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)