Seestra Kalli!: 2010

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

November 1

Hi Family!

What cute little neices and nephews I have! Happy belated Halloween!

Yesterday and today have been amazing. That extra hour of sleep really made a difference! I love Daylight Sayvings.

Dad, two talks at Conference! Talk about pressure. I heard you did a great job!

Mom, I'm sorry you're not feeling 100% : ( I hope you get to feeling better soon. The story of you leaving the car door wide open made me laugh. Thanks for keeping the entertainment going, and I mean that sincerely! Thanks for the advice and support about everything. Mom always knows what to say.

Thanks for writing Chris and Francisca : ) You have the most adorable kiddos and I can't wait to meet them. Harmon looks so big and grown-up! I can't wait to hear him talk! I love you both and I hope you are hanging-in there with the cupcakes. Twins must be so hard! You're amazing : )

Life in Botanika was great this past week! The work is back to nromal, and we were super busy, which was way nice. We had a lot of needed meetings with our investigators, and we got a lot done. Sister Muhlestein is great. She is way down to earth and really cares about the people. I feel like we have known each other for a long time already, but this was really our first week together. Here are some highlights:

We created a Bible Study class with the members of our English Club. They kept asking to do more English classes a week, but because we aren't allowed to do that, we told them we could meet with them if we only talked about God and spiritual things. We didn't think they would agree really, and we thought that if they didn't want to do it, it would stop them from asking about more English classes during the week, win-win situation. But, they agreed! We had our first Bible study with them last week and it went amazingly well. The people opened-up a lot, and by the end of the hour, we were all in tears. We talked about how they had each seen the hand of God in their lives specifically. It was interesting, some said they hadn't noticed God at all, and other people shared with us some really touching, personal stories. By the end of the class, everybody was able to identify something in their life that proved God's love for them, whether it was a successful marriage, a new baby, or something. It was really beautiful, and we even got one of them to agree to meet with us outside of class! His name is Eugene and he has already read the Book of Mormon, but has a lot of questions about it. I think the questions are going to be more intellectual-historical, not doctrinal, but either way, we'll try and keep our lesson with him next Wednesday on the spiritual things, and not get into a debate about whether or not you can prove the Book of Mormon is true, because you can't really. So, that was really exciting, and a couple of long-time English Club goers said they actually looked at the Church website, and one asked for a Liahona after class last week. We want to Baptize our whole English Club! We'll see anyways : )

Lena is still on track for the baptizm the 20th! Yay! We are trying to find her some really close friends in the Church, and not just acquaintances. I will be super sad if she ever goes inactive. I really don't think she will, but I do want her to have a good support system at the Church. She needs to come to Church every Sunday though, and that is something we are going to be talking to her about. She comes rather regularly, but we want her to understand that it needs to be every Sunday, not just often. She is so cool though, you would all just love her! Like, I think we could be legitimately good friends if it weren't for the fact that we live on other sides of the world. We'll have to do skype dates or something when I'm home, and you can all talk to her... and I'll translate : )

Vladislav.... well, we had an interesting experience this past week. We have been working with him really slowly, and so far it had been working. This past week, we were going to do another lesson about the Book of Mormon, and we weren't planning about talking about baptizm or anything, but Sister Muhlestein and I don't know what really happened. All we know is that we were suddenly trying tom get him to accept a baptizmal date. We hadn't planned that, but we mutually felt like it was what we needed to do. We were being somewhat stubborn with him, because six years is a pretty sufficient period of time to be investigate the Church, but he still didn't agree. We did get him to agree to tell his wife that baptizm was the desire of his heart, and that it would make him happy if that is what he did. We felt like that was a step in the right direction, and we pinky promised that he would tell us how it went at Church on Sunday. However, he didn't come to Church on Sunday unfortunately. We called him after the meeting, and we could tell that something had happened when he talked to his wife. He didn't want to talk about it over the phone. Obviously, it didn't go well when he brought-up baptizm with her. I know we aren't supposed to get involved in personal matters, and that family comes first, so we won't push the baptizm issue any more if we see that it is causing some sort of rift in their family. We have a meeting Tuesday, so we are anxious to talk with him about it.

We also met with Lena (the other one), Volodia, and Vladimer last week. Lena has started keeping her committments again, and Vladimer has started praying with us and in private he says. So that is really cool! Volodia is doing really well. He still doesn't believe the Book of Mormon can be true, because it isn't sufficiently mentioned in the Bible. We committed him to read it though, and he said he would try and read some more, and this time he'd read and pray about it. So, we'll see! He is amazing though and he would be a very devout member if he could get a testimony.

Hope all is well with you!

Sister Hakes

picture 1: they have random holes in the ground when they do construction, and with the traffic, and my favorite person in the world Brat Glagolev smiling with his gold teeth, I just thought I would share with you a little Russian joy : ) This was taken from our Branch building window.

picture 2: the Helsinki Temple! Isn't it beautiful!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

October 25

Hi Family!

Sounds like all is well back home, and that makes me happy : )

Well, this past week was... somewhat interesting, but good. We got back to Russia on Thursday early morning, and much of that day was spent meeting-up with Sister Muhlestein again and getting registered, and then we had an obligation at a Ward party, and then it was suddenly Friday! Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were good, though we locked ourselves out of our apartment Saturday night. I'll just tell you the story. We got back to our apartment saturday eveing at 8:30 and had a little time extra, so we decided to go downstairs to this little store and buy ice cream for an investigator that we were meeting with on Sunday, and we didn't want to buy ice cream on Sunday, obviously. Anyways, we grab what we needed: money, cell phone, and keys. We buy the ice cream bar really fast, and come back to our apartment building like 10 later, and I went to pull the keys out of my pocket, and I realized that I had grabbed the keys to the Church buiulding, and not to the apartment. Yay for me! We were officially locked out with out anything, not backpacks or anything like a passport for comfort (Russians keep their passports on them at all times and we're expected to too). We got some help from a lady that works at the building office, and she she called a locksmith for us, but that is way expensive, and they sometimes break your lock completely so you have to get a new lock etc. So, we opted for sleeping at the Sisters house in Center, and tried to get in touch with our landlord the next morning. He has a set of keys, but his phone was switched off all evening so we couldn't get in touch with him. My poor companion. It was her first Sunday, and we both showed-up to Church in dirty clothes, no make-up, wet hair, and nothing like a planner or anything. It was not ideal. So, I was trying to have a good attitude. We get to Church, and I realized how much responsibility I have there. It was kind of sobering. I love the people and I love serving them (a lot), but I just saw so much need, especially because we hadn't been there last week for Church (Finland). It seemed like everybody was needing our help or going through a difficult time, and here I am struggling myself. I thought to myself that it would be nice if somebody served me for once, and then I realized that that was a very selffish thought. I decided to just go to work, and stop pitying myself. It helped, of course, and I ended-up feeling fine by the end of Sacrament. I just hope that after my mission I can remember to serve others when I am not having the best of days. It really is the best medicine. I am scared to go home and have no one but myself to worry about. It is frightening, but I know that there are lots of people out there that need help, definitely not just in Russia. I'm going to try and commit my life to service. It makes me happy.

Oh and yes, we got into our apartment Sunday at about 4. So, no worries, our landlord helped us : )

Botanika is doing good! There are a lot of people that are needing support right now, but I know by the end of this week, everything will feel normal again. Vladislav came to Church and had a great time. He went to the new member class, and he was very engaged and asked a lot of good questions. We talked to him about prayer again this past week, and he still doesn't know if God really loves him. That seems to be the root of all his problems. And most of the time, that is really the root of all problems. We asked him if he sees God's hand in his life, and in what ways has he felt blessings from God. He didn't know what to say. I don't think he is accustomed to looking at the glass half full. So, we committed him to say only thank-you prayers for a day and see if he will feel God's love for him more. We both felt good about that, and I hope it will help.

Lena has asked Brother Glagolev (the Russian Senior couple) to baptize her, and she is doing so great! She was the highlight of my week. At first, we were somewhat frustrated because she decided to stay out all night Saturday and go to the Discotek instead of Church. Sad : ( We were planning on being rather stern with her when we met Sunday night, and I think she sensed that from us and started to act a little defensive. Instead of acting like mean parents, Sister Muhlestin and I decided to sing a hymn to her. We sang Nearer My God To Thee and we asked her in what ways she feels like she could be nearer to God, that way she could come-up with her own answers. She said a lot of good things, and recognized how important the little things are to keeping your testimony strong. We read the Baptizmal questions to her, to see if she was ready to start living like a member now, and she recognized that she needs to come to Church every Sunday, and that even a little sin here and a little sin there isn't going to work. We promised her that if she did the "small and simple things" every day and every week, she would maintain her testimony and not fall inactive, since that is one of her fears. She agreed and committed to do better. And she will. She always keeps her committments, and she really is converted. You can sense that. The best part of all though, is that she feels ready to be baptized! She answered yes to that question, and I really do agree. She is ready! Yay!!

Sister Muhlestein is great. We are having a great time together and I can't wait to get to know her better. She had a really great time serving with Sister Zaitseva in ZhBE last week while I was in Finland, and she got to see a lot of little miracles there. I am happy for that, and that she has a great attitude. Seeing that this week will be normal, we should have a great time!

Love, Sister Hakes

P.S. the thought of Sufjan Stevens dancing in a neon visor makes me happy. Sister Muhlestein likes him too, and we listened to the CD carrie gave me last year for christmas together. haha thanks bear!

i haven't yet received the surprise third package yet, but probably this week mom. thanks, yo're the best. maybe i'll wear the zebra-stripped headband off the airplane or something haha... it was so thoughtful of you. thanks for you letter this week. yes, it was very nice to hear from you : )

October 18

Hi Family!

How is life in sunny Las Cruces! Sorry, I haven´t yet figured out how to do a question mark on the finnish keyboard, or an apostrophe.....

Yay to Emily Marie Hakes! What a beautiful name. I dont think I have seen her picture yet. If any one gets a chance, I would love to see what she looks like. I am glad all is well with Joe and Katie. Sounds like they have their hands full! They are amazing. Dad, thanks for the pictures you send me from your cell phone. Nathan and Hailey look all grown up! Hailey is Melissa´s twin, they look so similar! And Nathan still looks like Joe too. Both adorable. I am sorry to Dad and the boys that football is in the pits this year. That is pretty sad BYU only had 1 first down at the game. Sorry! But, sounds like it was a fun experience to be together as a family-.Jaxon is 50 pounds! That is insane! Wow.

Mom, I got the second package! It has another headband in it haha! You are so cute. It was all zebra stripped. I loved it. I haven´t received package number three yet, but I´ll keep an eye out for it. I have no idea what inspired so many packages all of a sudden. I won´t complain, but a BIG thank you! You´re too good to me.

Mom and Dad, you need to serve on a mission! We got up this morning at 6:30 like usual, but here at the Temple Hostel, nobody was up yet. It´s just Sister Schill and I at the hostel, along with the Temple President and the Senior Couples who are serving here. We came down stairs to study this morning, and at about 7 AM, and a group of the senior couples came down the stairs together. Monday the Temple is closed, and it is their P-Day tradition to go swimming/exercise together. Their is a pool 10 minutes from the hostel. They all seemed like such dear friends, even though one couple was Finnish, one Russian, and one from Idaho. They could barely communicate, but they all just had the best time together. It was so fun to see. I thought to myself, Mom and Dad would just love their mission. Haha, that´s my story : )

Well, this week we had Training for my new companion at the Mission Presidentäs home for two days, and then I left for Finland. Iäm stressing that Botanika is being left alone a whole week almost. Ahh! We tried to get as much done as we could, but travel in our mission just takes so much of our time.

We did meet with Lena, and she has agreed to be baptized November 20th, yay!! While she is still somewhat nervous, she knows that she is going to do it sooner or later, and finally agreed on setting a more official date. She is so ready. We had an FHE with her at a less actives home and some active members came too, and she told all of them about some persecution her friends have been giving her because she is meeting with us. She hadn´t mentioned persecution to us before, so it was news to us. She said that when she went home last weekend for her Grandmother´s 80th birthday party, that she met up with three of her closest friends from childhood and that they all started telling her that she was insane for listening to Mormons. She was super shocked she said by their reaction and hadn´t expected it, especially from them. After a good 20 minutes of their ranting, she said that she excused herself to go to the bathroom to try and clear her mind. There, she said she thought to herself, ´´maybe I am crazy?´´ and that I have just been persuaded by these people. She said that as she thought this, she remembered us, her missionaries, Zhenya, Uri Popov, the Kaigorodavi girls, the President Rasband Conference, the blessing Elder Glagolev gave her, the first time she went to Church, and all the other times she has felt the Spirit, and she said that she knew. She knew she wasn´t crazy. She knew that the feelings and experiences she has had were real, and that she couldn´t deny the Spirit she has felt with us. So, there in the bathroom, she said a little prayer and asked Heavenly Father for the strength she needed. She said she instantly felt peace, and that she went back out to her friends smiling. She felt calm the rest of the night, and that, even though they were still saying things to her, she didn´t care and didn´t have a desire to argue back. She is amazing. Even though we are here in Finland, she went to Church by herself yesterday, and said she really enjoyed it. We are going to have Sister Zaitseva and Sister Muhlestein meet with her while I am here in Finland. I feel like, among other things, she is the reason I came on my mission. She has made the biggest influence on my life, and the privelege of seeing her testimony grow, and her devotion to the Savior grow is so amazing. I love her.

Sister Muhlestein and I also ran after training to a meeting with Vladislav, the eternal investigator that has started progressing again. The lesson went pretty well and the Glagolevi´s helped. Sister Muhlestin and I both had the impression after the lesson that he is scared to recieve his answer that the Book of Mormon is true, because that would then require him to act. His wife is not really protive, but she doesn´t want her husband to get baptized until she has seen a convincing change in him, and that she really sees it is what he truly believes. As for right now, he believes in it, but he prefers to stay in this gray zone, where he can keep us happy somewhat happy by just reading the Book of Mormon, and he keeps her happy by not getting baptized or quitting smoking. He has a desire to come to Church every Sunday now, and before he didn´t. And, he has started quitting coffee on his own. He has some real intent, but he is scared to commit 100% percent. So, we´ll keep working with him, but the real changes he is needing to make he hasn´t quite committed to yet.

Sister Muhlestein is great. I don´t know too much about her, but I´ll tell you what I know (we´ve only been together two days). She is from Pasadena, CA and comes from a family of five... a set of twins and a set of triplets (she has a twin). Her parents are both lawyers, and she is a molecular and cellular biology major. She plays the violin like I do, which is really cool. We need to do a duet! She is like Sister Hanks in that she has no fear in talking with people on the street or in lessons. So, that is very ideal. We had that planning session together, and it seems she has all the right desires, and is really wanting to do her best for the Lord. She seems intent on making this experience the best experience it can possibly be. Me and her seem to have a lot in common, but I always feel like I have a lot in common with my companions, don´t know why that is. She will be a pleasure to work with I´m sure. She seemed a little sad to be in a different area this week and with a different companion, and I don´t blame her. It´s not very ideal for either of us. I also really enjoyed training this last time through. I always do, but we focused on companionships. It has kind of set the tone for Sister Muhlestein and I, and I can tell we are going to have a good experience working together.

Hello from Helsinki, and hope all is well with you!

Sister Hakes

P.S. Say hi to Andrea for me!

P.S.S. Mom, are you still forwarding my weekly emails to Sister Valgardson. I think she is wanting to get them every week if that´s not too much of a hassel for you. A Sister from our mission, Sister Tara Jenson, just got sent home from her mission last week. I gave her your phone number to call you so you can ask her any questions if you want. We got to know eachother pretty good, and she is so great. Here is her number too if you want to call her, I told her you might. It is- 801-943-5655. Give her a call and she can give you more details on what life is like here in Ekat if you´re interested. Love you!

October 11

Happy Monday!

Dad, I love that the Subject of your email was 10-10-10, and it makes me happy to know that that is now the third time you have written about the same date. I love your quirks and I miss them too. I appreciated the heads-up on the date, and told my companion, so we both remembered to write in our Journal that day and have an entry on that day.

Mom, I got your package! The one with the headbands in it! It was so nice and so unexpectedly nice I didn't know what to do with it! I wore one of the headbands yesterday already haha. Thanks a billion from you and all of the girls who helped put it together. I don't know how to thank you back enough. I love you so much!

Mom and Dad, I think I told you that I asked my Mission President about you wanting to pick me up, and he sent me an email with an excerpt from his handbook, which discouraged family members from picking-up their missionaries. Which, coming from my Mission President, pretty much means that he wouldn't prefer it. So, with that, and the fact that we want to save some money, I think it is best that you don't worry about coming out here : ) Of course, I'd love to have you out here, but it isn't necessary. It is enough to know that the two of you are willing to trek out here in the middle of winter just to see where I've been. You are the best parents. I love you both so much. Well, it seems that my come home date is February 3rd. I didn't want to say anything, because it could potenitally change, but I think you could plan on that date for now. I thought I might have to pick between February and March, but now it seems like I won't have to. The Visa stuff is so fun to plan around! ; ) Sorry to confuse you, but plan on February.

Speaking of Visa stuff, I am due for another Visa Trip. I'll leave to Finland Sunday, and instead of making the 24 hour trip, I am going to be stranded in Finland until the following Thursday. Maybe at the beginning of my mission I would have been more excited about that, but now I just feel kind of stressed. It's like leaving the Office for a week and coming back and putting-out all of the fires, especially because this past week we had Conference, Leadership Training again, and some other cleaning, end of Transfer things. But, I'm not gonna lie, the prospect of going to the Temple, a nap, and maybe even getting to go for a run is really exciting! It'll be just Sister Schill and I, and we're calling it our "Spiritual Spa" because we're not allowed to leave the Hostel. We'll see... but I'll write you next week from there : )

Colin, that is so exciting that you get to go through the Temple! Wow, are you going to go through in Albuquerque? I'm sure that would be such a treat for Elder Bear to go through with him. One word of advice, don't fast the day of, but maybe the day before or something. Remember Mom, Dad, Josh, and Kimball? I thought I was going to pass out haha. That was such a special day for me. One of the highlights of my entire life I think.

Ok, yes we did get a little tranfer again, but......................

I'm staying in Botanika! Yay!! I think I'll even get to see Lena get baptised!!!! I was so happy when I found out. When I got here to Botanika, it just immediately felt right, and I had a feeling it would be the heart of my mission. It has. So, I get to be here another six weeks and then we'll see. I've only been two areas my whole mission, that is kind of rare here, so I feel lucky. Sister Schill will be leaving me though which is sad. She's going to a different area of Ekat though, so I will still see her around. My new companion is going to be........................

Sister Muhlestein! She is another greenie! Haha, yes, I am training again. She is actually the girl that Andrea knows from Harvard. She'll probably already know more Russian than me : ) I am super excited though. Botanika is such a cool first area for these greenies, mine wasn't as interesting to be honest, but I grew to love it just as much : )

Ok, now to the real stuff. Lena is doing well! She got a blessing from Elder Glagolev, and it was amazing. Elder Glagolev is a real hoot, funny guy. And he can kind of say some off-the-wall kind of things. He has a crazy past before he found the Church in Russia, and he likes to talk about his past a lot on meetings haha, so it can sometimes be an uncomfortable situation, but all the Russian people love him because he is just... lovable. Before the blessing, he was being his normal self, and my companion and I were kind of squirming, but the minute he started the blessing, and laid his hands on Lena's head, he changed. It was seriously a different Elder Glagolev. He seemed to know exactly what her needs were. He told her to not fear, but to move forward, to act out of faith and just believe, to have a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon, and to get baptised. The Spirit was so strong, and Lena, after the blessing just seemed so shocked. She didn't anticipate that kind of power. Elder Glagolev went back to being his usual self, and it was a huge testimony to me of the power of the Priesthood. It really was the Lord talking, and not Elder Glagolev. By the way, you would all love him. He is such a hoot, he reminds a little of Grandpa McCuistion, only a little more crazy. Haha he's so fun. We asked Lena if she wanted to move-up her baptismal date, and she still declined. Man, I've been shut-down by her so many times haha! But, she always progresses in her own time. It's our joke now that someday I'll just kick her into the water when she's not looking. We have a really good relationship, and I think I'd consider coming back here to see her Temple marriage, which, I keep reminding her, will be in the Temple : )

I got to go to the Leadership Training meeting again! It was all day Wednesday and Thursday. Yes, just me, my companion, and all the Elders. It was so fun though. I love the Elders, and it is so amazing to see their growth. I really feel like we have the best Elders here. We learned a lot about how to be better teachers, and it was always refreshing to hear advice from our Mission President. We listened to a talk by President Holland about listening to the Spirit. He talked about how the key to a good missionary, is a that he or she is a good companion. He talked about the "Divine Companionship," which is where the companionship ceases to be a duo and becomes a trio, with the Holy Ghost as the Senior companion. It made me think about how it's probably a lot the same in marriage, that you put your pride away, and try and follow what the Lord wants from you. He said that it is more important to make your companion successful than to make yourself shine. He also said that the Spirit will not testify of superficialtiy, and that if aren't sincere as a missionary, you won't be able to convert others. If we're just worried about statistics, etc, and not really the investigators as people, then you are not successful. Very true. I liked his comments a lot.

Friday, we had a great meeting with Vladislav. He is the eternal investigator that once quit smoking, has since started again, and His wife is against the Church. But, he has started progressing again. After listening to Elder Holland's talk, I decided to really focus on Vladislav and what he is needing. Our committment for the lessonw as to get him to come to Conference, which is a big deal for him. He hasn't come to Church yet, and keeps declining. During our lesson, I just realized how strong a testimony I had of Conference, and just realized that I wanted him to know how much it meant to me, and that if he were to go, he would have a Mosiah 5:2 experience, where the people's desire to do evil was rooted out of them. He came on Sunday and really enjoyed it! We hadn't planned on saying a lot of the things we said in our lesson, but it really felt like the Spirit was guiding us to say what he was needing to hear. The Spirit is so key, and I felt like it was tlaked a lot about at Conference. I want to become better at listening to the Spirit now and for the rest of my life. Sometimes I get frustrated becasue I can be so hard-headed and I don't yeild to his promptings.

Volodia and Olga. We met with them again on Saturday, and it was so amazing! Olga, I'm still not super certain she is interested int he Gospel (yet : ) ), but Volodia has read all of 1 Nephi and parts of Alma, and the last parts of the book. He seems kind of skeptical, no, really skeptical about Joseph Smith, especially because he looked us up online and read some anti-stuff, but he is not ruling it out yet. I think a part of him is somewhat wanting to mock us because we're a weird religion, the other part of him really likes what he hears. For example, Olga asked if the Bible said anything about the Book of Mormon, and, instead of us answering, Volodia explained to her about the "other sheep I have" verse, and how the Book of Mormon answered his long-time question about who those other sheep were. It was so cool that he had figured that out for himself without us telling him! Also, he then asked us, "why would the Lord only visit people in Jerusalem and in America though, it seems unfair and unlikely that he would be so exclusive." We were like, "Wow, did he really just ask that?" And, we showed the scripture about how he went to other places that we know not of. Anyways, we invited them to Conference, but they didn't come. I couldn't fall asleep that night after the lesson, because I kept thinking about how Golden he was, and how we need to find a way to soften his heart. He is a student studying to be a Doctor, very smart kid.

Ummm.... We had so many miracles! We ran into our Branch President on the street last week talking with a Muslim man. First of all, I've never ran into my Branch President on the street before. Secondly, the Muslim man he was talking to, Bahktyior, was a man our Branch President had met in Kazhakstan when he was serving as Mission President there. Bahktyior had showed-up at the Branch in Kazhakstan because he was curious about what the Church was, and then he ran into him on the street in Ekat some 8 years later. And then, we run into the two of them on the street too! Not a coincidence. Bahktyior came to Conference yesterday, and we have a meeting with him tomorrow.

Ok, well, I love you all sooo much! Your letters are amazing. Mom, you are the best Mom in the whole wide world and I appreciate all you do for me. I can feel your prayers and love all the way over here on the other side of the world. We are all in debt to your selfless service.

Thanks to Dad, Hakes Brothers, Grandma, and Grandpa, Cassi and Kelly, and you countless others who helped support me on my mission financially and in other ways. The story President Holland told about how his parents didn't use any of his mission fund made me cry. I feel like I was equally supported by my family back home. I thought to myself, wow, I have that kind of family too! I have so much to be thankful for : )

From Conference, I loved Elder Christofferson, Holland, Monson, Edgley, Jensen, Costa, Scott, Oaks, and others. So, I guess pretty much everyone : ) I need to have more faith, respond to the Spirit more, and have more gratitude. It was amazing! Dad, good luck on preparing your Stake Conference talks. You will do amazing, as usual. Has anyone every told you you look like Elder Oaks before? I don't think I'm alone in this.... : )

Love,

Sister Hakes

wow. this letter is a novel, sorry!

October 4th

Hi Family!

I'll write some highlights from this past week, and then send you some pictures. Fall here is so gorgeous and we had an opportunity to go for a walk in a prak with an investigator and I took some pictures.

I can't wait to watch Conference next Sunday! It sounds like you all really enjoyed it! It really is the best holiday for a Missionary. It is so rejuvinating. We should get it in English this week, and watch it this coming weekend.

Anyways, Lena progressed so much this past week! She already knows and has decided she will get baptized. However, she is still putting it off, and Sister Schill and I have been trying to find out her concern. Well, last week at District Meeting, we were role playing how to listen to the Spirit and find concerns, perfect, no? I was pretended to be Lena, while another pair of Sisters extended to me the Baptizmal Commitment. As I was pretending to be her, and was putting myself in her shoes, I got the impression that maybe she is just scared? And so we started acting off of that angle. I had never thought she had fear about getting baptized, but as we were role playing it just became obvious. So, our next lesson with her, we talked about Faith versus fear, and at the end of the lesson, she opened-up to us that she is scared, just like we had role-played. It was really cool that even in practice settings like at District Mtg., the Spirit was able to teach us what she was needing. Anyways, she said that she was, one, scared that if she got baptized that she would get disappointed in the Members and the Church functions. She has heard a lot of bad things about the Church from friends, etc., and, though she sees nothing bad now, she is afraid in the future she'll get disenchanted with everything. Fear number two, she doesn't want to go inactive. She takes the whole committment very seriously, and she doesn't want to end up another person on the Ward list that doesn't come to Church, which is actually, a really great concern! Both of them are. She knows the Church is true and she wants to make sure she won't back out on anything after she gets baptized. How sweet! It just made me love her all the more. We reassured her though, and a member at the lesson suggessted a blessing, so she can let go of her fears. She really liked the idea, and this week we are going to have Elder Glagolev give her a blessing of comfort. Who knows, she could get baptized i a week or two! Problem is, we find out about transfers on Friday, and she'll be out of town this weekend, so if I leave, I probably won't get to see her baptizm : ( That's okay though.... as long as it happens! Um, she also came to a baptizmal service on Saturday for another girl named Lena, and she cried and she felt the Spirit when the girl was given the Holy Ghost on Sunday. So, Lena made so much progress this week! She is a very smart girl and doesn't want to think she is just "convincing" herself this is all true. But, every time she felt the Spirit this past week, I think she began to realize that it is real and that she really isn't making those feelings-up.

What else, that kid Volodia and Olga. We met with Olga, and it was great, she's still not really progressing, but just interested in hanging-out with Americans I think. However, Volodia is reading the Book of Mormon! He couldn't meet with us last week, but Olga said he really enjoyed our first meeting. So, we are super excited about him and will do all we can to meet with him this coming week.

Our two older less-actives are still active -- Brat Arkaidi and Raisa. They are doing so well and I can see how grateful the ward is to have them back. I consider Brat Arkaidi my Russian grandpa. He really is the nicest, most adorable, and hilarious old man I've met here in Russia. He wants to buy me new shoes becasue I discovered just yeterday when we were with him that the soles of both of my shoes are completely torn in half. Haha I had no idea! I'm trying to hold on to them a couple of weeks longer until I can put my winter boots back on.

We had some really great lessons with some active members and gave us some really promising refferrals, so that is exciting. The members here are so humble. I've really learned a lot from them and their testimonies. They don't worry about the little things, like if they drink caffeine or not, but they just really know that basic doctrines and live their lives accordingly. They know it is true, and that's all that matters.

Well, a lot of you did have dreams about me last week! Haha that was so fun to hear about them. Meesa, I can't wait to cuddle you too! At the beginning of my mission, I dreamt about people and places from home a lot. Now, when you all are in my dreams, it is super weird because you're mixed in with Russian people and places, and it is just really funny sometimes. I'll have to write them down and tell you about them later.

I've noticed this past week, that the times I feel most joy from my mission are at night when I am writing in my Journal. It is really cool to look back at the day and see all the has been accomplished and all the miracles. Since I've been on my mission a year now, I have started reading in my Mission Journal from a year ago, and have been reading lately about my experiences in the MTC: all of my fears about what the mission will be, if I can handle it, if I'll do a good enough job, etc. It is really amazing to see how everything has worked out so well, and that the Lord had a plan all along for me. He really did want me to come out here, and I really needed to, even though I didn't really want to at times. So much has happened and I have learned so much, and I am excited to go back home and start life fresh again.

Mom, I am sure you are a great Seminary teacher. And, you and Dad would be so fun to have as Mission President and Mission President Wife : )

I want to know which Conference Takls you all enjoyed the most!

I love you all SOSOSOSOSOSO much!

Sister Hakes

September 27th

Family!!

Your letters were so good today! I got teary-eyed too many times, thanks for your lovely thoughts and prayers. They keep me going and happy.

First, OH MY GOODNESS!! I didn't recognize half of the grandkids! Troy has blonde hair?? He looks like a real toddler now and not a newborn. I seriously thought he was a neighbor kid. Hailey?? She looked so grown-up!! She's so pretty! Wow, the Hakes/Kohler kids were such a big shock to see! I had no idea they had grown up so much. Josh too looked way slim. And then, Cora in her tutu was soooo adorable! Nice work Cami. She seems to have so much personality! What a doll! David is all tall and and his face has thinned out. So weird! I had thought I had been keeping-up on everyone, but I would not have picked Troy out as my nephew, so sad! I need more pictures! I guess it shows that I really have been gone nor a while now. Weird..... Thanks for sending me all those pictures Cami. You amaze me!

Please tell Emily Thatcher a big congrats on her mission call! That is so cool Mom! She will just love it and please give her a big hug for me. She will be a killer Sister.

Tell Krista that she is so sweet to write and send a package! I just love her! Krista, I'll keep the BYU in May thing in the back of my mind : ) I still have no idea where I need to be yet!

Speaking of which, a lot of people seem to be asking me lately about my plans for when I get home. I don't know yet! I'm not even sure these days what I want to study. I'm not thinking about it too much though, so we'll see. Carrie and Meesa, I love your earnestness haha. I'm not ruling NMSU out, but I'm feeling BYU is a little more likely... we'll see though! It would be dependant on how persuasive your cuddles are, deh!

Dad, thanks for saving my text message. That really meant a lot to hear that. You're so sweet. I'm not teary-eyed or anything....... : )

Mom, thanks for the packages! Maybe this is weird, but I'd like to have Pumpkin Pie filling. Is that too heavy to send? If it is, than you can just get me a Symphony bar : ) I dearly miss pumpkin. You can buy pumpkins here, but they are blue haha. And the members think the idea of pumpkin cookies is really weird, so I'd like to make it for them. Do yo have that recipe by the way? Also, I forgot, I never got the last ensign for general conference, as in like 6 months ago. They never got it here : ( Wow, that's actually asking for a lot. None of that is essential, so please don't stress about it. I mean it! I hope Seminary is going well, and those kids are so lucky to have you as their teacher! The stake too is so lucky to have you as their teacher. Loves!

Well, this last week was so interesting! We had like absolutely nothing work out for us the first half of the week, and by Thursday we were thinking we wouldn't be able to reach a lot of the goals we had set, but come Sunday night, everything had magically worked-out! We don't really know how it happened, but we were able to meet with the people we needed to, get a new baptismal date, and a new investigator! Yay! We saw a lot of little miracles.

In fact, our mission has had 45 baptisms this year. That is a bit less than what we have been striving for. There are only about 45 or 50 missionaries in our mission (about 1/3 sisters!), and so that averages out to about 1 per person or less. I saw a baptism my second transfer in Chili, so I guess that that is about normal. But, just this last week, I was feeling a little down because I was realizing that I only have three more transfers, and I have gone since January 6th without seeing someone get baptised. I haven't really worried or stressed about the need to get baptisms since I've been here, and our Mission President does a really perfect job of keeping us working hard and believing that anything is possible, but not measuring our success by the number of baptisms we get. On Thursday, we had a special "Sisters Training Meeting" at the Mission home for the six sisters serving here in Yekat. Instead of Zone Conferences, we're doing more small, personalized training session with the President like this. It was really cool to be with just sisters! Sis. Allcott made us Borsch and we got to have a nice sit down dinner with her and President. They are so cute. I want Mom and Dad to meet them sometime. Anyways, he talked to us during the training about what it means to be a successful missionary. President Rasband's phrase, "find the good in every good deed you do every day" has really become the motto of our mission. I think that phrase will help me the rest of my life because the small acts of service, as a missionary or a member, that really get the Lord's work done. So, I am just as much accomplishing my purpose as a missionary if I help others strenghten their faith or repent, even if they haven't yet been baptized. Those two principles of the Gospel are just as important, but they are harder to put a number to. Anyways, it just feels got to recognize that the little things really do matter. I already knew that, but sometimes it's hard to work so hard and not see the success "I'd like", which is of course selffish. It's the Lord's work, not mine.

Ok, sorry about my rambling.... I will tell you two stories from this past week.

So, we've been teaching this guy named Vladimer over the phone because he has a really weird work schedule. Anyways, we've been working on extending the baptizmal committment as a companionship, so that we are prepared when the opportunity comes. On the phone, the lesson was going really well, and he told us he had the desire to follow the example of his Savior. So, we shared in 3 Nefi 31 about how can we follow him if we don't keep his commandments, and then read the commandment we need to be baptized. Anyways, Sister Schill has like a perfect Russian accent, and people can understand her better on the phone than me, so I let her do all of the talking. And, she got over her shyness, listened to the Spirit, and committed him to baptizm for the 24th of October. She did such a good job and I was so happy for my "2nd born in the wilderness." That's what I call her, Sister Hanks is my "first born." Anyways, he is a golden contact and he has already read 400 pages of the BoM. He is 60 and somewhat lonely, but a very sincere man. I haven't had time to write about him yet, but yay!

Then, Sunday evening, we had two meetings fall through : ( and hadn't eaten yet, so we decided to run home and eat. When we were home, we got a phone call from a lady we met with twice in probably May named Olga. Sister Hanks and I taught her and she wasn't really interested in the Church. Anyways, I had kind of forgotten about her unfortuantely, but as we were eating dinner, she calls randomly out of nowhere and invites us over to her house for that night. We were shocked, like, what? Somebody is actually asking to meet with us?? Haha, so we hurry over there, and she does the very traditional Russian hospitality thing and gives us herbal tea to drink, etc. She then says, let me minvite my neighbor in to meet you. Her nighbor comes in and he is probably an 18 or 19 year old Christian boy that doesn't believe in the Orthodox Church and has read the New Testament twice. He had heard about Mormonism and had a ton of questions to ask us. He was like, if the Book of Mormon is so important, why hasn't one ever been placed in my hands? So, as he said that, I pulled mine out from my backpack and gave it to him and said, well, now it has. Haha, he said he'd read it. He seems like Ivan a little, very intellectual and not too keen on believeing the Restoration, but he agreed to read it and to pray about it. We'll be meeting with him again! What a crazy night! We were so happy. He was golden. I don't want to lose him.

Oh yeah, Brat Arkadyi is consistently coming to Church now, the older less-active that is really adorable. The Ward just loves him. He's still struggling with alcohol, but he is really trying. Also, another babushka named Raisa has coem to Church two weeks in a row now. Yay! It is such a good feeling to see people swallow their pride and make a return in their old age. They have admitted it is very humbling, but they now it is true and want to return. Our little branch is growing here : )

Love you all,

Sister Hake

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

September 20th

Hi Family,

Thanks for the weekly update Dad. Sounds like the experince in Eager was very worthwhile. You should share some of your notes with me!

Mom, I anticipate the package(es) and thanks for sending them! You da best! What a cool spiritual expereice you had at the post office. I was so elated and happy to hear that my sisters went contacting together! Ahh! Made my day. Any interesting stories - good or bad?

Cami, you're an all-star. 2nd place?! Haha you still have some Shannon Miller in you I guess : )

Sister Schill and I had a great week in Botanika! We seemed super busy all week long with meetings, and we were tired in a very satisfying way. I think I had more investigator meetings this past week than any other week of my mission. The work is coming along! We had some really cool experiences this week too.

We got a member referral last week for a Babushka named Nina. She came to Church last week, and said we could stop by any day to meet with her. We stopped by this week, and we were able to teach a first lesson to her and her husband. She didn't come to Church this Sunday, but she seems pretty interested. She is not too old in that she understands us, which is kind of nice and crucial. She has been reading the Book of Mormon, says she doesn't understand everything, but she will keep reading it. She and hr husband are very very humble people, and Sister Schill and I felt the Spirit very strongly with them.

Also, Sister Hanks and I contacted a nice guy about two months ago named Ivan. We had tried to find his number to call him back, but we couldn't find it anywhere. This past week, without even trying to find it, it just suddenly showed-up right where I had been expecting it to be the whole time. We call him, and he agrees to meet with us the next day. Before our meeting with him, we had a meeting with Lena (our investigator with a baptismal date) and Zhenya (a recently baptized convert that helps us a lot with Lena, I taught him in Chili). Ivan shows-up 30 minutes early to our lesson, and we tell him that he can come join us on the lesson we were having with the other two. We didn't know what else to do. Anyways, it turned out to be a really good first lesson. I was really anxious because Lena usually asks really difficult questions, and I was afraid that having the two investigators together would be bad, but they ended-up supporting each other. Ivan is atheist. He was under the presumption we were just wanting to teach him English (oops!), but when we explained our Purpose to him, he seemed kind of interested. He assumed that really religious people only wear turbans and had long beards or something. It was a new experience for him to see younger, devoted people that were still somewhat normal looking : ) He is very smart and thoughtful, and his questions were a lot like Lena's were when we first started teaching her. She even told him that she used to be just like him, but now she has most of her questions answered. She defended the Church and us, which was really cool to see, and I know it was good for her to to see all the progress she has made. Zhenya helped a lot too. He knows Englih perfectly, and he might become Ivan's private teacher now. He has really helped Lena progress, and he seems to be doing really well. Ivan agreed to read the BoM and to meet with us again. I don't think he would have ever showed-up to a first lesson with us if we knew we were wanting to talk about the Gospel. Plus, he said he had been extremely busy before, so it was a good time we called when we did. Even though he is kind of anti-religious, Sister Schill and I both feel like he was prepared for us to teach. I hope we get another lesson in! We had been all pumped and ready to get a Baptismal Date with him on the first lesson like we've been taught, but we both really felt it was not the right time. I still feel good about that decision, so I think it was for the best.

Oh yeah, Lena is still sober! She hung-out all night Saturday with her friends at a club, her biggest temptation she says, and she still didn't drink! She knows it is best to avoid the clubs and other tempting places, but she insisted on going to see if she could avoid the temptation of alcohol. I don't know... we didn't want her to go of course, but at least she didn't drink. That is a step in the right direction. She has a desire to follow her Savior and keep His commandments, so I feel that through time, the club won't even interest her anymore. We need to get her to realize that too: that her desires will change the more she chooses to follow Him.

Well, as for me, I am doing well. I feel exhausted every morning as I get out of bed, but by the time I go to bed at night, I am usually so happy and content with my day that I don't want to fall asleep : ) Things are well. I still desire to grow more spiritually, and to be more in tune with the Spirit, but I assume that growth is gradual. I sometimes feel like I am relying too much on myself and not on the Lord, but then again, I don't know how to rely on the Lord more, so it is hard finding the balance.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

September 13th

Hi Family!

I had a nice, healthy, full inbox today, yay!

Ok, sorry I have kind of slacked on my writing lately. I just never have time on Pday I feel like. Sorry, this week my letter is going to have to be short again.

Our investigator Vladislav is finally considered progressing again! After our training, we really decided to focus with him on the BOM, and how it is necessary to read it to gain a testimony. I had thought he already had a testimony of it, becasue he has already read it through once, but it turns out, the more we discussed it with him, the more we realized that he didn't really read it right. He never prayed while reading, and he never really took it as a spiritual text, but more historical. Anyways, we kind of threw a "spiritual smackdown" on him (as we lovingly call it here), and he ended-up reading all of 1 Nephi and more as a result! Cool, huh? He was just different with him when we met this week. He actually had questions for once, and he actually responded to our questions. It's a marveloius thing really, communication, it opens so many doors. My comp and I trying to work more on asking inspired questions to our investigators, so it's not really us doing the teaching, but they speak just as much if not more than we do. That was something the training really focused on too, and, low and behold, it actually works! That's always nice to find out.

Lena came to Church, that's number two now, and she also came to a Fireside at the Mission President's home last evening. There is a boy in our district who is leaving on a mission to Moscow, so President Allcott decided to have everyone over to the Mission Home to see him off. It was really great, and there were a lot of the youth from our district present, which is exactly what Lena needs -- friends! She is still sober, which is super cool. Our concern with er now is the concept of free agency. It has been so fascinating teaching Russians the concept of agency, they honestly don't get or they don't approve of it. They think that it is better, or at least more intelligent, to have someone control things more. Like, her hang-up, is that if God really loved us, why would he let us suffer so much? She thinks that when people use their agency to harm others, God should step in and preven them from hurting others. She doesn't yet really have an eternal perspective, so it's hard to accept that everything will eventually be made right through Christ, either in this life or in the next. Sigh... We've discussed this now several times, and we've just told her she needs to take it to the Lord. This could actually be a really good thing for her and for her testimony. But, yeah, my comp and I find it so interesting how communism has influenced their view of the world. They see the need for a God that is more like Stalin than like Jesus. Scary, but that's how they feel. It all comes back to the lack of trust they have that God actually loves them, knows them, and has a plan for them. How grateful I am for knowing the Plan of Salvation is true! We are so blessed.

Our other Lena, that was supposed to get baptized Saturday, didn't end up making it to baptizm. We're wanting to keep working with her, but we are needing to be straight-up with her and find out why she isn't taking this whole thing more seriously. I think she skipped out on our last lesson with her to go to a club. What can you do? I love her and we are trying. In fact, I love all of our investigators and it is kind of hard to have so many people to be loving and caring for all the time. I sometimes can't fall asleep at night, and this is me, Kalli, who could never stay up past 10! I can't imagine how mothers do it!

Well, I love you all. Hope all is well at home. I'm doing so well. This week was cold, but that's good to hear next week should be better. Please pray for our investigators and for us to find NEW investigators.

Thanks for your letters and continual support. You have never stopped writing me after a year! Thanks : )

Sister Hakes

August 29th

Family! Hi!

I have news! Ready....

Lena has a Baptizmal Date! Yay!!

Well, that date isn't until the end of November, she wants to wait until her Birthday on the 24th to celebrate her being "born" again, but we're gonna try and move it up. But, yay! I had such an amazing week. We were at training all week, but it was so so so helpful. I don't know if the Baptizmal Date would have happened without our experience at Preisdent's last week. Ok, so...

The Church has done a lot of in-field analysis of how Preach My Gospel is working among the missionaries. Overall, they say Preach My Gospel has helped missionary work tremendously. However, there are 8 points from PMG that the Church decided that, if missionaries undestood better, then the work would boost even more. The 8 points are:

1. Understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptizm, HG, endure to the end) as our Purpose

2. Using the Spirit to Find Concerns

3. The Importance of the Book of Mormon in Receiving Revelation

4. The Importance of Prayer in Receiving Revelation

5. The Importance of Church Attendance in Receiving Revelation

6. Teaching People, not Lessons

7. Involving Members and the Ward Council

8. How to Start a Lesson

So, that's a lot, which we means we just need to get better at everything! Our Mission President was given 8 lesson plans on how to teach us to do these things better (standard lesson plans given to every Mission President), and he taught us straight from those for the last four days. Basically, we did two points a day and had about two hours of role playing to try and put them into practice. Most of the Elders there aren't serving in Ekat right now, so they were outside of their areas the last week. But, Sister Schill (who got to come with me) and I had the opportunity to go back to our area from about 7-9 and practice the principles on real people as we were learning them, which is how we got the Baptizmal Date from Lena. The whole experience at President's house was so intensely spiritual and enlightening. I feel like I received good idea after good idea to better help our investigators. Gotta love the Spirit! Pretty much, the conclusion after the four days amongst us was the we need to 1. love the people more (because that fixes a lot of the above problems listed) and 2. be worthy of, listen to, and follow the promptings of the Spirit. Pretty basic stuff that I felt like I already knew before, but it was just reinforced so powerfully that I finally feel like I understand what it means to love the people and follow the Spirit. And, having really been able focusing on that the last couple of days, we have had such intense, spiritual lessons as a result. It feels so good. I feel empowered, like wow, there really is a power to my calling that I am finally starting to understand. Now, I just hope I don't forget!

All week at training, I kept thinking, we need to do this with Lena, or do that with Lena, etc. So, Thursday, the day of our meeting with Lena, I had like a million things my companion and I were wanting to teach her. Luckily though, we had just been taught to follow the Spirit, so it helped in the sense that I didn't freak out, but we planned a pretty flexible lesson that could be adjusted to meet her needs. We also invited Zhenya to be on the lesson with us. Zhenya is that guy I taught in Chili that got baptized here in Ekat a little over a month ago (remeber him?). He knows fluent English and investigated the Church for 10 years. Lena came to his baptizm. While at the baptizm, she acknowledged that the Church is true, but she also said that she undestands why it took Zhenya 10 years to join, and it'll probably take her that long too. That was a little knife in the heart, and from that statement we realized that she wasn't understanding the basic doctrine of Jesus Christ enough, otherwise she'd be wanting to be baptized now. We wanted Zhenya to come on the lesson to testify how the actual baptizm was worth it and necessary. Zhenya also has a little crush on me... hope that doesn't become a problem : ( Anyways, back to Lena. So, we read Moroni's Promise with her, and we asked if she knew the BOM was true, and she said yes. So, we then read from the Introduction, where it says that if you know the BOM is true, then you'll know that Jesus is the Savior of the world, Joesph Smith is a Prophet of God, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS is the true Church restored to the earth. We asked her each question one by one, and she said that she knew all of them were true (Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, the Church). Obviously, we then asked her to be baptized, and, at that moment, the Spirit was so so strong. We just looked at each other in silence for a long time. She said that she would be baptized, but not right now. We asked her why not, and she said that she's not ready. Zhenya was perfect, because he has had to give things up to be baptized and forsake his old life. He asked her to specifically say what it was that was holding her back. She finally opened-up to us about how she thinks it will be too hard to quit drinking. She doesn't do it that often, but when she is with her friends it is impossible to not drink. We knew this all along! I had no idea though that that was the only thing holding her back. Thus, the importance of teaching by the Spirit to find concerns: ) (see point 2). We were able to finally openly discuss this and tell her that she won't be perfect before or after baptizm, but that she can most definitely overcome this temptation now, and even more easily once she has the gift of the Holy Ghost with her. Long story short, she agreed to be baptized! Yay! She takes the whole thing very seriously, which is great. She understands the importance of the covenant and doesn't want to break it. She has committed to start living the WOW now, which is another reason she wants to wait til November. She wants to be completely rid of the habit before she is baptised. I can see where she is coming from, but at the same time I know Satan really works hard on the people who are preparing for baptizm. I feel like something always happens to them, and three full months seems too long. Pray for her! She has come such a long way! During the lesson, I felt like my whole mission was worth it just to teach Lena. I really feel the love our Savior has for her. Even if she still wasn't going to get baptized, she'd still be worth it. But, now that she has decided to be baptised, it's even better : ) I was like in disbelief when she agreed to set a date with us. It was too good to be true. Something we had been working for for such a long time and it actually happened. The best part of all, is that I know she's not doing it for us, but because she knows it is what her Savior wants her to do. She will forever be a part of my life. I love her. Plus, everything we learned in training worked so perfectly in the lesson. It really works to folow the Spirit haha : )

Sunday we didn't have regular Church services, because we got to watch the dedication of the Kiev Temple in Ukraine. Yay! Try explaining that to your investigators though haha... "You aren't allowed to come to Church on Sunday...." Anyways, it was totally worth it. President Monson, Uchtdorf, Nelson, and I think Anderson were all there in Ukraine. They had three sessions of the dedication broadcasred so a large group of people could watch. It was super cool because, I had no idea before hand, but people from Chelyabinsk had to come to Ekat to watch the dedication, so it was a big reunion with the Chili members. Nice surprise : ) The Kiev Temple will serve 30,000 members in 13 different countries, and is the first temple behind the Iron Curtain (not counting the Temple in Berlin). The only countries they mention by name were Ukraine, Georgia, Romania, Moldova, siberian Russia (that's me!), Kazakhstan, and Bulgaria. All Eastern European contries, which is why Elder Nelson was there. He oversees our area. It was a very spiritual occasion, and it was so cool to see the work moving forward on this side of the world. Ukraine is so much like Russia too, that it felt like the Prophet was here in Russia. Someday, Russia will have it's own temple too : ) Ukraine is actually further than Finland and harder for the members to travel to, but it will feel more like home to them. So, they are excited.

Well, I'm out of time! I wanted to write you all more, sorry, a lot about me this week... The Bday party for the twins sounds like such a blast! Way to go Chris and Francisca. Yes, please tell Grandma Hakes I received her lovely letter. I'm terrible and haven't written back yet... next week. Such little time. Please give her my love and thanks. I passed my year mark last week, and Sister Schill and I did not get a transfer this week, which means I'll be here in Botanika 6 months, just like I was in Chili six months. Woohoo.

Loves,

Sister Hakes

August 22nd

Hi Family!

Oh my goodness! It is already cold here! I kept trying to deny it and think "it's not really that cold, it's not really that cold..." but it didn't work. I left our apartment Friday morning with a light jacket, then when we came home midday, I had to put on a thicker layer of tights, a hat, and a scarf! The rain was coming down half frozen and icy-ish. Can you believe it?? It's only August! I think it was just a week ago I was writing about the extreme heat. All sorts of memories came back from winter, memories of being cold. I had somehow forgotten what it felt like, and convinced myself into thinking that it really wasn't that bad. Ok, now I'm complaining... sorry. I just wouldn't believe how fast the weather changed if I hadn't experienced it myself. I hear it should get a bit warmer before it really turns to Autumn/Winter. I hope so!

Yesterday, Lena came to Church! It really was the highlight of my week. Hands down. We were able to meet with her twice last week, and instead of choosing to go home for the weekend, she came to Church! It was a perfect meeting for her in every way. The talks in Sacrament Meeting were solid doctrine. The first on the Restoration and Joseph Smith, the second talk was on a talk by Sister Beck to the women, and how we shouldn't resist self-correction and repentance. It was like word for word what we have been trying to get her to understand. Then, the biggest miracle of all, was that the Sunday School class. Sometimes I worry about what the members will say in Sunday School, but it was by far the most spiritual lesson that I have been to here in Russia. We're studying the Old Testament, and the lesson was on Job, and how he was tried and still proved faithful. Last week, Lena had all sorts of questions about how, if God really loved us, why would he try His children? We gave her doctrine after doctrine, and tried to teach her, but she seemed to have difficulty accepting the idea that God would permit Satan to exist and torment us. In Church, one of the members asked the exact same question she had been asking us, and the members all discussed it together. It was beautiful for her to see that even the members don't have all the answers to everything, and that they don't just blindly follow what people tell them. She could tell that they too were very inquisitive, yet full of faith, and that they concluded that God just knows better than us, and they were willing to accept that answer. It was a beautiful lesson, and it really hit home to me how important it is for her to come to Church. Unfortunately, next Sunday is the Temple dedication, but I know she felt the Spirit very strongly, and had many questions answered. I feel so strongly the love our Savior has for her. After the lesson on Job, we sang I Know that My Redeemer Lives, and she and I both were very touched. When we were singing the song, I felt the love of my Savior for her, and instead of thinking of myself as I sang the words of the song, I was thinking of Lena and how He died for her too. The song is just as much aplicable to her life as it is to mine. I know the Lord wants this girl to be baptized. He keeps giving her small miracle after small miracle so she can continue on and finally make the plunge -- literally : )

Well, that is very interesting news about selling our home. Being 100% honest, I actually thought this was going to happen while I was on my mission, and that thought became more and more clear to me within these past two weeks. I'm not sure why, but I just had the thought occur to me a couple times that I might be coming home to a different house. I was talking to Sister Allcott a couple of weeks ago about how she and President Allcott decided to go on their first mission, and she said that she felt like there was always something getting in their way from finally being able to leave, whether it be health, finances, family issues, etc. She said that before you leave as a Senior Couple (and maybe this applies to Colin too), you almost have to prove to the Lord how determined you are to serve Him. That was at least their experience, and I heard another Senior Couple here in Ekat agree. I don't know if I am way off in relating that to you, Mom and Dad, but I have heard you talk in the past about having a desire to go on a mission after Dad retires. So, if selling the house will help Dad retire, and would free you both up (to serve a mission or not) I think it would be great : ) I am happy for you Dad! I hope everything works out for you at work as it should. You are such a great provider, you deserve some peace and debt-free-ness : ) Just like Job, right? The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, but either way, He knows what is best.

We also had a less-active show-up to Church. She hasn't come in about three or four years. She is a very nice, smart, successful woman, but to be honest, when we have met with her in the past, I've always left her home feeling kind of faithless. She just doesn't seem to have a testimony now, and I am not so sure she ever did before she got baptized. Shame on me for being faithless though, because she came to Church of her own accord. I don't want to take any credit for her coming, but I have noticed that if you show people that you care, they are more likely to come. We've had three or four less-actives come back to Church, and we haven't really even taught them as much as we have served them. That seems more effective in some ways. Don't get me wrong, we need to teach too, but sometimes the less-actives already know what they should be doing, but they just need someone to show that they care about them, and then it makes the needed changes less difficult.

This next week should be interesting. The Church is putting out some new methods to help missionaries be better teachers with Preach My Gospel. There will be some changes made to the work, most of which don't effect me that much, but Zone Conferences now will only be quarterly, which is kind of sad. The other change, is that every other month, there will be a leadership meeting for all of the Zone Leaders, District Leaders, Assistants, and Trainers. The first such meeting will be tomorrow, and will last four whole days at the Mission President's home. It turns out, that I am the only Sister training anybody at the moment, which means I will be the only sister at the meeting! All the other leadership positions are obviously held by the Elders. I am kind of weirded out by that. Just me and a bunch of the Elders. I think they might arrange for another sister to be with me... Anyways, I am actually really looking forward to Training tomorrow. I think it will be good receive some instruction as to how I can be a better teacher.

Oh, and Mom, to answer your question, we are the only missionaries in our Branch right now. We don't have Elders in our area, but I see them weekly usually at our District Meeting. We're the only companionship of sisters without elders in our Branch. We also have our own English Club too, so Sister Schill and I are pretty much on our own in Botanika. It's nice in some ways, I don't mind it. I am in the Ekat Zone, which has six companionships (our biggest zone - our mission doesn't have a lot of missionaries, only 50 max) and two senior couples. I don't see anyone of them very often becasue they all meet in the same building for Church on Sunday, but we're at a different place for Church. Anyways, I hope that answers your questions! Thanks for your last long, lovely letter. It was so good to hear how your Seminary class and everything is going. Thanks for always relating my mission to motherhood, it helps keep me motivated. And yes, Cassi, I loved your letter too about the surprises of being a Mom, and yes I have shared those surprises as a missionary. Love you both! Thanks so so much for all you do for me : )

I love you all so much! Thanks for your emails and I hope all is well with the newest Hakes member, Emily! Have fun at the Hakes-sibling Reunion! Much loves!

Sister Hakes

P.S. I'll need to think about your question Bear... I'm not sure what I miss exactly. Don't do anything to extreme Bear! You're so sweet.

Mom and Meesa, I would like having more foundation/make-up. They don't sell the same kind of foundation here, and it's a pain trying to find something that works here instead. Also, if you did want to send something for the winter, a hat or scarf that is all natural, meaning real wool or something like wool that's not sythetic, works in the extreme temps. If it's not real, it kind of freezes along with everything else and it's useless.

Give Megan Zant a BIG thank-you for her package she and Michael sent me for my Bday. Tell her I plan to paint my toenails soon! It was so sweet and so thoughtful of her : ) I loved it.

August 15th

Hi Family!

So much news indeed! Congrats Katie! I can't believe I have a new neice! That is four now that I haven't seen yet. I am so happy for you and Joe. Hope all is going well for you at this tender time.

Colin, congrats on the mission call! That is so exciting! Not too surprised about where you're going, totally called it : ) I just wrote Meesa a letter for the both of you to read. Best of luck!

Mom, how did Seminary go?

Dad, sounds like you had a marathon Sunday! Wow. Thanks for sharing. And yes, I swear it got cold within one day!! I woke up one morning and I was freezing! The day before I had slept without a blanket, windows open, and with a fan on because it was so hot. I totally don't get the weather here. I have tried to stay positive about the upcoming winter, but it is so hard. I can't believe I get to do that all over again! Haha, I prefer to just not talk about it...

Last week in Botannica was good, a lot more trying than the week before, but you need one of these every now and then I suppose. For some reason, it was hard to find meetings, and most of our scheduled meetings feel through it seemed like. That isn't really such a big deal I guess, but it was hard because most of our investigators couldn't met with us, the two with Bap Dates included. We were able to meet with Lena (the one I've written you all a lot about) twice this week which was really nice. She is doing really well, still the same problems, but we're trying. Becasue our initial plans fell through, we ended-up using our Back-Up plans a lot, and even our back-Up plans needed a back-up plan : ) It was good though, and it all paid off Sunday night and on Thursday evening.

Sunday night, a member named Zina gave us a refferal, and we were able to meet in Zina's home with her and her reffered neighbors, a mother and babushka. They aren't very religious, but they believe in God. Actually, the babushka is Muslim by birth, so I'll need to get permission permission to teach her again. Both very very sweet ladies and they seemed genuinely touched and interested in our message. The members here are eager to help, but they are really funny in the lessons because they can go very off topic if you don't prep them. It was so funny. She brought up two dreams she has had, Baptizms for the Dead, and hep Patriarchal Blessing fell out of her scriptures, and she said out loud "Oh, that's not allowed to read to you all, and hid it behind her." Haha, my comp and I were just dying inside. We obviously didn't prep her enough. But, the two ladies didn't seem to notice, and so it wasn't a problem. They took the Book of Mormon, agreed to meet with us again (though they couldn't say when), promised to read it, and really seemed interested. They liked us too which helps I think. We'll see. I'm trying not to get my hopes too much lately, it seems like every time I have a good new contact, I get carried away and start picturing them as the future relief Society President or Branch President... So, I'll just say it was a very good meeting and we have plans to meet with them again. We have received some good refferals lately from our members. We haven't been able to meet with the reffered people yet, but it is in the process. It is nice to feel thought that the members are willing to give us a shot and teach their friends. Those lessons are always so much better.

We also saw a lot of little miracles Thursday after our Weekly Planning session. I was slightly bummed because, yet again, our lessons had fallen through. As I was digging through my planner and the Area Book, trying to think of the very best way to use our time, Sister Schill and I decided to get down on our knees and pray. It was kind of a desperate plea from my end, becasue I was feeling kind of tired of trying to find things to do and people to meet with. Thirty minutes later, we were still in our planning session and hadn't really figured things out, but our cell phone rang and our investigator Lena called and said that we could meet with her that night. It is pretty rare when an investigator calls you to meet, so we felt so blessed. On the way to her house, we got contacted by three different people on one bus. Also rare. We got to our lesson with her and didn't have any more Book of Mormons to even teach out of. Then, sfter our lesson with her, we found two decent street lessons, and ran into a member named Uri walking hiss dog. He gave us a refferal right there on the street. We were freaking out! Sometimes I wish I was so hard for the Lord to work through. Here I am, frustrated that nothing has been or is working out, and all I needed to do all along was pray and ask for His guidance. I swear, the more my plans fall through, the better our day goes. haha. Oh, I just love my mission : )

Have a great week! Say hi to Whitney Robb for me!

Sister Hakes

August 8th

Hi Family!

How are you all? I am so excited for Colin to get his mission call, Kimball's ABQ prospect, Mom doing Seminary again (good luck!), Carrie's new nest, Katy's soon baby, all the many upcoming grandkid bdays, and everything else! Your lives sound so happy! I hope all is well for all of you and I keep you all in my prayers.

Yes, it has been really hot here. All the babyshka's are having a hard time because they mostly earn money from the food they grow on their gardens in the summer. The big news here is that there has been little rain, a lot of heat, and nobody is producing anything to sell. So, the babs are having a hard time. Yes, it is really smoky here from some sort of peat bog fires not too far from here. The air smells like smoke and it's very hazy (the sun is red too). But, to be honest, the heat hasn't really bothered me. I like it. There isn't any A/C anywhere, so during the day, on a crowded bus, it can be rather miserable, but I feel like miserable heat isn't too uncommon for me. The cold was more difficult because I'm not used to it, and it just seems to affect every aspect of life. So, I'm grateful for the heat. Supposedly, last winter was the coldest in the last twenty years, and this summer is the hottest in the last twenty. Yay for me! Supposedly, snow starts falling the latter-half of September. So, no reprieve here. Extreme heat, to extreme cold. Gotta love it!

We had a great week in Botanika! So much happened. We were able to get two baptizmal dates, yay! One with a girl named Lena (not the same Lena I've told you about) and a guy named Pavel.

Lena has already had 4 different baptizmal dates with some other missionaries. We've been working with her the last couple weeks, since she lives in our area, and we've started to see some improvements. The other companionship that taught her said that they had started to feel like they were getting in a rut with her and didn't know how to help her any more. We had the advantage of being able to be vey upfront with her, and ask her why she wanted to meet with the missionaries and what her expectations are, and we think it has helped. She has already been taught everything, but the only question was whether or not she was willing to live the commandments. She has promised to start living as if she is already a member right now, because she will be gone the next two weeks. We hope she will continue to make right choices while she is out of town. We'll have another 2 weeks to work with her when she returns from her vacation, her bap. date is Sept. 11th. She is a really sweet 18 year old girl.

The other date is for a guy named Pavel that the other sisters found. They met him on the bus just last week and gave him the first lesson, and then we all met with him for the second lesson and got a baptizmal date. He seems so prepared. It was an amazing lesson! We all just wanted to jump and down together because we all go through so many different people who aren't really interested, to suddenly somebody that just seemed to get it. I just about died at how easily he said "yes" to the question "will you get baptized?" Of course, he doesn't yet know about all that baptizm really entails, all the commandments, a change in lifestyle, etc. but he felt the Spirit which is most important. Our job now is to get the Spirit to convert him, and get him ready to make those neccessary commitments. It was such a neat experience to teach him though! I love missionary work, and I especially love teaching new investigators about the Gospel. So many sweet experiences. Teaching Pavel reminded me of Lev in Chelyabinsk, do you remember him? He was the guy we found on the bus that was so prepared, our little miracle. Pavel also is just really prepared. He is about 22 I'd say, and a nice, normal guy. We need to be living worthy as a companionship to help Pavel get baptized August 21, which is his set date. I'm kind of nervous to teach him, because it's not too common we have someone like him. I want to make sure everything will work out with him, and I know it will. Faith, Kalli, faith. His bap. date is really soon, and we have no idea where he is in terms of what commandments he is keeping already, but anything is possible!

Other than that, we had that less-active member, Brother Kozman, come back to Church -- that's two weeks in a row! We even went with him to help buy a white shirt that is appropriate for Church. The members love him and we have an FHE planned with him and another less-active family tonight. He wants to be a missionary he says, and he has like five potential refferals for us, but as of yet none of them have happened.

Sister Schill and I decided to start focusing our work more on investiators, and work less often with less-actives. Sister Hanks and I worked a lot with trying to reactivate people, and we have seen a lot of success, but we both feel like we need to start getting more and more investigators. Last week was definitely a good start, we had I think 9 or ten investigator meetings, which is a lot more than we usually have. I know the Lord helped us acheive that goal, and I feel He wants us to be branching-out more and trying to find more new people to teach about the Restored Gospel. The Church is true and all is well in Botanika!

Have a good week,

Sister Hakes

Contact Info

Write Kalli! Here's her mailing address:

1. Normal mail-goes to mission office then Assistants take to missionaries. May take 3-4 weeks. Packages should be in padded envelope with dimensions 12" X 12" x 12" or 16" X 12" X 10". No insurance or certified mail.

Sister Kalli Hakes

ul. Rabochikh 9, Office 1

Yekaterinburg

620131 Russia

2. Pouch-single sheet of paper, tri-folded and taped shut, addressed on the back of sheet. Post cards OK, but no pictures.

Sister Kalli Hakes

Russia Yekaterinburg Mission

PO Box 30150

SLC, UT 84130-0150

sisterkallihakes@myldsmail.net

Seestra Kalli!

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