Pumpkins and Blessings.

11/02/14

Well, hi there! This week has been one of the greatest of my whole mission. I loved it with my whole heart. We had our branch Halloween party on Friday and it was a hit. We had games, a photo booth, way too much candy and cakes and donuts, pumpkin carving, and we even had trick or treating from classroom to classroom in our branch building. Everyone worked so hard to put it together and it turned out so well. We ate sugar until it came out our eyes and we even had two of our primary kids put on a break dance show for us. It was quite the adventure finding pumpkins to carve. They don't sell them in the store but we found them at a rinok (outside market). We went with our senior couple and ended up buying 10 pumpkins. Everyone was flabbergasted that we didn't want to eat them but that we wanted to carve them. We took a picture of us will all the pumpkins and caused quite the scene. I love Russia. The best part of the week though was without a doubt Sunday. The day all of our dreams came true! Haha. But really. The Patriarch and his wife came! They are legitimately the coolest people. They have been members for twenty years and three years ago he became the patriarch of the Moscow Stake. They are the loveliest people. They seem like they have been members their whole lives. The Patriarch told us how he met the missionaries outside on the street and they asked him if he believed in God. He didn't really answer one way or another but wasn't against meeting. And now here they are, he's the Patriarch and she's the Stake Young Women's President. The whole day the Spirit was so strong. Our members were so excited to have them here with us and they just brought a special feeling to our meetings. It's really cool too because the wife is half Armenian so our Armenian members were thrilled to death. The patriarch had planned to do five blessings but in the end he had time for eight. How cool is that? Eight of our cute members got their patriarchal blessings in one day. It's honestly the best thing. I was so happy the whole day I couldn't even contain it. It was also so cool because I got to teach temple prep. That was one of the highlights of my mission so far. Getting to teach these people that I love so much about the temple and the blessings of the temple was mind blowing. It was one of those moments where life was just too good to even comprehend. As I talked about the temple with them I was filled with joy, I felt the goodness of the temple in that little room with all of us. I'm so excited for them to get to go and to receive those blessings. In Relief Society we each had the chance to bear our testimony. I listened to each sister bear her testimony of this Gospel, in all it's simplicity and grandeur. These people have testimonies of the Savior and they rely on him, they trust him, and they do their best to follow him. When it was my turn I couldn't really even talk because I just love these people so much and they are such examples to me. I have been the luckiest girl to serve here in the Russia Moscow Mission and in the areas I have served. I am overwhelmed by it. This week we have lots and lots to do. And it's going to be wonderful. I love you! I hope you have a great week. Love, Sister Harris