HAPPY EASTER!!!

We did absolutely nothing to celebrate hahha. I am pretty sure the Russian Easter is in a month... BUT HAPPY EASTER!!! I so enjoyed the pictures of the Easter party!! how fun how fun HOW FUN. 

First and foremost, next week on Monday we are having our zone conference so our Pday will be on Tuesday instead of Monday. so yeah I don't know.. just know that I am OK and just sitting in a long meeting haha. BEING EDIFIED SPIRITUALLY. 

secondly...

I GOT PACKAGES!!!!! AAAAAHHHH yes yes! I got a package from the PRICE FAM, ONE FROM MARINA FROM JAPAN ( yeah what the?!?!?! I feel like a terrible friend hahahah), One from CORY AND MEYGEN!!! and one from Sister Fugal and the young women:) ( also I think I fogot to mention this at Christmas but I did get the ward letters and I so enjoyed them and read everyone at least 3 times!!! thank you!!!) BUT YES THANK YOU FOR THE LETTERS AND PACKAGES. I just can't quite explain what it feels like to get mail as a missionary..... but it feels really really good:) in other news, I have been baking up a package for the Price family for the past few weeks and just need to get it sent. I am hoping for next week to get it sent. BUT I have also heard that it takes a really really long time to get to the states... so we will see:) 

But yes. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU:):):) 

OK as for the week:

It was great! 

that's all for this week! love ya! 

haha just kidding. but that would be funny. 

This week was awesome! Last week on Monday we visited my first provnaslavney xpam! (chram- temple) and it was absolutely stunning. It was honestly so cool! I feel ashamed I have already been in Russia 5 months and just now visited a temple. It was really cool. It was awesome to see people in the temple too worshipping. I believe Russian people are a very spiritual people and it was cool to take in just a small part of their culture by visiting the temple. I will send pics! and we are going to a couple of more today! so woo hoo!!!! 

We worked with Oxxxx a lot this week. She put on an activity for the branch all about family history and it was great! So we did a FHE with her and then also helped her cut out paper hands for a giant paper tree she made of every ones hands in the branch. it was awesome! 

We visited Lxxxxxxxx (member) with Nxxxxxx (member) which was awesome! She is such a sweetheart and it was actually the first time to meet with her. They are cuties:)

Wednesday we went with the Johnstons to translate at the Bletskis. will someone please look up sergei blestski? Apparently he is like a world champ karate man in Russia. Like kind of famous. AND I GO TO CHURCH WITH HIM hahahahaha. But anyway, we went and translated for the Johnston's. It is really cool to think that people have enough confidence in my Russian to ask me to translate! hahahahaha. no but really it is cool that me and Sister Greenwood can do that because I still feel like such a baby in the field:) it was a great meeting about how our bodies are like temples! 

We then went and served Rxxxxx again. So we thought that his wife straight up left him for good... but she came back last Saturday.. with a new baby... ? haha so I think she just went to Moscow to have her baby and then she came back. But anyway he asked us if we could help him again with his kids and help him clean as he got all ready for his wife to come back. We went and had a great time with him kids !they are so cute. we were getting down to the end of our time there with most of the cleaning being done (holy cow my English ...) and so we decided to play a game with them so we sang the "do as I'm doing" song and danced with them. Well I got REALLY into it. Like Really. haha so I was dancing and doing the disco point thing and jumping around and we were going slow and then sister greenwood just starts cracking up so I stop and there was RXXXXX STANDING IN THE DOORWAY. hahah so we all bust up and then he says, "well now you need to do it slow!" hahah it was so funny. 

That night we had a lesson with Axxxxx! We talked about Joseph Smith and the word of Wisdom. He pretty much says he won't have a problem with living the word of wisdom... when he decides to live it. Ugh Axxxxxx. He knows all the lessons and knows what we expect of him and I believe has already found his answer but just won't commit... we are debating on dropping Axxxxxx. Just don't really know what else we can do as missionaries. It is at the point where we have brought it to his heart and he just needs to decide what he wants to do with it. Anyway hahha that was a little heavier than I wanted haha. but things are good with Axxxxx! We will keep you posted !

Thursday we met with Gxxxxx! it was a bit awkward. We tried to do a spiritual thought but she wasn't having it.. we will see what happens with Gxxxxxx this week too. But she had a great time in America! we might be dropping her this week too. It is like the do or drop week for Sister Price and Greenwood I think haha SO WATCH OUT ;)

We met with Accccc on Friday and it was pretty rough. I have decided that the prodigal son is the story you teach/share if you ever want to know some one's deepest concerns or doubts or beliefs haha. When we talked to Axxxxx and taught him this parable we found concerns/doubts about the atonement and then we read it with Acccccc and eventually found out that she doesn't believe in the resurrection or temple work. So yeah it was a lesson that kind of took us back a bit. We will continue to work on that with her. But it got me to thinking, what are my thoughts and beliefs about the Resurrection? I studied a lot about Resurrection this week and about Christ's life. it was an awesome week with lots of cool insights. We are also going to be using the resurrection as our street teaching topic this week. Which is cool! 

uhhh lets see.. we met with Rxxxxx and he talked about mars and evolution and a lot of other stuff that we didn't understand  hahhaa. I was trying really hard to understand though and so I was just so focused in and I guess my mouth dropped open so Rxxxxxxx would be talking and talking and talking and then would say "PRICE! close your mouth." hahahah it was so funny, Sister Greenwood was cracking up! hahahahaha 

We had an awesome activity on Saturday about family traditions! I didn't even cry!!! hahahah no it was really sweet and I thought about family a lot especially about our Easter traditions:) it was really nice! 

Sunday was great and we talked about temples and I translated again for the Johnston's. PLEASE GO TO THE TEMPLE. I can't even explain how much these people  love the temple and how much they would give to live as close to temples as we do. it really is neat! 

This week in personal study I had a really cool realization. I was thinking about Missions and how people count success on missions and I had this cool like day dream/zone out where I was a missionary and I was climbing this tree and it was a lot of hard work! I climbed and climbed and climbed and along the way I was gathering fruit. They were just tiny little fruits and far in between... but they were these cute little fruits:) (I am sounding like lehi, i know, but this was really cool ahha) I saw other missionaries who were climbing trees that had tons and tons of fruit on every branch! and I thought to myself, why am I worried about the fruit?  I guess I just thought about how sometimes in this life of climbing trees we may compare our fruits but completely forget about the climb. We may see others with huge fruit on every branch along the way while others may only have one tiny fruit... but everyone is climbing their own tree and making progress no matter what:)   I know and testify that the Lord has sent me to climb this tree in Russia and only he knows what kind of fruits I might find! and it is the same in our lives! I feel like I am not explaining this well, but I guess I just have a testimony of each one of our lives being our own path and journey that we have the privilege of working through:) 

I love you all and I miss you all:) Happy Easter!!!!! 

HAMBAG 

-- 

С большой любовью,сестра Price

THIS WEEK WAS BETTER

Hello friends and family! 

haha this week has been better:) thank you for your prayers and your thoughts and kind emails! I think this week the Lord needed to give me a big reminder to rely more fully on His strength, goodness, love, and grace:)

OK SO LET ME RUSH THROUGH REALLY FAST THE PAST TWO WEEKS Hahaha. 

Tues 8- Sister Beach left to Rostov (along with the other half of our district) We all sent them off at the train station and it was so fun and a little heartbreaking to see one of my best friends go! 

Wed 9- New missionaries came! My sweet new companion Sister Greenwood came and joined me in Krasnodar! we did some great weekly planning that day and met with our investigator Axxxxx! 

Thurs 10- We had to get registered in Krasnodar and it takes FOREVER and we can't leave the church without our passports so while the lady took care of our passport stuff we hung around at the church and did extra studies and also ordered pizza and may have had a little missionary pizza party? what what?? hahaha ;) 

That night we went to visit Vxxxxxxxx who is my favorite person ever:) we had a great lesson with her and her husband Axxxxx wants us to serve at their new house again which we are super stoked about! we are hoping to serve him this week because it didn't work out last week. they also came to church yesterday and Axxxxx was asking the branch president all of these questions about the church and the talks that were given so we are going to try and start teaching him... we just have to find the right time I think. IT'S ALL IN THE LORDS TIMING. I JUST HOPE I AM HERE FOR IT Hahahahahahha:) 

Fri 11- we did contacting and we found a less active who actually opened the door!! we also went contacting and met Pxxxxx! 

Sat 12- TODAY WAS REALLY HARD. very very homesick for my friends hahahah. BUT we went out to my favorite less active Lxxxxxxx Bxxxxxx and she let us in! She told us this long story about how her back had been hurting and then she prayed and prayed and prayed and her back was fixed! She was so excited and was jumping around and just laughing and was saying it was a miracle we came and that it was a sign from God! it was a pretty neat meeting! She is so great:) 

We also went contacting that night and while we were contacting I stopped a man and I started saying hello and he just turned and he screamed in my face like full on screaming. So of course I scream hahhaahaha and then he just keeps walking hahaha. Me and sister Greenwood lose it and start cracking up and then we hear "what do you want?" So we go back and just talk to him for like 30 seconds and then he kept on going but man that was super funny. BUT while everyone was dancing at the wedding I had a crazy guy scream in my face and scare the heck out of me hahahaha. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK haha (but really I do)  

Sun 13- we met with members Vxxx and Sxxxxx  and also Ixxxxx! which was awesome. we got a little stranded after Ixxxxx haha but we made it back after some hard work haha. We actually were in a taxi with a muslim man who was very friendly. 

Mon 14- ANOTHER HARD DAY. it was P-day though so good:) then that night we met with less active Nxxxxxxx and it was an awesome meeting! 

Tues 15- We met with member Axxxxx Kxxxxxx who is such a sweetheart. We wanted to read in Ether with her and read some of that but then ended up talking about the temple and it was AWESOME. she is so great:) 

AAAHH I AM RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Wed 16- we served the son of a member and just went and watched his three kids while the grandma was there because his wife just recently left him. We also had a good lesson with Axxxxx! 

Thurs 17- ZONE CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME we also met a sweetie named Lxxxxx who we helped with her bags and had a long talk with her.  We also served Rxxxxx and had another meeting with our Pxxxx and then yesterday we found less actives we have been trying to find,. man I wish I had more time. so yeah we kind of have another investigator, Pxxxx but I think we may need to stop teaching him. 

Anyway I love you! Next week I will write a better email:) I feel better this week! The Lord knows and loves us so much:) 

-- 

С большой любовью,сестра Price

Plane Crash in Rostov - All Missionaries are Safe

Dear Parents,

By now you may have heard news reports of a fatal airplane crash at the Rostov-na-Donu airport last night. All missionaries are safe. We had no one traveling for a visa trip and no one lives near the airport. The crash appears to be weather related.

Your missionaries are doing very well. They continue to work hard and seek to improve. I am sure you have noticed significant changes in their lives since they started their missions. These changes will be even more apparent when they return home. It is a privilege to rub shoulders with them. They are an outstanding group and are doing much to strengthen and build the Church in this corner of Russia. We love them!

With warm regards,

President David Miner

Russia Rostov-na-Donu Mission

Hello Hello!!!! March 7

Hello hello my friends!!! 

few things to start off this week. 

1. SO HAPPY YOU GOT THE VIDEOS!!!! I will make some more this week and send them now that I know that you can get them:):):):):) OH THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!  

2. HOLY COW KILEY'S BIRTHDAY.  that is so cool and I am super jealous hahahahahahaha I wish I was there!!!! 

3. HAPPY WEDDING WEEK!!!!!! man my heart is breaking a little bit hahahahahah. I want to be there!!!! But I am SO EXCITED for Zach and Lainey and oh boy I just don't know what to say.. send LOTS OF PICTURES PLEASE!!!! man CONGRATULATIONS!!!!  

4. We got transfer calls on Thursday night!!!! So here is the low down: I am staying here in Krasnodar!!! So half of our district is leaving.. 2 Elders and 2 Sisters (which is REALLY weird because President said that he wasn't going to make a lot of changes... welllllll hahah) but yes I am staying here in Krasnodar and so is Sister Moore and Sister Beach and Summers are leaving. and then Elder Tucker and Tolokonikov are staying while Elder Prescott and Lorde are leaving 

so this is how it was:

Price and Beach

Moore and Sommers

Tolokonikov and Tucker

Lorde and Prescott

and now it will be:

Price and Greenwood

Moore and Kennard

Tolokonikov and Barnes

Tucker and Garrettson?

yeah not really sure on the elders haha. 

SO I AM GOING TO BE WITH SISTER GREENWOOD!!! ok so I am so excited!!! I am also nervous out of my mind hahhaa. I am starting my fourth transfer and she is starting her third- so she just got out of training. I also had the opportunity to meet her at the MTC too! she is GORGEOUS and super funny and super good at basketball! She has huge curly hair and is just such a cutie:) So I definitely think the Lord wants us to learn a lot of lessons this transfer becauase I still feel like a baby in the mission field. (CAN YOU BELIEVE I HAVE BEEN OUT 6 MONTHS?!?!?!)  but I am now the missionary who has been in Krasnodar the longest (like out of our district) so I am pretty nervous! Sister Kennard is coming back to krasnodar.. She actualy trained here and she goes home in August so things should be good there I am just really nervous! I also feel like all of my friends are leaving me haha. It is going to be a really weird start to the transfer to adjust, but I think it will be awesome! So anyway yes Sister Beach leaves on Tuesday for Rostov and then we still don't exactly know when the other missionaries are coming down so we will see! probably Wednesday or Thursday so me and Sister Moore are just hanging out:) SO YAY TRANSFERS!!! SUPER NERVOUS hahahahahahahaha:) 

5. the 8th of March is women's day!!!! YEEEEAAAAHHHH WWWOOOOOMMMMEEEENNNN!!! hahaha it is like a super big deal here! I love it!! the men sang to the women on Sunday and gave us all these little cakes. they are super cute! they gave us all flowers and it is just so sweet! 

Ok I feel like I have said so much but nothing at all at the same time haha. This week was good! we really strived this week for member presents and WE GOT 3 MEMBER PRESENTS WITH AXXXXXI! Yeah it was so fun! And we actually had one yesterday. We called him after our plans had fallen through to see if he was in krasnodar and he was! So he came and had a lesson with a member Vxxxxx and he actually bought us a cake for women's day!!! hahaha man I thought it was so funny. But how nice! hahahaha. oh Axxxx... 

let's see... what else did we do this week?

we served at the Bxxxxxx again! It was really fun! These little Russian houses are all so cute and every time we go to clean Sister Beach just talks about how much she wants to live in these cute little houses. They are so cute!! 

On Thursday night we met with Oxxxx and she had actually invited the president of the Branch over too. We didn't know and the Johnston's came with us to give a spiritual thought so I got to do some impromptu translating! haha oh man. That was fun! but the thought they gave was super cute and it was about prayer. The story was about how when Sister Johnston and Elder Johnston were building their new house, they went out in their beat up car and the time came to leave so they all got in the car and the car wouldn't work. Sister Johnston was a little frustrated and was getting ready to walk home when one of her sons said, "It's ok mom! I prayed and asked God to fix the car so it should work now!" she recounted that she felt devastated and was wondering, "how can I explain to them that the car still won't work?" but he kept insisting so she tried again... and the car worked:) She recounted how it was a very humbling experience for her and how she realized then that her faith maybe wasn't where it needed to be:) anyway I just loved that story! At the end she said that her younger son said to the son who had prayed, "why didn't you just pray for a new car?" hahaha :)

 

We also got transfer calls that night as Oxxx was walking us all to the tramby stop. It was very bittersweet. Sister Beach and Sister Delong found Oxxx on Sister Beach's first day on her mission in Krasnodar:) we will see her again tonight but I think it will be really hard for both of them:) 

Friday we met with Gxxxxx! She is going to America this week! she is going to California and will be there until the 21st of March.. so I don't know maybe if you go to California go and find her because she is amazing hahahaha. We had such a good little lesson with her! Still don't know exactly what we need to do with her, but we had a good time together when we sang primary songs together and told her to visit the temple grounds for us:)

Saturday we served Rxxxxx at the reinok! and boy oh boy I think he is getting sick of us Sisters hahaha. Usually the Elders go but a couple were in Rostov and the others were serving somewhere else so they asked us to go. he kept asking when the Elders would be there haha. but man the Reinok was so cool!!!! Oh man. I wanted to take pictures but i didn't get a chance an I felt really weird hahahaha. But man it is ssssooo cool and just so weird. it is not like anything you would see in America. I just keep thinking about all the knowledge we have about like germs and like keeping meat good and fresh and like transporting germs and stuff and it either doesn't matter here or it is just unknown.(OK WARNING THIS IS KIND OF GROSS) They had these huge tables of meat and then this room where there was only a window at the very top where we saw this axe head going up and down hahahahahaha it is just so so weird hahaha. But yeah it was awesome! 

Well I think those are the highlights of this week. We had a really cool lesson with Axxxxx about forgiveness and read in Alma 36 all about Alma's experience of seeing the angel. I love the verse that talks about how when he just THOUGHT about his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ he felt relief. I feel like it is the same way in our life. May we ever strive to keep the Savior centered in our thoughts is my prayer:) 

HAPPY WEDDING DAY ZACH AND LAINEY!!! I got your invite and it is on our fridge now:) thank you dears it is gorgeous! Also the letter was open so I don't know how many people saw your wedding invitaion hahahaha but there is probably some Russian out there that opened the letter that is very happy for you both hahaha. 

I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE THE BEST WEEK EVER AND HAPPY HAPPY WOMENS DAY!!!!! :) 

i love you:)

С большой любовью,сестра Price