September 6: Labor Day Weekend

Hey everybody,
Wow, it's labor day weekend already? It sounds like you all have big, fun plans! I hope all goes well. Everything here in Perm is fabulous! My companion, Sister Karpeshenko is amazing. She is a tiny, sweet Russian (from around St.Petersburg), with a passion for the work. She is helping me so much with my Russian, especially because she really doesn't speak any English at all. We are having a lot of fun, but staying focused, and have already seen MANY miracles. It's going to be a great transfer. On my first day here in Perm, we set a baptismal date with an investigator named, Lydia, for the 25th of September! But, then we found out that she doesn't live in our area, so we are passing her over to the Elders. Please keep her in your prayers! She's really great and really excited about the gospel. We don't really have many investigators right now, but I've been able to meet with many of the members. Perm reminds me a little bit of Chelyabinsk, maybe a little cleaner, and with a church building. I think I'm really gonna like it here. The members are really strong and the Branch President is incredible. It's starting to get cold and all the jackets and coats are coming out. I LOVE FALL WEATHER! :) Anyway, we have a meeting with a new investigator tonight named Maksim. We set a goal the other day to find a potential priesthood holder, and in our morning contacting, we found him. He seems really interested and when I called him yesterday to confirm our meeting for tonight, he said he had already begun to read the Book of Mormon. My testimony about prayer and goal setting is growing every day. The more specific our prayers, the more specific our answers. We prayed to find a potential priesthood holder (our branch here has A LOT of women and not very many men) and that's who the Lord blessed us with. We'll see how the meeting goes tonight. Maybe his family will want to listen too!
The church is true, this I know. And, it is the same here, as it is in Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Ekaterinburg, and the USA. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Hoorah for Israel!

I hope you all had a great Labor Day! I love you sooooooooo much!!! Thank you tremendously for all of your prayers, I really am seeing the blessings from them all the way over here in Russia.
I have a VISA trip next monday, so I won't have a chance to write next week. To Finland and back, in less than 24 hours...should be fun. But, at least, I GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE...ahhhh.
xoxoxoxoxoxox
love always,
Sister Hansen