January 30th 2013

THE NEW RUSSKIS ARE COMING IN TODAY!!! My babies! I'm so excited! Wednesdays are my favorite not only because it's P-day and I get to go to the temple but because the new missionaries come in!! It gets me so excited for them I keep laughing and smiling and telling them how much their going to love it here. There are 603 missionaries coming in today...isn't that crazy?! They just keep coming in swarms! They put up a sign in our dome (residence hall) that they're going to add a bunk bed to each room. I have no idea how that's going to work but the MTC's trying to figure out where they're going to put everyone. It's just amazing how the Lord is moving His work forward--look at the army he's prepared! I love it! And mom, yeah I've heard about how Russia's trying to get us kicked out. They've actually succeeded in getting the Jehovah's witnesses out in some areas (maybe all?) but this is the Lord's work and if we are kicked out there would be a purpose, but I honestly do not think that at this time when the work is hastening that He would let that happen. Maybe I'm wrong but there is such an urgency here, a determination to never back down and surge forward. This is the best time to be a missionary. I love it so much, more than I ever thought possible. For those who are wondering if they should go on a mission, I say GO! and go as soon as you can. The Lord has a place for you that only you can fill.  Now is the time to forget yourself and now is the time to step up. Now is the time to decide whom you will serve. Make the decision, never turn back and you will NEVER regret it.

Along the lines of weekly report, it's been pretty normal around here. Lots of little amazing things but nothing huge. I've seen some pretty cool people, and I always love that. The general primary president came to speak to us and the General Relief Society president. I also ran into my Chem Lab partner... whom I never thought I'd ever see again, let alone on a mission. Crazy how the Lord will take people where they've never expected. I also see Elder Spratling at about every meal. He says "Hi" to mom and dad. :) Oh, and mom I met Sister Voyles and Elder Christianson from the District my first week. I forgot to tell you that and I thought you'd like to know.

Elder ------- wrote us last week telling us about how he's doing. Going home has been the hardest thing he's ever done. He wants to come back and the MTC said that if he was cleared by the doctor he could be called back to the same mission. He said that he has been cleared but they won't let him back for another three months. My heart just absolutely breaks for him and I wish he could come back to our district but he's got to go and bless another district and love and lead them the way he did us.

The older Russkis have their flight itinerary, Russian badges and everything, and are leaving this Monday!! It's going to be so weird with them gone but I'm so excited for them!
We had to reapply for our visa this week... apparently we applied too early or something. I sure hope everything works out just fine with all that. Paper work can be a pain and even though I love the MTC (as you know) I would not want to stay here any longer than I have to.

Thanks for your letter/dear elders and emails. I love hearing about what's going on at home. Sorry I haven't been able to write much by way of response to them.

Love you!!
Cectpa Johnson

Janurary 23, 2013

привет моя семbю--
I''ve officially been here for three weeks! The common idiom "time flies'' has never been more applicable. And yet I feel like I've been here forever--a strange phnomenon captured in a saying here that goes ''the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.'' The stateside missionaries that got here the same day I did are leaving today, all excited and ready to get out of here... which is silly, it's amazing here. My honeymoon phase with the MTC is definately over and I can see why people tend to get anxious with the same food every day and the being inside all the time but I still love it. Which goes to show that my love is not blind and I'm still just as infatuated as ever.

This week was full of tragedy and success. On thursday, our district experienced a casualty. We lost Elder -------, our district leader. Everything was normal, we could tell he was having a hard time, but we never expected him to just up and leave. He left a letter with Elder -------- who read it out loud to us all. He had been in a lot of turmoil, crying every night and missing his family. The letter said he left for health reasons but we don't know for sure what exactly it was. His father has anxiety issues so I'm guessing it may be similar. I cannot explain the devestation that overcame us all when the letter was read. We were all sobbing...it was almost like he died. He came into our lives, changed us, loved us and then just left with no warning. We still were in class and Brother ----------- was really good about it. We said a prayer, sang a hymn and all wrote a letter to Elder ---------. We later found out that Bro. ------------ had taken our letters and personally delivered them to Elder -------'s home. Bro. ---------------- told us that our letters were an answer to Elder ------------'s prayers and were exactly what he needed. We all loved him so much. We never could have known how bad it was for him because he always was kind and smiling. When I first knew he was gone my heart immediately broke for Sister Lund because I knew he was her favorite Elder. She is convinced that since the Lord knew he would only be out for two weeks, he sent him on a mission to us. Yes, to Russia, but also to us, and he taught us more about love and sacrifice in two weeks than some do in two years. Her words, not mine, but I agree whole-heartedly. We all pray for him constantly and I have faith that the Lord has a plan for him, a great plan.

The good news--the success happened on monday. We taught Andrei (Brother--------------- 's character). If I haven't told you about Andrei, he's a harder investegator, with lots of knowledge about religions and history and always has lots of comments and questions that are hard to answer, even in English. Monday was our third lesson with him and we finally broke through. He understood everything we taught him and the Spirit was there. Brother ---------------- said it was one of the best lessons he's experienced in a very lond time. He was so excited and proud of us, I could tell. :) He said "You''ve been here three weeks and you can teach a successful lesson in Russian." I don't know so much about that considering my Russian is still terrible, but I listened to Andrei, I understood him and I spoke from the heart. It was such a tender mercy from the Lord that we could have that lesson. It came at a time when Sister Lund and I really, really needed it.
I see so many miracles each day and I know it comes from obedience to basic gospel principles. We have a lot of rules here, yes, but I'm so grateful for them because they give me more opportunities to be blessed. I need those blessings- for me, my companionship, my district, and my investigators! I love you all so much and I think and pray for you often. I'll write you more later!

Cectpa Johnson (сестра джонсон)

January 16th 2013

Sooo this letter will be kind of random because I've been jotting things down that I forgot to tell you last week.
First off, thanks for sending me Katie and Justin's emails. My whole district is jealous of all the Dear Elders I get...I've gotten like 15 this last week. But could you also send me Brian's (Elder Peterson's)? Just copy and paste them from his blog, I'd love to hear about what's going on in Samara :) A little more about my companion Cectpa Lund... She's from American Fork, was into band and was a drum major, went to BYU studying music education, and lately has started to remind me of Ashley Parsons. Random. But um since she's from Utah and went to BYU she knows like everyone. We see one of her friends at least twice a day, usually more. Which is fun. Oh and I saw Teddi last week right after she got here. I wrote a blog post about it so I won't bother further illustration other than it was awesome. I've seen here a couple times since then.. a lot on sunday and I got a picture of her and me and Sister Chamberlain. I sent a picture. Which reminds me, last week the picture I sent of the large group in front of the temple is the group of us here going to Samara. I'll be sending a picture of my district at some point. And if you don't know what a district is here at the MTC (I didn't) it's who I spend every hour of my time here with. We're in the same class and have the same schedule and us girls are in the same room. So we're with each other every second, but I love them. Which is good because it would be terrible here if I didn't. I honestly never anticipated loving them so much but they've become a second family to me, like the branch kind of did. I wish I could tell you everything about all of them but I don't have a lot of time. Maybe I'll write you it.
Mom, you were worried (a bit) that I would gain weight here--not so. I literally eat as much as I can every meal and I still have been loosing. Maybe it's the stress, maybe it's because we work out everyday, maybe it's because we don't eat as often but it's weird. I've started to encorporate dessert into my diet. It helps hold me over to the next meal. I haven't gotten to the point where I hate the food yet, which is good but I've got plenty of time to get there. We're the last twelve weekers. (I'm not sure if I've told you that) The next group coming in will be here in a week or so and will leave the same time as us. We'll just have a bit more of a head start with the language. We're doing really well with Russian but it doesn't really feel like it because we have so much more to learn and we have to know it now so that we can teach. We finished teaching Roman. He committed to baptism (woo hoo)! and guess what! he's our teacher!! Did not see that coming. His real name is Brother Seitz. He's from Utah and went to the Baltics on his mission. He's an awesome teacher but at first Cectpa Lund and I were really weirded out. Roman was teaching us and he wasn't Roman anymore, he was someone else... we realized how much we had grown to love Roman because of how much we missed him!
I'm a slow typer and I don't have any more time but one more thing-- last night Elder Holland spoke at devotional!!! They never tell us who's speaking at devotional so it was a surprise. Best surprise ever though, it was amazing. He spoke about a lot of the same things he did when he came on thanksgiving. So if you can in any way get a hold of the MTC devotional entitled "For Such a Time as This" WATCH IT and show your seminary kids mom.
Love you guys!! thanks for the letters and late happy birthday mom!

Cectpa Johnson

PS. On the curb right when I got here the first day I met an Elder Ashton going to Samara! haha I thought that was an interesting coincidence. He's in the other district though so I don't see him often.

A Pre-companion Reunion

Seeing Teddi Today was wonderful!

 We had just got back from the temple (it's huge by-the-way) and were eating lunch in the cafeteria. I was sitting by the window where the Russian speakers always sit (Russian speakers call it the iron curtain) watching every single missionary walk by, I inspected each name tag for an orange dot, referred to as a dork dot, meaning that its your first day (sometimes the MTC is a bit like a high school.)

When we were walking back from the temple one of the curb workers told us that over 100 new sisters were coming in today! I thought for sure I'd never find her so i -drumming my fingers anxiously, So excited I could jump right out of my skin!- said a little prayer and a few minutes later there she goes walking by!
I recognized her from her funky black cardigan. I let out a yell/scream and threw my half eaten apple (who knows where) as I ran up and out the door. My companion quickly rushed after me trying to keep within the sight and sound rule. I yelled name while side stepping on-coming traffic, frantically trying to get her attention before they whisked her away. She couldn't hear me, probably wasn't used to being called Sister Dyer yet. :)
Finally , I caught her in the bookstore, casually tapped her on the shoulder "Excuse me Sister." She turned around and then came an explosion of hugs, tears, and excitement, with shrapnel of love showering innocent bystanders.

I'm so excited, like the giddy kind that makes you start laughing randomly just because you're happy kind of excited, that she's here. Teddilynn is Sister Dyer now and she'll never the same Teddi again. That's the truth and it's a beautiful truth.

January 9th 2013

Woo hoo it's my first Pday! :) and I just wrote you so I'm not sure what to say so I'll just start where I left off. Sunday was great--as expected. All the Olders told us that if we could just survive to Sunday we would be fine. The Olders are the Russian speaking missionaries here who have been here for a while--9 weeks to be exact. They' are all-knowing. So whenever I have a question about the MTC or Russian, I ask them. There are two Older Elders from Washington, Elder Fernandez is from the Tri-Cities and his mom works for Hanford doing ecological restoration, which is really cool since that's like my top career choice as of now. They also lived in Ukraine for 6 years while she worked at Chernoble (not sure how to spell that). Super cool! Then there's another Older Elder from Yakima... Speaking of which... I met four sisters yesterday at devotional who are going to the Kennewick mission. And one of them is from Alaska and met Elder J. Allen Dyer there! :) I love meeting so many new people and seeing how we're all connected. I met someone from Samara yesterday and Cectpa Lund and I chatted with him for a while. He said that everyone there is so excited to get Sisters, especially the women because they can hug us. lol that's a good sign I guess! Then we also met two people from Rostov (4 people in my district are going to Rostov) and they came to our class and told us more about it.
I have seen Aubrey twice since I've got here. That's always exciting.. the first time I saw her I just about cried lol but it's also kind of weird to see someone from the outside world. And yes--this is a completely different world here at the MTC, with it's own language, culture, and traditions. Aubrey is doing well although she did get that nasty sickness that went around right before we got here. Apparently it was a bad flu that makes grown men want to crawl into a hole and die. Exaggeration maybe, but the result is we can't shake hands, instead we do an awkward elbow bump. I've got a cold but it's not debilitating in any way. Just a stuffy nose.
Russian is coming. The things that were hard for us on day one are now almost second nature. Since we are planning lessons like every day for Roman, most things we learn are gospel related so that we can know what we're saying to him. Which is great, but I think it's ironic that I know the words for Redeemer, Atonement, and restored but I don't know how to say things like food or bathroom. Roman is doing very well. So well that it's unreal. Like unrealistic. We gave our third lesson to him on Monday about the restoration of the Gospel and our teacher told us afterwards told us that he was expecting us to ask him again if he would be baptized and if we had he would have said yes. That was very very exciting to Cectpa Lund and I but also frustrated because we were so close! We literally told him that "God restored the Gospel so that you could be baptized." our next sentence should have been and easily could have been an invitation for him to be baptized. Ah well you can't go back. We just plan on doing better tonight when we see him again. You might be wondering why we (or missionaries in general) ask investigators to get baptized so soon. I've also wondered that a lot before I got here and it's been interesting to learn why. There are two main reasons that I've heard of so far. One of them being a teaching tool. When you ask them to be baptized right off, it shows you as the missionary the investigators main concern. What is their biggest objection (I guess you could say) to the church? For Roman, his concern was that he had already been baptized into the Orthodox church when he was a baby. He didn't know how or why he would be baptized to two churches, which is how we knew that he needed to be taught about the restoration of the Gospel and the priesthood. Another reason to ask them right off the bat is so that they will know exactly what your purpose is when you meet with them-- to bring them to Christ.
I love my companion. We're perfect for each other, which sounds weird maybe. The best I can explain it is that we're on the same page... spiritually and emotionally. And we have  fun. We laugh a ton! Which is partially due to the Elders in our district, especially Elder Jenkins, He's one of those people you just look at and laugh.
The pictures I'm sending are from our temple walk on Sunday. We get to go to the temple today, which is a real blessing because it's been closed the last few weeks. I'm really looking forward to it because it feels like forever since I've been AANNNDDD our teacher Brother Richardson gave us sisters some names to do from his family!! Can't wait to do a labor of love for the family members of someone I've truly come to respect, appreciate and well, love.
I hope this letter has been somewhat cohesive and that you're getting the just of what's going on with me. You'd think a half hour to write would be enough time but it really isn't. I might send more in letter form. :) Love you guys! and keep sending letters!
Cectpa Johnson

January 8th 2013

Honestly, all I've really been able to think about here is Russian and the work. It takes up every thought in my mind and every place in my heart. My family and friends and the experiences I've had are a part of that work., obviously., but I think of nothing else. I'm already starting to lose myself in the work and it's the best think I have ever done. It is one of the most important things I will ever do, but nothing else I will ever do will be more important -- Elder Holland said so -- I believe it with my whole being.

If anyone was to witness even a glimpse of what I have seen or feel an ounce of what I have felt in these past five days their lives would be changed forever, as has mine. I am humbled that I, out of all that have ever lived, was set apart to labor in this glorious work, which is a work of love. And I know that whoever you are, missionary or not, if you give your whole self to the Lord, He will show you miracles and bless your life much more than you can ever imagine.

I was in a mission conference listening and i realized that I was having a hard time believing that people could really, truly change. How can I go on a mission, to Russia of all places, where everyone drinks and porn is everywhere? How could I teach people the Atonement when my faith in it was not complete? I wrote this question down, pleading with the Lord to help me. The next talk was my answer. Pres Brown (the MTC pres) gave a wonderful sermon about the fulness and completeness of the Atonement. It pierced my heart, even so much that it changed me.
I have a greater faith, even that I know that the Atonement is real. That anyone can change. All they have to do is rely on the Savior. I know that is real now. It is real for me. It is real for you. And nothing we could ever do would or could be too bad or go too deep.

The Atonement, Christ's sacrifice for us, is more powerful than any sin. I pray that you can have faith, courage and wisdom as you press forward in your missions. Give your whole self to the Lord; give your whole life to the Lord and He will make it whole.

Love,
CeCTPA Johnson

Letters have been adjusted to keep a certain amount private to family. Thanks!

January One

It's a new year and I'm off to meet my fate--a three month sentence at the compound Missionary Training Center. Just kidding of course, I've heard it's a great place and I'm determined to love it.
Originally, I wanted to fly there (faster, easier, and much more exhilarating than driving). But now I'm kind of glad we drove. The passenger side is a 10 hour motion picture of the country I call home. A thin layer of snow creates a blank page on which grass, sage, rocks and tall pines lay their mark.Goodbyes come easily to me and I could easily rush to Utah without a backwards glance. But I can can hear my future homesick, lonely self beckoning me to soak in every bit of this wintery composition, so I am.

I won't really be gone too long but leaving gives me a chance to look at all I will have left behind. I truly am so blessed!

Miracle of the day: The roads were dry and we made it to Utah safe and sound. :)