I'm still a missionary!!

Dear family,

I'm still a missionary. Sometimes that blows my mind. I look down at my nametag and I'm like, "1. What language is that? 2. I'm a missionary?" Not really, but it's still blowing me away that I'm here. I am loving the MTC. This last week is 405 times better than last week. I have the greatest district on the planet earth and that has made all the difference. The Elders are hilarious and I get along with all of them so well and the Sisters are quicly becoming some of my best friends. We are not supposed to say, "guys" or "dude" so I have to make sure to say elders and sisters. Or in Russian, "Ctareeshnee and Ceyestras" that's just how you would say it in Russian because I can't figure out how to access the Russian keyboard. We also have the coolest teachers. One of them, Brother Hale, just got back from Russia a year ago. He's so funny and our entire district is obsessed with him. We like all copy his manneurisms and make bets about what kind of car he drives. So we got him to tell us he has a girlfriend and we were all teasing him because he was leaving to go on a date. Then, it goes super quiet and I decide to say, "Return With Honor." But in this super, super weird accent. It was so funny. Our other teacher, Brother Daroshkin is actually from Russia so we are learning how to speak from a native. We are learning more Russian everyday and the crazy part is that we are actually retaining a ton of it. On Sunday we had this fantastic fireside given by Chad Lewis and his wife. Chad Lewis played for the NFL and now works at BYU. Anyways, he was the coolest speaker. His talk was the epitome of a coach giving a team a pep talk and it was exactly what I needed to hear. He told us we were great and that we are going to go out on our missions and we are going to succeed because the Lord didn't call us to fail. He went to the Taiwan Taichung Mission and as soon as I heard that I was stoked because that's the mission Ben Lieske is going to. Chad Lewis showed us a ton of pictures and it looked like he had so much fun. So cool. It was good to be reminded that yes, we are missionaries and that our purpose is to bring people to Christ but we can also have fun doing it. I'm super glad I'm going to Russia and not Asia though because the weirdest thing happened to me this week. So, I randomly woke up at 5:00 am one morning and I was like, "The heck?" So I got up to go to the bathroom and I walk outside my door and there is this Asian girl just crouched outside of my door in front of these boxes. I was terrified so I ran to the bathroom and hid in there for like 10 minutes and then I went back to my door and she was still there but now she was sitting on some paper towels and reading her scriptures. Then she like got up on her haunches and just looked at me. It was straight- up bizarre. So holler at frozen Mother Russia because I'd way rather deal with that kind of thing. Oh! We taught our first lesson in all Russian yesterday. It was the craziest thing. I honestly don't even know what happened. Haha. Our investigator just went off on stuff and I could pretty much understand what he was saying but I had zero idea how to reply in anything but English. So I said a couple things and then just let him talk. At least it can only get better from there. Haha. Time is beginning to fly. I saw Elder Neely again on Sunday and it was cool because I saw him like three different times and we actually got to talk for at least five minutes each time. He's doing really well and I'm really excited for the both of us. Also, I'm wearing pants right now it's just the weirdest thing. I had forgotten how much I love pants because I'm always freezing in a skirt. Sorry, this email is totally all over the place but I'm trying to remember all the cool things that have happened this week. Wanna know something really weird? There are an abnormal amount of midgets here. I've seen like six. Like legitimate little people. It's just very strange. We have 10 more Elders and Sisters coming into our zone tomorrow. Wednesdays at the MTC are so exciting when you're not the new missionaries coming in. I can't think of anything else that has really happened. We got to clean the showers? Hahah. It was gross. We actually clean with straight-up acid and we have to wear these black gloves. There's like this big hose you use and we feel like the ghost busters. Anyways, I'm happy. I'm learning a ton. Everyday my brain is just stuffed so full. Brother Hale gave us this talk yesterday about how this is such a cool time of life because it's the only time we will get to devote every part of ourselves to the Lord and how there is no better feeling than getting home from your mission and knowing you gave it your all, that you did everything possible. That was exactly what I needed to hear. I'm excited to be here, excited to serve in the Lord's work. It is hard but it's exactly where I need to be. I miss you all like crazy and pray for you all the time. Thanks for being the best ever. Love you!

 

Love, Cecpta Harris