Hey, how are things going? I haven’t gotten a letter from you yet, but I thought I should write you and tell you that I now have a new companion. Her name is Сестра Christensen. I already sent a picture with her in it, so you will be able to check and see her. Сестра Wilson is now Сетсра Egan’s companion. Luckily, I get to stay in my district. But that means Сетсра Wilson and Сестра Christensen have to leave theirs. It will be good, though, I think. In fact, I think it will bless all of us immensely. Especially to be able to improve our skill in the language.
Speaking of which, I wrote an entire page по-русски in my journal today. That made me feel good and helped me to realize that I can say more than I thought. Especially since I didn’t look in the dictionary at all for any word. It felt good.
Ok, now I am also writing for a couple of things. 1, mom, you were born at St. Mark’s right? If that is true, do you know the name of the person who delivered you? I’ll tell you why I want to know later. Can you also get me another mesh scrubber-on-a-stick? Mine broke which really sucks. But I would appreciate another one. I think that was all.
So yeah, it feels so weird to have a different companion. But mostly, it doesn’t feel real. I’m sure it will tomorrow when we go to class. Like I said, I think it will be good and I think it was the right decision.
Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but I am kind of sick right now. It is probably a cold, but I can’t sleep enough to make myself feel better. Even though I really sleep forever. I slept 3 hours last Fri and Sun, 4 hours 2 days ago (Friday) and 2 hours today. That is not including the fact that I go to bed at 10:30 and don’t get up until 6:30 unlike everyone else in my room. It makes me feel lazy, but if I get up earlier than I have to, I really think I will just get worse.
So, I guess that’s all for now. Oh, you should call Erin and tell get to write to me. I’ve been gone for 2 months! Yeah, that would be nice.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Friday, August 26, 2005
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
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
Friday, August 19, 2005
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 .
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 .
Friday, August 12, 2005
Hey, mom
Hey, mom, (don’t share this letter w/ Sara right now).
I guess you get another personal letter since I have yet to receive one from dad and Elizabeth and I wrote Sara an individual letter in response to her last one. Please remind dad and Lizzy if they haven’t sent me one yet, that I have faith they can do it if they put their mind to it.
Thanks for writing to tell me about Jordan’s call. I actually got a letter from him the day after I got yours, but it was nice to hear it so quickly. I didn’t know until I got Jordan’s letter that the San Fernando, California mission is the same one Nathan is in. Crazy, huh? They could end up being companions on their mission! How strange would that be?
You should have heard me when I found out what day he was entering the MTC. I said, “SAD!” I said that because he is coming in the same day that I am leaving! Most people leave in the early morning hours, so I probably won’t see him. Unless we end up leaving that night, on the 21st, highly unlikely. Thanks for telling Becky to write me. I sent her a letter several weeks ago, but I haven’t heard from her. I don’t think she’ll ever write me.
What dessert did I give Sara a recipe for? I don’t remember doing that. I guess you know you’ve been in the mTC for too long when you can’t remember a time before you were here.
I think it is good for Elizabeth to get Visiting teachers, even though she is still going to Young Women’s. That will hopefully make her feel more welcome when she starts going to Relief Society. Here is something I just thought of. I’ve never had visiting Teachers in Bismarck. Hmm. That is interesting.
So much has happened this week, I don’t even know where to begin. Our other sisters left this week. We woke up at 3:45 in the morning to see them off. We now only have 4 sisters in our branch. We may be getting new sisters this coming Wed, but we won’t know until tonight. Only 38 Russian speakers are coming in. That is a big contrast from the 80 that just left and the 70 that came in with me. Who knows if there are even any сёстры in that 38. In our branch we only have 36 missionaries right now, but there are 2 other Russian branches that must have around 18 or so each in them, since those who came in with us are the only ones left right now. It is kind of weird to think about. One of the districts in another branch was split in half. I really hope they don’t do that to us.
Let’s see, I also began my responsibilities as coordinating sister. I feel burdened by this responsibility. I kind of had a rough time one day this week. One of the things I was asked to do was bring a bond of sisterhood about. When I was first asked to do that, I thought, that’s all? That’s easy! But then, the night after our сётсры left, I realized what the true extent of the work was going to be. That night I was up for at least an hour, unable to sleep, worrying about what I was going to do. To be fair, that wasn’t the only thing troubling me. I was also thinking about Sara’s letter. I have to admit, it made me king of mad. No, that’s an understatement, it made me REALLY mad and it kind of hurt. She said, “I’m not about to tell you everything that happens to me.” It probably was not meant the way it sounded, but the problem is, she hasn’t told me anything that happened to her except she didn’t go to Youth Conference because she was sick. So, for her to say she wasn’t going to tell me what happened to her told me that things ARE happening, she just doesn’t care enough to share with me. That is why I don’t really want this letter shared with her. I write very personal things in my letters, and if she isn’t even willing to share 1 thing that happens to her, I don’t want to share these personal things.
Anyway, that at that time didn’t really help how I was feeling. I prayed and prayed to know what to do to solve this problem that I saw but nothing came. Finally, I decided I needed to sleep, so I ended my pleading and tried to sleep. The next day I was doing ok, but I felt like I needed to talk to my companion. We had MDT that morning so after teaching брат Снег (one of our teachers) in the TEC and doing OTW, I asked her if we could talk. I mentioned to her what Pres. Fillmore had asked of me and I asked for her help in knowing what to do. I think she might have felt like I was attaching her because part of the problem (even though it shouldn’t be) is that she and сестра Egan have a good relationship and сестра Egan’s companion, сестра Christensen, sometimes feels left out and not a part of things. So, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but she suggested I bring it up to the whole group. I didn’t really want to do that because I thought they might not want to say what was really on their minds, but I decided it was a good idea anyway. This problem stayed on my mind through lunch and into our next class. Брат Снег (Brother Snow-sorry, I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned that before, or not) came to teach. We started with BoM study. While I was studying, I kind of forgot my worries, but towards the end, I started thinking about it again, and I was hoping to be able to find an answer in the scriptures. My companion needed to use the bathroom, so I went along, bring my BoM with. When we got in there, I kind of sat down against the wall and put my head in my book. The thought kept going through my head, what am I doing? I don’t know what I’m doing, I can’t do this. When сестра Вилсон came out she asked me if I was ok and I kind of just lost it. I told her maybe Pres Fillmore would release me. She tried comforting me by telling me this is good for me and that I CAN do this. It didn’t really work, because that didn’t solve my problem. Then she said maybe I should talk to Сестра Christensen to see what she would like done. Well, I started trying to compose myself to go back to class. While I was doing that, Сестра Egan and Сетсра Christensen came into the bathroom. They asked me what was wrong, but I couldn’t really tell them at that time. That day I was wearing a skirt that I loved that Сестрв Nielson had had. The first time I saw her wearing it, I was so surprised because it was almost exactly the kind of skirt I had wanted to find but hadn’t found. Anyway, I actually took a picture of me in the skirt so I could send it to you to see if you could find me one like it. Then, Sunday morning (this last one) I found it in a box w/ a note from her telling me she wanted me to have it. Anyway, I was really excited, but I felt bad because everyone else loved it, too, so I didn’t really show anyway. Well, this day I had decided to wear it. After the сётсры came into the bathroom and asked me what was wrong, сестра Christensen noticed my skirt. She asked me if сестра Nielson had given it to me and when I said, yes, she asked me if she could wear it. I said yes, but not right now. Сестра Egan said, why not? And we all ended up trading clothing before going back to class. We went back to class, but even though we had switched w/ the сёстры, we figured everyone would think we had gone back to our room to change. We walked in, trying to keep a straight face and not laugh. Брат Снег looked at us, and started to say something, but then he ignored it and continued on. We had set up a time to switch clothes back, 1 hour later. We went to the bathroom at the allotted time. Well, my district was in the lab at the time. During lab time, our teachers do interviews. Брат Снег was in the hallway, so he saw our сёстры before they went into the bathroom. He gave them a funny look. He later told me that he was like, “Hey! Those are the сёстры’s clothes!” We switched back and went back to class. It was really funny because just before that брат Снег had asked us if we had changed clothes and Сестра Вилсон denied it outright. It was really funny. We pretty much confused everyone.
It was interesting though, while I was worrying about what to do to build a bond of sisterhood, my prayer was answered and something was given to me. We couldn’t have planned that, but it helped a lot. Things aren’t perfect, but now I have proof that if I just have faith, Heavenly Father will help us to build this bond, to become united, and to love one another. It was interesting because the next day, I found an answer in the scriptures as well. Like I said, everything isn’t perfect and we are starting to do spot lights to try to bring us closer, but I don’t feel as overwhelmed or burdened as I did before. There is still a lot of work to do, and I don’t know how that is all going to work, but the answers will come.
I don’t really have anything else. Oh, I’ll send more pictures later.
Love,
Сестра Атвуд
P.S. You haven’t really answered any questions I’ve written in my letters. You should go through them and do that.
I guess you get another personal letter since I have yet to receive one from dad and Elizabeth and I wrote Sara an individual letter in response to her last one. Please remind dad and Lizzy if they haven’t sent me one yet, that I have faith they can do it if they put their mind to it.
Thanks for writing to tell me about Jordan’s call. I actually got a letter from him the day after I got yours, but it was nice to hear it so quickly. I didn’t know until I got Jordan’s letter that the San Fernando, California mission is the same one Nathan is in. Crazy, huh? They could end up being companions on their mission! How strange would that be?
You should have heard me when I found out what day he was entering the MTC. I said, “SAD!” I said that because he is coming in the same day that I am leaving! Most people leave in the early morning hours, so I probably won’t see him. Unless we end up leaving that night, on the 21st, highly unlikely. Thanks for telling Becky to write me. I sent her a letter several weeks ago, but I haven’t heard from her. I don’t think she’ll ever write me.
What dessert did I give Sara a recipe for? I don’t remember doing that. I guess you know you’ve been in the mTC for too long when you can’t remember a time before you were here.
I think it is good for Elizabeth to get Visiting teachers, even though she is still going to Young Women’s. That will hopefully make her feel more welcome when she starts going to Relief Society. Here is something I just thought of. I’ve never had visiting Teachers in Bismarck. Hmm. That is interesting.
So much has happened this week, I don’t even know where to begin. Our other sisters left this week. We woke up at 3:45 in the morning to see them off. We now only have 4 sisters in our branch. We may be getting new sisters this coming Wed, but we won’t know until tonight. Only 38 Russian speakers are coming in. That is a big contrast from the 80 that just left and the 70 that came in with me. Who knows if there are even any сёстры in that 38. In our branch we only have 36 missionaries right now, but there are 2 other Russian branches that must have around 18 or so each in them, since those who came in with us are the only ones left right now. It is kind of weird to think about. One of the districts in another branch was split in half. I really hope they don’t do that to us.
Let’s see, I also began my responsibilities as coordinating sister. I feel burdened by this responsibility. I kind of had a rough time one day this week. One of the things I was asked to do was bring a bond of sisterhood about. When I was first asked to do that, I thought, that’s all? That’s easy! But then, the night after our сётсры left, I realized what the true extent of the work was going to be. That night I was up for at least an hour, unable to sleep, worrying about what I was going to do. To be fair, that wasn’t the only thing troubling me. I was also thinking about Sara’s letter. I have to admit, it made me king of mad. No, that’s an understatement, it made me REALLY mad and it kind of hurt. She said, “I’m not about to tell you everything that happens to me.” It probably was not meant the way it sounded, but the problem is, she hasn’t told me anything that happened to her except she didn’t go to Youth Conference because she was sick. So, for her to say she wasn’t going to tell me what happened to her told me that things ARE happening, she just doesn’t care enough to share with me. That is why I don’t really want this letter shared with her. I write very personal things in my letters, and if she isn’t even willing to share 1 thing that happens to her, I don’t want to share these personal things.
Anyway, that at that time didn’t really help how I was feeling. I prayed and prayed to know what to do to solve this problem that I saw but nothing came. Finally, I decided I needed to sleep, so I ended my pleading and tried to sleep. The next day I was doing ok, but I felt like I needed to talk to my companion. We had MDT that morning so after teaching брат Снег (one of our teachers) in the TEC and doing OTW, I asked her if we could talk. I mentioned to her what Pres. Fillmore had asked of me and I asked for her help in knowing what to do. I think she might have felt like I was attaching her because part of the problem (even though it shouldn’t be) is that she and сестра Egan have a good relationship and сестра Egan’s companion, сестра Christensen, sometimes feels left out and not a part of things. So, it didn’t go as well as I had hoped, but she suggested I bring it up to the whole group. I didn’t really want to do that because I thought they might not want to say what was really on their minds, but I decided it was a good idea anyway. This problem stayed on my mind through lunch and into our next class. Брат Снег (Brother Snow-sorry, I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned that before, or not) came to teach. We started with BoM study. While I was studying, I kind of forgot my worries, but towards the end, I started thinking about it again, and I was hoping to be able to find an answer in the scriptures. My companion needed to use the bathroom, so I went along, bring my BoM with. When we got in there, I kind of sat down against the wall and put my head in my book. The thought kept going through my head, what am I doing? I don’t know what I’m doing, I can’t do this. When сестра Вилсон came out she asked me if I was ok and I kind of just lost it. I told her maybe Pres Fillmore would release me. She tried comforting me by telling me this is good for me and that I CAN do this. It didn’t really work, because that didn’t solve my problem. Then she said maybe I should talk to Сестра Christensen to see what she would like done. Well, I started trying to compose myself to go back to class. While I was doing that, Сестра Egan and Сетсра Christensen came into the bathroom. They asked me what was wrong, but I couldn’t really tell them at that time. That day I was wearing a skirt that I loved that Сестрв Nielson had had. The first time I saw her wearing it, I was so surprised because it was almost exactly the kind of skirt I had wanted to find but hadn’t found. Anyway, I actually took a picture of me in the skirt so I could send it to you to see if you could find me one like it. Then, Sunday morning (this last one) I found it in a box w/ a note from her telling me she wanted me to have it. Anyway, I was really excited, but I felt bad because everyone else loved it, too, so I didn’t really show anyway. Well, this day I had decided to wear it. After the сётсры came into the bathroom and asked me what was wrong, сестра Christensen noticed my skirt. She asked me if сестра Nielson had given it to me and when I said, yes, she asked me if she could wear it. I said yes, but not right now. Сестра Egan said, why not? And we all ended up trading clothing before going back to class. We went back to class, but even though we had switched w/ the сёстры, we figured everyone would think we had gone back to our room to change. We walked in, trying to keep a straight face and not laugh. Брат Снег looked at us, and started to say something, but then he ignored it and continued on. We had set up a time to switch clothes back, 1 hour later. We went to the bathroom at the allotted time. Well, my district was in the lab at the time. During lab time, our teachers do interviews. Брат Снег was in the hallway, so he saw our сёстры before they went into the bathroom. He gave them a funny look. He later told me that he was like, “Hey! Those are the сёстры’s clothes!” We switched back and went back to class. It was really funny because just before that брат Снег had asked us if we had changed clothes and Сестра Вилсон denied it outright. It was really funny. We pretty much confused everyone.
It was interesting though, while I was worrying about what to do to build a bond of sisterhood, my prayer was answered and something was given to me. We couldn’t have planned that, but it helped a lot. Things aren’t perfect, but now I have proof that if I just have faith, Heavenly Father will help us to build this bond, to become united, and to love one another. It was interesting because the next day, I found an answer in the scriptures as well. Like I said, everything isn’t perfect and we are starting to do spot lights to try to bring us closer, but I don’t feel as overwhelmed or burdened as I did before. There is still a lot of work to do, and I don’t know how that is all going to work, but the answers will come.
I don’t really have anything else. Oh, I’ll send more pictures later.
Love,
Сестра Атвуд
P.S. You haven’t really answered any questions I’ve written in my letters. You should go through them and do that.
Tuesday, August 9, 2005
Dear Sara
Dear Sara,
You kind of get a personal letter from me because I wanted to tell you a few things. First, I was kind of hurt by what you said to me in your last letter. Then I was actually kind of mad. You said, “I’m not about to tell you everything about me.” Well, Sara, the sad thing is, you haven’t even told me something about you. That’s all I was asking for.
So here’s the thing, if you don’t care enough about me to share something of yourself, you don’t have to write me anymore. But, you can’t read my letters anymore. Relationships are 2-way, it can’t be one person giving and the other taking. That’s really all I can say, if you can’t share even a little something about yourself, you have no right and no claim to reading my letters which are VERY personal to me.
If you DO want to write me, you can only write as much about Gizmo as you write about yourself, otherwise I’ll let Lizzy tell me about Gizmo.
Anyway, I do love you, but we can’t have a real relationship if you won’t converse with me.
Love,
Сестра Атвуд
You kind of get a personal letter from me because I wanted to tell you a few things. First, I was kind of hurt by what you said to me in your last letter. Then I was actually kind of mad. You said, “I’m not about to tell you everything about me.” Well, Sara, the sad thing is, you haven’t even told me something about you. That’s all I was asking for.
So here’s the thing, if you don’t care enough about me to share something of yourself, you don’t have to write me anymore. But, you can’t read my letters anymore. Relationships are 2-way, it can’t be one person giving and the other taking. That’s really all I can say, if you can’t share even a little something about yourself, you have no right and no claim to reading my letters which are VERY personal to me.
If you DO want to write me, you can only write as much about Gizmo as you write about yourself, otherwise I’ll let Lizzy tell me about Gizmo.
Anyway, I do love you, but we can’t have a real relationship if you won’t converse with me.
Love,
Сестра Атвуд
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