard to help them come back!
Oh! On the way to zone training the ride was so gorgeous. There are forests all over and since it has snowed they are all white, but not only that but the snow has frozen onto the branches and so the trees look like glass! Probably the prettiest thing I have ever seen. I tried to snap a picture but there was no way I could get a non-blurry shot with a Russian driver;)!!! gotta love it! Zone training was really good, we talked a lot about Joy and how to find joy in every moment! I really loved it and I loved a quote that our zone leader said, " you can never beat the man who gets back up". Our zone leader is a football player and very much a "go get your dreams" kind of Elder. haha he really is hilarious but i loved this quote and it's a reminder to be the one who keeps getting up! Keep moving and don't let others take your happiness from you because you decide how your day goes. I have also been learning a lot about faith and hope this week. It's really cool to see that they go hand in hand. in preach my gospel it talks about hope and how hope helps conquer discouragement. I loved that and as a missionary having hope is SO important because you can't be a successful missionary if you are discouraged. We need to always look up! Look for the good in everyday! I also love in Ether 12 when it talks about how faith is the anchor to our souls and how we need to hope for a better world! Hope is how we show our Heavenly Father that we trust Him to give us blessings according to our faith. In the Mormon movie Legacy I always remember the line "let's help God keep His promise" That is so true! we need to have the hope and faith that Heavenly Father WILL bless us if we are doing the right thing and are good and faithful!

I love you all so much! i hope you have a wonderful week and have LOTS of Christmas cheer! Since the ENTIRE month of December is Christmas:)

love, Your Russian Missionary