Week 4

Okay so first and foremost I had to give a couple shouts out. Shout out to my boy Ty D'arc for getting called to the Philippines!! I'm super stoked for you. Also another shout out to my lil sis for turning 14 yesterday! Love ya kately locks.

Alright now to explain hands up stands up. So I have some super random stories that are kinda funny. So I was doing a hand stand in the hallway for fun and when I came back down My foot hit the wall and MY PINKY TOE NAIL FELL OFF. I was seriously laughing so hard but also in a lot of pain. So my toe has been like super raw all week and so that was funny, I no longer have a pinky toe nail. fun fun. Also another random thing. We decided to watch one of my favorite talks of all time, Safety For The Soul by Elder Holland. (AMAZING talk if you haven't heard it yet). So i was feeling the spirit super strong and then after the talk was over my voice was gone. like I sound like a smoker now. Literally I don't even understand how or why or what but yeah I sound pretty bad. So yeah random things.

We just had exercise time and we played soccer today and it was super fun. My comp played on a competition team in Australia so he's a beast at soccer. But I suck big time so he carried the team. It was really fun though. Other than that I played a ton of basketball. 

So this week has literally flown by and I feel like the weeks are getting faster and faster. It's insane. For those entering the MTC soon just get through the first week and then things get a lot better. I can't believe it's already P-day again.

This week I was made District leader for 9-C and I'm super grateful for it! It's essentially a glorified mailman but I'm still excited to help out my district as much as I can. We have an awesome district and we've all grown so close! It's fun to have a leadership position even if it's super small.

My Russian is improving like crazy! But I also know nothing! I'm now able to go into lessons with very little notes and I can generally understand and speak to the 'investigator.' We committed both to 'baptism' so that's solid. I'm loving the language and I'm really learning how to have a good attitude even when I suck at speaking. Russian is so cool.

The newbies came in the week so I'm not the youngest anymore! Also I've been here for about a month so that's crazy. It feels like the newbies are still trying to settle in but they're slowly growing closer to the older guys haha. They seem really cool and they're all from Utah except two that are from Texas and Arizona. We got two sisters and I still don't really know them. 

I got some banana bread from my Grammy this week and it was super super good so another shout out to Grammy!!!

I told pretty much everyone in my zone my really embarassing story from prom this year and I had them all dying. They all joke around with me about it lol. So if you're one of the few who I told you'd understand, if not then pretend I never wrote this part.

I've seen a few people here that I know. I've seen Elder Dennison, Elder Evans, Elder Rylan Mills, and I've seen my boy Elder Farrer multiple times. I love seeing my friends here. 

I did my first language fast on saturday and I spoke like 95% Russian all day and that was really hard but really fun. I feel like I learned a ton. We also helped guide tours yesterday and that was so fun!! I had a blast just talking to people and getting to know them. It gets me excited to missionary work in the field. That's pretty much what the MTC is, a place to get super excited about going into the field. I'm already starting to love the people in Moldova.

We had a couple devotionals this week. One on sunday and one on tuesday(typical). On sunday we had this random guy come and talk to us but the message I got out of it was that many people feel the spirit in different ways and that it's our job to bring the spirit to them. Yesterday the Relief Society general president came and her talk was really good. What I got out of it was that it's through our hard and difficult times that we can change the most and can feel the greatest happiness. I know for me learning Russian has been insanely hard and I've been hard on myself but I know that if I can continue to work hard and have a positive attitude then the Lord will help me and I can touch the lives of others. 

I've grown so much in this past week and I feel like I've changed so much. I feel like I have such a greater perspective in my life and in the gospel. I'm learning to increase my love of the Savior and I'm feeling very grateful for the life I've been given. My challenge this week is to read Alma 32. If you want to know about faith then that is the chapter for you. Seriously read it. 

I'm thinking about writing letters for people but also I'm thinking I might not so fav if you want a hand-written letter from me and there's like a 50% chance it will come lol. 

I love all of you back home and I'm so grateful for your amazing testimonies and examples that you've been to me. Continue to give me updates from back home because I love hearing from you all! It makes my week. Anyways.. Love ya and here's my voice recording from when I hit my foot on the wall.

-Старейшина Whiting