Hi, everyone! I miss you all dearly. This week went by so fast and a lot of things happened. It's kind of easier to put it into list form so that's what I'm going to do:
1. Our hot water turned off. Every summer in Russia they turn off the hot water so they can clean out the pipes because the pipes are 3847 years old and filled with who knows what. Sometimes it's only for a few days, sometimes it's for a week, sometimes it for the whole summer. We have been so lucky because it hasn't been off while we are here. But, alas, we have now experienced the joys of taking freezing showers. Adventure. Luckily, it was just off for four days and we now have hot water again.
2. English Group. I cannot sing English Group's praises enough. I love it so much. I love teaching. In my class I like to run it a little bit different because I think learning should be fun. So we play a lot of games. I also like making Russians say semi-ridiculous things because it's so funny. So before class starts I make everyone go around the room and introduce themselves. And then after I make the class pretend we are at an AA meeting and say, "Hi, Sasha." or whatever the name is. Except every time I change it so sometimes it's ,"hi" and sometimes it's "holler" and sometimes it's "howdy." Hahaha. It's so funny. There's also this guy in my class that's a total punk. So I taught them all the word punk and we all call him that. I love it. Oh, also we do a story every week and we say it in English and then a Russian translates that way they're getting more understanding. So I decided to tell my most embarrassing story. Hahah. I don't know why, but I did and told 50 Russians about the time in 6th grade when I had underwear in the hood of my coat. They loved it.
3. We had Zone Conference this week so we got to go to Moscow. It was way cool because we got to take a night train. Night trains are legit. It's like the Hogwart's Express. So we left Nizhny at like 10:30 on the train and then got into Moscow at 6:30 in the morning. You could sleep during that time, which we did a little but it's way more fun to stay up and talk to all the missionaries because we're all on the same train. And then we had Zone Conference and were back on another train the next day. It was exhausting but so fun.
4. Good news!! We now have the first mission ward leader the branch has ever had. It's way cool because hopefully the ward will start to make more of an effort in helping the missionaries now. Currently, it's way difficult because they rely so much on the missionaries for everything and we just can't be super effective without their support and their own missionary work.
5. So I watched a video on LDS.org about what it's like to be a sister missionary. Hahaha. You can watch it. But that's not what it's like being a sister missionary. At least not in a foreign country and especially in Eastern Europe. I was reading Sister Mecham's email from last week and at the end she talks about how her mission president sent them a letter that talks about how their missions are hard and how they might not be their favorite things but that they will become their favorite things when they look back on them. That's way more accurate. I will make no bones about it, this is the hardest thing I have ever done. Without a doubt. People are not always nice. We don't have a lot of people to teach. We are a finding mission. Does that mean I don't want to be here? Not at all. I want to be here. I'm grateful for the opportunity to do something hard, to become better than I am, to grow closer to my Heavenly Father. I am honored to serve these people even though I don't understand them sometimes, in language and in culture. I'm grateful to be a missionary at this time and I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, even when I'm missing all of you so much. I'm learning so much and hopefully becoming so much. The biggest thing I have learned so far on my mission is that Heavenly Father loves us and He wants us to be happy. Men are that they might have joy. And part of that joy comes from knowing we have a Father in Heaven who listens and answers our prayers.
I love you! I hope you are having wonderful weeks and that everything is going so good. You're always in my prayers!
Love, Cectpa Harris
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