3 Weeks left! What???

Oh I was so jealous reading your email! You got to do all of my favorite things all in one trip... play with babies, hang out with the family, watch good tennis, and visit NEW YORK CITY! Oh well, I guess a mission is pretty cool too! I didn't get an email from dad so when you get home you're going to have to tell him how mad I am... or just make him send me one on Dear Elder. It sounds like you all had an awesome trip and i'm so glad you had fun! give those babies lots and lots of kisses before you leave from me, they need to know who their favorite aunt is..:)
Well this week has been good. Another crazy week and only a couple more to go here at the MTC. It is strange to think that I will be leaving here so soon and actually in russia doing what I've been talking about for a couple months. It will definitely be an intersting experience when i first get to Russia and realize i don't understand a thing and I'm farther away from home than I ever have been but, oh well!
P-day last week was good. We got our laundry done and some letters written and then I studied a little bit for the TRC on wednesday. It was the second lesson 100% russian and i was really nervous because i hadn't even finished planning the lesson in Russian by the time Tuesday came around. We had a great devotional Tuesday night which i really really loved.
wednesday was again our 100% russian day which was hard but it is fun and challenging to see if you really can communicate what you want to in a different language. needless to say our classes on that day are much quieter than usual. we had our big softball game and i am pleased to announce I was got MVP. I caught 2 pop fly's and scored 2 times. looks like all of the backyard whiffle ball really paid off and thanks dad for playing catch with me. the elder's were very impressed by my catching skills and i wasn't too bad of a batter either! It was a fun game and the tournament continues. Another game tomorrow-- hopefully this time we'll actually win:)
Wednesday night we had our TRC which went okay. we had a native russian speaker who spoke faster than anyone i have ever heard. it was nuts! he would sit there and mumble and then laugh. AWESOME! we were teaching the word of wisdom and he kept asking if certain things were okay. he asked us a lot of things I didn't know in russian and so I just asked him to repeat it over adn over. finally i thought I understood and said yes, he then started to laugh and said I had just told him he could smoke. good times. He was a good "investigator" though and made me really work on my russian and listening comprehension skills. it was good to get someone who talked fast and acted like a real Russian would. He was funny and I'm looking forward to teaching tomorrow, the second lesson again (the Plan of Salvation) with tithing. It should be intersting, our District has set a goal to not use any notes at the TRC so we will see how that goes. I know that if I trust in the Lord and follow the Spirit, the lesson will go well and the investigator will hear what he needs to hear.
Thursday we served and i did a LoT of dusting and cleaning the drinking fountains. I have to say I've found my hidden talent here at the MTC-- cleaning the drinking fountains;) Not to brag-- but mine look pretty good.
The weekend was fine, not too many exciting things happened. Studied a lot, went to class etc. As a district we have also set a goal to teach in russian at least once a day so we have started doing that within our district. It has been helpful to practice certain parts in the lesson in Russian without looking at notes so i hope that as we continue to do that, we will become better teachers and our language skills will improve. Thanks for the BYU score-- saturday night my companion and I were walking around the MTC to take a break from studying and we heard people honking and screaming etc. we figured that BYU must have won the game because Provo did seem to be a little louder than usual.
sunday was Fast Sunday which was really nice. We had a mission conference in the morning and each of the Presidency of the MTC and their wives spoke. It was a really good meeting and I got a lot out of it. One of the wive's spoke about the Articles of Faith and how crucial they are to what we believe and what we teach. It was a great talk and I gained a greater appreciation for what they are and what is in them. we also had some great talks on teaching with the spirit, and finding people. We had the fireside that night and it was an MTC director and his wife who spoke. It was AWESOME! They talked a lot about just caring for the people. they told a lot of stories about when they were mission presdients and his wife told her conversion story. It is so important to remember that we will be teaching real people with real concerns and problems and things they need help with. We get used to just teaching missionaries here and don't always realize the power this message can have for real people in their lives. I loved that they really made the gospel seem personal and that is what we need to do as well. we need to make sure that we are caring about THEM and making them our first priority. I have been getting a little sick of the MTC but everytime I think about why I am here and why I do this, it gets me excited again. I am so excited to go out and meet people and teach them the Gospel and see it change their lives if they allow it to. This is about PEOPLE, not about how well I speak the langugage or anything else, it is about them understanding this Gospel and hearing my testimony. That is all I will be able to give them and then support them as they find their own testimony. It's cool to think that this is what I get to do everyday! find people and potentially change their lives!!!
Tomorrow is going to be a busy day for us! we are going to be hosts for the new missionaries coming in so that should be fun. It will be funny to see how scared they all look and remember back to when that was me! we also are teaching our new "progressing investigator". his name is Dima and he is a teacher here but you have to contact him and teach him just like you would a normal investigator. We contacted him saturday afternoon and he invited us to come back on Wednesday so we have an appointment with him tomorrow. We will probably just teach the first lesson and hopefully will be invited back for another lesson. This is another way to realize that these are real people, if he doesn't want us to come back he can say no thanks. The most important thing for us to realize is that we have to make it important to him. our message has to be applicable to his life and his concerns and his needs.
last night we taught the Native Russian missionaries which went pretty well but is always intimidating. they said we did a good job and so it was fun. They also taught us and I was so surprised by how much I was able to understand and comprehend.
anyone who served a foreign langugage mission and you have any tips for learning the langugage the last few weeks I would love them (dad and devin). I have so little time but I know that if I do all I can here, then Heavenly Father will bless me there. He will help me to speak "the language of their hearts" and testify to them in their native tongue.
Missions are great! I think this is the hardest thing I have ever done but I have learned so much and haven't even left the MTC:) I know this experience will bless my whole life! thanks for all the mail and support it really does make a difference and I love hearing what people are up to! The church is true!
love
whitney (sister morris)