Dear family

Dear family,
This week has been insanely busy and I’m not exactly sure why. I’ll tell you this much, though, I have barely had time to write in my journal. I’m actually a little behind, but I thought I would write to you while I do laundry.
Ok, I don’t remember who I wrote to first last time, so I guess I will start w/ Elizabeth. So, what exactly are you going to do to prepare for higher education? It sound like a really good goal, but it also doesn’t sound difficult to get 10 hours, depending on what you do. I have forgotten what is your choice and accountability project? That is great that it is done because you don’t have much time left before you will no longer be in YW. Sorry, I didn’t mean to emphasize that last part, but I was talking with someone and I often retrace letters when I get distracted. As for Gizmo, he may be trying to take over, but I don’t really know. That’s really great about your French children’s songbook. They don’t have one по-русски. I don’t think, but we did just get our new Russian hymnals. We were very excited. They came in on Monday of this week. After lunch we went back to our room because we had time before class. We ended up seeing the Russian сёстры and they told us the hymnals had come in, but they had bought the last of them. We had preordered them, and told them so. They told us, they should be there then because there was a huge stack. We hurried off to the bookstore and luckily they had held them for us. We were so excited. You should have seen us. It is really difficult to sing 6 times a day when you only have 60 songs to choose from. That means in 10 days, if you sing all of them, you will have sung every single one. Unfortunately, we weren’t that good about not repeating. Sometimes we would sing the same song 2 or 3 times a day. We were on our way to class and we saw our teacher, брат Снег. We held up our books and said “ВОТ!” (vot=behold) He saw the hymnal and yelled at the top of his lungs, “YEAH!” Then he looked around and said, Sorry! YEAH! And he yelled again. It was very amusing. Unfortunately, he hadn’t reserved a copy, but everyone but one in our District had. We sang for 5 min or more. We were all exited. We now have 207 songs to choose from. That was probably the most exciting thing that happened this week. On Sunday we got to sing from our new hymnals in church.
Ok, mom. Thank you for getting me a fan. That will be really nice to have when I get back. So, I guess Moelina and her kids are getting baptized tomorrow? I hope everything goes great for them. That is so exciting. I know the ward will be good to them as they are to everyone that comes new into the ward. As for the calling, as coordinating sister I am pretty much in charge of the welfare of all the sisters in our branch. That is only my companion and I and the other 2 sisters in our room, so basically 4 total. It is a lot harder than you might think. So, I already told you about a worry I was having in my new calling last week. Even though I know everything is going to be ok, it is still something I worry about иногда (sometimes). Well, in my last report to the President (as coordinating sister I have to report to our branch president every week about the sisters) I asked for his help in knowing what to do to solve the problem. So, on Tuesday night he pulled me out of our district testimony meeting to talk to me. At first he said he didn’t really know what to tell me. As we talked, he told me some things. He told me that he likes me, that I’m a good woman and that he thinks the Lord has some great things in store for me. He told me that I have a maturity that the other sisters don’t have (which is weird because of the 4 of us, I am the youngest). He also told me that he thinks I have some greatness inside of me that has yet to be tapped into. He also said that he thinks the Lord wants me to be a leader and this won’t be my last opportunity to lead. It was nice to hear those things, but at the same time kind of scary. I don’t even really feel like I can handle this, what I do have, and he’s telling me there will probably be more? (Picture - my district filing into the RC for calls) Oh well, if the Lord will give me these things, I know He will help me to do them. Anyway, at the end he gave me some advice. He told me to have a sisters inventory, 2 actually. 1 in which we go around and tell each person 3 things that we love about them. Then another time where we each go around and say one thing we are willing to change to make things work. If that doesn’t help, we may end up having a change in companionships, though I can’t tell any of the other sisters about that, especially if it doesn’t end up being necessary. But, it is a great weight to bear because it will be a decision that will be up to me for the most part. I don’t like making decisions that affect other people. We will see, though.
Ok, as for what Sara didn’t want you to tell me about, tell her that it isn’t something to be embarrassed about, and those are the things she SHOULD write to me about, though she was much better this week.
Finally for Sara. Thank you for telling me about your schedule. I know things always happen, you just have to learn to see them, seriously. What movie did you go see? That sounds like it was a lot of sun, though I’m sorry you got a headache. Ok. I think I have an idea about Gizmo. Maybe you shouldn’t race him. Probably try to avoid anything that he might take as you trying to be me. I hate to say this, but maybe I shouldn’t hear about him anymore unless it is something very important. All it does is make me feel sad that he is having such a hard time w/o me. Though, it does sound like he’s getting a little better. But seriously, he probably stops you because he doesn’t like you doing that since that is what I always do.
Well, I guess that is all. By the way, you can use your judgment as to what to put on the website and what to not. This is for every else: If you want me to write to you, you MUST write to me first. I don’t have time to write to everyone who said they would write me before I get a letter from them. Seriously. Every minute I spend writing letters takes away from something else I can do. Which is why you need to write me first, I don’t want to waste time writing people who won’t write me back.
Love,
Сестра Атвуд
P.S. about those sock things. If you do find black or a darker brown, I would like them in a s sized, my feet are actually a size 7, I just wear big shoes. Also, if you are going to send another package, I would like some clear nail polish and maybe a few other colors that I have .