Ohmygoodnessit'salreadyNovember!

HI MOM AND DAD AND DREW AND EVE AND CONRAD AND CHRISTIAN!

Surprise! I AM writing home this week! Turns out our Visa trip is tomorrow so...neato! I get to talk to you again! (kind of)

What do you want for Christmas? It's just around the corner, I realized, so I'd better start preparing now. I don't know how expensive it is to send stuff to America, but I'll at least send some candy and pictures.

Oh my goodness. The beds here are the most uncomfortable things EVER. It feels like sleeping on a cardboard balancing beam. blech. So be grateful for beds too this year.

Oh my goodness II. Russians have like no holidays! I think this is a huge culture gap that is just always going to be huge because I don't understand how they can go without Halloween and Thanksgiving and (for the most part) Christmas every year and still want to live.

Wow.

Ummm, what else? I think I'm running out of time. Zone Conference this week, I don't think I'll be transferred, but...you never know.

Mormon 8-9 are so amazing. I read them today and had the strongest confirmation that Moroni really did see our day and was writing to us "as if we were present but we were not". Compare and Contrast with JSH - very interesting. I also thought of Elder Holland's talk on the Book of Mormon as I read his words - because after all that he had seen and endured if he didn't absolutely know that it was true and that those records were important - he wouldn't have done what he did.

Okay, I love you times a million!

Till next week!

Sister Smith

Laura's in Church News

Church News has a story on Elder Nelson's recent visit to Samara. If you look closely at the last photo in the story, you can see Laura in the front row of missionaries.

Brrr!

Здраствуете!!

You have no idea how long it took me to peck that out on a Russian Keyboard.

Anyway - HI FAMILY!

This week it got colder. My companion and I contact in Winter Boots now and that's cozy, but I'm still not sure how to best brace myself for December. The elders of our branch have had (as of now) Two baptisms this cycle! Woohoo! They're pretty great. Elders Hanson and Beck.

The funny thing about oncoming winter is that it makes everyone dress like Russians! (go figure!) What I mean by that is - the stereotyped image of Russians that I've had in my head ever since watching "Anastasia". They really do dress like that! It's funny. I like it. It makes me want to sing Anastasia-songs. And I do. Mostly in my head though, because English isn't allowed while we're on the street.

There are still tons of Women selling wares/vegetables/beans on the street though. I wonder how long they'll stay out there.

I think the trees are tougher here too - there are still some with green leaves! They're not full or luscious, but they're still lean and green.

When I get back I want to study the history of Russia. Especially WWII. I was talking to our RS President (Olga) last night after she'd been contacting with us and she was telling me about WWII in Russia - there are so many stories here that (I) have never been told!

The language is getting better. Thank you for your prayers! It's not easy yet, but I can understand most of what I hear now.

This letter is kind of scattered. Let's see, how to end this well?

Dad - you said we always have to be ready to teach in your letter. We already talk to all the ladies selling things around our apartment and everyone on the street, but our new effort is to find the members who have already been baptized and confirmed but for some reason fell away. I would second that and also ask you all to do the same thing. One of the biggest struggles here is the huge drop-off in members after they're baptized. We're trying to visit more inactives this week and get them to come back, but this is an issue church-wide - you can be missionaries too! It's all just getting his children on or back on the straight and narrow.

Okay, I love you with or without swine flu, but I hope that you don't get it all the same.

MUAH!!!

Sister Smith

Elder Nelson Visits Russia

HI FAMILY!

Dad - don't be afraid of worms, just think of it as a super-duper easy weight loss program. :) The only real reason you have for not wanting to pick me up is because it will be in DECEMBER. In RUSSIA.

The other night I had a dream that I was on a beach somewhere and I had the Beach Boys' song, "Cocomo" stuck in my head when I woke up. Then I had to face the uncomfortable reality that we were going to be contacting for 8 hours in Russian cold. woohoo.

And it's not even winter yet! This is "fall".

Deladna! (phonetic Russian = whatever.)

Elder Nelson was here this week and that was AWESOME. His grandson, Elder Preston Witwer, is serving here too (and claim to fame! He was my district leader last cycle which means I'm practically his great granddaughter). That was really special to see them reunite. He gave a conference for us missionaries and then for all the Russian members in the area the following two days. He talked a lt about family and the importance of strengthig homes as a fortress against the workings of the adversary - of teaching children eternal truths often and with love and expressing love for them and your spouse often. One funny thing - he talked about the importance of hanging images of Christ, the temple, the first presidency and the family in your home - especially on the Refrigerator and around the dinner table because those are prime spots for daily teaching opportunities.

He also talked about a temple in Russia and stated emphatically that Russia will not have a temple until the Saints here do two things: 1) get enough members to support a temple, and 2) convert their family history into a form that the church can use for records.

I thought it was interesting how much we talked about records/record-keeping. The scriptures are so vital to everything we do - so important to keeping us mindful of the commandments and covenants we have promised to keep. It's almost too bad that it's so easy to access the scriptures now - we forget how precious they are.

Yep, I was right. Already out of time.

I hope you are all happy and healthy and well. I LOVE YOU SUPER MUCH!

Till next week!<3 <3 <3

Sister Smith

Teach and preach and work as missionaries do

Hi Fam!

Wow. Busy week. We had a lot of meetings but not many leads. A lot of contacting, and at least two people we ran into this week were former investigators of the Elders who worked in this area many years ago. Unfortunately, they still aren't interested in progressing in the Gospel, but at least they have our number now - maybe someday.

Working with the members is great. I can't stress how vital they are - they give so much perspective to the Church/Gospel. We look a little like machines, I think, programmed to preach and teach, but they're real people and they know what it's like to live the Gospel and a regular life here in Samara. They have so much passion for the Gospel too! Since pretty much everyone in Russia is a convert of less than 20 years (usually less than 10), they also realize how much their lives have changed and they can share those experiences. It's great.

Has anyone told you that Elder Nelson is coming tomorrow!?!?! I'm super stoked. He's here for three days speaking to missionaries and members on Friday and then Saturday/Sunday, respectively. Don't worry, I'll take notes for you. :)

Okay, I have somewhat more to say on Russian oddities.

Food is very different. Have I mentioned the fleshy-colored meat-jello spread that my companion uses on bread every day? I haven't had the courage to try it yet.

Or Kefier? Which is like in between cream and yogurt and very sours until you add some sugar and drink it. That's delicious. I drink two litres per week. :)

What about Tvorog? It's kind of like cottate cheese, but drier, like sour cream, but thicker, like kefier but chunkier - anyway, you mix it with sugar and put on little blinchickee - Russian crepes - and it's delicious.

Also kind of about food - I think I have worms because I eat a cart load of food every day and never feel the effects. Sister Melneekova says that's normal for Americans, though, and that they'll give me pills to kill them when I come back. (haha, everything you didn't want to know about missionary work.)

I'm still wrestling with the language, but I can't complain because I remember saying multiple times before I got my call that I wanted to go some place where I was completely lost for the first three months and then felt the click of understanding. God gives us the desires of our hearts! :)

One cool thing about the gift of Tongues, though: Yesterday in companionship-inventory, Sister Melneekova told me that sometimes while we're contacting I'll be talking and using all kinds of words that I shouldn't know with as much experience as I have. She said, "I can't understand how your Russian can be so bad and then you something so intelligent!" (roughly translated). That was neat. At least I sound smart sometimes.

I hope you're all healthy (again) and happy and having a jolly old time preparing for Halloween. They don't celebrate it here, but I'M going to. And then play Christmas music that night.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Sister Smith

Love in Russia

HI FAMILY!

Wow, what a week. We started a new program where we work with the members every night of the week - they sign up to have their apartments open so that whenever we have a meeting that night, we can just call them up and tell them we're on our way and they're ready. It's brilliant really, and saves us a lot of time looking for someone who happens to be home and available at the time(s) we need.

There's something I've been meaning to do since the MTC, and kept forgetting until now. I wanted to speak to my Grandparents: Grandpa Mumford, and Grandma and Grandpa Smith. (I can send messages to Moms whenever I want :) spirit-mail.)

I don't know if I've ever told you how much I love you. But here, especially, I think about you a lot. The sacrifices you have made to be good people and how you continue to love and instruct your children/grandchildren even when they're too busy or distracted to properly thank you for it. One of the important roles of the Gospel is turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children. As I listened to General Conference this last weekend, they talked a lot about Families and their eternal importance. I want you to know that I thought about you a lot. I thought about Moms and Neill an Marla Jean a lot too. I'm very sure that as the choir sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" All three of them were in the room with me.

I have such a testimony of the Plan of Salvation and that it was created so that we can go to meet God again together. We taught about the Plan of Salvation just last night to one of our investigators, Lubov, and the Spirit bore witness to me again of how sacred our time on Earth is. It also bore witness of how important the temple is in forging the eternal bonds that will hold us together after this life. If there is one thing worth doing in this life, it has to be creating (and respecting) that covenant. I love you and I'm very grateful for you.

I'm running short on time again.

I had one more challenge for everyone, because Conference talked a lot about Love. I thought about something Mom told me once, "There's enough hate in the world, you don't need to add any more to it."

My challenge to you is to Stop saying you hate anything. You can still look on sin with the least degree of allowance, but I think if we want to be filled with love, it has to start with the small and simple things.

And with that, I love you! Glad to hear you're well and that the weather's nice. I'll let you know in eight months when we can stop going outside with comforter-coats on.

Have a splendid week!

Sister Smith

Laura's New Companion: Sister Melneekova

And the race against the clock begins again! Or continues...depending on how you see it.

First things First, I GOT YOUR LETTERS! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! It's the first time in six weeks I've gotten mail and I didn't realize how badly I was starving to hear from you until they handed me a plump little packet of letters. I read all of them! And I'm so proud of you. I can't believe how much older you sound from just four months ago! wow. I'll try to respond to the questions I remember, but if I don't...my apologies! =\

Christian - I sent my badge home because that was my English-MTC badge, I got a Russian badge for Russia, so I didn't need the English one anymore.

Eve - Sounds like you're having a blast, guess what? I FINALLY found you a birthday card! Not that they're hard to find, I just haven't had time to look for one. But Eventually it will be sent!!!

Mom - In answer to your questions, YES, I got the letters. And I hung your hug-letter on the wall next to my bed. :)

Kristin and Mike - Thanks for the letters!! I think you're swell. Hope your rectus feels better Mike, and Kristin - keep me updated with Invader Zim. Especially if he lands the mother-ship (wink wink, nudge nudge).

Right then.

Zone Conference and Transfers were this week. Both of which were excellent. My new Companion is Sister Melneekova from Siberia. She's a little bundle of fun. And very clean. She wants to learn English and was disappointed when I said I wanted to speak Russian all the time, but she's a good sport about it and I try to give her random English lessons whenever occasion permits.

Holy cow it's getting cold fast! This is normal and even warm for Sister Melneekova, but I'm getting very worried about surviving until Spring. Luckily, the ward members all say that this will be a warm winter (due to global warming or something) and that is A-OK with me. Global Warming is my friend.

I've been thinking a lot about Obedience lately. It's a big theme of our mission....

In my experience, obedience is hard primarily because, as Pres. Benson said in "Beware of Pride", it means accepting someone else's authority over you, and accepting their choices as your own. With some things, you can see the benefit of the rule and obedience is simple because you can see why you should choose it too.
Most of the time though, rules are incovenient or unpopular or seemingly trivial and we don't know why we obey until after we do it. You gain the witness AFTER the trial of your faith. I've found through obedience to Mission rules, many of which are very small and may seem like they don't matter, that every rule you obey brings you a little closer in harmony with the Spirit. After all - God is order, and exact obedience brings exact order.

Missionaries and Church members are often accused of being "robotic" because they choose to be obedient. If that accusation has ever come against you, remember that it's really just an act of faith and that our job here is to make ourselves one with him - to follow His rules and prepare to accept the same responsibilities He has. Obedience is faith. Go read about the stripling warriors again. It was their Obedience that exhibited their faith and gave them power.

And after all - do we think that the Celestial Kingdom has no rules? We're learning incrementally so that we'll be ready to follow the big-league rules when we get there.

Now I'm out of time again. blast!

I LOVE YOU!

Sister Smith

First Transfer Week

Hi Family!!

First cycle is already over! Wow.

We had a mini-transfer this morning. I am now with a mini-missionary named Yulia. She's a member of the church here in Samara and volunteered to serve a short week and half mission while we wait for more full-time missionaries from the MTC.

Sister Horenko is serving in another part of Samara right now.

It's like Utah-November here already. I need to buy boots today. There's not snow yet, but My legs are getting really cold.

The trees are beautiful though! They're all changing color and leaf-littering all over the place. I love it.

One funny thing about Samara - they have an amazing street-maintainance work force. Every day they're out sweeping the streets of leaves and litter (and there's a LOT of litter to pick up). They also have Street-cleaners that drive around cleaning the streets all the time. Strangely, though, there's not very much street-construction-maintaince. i.e. All the side walks and streets are really broken up and uneven. There's dirt and mud puddles everywhere and when it rains it gets really...fun. haha. Maybe that's why Russians are so OCD about their cars and shoes? Because when they're clean it really means something. who knows?

I've become the unofficial pianist of the ward. I don't know how that happened because I am not at all good at playing without practice and especially when people are singing with the music, but somehow it did. We've taken a keyboard (from the branch building) back to our apartment so that I can learn the hymns for meetings, choir and Primary. Speaking of which - our primary here is a grand total of six, if everyone comes. I think I know why I was called to serve in the Nursery last summer. Also - the primary songs are so much fun! I didn't know they'd translated so many into Russian already. :)

In personal study lately, I've been reading about Ammon and brethren again. Those stories are so much cooler when you're a real missionary! I've also been thinking about member-missionary work and a quote from preach my Gospel that talks about home and visiting teaching and the grand purpose of the church.

I think I had an epiphany.

In the past, I've always thought of missionary work as a separate thing - something important, but in it's own sphere in the church. Like the church was a big bubble, and missionary work was a smaller side-bubble. (I wish I could be drawing this...) Being here, though, has changed that vision though - it's really all just one bubble. This IS the purpose of the church - to invite people to come unto Christ. To get each individuals eyes open to the fact that our purpose here is to get outside of ourselves so that we can take his name upon us. Satan, of course, has gotten really good at distracting us and getting us to think that we own our own lives - that only what we feel matters - that a sport or a hobby or an occupation is more important than the Gospel because that's what's happening in OUR lives.

It's so paradoxical, but so simple at the same time! In Moses 7, we learn that we are really just given two commandments here - to love one another and to choose Him. Every other commandment can be traced back to one of those two.

And that's what really matters.

now I'm out of time.

love love love love love

Sister Smith

Laura braces herself for winter ... in September?

Well, that was a short week, wasn't it? :)

Hello again!

It's already getting really cold here. Members and missionaries were telling me horror stories about the REAL winter that's about to set in about a month. Apparently the enormous coat that I thought would surely be up to a Russian winter will probably only keep me warm for another couple of weeks.

Um, yes. I am scared.

The work right now is very interesting - I feel like I understand contacting a lot better now. And I'm much better at applying the Gospel to why they need it in their lives without sounding overbearing or like I'm trying to trample their religion. It's the greatest feeling to meet someone and after three minutes know that the Spirit is touching their heart for maybe the first time, then to ask for their number and have them say Yes! :)

Unfortunately, when we call back a day later, many of those people have already lost interest and prematurely hang up.

Luckily, I've managed to convince myself that all of those people will come back to the church later (the average person has about 7 contacts with the missionaries before they accept the lessons according to P. Bennett) and become fully active Relief Society presidents - they're just not ready today.

I've been reading a lot about the Restoration and the Atonement because I still don't understand how much of a miracle they were. The more I study, th more vast and miraculous they become. We take for granted how important the church is in our lives, but wow - without it, we would be completely lost. It breaks my heart when people walk by us saying "Don't need it" because they literally have no conception of how much they DO need it.

I think one of the greatest gifts the Lord has given me here is an identity. A mission strips you away from everything that made up your identity before: an artist, an animation student, a BYU student, a Wisconsinite, a Utahn, a Yogi, whatever -and lets you see what really matters. It's your heart that makes you who you are - how much love it has for other people, how much it desires an eternity with the One True God, how often it's compelled to reach out and be a friend instead of focusing on something else. I know that's been said before, but I never understood it until now.

I can't tell you how grateful I am to have the Gospel in my life. To have the privelege of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. To have the opportunity to talk to the Almighty Creator and our Father through prayer whenever I want. To be able to erase my (many) mistakes through the Atonement whenever I desire to Repent. What a precious, incomparable gift he gave us!

And it's free.

For everyone.

I hope you know that I know it's true. And that I love you and pray for you all the time. I'm so grateful to have you as my family. And to know that you will ALWAYS be my family.

Okay, I'm crying now.

Have a great week, much much love,

Sister Smith

Dispatch from Russia ... Finally!

Laura has been having trouble with the Internet in Russia, and we didn't hear from her for two weeks straight. Last week, we received a short "I'm alive" message, but this week she finally managed a real letter home. Even this week, however, it came surprisingly late for reasons she explains ...

HI FAMILY!

So, this was an irregular week too. We swapped our P-day to today so that we could go hiking on the Volga with one of our investigators, Valentina. She's awesome. She's a member of the Russian Orthodox church and not very open to praying or reading the book of Mormon, but she has us over for tea with another member of the ward about once week and always listens very attentively to our spiritual thoughts - I asked her last week to do something that I've started doing on my mission too: at the end of every day, record one miracle - one way that you've seen the Lord's hand in your life. For me, sometimes it's just that I survived - that my leg didn't hurt enough to make us stop or that I could keep smiling when I felt like my companion and the rest of Samara wanted to dump me in a ditch. But most of the time, I'm surprised at how many times I don't accredit the Lord's hand in my life - how many times I feel like I go only get to the end of the block and then five blocks later we find someone who gives us their number and promises to meet with us later that week.

It's really amazing.

Speaking of which, I was reading the Ensign from August read the article about Opening the Heavens through quiet time with Heaveny Father in prayer in the morning. There is something really special about the morning hours - that's the cleanest-slate time of the day and the time when our minds our most receptive to His inspiration, I guess. But here's my challenge to you: Kind Benjamin gives a fantastic promise in Mosiah 4:12 (-14), under the conditions of verse 9-11. Read that promise, then read what's required (you'll probably find that you're well on your way already) and then test the counsel our leader's have given us and wake up just a couple of minutes early, get ready, and then find a quiet place and just talk to Heavenly Father. Then Listen.

I'm trying this as my experiment this week too and if I can do it after Walking 9 hours a day, I KNOW you can too.

We'll meet back next week, kay? :)

Oi! I'm already running out of time. My goodness.

Okay, other fun stuff:

- Women here LOVE heels, did I mention that already? It's very strange. Of course, heels look good but I can think of no power on Earth that would compel me to wear heels every day while raising children and walking on Russian streets. That is very uniquely Russian.

- Everyone here carries around...what shall I call them? Glorified shopping bags. They're plastic and they look kind of like grocery bags only they have pretty pictures of cats of flowers or girls or whatever printed on the outside, and a caption that says "Cats" or "Flowers" or "Mexico" (always in English too). Both men and women have them and they use them like briefcases or purses. I cannot explain this either.

- One of the greatest expressions of love in Russia is to paint or spray-paint your adoration for someone on the street or on their apartment building. Half of the graffitti in this city is stuff like, "I LOVE YOU TONYA" or "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CVETA!" We see billboards too that people rent to say happy birthday to their sweetheart or ask them to marry them. I was really confused the first time I saw one because I couldn't figure out what they were selling - a cd? roses? Who's Alecksei, anyway? Eventually I figured it out - they just like to display a affection VERY publicly.

- The food is pretty great. Right now is harvest time so everyone is coming in from their farms to sell fresh fruits and veggies. There are also candy vendors everywhere. Even their mayonaise is pretty good! I'm not a mayo-person, but my mission president informs us that they have perfected the art of mayonaise here.

Oh, and The milk is thick, but pretty normal - no worries.

Okay, times running out now, I'll have to do more next week.

I LOVE YOU!

<3 Sister Smith

P.S. update on the address - use the one on facebook, apparently we are only allowed mail through the mission office, so that one's valid.

First Taste of Russia

HI MOM AND DAD AND DREW AND EVE AND CONRAD AND CHRISTIAN!!!
(and anyone else who reads these)

So...

Most of the horrible rumors I heard about Russia are false. At least for this part of Russia. [Dad: Of course, Laura doesn't actually mention what this part of Russia is! Where are you, Laura?] The water's clear (we shouldn't drink it but it's not fatal or brown), the keyboards are douled [Dad: Is the a word? In English? "Doubled," perhaps?] with English and the food is AWESOME. The milk is like 6% which is terrible and wonderful at the same time, the cheese is different but still yummy and the cornflakes, cookies and cakes are rad too. I always thought American-norms for sugar were a little extreme anyway, so having it dumbed down a little is perfect.
More details on food later, My (Ukrainian) companion (Sister Horenko) promised that we'd have more adventures this week.

The church here is tiny, but according to the numbers Pres. Bennett gave us, this mission is growing even faster than Brazil did in it's beginning years! How cool!

Tidbit: be grateful for how clean American streets are. I had no idea dirt could be so aggressive. It helps that it was raining too, but oh my goodness, my shoes are a disaster.

I suppose you want to know about the trip too?

It was great! First flight to atlanta we gave Ilene, the woman sitting next to us, a pass along card. She said she'd pray for us. [Dad: There's a sentence with double meaning!]

Second flight to Moscow was most excellent too. I sat next to Valera - a Russian man who lives in Washington now with his wife and daughter and was going back to Russia for vacation/family. I showed him pictures of my family and told him about temples and sealings and the Proclamation to Family. I let him read it in Russian and he really liked it. Then he started asking questions - about polygamy, marriage etc. and we answered him using the BoM. He loved reading it too! Most of my part was a hybrid of English and Russian and what he didn't understand he took to the native speakers and they explained it more for him.

Near the end of the flight, he asked if we had an extra Book of Mormon that he could have.

uh... YES.

He talked with his wife about it for the rest of the trip and I started playing with his daughter, Dasha, who was adorable incarnate.

I hope they look more into the church later.

Third flight: Moscow to Samara, I was so sleep-deprived I was passing out, but CT. Lowis two of the natives ended up teaching a guy next to them and gave him my Book of Mormon in between turning down his offers for beer.

I didn't see the rest because I really did pass out then, but from what they said, it went well.

Since I've been here it's been a lot of meetings and lessons and walking. One of the rumors that is true: Russians don't smile. Dreary, yes, but I love it because whenever I smile or wave or say good morning they have NO IDEA how to react. It's kind of funny.

Spiritual Thought of the week: President Monson's talk and John 16:33, "Bee of good cheer" :)

Hope everything is well at home! If you want to send me letters, Dearelder is probably the best bet - just put in the new Russia address (I'm pretty sure I put that one on facebook). It'll get to me eventually.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
The Gospel is True
and I love you!

Sister (Laura) Smith

Russia!

From the Mission President's letter to Laura's parents ...

I wanted to let you know that your daughter arrived here in the Russia Samara Mission last night at 9:45 pm* from Salt Lake City via Moscow. By the time we got her and her group to the mission apartments it was well past midnight and so we let her get a good nights sleep so that she could awake full of energy....**

We are not sure what you have heard about the Russian Missions, but we have loved every minute of our time here, feel completely safe and we have fallen in love with the Russian people, especially the faithful Russian saints.

Miracles are happening all around us and we know the Lord has prepared many of these souls to accept the gospel. We know that your daughter is one of the valiant ones reserved specifically for this time in this mission and Sister Bennett and I are honored to be able to serve with her....

Thank you again for all you have done in preparing such a special daughter of our Heavenly Father and for having the faith to let her serve here with us.

May the Lord bless and keep you.


Love,

President Randall K. Bennett
Russia Samara Mission

* Samara is 11 hours ahead of Utah, which means that Laura arrived at 10:45 am on Tuesday (Utah time), almost 30 hours after she left the Missionary Training Center in Provo.

** Laura's parents think that she looks tired, not full of energy, but we are grateful that she arrived safely. And we are grateful to the Bennetts for watching over her.