What precious thing isn't worth fighting for?

So, mom, I am going to send things home when I go on my next visa trip to Finland, and I already bought the soda can. Russians don't drink canned soda a lot, so it is a 7-up can. But it is written in Russian! I haven't found a matroshka doll (Those Russian dolls) nativity, or any for that matter, but I will still keep looking.

How many e-mails have I sent since I first entered Russia? I don't know...

So this week has been a very interesting week. We didn't have many meetings, and many people who we planned to meet with canceled on us. Just so you know, the stories you hear about missionary work, they are like oasis's. They are amazing and beautiful, but people don't realize that there are deserts inbetween. Sometimes, there are days, even weeks where little happens. That's okay, because the greater the desert, the greater the oasis at the end. So this e-mail isn't me being discouraged, but being realistic, because missions are hard. They are the hardest things you will ever face, but the reward far outweighs the struggle. What precious thing isn't worth fighting for?


Blini breakfast

So for Thanksgiving, we all went to the Mission President's house and had a feast. The food was so good, and there was everything that is in a regular American thanksgiving, such as the canned cranberries. It was never Thanksgiving to me without that can-shaped pile of mashed cranberries plopped on a plate.Thanks for the recipe for cranberry salsa, Mom! Other people actually had cranberry salsa before, but Elder Patton had never had it. Everone loved it, especially Elder Patton. President Gibbons shared scriptures about what he was grateful for, which was his wife. It just made me think about when I get married. I am already planning to serve a mission with my wife. I thought it would be so wonderful to serve in Novosibirsk again, except as a senior couple. Senior missionaries are there to show the example of people who live the gospel. They have a spirit of years of experience, trial, and faith. None of them speak Russian, but people can feel their powerful spirits. How would it be to serve with that kind of experience and spirit, as well as speaking the language? That would be amazing.

One meeting was a total flop. We got a call from a contact, and I had no idea who it was. He says he wants to meet, and of course missionaries pounce upon that like a pride of lions upon a gazelle. We go to meet this person in their office, which was a very big and beautiful. We get in, and it was an old contact that I remembered. I was a little confused, but then he sits us down, and this woman next to him starts talking to us, trying to sell us this juice product. So yeah, we fell into a marketing trap. This is actually common, as people invite us to their houses, and they only want to sell us their products. It's funny, but irritating sometimes. We told the saleswoman that we are missionaries, and that we will never do business with any company while on a mission, but she was persistant, trying to sell us this juice that is supposed to make your life better...yeah, we have a product like that, and it's free! It's called the Gospel! Want some? So we just politely left, saying thank you for your time. Things like that just add a little funny to your missionary life.

That coat that was in the picture, it is called a dublonka (doo-blonkah) It is really warm, and so you don't have to worry about me, Mom. I am toasty warm all the time. The socks and thermals are doing the trick, 

One of the most wonderful things about serving a mission, is that you get to make the most amazing of friends. You have a real concern for the people you teach, not just because this is a mission, to declare repentance to a people, but you are concerned for them because you love them. One of the greatest indicators of being a successful missionary is loving those you serve. Heavenly Father specifically calls each missionary to a place where they are needed to go, in order to find and help specific people. In a city of over 1 million, and being one of the biggest cities in the largest country in the world, there had to be a reason. I love these people, and I am so glad to serve them. We really are all children of God, and He loves us so much.

Read the Book of Mormon, because it is literally the word of God.

Pray every day, to receive the blessings from a loving Heavenly Father.

Keep the commandments, because that is the only way to live with happiness.

Love everyone, because we are all children of God.

Elder Hoggan (The Siberian Messenger)

Oh! and tell Britton congratulations for losing the tooth!