As they say in Russian, "е май е!" You say that like, "yo my yo!"
But none of us really know what it means because our teacher is native
Russian and he says it's hard to explain. But he did say you can use it
in situations where you're surprised or something. So I feel like it
fits because in two days I'll be half-way done with the MTC. Weird,
right? As of tomorrow
I will have been here for four weeks. I don't even know where the time
is going. It's nuts. This week has been good. We have just been trying
our hardest to learn Russian and somehow teach in Russian. But you know
it's really cool, because we're actually doing it. We have two
investigators, саша and антон, or Sasha and Anton. We have taught them
both a couple of times. The first time was really good. I was so
surprised by how much Russian I could actually use. The second time...
hahaha. It was awful. They didn't know what I was saying, I didn't know
what I was saying, and I was focusing way more on the language than the
investigator. Big mistake. But we just taught again on Saturday
and I simplified everything and only used sentences that I made up and
for sure could say and it went 560958 times better. It was insane. We
talked about families and my companion and I both showed pictures of our
families and told about them. We kept it super simple and just said
that God loves us and wants us to be happy and that we have a Heavenly
family in addition to the family we have on earth. The Spirit was there
and even though it was a pretend lesson, it was so cool. I can speak
Russian! Kinda. Haha. I'm learning and working super hard. Our teachers
always talk about the missionaries that master the language and come
home knowing so much versus the ones that come home talking like three
year olds. I am bound and determined to master Russian so I'm putting
absolutely everything I have into studying and finding ways to really
learn how to talk to people. I know that as long as I'm working as hard
as I can I will be blessed. I have totally already seen Heavenly Father
helping me with the language. I can remember things and put the
vocabulary I'm memorizing to use way better than I ever did in high
school German class. I guess that's why we get set apart and get all
those special blessings, huh? The districts that left for Russia a
couple of weeks ago emailed us today and they already have an
investigator committed to baptism. Crazy, right? We were so excited to
hear that people are receptive and that the work is going forward in
Russia. Speaking of Russia, we've heard some rumors going around and I
would love some concrete information so if anyone wanted to let me know
that'd be fabulous. We have three more districts leaving in six days so
we'll be the oldest Russians in the zone then! I don't feel like I've
been here long enough to be the oldest yet.
Last Tuesday for Devotional we had quite the surprise.
Sister Sullivan and I do choir so we were there early for practice. We
were singing Come Thou Fount which we were siked out of our minds about
because, hello, best song ever. The director stopped us in the middle
and was like, "I want you all to know how powerful this song is. Sing
your testimony. Stop worrying about the notes and sing what you know.
Sing of Christ. Something really cool is going to happen tonight and you
would regret not giving all you have to this song." So we were super
suspicious because in our minds, something cool = general authority.
Obvi. So we go to dinner and everyone is buzzing with who might be
coming for devotional. (Welcome to being a missionary. We get out of our
minds excited over these kinds of things.) We go back to the
auditiorium and wait for the Devotional to start. About 15 minutes
before it starts a door opens, the whole room goes quiet, and in walks
Elder Nelson of the 12 Apostles. You could just feel his authority when
he walked in. It was so cool. He came with his wife and they each spoke
to us. Sister Nelson spoke and asked us to, "Pray to find the
investigators whose ancestors on the other side of the veil are
praying for you." It was interesting because I've never thought of that
before. When Elder Nelson spoke he talked about remembering the people
we teach and remaining in their lives. He brought us greetings from the
First Presidency and Quorum of the 12. It was just so cool to know that
the Prophet (and the entire church for that matter) is praying for us.
In other news, I saw Miriam the other day! She is the
cutest missionary and I'm so excited that she's here. I also saw McCall
Smith. I graduated with both of these sisters and they are going to take
their missions by storm. Wanna know the most unfair thing in the
entire world? Okay. I'll tell you. So, we are for nine weeks. Nine
weeks. And we are put in building 8M which is very nice and we love
being in there. However, the other day we had to go building 4M and we
walk in and it's straight-up like the Celestial Kingdom in there. It's
newer and they have these beautiful desks and magnificient chairs that
look super comfortable. It even smells beautiful in there. And do you
know who that building is for? The English speakers. Who are here for
like 10 minutes. I do not see the justice in this. Our theory is since
they are here for five seconds they have to have the best accomadtions
possible in order to love the MTC while we have nine whole weeks in
order to find a love for it. But still. Supes jealous. Also, in Relief
Society we always have musical numbers. So this Sunday
they announce the musical number and then the accompanist on the piano
and it was Elder Levi Neely from St. George, Utah. Cool, huh? It was,
"Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" and a sister sang, and Sister Megumi Gas
from St. George played the violin and Elder Neely on the piano. They
rocked it. It was hands-down the best musical number we've had so far.
People are still talking about it because it was just that good. We were
all blown away. Are you ready for the best part of Sunday?
We got to take a nap. It was a Christmas miracle. Or just a normal
miracle I guess. But it was definitely the best hour of my entire life. I
love sleep. Whenever they ask us questions in Russian class about what
we like or what we need I always answer, "cpotb" which is the verb for
sleeping. My teachers probs think I'm the weirdest but that's okay.
Haha. I'm hosting tomorrow.
Which means I'll help the new sisters coming in and show them where to
go for their classes and where their residence hall is. I'm super
excited because Brittany is coming in tomorrow
and I'm going to try my absolute hardest to be her host because could
that be any more perfect? No. Oh, also, today we went to the temple. I
love going sooo much. And we got to take Russian names again which is so
cool. So one of the ladies at the temple asked me how to say the name I
had and I told her. She asked if she did it right and I said, "Da."
Because I'm used to only talking to Russian speakers and that means yes.
But it for sure sounded like I said, "Duh." and I was so embarassed
because she probs just thought I was super rude. Haha. Awkward. I cannot
really think of anything else that has happened! Time is flying. Before
any of us know it I'll totally be sending these emails from the
Motherland! I get more excited and more happy to be a missionary
everyday. Heavenly Father is so aware of me and constantly reminds me
that I'm going to be okay and that I can do this. The tender mercies of
the Lord are unreal. As soon as you start looking for them, they're
everywhere. Everywhere. I know I have been called to Russia for a
purpose and that with Heavenly Father I'm going to accomplish a lot
there. I love you all and miss you more than you know! Thank you for the
emails, DearElders ( I usually get the most in our district and it
makes me feel like a total celebrity.), and letters. They mean the world
to me and are honestly make all the difference. I couldn't be more
blessed with the family and friends I have. You're all the best! Have
the most marvelous week and I'll talk to you next week!
Much love,
Cectpa Harris
No comments:
Post a Comment