from Russia

18 сентября 2006
Дорогая Илизабет,
How are you doing? Thanks for your letter! Thanks, for the riddle, too. I have to admit I laughed when I read your letter. You are one funny girl.
So, it’s so weird to me that in a few days I will have been in Russia for a year. I can hardly understand where the time went. I got a phone call the other day asking me where I want to fly into when I go home. Не уже ли я поеду домой!

20 сентября 2006
I really don’t know what else to write because I just wrote home today. But I think what I will do is send you a paper I translated about writing a personal history. This will be a task for you. The next time you have the lesson at FHE, I want you to pull this out and introduce it to the family. You will probably want to get a lot of index cards (or maybe just a package at first) so that people will have an easy way to start. Then explain that everyone needs to start collecting information from their memories.
First, some good starting hints: 1) gather information, as much as possible. 2) Don’t try to pack too large of a period of time into one section. 3) Write every experience like a story, in chronological order. 4) Add details to make it interesting and to draw a picture for the reader. 5) Don’t use words like hard, good, wonderful, or very fun, etc. DESCRIBE the words or give examples. 6)When you write about someone, at least one time, write the persons full name.
Now here are ideas of where to start: (With these, put each section and questions on an index card to make arrangement easier and to give time to gather as many stories and as much info as possible).
Introduction: Where you were born, who, what, when, and where.
0-5 yrs: memories from before school: home, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, pets, fav. Toys, who took care of you, illnesses, or sudden changes
5-10 yrs: school, teachers, where you lived, food that you liked, games you played, where you spent your summers, friends, etc.
10-16 yrs: school, teachers, classes, crushes, fav. Clothes, friends, dates, vacation, summer time, family, work, difficult decisions, music you like, awards and diplomas
(where applicable) other categories you could include if you are old enough: college, grad school, mission, before marriage, 1st year of marriage, first child and so on. Group it by a few years at a time as you see fit.
Ideas of other things to include: Group these in the categories you choose from above to make the writing process easier.
1) Work that you had
2) Difficult decisions you had to make
3) Spiritual experiences
4) Places you lived
5) People you loved; who moved
6) People who influenced your life
7) World happenings that changed your life
8) Family and distant relatives
9) People w/whom you lived
10) Different schools where you studied
11) Summer vacations
12) Places you’ve been
13) Best friends
14) How you found the church (if applicable) or how you gained your testimony
15) Your testimony
16) What you would like to do
17) Musical instruments you play
18) Music you like
19) Your hopes and dreams
And anything else you would like to add.
REMEMBER: When you add pictures, write full names of every person from left to right and only add pictures that illustrate your story.
When you remember someone, write the full name at least once in every story, description, or experience.
Keep it chronological. You don’t have to write about every year but don’t jump back and forth.
Write what you would want to leave for future generations. . . to help them know you.
So, please do this and if it works w/ everyone there, you may want to consider getting this sent out to others in our family. It would be great to have for grandma and grandpa, etc. But, at least get it started in our immediate family. Give them time to get things started and encourage them to think about it throughout the week so they can continue to work on it and not just have it pushed to the side and forgotten.
That’s probably all I have to say for now. Maybe I’ll have more before I get this sent off.

С любовью,
Сестра Атвуд