2nd week! I survived!

ok! so yes.. i survived another week in novosibirsk... haha yes its still cold... and yes... there is still ice on the ground but i think i only fell once this week so that was a success!! I will start off with my week and how it went! Ok so thursday -We met with an inactive lady and she has a son on a mission in moscow and she is great... she just breeds cats and sells them on sunday so she doesnt come to church that often but she came on sunday with her family so that was great!!! but she read my palm at our meeting, and she told me that i was going to have a very strong marriage.. and i said  "of course" haha and then she told me that my palm says i should be thrify but im not... hahah i laughed because we all know thats true! talk about a
  humbling experience.. someone i dont even know tells me i am not thrifty! and believe me, she didnt see it because of what i looked like that day because i looked like a total wreck.. like everyday here because ask me if i have blow dried or curled or straightened my hair since i have been here..NOPE! haha i havent bought those yet so i just let it air dry and if I REALLY feel like lookin pretty i braid it and then take it out so it has a
  wave... hahah its kinda sad i know. Then we went to this other family who are very strong in their faith but we just do service for them and they like coming to english club and having us over... we i have an idea the other day that we could kinda do missionary work... so they know i need help with my language so i asked the grandma to help me read.. .so guess what we read... the lessons! haha so at least we kinda taught the lessons to her and she enjoyed it...

  Friday.. we had meetings but one was at this house with this inactive, and she has the most terrifying dog ever.. its like a lion seriously... and it likes to attack and it was so scary! ok.. and about the dogs here.. there
  are like 63675893984 dogs here.. and i hate dogs and they are all nasty and  everywhere... they told me that the day before i got here.. she saved a frozen dog... i have yet to see a frozen animal yet but hopefully one day haha... and everybody has cats too.. and its really gross because they live in apartments and they apartments always smell like cat pee.. its really gross... i have smelt smells i never even knew existed... haha its really strange.. and people dont wear deorderant either... its nast... like really.. i cant even talk about it. Then on saturday we have this investigator Irina.. shes great but we have only met with her 2 times.. but she wants us to continue to come so we have a meeting with her tomorrow.. she is progressing but we just never know what will happen. Then we all went ice skating.. well i didnt, because of the knee... so i just stood outside in the -15 degree weather and watched everyone iceskate and took pictures.. haha very very cold but it was fun. It was for our  investigators and english club people and lots of people came so it was
  fun...Then sunday we went to an active members house for a meeting and they live out in the country.. (we live in the city of novo... and they live like 40 mintues away) and it was beaituful! just snow everywhere and the houses all have gardens and stuff... Way different then the city.. the city is like dirty... but the countryside was way better Then today we went to the Renok... its like a swap meet... or even better.. its like carboard mall in mexico... but russian style... Its like way cool. I needed a bag so we went... and its all the little stands and its seriously JUST like mexico but Frozen... haha snow everywhere! and FUR everywhere!!! hah its so sweet... its funny cause here.. EVERYBODY wears fur... we looked at Shuba's today.. (like the fur coats) and some of them.. the real ones.. are like thousands of dollars.. THOUSANDS... haha i will bring home a fake on...Then the hats here and the gloves and everything! it was so fun to be at therenok today except it was snowing and freezing.. I had my first (i dont know how to write in in english but i will try
bleenee today...forom a stand.. dad should remember from andrew zimmern when> he went to russia.. its like a crepe with meet and stuff.. SOOOOOOO good!
 seriously... THe food here is actually really good.. I thought i might lose weight.. i was wrong!!! NOOOOOOO!!! theres just so much bread and yogurt and really yummy stuff... so me and my companion have been trying to eat healthier... Ok.. mom you asked about my companion.. she is amazing seriously. She is russian but from the samara mission... she has been here 7 months and has ONLY served here.. in the city of novosibirsk... You will be interested to know there is only 11 sisters here in our WHOLE
  mission.. and we only serve in 3 cities because there isnt enough of us to go around... So i will probably serve with most of the sisters here..anyway... not much more to say about my companion... dad has the pictures right i think she is in  a few of them! she is great and helps me out a
  ton...THe language is still killer.. its like really hard and people think understand even when i say i dont understand but its ok... i will catch on i> know i will, the lord didnt send me here for no reason. Well... my little spiritual thought i learned during studying this week.. i was reading in first nephi, when nephi was commanded to build a ship and the lord gave him all the tools and Nephi prayed often and the lord showed him the way to build the ship how he should... I Thought about how the lord has commanded us all to build a ship.. i guess we could say the ship of our lives... and he has givin us all the tools.. and as long as we ask.. he will show  us the way HE wants us to build it.. i think its in 1 nephi 4.. the
  2nd verse maybe when nephi said "it was after the manner of the lord and not after the manner of men"... sometimes.. we build our lives around the world.. and the manner the world and "men" think we should live our lives..and thats not necessarily horrible.. cause you can still build a ship.. and it can float... but if we build it according the the lord... it was be of "exceedingly fine workmanship" and will take us to the promised land... We can be the people the lord wants so we can return to him how he expects... I know that seems crazy... but it kinda hit me because we can live our lives just fine in the world.. but we can live so much better if every decisions is turned towards the lord... ou ship can be WAY better then it would have
  been...Ok, i know i am totally a sister missionary but i dont even care anymore.This has already been the time of my life... I know i have changed in ways i never thought i would...has there been hard times already... YES of course!  is this easy.. NO! But, i know if i cared about what people thought, or cared about what i just thought.. or gave up... thats not what the Lord wants... We are here to be tested... and to grow from our experiences... i know that i will grow so much more! i just with you all could see what was going through here in russia.. its hysterical! i do things i NEVER thought i would do i see things i NEVER thought i would see... the lord definetly has> a sense of humor i know that! haha

  I LOVE YOU ALL TOO SOOOOO MUCH! be safe and know that the mission is