auntie em, here!

PRIVET!

i feel like i need to write everything in caps lock because i'm freaking out in excitement. I'M AUNTIE EM! welcome to the world, ms. naomi ann! i hope and already know that everyone is giving her lots of love for me. :)

okay. now that that's settled. i'll calm down. maybe.

this week i thought a lot about something sherry said to me before i left on my mission. she said that baptism days and weeks prior to them were always some of the most interesting. you can say that again. but on november 3, a few hours before naomi ann entered the world, ms. iriada klyueva entered the world of church membership. (she goes by irina, but her name is iriada and she grew up in siberia.) it was such a beautiful day. it reminded me a lot of my baptism day in some ways. and it was so precious to see how much the love in the klyuev family has grown in the past few weeks even since we met her, committed her to baptism, and then she was baptized and confirmed this weekend. it was visible. :) the six missionaries sang an accapella of 'our savior's love' (in russian, obviously) after she was baptized, and then when she stood up and was asked to say a few words/her testimony, all she said was, 'thank you brothers and sisters. because now you really are my brothers and sisters' with tears in her voice and running down her face. she was glistening! i don't even have words to describe the pervading sweet spirit of love and satisfaction. this babushka is the best. don't worry. i'm attaching photos, kanechna. :)

we had a lot of moments this week of me and cectpa armknecht saying to each other 'this is like south america!' our roads turned into rivers, especially last wednesday i think it was? i would die to have a picture or video of us trying to walk through the puddles and rivers that night in the dark. so funny. also, grandma was right in her research. kharkov is a huge city, but the part we're in can seem more villagey in some ways because we're on the outskirts at the edge of the city, not in center. center of the city is beautiful and looks more like western europe.

this week tamara told us she could hear the progess in our russian. and sometimes she forgets that we don't just know russian. let's just say we/i get blessed with extra portions of the gift of tongues when working with tamara. bless her heart. she has a baptism date of 17 november (this weekend is regional conference so we had to move it.) and she needs all the prayers she can get. vot takee paragee. (behold such pies/all the little pies.--don't worry about trying to translate the phrase. ha.)

sasha came to the baptism! we were so glad. it was such a special baptism, like better than usual even from what i've heard. at least for us it was obviously. and he said it was a good experience. the thing is, sasha isn't quite an investigator yet, but he's not just a contact. we're working on it. maybe this week. also, he's got our back and tells us to let him know if we ever need help or don't feel safe or something. it's great. not that we've ever called him, but it's a nice thought.

on saturday morning while contacting before the baptism, we met a woman who knows french and teaches it here! she was super nice. it was great, though i can't speak french anymore, even though i can understand. it was embarrassing. also, we wandered through the thicker foresty forest park place near us and ran across a man and his goats! yep. real live goats. his name was ivan. and he was so friendly. no contact from it, but he has a kniga mormona now, and we learned how to say goats. :)

when visiting with a member the other night, in the prayer she prayed that we'd only come into contact with kind and good people that night. the prayers of 87 year old communists babushkas are answered too. it was adorable.

i feel like there are so many things i could say that i don't even really have anything to say for this week. so maybe i'll just leave it at that. the most important thing is that the gospel is so true. the atonement is so real. baptisms are so precious. and the plan of salvation really is a plan of happiness.
and i'm an aunt now! congrats to dougy and sherry on the precious baby treasure entering the world. hopefully you're not drowning. give her a big hug and kiss for me and sing a little lullaby!

lots of love,

cectpa/auntie em.