Dear family

Dear family,
It is crazy to think that another week is finally over, but it is true. 26 days from now, we will be leaving for Russia. That is even crazier to think. So far it has felt like we would never be leaving, but in a little over a week and ½, we get our flight plans. Then, 2 weeks later, we will be on our way to a whole new world, a world where I won’t be able to understand a single thing except maybe зравствуйте? Or хорошо. Maybe not even those. A whole new world in which people will watch me, not only because I am a missionary, but also because I am an American. That will be an interesting experience, but surprisingly, one I am looking forward to.
So, about the screen door, do you have to get a new one now? (Right - The door to our classroom) That will be too bad if you do. I’m really glad that Bishop Cox was able to help Sister Graother. Well, it’s past the 20th now, did Moelina end up getting baptized? Maybe if she keeps having second thoughts, she’s not ready yet and needs to talk to the Missionaries some more. I don’t know, that’s a tough situation. Hopefully she will be able to get the answers to the questions she has. Even though baptism is important, it is also important that people understand what they are getting into and are willing to do all it takes to endure to the end. I’m glad you get to talk on the Holy Ghost. That is such an important topic. I’m glad you liked the pictures. I have decided to send you some more. I hope you like them. Dad can scan them in and put them on the website, too, or have Elizabeth scan them.
Elizabeth, that’s really too bad about your foot. Hopefully it will get better soon. Maybe you should get a blessing. Thanks for the pastel. It’s too bad I don’t get to see it. You might not want to put it in my room, though, just in case Gizmo breaks it.
Dad, thanks for your letter. I didn’t know the Wickels were moving. That’s too bad because I won’t get to see them anymore. But, since that is what is best for them I’m sure, I’m happy for them. What kind of craft things have you started making? I thought that was really funny that it took so long for someone to want the job as your new boss. Weird, but interesting. Go ahead and make whatever changes you want, but I would appreciate at least one of my letters being added soon. If anything, you could always get Lizzy or Sara to type, too, or mom if she has time.
Ok, this week has been so long. I’m not exactly sure why, but a lot of good things have happened. We had another sisters inventory, I don’t know if I told you about the first one, but they were to help with our unity as sisters. We each had to offer something we would change in ourselves to make us more united. I think it has helped and I hope it will continue to help.
President Fillmore also challenged Сестра Видсон and I to make our companionship go from good to great. On Sunday we had a nice, long, real conversation. It was good and I think it has improved things a lot. Then, on Tuesday, we went to the RC again. We are no longer doing what we call “predictive.” This is where the computer automatically dials and routes the call to our phones. Now we do “preview dialing” where we see the name of the person we are calling before we make the call. It was great, because we never have to worry about that, but we get a lot of busy signals, disconnected, and answering machines. The computers by pass all of those w/ predictive. It also means we can’t work on anything else while we are waiting for a call and it makes it more difficult to receive inbound calls. Nevertheless, I had 2 great experiences that I would like to share. Just before I was about to dial my first #, I got an inbound call. This call was from a 60 year old woman who wanted a Finding Faith in Christ dvd. It was a great call. I think it was great because we talked, really talked. She told me about her grand children and in the end, she wanted the missionaries to bring the dvd to her and she said she would go to church. That was exciting. After that, I just felt good, even though I thought I wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone else. I just kept getting busy signals and things like that. I was about to stop because we only had 5 min left, but for some reason, I decided to make another call. I guess I figured that it wouldn’t connect with anyone, again. (Left - братs Снег and Рикс) When the phone picked up, I was so surprised, I didn’t understand what the lady said. I asked for the name on my screen and the lady asked who was calling. I quickly asked where she said this was and it ended up being a nursing home. I thought to myself, maybe we can’t talk to people in nursing homes, but I decided to try anyway. I am so glad I did because it ended up being the best call I have ever had. This mad had ordered a Finding Faith in Christ dvd, so I asked him how he enjoyed it. He told me he watched it everyday. So, I testified about it. I don’t know how the next part came up, but he told me his wife had died in March. He also told me that his wife had been Mormon. So I talked to him about that. I told him that we learn about this in a book. I asked him if he had ever heard of the Book of Mormon. He said he hadn’t which is really sad because his wife was a member. Well, before I could offer to send it to him, he asked if I would send it to him. I said, of course! But then I realized that I couldn’t send it in the mail, so I asked if some missionaries could bring it by and share a message about Christ. He said, yeah! Will you pray for this man? Pray that the missionaries will go even though he is in a nursing home and that they won’t have any problems because of that. Anyway, I testified about the book, how it helps us to know what we need to do in this life as well as what happens afterwards. It was so great. I get so excited about it when I think about it. THAT is why I came on a mission, to help those who are missing something in their life. It was a good experience.
Let’s see, on Wednesday, we taught in the TRC. The second time we taught actually went better than I thought it would. The man we taught choked up when he was reading about the Atonement and while we were talking about it. It was really great. For next week, though, we are trying something new. We are learning vocabulary, but not figuring out in great detail what we want to say beforehand. It will be tough, I think, but also a really good experience because that is what we will be doing in the field. Now that we know enough Russian, it should work out better than it would have before.
So, I learned that Samara turns out the best Russian speakers. I don’t know why, but that is exciting to hear.
Let’s see, I can’t really think of anything else. We did initiatories at the temple this morning. Sister Giletter (the wife of a member of the MTC presidency) gave us some names to do, so that was exciting, though one part I think they used a little too much of something. It was kind of gross to feel it, but that’s all right. It was still nice to do again.
We have been doing 100% Russian this week. That is probably one reason why this week has been so long. Чтобы говорить по-русски сто процентов, мы должны носить наш словарь каждый день, куда-нибудь мы идём. (Right - our district) (In order to speak Russian 100%, we must carry our dictionary every day, anywhere we go). So, because we don’t have pockets, наши старейшины said they would think of something for us to carry them with. Today they gave us a box of goodies. We got gummi bears, fruit snacks, suckers, apple beer, and unbeknownst to us, at the bottom lay some shoelaces. When they told us, we were so excited! We were more excited about that than the food. When we got back to our room, we pulled out our stuff to get the shoelaces. Lo and Behold! They had even tied them together for us. All we had to do was loop them through the spine and tie it shut. They are great. Сейчас, мы знаем что наши старейшины любят нас. (Now we know that our Elders love us). They tell us all the time how glad they are that we are in their district and how they got the pick of the litter, but now we have proof. It feels good to be loved. They have all become really good friends, but what else can be expected when you spend nearly 16 hours every day w/ the same people? You either love them or you come to hate them. Luckily the latter hasn’t happened for us.
Love,
Сестра Атвуд