Зеленинка

Дорогие Мои,

This week was kind of crazy, but also really fun. Being a trainer is always an adventure.

I forgot that being a missionary is really weird at first and that trainees have all these awesome new ideas. Sister Lindquist is such a hard worker. She's quiet; in fact, she may be the first quiet companion I've ever had, but that's actually a good thing. She's so far been instrumental in helping me realize that I just need to calm down sometimes and breath. We both have taken the Meyers-briggs personality test, and we're almost exact opposites as far as our personalities go, so I think we'll compliment each other nicely. She has a very strong testimony. On Sunday, she was asked to speak to the congregation, and after doing so, Janna turned to me and said, "That new sister is just blessed with the Holy Ghost".  We got lost while trying to find our investigator's house (and we actually have a question about that), met this adorable babushka who became our newest investigator, and have street taught quite a bit so far. We're kind of lacking in the investigator area, but it's a nice change from last transfer which involved A  LOT of running around.

We had quite a lot of strange things that happened to us. One of them being that we got lost in the Russian countryside a few days ago trying to find an investigator's house. It was beautiful where they lived; we both felt like woodland fairy princesses in the middle of some Tchaikovsky ballet. It was awesome. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the family we were trying to visit because the parents didn't end up being home, but one of the little girls answered the door covered from head to toe in green marker dots. I asked her what happened to her and with a completely straight face, she answered, "Chicken-pocks.  I'm going to the doctor soon." It was fantastic.

Yesterday, we were out trying to find some less active members of the church basically in the boonies of Volgograd, and we ended up meeting this awesome babushka. We were having a good conversation with her when this old dedushka (grandpa) came up and started talking with our babushka. I had no idea what was happening after that. The dedushka had no teeth, so I caught the gist of what was going on, but not much else. Somehow they ended up talking about Putin and smoking, but I really couldn't tell you much else. It was pretty funny. After he left, our babushka, Antonina, asked if we could come by again, so looks like we're going back out to the boonies this week. Which is fine with me because it's way pretty out there.

This week, I've been studying a lot about what it really means to lose yourself. And, I think it comes down to how willing you are to think more of others than of oneself. Missionary work is hard, really hard, and a lot of life is not pleasant or easy, but the good news is, when you are really trying to love the people who surround you, all of the worry and the hurt and the discomfort become unimportant because you get to see someone who needs it smile. Christ did a lot of little things in His life to help those around Him smile. Whether that was to play with children or raise a beloved brother from the dead. Christ's life shines with examples of showing love in big ways and small through service. So, if you are ever feeling unhappy, turn out! The person next to you probably needs your smile.

I love you all! And I hope this week is full of joy for you!

Love,

Sister Jarvis

Sister Lindquist and I pointing to the beloved Volgograd

Life in Pictures

This week, I don't have a ton of time to email, but I thought I would catch you all up with some pictures!

On a visa trip with the lovely Sister Jameson. We decided to model for a lemonade ad.

I met up with my first companion from the MTC, Sister Sommers! We haven't seen each other in like 8 months! That's the benefit of those pesky visa trips. You get to see all the people you haven't seen because they live like 20 hours away by bus.

The huge pumpkin this family with 8 kids gave to us. These are his new born baby pictures and those are my companions (Sister Montierth on the left and Sister Nelson on the right) 

​We played an april fools joke on our English class that was to die for. We just spoke nonsense in English and they all believed they just weren't understanding us. It was hilarious. They tried to draw out what we were saying, but it didn't make any sense.

Sister Nelson's birthday was the same day as Dad's birthday. We dressed up like Miranda Sings because Sister Nelson loves Miranda. 

​

Also, transfers are happening this week and I have some news!

I'll be training again! Her name is Sister Lindquist from AZ! She also did theater, so it should be an awesome transfer coming up here.

And I'm lucky enough to continue my stay in Volgograd. Honestly, if I stayed here my whole mission, I would be one blessed missionary. It's a beautiful city with so many wonderful people (Shoutout to Freesia, a member here). I love it here.

Well, with that, I'm signing out! Sorry it was a short one this week!

Love,

Sister Jarvis

The Plague, Janna, and the 8 Kid Family

Дорогие Мои,

This week started off with me getting THE PLAGUE!

Okay, I didn't get the plague, but I did get pretty sick. Not to worry, though. It didn't last for very long. Being sick was kind of an adventure. When Janna found out I was sick, she was adament that I not use any of that "chemistry" stuff they sell in pharmacies (Don't worry friends, I did anyway) and instead just drink some tea (I also did that). The one day I spent in was awful. I just wanted to go out and teach some people! Luckily, it was only one day and then I got right back into the swing of things. We all woke up sick yesterday with sore throats, though. Hopefully, they don't last for very long.

This week, we were able to meet with a family that has 8 KIDS! Which is TOTALLY unheard of in Russia. Everyone has like 2 kids TOPS! It was CRAZZY! Unfortunely, the day we taught them was also the day I was in sick. So, I'll have to give more information about their awesomeness in next week's email.

Janna's baptism went off without a hitch last weekend. Her smile was so bright, and she just glowed as she came out of the water. When I came on my mission, I wasn't sure that the Gospel could really do anything. I wasn't convinced that people could change. I just believed it because I had always been told that. But watching the way that the Gospel has changed so many people's lives has changed me. The thing is, just like President Uchtdorf talked about in Conference, we can all change and become like Jesus Christ; we're hard wired to change. And Janna's example to me has shown me that the message we share is one of joy. That what we, as missionaries, share with people really does bring happiness into people's lives. She is one of a kind, and she's really going to make a difference here in Volgograd.

Funny story about Janna. Actually a few. She started reading the Book of Mormon about a month ago, and she finished it the Thursdaybefore her baptism (she also read the entire book of Alma 3 times within that time as well). She's about 4'11" and when we were taking pictures for her baptism she made us all stand on the stairs so she could stand a few steps above to be our same height... she was still shorter. When she recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday, she said she could feel a warmth spreading from the top of her head down through her body, but the blessing ended before the feeling reached her feet. She hates pharmacies with all her little heart and will make disgusted faces and say the Russian equivelent of "ew" every time she sees one. I love Janna. She's my little Russian babushka.

Unfortunately, Galia didn't end up being baptized this week. She kind of disappeared, so we're trying to find her. Shouldn't be hard, though, because she studies across the street from the branch building.

I just want to say that Conference was awesome and that the messages the prophet, the apostles, and other leaders of the Church gave were beautiful. I'm so grateful that I can say I know that there's a living prophet today and that I know that Jesus Christ is the living Son of a living God. I hope you all have a week filled with rainbows and spring!

Love,

Sister Jarvis

The Volgograd Zone

Break Through to the SUNLIGHT

The title of this email is attributed to my long time desire to start a band and the fact that spring has officially made its way to the streets of Volgograd (for good).

This week was a lot better than the previous week (remember when I wrote about how all the bad weeks have to end sometime). We still lost investigators instead of gained them, but the investigators we have left are amazing. Janna and Galia are getting baptized on Saturday; Andrei, who has been investigating the church for 18 years, is beginning to make some real progress towards baptism; and we tried calling some people who used to be investigators yesterday with a lot of success. We're meeting with one of them today and a whole family tomorrow.

Funny story time! Our branch mission leader had planned out this activity for last Saturday and was super excited about it; however, he did not tell any of us what we needed to buy or how to organize it, and then he disappeared for about a week. So, on the Friday night before the activity, Sisters Montierth, Nelson, and I started planning when we realized that no one had done anything for this activity and that no one knew what was going on. We then delegated tasks to the two companionships of elders and scrambled all Saturday morning to get some games put together for this activity. We boiled eggs for egg dying, cut up fruit for refreshments, and we even forced our zone leaders to draw us a bunny so that we could play "pin-the-tail-on-the-bunny". The time came for the activity to start and our investigator Janna showed up, the branch mission leader came, and one of the young men... and that was it. We waited for like 30 minutes, and about 10 other people made their way to the activity, so we just started and had a cute little party of 15 people. Janna liked it, and everyone there had fun; it's just funny that we worried so much and then had such a small turn out.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to translate Janna's baptismal interview (people are interviewed for baptism into our church because we want to make sure that being baptized is something they actually want and are ready for). It was an amazing experience being able to translate for President Miner (our mission president) and Janna. I understood and could translate everything they said, which I was amazed that I could do. Janna uses a lot of big words, and it's often difficult to understand her because she's quiet and lisps a little due to some missing teeth. Plus President Miner also tends to use some pretty big words in English that are difficult to translate into Russian. Right after the interview, Janna and I talked for a little bit, and immediately, I was no longer able to understand everything she said. It was really strange, and I can only explain that I was spirit-led in that moment. I was able to remember words I had only heard others use or seen a few times. It was really an amazing experience. It gives me hope that one day I'll actually be pretty fluent in Russian.

We haven't yet had a chance to view conference out here, but we'll be doing that this weekend right before Janna and Galia's baptism. It's going to be pretty awesome.

Also, if you were wondering why I haven't written the custumary missionary email about Easter yet, it's because Easter isn't until May 1st out here in Russia! So just you wait, it's coming.

Hope your week is going great!

Sister Jarvis

Eeeevery ROOOSE has its Thoooorn!

Дорогие Мои,

There are some weeks where you feel like you're on top of the world, and then there are some weeks where it feels like nothing works out.

When I reached the end of this week, I was super disappointed in our stats (we send in stats for the amount of people we teach that week). A lot of people cancelled on us throughout the week, and a lot of people didn't answer their phones or were busy. Looking over our stats I was thinking, "What is wrong with us?" But, then I remembered what seemed like an endless amount of weeks writing in zeros for every statistic while Sister Misuraca and I were together. And while that did get to us every now and then, we still had fun. Lots of it, and I felt ashamed that I had even thought what I did. I should have been grateful all along. For the joy that I've found being here, serving people, and for the fact that I've been blessed with such wonderful people in my life, my companions, the branch members, and our wonderful investigators, and most of all, of course, for my Savior, who is there at every turn, good and bad.

This last week there appeared to be a never-ending source of bad news. Galia, our cute 18-year-old miracle investigator, has stopped responding to us, and it doesn't look like she's going to get baptized this week.  Our other investigator, Andrei, stopped responding as well, which is very strange. We hope that it's just a short time thing because I miss those two quite a bit, and they are both just so good and wonderful. 

But, honestly, even though it wasn't the most successful week, we had quite a bit to be grateful for. Vika and Natasha, these two awesome girls in the branch here, told us they would call Galia to see if she's okay (they're absolutely wonderful those two). Janna tells everyone she meets how excited she is to get baptized. The Elders had a double baptism last Saturday. And, Sister Montierth, Sister Nelson, and I are just continuing our безконечная вечеринка (never-ending party) all day, every day. So, honestly, things are awesome and Spring has now arrived in V-grad!

One of the things I realized this weekend is that every high comes to an end, but that also means that every low must also come to an end. It's kind of like physics "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". So, if you are going through a hard time right now, don't worry, the normal force will work it's magic, and things will get better. And besides, how can we find out how great the good is if we don't have the bad sometimes. (Alma 36:21)

Happiness to you! (as they would say in Russian)

Сестра Джарвис

Janna the Miracle and Lessons on Russian Culture

Добрый День

Life in Volgograd is wonderful. Sister Montierth and I frequently joke about how we're never going to leave, or if we have to, we'll bring the members with us. I love this branch and all the people in it. Not to mention my wonderful companions! I have no idea how any of us are going to go back to being in a two person companionship. We have a non-stop party everyday!

On Saturday, we had a branch activity put on by the amazing youth. It was Stilyagi themed. For those of you not so fresh on your Soviet Union history, Stilyagi were the counter-culture rebels of the 50's and 60's in the Soviet Union. They idolized American culture and were known for their extremely bright clothing in reaction to the strict styles of Stalin and post-Stalin era USSR. Cool little fact about Stilyagi, they smuggled American and British music into the country on X-Rays since records were banned, and they called these smuggled records "bones". Honestly, I don't think history gets cooler than Stilyagi, and I'm totally directing a play one day about them. 

But, I'm getting off topic. The activity was a talent show and the youth prepared a swing dance to showcase, which they did fabulous on. The two companionships of elders combined to sing the old Russian folk song "Katyoosha," and everyone clapped and sang with them. It was so cute. I was called up to do a dance competition, and I'm sure those who have seen me dance can understand how utterly hilarious it must have been. Overall, it was a success, and a bunch of investigators came and had a wonderful time.

Also, on Saturday, our tri-pan went street teaching. We met this man who was very interesting. He told us that women should never cut their hair because our hair is an antenna to the cosmos. So, I guess my goal of not cutting my hair before I come home was a good choice.

On Sunday, we had a surprising miracle. Sister Greenwood and I met this adorable old woman, Janna, about a month ago on our way to do something else. We didn't really have time to talk to her, but we gave her our number and invited her to church. She promised she would come, and she did. Since then we've tried setting up lessons with her, but she's a very busy lady since she works for a few of the theaters in town here, but she's come almost every Sunday since the first time she came. Yesterday, she was talking to the district president, and she decided that she wants to get baptized! So we finally had that first lesson we've been trying to have, and she loved it. She's already met like all of the members and they all love her, so we had quite the crowd join us to help teach her. She kept saying how the Spirit was in this church and she's been to other churches, but they don't have the Spirit in them. It was amazing. I don't think anything could have strengthened my faith more. I'm so grateful that I get to see the Gospel shaping people's lives. She's going to be baptized on April 9th at the latest maybe even April 2nd, if we can get all the lessons in before then.

Every week on my mission has been different, strange, interesting, and wonderful. I love it.
I love you all! And I hope you all are doing well!

Love,

Sister Jarvis

Blini!  (Please ignore the fact that my coat makes me look like I have no neck)

We attacked our Zone Leaders' door with sticky notes! (Sister Nelson is the tall one; Sister Montierth is the one in blue.)

This is Elder Boyer (and Sister Nelson).  He's great.

Sister Montierth got artsy.

Women and Blini, What Can I Say More?

Привет всем,

We have had a ridiculously busy week. Combining two companionships is a lot of work. My companions moved from a different apartment across town to the apartment Sister Greenwood and I lived in, which wouldn't have been so bad except we had no boxes... or a car... But, hey, that's what Zone Leaders are for! Really, though, our Zone Leaders are wonderful. They helped us move, got us flowers on women's day (more about that wonderful holiday later), and made me a Star Wars scripture case. Honestly, they couldn't get better. 

Women's Day is a day that should be celebrated everywhere like they celebrate it here in Russia. People were just walking down the street, flowers in hand, telling every woman that they saw "Happy Women's Day!" and giving every cute old babushka a cute little flower. It was probably the best day ever, made better by the fact that it also happens during the 2nd best Russian holiday "Maclenitsa". Or as our tri-pan calls it, Blini Week. Blini are essentially like crepes (but better) and the week before the Russian Orthodox pre-Easter 40 day fast is the week where blini is celebrated. So, we ate a lot of blini this week, and it was totally worth it.

Speaking of things that are awesome, our investigator Galia is just wonderful. She's the investigator that just walked into the church one Saturday and asked if she could know more. She's so in tune with the Spirit. She comes into every lesson with some new spiritual experience she had since she saw us like 2 days ago. She's participating in the branch talent show on Saturday. And she can sing the cups song flawlessly. Being with her is a blessing. Teaching her is a miracle.

Our other investigators are doing well, but we have so many I'm worried we're not giving them the amount of time that they need. But, I know that when we're working our hardest, God makes up for the difference (2 Nephi 32:9). It all starts with us sincerely trying to do the most we can in the most effective way possible, and God concecrates our performance or makes miracles happen when we do the most we can.

Sister Nelson and Sister Montierth are wonderful teachers and companions. Sister Montierth is dedicated and always on top of things (but extremely silly) and Sister Nelson is so patient with everyone (but secretly sassy). I love being with them. We laugh ourselves to stitches all the time. It's kind of a problem. I think people on the street think there's something wrong with us we're so happy. But, hey, what to do.

All in all, it was a good first week of the transfer, and it's only going to get better!

С Празником!

Сестра Джарвис