FAMILY!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! again...
I hope this christmas was a good one! I really want to see pictures of everything you did and the italian theme... I assume you are still in utah, so how is it? Dad you had said in your email that it was way nice weather in az but then you had to come up here to the cold.... haha im sorry! whenever you think about the cold think about where im gunna be in about 2 months...then it will seem warm! So i am going on my first month here!!! I MADE IT! I cant believe its already been a third of the way through the MTC... and i only have 17 months on a mission now! super weird... But i will start off with my weeked! SO christmas eve was friday, and we had a normal day until the night then we had a fireside and it was awesome. we talked about the life of christ for the first little bit then to make it more fun we got to sing the 12 days of
Christmas at the MTC... these are the words
I hope this christmas was a good one! I really want to see pictures of everything you did and the italian theme... I assume you are still in utah, so how is it? Dad you had said in your email that it was way nice weather in az but then you had to come up here to the cold.... haha im sorry! whenever you think about the cold think about where im gunna be in about 2 months...then it will seem warm! So i am going on my first month here!!! I MADE IT! I cant believe its already been a third of the way through the MTC... and i only have 17 months on a mission now! super weird... But i will start off with my weeked! SO christmas eve was friday, and we had a normal day until the night then we had a fireside and it was awesome. we talked about the life of christ for the first little bit then to make it more fun we got to sing the 12 days of
Christmas at the MTC... these are the words
1 A rock solid testimony
2 haircuts free
3 new companions
4 chocolate milks (cause the chocolate milk here is like a milk shake
5 hours of gym
6:30 wake up
7 luke warm showers
8 Hours of rest
9 Vaccinations
10 More commandments
11 loads of laundry
12 hours of class...
so that basically sums of the MTC. Then they gave ALL the missionaries popcorn and we got to watch mr. krugers christmas.. oh and our zone, we all got togehter and talked about the russian traditions on christmas, and the russians told us all they do! they dont have christmas on the 25th which is
weird but their christmas is new years! so when i am out in the field we basically have 2 days of nothing because too many people are partying on new years and everyone is drunk! Then then next morning, as a district we had a secret santa so we met and opened gifts, then we had a talent show and it was sooooo funny! we have a bunch of native russians here in our zone, and they did the talent show and
they changed the lady gaga song to "we missionary now" but with there russian accents, it was pretty funny. THey got a standing ovations from all the missionaries. THen we had our devotional and Russel M. Nelson came and spoke to us! it was amazing to see a member of the 12. It really truly is amazing being a missionary and seeing an apostle. I always took that for granted but its amazing! THen we had another fireside at night.. it was a LOT of sitting that day, but honestly, ive never felt better being a missionary then i did on christmas day... Its was awesome to see 2500 missionaries all making the sacrifice to leave their families on
christmas... And concentrating on the real meaning of christmas made it the best. I missed you guys a lot though, but hope all your holidays went well..
THen on sunday Elder nelson was still here! can you believe it, he stayed for a weeked! so he spoke to the Elders and his wife spoke to us in relief society, and i LOVED her... and another cool thing about her, is her and sherry dew (dont know if i spelt that right) are best friends so she was there too! we got to talk to them after she spoke. It was pretty amazing to see that both these women are so well known in the church solely because they lived their lives according the ways the lord wanted them too... it was
inspiring to see how 2 women could be so strong... I loved it! Sister Nelson commited us to really pray to our father in heaven about some question we have.. and then open our books of mormon and she promised if we read we would find the answer... i cant tell you how many times thats happened since
being here... and so i give you guys another commitment, to do the same! (i know i am a missionary now this is my job, and speaking of commitments, hows the temple and reading the scriptures coming along?? haha you better be doing that too) So try it.... its amazing the power that little book has.
Well.. that was my christmas, your guys emails seem like it was fun! i would love to here how utah is going! THanks for the package! EVERYBODY loved the bows mom and i love my robe thanks so much! and make sure to tell the alexanders thanks for the Bars!! i am so excited! and mom i was gunna ask,
if you are still in utah, can you by chance send me like a BIG box or maybe
2 boxes of bars from costco? i got really sick from the food the other day
and i am not getting enough protein to keep me energized... and i think if
you send them from utah theres a place you can send them cheaper? maybe ask the alexanders they might know! and thank them again for the bars!
Oh! and thanks to EVERYONE who send me christmas cards! I really enjoyed
seeing the pictures!!
Ok so mom, you wrote me about grandpa! but grandma didnt tell me anything
about him going to church is that true!!! I was soooo excited to here that
that was his present!! let me know about that please!!!
Well... the MTC is still great, russian is stilll super hard, but i dont let
myself get down... I refer alot to alma 32... without faith here in the MTC
i know i would be home already... Its crazy to me how much i know i have
changed but how much i know i still need to change... Its really hard
noticing your faults and realizing that you HAVE to be a different person
then you were before... i had quite the experience yesterday in the TE
(which is like a place we go and teach... its weird ) but there are Mock
investigators that walk around the MTC, so that missionaries can contact
them and practice.. well theres this guys who works here who is one of those
fake investigators and he was in the TE yesterday when me and my companion
were going to to do a workshop, and usually you have to contact them, but he
contacted us.... which was weird... and he asked where we were from so i
told him az, and (background hes mexican) so they first thing he says to be
me was "oh so you are racist" and i was like.. "no im not" and he said " yes
you are, you fit the profile, you are racist, you are white and have blue
eyes, you are racist" and me and my companion were weirded out because hes
supposed to be like an actor... so i just kinda blew it off cause i did want
to get into that, it was already a hard day, so we said we had to go and
then he said "no, im not acting right now, im serious, you are a racist. You
are from az, you are white and blue eyes, you fit the profile you are
racist... if you arent, then tell me why you arent, because i KNOW you
are..." and right then we knew he wasnt kidding, (and keep in mind this
doesnt happen at the MTC) so i just stared at him and he started telling me
this story about him being in az and being profiled by people like me... and
i was bawling at this point... but then i just looked at him and said "you
know how i know im not racist, because i believe that god is OUR father in
heaven, and him being our father, that means he loves us both equally....
and because he is OUR father, that means you are my brother and i love you
just like i love my family. I dont look down upon you like you think i do
because i have a testimony of Jesus Christ and our father in heaven... and
my hope for you would that you would feel the same about me. That i am a
daughter of God and that i am your sister...." and he just looked at me,
with tears in his eyes, and said "thank you.... i know you now and i know
you arent like one of them. If you look at me like your brother then i will
look at you like my sister. As equalls."
And that moment to me seemed kinda harsh, but i knew that that was the Lord
working through me... my companion wanted to walk away and avoid the
situation cause he was being rude, like really rude and calling me a racist
for like 10 minutes, but there are going to be so many times on my mission
where im going to be criticized and ridiculed but i cant just walk away, i
have to bear my testimony,, and even though it was rough, and it hurt me to
see him think that about me... i knew i couldnt walk away...
)
anyway... i hate to end with that story but i am out of time... i love you
all sooooo much! make sure mom rach jess dad granmda grandpa everyone knows
i love them and appreciate their letters!!! i love you all!! write me
sooooon!
i will send pictures soooon!!
and mom... please send bars??? LOVE YOU!! I LOVE THIS WORK AND LOVE MY
MISSION!!!!!!!!!
3 new companions
4 chocolate milks (cause the chocolate milk here is like a milk shake
5 hours of gym
6:30 wake up
7 luke warm showers
8 Hours of rest
9 Vaccinations
10 More commandments
11 loads of laundry
12 hours of class...
so that basically sums of the MTC. Then they gave ALL the missionaries popcorn and we got to watch mr. krugers christmas.. oh and our zone, we all got togehter and talked about the russian traditions on christmas, and the russians told us all they do! they dont have christmas on the 25th which is
weird but their christmas is new years! so when i am out in the field we basically have 2 days of nothing because too many people are partying on new years and everyone is drunk! Then then next morning, as a district we had a secret santa so we met and opened gifts, then we had a talent show and it was sooooo funny! we have a bunch of native russians here in our zone, and they did the talent show and
they changed the lady gaga song to "we missionary now" but with there russian accents, it was pretty funny. THey got a standing ovations from all the missionaries. THen we had our devotional and Russel M. Nelson came and spoke to us! it was amazing to see a member of the 12. It really truly is amazing being a missionary and seeing an apostle. I always took that for granted but its amazing! THen we had another fireside at night.. it was a LOT of sitting that day, but honestly, ive never felt better being a missionary then i did on christmas day... Its was awesome to see 2500 missionaries all making the sacrifice to leave their families on
christmas... And concentrating on the real meaning of christmas made it the best. I missed you guys a lot though, but hope all your holidays went well..
THen on sunday Elder nelson was still here! can you believe it, he stayed for a weeked! so he spoke to the Elders and his wife spoke to us in relief society, and i LOVED her... and another cool thing about her, is her and sherry dew (dont know if i spelt that right) are best friends so she was there too! we got to talk to them after she spoke. It was pretty amazing to see that both these women are so well known in the church solely because they lived their lives according the ways the lord wanted them too... it was
inspiring to see how 2 women could be so strong... I loved it! Sister Nelson commited us to really pray to our father in heaven about some question we have.. and then open our books of mormon and she promised if we read we would find the answer... i cant tell you how many times thats happened since
being here... and so i give you guys another commitment, to do the same! (i know i am a missionary now this is my job, and speaking of commitments, hows the temple and reading the scriptures coming along?? haha you better be doing that too) So try it.... its amazing the power that little book has.
Well.. that was my christmas, your guys emails seem like it was fun! i would love to here how utah is going! THanks for the package! EVERYBODY loved the bows mom and i love my robe thanks so much! and make sure to tell the alexanders thanks for the Bars!! i am so excited! and mom i was gunna ask,
if you are still in utah, can you by chance send me like a BIG box or maybe
2 boxes of bars from costco? i got really sick from the food the other day
and i am not getting enough protein to keep me energized... and i think if
you send them from utah theres a place you can send them cheaper? maybe ask the alexanders they might know! and thank them again for the bars!
Oh! and thanks to EVERYONE who send me christmas cards! I really enjoyed
seeing the pictures!!
Ok so mom, you wrote me about grandpa! but grandma didnt tell me anything
about him going to church is that true!!! I was soooo excited to here that
that was his present!! let me know about that please!!!
Well... the MTC is still great, russian is stilll super hard, but i dont let
myself get down... I refer alot to alma 32... without faith here in the MTC
i know i would be home already... Its crazy to me how much i know i have
changed but how much i know i still need to change... Its really hard
noticing your faults and realizing that you HAVE to be a different person
then you were before... i had quite the experience yesterday in the TE
(which is like a place we go and teach... its weird ) but there are Mock
investigators that walk around the MTC, so that missionaries can contact
them and practice.. well theres this guys who works here who is one of those
fake investigators and he was in the TE yesterday when me and my companion
were going to to do a workshop, and usually you have to contact them, but he
contacted us.... which was weird... and he asked where we were from so i
told him az, and (background hes mexican) so they first thing he says to be
me was "oh so you are racist" and i was like.. "no im not" and he said " yes
you are, you fit the profile, you are racist, you are white and have blue
eyes, you are racist" and me and my companion were weirded out because hes
supposed to be like an actor... so i just kinda blew it off cause i did want
to get into that, it was already a hard day, so we said we had to go and
then he said "no, im not acting right now, im serious, you are a racist. You
are from az, you are white and blue eyes, you fit the profile you are
racist... if you arent, then tell me why you arent, because i KNOW you
are..." and right then we knew he wasnt kidding, (and keep in mind this
doesnt happen at the MTC) so i just stared at him and he started telling me
this story about him being in az and being profiled by people like me... and
i was bawling at this point... but then i just looked at him and said "you
know how i know im not racist, because i believe that god is OUR father in
heaven, and him being our father, that means he loves us both equally....
and because he is OUR father, that means you are my brother and i love you
just like i love my family. I dont look down upon you like you think i do
because i have a testimony of Jesus Christ and our father in heaven... and
my hope for you would that you would feel the same about me. That i am a
daughter of God and that i am your sister...." and he just looked at me,
with tears in his eyes, and said "thank you.... i know you now and i know
you arent like one of them. If you look at me like your brother then i will
look at you like my sister. As equalls."
And that moment to me seemed kinda harsh, but i knew that that was the Lord
working through me... my companion wanted to walk away and avoid the
situation cause he was being rude, like really rude and calling me a racist
for like 10 minutes, but there are going to be so many times on my mission
where im going to be criticized and ridiculed but i cant just walk away, i
have to bear my testimony,, and even though it was rough, and it hurt me to
see him think that about me... i knew i couldnt walk away...
)
anyway... i hate to end with that story but i am out of time... i love you
all sooooo much! make sure mom rach jess dad granmda grandpa everyone knows
i love them and appreciate their letters!!! i love you all!! write me
sooooon!
i will send pictures soooon!!
and mom... please send bars??? LOVE YOU!! I LOVE THIS WORK AND LOVE MY
MISSION!!!!!!!!!
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