Halfway Through!

Wow! Can you believe i'm halfway done with my time at the MTC. It really seems crazy. we will be getting new missionaries tomorrow going to the Russia/Ukraine/Baltics area and we will officially be titled the "older" missionaries. That freaks me out. I think about the missionaries when we got here and how I thought they knew so much Russian... I feel like I don't know any Russian!!! Oh well, I guess as long as I can figure out how to buy food and find the bus I should be okay right? Thanks DAD for your letter. I absolutely loved it! It was my favorite one all week! I also enjoyed the movie "UP" and found myself crying...the whole time... if you don't believe me, check with Kubo who will verify that for you.This week has been pretty good. Last Tuesday night we had a devotional which was really nice. My companion and I sung in the choir which is always a lot of of fun. Wednesday was TRC day as usual and our first day 100% in Russian. Can you believe that? Needless to say it was a pretty quiet day for our district but I did manage to participate in a few conversations. We then taught the 1st lesson completely in Russian at the TRC. we got a really great investigator who was from Moscow and had just arrived in America about a week ago. He said our russian was pretty good and that everything we said made sense which is a blessing. After we taught him he talked to us for a minute (thankfully in English!) It was so intersting to talk to him and hear about Russia. He said that the hardest thing is really making the message personal to those you will teach. He said in Russia it's really hard and it's not like here where we always have HOPE. He said that here we always think "the economy will get better" "there are better days coming" etc. but in Russian they simply don't think that way. He said not to worry about Russian but worry about making the message fit their lives. Making them see that they need this message, that this message can bring them joy, and can literally change their lives for the better. He emphasized that it needs to be applicable to them and make them see that there is HOPE! His sharing that really touched me and made me start to think about what hope is and how i can convey that message with more power and conviction. I have been studying hope for my personal study this week and have enjoyed looking into its many attributes and the ways we can strengthen it and increase it.Thursday was good old service day and again I felt privileged and got to wear the vacumn pack. I also cleaned a lot of drinking fountains and needless to say when I'm done, there are some bright and shinging water fountains:) Friday was good. We had a lesson to teach at the TEC- which is where you sign up and teach teachers, who then evaluate you and critique you. My friend Dave Kjar is a teacher there (he's the clarinetist in the Dixieland Band) so we taught him the first lesson, 100% in russian. It went pretty well considering we were speaking a different language. I think the thing that surprises me the most is that the Spirit is the same regardless of what language you are speaking in. it's really cool to realize that you can communicate to those you are teaching strictly through the spirit. I KNOW my grammar throughout that lesson was terrible but I felt the Spirit was there. Saturday we learned a lot of Russian!!! We then had the RC which was a little disappointing because not one person picked up the phone-- lucikly I hear some Kanye West, on a ringback tone on a couple of calls so felt special.sunday was fantastic as usual. Because of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open house we didn't have sacrament meeting but we were able to attend the dedication. It was really great and the spirit was so strong. I love the thought that we have temples being built everywhere and the blessings they bring to those in the area. It is exciting to think that Ukraine will have a temple soon and hopefully many of the members in Russia will be able to visit it! the prophet spoke and it was amazing. It is such a privilege and a blessing to have a prophet in our day who is able to give us direction and guidance in our lives! it is a good reminder that the church is true and we are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. That night we also had a great fireside by one of the MTC employees. He talked about how important it is to Count your many blessings. My companion and I then watched the Joseph smith movie which has such a strong spirit and like mom said in her email always makes you realize how much he sacrificed so we could have this amazing blessing,monday was good. We found out that becasue school starts next week at BYU Sister Salash will not be able to teach us anymore! It was definitely sad but we met our new teacher and he seems pretty cool. he actually just got back from Novosibirsk and knew had Uncle Hal as his mission president. His name is Bro. Andersen? Our TRC "task" this week is going to a "market" and so Monday afternoon the teachers had a practice market. It was really fun and I bought a "skirt". we had to negotiate a price, buy an item and then talk about our message. It was definitely a challenge because the amount of people and the teachers were speaking in very fast russian trying to "sell" their items. My favorite approach from one of the elders was to simply say "Ah, I like you cap, I also like the Gospel". Although i didn't use that one it was funny to see if it ever worked:) it was really fun but i'm still nervous for the Wednesday night. Everyweek we have a different task we do at the beginning of our TRC time, last week was sharing a meal etc. that is totally in russian. Then we set up an appointment and return in a few minutes and teach the lesson. Again tomorrow is 100% Russian with NO NOTES so we'll see how it goes. I just need to remember that the best teacher is the Spirit.Last night we had FHE as a district and it was a LOT of fun. Our substitute Brother Olsen had a spiritual thought and then we played some games and had treats. it was great and I really loved it!This week is going to be good as we get the new missionaries (althought I'm not looking forward to the lines being long again--there are so many RUSSIANS)! We have a softball game scheduled tomorrow with another district. Our Elders our very excited and everynight during planning talk about our strategy. I think i ended up on 3rd base-- we'll see how that goes. I also got the nickname sister zach morris? I've been playing a lot of volleyball at gym for dad (after I run of course for Patricia) and am still doing my pushups nightly. we had the temple this morning which was great and then ate breakfast there which was delicious. Overall its been a great week.The church is true! We are so blessed and lucky to have it. Thanks to everyone who has been emailing and mailing me! i absolutely love it! Thanks Grandma for the sweet letter, it definitely made my day. you are all great and I love you all!Whitney