tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35681536148547292982024-03-13T14:02:34.522-07:00Called to Serve! - Sister Poet's Adventures in Yekaterinburg Sister Poet's Weekly Letters will be posted on this blog.
Mission Adress:
Sister Lauren Julia Case Poet
Russia Yekaterinburg Mission
620131 Yekaterinburg
ul. Rabochikh 9 office 1
Sverdlovsk oblast
RussiaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-18621228707445211372014-09-08T11:30:00.001-07:002014-09-08T11:30:01.430-07:009/8/14 Update From Lauren<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Gah! Can you believe it! I have been here 6 months! (And now a little bit longer... almost 7!)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Time really flies in the field! The Lord has been so good and kind. I am learning everyday. It is such a blessing to be a part of the magnificent miracles everyday. Miracles are happening every minute of every day. The Lord really loves His people here.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So, I have left my first city! I got transfered to a new lovely (and much larger) city. It was hard to leave my first city, because I loved the people there so much. But, the Lord has shown me even more wonderful people here. The Lord has amazing children all over the world! I have a new companion as well! She is spunky and spirited and we work well together. There are lots of less actives that we work with here. They live in a cute little town just outside our city that is lined with tall trees and scattered with parks. It is lovely. </span><br />
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In my Mission we have been focusing a great deal on opening our mouths and the blessings that come from it as stated in D&C 33: 8-10. It is so true. We have really been making an effort to open our mouths and speak to every single person, and the blessings have been remarkable. WE really have been "laden with sheaves" here. Sometimes it is hard, especially sicne I feel I cannot speak very well. But, the Lord ALWAYS fills my mouth to speak. The people understand, and they are willing to listen. And it is definitely NOT me. My Russian is sub sub par. It is the Spirit. But, as promised, miracles have been pouring out.</div>
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In short, we have been speaking A LOT. WE open our mouths all day. </div>
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Sometimes with some funny results. </div>
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<br />Sometimes, though, my mouth is filled with some... not so spiritual things. For example, that awkward moment when you ask the Lord to bless you with "chastity" instead of "wisdom." Or another time when I asked a woman if she worked "often" but really ended up asking her if she worked "honsetly." She gave me the strangest look and told me she did. I just smiled and told her how great I was... well I am sure she thought I was the most self-righteous missionary she ever met! But oh well. WE were opening our mouths! And there were other people willing to listen. Then other times, opening our mouths gets some negative reactions - sometimes we are rejected. Or sometimes our messaged is ignored and instead the woman comments to me that "You could be pretty if you wore makeup." I was wearing makeup. Thank you. </div>
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Then sometimes we open our mouths in other ways. Like to recieve food atop an already bursting stomach. They love to feed us here. There is one woman who feeds us every time we come. Last time she fed us a very interesting sadwhich like thing of a roll stuffed with ground meat. Well, this sounds appatizing and LOOKED appatizing, but then when we bit into it we found that half the meat was fat and the other half was crunchy burned bits of questionable substance. Luckily we had some searing hot tasteless tea to wash it all down. Nothing like liquid fire to wash down some slick, slimy, fat-laced sandwhich! But hey, we were opening our mouths. </div>
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And that is the point. WE open our mouths. And there have been SO many miracles. The Lord has just been to kind to us. The greatest of Miracles of all was last Saturday we had a baptism for our Golden Investigator. This woman, with her kind brown eyes, walked into our church ond <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_277585459" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> and was baptized 3 weeks later. She was prepared from the beginning. We opened our mouths to teach her, and they were filled, as promised. In addition to that, the Lord has blessed us with so many new investigators, all of whom are amazing. The promises from D&C really are coming true in this part of the world.<br /><br />I am so honored to be a part of this mission. So honored that hte Lord gave me the opportunity to open my mouth and speak about this glorious gospel. Sometimes it is hard, sometimes we eat fat, sometimes we say strange things, but it does not matter because the Spirit is at work. This is the Lords work. He loves all of HIs children. And this part of the world is filled with some of His strongest, most special spirits. I love opening my mouth, I love this gospel, I love being in the field. Never miss the opportunity to share the gospel. Open your mouth, and it will be filled. I miss you all and I love you all! Thanks for your prayers and for your support!<br /><br />Affectionately, SIster Poet<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-29194124224744495182014-07-22T09:31:00.002-07:002014-07-22T09:31:22.206-07:007/21/14<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Okay.....well....
sorry to start this email off so strange but the strangest thing just happened
to me! A man just gave me a paper and asked me to go on a date. He knows I am
American - that is the only reason why, but my oh my. That was an adventure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Okay, so
things here are going GREAT! We have three progressing investigators - The
woman and the two little girls that we are teaching. I just love them all so much
and we are making great headway! The woman I met on the bus is a seamstress.
She told us that she felt that we were destined to meet! She is so lovely and
charming and very fun too. We gave her the Plan of Salvation Lesson and she
LOVED it. She has a young apprentice of sorts who also occasionally graces us
with his presence in the lesson. I must admit, I LOVE her apprentice. He is a
young many maybe 20 years old and has magic hands. He is bigger, and stocky and
buff, very trendy with perfectly styled hair. He has a very manly Russian
name and a deep voice.... then he creates little dresses with frills, and
lace, and thin straps that are the essence of femininity. He is great, and we
love when he sits in on the lessons. He is someone who is probably a little
bit too cool for school, but he likes us. For the purpose of this email we
shall dub him The Apprentice. I think he could become interested. Well, we
gave him a Book of Mormon and are excited about that too!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Then there
are the two girls. They are very interested. I will have to tell you about
them. So, for the first girl, the girl I met on the bus, she is darling. She
has a hard time understanding everything that we teach her but she has a great
desire to learn and she says that she knows it is true! Now we are a bit
worried because we may have to get a permission slip to teach her! But I am not
too worried since she says she lives with просте ъаъушка, or simply her
grandmother. And the other girl is also progressing. She is VERY intelligent.
She speaks so fast and uses large vocabulary words (our member present told us
that even SHE had a hard time understanding her sometimes). But she is great.
She read the entire Book of Mormon in ONE night. ONE night! She says that she
knows it is true and wants to learn more. She is having trouble lettering go of
her former religion though (don't quite understand, since she talks so fast, we
are working on getting it figured out.) But they are great girls. The latter
girl, the very intelligent one, draws. She has very... uh.... interesting
drawings. She creates horses with fire wings that have bird legs.... they are
unique to say the least and go so well with her Japanese name that she insists
we call her. I wish I could tell you what it was, but alas alack, I lack the
ability to do so. Well, anyways, she always gives us pictures. One picture she
gave us was of an elegant elk perched upon a grassy knoll with a pastel sunset caressing
its golden fur. It looks majestically into the sky. On the back was her name
and number so we could contact her. Gotta love the elk. We dubbed it the
"reindeer," graciously accepted it, as it had her number on the back,
and quickly shoved it in our extra copy of our Book of Mormon so no one could
see us have it in public. Well, the next day, we were updating our
Area Book and needed to put the new number into the Area Book,
so we grabbed the Book of Mormon and opened it and.... the picture was gone.
Well, that was fine, we have MANY Book of Mormons, it must have been the wrong
one. So we opened the next one. No reindeer. And the next. Nope. And the next
one.... uh oh. Soon, we had gone through the 7 copies of the Book of Mormon
that we had and discovered the picture was no where to be found. We paused for
a moment... thinking of who we had given a Book of Mormon to as of late... when
it hit us....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
Apprentice<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The
Apprentice had the Reindeer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The Elegant
Elk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">With a
Sunset<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In the Book
of Mormon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">With a
number on the back<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Which he
probably thought was OUR number.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, we gave
a big, burley, trendy man our number on the back of a majestic reindeer.... in
a Book of Mormon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We died. We
began to laugh, laugh so hard. I don't know if it was out of the humor or the
dread at our recent accidental actions. We then realized there was no way we
could ask for it back - but if we didn't he would think we gave our number to
him... with a reindeer... and we could never go back to teach our investigator
out of shame. But, if we did ask for it back it would be a little strange to say
"Hey... could we possibly have our water colored elk back:? You know....
the one with the sunset and grassy plain? It had our friends number on
it..." Well... what kind of friends do you have? Please, don't come back.
So, we lay, on the floor, tears erupting from our eyes caused by both laughter
and distress. Yes. The Reindeer was now in the hands of The Apprentice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Well, sorry
to make this somewhat anti climatic, but alls ell that ends well, we had one
FINAL Book of Mormon at our door and we checked it and the Elk was inside. WE
starting laughing and crying again, this time out of relief. Thank GOODNESS the
Reindeer was safe in our possession. WE took it out, and will never put it near
a Book of Mormon again. Now the Reindeer travels though our home. Sometimes I
find it in my bed. Then Sister Brown will find it our sole picture frame, then
again it is on the fridge. We have fun with our majestic reindeer. Oh, but it
was almost a disaster.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Needless to
say, things are going very well here. We are loving our area and I just love
the people here. We have SO much fun. We are just living the dream as
missionaries. I do miss you all so! I do know I am where I need to be though.
And the work is really picking up. It is so great to be a part of miracles
every day! The end of this week was a little... slow... but we realized somethings
we could improve on and are working on straightening them out right away! We
will keep working hard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Okay, I am
off now, but I love you! Be good, be safe! LOVE YOU!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Love Lolo</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-38746130914939036482014-07-20T16:35:00.001-07:002014-07-20T16:35:16.590-07:007/20/14This is Annaliesa<br />
<br />
I apologize for not keeping Lauren's blog updated. It is now current. She is not allowed to share names of her companions or anyone she meets in Russia or the places of where she is. Due to Lauren's time limit on the computer, she sometimes writes things too personal to share and doesn't have time for a mass message. I apologize for the gaps in the letters, I'll post what I can.<br />
We should be hearing from her again tomorrow and I will be happy to share her new adventures if things are sharable.<br />
<br />
PLEASE feel free to contact her via email: lauren.poet@myldsmail.net<br />
or snail mail:<br />
Sister Lauren Julia Case Poet<br />
Russia Yekaterinburg MIssion<br />
620131 Yekaterinburg<br />
ul. Rabochikh 9 Offic 1<br />
Sverdlovsk Oblast<br />
Russia<br />
<br />
Thank you for supporting and loving Lauren during this important time in her life! If you can believe it she is almost a third of the way done!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-10811347250495307142014-07-20T16:28:00.001-07:002014-07-20T16:28:03.093-07:005/20/2014<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hello All!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, on Saturday we had our first
baptism! The girl that got baptized was golden. She was committed before I came
to this area, but we still got to teach her quite a few lessons. She accepted
everything that we taught her. She was already deeply religious and studied the
Bible a great deal and was so excited to learn about the gospel. It was
miraculous to see how God prepares His children! He is so aware of each of us individually
and is so loving. Everyone is different, so He prepares us all differently, yet
He is in each of our lives. I love it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The ceremony was lovely. Quite a lot
of people came! We have great support in our branch. It is small, but powerful.
I just love everyone it it. Everyone worked really hard to make the ceremony
lovely. We all sang, had two amazing talks (that I couldn't understand ;0p)
that you could feel the spirit so strong. Our investigator was baptized in a
beautiful white dress and she just radiated with the Spirit. It was a miracle.
I felt so blessed. How great God is to allow us to be a part of this work!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And now, a funny story that happened
the other day. My companion and I had planned to meet with a member family. We
love this family. They were expecting us, and so they were going to leave the
door unlocked for us to walk in. We found the apartment and walked in but no
one was home! We walked around a bit, knocked on some of the doors in the
apartment to see if anyone was home but they weren't. So naturally we called
them and asked where they were! "We are at home!" they said.... we
said "really?" and the replied that they were! We then realized that
we were in the wrong apartment! Gah! It was hilarious. We got out of there as
fast as we could and laughed all the way until we made it to the RIGHT
apartment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Russia is amazing. I LOVE it. The
people, the food, the smells... but mostly the people. The people here are
really special. I am honored to serve among them. I can't really speak very
well, but I never feel discouraged because I know it will come! What is more is
I get to to witness God in my life every day. When I show faith and open my
mouth, he fills it,. It can be scary talking to people, but God helps me
immensely, I love being able to witness that miracle every day and I am humbled
by it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Work here is great. Russia is
beautiful and wonderful. I am so happy to be here! Sometiems I wonder,
"why did I not want to go on a mission before? What took me so long to
come?" I know that God knows each of us - I know that He knows what is
best for us. The greatest honor we can have in this life is to submit our will
to Him! He will bless us more than we can ever imagine! How great the gospel
is! How great out God! How great our Savior! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I miss you and love you all! :0D May
God bless you as He has blessed me!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Love Sister Poet<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-57465733094921884292014-07-20T16:26:00.002-07:002014-07-20T16:26:26.719-07:005/6/2014<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hello My Dear Family! :0D<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This is a group email about my
Investigators some. I can't give you names or too many details about them, but
I want to talk a bit about them because I love them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We have an investigator getting
baptized soon. She will get baptized with another little girl in the ward who
will turn 8 that day! We are SO excited! This girl is GOLDEN! My companion
found her with her companion before me; she was already very religious and when
she got the Book of Mormon and started reading, she knew it was true. She had
been wondering why she had not had this her whole life! This is great because
she is willing to accept all the commandments, even though they are hard. She
stopped drinking Coffee and tea - she didn't drink alcohol before. She was
already living the Law of Chastity because she felt like those things should be
saved more marriage! She is just great. We love her. She had some complex
questions about the Plan of Salvation, and I was very happy that I was able to
answer them! It was a little miracle for me that God allowed me participate.
She speaks great English, so that is nice because I am able to teach more in
the lessons - with other people I do not teach so much because I cannot speak.
But it is great. I just LOVE her. I think my companion loves her even more than
I do though! We got to clean out the baptismal font for her... it was REALLY
dirty because the church has been remodeled. It was covered with paint and
dirt. Now, when I say font, it is really more like a big, white plastic
swimming pool with strange blue tarp lining the inside. We spent two hours
cleaning it. It was REALLy fun and we sang while we worked. I loved it. My
companion and I have lots of fun. She is a very loving person. She makes fun of
me for saying sorry. If I say sorry, she says it too, and then will say it like
40 more times and then say "I am sorry that you are sorry because I am
sorry that you are sorry." So, she has been helping me with that... though
sometimes it is taken too far ;0p Still, she is so great, I love her. She has
also started using "Llamas" or the "kitsune" as well. We
have fun with that. It was fun to clean the tub - I felt like Sen from Spirited
Away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Our other investigators are not progressing,
so we spend a great amount of time with our less-actives. I LOVE ALL the
less-actives. Each one is amazing. They are all so special and loved. There are
two I love in particular. One is a very kind woman who takes in stray animals.
She has a very hard life though - she is estranged from her neighbors because
she is a member and because she takes in animals... so, she is very lonely. She
lives with her mother, and her 20 year old son, but her son ignores her. Still,
she is so kind and loving. She is learning English so she asks me for help a great
deal - I love to help her just because she is such a tender person. You can see
in her eyes she is just full of love. We have been encouraging her to read the
Book of Mormon again and she has been reading it in both Russian and English.
We love her. Another less-active I love is also very kind. She, too, has a very
hard life and has a few mental problems. She stopped going to church, but has
been coming back recently. She told us she did not realize how serious the
commitments she made were, but now she understands and that is why she is
coming back. She yearns for peace, so we always try to teach her uplifting
things - she is marvelous. She and I have a very special connection and she
always gives me great smiles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">There is a member in our ward who is deaf
and I also love. She is ALWAYS doing service - putting way chairs, organizing
the hymns, just always serving. So, I help her. She cannot talk, and I cannot
sign, but we can point and smile and so we work together. Sometimes we write
things to each other - it is HARD to spell in Russian, but she is patient with
me. There are only about 25 people in our branch, but many of them know how to
sign, I love to see them sign with her. And it is great when she signs the
hymns!! I just love this woman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I get to conduct the music every Sunday.
I can't conduct... at all... but it is okay because most of the time everyone
is looking down at the words of the Hymns... so it works out! Haha! Still, I am
grateful I can serve. I bore my testimony in Russian this past Sunday. It was
choppy, and very short... but they said my pronunciation was great even though
my grammar was a bit off, My companion told me I did very well, and she was
very proud, and many people complimented me. so i felt good about that. Russian
is REALLY hard... and I know I am not speaking very well, but I am not
discouraged because I know the Lord is helping me learn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Now for a huge miracle that happened
this week. Like I said, I am really awful at Russian... but it is okay. I made
the goal to talk to at least one person on every bus we ride. We ride buses to
get around the city. Well, we got onto one bus that was more of a really large
van. it was white and only had a few seats. Well, we got on and it was dead
quiet. It is really hard to talk on buses because Russians do not talk when
they ride the buses. They all sit and contemplate with stony faces. I have told
you that they really only smile to people they know and if they genuinely mean
it... well anyways, it is always a little tricky to start conversations on
buses because of this. So we sat down and I just felt very uncomfortable - the
silence was oppressing! It felt awkward, I felt like I needed to speak. I was
scared, but knew I had to. A woman sat next to me and I smiled as big as I
could to her - this is a tactic I use - I smile at people, and if they smile
back, or look somewhat amused, I talk to them.... she smiled back and asked me
"do I know you?" I get asked this a lot when I smile at people.
I told her know, explained I was a missionary and what I was doing here.
She was delighted that I was learning Russian! I could not understand her
very well, but I somehow was always able to respond. I invited her to English
group - A group we have every Thursday where we practice English. She was
thrilled and told me that she would not go, but she would send her
children! I was very happy! Then, the Lady sitting in front of us turned around
and asked if she could have a card too! I was elated! Then, as we were
leaving, the bust Driver asked for a card too and didn't charge us for the
ride! So it was free!!! Then, when we got off the bus, one more lady
followed us, told us we were doing a good thing and we got to talk to her
a bit about the Book of Mormon. She wasn't too interested, but she did
compliment us and told us we had a very special spirit about us. WOW!! It was a
miracle. I felt so blessed. I know that this was not me, this was God. All
"Success if given, not earned". It was a message to me from God that
he can use any tool he needs to share the gospel. He can even use strange,
lerpy, dorky me with my poor Russian. This is the true Church, and God wants
all his children to have it. Those people may but they now know a little about
the gospel! And what is more is it was a miracle for me to know that God will
always help me if I am trying my best - it was scary to talk to those people -
but God helped me do it. We are so blessed to have the gospel!! I am so blessed
to be a missionary! I cannot thank God enough for allowing me to have
this opportunity!! God really does love His children. I see it everyday.
There are miracles here everyday, sometimes they just come in the form of a
smile, sometimes they come in an attempted Russian phrase by me, sometimes it
is chocolate. But, there are miracles here everyday, and I am so grateful to be
a part of them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Well, family, I love you very very
much! I hope that you are doing well! I think of you often and pray for you
each by name every night - Ella too. I know that we will be a faily forever
and I know it is though the Grace of Jesus Christ and our merciful
Father in Heaven that we will be a family forever. I am so blessed to have
you. I miss you! I love you! I pray for you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Love Lolo <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-4027885464806561822014-07-20T16:19:00.000-07:002014-07-20T16:19:01.035-07:004/28/14<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Little children are the funniest.
Russian children are so funny because they are even more blunt! Children are
already so honest, but Russian children, wow! They just say it how it is! And
they are not afraid to tell you if they like you or not! We have some children
in our branch and two of them, sisters, are little fireballs! So funny. Everyone
loves them and they are always hanging on a ward member like little monkeys. Oh
it is so cute. The branch is very small, but very close. I love going there,
even though I can't really understand. I know I don't understand, but I am
never discouraged about it because I know eventually it will come!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Yes, I missed the Easter Traditions
too. One of our less actives asked me to write some American Easter Traditions
for her in English (she is studying English). She is one of my favourite people
here; she is so kind and so sweet.. She is one of the naturally kind people I
know; she takes in stray animals, washes them, feeds them, then tries to find
good comes for them. I love it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Everyone here has CATS! They are big
and furry and always looked slightly peeved. It makes me miss home! Haha, but
they are cute. And the Russians, they just LOVE their cats. They are always
petting them, fawning over them, making art of them (no joke). I love to see
them with their cats because it just shows how tender-hearted they really are.
Yes, on the outside, they wear dark clothes and don't really smile, but on the
inside, they are warm and kind! I love these little glimpses into them! I love
when the smile. When you get them home, and when they open up, it is just
WONDERFUL. I love the people here; especially the less actives in the branch.
Each one of them is so wonderful! They are my favourite to visit and when they
come to church, it fills my heart with joy! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Everyone rollerskates here. It is
cute.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Well, I love you so much, Please
continue to tell me how you are doing. Keep me posted!!! MUCH LOVE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Lolo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-63077649731232639942014-07-20T16:16:00.003-07:002014-07-20T16:16:28.039-07:004/22/14<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt;">Happy birthday, my dear brother and I
hope you are doing well! I miss you!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, here I am in Russia and I LOVE
IT!! When we came out of the airport we got into the car and started driving to
the City. On our way we passed by the most lovely trees. They are all skinny
and white and strectch their limbs up towards the melancholy grey sky. Russia
is SO melancholy, but in a beautiful way: it is a well written tragedy that
brings catharsis. Everywhere is the reminder of lost potential... their are
tall buildings with fading paint that are just slightly dilapidated; the
streets are all slightly dirty, and there is dust everywhere.... but it is SO
beautiful! Everyone walks around with big coats and muted colors and set jaws.
It is quite and gloomy and lovely, like a sad poem. I can't explain it except
that I love it despite its sad feel to it... but then, there are times when the
smoky clouds dissipate for a moment and the sun peaks through the grey,
lighting the buildings washing the streets with a warm yellow and it speaks of
hope. So much hope here! I know this because sometimes when I smile at a
|Russian, they smile back. Not always, and if they do smile, it is small,
brief, and tight... but I can tell they like it when I smile at them. The people
here are hard on the outside, but on the inside they are like warm gooey soft
bread. If you can get them to start talking, they just open up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My companion is a native Russian. I
just love her. She is so great. When she talks in Russian, I can't really
understand her but that is okay because I know the language will come. She is
so fun and very kind and patient. Though she doesn't understand why I say "thank
you" so much. I told her it was because my mother always taught me to say
it at least 3 times to someone when they give you something or they feed you or
you go to their house... she said "well, you have said it many more time
than three times." Haha.... she does not understand. Of course she
commented that I also say "sorry" often, but I have been working on
that. We get along very well. Sometimes I feel sad that I cannot understand,
but it never lasts long because I just remind myself I just have to continue
working hard...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I realized that I am the loudest
typer here in the libary we are at,... woops. Those Americans...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Anyways, the food is delicious. I
haven't not liked anything yet. I love it here, love the cold, the hats, the
streets, the people, my companion. It is great. I don't really know what I am
doing but that is okay because it will come. Sometimes I feel useless - I
follow my companion around like a lost puppy! But I am still very happy. Very
happy to be here. I just need to be patient.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We have not gone tracting or street
teaching yet - we have had appointments! It is wonderful. The people here are
so great. We have one investigator with a baptimsimal date. She was already
sechedules for baptism before I came, and my companion told me she was golden
and SHE IS! Oh she is wonderful. She runs with us in the morning. Yes, my
companion and I run every morning in the chilly wind - it is refreshing. At
first, I was slightly dissapointed because i felt I was not working because we
were not out braving the cold and throwing Book of Mromons at everyoe; we
just bounced from appointment to appointment then it was time to go home! I had
so much fun I thought "is this really missionary work? Am I doing all I
can?" but i guess teaching people is more important that teaching!"
still, I feel like I am having more fun than I am working and THAT has me
really worried! I want to do all that I can! What if I am slacking off? I don't
want to do that in my first area. So then I think "Gah! I got to be doing more!
I need to talk to more people on the buses!" Which is very hard to do when
I can barely say "my name is" in Russian, let alone start a
conversation with someone who has a set jaw and won't look at you! NO ONE
speaks on the bus. They all look out the window or straight ahead... unless y
ou are in love, if you are in love you stand in the corner of the bust with
your arms wrapped around each other whispering sweet nothings as the bus
jostles you about. I glance around, try to speak, and then find I have nothing
to say because I don't KNOW HOW to say anything. Hahaha! And that is how it
is for everything, not just the language, but with traveling, appointments,
calling... everything! I think "I have to do more! I need to be more
involved!" Then I realize... "oh, i have no idea what Iam
doing... so I start to follow my companion again, who pats me on the head and
says something Russian that I can't understand.... but I think means
something like "good dog." Just kidding, she does not pat me on the
head. We walk arm in arm and talk and laugh as I attempt to speak Russian. I am
really bad at Russian. And I mean, REALLY bad. But it is okay, it will come. I
love it here!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Okay, Now some slightly sad news: one
of my bags got lost. Yes! I am so sad, but really it was a HUGE blessing
because the bag that made it had my most handy and favourite clothes and all my
books and most of my essentials. But, I lost many things in the other bag too
and I was so sad! First, all my contacts, yes ALL of them, were in my other
bag. So, good thing I have three very trendy pairs glasses I can sport.
Second, I lost all my tolietries. I had my toothbrush, some eyeliner and mascara
with me, but all of my makeup, deoderant, hair supplies, make up remover -
gone. Lucikly I still have my oil of olay in my other bag, so I have that
still! Then, I also lost some clothes and , the thing I am most sad about, the
beautiful blue leather gloves that Dad bought me for my mission! I have been
waiting all of the MTC to wear them and the day I could I realized they were in
my other suitcase, lost somewhere in Russia... and I lost my green bag... SO
SAD!!!! But, ti is okay, because everything I NEEDED made it to Russia... still,
others were kind enough to donate bobbypins to me, so now I have four. I pin my
bangs back everyday. It is easier that way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So that is Russia. Now I will try to write small
emails to you all. HOpe to hear from you soon!!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-42225199208840919682014-04-10T09:12:00.004-07:002014-04-10T09:14:33.552-07:00Spain MTC 4/3/2014<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
Oh I love to read your letters! They are candy! I am sorry I probably won't be able to write as long of responses. Like I said, I am here at the Spain MTC and I love it! I am sorry I was so negative last time in my letter. God is so generous to me and I need to learn to bite my tongue! I won't tell anyone about the secret. Thanks for all your love and support! I do miss you!|<br />
<br />
During the week, things happen and I think "Oh! I need to write home about that!" Then, when I am here, typing, I forget what it is. I wrote in my other email a little bit about what we do, so that is nice.<br />
<br />
This week has been really good. I decided after I wrote you I was being silly and I needed to bet better. So, i vented to Sister Haynie, told her I was feeling a bit discouraged, but I knew I was going to be fine, and I have been great since! There was one day we talked to a native Russian who was a real inactive person; her daughter works at the Temple, right next to the MTC so she came and we taught her--- well she taught us! Seriously, she talked the whole time, and has an amazing testimony, she just doesn't like to go to church because she can't understand it.... and she wanted to know why bad things happened to good people, but every time we tried to answer, she talked! Hahaha it was funny, and a good experience, though at the time I was a little sad becuase I COULD NOT UNDERSTAND HER!! Same thing happens when our teachers, who are native Russian speakers, talk in Russian! It is very discouraging... but after I talked to her, I felt a little bit sad and thought "I don't know if I can do this! I can't understand!" Then I remembered that God called me to Russia! And if I continue to study hard, He will help me when I need it. So, I decidede to work harder, and by the end of the week, I was able to understand SO MUCH MORE! So, I am so happy and grateful that the Lord blesses me that way. He is so kind and good to me, Mom, so many blessings! Always! Anyways, so I am feeling much better about that!!</div>
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Okay, well, I learned a lot. I realized one night while I was praying that I need more faith. I never thought I had a problem with faith, but I realize I do. I was praying to God, telling Him the desires of my heart, which right now are to change, I want to give myself to him completley, to be crafted into a tool that He can use, to dedicated my life to HIm! ACK! Mom! I cannot tell you how much I want that! Ugh! I can't even, express or say and it makes my chest tight and I just lkfjalsdjflsdfj! I don't know how to explain it! But I am so far, Mom! I am soooooo far! Haha... but that is Okay. When God shows me my weakness, it means I am coming closer to Him... anyways... as I was praying, the thought came to me that I don't have enough faith. Thinking that I am not good enough - that is not having faith in the Atonement. But it goes so much more beyond that!!! I think sometimes "Oh, James will never come back to church," or "I don't know if I will ever know this language... I can see myself going home and not knowing it" or "I am not good enough to feel the spirit when I teach. I know God can help others teach, but not me!" I can't really explain it, you see, I had faith that God can do those things, He can change hearts, He can give the Spirit to people when they teach, He can lead people to find those people who are ready, He can prepare people, He can fill them with the gift of tongues, he can do that, and I know that... where I lacked faith was that he could do those things with ME! So, I was resolved to study faith more... I know that if I try to exercize faith, if I am bold, coupled with the study of faith, if I understand it, find examples, and then apply those examples in my life, God will help me increase my faith. I know this! So, I got a brand new blue floppy Book of Mormon and I started to read and pray and focus on faith for just that Book of Mormon. I amr eading it through, and only highlighting or commenting on things that have to do with faith. I just started, so I am not far, but it is really cool to see. Faith is so powerful! And our faith here is an extention of the faith we had before in teh pre-mortal life. I am excited to see how the Lord will change me through faith..,</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yJtbInyWDgw/U0bDU4fy4xI/AAAAAAAAAB8/nqa6RuUzLFM/s1600/Lauren+Mission.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yJtbInyWDgw/U0bDU4fy4xI/AAAAAAAAAB8/nqa6RuUzLFM/s1600/Lauren+Mission.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
lolo</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-30721481806398058432014-03-27T08:23:00.002-07:002014-03-27T08:28:28.963-07:003/37/14 Spain MTC<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
So Spain, it´s an adventure... so is using this keyboard. I have had more typos already in the past two minutes than I have my whole mission! So sorry if I misspell anything. I really like Spain. It is a beautiful place; there are big tall red brick building contrasted with light blue skys with streams of thin clouds that stretch accross the horizon. There are many windows in the buildings, giving the place a feeling of openess. We are right by the Madrid temple. It is so beautiful! We got to go this morning, and we will get to go every P-day. So lovely. The celestial room was the prettiest celestial room I have ever seen! I really like the MTC President and his wife - President and Sister Lovell. They are really great and they made me feel welcome right away! So, I felt very welcome! The MTC building is on Temple Square. It too is a tall brick building that is very lovely. The first three floors are the church, I believe, and the last three floors are the MTC. We eat at the top floor, sleep on the second, and then study on the third - so it is like the three kingdoms of glory! Haha! It is pretty great. The food is good - all of it is very warm and somtimes I think the meat is mystery meat, but I still like it. Their pudding taste like bubblegum, so that´s fun! I have not met all the teachers but so far I have liked them - though I admit, I miss my teachers in the Provo MTC, they were the best. Everyday we have "sport" and that is pretty fun. Everyone really likes to play soccer, and we all get roped into it, even if you are inept like me; I am really good at hitting the ball... with my face. Honestly, the ball loves every part of me except my feet. I got smacked in hte face really hard twice. But it is still fun! I just wish I wasn´t such an embarassment when I played!! The dorms are small and nice. The sheets smell clean - of yummy spices and something exotic that makes me sleepy. I really like it. Today is Pday so we get to go out into the city and go to a muesem or see some ancient castles! Best Pday ever! I am excited! Spain is quite wonderful!</div>
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I am so grateful the Lord gives us opportunities to grow and learn. I can already tell that I am growing by being at the Spain MTC. I can also tell that he really loves the people here. Everyone involved working here at teh tmple or the MTC are so kind and genuine all the time. They all shine with the love of God. IT makes me want to be better and to tune my life more towards Christ so I can have that same light and draw people to me. Heavenly Father is so aware of all his children! He loves them so much, and I am honored thatI can be involved in teaching them. Sorry I did not have so much of a spiritual thought this week! But even without grand spiritual moments and learning, I know that God is in my life and in the lives of everyone around me. He loves each of us, that is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, for us. What a blessing.<br />
<br />
I love you more. I am going to eat and then will have 30 more minutes of email and try to write you each a little more individually. Love you!</div>
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Lolo<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-28882598710772358912014-03-21T15:35:00.001-07:002014-03-21T15:35:17.663-07:003/20/14<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I am going to the Spain MTC! What
what!?!? Yes! So, on Monday Morning at 6am I will be leaving for the Spain MTC and
will finish my training there. Exciting... and terrifying! It is strange,
because the night before I found out, I was suddenly overcome with gratitude
that I was at the MTC. I was so happy to be here! I love the people, the
learning, the spirit, all of it! I was so grateful that the Lord continued to
encourage me to go on a mission; and I was so happy to be here, at THIS MTC.
Then the next day I get called to the Spain MTC! I am excited, but a little sad
because I love this place; I think I have become comfortable here, which is
probably why the Lord wants me to go! Haha! What a great God we have! He knows
what we need when we need it! I am so honored He lets me be apart of His plan
and that He takes the time to bless my life individually. I am sad to leave - I
love my elders! They are great. Each one has a deep desire to serve and share
their testimony. They are hard workers too. They learn the language so easily!
I have learned so much from them and will be sad to leave them - we have all
become very close! It is fun to see how the Lord works in their lives
individually as well. He loves them, and He loves me, and He loves you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I am sorry that as of late my letters
have been choppy! I am just learning so much it is hard to put it all down and
make it flow. Plus, I only have a limited time to write so I just kind of write
whatever comes. It is amazing the amount I am learning; there have been a few
motifs however. One theme I have noticed in my stay here is that God knows our
name individually. I think I wrote before about the touching experience of
watching The Testaments; yes, that movie is dripping cheese, we could have a
nacho party that could satiate all of America, but there is still a powerful
message in it. As I mentioned before, I was touched by Helam, the father; he
spent his entire life preaching of Christ and waiting for him to come, and yet,
when the Savior did come, he had been blinded during the catastrophe that came
to the Americas when The Lord died. He had his son describe what the Savior looked
like. Then, the Savior came to him, called him by his name, "Helam"
and healed him. Helam was able to see the Savior, what he had been waiting for
his whole life! I realized I need to make the Savior the focus of my life! What
a wonderful, honorable thing to be called by name from the Crowd by the Savior!
And the blessing is that he KNOWS are names! Each of them! And he has a calling
for each of us to fulfill! This thought again was reiterated to me when I was
reading 3 Nephi 11. In verses 17-19, it talks about how Nephi was in the crowd
and the Lord called him forward. Nephi, too, had spent his ENTIRE life
preaching of Christ and waiting for him to come. And when the Savior did come,
Nephi did not clamor to see him, he waited patiently with everyone else in the
crowd to see the Savior that this prophet had dedicated his life too! And then
the Savior CALLED HIM OUT OF THE CROWD, BY NAME (!!!!! so exciting!!!) and
Nephi just fell and wept at his feet. It made me realize that I need to work
harder, I need to dedicate my life even more to the Savior, like Nehpi did. My
greatest honor should be that the Lord knows my name. Finally, one more
experience ingrained this thought into my soul, that it is an honored to be
called by name by The Lord. It was a story of a man named Joseph Millett (Or
perhaps Milett, or Millet... not sure... look it up, it is an amazing story).
Anyways, he had heard from his children that a man named Brother Hall had run
out of flower for the winter and needed more flower. Immediately Joseph Millett
(spelling??) prepared some flour for Brother Hall. Shortly after, Brother Hall
came to there house. He explained that he had prayed to the Lord for help to
get flour for his family, and the Lord told him to "go see Joseph Millett."
And so he did. Joseph Millett gave him the flour. Afterwards, Joseph Millett
remarked that it was "a marvelous thing to know that God knew Joseph
Millett." And that's the thing, He knows Joseph Millett! And He knows
Lauren Poet! And he nows Annaliesa Peterson! And he knows EVERYONE. He called
Jospeh Millett to the task to serve his fellow man and give Brother Hall flour.
That was a calling, from the Lord; and he was called by name to do it! I
realized that I need to be a servant that the Lord can call by name. I want to
serve Him and honor Him so I can help others like Joseph Millett helped Brother
Hall. Just as He said "go see Joseph Millet," the Lord says that for
each of us. Sometimes he says "Go see Annaliesa Peterson," and that
is a call from God, a call to you, by name to serve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I realized this and I had the desire
to work even harder. I want to be able to be a servant that the Lord can call
by name. Then I had the most remarkable, humbling thought. He already has! I
have a mission call to Russia, and at the bottom of that call is a signature
from the Prophet, who speaks for God, saying that that call is a call from God.
What an honor! But it extends far beyond that. Each of us that are here on this
earth have been called. We have made the decision to follow Christ. Because of
that, we were all called by name! And we have an obligation and the
opportunity, and the honor to live up to that calling! We each have a calling,
a call that we have been selected for by name! It is an amazing thing to know
that God knows our names. He knew Joseph Smith, He knew Nephi, He knew Joseph
Millett, and He knows you! Rise to the call! It is a blessing, an honor, a
gift!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I am so glad that I have this call. I
will do everything I can to endeavor to be worthy of it (yes I jacked that
quote from Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility). I am glad and grateful He knows
my name! What a blessing! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Now, I must go. I love you so much and I miss you! I hope
you are well. I will keep you in my prayers. Please continue to write! MIss
you!!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Umm.... I don't know my Spain MTC
address yet, but I will try to find out and then I will let you know ASAP but
considering that I will only be there 3 weeks, the letters may not get there in
time... you can just dear elder me!! GAAAHHHHHH!!! I miss you all so much! It
is not even funny. And I love you even more than I miss you! LOVE YOU!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-5568388153272088522014-03-13T08:42:00.001-07:002014-03-13T08:42:03.590-07:003/13/14 Happy Birthday Lauren!Today is Lauren's Birthday! Please feel free to send her messages at dearelder.com She will get those messages today! It is free to send her those messages in the MTC- make sure that you select the PROVO-MTC selection. She is not in Russia yet.<br />
She is in unit 78 and her mission is RUS-YEK. departure date is april17.<br />
<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9iW6sdB9iRg/UyHQkMhBkTI/AAAAAAAAABQ/dljDArZB5lA/s1600/lolorussia1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9iW6sdB9iRg/UyHQkMhBkTI/AAAAAAAAABQ/dljDArZB5lA/s1600/lolorussia1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
This is Lauren and her companion! As you can see Lauren hasn't lost her sense of humor!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7pvQ50UZ9ew/UyHQjr59lwI/AAAAAAAAABY/xQDBzzSZWV4/s1600/lolorussia2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7pvQ50UZ9ew/UyHQjr59lwI/AAAAAAAAABY/xQDBzzSZWV4/s1600/lolorussia2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Lauren and Her companion in front of the Russian flag holding their name tags.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hbr7rAFKsO4/UyHQkCbxW5I/AAAAAAAAABU/l2SfPawhdp0/s1600/lolorussia3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Hbr7rAFKsO4/UyHQkCbxW5I/AAAAAAAAABU/l2SfPawhdp0/s1600/lolorussia3.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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My adorably stylish sister and her companion. What beautiful sister I have!</div>
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She is so beautiful and has already made some great spiritual growth. She is doing well and loving the MTC. What a wonderful thing Lauren is doing. Happy Happy birthday to my sweet sister!!!</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-55019388007940137522014-03-11T07:39:00.003-07:002014-03-11T07:39:48.664-07:003/6/2014No major update from Lauren<br />
<br />
Here is a tid bit:<br />
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hope. I have learned a lot about
hope. I have not been studying it as much anymore as I usually study the topics
that I am going to teach investigators (we have fake investigators) and lately
I have been studying judgment (weird looking word). But I will tell you what I
have learned about hope. I have learned so much! I realize that hope is
necessary for faith. Hope is the optimistic factor of faith. I also learned
that hope is provided only through the Atonement. The only way that we are able
to hope is because Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for us. The Atonement allows
us to progress, but we can only progress is we have repentance. Hope and
progression are inextricably linked. Our greatest hope should be to become like
our Father in Heaven, but we can only do that through the Atonement. Does that
make sense? I have it written in my journal in a much better way, but I don't
have it with me unfortunately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Lauren's email is:</div>
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Lauren.Poet@myldsmail.net - She would love to hear from you</div>
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Lauren's Birthday is on the 13th! She would love to get some mail for her birthday!! </div>
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Her MTC address is: </div>
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Sister Lauren Poet</div>
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april 17 RUS-YEK</div>
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2007 N 900 E unit 78</div>
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Provo UT 84602</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-5242003158190931392014-03-03T13:29:00.002-08:002014-03-03T13:29:25.386-08:002/27/14-Part 2<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Dear Mom, </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Here is a long email.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, I wanted to tell you want I learned in the
TEMPLE - I realized that this world was made for us to use! And the Lord
"beautified' it so that we could enjoy it's splendor! When it was created,
it was perfect, a celestial state. Then a really sad thought came to me!!! When
we fell, the earth fell too, because it was under our dominion. This made me
extremely sad because the Earth in itself did not do anything wrong - the earth
was naturally obedient... it changed with the seasons, followed the pull of
gravity, grew as it was instructed, and supported life as it was created to do
so. But, because we fell, the earth had to fall as well. I remembered how in
the scriptures it talks about how the earth groans with the weight of our sins
- how badly the earth wants to be obedient! How hard we make it by destroying
the earth so it cannot produce life as it was created and how we make it filthy
with pollution and trash. It is in a fallen state, but does not wish to be. I
just felt so sad for the earth, and the sea, and the trees, and just everything
that was trying to be obedient but as in a fallen state because we had dominion
over them. But then I remembered the Lord
would celestial the earth again -- it would become the celestial
kingdom! So long as the earth remained obedient (which was it in it's nature -
no pun intended), the Lord would celestialize it. I realized, that it is the
same for us! We are like the earth. We naturally are pulled towards our
Heavenly Father, but we are in a fallen state. But, So long as we try out
hardest the Lord will no allow us to remain in a degressing state - He will
help us reach a celestial state.... why? Because HE has dominion over all of
us, the earth, the trees, the animals, the people - all of us. We are under His
name so He will not abandon us. I am grateful for this. How much He loves all
His creations, not just us, but the earth too!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Sorry you have a hippy child! Okay! Thought
over!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I have been studying language again. I realize
that as true church leaves the earth, there is a new language that takes over.
I call in "Language of the Apostasy" and it includes flattery,
bribes, hypocrisy, lies, and boasting. More on this to come! It is a
fascintatnig subject to me!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">So, is it bad to have favourite teachers?
Because I definitely have a favourite. His name is Brother Parson and he is
just really a great teacher. I feel that he is the most effective teacher as
well. He stays on point, he is very kind, and he speaks so we understand -- he
makes US figure things out. He RARELY speaks in English. So much so, that when
he does, it is weird. He has an amazing testimony - you can feel it when he
speaks Russian and when he speaks English. He takes the time to get to know us
as individuals. He is very much into role-playing, which I like because it
forces us to use the language. But I also like it because it allows me to take
on the perspective of an investigator and think about questions they may have
or concerns that may arise so that I can better prepare myself for discussions.
He is just a really good teacher. I have learned so much.. I have been studying
verbs like crazy - if you know verbs, you can say anything. I used to have such
a difficult time with verb conjugation in Latin, but in Russian, it has not
been much of a problem - I know this is because the Lord is helping me - I need
to learn Russian not for myself, but for the people I am going to teach. One
time, while Brother Parson was praying I heard him say my name in the prayer -
I thought it was very kind. He is a great teacher, I have great respect for
him. HIs wife is going to have a baby soon and I now from watching him teach he
will be a great father too! I hope I can know the scriptures and bear my
testimony like him someday! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My other teacher Brother Morris is also amazing.
He is great with time managment. I am learning so much from him. What is more,
is he has a great genuine desire to teach. He wants us to understand. He is
very patient and kind, so I like him immensely. I am amazed with his testimony
of planning - he is teaching me so much. He taught us how to create effective
study plans. I am learning at a much faster rate now. He knows what it means to
dedicate his time to the Lord. I hope I am better about that. I am already
obsessed with my time, but he made me reaize it is never MY time. It is always
the Lord's time, especially on the mission, and every moment counts. we teach
him as an investigator too, and he always asks very interesting questions that
are basic, but complicated at the same time. I like this becasue it really
forces us to KNOW the doctrine and to seek out what things the investigator
needs. He is a great teacher.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My Last teacher is Brother Ekkersely. He is
also a great teacher. He is very very fun. We goof around the most with him. He
keeps things light, yet serious at the same time. I really like him. He is fun.
He teaches very well too - though he probably speaks englisht eh most. It is
nice though because he clears things up for us that may have been confusing. He
seems like a very d worker - he comes in whenever he has an hour to spare. I
admire him for this. He is very smart and chill. He is also good at listening.
There is one elder that he always takes time to listen too and talk to. He is a
very kind person.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">So really, I love all my teachers. They are all
great!! Like I said, they are all married. They each have different things and
yet they all work together to teach us. I love it! I love the MTC!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">We sing in Russian and like I said we
pray in Russian. It is fun. The langauge is coming slowly, but it is coming!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-41894873805412203872014-03-03T13:24:00.001-08:002014-03-03T13:24:12.845-08:002/27/14<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Anyways, I have some bad news.
Apparently I may have misread the thing - I may not be allowed to have a blog
at all when I am in Russia! For now in the MTC it is fine. But, when I go there
I will get more information and find out what is appropriate and not. I thought
I could have a blog if I left out names and places of where we were - I thought
I had to do that for every letter - but my companion thought we COULD mention
names and places, we just coulnd't post ANYTHING on blogs. So, I will find out
at let you know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Anyways.... now for some other stuff.
So. I am just here at the MTC. I love love love love love it. It is amazing.
The spirit of the Lord is so strong here. Everyone is working their hardest and
trying their best to serve the Lord. I love the feeling that it produces. I
have noticed my English vocabulary that I have worked so hard to cultivate and
nurture is starting to wane. I was somewhat sad, but then I realized it was
actually a great thing because it just means I am making room for the Russian
language. I am learning so much. I am amazed at the blatant blessings from the
Lord that He gives me. I could hardly grasp Latin, but with Russian I am
learning more and more everyday and I know it's because God is helping expand
my understanding. He is opening my heart and my mind to receive the Russian
language. I realized part of this was the difference of my motives. I was just
trying to learn Latin for me, but I am learning Russian in order to become a better
Missionary so that I can be a useful tool for God in Russia. I want to be of
use to Him. I can only do this if I remove negative emotions such as pride,
envy, contention and so that the Holy Ghost can fill me and teach what needs to
be taught. I know that I, myself, do nothing; it's all the Lord. I just need to
do my best to be living and working in a way that is acceptable to him so that
I can feel the Spirit and the Spirit can teach. It really is an amazing thing.
I am continually humbled every day at the honor it is to be a servant of the
Lord. I used to get discouraged about the concept of being a servant for the
Lord -- the reason being that I knew whatever I did I would never be a
profitable servant; I could work and try, and work some more, but I would never
be able to repay that incredible debt that the Lord suffered for me in the
garden and on the cross. What was more, is my debt was continually growing as
He would continually bless me. I do not deserve those blessings - I am already
in His debt! I was saddened that no matter what I could do, I would always be
an unprofitable servant. But then one day I realized something! It is true, I
am an investment in the Lord, so therefore I can never pay Him back. Really,
all of this is to help me so naturally I will be unprofitable, but I came to
the realization that though I would never be a profitable servant, I could be a
faithful one. I can work and work and work to show Him my gratitude. I can work
and say thank you to show him how grateful I am and how humbled I am for this
opportunity to serve. I get the chance to interact with more of Gods beautiful
children, here in the MTC and eventually in Russia. I know that each of them
are special. I know that He wants each of them to return to Him. I know he has
a specific, individual plan for each of them... I am honored that He has
selected me (and was patient with me as I came to terms with the call to serve)
to be apart of His plan for those children. I know that I may never baptize
anyone one (maybe I will, who knows!) but I know that so long as I work hard,
those seeds are planted. That is a start. I am just happy and humbled to be a
part even that much. How Great and Marvelous is our God! to come up with such a
loving, specific, and nurturing plan for each of us! His plan will have the
highest rate of return, it will have the highest success rate. I am comforted
by the love of our Father and our Savior. What an immense sacrifice for both of
them. I often think of the Savior bleeding in the garden and on the cross -
what pain and agony He suffered just to give us OPPORTUNITY. Then I think of
our great, merciful, Father in Heaven - how hard it must have been to watch His
son suffer as He did! Yet He stood by and watched, and waited, and sorrowed so
that we could have a CHOICE to return to Him. It wasn't guaranteed that we
would all return to Him - He knew some of us wouldn't... in that way the
sacrifice was heightened! But He knew that agency was essential, and He knew
the price of agency, though great, was worth it. What a glorious gift both our
Father in Heaven and our Savior provided for us. What a sacrifice for both of
them. We need to take every opportunity and every choice and dedicate them to
the Lord, so that we can return to our Heavenly Parents and our celestial
Brother. I am so humbled by their love... I just hope that I can maintain a
holy spirit about me so that I can be the faithful servant the Lord expects me
to be. I have heard an analogy for it before - it is like piano lessons. Piano
lessons are already paid for by a parent, just like we were already bought
through the Atonement. However, it is choice of the child whether they practice
or not. When we practice, or when we obey his commandments and use the gift He
gave us, that is us showing our gratitude for the price that was paid for us. I
thought it was a cool analogy. So, here I am, in the vineyard, I am working as
hard as I can and I will continue to do so! I want to serve those wonderful
children of our Father! I am excited to do so!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, thank you for your letters - both
the dear elders and the written letters. You have such beautiful handwriting! I
really appreciate your spiritual thoughts. They are like spiritual candy, I pop
them in and the sweet taste lingers throughout the day. I often roll them
around in my mind and think of you words; thank you so much for the
encouragement. Thank you so much for your love.</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-84360620294518501852014-03-03T13:10:00.000-08:002014-03-03T13:10:23.417-08:002/20/14This is 2 emails from Lauren- they are from the same day, just different times.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I am where I need to be and am as happy as
taffy when she gets loves as she stands on the computer and there is no
dread-lock picking. Speaking of which, I am sorry to here of the plights of her
majesty -- it is hard to be small and furry. She has to look cute, sleep, eat,
and get fed, ALL DAY. Life IS difficult indeed. Please send her my condolences.
I love you Dear Elders. Please continue them. They give me a much needed boost
of encouragement at the end of the day. I love your little tidbits of gossip,
as they remind me of the world outside, yet at the same time remind me of how
in this place, life is different and I need to be working my hardest. And I am!
I am trying to at least! Haha. Anyways please continue to send them. I love
them. It is funny to me that you always mention the cat -- your oldest
daughter, Mrs. Peterson, does so as well! I love to hear of the arduous lives
of the forgotten felines. Alas, will we ever understand their inner torment?
Nay. How could we; we are merely humans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My clothes. They are lovely. but for some
reason I feel so frumpy! My companion is very petite and looks fabulous in
everything that she owns. Seeing some of the sisters here made me wish I had
taken a bit more liberty with my fashion; they are all so trendy. I don't need
NEW clothes -- I am happy with the ones I have it just will take a me a moment
to adjust to them and to arrange them so they are fashionable. I am feeling
rather large too -- I don't know why. Perhaps it is just all the sweaters and
flowy skirts that make me look so. I don't know. Anyways. I am only telling you
this because you asked me in your last letter what the lowest point was. I
would say my dress. BUT it really is NOT that big of a deal. Most of the day I
am lost in studying and learning so I don't even notice it or care very much
about it. I did the first day, but now I don't. That is not to say I don't take
pride in my appearance -- I do my best to look cute (and yes I am wearing
makeup. After all we are, and I quote, "encouraged" to wear makeup.)
but I realize that looking more trendy than other sisters is not my highest
priority. Does that make sense?? (I would say that phrase in Russian since I
know how, but I can't figure out how to change the keyboard...) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">That being said, that is the only thing that is
really be somewhat of a downer. Other than that, I have been completely content
and happy. It is hard to wake up, and sometimes I find myself dozing off a bit,
but I just drink some water and voila! I am back awake and alert! It is nice to
get up early - I actually like it. The day is not wasted that way. SOmetimes it
is hard to fall asleep but I am adjusting so it is not a problem. Really I am
SO happy here. I love the learning, the people, and the spirit. There is so
much satisfaction in what we are doing. I know that is selfish of me to say
because I should be focusing on the people I am serving, but it is
satisfactory. I love it. The Lord is teaching me so much. He knew me so well to
send me here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I want to hear more about you! I miss you so
much. I can't express, but at the same time I know that I need to be here and I
am SO happy to be here. Please continue to inform me as to how you are doing
and what you have been up to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Now I will say something at the risk of making
you angry but for me it was a spiritual experience. I have truly been
attempting to lose myself in the work; to study Russian, preach my gospel, the
scriptures and to serve my fellow missionaries as much as I could. Please believe
me when I say that I have not thought of Andreas at all. But then, one night as
I was laying in bed, I suddenly woke up and knew what to do for the problem of
"the sanctuary goal" that I told you about (and if you don't remember
that is fine I am not offended)! It was a little blessing for me. Then I went
to bed and feel asleep right away. I felt like it was almost an assurance form
the Lord to remind me that He has not forgotten about my dreams and will help
me when I get back. I am SO grateful for that. It reminded me that I had to
have hope. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Speaking of hope,I wrote to you in my letter
about how I have been studying hope. I hope.... (haha) that you get it soon and
can read it. But just as a brief summary I realized that hope is the optimistic
extension of faith. You need hope. As a district, we each decided to pick one
of the attributes of Christ mentioned in Preach my Gospel and work on it. I
selected hope - I am learning amazing things. It was really interesting, but
all of us picked different attributes to work on. I knew that I was so select
hope because almost as soon upon as I had entered the MTC there had been a
motif of hope in the talks, testimonies, and scriptures I had been reading. So,
when I saw that it was one of the attributes of Christ, I realized that I
needed to work on it. Hope is mostly associated with optimism - I often think
of what was said in my blessing when I was set apart - that I need to be
positive of myself. Then I also think of how it mentions in my patriarchal
blessing that I have been blessed with optimism and need to share it and others
will delight in that and wish to be optimistic too ( that's not word for word
but that is the gist of it.) So, I have been attempting to exercise hope and be
optimistic about my mission, my learning, and life in general. One of the most
beautiful things I have learned from hope is that hope is only possible through
the Atonement of Jesus Christ. If we were not able to use the Atonement, there
would be no hope because we would all be damned. Without it, no matter what we
did, we could never hope because we could not progress. Hope is part of
progression, if you do not hope for things, you will not strive for things; and
because of the Atonement we are able to progress, therefore, hope is only possible
through the wonderful Atonement. What a glorious gift Jesus Christ and our
Heavenly Father gave us through the atonement! Not only are we allowed to
repent through it, not only do they understand our pain through it, not only
are we saved by it, but we are also allowed hope through it. It is a beautiful
thing. I now hope to center my life more around hope, as it is a beautiful gift
for us that was purchased with many drops of blood in the atonement. So, in
conclusion, hope is the optimistic extension of faith, and hope is the
propellant (? am I using that right -- the fuel??) for progression and change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Well, now I REALLY am out of time and probably
went a little bit over. Anyways. I just wanted to say I love you and I miss you
and I am thinking of you. Please get better, I am so sad that you are sick. I
am sorry I wasn't able to write but hopefully these emails make up for it.
Again, I will always keep you in my prayers and in my heart. LOVE YOU LOVE YOU
LOVE YOU! Miss you!!! COntinue to serve the Lord and thank Him for the myraid
of blessings He continually bestows upon us and our family - the Atonement
included.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Love you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I hope that you are well. I hope to hear from
you soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Love Lolo <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">MOM AND DAD!!!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I MISS YOU!!!! But I am so happy to be here. I
sent you a very lengthy letter yesterday that should be coming to you and I
should be sending another one today. I got your dear elder saying that the
missionaries were given an hour to email their parents their first night - I
was not afforded such a luxury. I was immediately stuck into a classroom where
a man speaking only Russian began to energetically teach us about Russian
introductions and the gospel. It was great. Really, I love the MTC. I am very
grateful that the Lord knows me enough (and was patient with me enough) to
continually prod (don't know if that is a proper word to use with the Lord, but
you know what I mean) me to go on a mission because truly I know this is where
I am supposed to be and I am so happy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Some of this email may be a repeat of what I
wrote to you in my letter but to be honest I cannot entirely remember what I
wrote. I feel like my memory has both expanded and decreased. For example, I
find I cannot recall the words to songs (hip songs that is, musicals and Disney
songs remain unaffected) yet I am able to remember things in Russian, like the
different conjugations of verbs are based off of the gender of the noun. I had
such a hard time with that in Latin and I studied all the time! But with
Russian, though it is still very hard, it is easier. I know this is because the
Lord is helping with the language. There is no way I could be learning it the
way I am without the help of my glorious Heavenly Father. I am so honored that
He is allowing me to learn a new language because I know that language is a
tool that we use to improve not only the lives around us, but my own personal life.
I was reading in Mosiah (I think, perhaps it was Words of Mormon) that in order
to read the Brass Plates, Lehi had to know Egyptian. I realized that then in
order to be the keeper of the plates you had to be extremely educated, and that
learning the language was part of that. The keeper of the plates was probably
the most intelligent and well earned Nephite of them all. This made me realize
even more that scripture study should be not only a spiritual pursuit, but an
intellectual pursuit - we need to be actively engaged in searching the word of
the Lord; if we do so, He will bless us immensely. I know that He has already
blessed me while I have been here. More so than I deserve. I am truly humbled
by all the knowledge He is giving me. I just have to be diligent in my study. I
have been trying to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I love my companion. Truly she is great.
Usually i find it easy to use ,y words to describe people and things but I
can't really with her -- she is just that great. I really really really like
her. She is diligent and obedient. She is very fun too. One night we just
started walking home and we started speaking giberish to each other like it was
nothing. We laughed and then talked about how cool it would be when we would be
able to do that in Russian! Haha!! She is very fun, smart, and has amazing
spiritual insight. It seems like she has a deep desire to learn -- she wants to
understand the gospel completely. This is something I really admire, she really
does attempt to obtain the word before she declares it. I am inspired by her
desire to understand so that she can teach to her best ability. I am truly
blessed to have such a companion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The rest of my district is pretty great. I am
currently in the process of writing you a letter that describes all of the 5 members
of my district. There are four elders and Sister Haynie (my companion) and
myself. I would say that we get along very well as a district, I am quite fond
of them all. My companion is my favourite however. We get along very well.
Everyone has such unique talents that they bring to the district; I think we
get along well; perhaps sometimes too well as we spend sometimes maybe a little
bit too much time talking and not studying. My companion and I are very
different; I look up to her in many ways. I wish I could be a better companion
to her! Sometimes I feel that I don't always know how to serve her in my best
way. I try, but I feel like I am still not good enough! Haha not to be
negative; I am trying and that is what counts I think. But still, I will work
harder to be a better companion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I whistle all the time and it makes me think of
you, Mom. I whistle because I am happy. It makes me think how lucky I am that
God blessed me with such a wonderful mother who taught me so much about the
gospel; you taught me to really study the scriptures, you told me the story,
you taught me the order, you taught me the history, I am so happy and so lucky
and so blessed that you are my mom. Heavenly Father really did bless me with
such a wonderful family. It is perhaps by greatest blessing of all. Mom. you
are such an example to me. I think of how well you know the gospel and I always
want to be like that. You also taught me how to listen to others and how to
engage them in conversation -- I am trying to do this with my fellow
missionaries as a way to serve them. I think everyone wants to talk about home,
but it is hard to talk about when you are with the same 20 people and you have
already told them everything -- so I try to listen and engage them -- YOU
TAUGHT ME THIS! It is a great service to listen to others - I learned that from
you and form you example of listening to me. So thank you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Give Dad a special hello! Tell him I love him
and that I am thinking of him and praying of him. I often think of his quiet
humility and spirituality. I want to be more like him in that aspect; I want to
have humble spirituality like him. I realize (from the example of others (this
is not a very nice thing of me to say) that when you say sacred experience out
loud to much, or try to be gaudy in your spirituality, it loses some of it's
worth. Dad was never like that, he was always so humble. Dad showed his love
for the gospel through his quiet, complete obedience and his diligent work to
the Lord. I am grateful for that example. Please tell him so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My zone is amazing. Everyone is so smart!
Truly. Everyone has small beautiful handwriting -- mine is small, but resembles
something like chicken scratch. Hahaha. I am sure I could fall in love with
their hand writing alone had I not closed off my heart. Everyone in my zone is
incredible. For example, there is one young lady who is 21 and was at Harvard
studying German Literature; she is incredibly smart and already speaks three
languages I think. She is somewhat intimidating but I like her a great deal.
Then there is Sister Deiner, who lives in my room. She goes to MIT is and on
the rowing team there! I told her my Dad was a rower and pretty much the most
incredible man I know. That woman is SO smart. Sister Alvaraz is also in my
room -- I have never met such a happy perky girl before! She has such a bright
energy and is always optimistic. I thought that would be my role in the MTC but
she does it so much better than me. I don't really know what my role is in my
district and in my zone, but I am <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just being myself and doing what I can and I know that that
is enough and the Lord will have me fill whatever role he needs me to fill so
long as I am worthy of the influence of the Spirit. My companion is still my
favourite though; she is special. She is so special that I cannot even really
put her down in words! I really REALLY hope that we stay close after the
mission. I want to serve her but I just don't know how! Haha. Oh well, I will
continue t try. I don't know the other missionaries in my district very well.
There are two other sisters that I have not mentioned and then a plethora of
elders -- all with very neat, small, beautiful handwriting. What is it about
pens and handwriting? I am a mad woman!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Life here is great. I am so happy. I want to
write more but I have to get my laundry. I have about 20 more minutes on
the computer and then I have to stop. Thanks!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Love you more than I can say! Sending you all
the love I can spare from the Lord and His mission he gave me!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Love Lolo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-25364151450257603232014-02-20T09:56:00.001-08:002014-02-20T09:56:52.312-08:00Update<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Just a quick update.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As of yet we have not heard anything from Lauren. We are hoping to hear from her soon. If you would like to write her at the MTC here is her address:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Sister Lauren Julia Case Poet</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">APR17 RUS-YEK</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">2007 N 900 E Unit 78</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Provo UT 84602</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">If you would like to email Lauren please ask me for her address on HER </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">Facebook. Thanks!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I will post an update as soon as we hear from her.</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3568153614854729298.post-55427340537514132562014-02-06T10:51:00.000-08:002014-02-06T10:51:43.970-08:00Less Than A Week!Dear All!<br />
<br />
Gah! Less than a week until I leave for the MTC. Crazy stuff I tell you. Anyways, this blog will post my weekly letters as well as my current addresses. My darling sister has agreed to maintain it. Hoorah! Just for those who don't know, I am serving a LDS Mission in the Russian Yekaterinburg Mission. I will be serving for 18 months.<br />
<br />
My MTC Address is as follows:<br />
<br />
Sister Lauren Julia Case Poet<br />
Russia Yekaterinburg Mission<br />
Provo Missionary Training Center<br />
2005 N 900 E<br />
Provo, UT 84604<br />
United States<br />
<br />
This will only be good for the first three weeks that I am in the field as after that I will be transferred to the Spain MTC. The new address should be posted... once we discover what it is... haha....<br />
<br />
The Mission Office Address is As follows:<br />
Sister Lauren Julia Case Poet<br />
Russia Yekaterinburg MIssion<br />
620131 Yekaterinburg<br />
ul. Rabochikh 9 Offic 1<br />
Sverdlovsk Oblast<br />
Russia<br />
<br />
Packages may also be mailed to the address above.<br />
<br />
Thanks for all your love and support! More to come!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09955775024419346398noreply@blogger.com0