First Week of the Mission

HELLO! Right now I am doing my wash and it is NUTS! There are so many missionaries and you have to wait a LONG time. Other than that everything else has been fine. The MTC is definitely a challenge but I've enjoyed being able to learn and grow in my testimony. I wrote you a letter about my first couple days and had hoped you would get it before you left but it doesn't sound like you did. Thanks so much for the package! I loved it!!! It's so NICE to get mail. You never realized how distanced you can feel from everyone but with mail, you feel closer. In my district there are 8 elders and my companion and I. The elders are almost all from Utah and seem really young to me! It's definitely a change to go from hanging out with all return missionaries to pre-missionaries. I've heard from Sara and my roommates and Katie and that has been really fun. We went to the temple today which was AWESOME. It's really weird because I don't feel like I"m in Provo until I go to gym or the temple or something. It was funny because on the way to gym yesterday I saw Joe Nibley as I was crossing the street. Since I've been here I've seen a lot of people from BYU, Dave Kjar, the clarinetist in Dixieland (he's a teacher), Brandon sunday, erica seibel, and a couple other random people.The people in my room are all really nice and I have also enjoyed getting to know them. I have two teachers who teach both the Gospel and Russian. One is Sister Salash who I absolutely love! She is from the Ukraine so speaks Amazing Russian and speaks really fast. Ithink it will be such a blessing to hear a Native Russian speak the langugage the whole time. She is really tiny and soft spoken but has such a strong testimony. She told us her conversion story the other day and it was so powerful. You never how easy we have it in the United States and how much other people have been through to find the Gospel. She grew up in Communist Russia and her family was in the government so when Communism ended they became extremely poor and she had to move to the Ukraine, away from her family. It was powerful to hear how the Gospel changed her life and to see what I can do as a missionary. So many people need this Gospel and it can be such a blessing to them. My other teacher is Brother Fisher and he is from Orem and served in MOscow and Kazakhstan. He is a really nice guy and very energetic so it's interesting to see their different teaching styles.My companion is from Saratoga Springs and her name is Sister Tedrow. We have enjoyed being with each other even though it is sometimes hard to get along with someone who's with you ALL THE TIME. You truly are never alone. It's been really interesting to see how you learn to adapt with personality styles. She is very opinionated (not a good word) and so I just kind of go with whatever. When we teach we work together really well and so my favorite times are when we are teaching. My P-day is obviously Tuesday so check your email Tuesday night.Sunday has been the best day so far because it felt like we had the most time. We were able to study in the morning and then go to church which was really nice. For Relief Society we always have a speaker and so that is going to be really nice! This week we heard from Sis. Madsen, Truman G. Madsen's wife. She gave an excellent talk on prayer and listening to the Spirit. Also on Sunday my companion and I went to Choir which I loved. It was just nice to sing and feel the spirit there. There are so many ELDERS here! The choir sounds really good! Tonight we have a devotional as well and I'm excited to see who is speaking.Most days we are in class everyday all day or studying so the schedule's pretty tiring and by the end your beat! Although rigorous I have loved learning the Russian language. I can already pray and testify in Russian from memory! Everyday my companion and i read a couple verses from the Book of Mormon in Russian and try and sing a hymn. IT's HARD because the alphabet is so different but I"m noticing i'm already improving.The food here is pretty good and they have really good salads everyday so Ihave liked that. The worst part so far has seriously just been waiting for a washing machine.I loved your letters, thanks dad for the humor. I wanted to share something I learned from my personal study today that really helped me and hopefully you too. I was trying to determine what i wanted to do for the Russian people and as I was reading 2nd Nephi I came across these scriptures. IN verse 4 it starts by saying that Nephi just prayed for the people, cried for them, persuaded them to do good, persuaded them to believe in Christ, endure to the end, teach in plainness. I then loved how he ended by saying that all he wanted was for them to believe in Christ! I feel like that is what I want to do in Russian. I want to pray for them, persuade them to do good and then to help them believe in Christ. Even if they don't accept the Gospel if I can help them feel of God's love for them then I have succeeded in a little way.I love you guys so much and miss you but don't worry I have loved it here so far! It is a great place to be and everyday I just feel like this is where I'm supposed to be! I think the most essential thing to do hear is to have a positive attitude. It can be hard, companions are challenging, there are a lot of rules, class can get boring, the food can be gross and the beds hard but with a positive attitude everything is fine! The gospel is true, the church is true and you guys are the best! Whitney