8/11/14 week 6

Dear family,

I AM SO PROUD OF AND EXCITED FOR MY LITTLE BROTHER 

EDWARD TO GO INTO THE MTC THIS WEEK! I AM SO HAPPY AND

WILL MISS HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING:) STAY STRONG BUD.

YOU WILL BE AN INCREDIBLE MISSIONARY I LOVE YOU SOMUCH!

I love Russia. I love Russians. and I love Russian.

It is incredible here, and has really become a part of me:)

I feel so blessed to be here and have the things i do in my life.

These last couple of weeks have been amazing and crazy.

Realizing that i am leaving, is really hard actually. super scary

too. I would have never thought! Even looking at the date makes

my heart jump! haha now that it is "nobrainer math" as my companion

calls it. AH! i am excited and ready to take on this next bit of life though:)

Monday there was actually a HUGE rain storm! we were out on the way

to a less active and the rain was so hard that we had to run to shelter with

turned insideout umbrellas and through ankel high puddles that soon turned

into rivers on the streets. CRAZY! we were just laughing since there really isn't

any other way to respond to a situation like that haha. Some onlookers in the

stores were enjoying the scene too:) glad to lighten the mood:) it was still really

warm though so it was strange! 

Tuesday was my last district meeting! AH! this week will be zone conference so 

we took time to bear our testimonies. It realyl is going to be so hard to leave my 

district. I have been here for only a transfer but we have all become like family.

i love them all so much! amazing the bonds that are created on the mission:)

LASTING! we also had missionary night and vi came and loved it! he was so sad

to hear that we were leaving and was leaving to polland for two weeks but is going 

to come back before then to see us off:) he is so amazing! he also expressed his

desire to get BAPTIZED! he is so amaazing!

wednesday we met this funny old grandpa named Ni he is hilarous. it was a miracle

because i really wasn't feeling good and we ended up staying in for the morning but

i was determined to go out in the evening so we did and we found him! he is really

interested and wants to meet! Thank you Heavenly Father! 

Thursday we had service at the Fort! seriously it is so fun! we do outside work and help

out cleaning everything up for the tours there. 

Friday we met with Ni and taught the first lesson! he agrees with everything and is really

prepared! we had English group and had a good turnout! i gave the spiritual thought and

shared Moroni 7:13 and talked about the good things in our life that are from Heavenly Father!

we are all so blessed!

Saturday we had another rain storm and our bathroom (which is under ground level since we

live on the first floor) FLOODED! so that was exciting. we had to sweep water into a drain for 

a couple of hours. love it haha. we then met with a loved investigator A and her granddaughter 

P. They are so incredible and so special! we are hoping they accept baptism soon! they are 

really just waiting for an answer and with their hearts i know that they will get one:)

we are so excited and ready for our two baptisms this next Saturday! it really has been a miracle!

God is kind. That is one thing that i have learned on my mission. He LOVES US SO MUCH! 

and if we take time to look we can see that. He wants only the best for us.:) 

i love yo all so much! i can't believe this is my second to last email! it has been an adventure:) it is such a bittersweet feeling right now. leaving will be hard but i know it is hard

things that make us stronger!!!!

I love you all! see you soon!

sister Yeates

week 5

Dearest Family!

Well i love you all:) This week i found some wonderful verses that i want to share:) 

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 " For ou rlight affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal"

2 Corinthians 2:9 "....Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

Just beautiful verses! I feel like i don't even need to go more into these. Everything that the Lord does for us is for our benefit and good! Everything has eternal purposes and sometimes we need to look a little harder to realize that! But i KNOW that the Lord has so many blessings to give them who love Him; who "seek first for the kingdom of God"

This week was...INCREDIBLE!!!!!! so i will go day to day because it is just so much!

Monday- Remember last week i talked about miracle I! He is just incredible! our meeting with 

him monday was wonderful! we taught the restoration and he loved and took it all! at the end he was asking about the word of wisdom and he was saying, "so we can't eat meat and coffee and..." i laughed and said no you can still eat meat! (he was ready to go vegeterian with me! haha) he was ready to give it all up! he is so wonderful! at the end of the lesson he also asked "so when are you going to set the baptisimal date with me?" We were IN SHOCK! i said, "right now! how about the 16th!" haha he accepted and was writing this down and then paused and looked up and said, "and what time?". AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH we were dying! haha so we gave him a time and scheduled another meeting for wednesday! so amazing! we gave him a book of mormon and commited him to read and pray every day!

Tuesday- We had missionary night and sister L and i taught a lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. it went really well and we focused on baptism and the steps in order to get to the kingdom of God. V who i have talked about before, was there. he is jewish. we love talking to him and we were walking home together and he was saying okay so "you guys are representatives of Jesus Christ, and you are here because these are the last days!"......BINGO! he is so amazing! we have been working with him and helping him come to know more about the gospel and HOW he can be saved. he is wonderful.

Wednesday! we met with I again. He had already read the first 15 chapters of first nephi. he is just elect. we taught the plan of salvation ( which was all new to him). I used my beautiful wood plan of salvation teaching help which he loved! he is so excited for his baptism! 

Thursday-We met with a loved babushka N who is just the sweetest! we talked to her about alma 34:32 about preparing in this life to meet with God. she LOVED that and we also were able to set a baptismal date with her for the 16th. it took a couple of times of asking but she finally understood/heard and accepted!:) she is so special!

Friday we had English group which was great. lots of new people

Saturday President and Sister Childs were down here for specialized training! That was fun and it was fun to bond!

We also had a pioneer activity for the branch! The missionaries put everything on and it turned out VERY FUN! a huge success! I our investigator came and Loved it. promised to come to church. so for the activity we did three stations where the missionaries were all split up and in charge of. we had Kirkland the elders had Missouri and the other sisters had Utah! we did a kind of Oregon trail thing and had games like stick pull and temple building and such. really fun:) everyone loved it. LOTS of stress but it turned out awesome!

7/28/14 week 4

Dear family,

week FOUR of the transfer is here. It is so unreal. 

This week has been so incredibly hot. and it is every

day which is uncommon apparently! ah well, we are loving life!

i seriously LOVE LOVE LOVE being on a mission. being a missionary

really is the best thing ever! i can't accept the fact that it is coming to an 

end so quickly! I have definitely been making every effort i can to make 

every day i have left count. Talking to everyone and giving absolutely 

everything i can the chance to hear the gospel:) I feel on fire! 

We have done tons of service this week. we went to dachas and did

some service and then we were at the fort and then helping members

remodel their apartments. there is just so much to do all the time!

we are meeting the most incredible people all the time! 

The other day we were walking down the street saying hello to everyone

we passed and this man stopped and said HELLO! yes, in English, i swear

everyone in k-grad speaks English:) anyways so we get talking (half English half

Russian since it is a struggle to communicate in English sometimes haha). 

turns out he has read the book of Mormon in Russian, Ukrainian, Italian and English.

he has met with missionaries before but never baptized because he moves a lot.

and he expressed that he really wants to get baptized..AHH MIRACLE!!!! we were just

so shocked! we are going to be meeting with him tonight so i will let you know how it

goes next week! we are so excited! it is so amazing cause the way we walked that

day was really random and a last minute decision. The Lord is placing people

in our path ALL the time! he literally is leading us right to prepared people:)

so amazing!

I love being a missionary. i probably say that too much but it is so true:) 

K-grad is incredible. it has made my mission. the people here are just amazing and

there is such a light and happiness here:) we are definitely using that to our advantage!

Russians are the best:)

i have been learning a ton recently about the Lord's will vs our will and also the difference 

between agreeing with the gospel and actually LIVING the gospel. amazing how they may

seem different but are completely different. As Nephi says we really need to "liken" the 

teachings of the gospel into our lives. eat breathe and live the gospel. It is our lives. 

and because of the gospel we are who we are. It has made all the difference in my life 

and i have seen the change it has and can make. WE ARE SO BLESSED!

i love you all so much! find the blessings in life, live and love them:) I am so grateful to the 

Lord who blesses us and as we SHOW our thanks to Him he only blesses us more:)

you are all blessings in my life:) 

God Loves you and I Love you!

love Sister Yeates

Dear Mum

dear mum,

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! 

heard that you aren't feeling well and hope you 

start feeling well soon!!!! xoxo

can't wait to see you:) seriously it's 

keeping me going! :)

mum we have been meeting the most amazing

prepared people lately.

i am really just pushing my last little bit and making

it the very best time i can. it is incredible the blessings

the Lord is giving me in my last little bit here.

i did end up sending a package home. 

please DONT open it:) it is souvenirs and i really

want them to be a surprise!

i hope it gets there before i do!

how is everything at home?

i am really nervous to come home. can you give me

an idea of what it is going to be like so i can get

a better grip of it?

is there anything i need to do/be prepared for?

i love you so much! 

kiss the buddies for me:)

love you most

Gigi

xoxoxoxx

What a great week! 7/29/14

Dear family!

ahhhh so many cool things happened this week!

seriously we have been meeting the most amazing people! i have come to LOVE

street contacting! and with tthe sun shining the moods are warmer and MUCH

more friendly! gotta love that! It is so amazing the people that the Lord is placing 

in our path. We have been meeting new people DAILY! there are miracles all the

time. 

Being in Kgrad is pretty incredible! we have a full week already. we do tons of service

together and then on top of that we have missionary nights on Tuesdays for our investigators

and members to chat and get to know each other. then Friday night we have English group and we are going to be starting member missionary MTC classes teaching them to be missionaries

and learning how to spread the gospel! really just so cool! i love this place! 

It is SO HOT HERE! every day we are outside and the weather is just so beautiful. i love it. 

i can't believe that Ben and Tristan are already off! seriously i am so proud of them!

they are going to be amazing!

this last Saturday we went as a ward to the sea! we went and did a service project there and it was really just so cool! we picked up trash and then played on the beach! it was weird not being able to swim but we had a blast and got tons of random people involved in playing which turned out to be really cool.

the German architecture here is really beautiful! the churches are all pointed roofs instead of the Russian rounded ones. there are tons of parks everywhere and it is so green! reminds me of my first area which was Finnish! very cool! 

this week i will be starting the Book of Mormon for my finishing time through to complete my goal of 18 times on my mission. honestly that has just been incredible for me! i love the book of Mormon so much and my testimony has strengthened incredibly. Those pages really hold the key to happiness. i know with all my heart that it is true and that it does change lives. I've seen it change mine as well as those around me:)

i love you all so much! i am so grateful for each of you in my life!

see you soon!

sister Yeates

WOW!

dear family!

wow! sorry there is just NO time to do anything today!

we are actually not even really having a p-day today. we are 

going over to a new members house to help him out and gradually

bring up the gospel to his family:D hard because p-days really mean

a lot, but it is a happy sacrifice for us to give him!

in short:

I LOVE KALININGRAD! seriously it is competing with Disneyland for the happiest place on 

earth:) well kinda:) for many reasons! i just love it here!

 we do service at FORTS! they are from the war and all six of us missionaries go there and 

help the guy that owns them clean them up for tours. they are so awesome. I will learn 

more about them and let you know:) 

transfers were crazy. i still can't believe that it is my last transfer. i am determined to make

every second the best on my mission:)

sister L is awesome! we love working together and love getting deep into doctrine:) usually right

before bed:) we call this "kolob-ing" it is so fun:) 

my district is really so great! we are like a family and do everything together:)

it is so weird that the group of sisters older than me are home! my group had become such 

close friends with them and seeing them gone is crazy! they are so missed!

The work is going well. sadly that babushka didn't get baptized.....people and their 

decisions has been so hard but such a testimony builder to me on my mission.

Sister L and i were talking about the scripture in Alma 23:18 about the humble seeker of happiness.

We were talking about how a humble seeker of happiness will give everything and change to find true happiness. With our investigators it is the same. It starts with their desire, the desire to change and find the truth, the courage to change and trust in God. I am really so proud of each of them. you can really see the strong ones who really do give it all to find that happiness. They are the humble seekers. Others who want happiness but won't give up their worldly lives, it is harder for them to find that pure and lasting joy and happiness. as a missionary i have seen both of these happen. and we really feel so deeply as we go through the processes with them and then it all comes down to their choice. And from there really it is between them and the Lord. As hard as it is, free agency is a huge blessing and gift from our heavenly father. we need to use it wisely!

for the last little bit i have on my mission i have decided to do just as it says in Alma. BE the humble seeker of TRUE HAPPINESS! love every moment and make every moment count!

i love you so much! i hope next p-day isn't as crazy so i can do a better update! love you all!

Happy July 4th

Dearest Family!

Happy Fourth of July to all! I never realized how much i loved my country until

i was taken away from it for a year and a half! I love America, land of the free,

home of the brave! Sister A and I celebrated by eating an entire watermelon and

wearing red white and blue, which happen to be Russia's colors too so it worked

perfectly:)

This week started out with pouring rain! and it being July we were super upset

because sun really is the best thing ever! BUT today it is blue skies and hot!!!

OH MY WORD! the most traumatic experience of my companion's mission happened

right after we emailed last Monday. so we headed to the metro to go into the city. We were going to go and see the famous Russian museum( it was absolutely fabulous by the way). So we are in the metro and take out our metro cards and then run them over the sensor and push through the turn wheels into the metro. It's a pretty fast process so i just go thinking my companion sister A is right behind me. So i am just standing on the escalator and all of the sudden this person comes flying down the escalator; running super fast. I was super impressed that one could run that fast down a steep moving staircase then i realize THAT IT IS MY COMPANION! she is just booking it down these stairs! I was seriously just in shock thinking "what happened?" "is she mad or something?". She reaches the bottom of the first escalator and i realize that if i don't start moving she is going to be out of my sight and that is against the rules! "be within sight and sound of your companion AT ALL TIMES"; so i start running down the escalator! (not fun at all by the way, it makes one dizzy and only is to be done in DIRE circumstances; such as fire or being disobedient and thus endangering your eternal salvation...). she reaches the bottom and is looking around frantically (by now i realize that she has no idea where i am), then she starts going down the second escalator! I have no idea how she could have thought that i gone down BOTH of the staircases in that short of time but i guess she did. I soon caught up to her and she was running around the platform still looking for me. Finally she saw me and was just so mad! but i was dying laughing! Apparently she couldn't find her metro card and so was stuck at the turn wheels, she couldn't find it; ended up paying for a ticket and she felt that it was much longer than the minute so she assumed i was gone! poor thing! i felt so awful but i had no idea that i was even lost! hahahah we had a good laugh about it afterwards. Seriously that is one of the traumas of a mission. losing your companion! 

SO we had transfer calls this last Friday! super weird to think that it was my last 

transfer call to an area in Russia...but i found out that i am leaving Nevsky!!!!! and 

my wonderful companion sister A which is sad. I am going to be serving in.........

KALININGRAD!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT! Go ahead and look it up on the map. It is a part

of Russia that isn't attached, so we get there by plane:) I am seriously so excited, it 

is south of st.petersburg so it will be even warmer than here. Missionaries joke about

it being the Hawaii of our mission:) not mad! I will be serving with sister L who is from

Australia and was in my MTC district! 

Transfers were super crazy this time. The group of 8 sisters that are 6 weeks older than

us are going home on Wednesday! They are all amazing and will be missed greatly. Sadly many of the areas in our mission had to close for sisters because there are not enough! Then there will be even less sisters when my group of 9 go home next transfer, but there will be 8 new sisters coming in then so that is good. Our mission is going to be going through a huge change! but they are all for a reason and it will all work out awesome! 

To go to K-grad i can only have one suitcase so packing has been a bit weird, especially since i haven't packed for 6 months! 

Saying goodbye to the ward was really hard. there are so many good amazing people and families here. It was hard saying goodbye to our investigators to. No one really took it well that we were leaving and that there would be no sisters replacing us for a while. ahhh goodbyes are awful. but they are a start of something new! so we need to take what we learned and the memories and add them to the future to make it even better!

Our investigator O is just amazing. She is so ready. We had a wonderful meeting with her yesterday and she really loves and already believes everything that we teach her. When we asked her if she believed that Joseph smith was a prophet she said, "well yes of course i do, why wouldn't i?" as you can imagine sister A and i were just in SHOCK!

the member who was with us laughed at our reactions and O was wondering why we were so surprised. As the member told her story of how it took her two years before she was baptized because knowing that Joseph smith was a prophet was her biggest concern. SHE IS SO READY! right now she loves and believes everything but she doesn't see the whole reason of why she needs to change, WHY it is "needed". We will be addressing that on Tuesday since she insisted on meeting right before transfers on Wednesday:) i am going to be really sad to pass her off  but the elders are amazing

and will do a great job with her.

N is also doing well. actually today is the "judgement day". So she is 81 years old. Poor thing is really old at the end but she really wants to get baptized. She had her baptismal interview yesterday and she is all good to go. she has a date set for the 19th of July but we realize that it's too far away and she wants us to be there at her baptism. Today she is being visited by the doctor and IF she gets sent into the hospital then she wont be able to be baptized, because she will most likely spend the rest of her life there..:( but if she doesn't go into the hospital then she will get baptized tomorrow night. I have personally been working with her for 6 months. she is so ready and just needs this right now. I know it, she knows it, and now we just have to see what Heavenly Father has in store for her. I know she is in His hands and everything will work out according to His will. I'll let you know what happens next week!

Well i love you all! hope this week's email was enjoyable, it was quite a week! thank you so much for everything! you are all a huge support to me and i love and appreciate each and every one of you!

love your Russian missionary!