Hey Hey HEY

hello friends!!!!

Holy cow will someone please tell Valencia congrats?!?! That is so awesome! (and also tell her sorry that I don't have her email.....) WOW WOW WOW!! She is going to love it!!!! I am so excited!!!!

News:

we got new Russian missionaries! No new Rostov ones. Apparently there is a 4-week and then a 2-week cycle or something like that so I think we may get some new Rostov missionaries like 2 weeks before we leave haha. So yes there are like 9 missionaries going to Rostov in all the Russia zones. so yeah! It is really cool too how us three girls going to Rostov are all in the same district! #blessed hahahahaha man.I think I am so funny.

also, there is a russian district who is going to Moscow that got here last week and they leave Oct 12. Super jealous haha they go to the Spain MTC after 3 weeks in the provo MTC so they got here later and get to leave sooner than us! But it's cool... I'm over it........ ;)

Also some news: Crimea is now part of our mission?!?! an elder going to rostov looked up the mission map and it is now included as part of the mission so that is pretty scary. But also not scary at all because if we can serve there it must be pretty safe right? hahahahaha yeah.

Also I heard of like a red zone where only sisters can serve? But I can't like research that at all so if anyone wants to see if there is a zone or something where only sisters serve that would be pretty cool to find out if that is real or not haha.

Yes! Jade left on Monday and boy I am really so happy:) She looked so happy when I saw her on Saturday before she left:) I am so happy! and if you hear anything else def. let me know!

The mtc is good! I feel like this week went by fast. and holy moly... 5 weeks?!? crazy.

This week was a little bit hard! haha. The language is pretty hard! hahaha but it's all good. The Russian language actually only has 6 cases... I think I toldyou 9 before so I am sorry about that! but yeah it is hard but I am amazed at what I know.

I have also been a little irritated with my sweet sweet companion this week (AHH DON'T TELL HER I SAID THAT..SHE IS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO ME) hahahahah I'm just kidding.. but also kind of not hahaha. It is just the little things and I still love her to death but I kind of miss talking to other people hahahahahahaha. plus it is really hard when I don't understand something in Russian and she thinks about the same thing for like 10 seconds and then says, "oh I get it now!" it's frustrating but it isn't anything she tries to do. but really I love her and more than anything I've just been a teeny bit frustrated with the language:) but it's coming!

This past sunday was a super special sunday. For realsies. Ususally on fast sunday we get to do a lot of studying and hanging out but we had a meeting this time and bro/elD/pres (?) catcher came and talked to us! He is the area 70 over Russia! (wait now I'm not sure... but people kept telling me he was someone important!! ;)) but it was a really cool meeting and I will get to see him two days after I arrive in Rostov because they are doing a mission tour there! so that's cool! during that same meeting, Pres Burgess who is THE PRESIDENT OF THE MTC was there! AND THEN GET THIS. we have pretty small sacrament meetings (like I would guess 6 or 7 districts- so maybe like 70 missionaries) and after the big important meeting BOTH PRES CATCHER AND PRES BURGESS CAME TO OUR SACRAMENT!! (and not the other Russians zone's mind you!!) so yeah that was pretty neat:)

On Sunday Stephan B. Allen came and talked to us. It was really awesome because I had been fasting on sunday and didn't really feel like I had an answer and then when he came he talked about exactly what I was fasting about for just a snipet of time but I really felt like the Lord had answered my prayers. It's kinda personal so I don't really want to share haha but I know that god hears our prayers:)

Then last night Elder Costa came and talked to us and talked a lot about how he sees missionaries as heros. I have heard a lot of stories like that while being here at the MTC and I only hope that I can be a "hero" to someone! He shared a really cool story too that I will share at the end that I would like to share but I will see how much time I have.

Funny stories:

So In russian, if you want to say "how do you say..." you say "kak skazat..." and then whatever word in english that you want to know hahaha. side note: I feel like it was kind of a hard language week for a couple of missionaries in my district. ok back to the story: in previous weeks, this elder would always use kak skazat in the funniest ways. Like he would read a word and understand and say "KAK SKAZAT FLUENT!" hahah and it was so funny. Well this week the language seemed harder than usual hahaha and I heard him down the hall. Someone asked him "how's the language coming?" and he said "it's coming! "kak skazat slowly!" hahahaha man I thought it was so funny!

There are two elders who have "game day" every Tuesday where during gym they play two other russian missionaries and last week I guess they just got creamed... so This week this elder (who is so extremely competitive) kept nagging our district leader about making an announcement. so the district leader was finally like, "ok what is the announcement you would like me to make?" and so he stood up and said, " As many of you know, tomorrow is game day for me and ctp. thayer and we would really appreciate your prayers" hahahahah man it was so funny

the other sisters in the other district that we room with love to prank their elders... (also their elders pranked us by putting an alarm clock in one of the sisters purse.. yep we woke up at 3:20 the other morning. but we never talk about it and pretend like it never happened hahahahah so don't tell anyone! hahah ) but anyway, the convinced another elder to hide their mattresses hahaha they are so goofy.

To end on a spiritual note: We watched a talk given by Elder holland called Missions are forever (given in the MTC so i don't think you will have access...) but he told a parable(?) I can't remember the word hahah (and no, not because I know so much Russian I cna only think of that... just becuase I can't think of the english!!! hahahaha) and he said--

"He told us to come to the edge... we told Him no!

He told us to come to the edge! we told Him no!

He told us to come to the edge!! We told Him NO!!

He told us to come to the edge.

We came to the edge.

And He pushed us.

And we flew."

man I just loved that and it has stuck with me this week. I also really like the scripture in Alma, Alma 17: 13 (which I LOVE especially with missions :)) and I LOVE vs. 16. The word that sticks out to me in 16 is the word PERHAPS. I could tell you all that I think and feel about that but what does that story and that verse make you think about? I feel like sometimes that is all that we can go off of is a perhaps... BUT in correlation to the story Pres. holland gave, I know that we can fly EVEN if we only are acting on a PERHAPS. man I love the gospel. i love the spirit I feel here.

I am excited for general conference!!!! woo hoo!!!!!! Many of you proably have done this or have plans to, but I challenge you to take a question to the Lord. And listen for an answer in general conf.! I am excited to hear about your experiences! thank you so much for the emails! I love you all!!!!!

--

С большой любовью,сестра Price

ONE MONTH?!?!

Hello hello my dear family!!

This week has been amazing! and I have been here one month?!?! what what?!?!? crazy.

It is Curt's birthday this Saturday... if you get a chance send him an email at daniel.martin@myldsmail.net. I'm sure he would love to hear from us!!! crazy kid is 20! ( Grandma Ivins send him an email- he would love it!!!)

Wow this week! It honestly has kind of flown by. We get new missionaries today! Our zone gets 10 new elders, but the other zone gets 6 new sisters!!!!! (and probs some elders.. but I'm not sure..) So yeah new sisters! we don't know what missions they are going to... so we will see:) but we are super excited to have some more russian sisters! It has seeemed so empty since the other sisters left.

Jade Kho was planning to leave to her mission this past Tuesday, but they had problems with visas so she is still here! they think they will be here for another week.... That would be hard. but it's all good! I'm just praying they get to leave to SOMEWHERE sometime soon.

KILEY RAE?!?!?!?! HOW WAS THE HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME?!?!?! AND I GOT YOUR PACKAGE AND I ABSOLUTELY LLOOOOVVVEEEEEDDDD ITTTTTT. I'll send you a picture with the spray cheese:) my teacher went to the pg football game and he said he saw your class running out onto the field!!!! You're famous!!!!!! How is school and how was the carnival and everything?!?! who do you eat lunch with??? what is your favorite class?

wow that trip to alaska sounds like fun! I hope they had a great time! sounds like they did!! Oh no! Is annie ok?? i hope all is well... car crashes are the worst.

Tell coockoo and coockoo congrats on the marriage!!

haha I am so excited to go to russia and meet all sorts of people! Hopefully the one from the podcast for sure!!!

did I hear it was Lauren's birthday this week???? I can't find my calendar so I am sorry about the missed birthdays... not keeping on top of that very well hahahaha. But holy cow!!!!! tell her Happy happy birthday!!! I can't believe she is 12?!?!? jeez. I've only been gone a month! everyone is growing up so fast;)

I hear you had a great sunday dinner! man I miss those:) We always talk about what food we would have if we could have a home cooked meal and I always say either Hawaiin haystacks or the salmon/rice/salad dinner. I have also been thinking a lot about that peach lemonade that lainey and Zach made. Mmmm yeah go have those great meals together hahaha.

I love seeing the leaves change on the mountain!!!! It is so weird being so close to home yet feeling so far. but hey it's all good:)

Last night we had Elder (?) and sister Cardon come and speak to us! Their talks were... great! super....... interesting!!

On Sunday we had Lloyed Newell come and we had like our own little MTC and the spoken word and it was really amazing:) I love singing in the choir!!!

Our elders told us this story just yesterday (maybe monday?) one of our elders in our district was brushing his teeth in the bathroom right before bed and there were a couple of elders in the bathroom and one was telling the other just to gag himself.. so our elder was like "wait what is going on" so anyway, turns out that this other elder had eaten a whole thing of queso and apparently someone else in his room/district had put a whole bunch of laxatives (like 30) in a bottle as a prank, thinking all the elders would eat it together. So the two elders left and our elder went back to the room and then thought, "holy cow that elder is going to die" so our elders from our district went around to every room in the building to try and find that elder and finally found him on the 4th floor. They found him and tried to get him to go to the hospital but he kept just saying that he was fine... so they finally like coaxed them out and they left to go to the main desk... I guess they made it to the desk and he just spent some time in the hospital! so yeah he is fine now! just spent some time in the hospital but yeah that was kind of a scary story and now I know what moms worry so much about their missionaries hahahaha. jeez.

The russian is coming a little bit I think! I still don't really get the conjugation and stuff.. haha yeah it is hard and sometimes I wonder, "how in the world...." but then I usually just think about something else hahahahahahahahaha. But really I feel so blessed and I have this strange feeling of peace nearly all the time where I don't really feel stressed with the language which is honestly such a huge blessing.

I love the mormon message "mountains to climb" I have watched it every sunday and i have cried every sunday while watching it hahha. I would really like everyone to watch it. I love it so much. And hey! If you watch it on Sunday I would have watched it THE SAME DAY!!! hahaha:)

I get to teach district meeting this week which is like sunday school. It is on enduring to the end... So if anyone wants to Dear Elder me a lesson that would be great:) :) (just jokes:))

Holy cow Kelsey Kerr is getting married?!?!! I am so happy for her:) I want to see pictures! (when it happens of course... I hope by then I will be in Russia hahahaha #prayforvisas)

so we live with 4 other sisters and two of them are in our district and I think I have sent pictures of them? sister slight and sister campbell? yeah they are awesome:) and then we have two other sisters who are both speaking russian but are going to Ukraine:) They are awesome:) we are always in different classes so after every meeting we always race back to our room and it is the most stresful and the funnest part of the MTC hahahah. One night me and cectpa jameson were coming back from class and we see them in the hall filling up their water bottle so me and sister jameson don't say anything and just sprint down the hall past them and so then it was this giant race and boy it was my favorite race ever hahahaha. Then sister jameson and I came back to the room today after something or another and there was a note on our bunk bed that said, "we were here first" hahaha man we just cracked up. they are awesome! sister bowlingbroke is from layton and sister andersen is from Denmark.

Huge shout out to the Giles for the cookies!!!!!! oh my goodness I loved them so much. I shared them with my district too and one of the elders couldn't get over them. he kept asking me, "now wait. where did you get these? one of your mom's friends?" I think he was pretty close to asking for Kelley's email address hahahahahaha ;) no but really I loved them so much and the other sisters and elders did too!!! and if you get a chance, that elder would really love the recipe hahahahaha. so thank you thank you thank you!!!!

I think I already thanked Kiley for the package but really thank you Kiley! (and mom:)) I love getting letters and mail:) I will try and get some letters sent out soon!!

Ok funny stories:

in Russian to say "how are you" you say (ok bear with me... I don't have a russian key board haha) "Kak oo vas dela." the elders that are a couple of weeks older than us were telling our district about how the first few weeks they were just so stressed with the language and so an investigator said to them "kak dela oo vas" and they said they were so stressed and just stared at them they just told us it completely threw them off so they didn't even acknowldege it hahahahaha

in russian, you stress the part of the question that you want an answer to.. and I have noticed that it is usually at the very beginning of the sentence.. usually like the 2nd or thrird word. well anyway haha so we were having a lesson about setting goals (but our teacher talks to us in Russian all the time) so we were saying some reasons why it can be hard to have goals and someone said that we feel bad when we don't get them done. so then our teacher said "god WANTS you to feel bad" and stressed the "wants" so we didn't catch on that she was asking a question in russian so we just all sat there really quiet as she kept repeating "god WANTS you to feel bad" until someone finally asked, "wait are you telling us God wants us to feel bad?" and then we all laughed and she explained she was asking us the question hahahahahah (The answer to which is of course, no) haha but yeah we all just sat there so taken aback hahahah. 

Going along with goals, our district always jokes about how we never get any goals accomplished haha. Other districts like to finish a whole tube of cereal (approx. 75 bowls for 10 people) before a worker notices haha. Well in our builiding, our bathrooms have automatic lights so our elders goal is to make it into the bathroom, use the bathroom, and then come back out all without turning the lights on hahahahahah #worthygoals. These stories make it seem like we don't work very hard... but we do!!!!

haha anyway.. I have some more funny stories but I have ran out of time. I love it here at the MTC but I am also glad that I am a month in:) I love you all and I miss you and think of you often:) I wish you all the best and know that I love and I am thinking of you!!!

go read about Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah. I love that story (pee wee voice)

love you all!

-- 

С большой любовью,сестра Price

Week Three

hello family!!!

Well. there goes another week here. hahaha It is such a weird experience here because time is seriously so warped, it seems. The days are long but the weeks go fast... (atleast that is what they tell me???) but really I can't believe another week has passed and I feel like I have nothing to tell you!!! hahah.

The russian is hard! There are 9 cases in Russian. so yeah that will be fun to memorize!! :)

I LOVE THE PACKAGES AND LETTERS. seriously the best thing ever. so thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The rain has been quite refreshing:) I love the rain and even more than that, I love sweat shirts:)

I feel like I'm stalling. I really don't have a lot to say about this week! hahah. I had lots of class time but I really don't feel super stressed about Russian which I can't tell if that is a good or a bad thing... A lot of Russians/ Ukrainians left this past week so it has been really weird because the cafeteria and our classrooms (well not our, but other classrooms on our floor..) are super empty so yeah that is kind of weird:) But I am so excited for them to actually go out into the field! We also go through a lot of english speakers so it is hard not to feel like the MTC is MY home not your home hahahaha

hmmm... lets see what else has happened???!?!? we have two new investigators (well they might be the same as last week.. I can't remember what I told you last week) and our lessons have actually been going pretty well!! We are working on just using the language in our lessons instead of reading the whole thing.... and it is really really hard hahahahaha. But this past lesson I had a really cool experience where I got to say something that I didn't even have planned! haha we were teaching Mela and we decided to just have a chill lesson and testify to her about how the book of mormon has helped us in our lives (which was really cool- Sister Jameson is amazing) and then after we talked about the holy ghost and asked Mela if she thought she was feeling the holy ghost. She said that she wasn't sure if she felt the holy ghost or if she just was happy about what we were telling her. SO WITHOUT ANY SCRIPT, PEOPLE, I told her that when I first started feeling the spirit I didn't know exactly what I was feeling and then I testified to her. It honestly wasn't exactly what I would have wanted to say in English, but it came out and it worked and she seemed to understand! so woo hoo!

Today has been a wonderful P-day:) we don't even have to move to another building! :) it has just been so chill and I even got to go on a long run in the gym which was super nice:) and I think that my companion will also like that I ran because I am much happier after I run hahahah :)

I also got my hair cut today! nothing drastic. I just decided to trim up my Ringo-do. It feels so nice:)

I taught relief society this week and it was an amazing lesson. You know how people say sometimes you learn the most out of a lesson when you teach? I definitely got so much out of my lesson. It was really awesome and everyone participated and it was awesome. There were also two older ladies there for my lesson- like the branch presidencies wives, and that was really scary. There was a part in my lesson where I said, "Ok now we are going to go around the room and tell each other our biggest sins" as a joke hahaha (did I tell you my lesson was on Repentance?) and I totally forgot that the old ladies were there and thought I would be kicked out of the MTC for that terribly distasteful joke but I didn't even get kicked out! hahahah but yeah it went really well!

I played four square this week. It is super intense hahah the rumors are true!!! The elders in our distirct now say "four square is life" In russian all the time hahaha. they are obsessed.

funny stories:

There is an elder in our district from France (I think I have already talked about him?) str. Longin and he is so funny. He knows english and speaks super well so we all just assumed that he understood everything haha. But anyway, so sister Slight received a dear elder with a sentence or two of french in it so she asked Str. longin to translate it for her. She was talking about this boy that sent it to her and then said, "yeah remember, I told you all about him last week and how he served his mission in France!" and then Str. Longin said, "Oh last week? I didn't understand anything last week." hahahahahajhaha man it was so funny.

There was an elder from our district that walked out of the bathroom singing, "happy day! All is well!" I dont think he thought about what he was singing but man I thought it was so funny hahahaha sorry, #bathroom humor

In choir the director (whose last name is Eggett) was telling us about this couple that he taught and eventually they became members. Well they adopted a son together and they named Him Eggett Liva. He joked about how he felt bad and said that he wish they would have taken his first name haha. then he said, " I think a lot about what example I am being to people, and especially about that family I taught..... and every time I think about them I think, 'man I better be the best I can be because of that poor boy in Brazil named Eggett'" hahahahah man it was so funny.

In gym we were playing volleyball and the ball got loose and went towards one of the elders in our district and he liked jumped away from the ball and the ball like scared him. hahah man it is so hard to explain but he did this little jump and yell and it is something that I don't think I will every forget hahahahahahahah.

Last night President/Sister Wixom came (who is over the primary) and gave a really cool devotional on missionary work and nephi and his brothers and how they all had different mission experiences on the same mission of going to get the plates from Laban. I thought that was really cool, but What I loved even more was when she said, "everyone in this room has a story" and it is so true. I have learned that here at the MTC a lot (sorry, my english is suffering hahah) and I know that I will continue to learn that in the mission field. I love people and I know God loves his children. I love you all and may you never forget how much you are loved by our earthly friends and our heavenly friends:)

Love you!

--

С большой любовью,сестра Price

Week Two Hundred?????

Hello friends and Family!!!

wow it has been a good week! but I feel like nothing new has happened!!!

except we did move to a different builiding today! yeah they told us yesterday that they wanted us to move and so we moved into a different building that is a nicer building, but the rooms are a bit smaller. we also are living with 6 people instead of 4 in a room which will be fun and interesting! my favorite things! ;)

Our last investigator actually ended up being our teacher! which apparently a lot of other and older missionaries knew and it was like a secret they were trying to keep from us... so yeah if you are going to the MTC soon and don't know this...your first investigator will end up being your teacher haha. But yes! I went to high school with my teacher! I can't remember if he was one or two years older... but his name is Brandon Graf. So yeah that is pretty cool.

For service this week we cleaned stairwells and I got to wear the ghostbuster vacuums! I didn't have my camera so I don't have a picture... BUT if you go onto Marina's blog during her MTC stay, I'm pretty sure she has a picture of the same thing hahah but yeah that was fun and sweaty! :)

So this week we got two new investigators (played by our teachers of course) and it is really hard because one investigator Boba (pronounced vo-va) has been meeting with the missionaries for a year and has read all of the BOM whereas Mela (prounanced as it is spelled hahaha) apparently doesn't know really anything about it. So a couple of elders were going to teach mela and had this whole lesson planned aabout the plan of salvation and joseph smith and the investigator wanted to know how to pray and was just really lost about what they were trying to say. (and another funny part is that they said that they made a "choose your own adventure lesson" where they would try and understand what she was saying and then go from there haha) BUT ANYWAY. they thought that their lesson went really poorly and just came in the classroom after so incredibly flustered and they were talking 100 miles a minute haha. They finally got calmed down and then the sisters who taught after them came in and the elders asked them how their lesson went and they said, "oh yeah it went really well" and you could hear them both go "eeehhh...." hahahaha then later in the hall we hear one of the elders say, "yeahh.... it was a refreshing struggle!" hahahaha man I thought that was so funny.

There was also a lesson where the elders were trying to say, " we want to help you" and instead they said "we want you" hahahahaha man yeah ffunny things happen when you don't know the language!!!!!

another funny story: (haha sorry I write down funny stories because it seems like those are the only things that make the days different!!!!)

An elder recognized and read a word from the kenige mormona (BOM) and yelled "fluent!!" haha

we were having district meeting and the elder who was conducting was trying to be serious and I think he was a little stressed and his companion sneezed and he did a little "OH!" haha and I had to supress my laughter hard core hahahaha.

the elders were trying to figure out what to do with splits because one of the elders had a meeting early in the morning so they were trying to figure out what to do. And one of the elders pipes up and says, "hey you can just come and sleep with us! we have two empty beds in our room!" and he was so excited haha and then the district leader said, "I'm not going to be gone overnight... although a sleepover would be fun!!!!!!" hahahahahaha

Now I can't tell if these stories are actually funny or if I am just going crazy hahahha.

I had a really funny/ weird dream involving Jared and Alyssa Zach lainey Cory and Stu roth (and Amy kerr now that I think about it) that involved the pretty horse I have ever seen, Cory shooting that horse in the leg, the horse's face being Amy Kerr's face, and then that horse transforming into stu roth dressed as a horse all because Alyssa and jared thought it would be super fun to tease me with a horse??? hahahaha It was a really vivid dream AND IF MY BROTHERS WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT THEY ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO EMAIL OR DEAR ELDER ME. :):)

I got your packages and boy I LOVED THEM!!!! I sleep super well now and it is so nice to have a bed that kind of feels like home:) I love it so thank you! We also throughougly enjoyed the cow tails:)

Tell baby Harvey hello! send pics if you can!

Hello grandpa!!!

Things are well here! I am in provo and I am taking classes right now! I won't be able to mow your lawn for a little while because I am learning in order to go to Russia. I think about you often and I hope that Zach is doing a good job of mowing your lawn! Watch him close:) I love you and I am thinking of you!

Hannah

Ok sorry there is my letter to grandpa that I just remembered.

Overall things here are good!

Monday was the longest day here I have had at the MTC.

We talked to a couple of elders going to russia and they said they have been here for 4 weeks so we said, "oh yeah so you elders are getting close to leaving!" and then they said, "oh no way. we still have 5 more weeks!" and I swear to you, I just sat in my desk and stared at the wall as those words echoed in my head all day haha. Then Tuesday was much much much better! but yes, monday was my longest day haha.

Things are good with the companion! We are great together!

the russian is... coming? hahahahah I'll keep you updated on that..... :)

oh there was an elder that was in the hospital for like the past week with some pretty serious problems.... he is now back at the MTC and is recovering!!! The prayers for the missioanries are heard and answered!!!

We had the best devotional last night. it was by Gerald Causse and his wife Valerie. They are from france and they were just very real and awesome and Idk it was my favorite devotional by far though. I think they talked in last gen conference? or the one before? sadly I don't remember his talk hahah,. but I am sure it is wonderful and you should look it up! They both talked about their parents and how they were converted to the gospel... and then to know that because of those missionaries they were able to talk to thousands of missionaries and i know that they have had a huge influence on my life. Overall, very inspirational and very humble of them. I could sit here for hours telling you everything that I liked about their talks, but one thing that I really liked was how he stressed being humble and bold. he gave a wonderful talk and then at the end said, "I will now be bold and do something that is a little bit scary for me. I would like to play a song for you on the piano instead of having a closing song." so he walked over to the piano and sat down and I was ready for a masterpiece. I was so surprised when I heard the plunking of the keys. The song started off slow and honestly, a little childish and un-practiced. But low and behold, the song grew and by the end was a magnificent master piece that was just so incredibly beautiful and as I sat there and thought about it I just keep thinking, "this song is like my mission and like my life." it is definielty slow and child like and unpracticed out here in the field. I feel like I am plunking away at the keys and just doing all I can... but I have faith and know that we all can grow and become wonderful masterpieces in the hands of our savior. I have a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel and I feel so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity to serve and to grow closer to the lord. may we all think about our own lives and how we may be "plunking away at the keys" and how we have already grown and can continue to grow in the gospel. I love you all! thank you for your prayers and support!

-- 

С большой любовью,сестра Price

Week#1

HELLO FAMILY!!!!!

SO MUCH TO SAY SO LITTLE TIME!!!! :)

Ok the MTC is great. I really like it here! My companion's name is cectpa (sestra) (sister) Jameson. She is from Taylorsville Utah and is have samoan. Her first name is Moevanu (moi-van-oo) and she is so awesome! She reminds me a lot of Marina and Kailia:) So she's like a mix of my two best friends! We share a room with Sister Slight and cecpta Campbell. Jared worked with sister slight and she is so cool. She is going to kazakstan (her mission is called the eura asia mission or something... it is stationed in Turkey but then she is going to serve in Kasakstan). Her companion is sister Campbell and she is also going to Rostov. She is from Las Vegas!

There are 12 of us in our district, which is actually a pretty large district. Not everyone is going to Rostov... I think there are 6 of us going to Rostov? I'm not sure... but we are all learning russian together! The boys are very little and quite immature hahaha just putting that out there. I feel super old when I am with them because they are like babies! And then also a couple of the boys have like taken the Lord's name in vain a couple of times? everytime me and sister Jameson just get wide eyed at each other like, "what is going on" hahahahahaha. crazy baby boys.

There are other districts too with other people going all over in Russia.... it is crazy how much the work is progressing. I remember Uncle Mark telling me how every tribe of Israel is found in Russia... and guess what we talked about at our first branch (maybe zone? haha idk how it works) meeting? How the 12 tribes can be found in Israel:) so that is pretty cool! thanks Mark!

We have been learning Russian since day one. And I honestly do feel like I have already been blessed with the gift of tongues. I have seen that with other people too. We sat next to this companionship pair at lunch who were going somewhere Mandarin Chinese speaking so we were talking about if they knew any chinese before... and they both had taken like 4-6 years of the language in school and such and then the one sister said, "but yeah we hate to talk about it because we feel like we've learned more in these 4 weeks than we did in 5 years." Well... I guess that's what happens when you are in a classroom for 9 hours a day:) hahaha jk but really miracles are happening here. I can pray and bare my testimony in Russian! So cool! the first couple of days were really stressful. I didn't realize how stressed I was until I wasn't stressed but yeah I didn't sleep for the first couple of nights.

Another cool thing that has helped me is this quote that someone said sometime during this past week... (haha all a blur...), "You don't need the MTC. You have already been set apart as a missionary so you could have just gone straight to the mission." I thought that was really cool, and it also helped me to appreciate the MTC a little bit better! This time is precious and I have had many MTC teachers and workers tell me that the MTC just isn't the same when you aren't a missionary and how this time is sacred, even though it may seem a bit monotonuous.

So we have our first fake investigator and WE TAUGHT HIM A LESSON IN RUSSIAN ON FRIDAY. yeah. that happened. I actually think that I went to HS with my fake investigator but i don't remember his name... so yeah. But yeah the lesson went well! we have actually had 4 lessons with him now and on the 3rd lesson we committed him to baptism and now we are like, "ok now what" hahahahahhaha. But he is so sweet and me and sister jameson are both working hard to try and figure out this missionary stuff! I really feel so blessed to have her as my companion. We both joke that we feel seperated when we aren't together.

The first word I really learned in Russian was "good" and you say it "ha-ra-show" with a soft "d" in front of the R. So me and cectpa jameson literally probably say that about 500 times a day hahahhahaaha.Russian seems a lot more french and japanese-y than I thought it would be. Not that I speak either one of those languages, but Russian sounds like how I thought they would sound. After the first couple of days my mouth was sore from trying to say Russian words. It made me think of that one email where Curt said that he thought his mouth wasn't made to speak Tagolog. I totes mah gotes feel like that.

so teaching lessons is always fun because we are supposed to rely on the spirit but we only know how to bare our testiomonies and kinda pray... so hahah we have to try and prepare some stuff! For our first few lessons we just kinda recited sayings from this little blue book that we have that has phrases from PMG. We decided to get a little bit more familiar with our investigator so we asked him what his hobbies were. So we think that he said soccer and hockey. He asked us what we liked to do and we were prepared for that question! So I said I like to cook(hey, it was the easiest one to say hahhaa) and then sister Jameson tried to tell him that she liked to garden. After she said that, he totally cracked up and then did this hand motion that we both thought was him pulling weeds so we agreed and said "yeah yeah" so he keeps laughing and is trying to speak russian to us but heck we don't understand so we just kinda laugh with him haha. then he walks over to the black board and draws a cow... so he thought that sister Jameson liked milking cows! I told him that yes she does indeed love milking cows hahahaha. man yeah that was funny.

Here is another funny story haha. there is an elder here in our district that is from France! He is so sweet and just one of the nicest elders and he always asks me and sister Jameson questions. So after we taught one of our lessons we came out and he said, "so what did you teach Kapum?" (pronounced Ka-reem) and so we told him we had this whole thing prepared but then changed the lesson while we were in there to try and follow the spirit. His jaw just dropped and in a very very very thick french accent said, "I can not change!!" hahahah man it was so funny.

The MTC is very much a free roam campus! Like we have so much "freedom" it is kinda annoying. I guess freedom isn't the right word. but like we have a schedule of where we need to be but they don't tell us critical information like what building it is in haha. So with the new sisters (and probably new elders too) it is just a figure it out yourself invironment which thinking back really makes me laugh just because of how dumb we look BUT NO ONE TELLS US WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO. Then they really stress 100% obedience... so it has kinda become a challenge. you need to be 100% obedient and be to this district meeting at 5:00.. BUT we aren't going to tell you what building  hahah no I'm just teasing and we are still just trying to figure everything out! I really liked a quote that said something to the effect of, "obedience wouldn't be obedience if it wasn't voluntary" and that is so true. It kinda helps me understand why the MTC is the way it is. Just like a free roam place! But mom, these missionaries' mamas would be so so so proud of them if they could see all that they are doing:)

When we first got to the dorms, we didn't have any sheets or blankets or anything on our beds hahhahahahaha. No one really knew what to tell us and there isn't any kind of front desk or help in our building at all... we ventured to the basement and found a whole cupboard of sheets locked up. Luckily enough, sister slight has very thin and very long arms so she was able to get us sheets! We still haven't been able to find blankets though.... and they keep the dorms at a very warm 36 degree F. I sleep in my sweats and wool socks and a sweatshirt every night with two sets of sheets on top! If you could send me my grey blanket that I had on my bed back at home, that would just be absolutely lovely. I also forgot my new thing of face wash that I think is underneath the sink.

I LOVE GETTING YOUR DEAR ELDER LETTERS. SO MUCH. that was such a blessing and such a tender mercy:) I feel so bad that I can't write back as soon as I would like! It is weird because I don't feel super stressed when it comes to like how busy I am, but the time just passes super quick when you want to do the things you need to do:) But I am working hard and will hopefully be able to send more letters!

The holy ghost that is felt here has been amazing and honestly life changing. I feel as if every time I feel the holy ghost it reminds me of my purpose and the truthfulness of this gospel. I also feel like it has been the reward after the trial of my faith. This summer was hard for me testimony wise and I just felt so abandoned by the Lord. I had fundamental questions about the gospel that just didn't add up and I just felt so much doubt! I didn't know if I should go and serve because of those feelings. I feel as if that was my test. My test to see if I really believed. And I feel now my time in the MTC is the time that the Lord is telling me that it is true and it was a trial of my faith. But really, the spirit felt here is amazing. I think it is the only thing keeping the missionaries here! who wants to spend 9 hours a day in a classroom? Not me! But when I can feel and invite the spirit and receive inspiration and light, I want to stay at the MTC forever. (sorry my english is so bad... I'm thinking like 1 million things right now hahahahaha)

Oh your letter about Joan just made me cry! Tell her hello and that I have thought about her many times this week! I hope all goes well with her blessing!

i totally smashed at speed during gym time the other day #basketballpro

I've seen lots of friends here and it has been wonderful! sister Kho, german, haningan, clark, Elder Bush, Hall, Frei, some people from BYU RHA and an elder from the Pool! so neat. and people always tease me that my whole town came on a mission with me hahaha.

there is an older sister here (like has been in the MTC a couple of weeks longer than us hahah) and her name is sister Hollingshaus and she is hilarious. She and her companion were leaving the classroom and her comp. had all of her books and sister Hollingshaus says, "sister, I love you, but why are you taking all of your books?" and I just thought that was the funniest thing ever! She says "sister I love you but.." in front of anything where she questions her comp. "sister I love you but, why didn't you save me a seat next to you?" hahah "sister I love you but, that serve was terrible" hahha man idk i just think she is hilarious.

Me and sister jameson sang in the choir this week! the choir director is awesome and going to practrice was almost better than the devotional:)

We sang Lead Kindly light (and I want everyone to go listen to that song and think of me.. and go listen to a song by david archuleta too please ok thank you) and it was so wonderful. AND ELDER DALLIN H OAKS CAME TO OUR DEVOTIONAL LAST NIGHT! it was broadcast to all the other mtc's around the world:) and I was in the choir!

I really liked what sister Oaks had to say. I'll just share a couple of things. she said,"This mission can be the best thing that you could ever do for yourself. it could be a life changing event. a mission can change you. IF YOU ALLOW IT TO." and i just thought that was so amazing. are we going through something in our lives that can change us for the better, IF WE ALLOW IT TO? anyway that was super cool.

Ok I love you all. So much. I miss you all! but I am also really happy here at the mtc and you don't need to worry about me:) I am happy and healthy and I really like my district so that makes every day fun!

I love you all!

love,

Cectpa Hambag