Week 32 - January 18, 2016 Visa Trip!

         My dearest readers, 

Hulloo!!! Whelp I have a lot I would like to write about, but only 15 minutes. 

Let's see how many words per minute I can typo. Don't ask me what mine is in Russian. 

It's something like the degree of the weather right now, which isn't too shabby. 

Maybe in Celsius, which is like -17. sooo you get the point. 

Note to anyone who lives in Russia. 

Do not hang dry your wet scarf outside in your enclosed balcony. 

Your clothes will still freeze hahaha Don't worry it was fine.

Whelp I got my transfer call on Saturday. I will be staying here in Bezzi 

and will be "killing" Sister Mckell. To translate from missionary language to normal people talk, 

it means that this is Sister Mckell's last 6 weeks in Russia, on her mission, so I'll be her last companion. HOLLAH! Honestly, this is a dream come true! I met her my first day here in Russia. She had come up to me that day and said, "Sister, I don't know why, but I just have this feeling 

we're gonna serve together!" 5 months later, and here we are! What a miracle. 

I can't wait to learn so much from her! 

She's actually a member of our future all-girls indie-folk band 

named Борис that Sister Hansen and I are making.

Our last district photo together. . . .

Without Elder Fletcher haha He was out getting food somewhere. 

We'll be saying goodbye to Sister Grishina and Elder Vandermark. 

Speaking of Sister Hansen, I'll be seeing her tonight!! 

We are going on our visa trip together!! 

9 or so hours on a cramped bus together to Kazakstan is going to be the BEST!! 

I miss her soooo much!! Seriously. She's my best friend. I can't wait to be reunited!!! 

Yeah, missionaries are no longer going on 4 different plane rides for visa trips now. 

We are just going to be in a bus with about 13 other missionaries with no bathroom breaks lol. 

YAY! It's okay, at least I got to see Riga just once. That will be tomorrow! 

This is me and sister Palmer, the younger. 

The girl on the right is the mission president's daughter Jenni who served in  Minnesota. 

She is serving here with her parents until they finish in June

Also, there is going to be this special missionary broadcast 

where the 12 apostles will be training all the missionaries world-wide. 

We'll be watching it on Friday morning as a district since the actual broadcast 

is past missionaries' bedtime here in the Motherland. 

Here are the sisters we went on splits with last week. 

Sister Warnick, Sister Wagstaff, and me. Ft. Elder Buck. 

Hmm, I'm trying to figure out something about last week to share, 

or something super spiritual. Honestly, all I can say is that you will definitely have times 

where you don't think you'll see the end. you'll have times where you just feel completely alone. 

And maybe as a missionary, you'll want to go home, 

because when you are home you won't have any problems (not true haha). 

BUT, if you rely on the Lord. If you turn to Him. He will lift you up. Keep praying. 

Keep going. Do your best every day and it will be enough. 

If you have to take it one day at a time, one hour at a time. Then do it. Just keep going! 

I love Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk in last general conference, 

"Strengthened by the Atonement of Jesus Christ." I recommend everyone read it. 

We can do this! 

Yeahhhh this is after just one hour out morning contacting. . .

yes my hair is frozen, and so is the fur on my jacket. I love Russia. 

I'd like to close with Sister Neill F Marriott in her talk "Yielding Our Hearts to God" 

in general conference, " When we offer our broken heart to Jesus Christ, 

He accepts our offering. He takes us back. No matter what losses, wounds, 

and rejection we have suffered, His grace and healing are mightier than all. 

Truly yoked to the Savior, we can say with confidence, 'It will all work out.'"

-- 

Much love, 

Cectpa Graham

Week 31 - January 11 2016 Я не Понедельник . . .

       My dearest readers, 

How are you all doing? Thank you so much for the weekly love and support! 

I really appreciate it! It really is crazy how much time flies. 

Я не понедельник  means "I don't Monday." 

It's a common phrase amongst missionaries. 

It just shows how much we don't know Russian haha. 

It's been a great week. Splits are so much fun! 

You get to work with other sisters and different areas. Penza is a beautiful city. 

It's like a stretched-out small city, if that makes any sense. Their area is huge! 

Makes me appreciate having smaller areas. 

I couldn't imagine navigating around by myself.

 I was able to work with Sister Warnick. She was at BYU the same time I was, 

so we have a lot of things in common. Actually our personalities are pretty similar. 

I could see myself serving with her in the future. On Tuesday, 

we went out contacting for two hours and made a goal to give out 1 KM. 

We went out without much visible success. Just as we were on our way home, 

we contacted this babooshka. I didn't understand exactly what she said, 

but it was something along the lines of being a Muslim and not wanting a brochure. 

So we wished her a happy new year and kept walking. Then after a few seconds 

Sister Warnick turns around. Turns out that same babooshka was calling after us. 

She has a friend whom she wants to give the brochure to. She even took a KM! 

That's the second time this cycle that that's happened to me. 

Even though someone may not be ready to accept the gospel, 

there is always someone they know who is willing to take it. 

It was great to see this babooshka be a missionary for us. Then we had English Club. 

Oh English Club. You have the funniest times there. 

Короче (in short) I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Wednesday I worked with our sister training leader, Sister Wagstaff. 

She's got one more cycle left. She passed on some great wisdom and we had a fun time. 

I love people. You just get to meet the craziest characters on your mission. 

​Since I took no photos this week, I took a quick pic of my yummy lunch today!!! 

The powdered sugar thing is filled with peach jelly 

and the other thing is full of meat and rice and onions. I love Russia. 

Zone Training is this week, so that will be a lot of fun! We've got a busy week ahead of us 

and transfers are next week. It will be interesting to see who goes where and what not. 

We are keeping busy here, so that's always nice. 

I love personal study. That hour of study alone really helps me each day. It's my daily bread. 

I can't live without it!!! Today I studied some of 2 Nephi 4. Nephi is seriously one of the greatest people ever. The Lord has been so good to me. I can't let Satan steal this happiness away from me. 

I have to overcome the bad so I can always feel the good. It won't be easy, 

but it's definitely worth it. It you have a chance this week, study it. 

I love you all so much! I love Russia. I love the people. I love the Lord. 

I love the Book of Mormon. We have a prophet today! God speaks to us. 

I know this to be true in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

-- 

Much love, 

Cectpa Graham

Week 30 - January 4, 2016 Winter Wonderland

   

    Hey There!!!

In honor of my 7th month on the mission, the world snowed!!!! 

It was on of the most beautiful things I've seen in my entire life, 

right up there with the sunset on the beach. It just started in the morning 

and by last night we had over 5 inches!! So much fun! 

I made gingersnaps on New Year's Eve ( like my trainer taught me) 

and shared them with everyone at district meeting. 

You could say I was ready for P-Day. . . 

notice how my cheeks are the same color as my beanie. . . 

it was below 0 fahrenheit. . . 

We stayed in on New Year's Eve since it get pretty crazy here. 

Trying to be as obedient as possible, Sister Grishina and I used that time to weekly plan. 

It seriously is just so great knowing we are using the Lord's time to the best of our abilities. 

That is definitely something I am dedicated to doing. This is the Lord's time, not mine. 

I know we received many blessings from our sacrifice of working diligently even on a holiday. 

We met with a lot of people this week. Like, man, I am not used to it! 

Our mission is piloting a program from our Area Seventy to start teaching less-actives every night. 

If we want a stake here in Samara and a temple in Russia, we have to strengthen the members we already have here! We have definitely seen miracles here in Bezzimonski. 

Yeah, it's pretty darn tootin cold here. I kid you not, 

while Sis Grishina was emailing and I was studying, 

I put out my water bottle near the open window. Not even an hour later, 

the water is icy, almost slush. Oh Russia. It's honestly just one big freezer. 

We are going to be going on splits this week in Penza! 

My icy heart. . . frozen?

It's one of the northern areas in the mission so that will be fun. 

I'll go on my first train in Russia!!! Hollah!!! Saturday, 

Sis G and I were walking with a member to go to one of our investigators homes. 

We were crossing over the big bridge, when they stop and point to the side of the road. 

We see this poor dog, lying on the side of the road, just freezing its tail off (pun intended).

 We say a prayer and try and figure out how to take care of this dog. 

There really isn't any type of animal control here so we were just trying to figure out what to do. 

Sis G and I hop onto the highway sitting beside the dog and trying to keep it warm, 

or at least comfort it. Sis G was petting the poor thing, and found blood on her glove.  

Then after about 15 minutes, some random lady pulls over and asks us what happened. 

Not a second later, she grabs a sheet from the trunk of her car, and then we all wrap the dog up, 

and puts the dog into her car. We tried to give them a pamphlet or Book of Mormon 

(we're missionaries) but she said she doesn't need it. Still, she drove off trying to save the dog. 

It was a great example of service for me.

Our District (from left to right): Elder Shae from Las Vegas, 

Elder Vandermark from Santa Clarita (hollah), 

District Leader Peterson from Utah, Elder Fletcher from Alaska, 

and me and Sister Grishina! 

With a new year comes new opportunities.Let's all take a moment and reflect on what we've accomplished this past year. I know for myself, every great accomplishment was made possible because of my faith in Jesus Christ. College. Family. Friends. and now my mission. 

 am so grateful for my Savior and His love and support in my life. 

He knows each of us personally. Prayer works. We can do hard things 

if we just rely on Christ and consult with our Heavenly Father. 

I testify of this truth in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

-- 

Much love, 

Cectpa Graham

Week 29 - December 28, 2015 One Christmas down, two more to go. . .

         My dearest readers, 

Thank you so much for all your love and support each week!!! 

It really helps me so much!! You have no idea!!!! 

What a great week. I don't even know where to start. 

I'm going to try and work on keeping things short and to the point, 

so I can cover more material without sending y'all an entire novel. . . 

So Russians celebrate New Years like we celebrate Christmas. 

A tree and everything hahaha. Also, Christmas is January 9th here in Russia, 

so I'll be able to celebrate it again!!! Hence three Christmases this year!! 

Hollah!!!

Yeah...I love Christmas!

Zone Christmas Conference. So darn tootin' amazing! 

I got to see all my favorite people!! 

My old district is doing great, looking gorgeous per usual. 

The sisters from my original MTC district ft. photobombing elders. . . 

Met some great new missionaries. Saw people from my first cycle district. 

We worshipped together and learned together. We stalked about 

how important obedience with exactness is. There are many reasons to be obedient, 

the main on should be your love for the Savior. 

All the sisters in the Samara and Toliatti Zones

We watched the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional, 

so wonderful to see familiar faces again! We ate a DELICIOUS dinner 

and dessert from Sister Schwab. She is such a champ, 

she and he daughter spent days fixing up dinner for almost 100 missionaries. 

She even baked us all cookies and brownies!! We got maple syrup extract, yumm, 

and taco seasoning. Merica. I am so grateful to have spent Christmas Eve 

with all of these wonderful servants of the Lord. We are truly united in a great cause!!!

​Sister Schwab!!!! And my district!!! And more photobombing elders. . . 

I met Sister Palmer, the younger. She was trained by my first trainer... 

Sister Palmer. She's so cute. She practically knew my whole life story and I hadn't met her. 

She's funny and loves to chat and share stories. We'll probably serve together one day. You 

betcha my polaroid game is still going strong!!! It definitely attracts attention. 

Meet Sister Palmer! Nope not my first trainer, her trainee. . . 

who is my "lil sister" I braided her hair like any good ol'sister 

I love Liahonas. Seriously makes me so happy. 

Also, I especially loved and appreciated the Taiwan, 

shout out in the December issue of the Liahona. Woot woot!! 

Well, I find myself short on time, also I've been emailing/typing for three hours now, 

so I'm going peace out. 

If you have any yummy recipes you are willing to share with me, 

I'd love to try them out!!! I love cooking and throwing things together. 

So if you have some, feel free to shoot me and email. 

Our Christmas Dinner!

Also, if you have any good ideas for New Year's Resolutions, let me know. 

Or funny ones, too. I'll share mine next week!

Last but not least. I love my Savior. I know He lives. He was born, crucified, resurrected, 

and now He lives today. Come unto Him!!!! 

The Lord doesn't need people to die for His sake anymore. 

He needs saints who are willing to live for Him. It's a hard world we live in, 

but with the Savior by our side, it gets a whole lot easier. 

We can be cheerful and joyful in this life!!

Much love, 

Cectpa Graham

Week 28 - December 21, 2015 Рождество!!! Christmas!!!!!

   My beloved readers,

Sorry, I'm short on time again. I just want to make sure I reply personally to each email 

I receive from y'all. Honestly I can't express enough how much I love you all. 

I have the best support system in the world. It's so incredible to know that 

I have so many people rootings for me and praying fro me back home. 

You are all incredible. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

I wish I could share so much more with you 

but time is the Lord's here so I will try and be quick. 

​My camera is cold. .. Meet Sister Grishina!

I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior. He loves you. He knows you. 

I have felt His influence in my life, very personally this last week. 

He will never leave us alone. We are never alone. 

For Zone conference, we will be asked to share our three favorite scriptures about the Savior. 

Here are mine: John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." 

I testify that this is true and I am evidence of that. 

The Lord has comforted me and is with me through various loved ones. . each of you! 

D&C 6-33-37 "Fear not little flock; do good. . . Look unto me every thought; doubt not, 

fear not. Behold the wounds which pierced my side, 

and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; 

be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of God." 

Mosiah 24:14-15 " I will ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, 

that even you cannot feel them upon your backs. . . 

that ye may know of a surety that I, 

the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. . . 

The Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, 

and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. . ." 

I know these things to be true. The Church of jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 

is the true church of God. Jesus Christ's church is once again on the earth in it's fulness. 

This Christmas, come unto Christ. If you want to know why on earth I'm in Russia 

and not home in California, ask those young kids on bikes in your neighborhood 

with a black and white name-tag, also known as missionaries. 

They will tell you all about it! If you need help finding some missionaries, let me know. 

I'll help ya! They are doing the same exact thing I am doing here in Russia. 

I have felt the Savior's love so strongly. I have had the wonderful miracle of getting an email today from one of my friends from BYU who is serving in Taiwan. I gave him my family's address and he has been able to contact my grandma! She's going to be taught by the missionaries!! 

This is one of the greatest blessings of my life. Pray for her and my family there. 

Shout-out to Elder Matt Smith for being the true MVP!!! 

Long letter already but here are some highlights of the week: 

Made a snow-rock. Wasn't the right snow for a real snowman. 

His name is Olaf.Talked to a 96 yr old babooshka. She showed us her porcelain? lioness. 

She was hilarious. 

Olaf

Happy 2nd Anniversary Alene and Dean! Every time I show your wedding photos, 

people ask me is that's my husband. I guess we still look like twins hahaha. 

I have officially reached that point on my mission when I say, 

"This time next year. . .I won't be in Russia. . . WHAT?!?!?!!"

-- 

Much love, 

Cectpa Graham

Week 27 - December 14, 2015 There's No Growth in the Comfort Zone and No Comfort in the Growth Zone

  My dearest readers, 

So I don't have much time this week so I won't write all that much. 

I just hate not involving you all in my experiences. It's been a rough week. 

I feel like I've left on a second mission. I've said goodbye to all my beloved friends in Balakovo 

and am now starting from ground zero here. New faces, new streets, new food. 

I must say it is so darn tootin' cool to have traditional Russian food. . . at every meal! 

Hurrah! It's awesome. 

Sister Grishina is a hard-worker, knows her area well, and a phenomenal teacher. 

She's practically pre-trained so not much for me to do here haha. 

I have a lot of work to do here. The branch here is incredible! So many young families!!! 

It warms my soul seeing the fruits of so many missionaries. What a strong people!!! 

I have a lot to learn. I am going to grow so close to my Savior I just know it. 

I am going to learn how to rely on Him fully and be guided by His Spirit. 

Keep us in your prayers! I love the emails and letters of support. 

You are just the best!!!!! Hugs and kisses! 

Unless you are male then that is not allowed hahaha 

-- 

Much love, 

Cectpa Graham

Week 26 - December 7, 2015 I made a Russian Бабущка cry. . . .

     My dearest readers, 

I am very sad to admit that I made a Russian grandma cry yesterday! 

Because I'm getting transferred!!!! 

I'm leaving my first area and zone to go serve in Bezzi in Samara!!!! 

I am going to finish training a new sister. That's right, you heard me. I'm training!!! 

Wait it gets better. . . she's a native Russian speaker!!!!! 

Now I'm truly going to be immersed in the Russian culture! 

My District!

I am soooo nervous for all of the challenges and adventures that lie ahead. 

I have a lot of work to do, so keep me and my new companion, Sister Greshina, in your prayers!!!

I know that my Russian is just going to become exponentially better. 

Not only because I'll be senior companion, but also because I'll serve with a Russian. 

Thank goodness she already knows English pretty well. More good news, 

Elder Fletcher, from my first month in Russia, will be in my district, 

so at least I'll see one familiar face. And I'm much closer to the mission office so 

I'll get mail and packages much quicker. 

 I've seen so many miracles the past few days. I have been praying fervently 

ever since I could remember to have an overwhelming love for Balakovo. 

I can testify that I have received that love!!! I absolutely LOVE the members here! 

I am going to miss them so much! I haven't been able to tell in the past  

how much of an impact I've made on the area. Just yesterday, 

I felt so much love for and from the members that I just can't believe it! 

My heart isn't big enough for this! There is one young woman, Nastia, 

who I have gotten to know very well. She can sometimes be a punk ahha 

but I love her to pieces. Nastia, one of the only "youth" in the branch, 

was sitting next to me in sacrament meeting. We have gotten very close the past 4 months. 

I jokingly nudged her to go and bare her testimony during sacrament. She quickly declined. 

But after a while, the Spirit worked within her. While her mother was testifying, 

Nastia turns to me and says, "I love you. This is for you. I'll go first and then you go after me." 

This is the first time since I've been in Balakovo, and I'm sure much longer than that, 

that I saw Nastia go up and bare her testimony. I could not believe it. It was awesome!!!

What a great change! I know everyone in the room was surprised as well. 

I just love her so much and am so glad I got to know all these great members. 

One of the babyshkie whom I met with sometimes started crying as I said goodbye to her. 

I cannot believe how much I love these people. I need to come back to Balakova, 

at least in the next 5 years. 

There is a lot of change happening in the next few days. I leave Balakova on Wednesday. 

I know that my mission president was divinely inspired when he called me to this new area 

and with this new companion. I am going to learn and grow so much this next cycle. 

Man, I'm going to miss Sister Hansen so much. We have become the best of friends. 

I love her soooooooo much!! We have so much in common 

and we've gone through so much together. 

Luckily I'll see her in about 6 weeks for our visa trip, but still.

 My dear Sister Hansen!

The last few days have been really hard on us. 

I never understood the meaning of bittersweet until Sunday. 

It's honestly like leaving on a second mission!!!! 

I'm definitely leaving a huge chunk of my heart here in Balakova. 

The members here are just so incredible. No regrets. Every single second was worth it. 

I have to say goodbye to my district tonight at FHE. 

Luckily Sister Hansen is coming up to Samara with me to pick up her trainee. 

This is already a super long email, anyway. I love you all!!!

-- 

Much love, 

Cectpa Graham