E. Eyers (AP) Pres. Sarton, E. hollingshead (AP)

Me and Sis. Lednova

On the bus after our VISA trip!


The Elders moved out of this apartment and Sis. Lednova and Brittany moved in
They left a note saying.....Sisters We welcome you:-)

Hey there!!

Hello!
So...it was a good, but long and busy week! Tuesday we got to go to the village, and it was so pretty an felt like home! I'll send pictures soon! I loved it there! That took most of Tuesday, then Wednesday we went to a museum for Culture night...wow...great, like so unbelieveably funny pictures...I'm send those too! And Thursday we plan for like 3 hours each week and Friday was SAMARA, zone conference! Saturday, Sports Night, and Sunday...well Sunday, church, meetings, I gave another talk in Sacrament...busy busy week! And we found 7 new investigators, 5 yesterday! It was so great! So, yeah, Zone Conference was great! Really inspiring, always is! Had an interview with President! I love him so much! he's amazing! I'm so glad he will be my president the whole time!...And I foudn out my release date...Sis. Sartori said it might still move, but probably not...so....March 5th! I get my full 18 months! I'm excited! Well...what else happened this week...we still have our one progressing investigator! he';s doing great! And we have about 14 new ones to work with, so we're more busy then I've ever been before! Pres said that he knows it's possible for us to find one new investigator a day, and since he's said it, me and Sis. Quinn have been working really hard, and have done it! It's so great! She's such a blessing!@ I can't even explain it! She's amazing! Honestly, I would serve with her the rest of my missin if I could! No funny stories this week...I heard a lot at conference, but they weren't mine, so it's probably not as funny to you! :) I love my mission! The Elders are all so great! So many of them are going home soon, that it stinks! But I'm grateful I was able to serve with them! Well I better go! i love you all and thank you for all you do! Take Care this week! Love,
Sister Wilson

Pictures to:)

Family!
Hi, how are you all doing?! :) This might be a quick one cause we tried a new internet place and we can't print out emails so I had to read yours first so it didn't leave me with much time! But anyways...to answer your questions before I forget...yes I have been getting Grandma's emails so she's sending them right! :) And well shoot...I already forgot the other questions...sorry! Well I did the RS training on Saturday and it went good....not a good turnout but we had representatives from each presidency so that was good! I did the first 2 hours of the training and then we had lunch...it was good! im glad I got to do that...it helped my language and I got to work in RS again for just a little bit! So it was a good experience! It was in New City which is about 30 minutes from my area. It kinda took up our whole Saturday and by the end of the day I was wiped out! But now is another week and we have Zone Conference on Friday in Samara so that will be good! And we get to go to the village(it's where the really nice homes are) tomorrow to meet with some members! I'm looking forward to it, except it really is a hassle to get out there! it's my first time in 7 months cause it is a lot of work! But we really want to meet with some of the families so it'll be good! To be honest, this was a tiring week! And I'm trying to think of what we did and I'm drawing blanks...we did meet with some investigators, one is progresssing...the one we speak with in English and this morning during study, our Zl's called with a contact...there is a guy who lives in our area that has a Book of Mormon and read some and wants to learn about it! Yeah....talk about miracle! he said two guys gave him the book about two years ago and he just found it this week! So we're meeting with him on Thursday! I'm excited! not often do people call wanting to meet with us! The branch is still doing good...I gave a spiritual thought in Priesthood yesterday while Sis. Quinn did Relief Society.(I had a woman with me, don't worry!) The Elders are out of the branch for a few weeks, so it's just the Sisters and we have Invitation Sunday in July and Pres wants us to do weekly spiriutal thoughts about it in the third hour so I took Priesthood this week...it was fun! Just like when I would go into Priesthood in America! Awkward, but fun! They told me I could come anytime :) But the Elders come back on the 21st so just one more week! Well...I'm going to go...sorry this is so boring, but I really can't think of anything else to write! i hope you're all doing great, and I'll write next week! I love you all! Thanks you for everything!
Love,
Sister Wilson

Rain!!!

Hello,
It feels like home here...it's been raining for three days, thunder the last two, and it looks like from what members have told us, it'll rain the rest of the week...so I'm back to wearing a coat, and boots! Anyways...enough with the weather update! First off...OMAHA!!!??!!! That is awesome! Tell Nate that I'm sending out his congrats letter this week! :) I'm so excited for him, I was thinking about it all week! On Thursday night, I was like, "Oh my gosh, Nate is getting his call today!" And I talked about it with Sis. Quinn the whole way to internet, so I was very excited and I'm even more excited! He goes into the MTC one day before I did! So when I'm celebrating my year mark in Russia, he'll be starting! :) We'll both be celebrating! That's awesome! Tell him I love him and am so excited! So...this week I have the RS training...should be fun! A little worried...it's two hours of talking in Russian!!! Which I do everyday but not like this! But I'm determined not to worry myself about it and jsut take it as it comes! We'll see how that goes! This week I was called Satan twice! That's a record for me! It sounds bad, but just picture two young American girls knocking on doors and a older lady with no teeth opens it, sees the tag and yells: "SATAN GO AWAY!" Yeah, Sis Quinn's eyes got big and asked did she just call us Satan? Then once on the street again,an older lady..."You are one of Satan's angels! LEAVE!" Yeah...it would be a let down and kinda discouraging if I wasn't laughing so hard when they said it! Fun times! I just think...if she thinks that I'm Satan...she's in for a shock :)Fun times proselyting! Anyways...what else...we have anew investigator that wants us to teach him in English so yesterday was the first time I taught an English lesson in 9 months! Yeah...it was hard and weird...I think when I get home, they should keep me far from any teaching callings...I can't speak English correctly!!!! What happened?! Oh well...It was good...he wants to meet again this week and he said he'll read and pray about the BOM! Our investigator I talked about a couple weeks ago is out of town and will be for awhile with a family problem, so I'm hoping everything is ok! We have a few other people we work with but none are progressing! We keep working though! Yeah we know that the work in Russia is hard...it's hard everywhere! We know people told us before our missions and in the MTC, "Russia...you won't baptize many" or "Russia...the gospel is slow there." But things that those people don't know...yeah we don't baptize like other countries, and yeah the gospel is young in Russia, but the fact that yesterday, an apostle of the Lord came to Russia...Moscow and organized the first Russian stake...proves that the gospel is growing! That gives us so much hope here as missionaries...this year they are celebrating 20 years of the gospel in Russia and in twenty years, they got a stake! What's next? More stakes!!! And all the members know what comes when more stakes are formed.....TEMPLE!!! And the Russian members love and respect the temple! It's great! They know what they are working for! They want the blessings of the temple in their own country! They want it for their own people! I know I just kinda went on a rant, but I just love remembering that it's not our opinoins that matter...the Lord knows one day there will be a temple in Russia...He knows! It's great to think about! Well next week the 17th we have Zome Conference in Samara, so that'll be fun! 1-2 days in Samara! I love Samara! WEll I think this is long enough! I will let you all go! Take Care! I love you all! And thank you for all your support! It means the world to me!
Love,
Sister Wilson

Hi everyone!!

HELLO!
Ok, so first before this gets too long, I wanted to have enough time to put in my guesses for Elder Saunders! :) HA HA! That's so awesome! I'm so excited! I can't stop smiling! Ok...so I don't know how many I get or how it's working but for me it was one place in the states and one foriegn so I'll do that...States: Georgia :) (reason...Nate...good BBQ! And you'll come back with an accent!) Foreign: Russia...ha ha just kidding, although that would be awesome!, that's not my guess...my guess is...ITALY! The temple is being built and missionary work is on fire at least from what I heard, and they need hard working missionaries like Nate, so that's my guess! Or England...cause you'll come back with a cool accent! :) I can't wait to hear...this week is going to be so long, cause I really want to know...not as bad as Nate probably...well maybe :) Tell him congrats for me and I'm so excited for him! Ok, so this week was good. We found new investigators, and two are kinda progressing. They are reading but not coming to church. We asked one investigator to be baptized and he said maybe but he wants to learn more first. So we are still praying for that! It's been great working with the members lately! They have really opened up to us and we are having a lot of fun together! It is reminding me of home now! We had a few fun experiences on the street this week...one lady, older Russian Orthodox, saw us talking to someone(member of the church) and started yelling at us that we were sinning and that we will be cursed by never finding husbands...the member and I just laughed. We left and I told Sis. Quinn what she said, and she laughed so hard...she had to stop and wait a little before going on, and then wnated to write it in her planner so she didn't forget to write home! I don't know if I can make it sound as funny as it actually was, but just picture a really old lady with a cane, yelling at us, and once we left, she watched us til we were out of sight...I wanted so bad to wave but I thought that would be rude! Anywyas the next day was sunny but had a breeze and we stopped one lady, again older, and she said, "Girls, I'm sorry but I will not talk with you becuase you don't have your coats on. You need to go home and get warmer clothes." Then she left. That was new...I've been givena lot of excuses of why people don't want to talk to us, but not having a coat on...that was different! Anyways...more big news, well not big, just big and scary for me...on the 11th of June I will be training RS again, but thsi time on the District level(stake). I was talking to our District President and he wanted Sis. Sartori to come up with a plan for District Training for the RS so I called her and told her what he wanted discussed, and she couldn't make it cause of a visa trip. She talked with Pres and came back on the phone and said they wanted to know if I would do it instead...ha ha ha! WhAT? I said I would I just wanted to make sure the district Pres was ok with it first, so we went back and met with him and he said that's what he wanted! His wife was in the presidency I trained last month and he said that he saw how that changed the RS and he wants that for the district...needless to say...on the 11th in New City, will be 25 women...RUssian women, and I have two hours to talk...ha ha ha! WHAT!? Sister Sartori is actually doing all the work...she is preparing what she wants talked about and I just talk about each topic....my 2 hours is on the responsiblities of the President and her counselors...should be fun...and nervewracking, but I'm excited in a weird way! We started sprots night last week. We get two hours everyweek to play some kind of sport...it was a lot of fun! ANd it is kinda a way to do missionary work in a relaxing environment...people come and we play sprots and ask if they want to meet! :) We're having an American Evening in July and a lot of people, nonmembers have shown interest, because the majority of people want to know about America, so that should be good! We're also trying to get an opne house started but that might have to wait...we have Invitation Sunday coming up in July also...it's different being on the other side of that one! I've been the member...now I'm the missionary...it's fun! SIs. Quinn is still doing great...all over the cold so we worked like normal this week...hard! Well I think I rambled enough! I love you all so much and thank you for all your prayers and support! Take care this week! And next week...I'm sure none of you are counting...but it's my half way mark...just thought you'd want to know ;)
С Любовь Сестра Вильсон

Hey there!!

Hey,
So another week has gone by which is crazy to think about! Time really is going by way too fast in some ways! Sis. Quinn was sick last week with a cold, which wasn't surprising...new life, new country, new weather, no sleep, always going after three months of the MTC, but she still worked so hard! I am way impressed and proud of her like everyday! She's amazing! We work well together and we both try our best with the language, and the majority of people are ok with it! :) Majority! But anyways, yeah, I love working with her! This is what missionary work should be like. Pres agrees with me and that I learned a lot from the last 2 companions, and it's made the missionary I am today so I'm good with that! :) So we have a new investigator that I am so excited about! We had four meetings on Wed and we were sitting at the branch building with a member and two meeting didn't show up, and we were getting a little down, but we started our next thing, helping our member with RS, and then this guy walks in and said he had a friend that is in America but is a member of this church and he saw the sign and wanted to know more. We took him on a tour and it was so great! After he said he wanted to come to church! We gave him a BOM and said we would meet with him on Sunday! Then Sunday, he came! And he stayed for all three hours, and said that he felt empty inside when he first came, but then something started building and it was a good feeling and he said he wants to keep coming! It was so great! We tried to have a meeting with him but that bombed...my fault for not explaining everything. We told him we wanted to meet with him and we had a member with us, a girl cause we cant meet with men by oursleves, and we walked into a room and he said, "I'm going to go look at the building some more." We were like, what is he doing? So the Elders called us like 5 minutes later and long story short, our investigator thought we were going into the girls restroom. Yeah, don't ask how he thought that, but anyways, we went out to talk with him and he wants to come to Sports night on Wed and meet with us then. He is a really nice guy! We also did service with the branch on Sat and it really helped our relationships with them. We left after three hours and about a hour later, a member called and asked us to come back and eat dinner with the branch so we did and they were all so excited that we came back! Which hasn't ever happened, at least now like this! It was great! They are asking us gospel/leadership questions and actually following our advice! The ward is finally growing again! Hey, there is amember here who is going to be in Seattle visiting her sister in July or August! She's the 2nd Counselor in RS and the one I've been working with! Sh'es great! So if you want to meet her or takl with her, let me know, she said she can meet you at the temple...she speaks English so dn't worry! :) Well I think that is all for now! i love you all so much! Take care this week!
Love Sister Wilson

Ok side note...I'm dying in the heat and it's only like 80 degrees! Yeah add like 30 more and thats summer in Russia! :)

HELLO!!!:)

Oh my gosh...so I know what it feels to be a hard working missionary...hard working as in doing the work, Sis Quinn is amazing! I love her so much! We have worked hard every single day including her first one! She isn't even unpacked yet...don't worry, we have time today! It's so great! i feel great! It's been a great week! She's adorable too and I'm learning so much from her! :) I know I'm the trainer, but I think it's a good thing when the trainer learns more than the trainee. She just came from the MTC where they are teaching the newest things so why not? :) I'm so happy to be serving with her! It's great! Here is an example...usually we would place like 5 Book of Mormons a week...since last Wednesday we have placed 25! :) AH!! It's great! We have found two new investigators and people onthe street are giving us contacts! It's not perfect but it's great! the biggest blessing I've seen is that I understand! Before I didn't understand everything and I still don't...but I have such a testimony that the Lord calls and qualifes...with Sis. Tedrow and Sis. Braginets I didn't NEED to understand...I tried but I didn't need to. Now I need to and I do. It's amazing! We've talked to so many people and I bet there were only two I didn't understand. The members all said that I speak better too. Our District President said that it's cause the Lord needs me to speak and understand so I can! The gift of tongues is so real its unbelievable! And it's so amazing to know that the Lord is 100% in control and it's all on His time! I love it! Sorry this is kinda confusing...the ZL's are here and they keep talking...which is great but distracting! Ok...they left...so the work is going forth and we're helping RS each week! Sis. Quinn has so much faith and desire it's hard not to be excited all the time! I'll try to send a pic soon! I'm so looking forward to the next three months. Pres said that he wants me to train the whole three training months so 95% sure I'll be in Komcomolcke til the end of July...but by then we will have our next visa trip...KIEV TEMPLE! YAY! so excited! I miss the temple so much but it's such a great feeling knowing that I'll be going in less than three months! We have our ZL day again this Friday. I'm excited...I learned so much last time! And it's alot of fun! I spoke yesterday in sacrament...a lot of people were like, "Sis Wilson! When did you learn Russian!?" Back sided compliment, but I'll take it :) So it's bee a good week! We had training last week for the trainers before bringing in the new missionaries and that was really helpful! We won't have new sisters now for the next 6 months so after 3 months, I know I won't be training! It'll be completely normal...I hope! Well I think I've rambled enough...my grammar and English are getting so bad...sorry for typos or anything. I'm to the point wher I think in Russian a lot so I'm trying to think in Englsih and Russian keeps popping up. That's a good sign I'm told! :) When I get home people will think there is something wrond with me! :) Ok...I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support! Take care!
Love,
Sis. Wilson