Week 4

It is absolutely mind-boggling that I've now spent almost a month here at the MTC. How did this happen?!

Per usual, life around here is pretty exciting. Last Tuesday, our devotional speaker was JANICE KAPP PERRY, and lemme tell ya, I want her marriage (eventually). She and her husband are so cute, and he went up and kissed her several times during her speech. The entire Marriott Center gave him a standing ovation at one point for that. It was absolutely hilarious. She had us sing a bunch of her Primary Songs, and she sang us a bunch of songs. It was a pretty strange devotional, but I loved it.

Fun fact about the MTC: I have received the most compliments EVER in my entire life EVER on my red hair here than anywhere else. Seriously. That is the only thing people say to me-- "I love your red hair!" "That is the most beautiful shade of red!" "Is that natural?"
When we were walking out of the temple, a man passed by me and Sister Smith and said "Red hair in sunlight looks like heaven on Earth."

On Thursday, they allowed us back into "1M" the main building here at the MTC. Do you know what that means?! THE CAFETERIA WAS REOPENED. That caused much exceedingly joy among the hearts of the MTC missionaries. I've never been so excited to see that cafeteria in my entire life. Monday at lunch they served the best entree they've ever had-- Shepherd's pie. It might even have been comparable to Mom's, that's how good it was! (The interesting thing is, is that the menu is the same week after week, but that is the first time ever they've served shepherd's pie! I hope they keep it up.)

On Saturday we had a substitute teacher named Brat Korlikovskyi. He's from Ukraine and is absolutely insane! Singing hymns at the beginning of class, he upped the tempo so much that I probably wouldn't even have been able to sing them that fast in English. He made us play "Telephone" in Russian (the game where you pass a message down a row of people and see how much it changes) for about 45 min. He also made us play a game where we had to identify (or GUESS) when he said "sh" or "shch". They are two Russian letters that sound EXACTLY THE SAME. They look like "w" except one has a tail. Anyway, Sister Brown lost badly at that game, but it was entirely chance since all the other missionaries were just as confused as I was.

We had two birthdays in my district this week. Elder Allen turned 19 on Friday, and we made him a candybar poster (if you know what that is). It also helped that the day before I got a package with caramel popcorn in it, so I gave him a bag of that to make him feel special. :) I'm assuming dad made that popcorn and holy cow! It was so good! Elder Lewis' birthday was Sunday, and I felt kinda bad for him because the food in the cafeteria was especially awful that day. Also, his companion, Elder Moore, was super sick Sunday as well. On the bright side, Elder Lewis was able to sing in the Sunday devotional because he's part of a super-secret-small choir that sang privately for all the general authorities and mission presidents during "President's Week" here. The choir was dang good. The night before (so Saturday), their pianist bailed on them for some reason, so they asked an Elder from my district, Elder Hodgson (from Bountiful, Utah)
 to play for them. This kid is a musical genius. He literally has perfect pitch and is amazing at improvising music. They sounded really good.

Getting packages on Saturday is tricky. I picked up the new supply of bread, raisinets, and goldfish Saturday at lunch (when I get a notification slip in the mail), but that was the only notification slip I got. The mailroom closes at 2pm on Saturdays (my scheduled lunch time), so I was fortunate to be able to pick that package up. Then at dinner, I got another package slip (which I figured was the cinnamon rolls), but I had to wait til Monday at lunch to pick that package up. I was really hoping the cinnamon rolls would be in like a tupperware, but nope. So they were a little stale but still good. The elders don't appreciate raisins in cinnamon rolls as much as I do.

On Sunday, President Cranney (our branch president) did our "mid-way through" interviews. Many prayers have been said on my part. So I told President Cranney the honest truth. I told him how I know I'm supposed to be on a mission right now. I told him how it's harder than I though it would be (at this point I cried a little bit). I told him how hard it is to be 19 because people expect so much from you. I'm torn between being a stupid teenage girl, acting like an adult, and being a servant of the Lord. It's crazy the expectation people have out there. He gave me some good scriptures to read (D&C 121) and spoke to me in Russian for a bit. He showed me 2Nephi 25:26 in English and we compared it with the Russian translation. (pretty sure that's the right scripture). Well anyway, in English, it talks about "turning to the Lord" or something. The Russian translation says "run to the Lord," so we talked about that too. He then asked me if I sang in college, which I was confused about. I told him no. Then he told me that I have the most amazing accent (he was Moscow's mission president a couple years ago), and he's noticed that usually singers have an ear for an accent, and I told him I played piano well and flute very well. Earlier in the interview, he said a lot of other things, but those are the ones I should probably share via internet.

Then later on Sunday right before church, (after Sister Smith and I had been interviewed as companions as well), we were extended the calling of Sister Training Leaders! I feel so extremely blessed to have this calling and also a little over-whelmed. We will serve for about 6 weeks. Which is crazy long, especially for the MTC. We are in charge of an entire zone of sister missionaries, and we have to interview senior companions weekly. We also have a ton of meetings to attend. We have an entire district of sister missionaries going to Lviv, Ukraine and they've been here almost 2 weeks. I love my district of Elders, so I do feel a little bad for the sisters. Hopefully they last 9 weeks just fine. Sister Smith and I journeyed down to where their apartments last night. I talked to one girl who was actually adopted from Russia when she was little and will be serving in Lviv. She wants to go home desperately. She feels dejected, and she hates the food here (what a shocker!) and has thought about leaving a lot. I bore testimony to her that Heavenly Father called her to Ukraine for a reason. I challenged her to remember the spark she felt when she submitted her mission papers and received her call. I also said a lot of other things to her. She told me that was exactly what she needed to here, and I later found her crying in the hallway being comforted by the "district leader". Another girl in that district was also crying a lot because she also wants to go home because she's not sure if she's received confirmation about her mission and maybe should just go home and get married to her boyfriend (who in an RM). this is going to be a crazy calling. But I'm excited!

I've been thinking for a really long time about auditioning to do a musical number at a devotional here, so I went in to talk to Sister Ellis on Monday, a lovely elderly lady who is in charge of coordinating that. They have auditions every Thursday, but it's always while I'm in class. This week I'm going to do it though! I scheduled my audition for Wednesday (because Thursday is a holiday), and I also noticed a sign to try out for the 4th of July Devotional. I asked Sister Ellis about it because I figured Elder Hodgson would be interested in trying out. She ushered me into President/Sister Nally's office (the MTC pres and his wife), and we talked about me and Elder Hodgson doing something! They had been looking for a musical number for forever, and I told them how talented Elder Hodgson was, and I agreed to pull something together. They want a medley of like Yankee Doodle/It's a Grand Old Flag/etc. and NOTHING out of the hymn book. I'm pretty sure we're playing in the Thursday devotional..... but we have to present our medley for them Wednesday which gives us basically no time to practice. Elder Hodgson is so amazing though that I don't think they'll NOT accept us. And I can still do a thing or two on the flute, so hopefully I'm good there. :)

Anway, I think that's it for the week. Congrats to Eric on getting 8th in Help Desk at FBLA Nationals!!!!! That's amazing. So proud of you, bro. I brag about you all the time. I was surprised to hear that Mom and Dad are going to a Celine Dion concert in Vegas. I honestly thought you were kidding when I heard how much the tickets cost. But have fun! And drive extremely safely. I will worry about you until I get a DearElder letting me know that you're safe. :)

I love you all and thank you so much for the support! It's hard being out here (or "in" here, I suppose), but it's also a lot of fun. We get our departure plans in just 3 short weeks. which is absolutely crazy. I'm so excited, but I also have a lot more to prepare for. Keep praying for me! Also, if Kristen wants me weekly emails, she should send me her email address.
I don't have Dave/Laura's either, so let me know what those are. I hope the laptop got to them safely. Also, tell David that ipod is the best thing ever and to treasure it. Keep reminding my nephew/nieces who I am!!! I don't want them to not know who I am when I get back. :)

LOVE YOU!!!!
cecmpa Brown