Hello Again!

Why, hello! It's true, your favorite person has indeed survived another ENTIRE week in Russia. Are you shocked? Are you amazed? Aren't you so proud of me? ;)

This last week we had the Sister Leaders come and do splits with us. Sister Robbins and Sister Hatch. They're awesome and super ecstatic missionaries. They're AMAZING at contacting. I actually don't mind contacting but I hate it because it's hard to know what people are saying back to me. I went on splits with Sister Hatch, and she's super awesome. We went to a bunch of less-actives' houses and shared 1 Nephi 17 with them about how with God, all things are possible-- we just need to ask for help like Nephi did. The interesting thing about being here is that there are SO MANY LESS-ACTIVES. It's nuts. If we never proselyted at all, we still would never have time to go visit all the less-actives here. They're less active for a variety of reasons: they're either old and so they don't have the energy to take the (sometimes) 2 hr bus ride to church, they're poor so they can't afford the bus, they've fallen back into old habits, etc. It's really sad, but I guess that's life.

President Christensen is really awesome because he has developed a technique for contacting that is AWESOME. It's "finding by using the Book of Mormon." Basically, we go up to people, say "have you ever heard of the Book of Mormon?" and then shove the Book of Mormon into their hands, flip through the pictures while telling them:
1. a 1,000 year overview of the Book of Mormon (It starts 600 years before the coming of Christ.......it ends 400 years after Christ)
2. the geography (It takes place on the American Continent-- where they were led through revelation)
3. it's written by prophets (just like the Bible) and has their written testimonies of Christ and prophecies of His coming
4. it answers questions of the soul (What kind of questions in life do you want answered? Why are we here? Where are you going?)

It's an awesome technique because it gets them interested in the story and they're holding the book RIGHT.THERE. and they can feel it in their hands and flip through the pages themselves. It's awesome. Then we have them read some verses for us (for example 3 Nephi 11 etc.) and commit them to having another meeting with us. If they say yes, we give them the book and give them a reading assignment for next time. If they don't say yes, we try to talk them into it or just give them an invitation to church. This technique has worked so well that the mission has run out of copies of the Book of Mormon, so the president ordered 2,000 a month (instead of our old 300-ish a month). While doing splits with Sister Hatch, we did 2 street lessons this way. We met back with one of the people already, but she didn't seem too interested but we let her keep the book and told her it would always answer questions we have. The other person (it was actually a couple) we did a street lesson with, we're calling tomorrow to see how they're doing. Also, the man (in the couple) asked me to marry his 23 year old son. ;) hahahahahahahaha. Apparently it's not uncommon to just randomly get proposed to here, but it was my first time. It was pretty funny. I asked if his son spoke English (apparently he does) and so I gave the man an English card for our English group. haha. Flirt to convert right? I'M JUST KIDDING. Geez Louise people. 

Something that's really cool about Ufa is that everyone here is Muslim (most people). In the MTC, they prepared me to talk to "preglaslavian" (orthodox [also, I don't exactly remember how it sounds....but something like that]) people, but they didn't prepare me to talk to Muslims! I can hardly speak Russian as it is (the grammar is difficult....oh my heck...and also the vocab) that I never know what to say to them. And apparently neither does any other missionary here! So we're going to figure that out. In Ufa, there's also a kind of people called Bashkirian that are from Bashkyrgistan. It's basically been explained to me that they're kind of like the Native Americans in America. They originally settled this region, and they still live here. All the signs here are bilingual Russian/Bashkirian. Bashkirian basically looks like Cyrillic until you look closely, and you're like "that's not Russian!" so yeah....it's fun learning Russian in a bilingual city. :) Maybe I'll come home trilingual?

Something else that I think is funny here is how English is also EVERYWHERE. Everyone listens to American music (stuff that was popular about 8 months ago....like Gangnam style) and wears shirts with English on them. The best part is, is that NOBODY speaks English. Nobody knows that their shirt (with English) makes no sense when read. haha. It's really funny and always cheers me up to read a shirt that says "cath the wave" and that's it. There are a lot more funny ones that I can't think of right now.  We saw a guy on the bus yesterday (who kind of speaks English...we tried to give him an English card) and his tattoo said "Keep it real." It was spelled right, but SO funny that in the middle of Russia, there are people with English tattooed on them.

There are billboards all over town advertising coats and boots, and it's only AUGUST. It's freaking me out a little bit, and Sister Hatch told me to pray that I stay in Ufa for the winter because it's a milder winter here. I'm really nervous for this winter thing, and I've heard some crazy stories already about getting around in the winter. Nuts. Apparently moms just pull their kids on sleds. funny, huh?

Life here is just peachy. Ufa is a huge city (I can't wait to send you pictures!!!), and there's a lot of work to be done. Being here brings a lot of scriptures to mind, especially 2 Nephi 9:28:
"O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think the are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish."
Everyone here is just too prideful and lazy to change. It's really frustrating but that's agency! There are 8 missionaries here (the mission is so big that it's not called a District...it's just our Zone). 4 sisters and 4 elders. We're spread really far out and it takes most of us about an hour to get to the church for meeting and whatnot. This week we have zone conference and the Christensens are coming! I love them so much, and I'm excited to hear from them. Another city of missionaries is coming to Ufa for zone conference (our mission is so LARGE that we have to have 2 zone conferences because of the distances), so we'll be having more sisters staying with us! And Sister Christensen will be doing splits with us on Friday. It's just a fun and exciting week around here, and I'm super excited!

Dad, you'll be proud of me-- I've been baking bread this week! I bought some foil bread pans from the grocery store, and I've been using those. I've perfected the recipe that I have, but it's still not as good as yours. SEND ME YOUR RECIPE. Gosh. The bread here in Russia is REALLY good, but Sister Galli and I eat so much of it that sometimes it's more convenient to just bake it instead of tromping all the way to the grocery store.

Also, if you could send me an email that has a bunch of Russian roots (not the vegetable) and definitions, that would be nice to start learning. 

Other than that...I'm doing fine. We walk a lot, but it depends on the day. We walk anywhere between 6-10 miles a day I would estimate. But my shoes are holding up fine. The roads/sidewalks here are really bad (actually, there aren't sidewalks, just dirt and rock paths by the side of the road) so my shoes are getting pretty worn already. 

I've been reading from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and it's so cool to read about the tribes of Israel being gathered again in the last days (1 Nephi 22:11-12, etc) and how it's talking about RUSSIA. Totally. Every tribe of Israel is represented in this country, but they're just being a little stubborn. Which means Sister Brown is going to be just as stubborn as they are. :)

Sister Brown's goals for the rest of training:
language: be proficient to talk to people on the street. Speak Russian 100% on the street by the end of training.
companionship: keep it going great!
teaching: be a scriptorian. make flashcards of key verses.
finding: be a fearless finder. be stubborn.
personal: choose another Christlike attribute to work on.

I love you! Thanks for praying for me and all that jazz. You're such a great family, and it's awesome to hear about all the adventures you're having.

have a good week!
Cecmpa Brown

Week 2

Well, life is here peachy as always....

Whoever said that Russia is cold was wrong. Really wrong. It's been soooo hot here the last couple of days, and Ufa is pretty far south in Russia, so it's hotter than other areas. I keep reminding myself that it's going to get realllllly cold pretty soon, so I need to count my blessings.

I think the most frustrating part of being a missionary is not being able to make a choice for someone else. Darn that free agency. I can't choose for them, but I can bug our investigators and coach them enough so that hopefully they'll make the right choice. Since Sister Galli and I are whitewashing this area, it's been super interesting because not only is the geographical area GIGANTIC (like I said last week, the biggest area in the whole mission), but the investigators here are....apparently not interested in investigating. The sisters before us had several progressing investigators, 3 of which had baptismal dates for the next two weeks. But, yep. They all either block our calls or don't come to their appointments-- it's a little frustrating for me because I literally haven't had a chance to practice my Russian in a lesson setting yet.

We met a lady on a bus last week who was really friendly, so we set up an appointment to meet with her. She's a really nice old lady in her 50s.Well, she lives a really far way away. We live in Ufa, and she lives past Dioma 25 min a city in our area that's 40-ish minutes away from Ufa by bus), so yeah. It takes a good hour/hour-and-a-half to get to her house. So anyway, we got to her house, which is a little tiny Russian shack in the country, and we began to teach her. She's really superstitious and has a lot of funny beliefs because of the Orthodox church. She agreed to come to church on Sunday, but then she couldn't come because she was sick. I mean, she was probably sick. We really have no way of knowing. We called her Sunday night to see if she was feeling better, and she said her landlord evicted her and she's homeless now. She asked if she could come stay with us....yeah.... kind of an awkward moment, you know? Hopefully we can see her sometime this week, but it's hard to fit her in since it's like a 4 hour time commitment and costs quite a bit of money to get over there. 

We're meeting again today with F. who seems like a really good progressing investigator. We haven't met with him since last week, but he read our reading assignment (Moroni 7) and he has questions about it. We're going to teach him the lesson on the Restoration tonight and bring up scriptures about how good things are from God. He seems somewhat religious, so we'll find out about that, and hopefully as we talk about the Restoration, things will just click for him. 

So about food:

We haven't been invited over for dinner anywhere, so I still haven't had "traditional" food other than that which I buy in grocery stores, but the food here is really good. For a zone meeting we had this week, we had a huge lunch, and I made homemade brownies for it. It was hard because every apartment in the mission is supposed to have basic cooking ingredients, but for some reason ours didn't. It's hard to make a recipe when you realize halfway through there's no cinnamon/vanilla/brown sugar/etc anywhere. But I made brownies that turned out alright, and everyone was glad to eat them since brownies don't exist in Russia.

I also made dad's pot roast recipe (is it really a recipe? haha) for dinner one time sans meat because apparently the meat is questionable sometimes, according to Sister Galli. But we'll see for the future.

I also went to McDonald's over here last week. It was so amazing! Apparently (in Russia at least), McDonald's is like a fancy place to eat and everyone wants to work there. The food was actually pretty expensive, but it was really good. Really good. I had potato wedges and a McFresh hamburger. It was delicious!

On Saturday, we had a branch service project and picnic. We went to the Botanicheski Garden park and picked up trash. There was a lot of trash, that's all I'm saying. Wow. But it was really fun and we also played games like volleyball, soccer, etc. and had a good time. The sisters in the branch brought a big picnic lunch and it was SO GOOD. Salami and cheese sandwiches, watermelon, oranges, tomatoes, cucumbers, and every kind of juice. I definitely stuffed myself, and it was great.

Language:

I understand the general gist of conversations for the most part. If people are talking about something that I have absolutely NO vocabulary for, then I'm totally and completely lost. Whenever we talk about the Gospel, I understand what people are saying, and if I don't understand completely, it's not hard to guess. It's a great feeling to recognize words that I know or just learned. I feel like a proud little 2 year old with my vocabulary. :) I'm anxious to keep learning more because I'm really just afraid of butchering their beautiful language, but I really do try. It's hard to contact people here because they just.don't.care. Their reply a lot is either "нет" or a variation of "I don't care". What we've found really helpful is to just beg people for directions somewhere and usually as they talk to us they hear our awful Russian and ask where we're from and why we're here. Perfect opportunity, right? :) Despite the fact that all of the investigators that were investigating before we came now are no longer interested, we have definitely made some progress to get new investigators on our own. We try really hard, and everyday I hobble home like an old lady. (My shoes aren't giving me blisters at all though Mom, so don't worry-- life is great!)

Gospel:

Well, I really like studying the Gospel. It's fun, and I have a lot of fun reading the scriptures and Preach My Gospel everyday. There's some really good stuff in there, whowoulda thunk? ;) I'm a firm believer in Preach My Gospel, and we've made some goals as a companionship to follow it more closely. It's like a formula: if you plug in the right things, you WILL get results. And we definitely need results. It's hard being in a foreign country, speaking to foreign people (in a foreign language), about things that are absolutely foreign to them-- it's hard. I'm not going to lie. And people here just don't care. People are content to continue to be miserable because they are too lazy to change-- even if changing means that they'll be SO HAPPY. But that's how life is, and that's what agency is. But I know that if I follow Preach My Gospel to the best that I can, that I will get results. It's a formula. Plan the lessons, talk to everyone, invite everyone, be open, be honest, be normal, be friendly, pray sincerely, ask everyone for referrals and guess what? You're going to find at least one person to teach, probably more. My testimony has grown so much just being out here and hearing about how the members of the branch have improved their lives so much by being members of the church. I know we'll find people, we just have to keep looking.  If a negative thought slips into my head, I just ignore it the best I can. I love being on a mission, even though it's hard sometimes. Ultimately, it's just really awesome. Everyday I'm amazed to wake up and find myself in Russia. I'm amazed when a word pops into my head that I totally forgot I knew. I'm amazed that I haven't collapsed from exhaustion yet either. :)

I love Russia. I love the Gospel. I love the Lord. I'm just having a lot of fun here because serving is fun. Mosiah 2:41

I love you! Have a great week!

Love, cecmpa Brown

p.s. once again the stupid pictures didn't upload. It's a complicated system they have at this internet cafe where I have to give them my SD card and they do it for me. But it won't work because "my photos are too big" (it's never been a problem before....). So maybe I'll just mail them if this continues? I don't know.

I survived the week in Russia

Halelujah, praise Jesus! I'm so excited to email y'all and let you know what's going on in my life. LIFE IS GREAT. Oh my heck. The plane ride over here was what anyone can expect when flying to Russia.....cramped....uncomfortable....hot....cold....hungry. haha. But it was so fun! Dad, when you mentioned watching me flying over Iceland, Greenland, Sweden, that is EXACTLY when I was looking at the map on my t.v. :) 

Miracles of the plane flight:

1. A miracle we found the Fishers in Salt Lake because later when I tried to use the phone card, it didn't work and kept saying it was "in use." If I hadn't used their cell phone, I probably wouldn't have been able to get ahold of you because I had zero American cash on me!

2. We were in line to buy snacks at a super over-priced store in the airport, when a lady paid for ALL of our stuff! AWESOME. The church is true. She lives in Canada and her sister is serving a mission in Omaha. I love people!

3. Unfortunately, the elders we were flying with didn't buy food of their own (or obtain food like we did), so after eating our few snacks, we were all of course STARVING-- but not complaining about it. On the flight from Salt Lake to New York, some ladies from first class bought us all breakfast on the plane! We don't know who they are, but we sent a BIG thank you note up to first class!

I think that that's all the miracles on the flight.... but it was awesome, and I was just super excited to FINALLY get to Russia. Yay!

When we landed in Moscow, it was pretty scary because everything is in Russian, but we eventually figured it out. A lady came up to us and asked if we were missionaries-- we saw that she had a tag too! She was returning from Novosibirsk to her home in Samara mission after serving her mission, so she hung out with us for a little and made sure we didn't get lost.

Landing in Yekaterinburg was BEAUTIFUL. All the food provided for us on the flights from New York to Moscow and from Moscow to Ekaterinburg was FANTASTIC. I was really grateful that it was good. Apparently the other sisters I was flying with didn't think it was good, but I did! I take that as a good sign. :) It was lightly raining in Yekaterinburg and was pretty cold actually (also, Ekaterinburg and Yekaterinburg are interchangeable names apparently). The President and his wife came to pick us up with the sister leaders and the assistants. We went back to their house, helped prepare dinner, ate dinner, and had a meeting. Thursday was also one gigantic meeting, but it was fun. All the food was really fantastic, and the apartment in Yekat is absolutely beautiful. Our trainers showed up Thursday afternoon and from then on, we went to appointments that had previously been set up by the assistants. It was crazy going on public transport around Ekat with Sister Galli because we both are unfamiliar with the city! She's served in Ufa, Perm, and Tyumen before. We got assigned to Ufa (but a different area than the one she knows), and we were assigned to leave Friday night by train. We taught a lesson on Thursday to an inactive 12 year old about faith and why it's important to keep reading the Book of Mormon. It was really fun to talk to her and have a great time. When we returned to the President's house, we ate some Texas Sheet Cake and ice cream (SOSOSOSO GOOD) and settled in for another meeting thing. 

Friday was....interesting. Wednesday and Thursday I honestly hadn't felt jet-lagged at all. I actually do pretty well with time changes as long as I pretend the other time zone never existed. I slept pretty okay on the plane, so I expected to do fine. And I was doing fine. But....Friday I woke up, hopped in the shower (feeling fine), but within the next hour I had literally thrown up twice and sat on the toilet for an extended period of time. Yep. It was fun. The whole day went like that. All of the other missionaries took off for their areas in the morning, and I was pretty much just dying in the bathroom. Sister Galli is really nice and was very understanding, so we went over to the Sister Leaders apartment as planned (we were going to do splits), but instead of doing splits, I just either napped in one of the rooms (excruciating stomach pain) or got to know the toilet, if you know what I mean. It was really a party. I was terrified because that night we had a 14 hour train ride to Ufa, and I didn't want to be sick. Well, skipping some details here and there, we ended up on the train that night, me not having eaten anything all day (the last thing I ate was the sheet cake the night before, and the memory of it was just teasing me....). Lemme tell you, trains in Russia.....I thought were going to be fun/an adventure. But when you're sick and already pretty disgusting and you get on a disgusting train, it's not that great. I slept okay (as well as you can sleep on a train, I guess), and I was extremely glad to be in Ufa the next day. I didn't eat anything all day Saturday again (I nibbled on some things in the afternoon), so I was pretty much starving. Any weight that I gained in the MTC is officially lost. I definitely lost some weight from two solid days of fun, but I prayed super hard Sunday morning (after spending a considerable amount of time in the bathroom again) to be relieved from this pain so that I can focus on fulfilling my purpose as a missionary and guess what? IT'S GONE. I'm so incredibly happy that I feel so much better and that I'm doing so much better right now. So....whoever was praying for me Utah time Saturday night between 7-10, YOU WORKED A MIRACLE. I love you. :)

So.....Russia, Russia, Russia.....where to begin? It's a cross between the Super Mario Bros. Movie (that's right, the awesome 80s one! ----or is it 90s? whatever!) and Castle in the Sky (the Miyazaki film) and probably Howl's Moving Castle, if we're being honest here. Everything is so futuristic, and you can tell that it's all really cool and awesome except for the fact that everything is super old and falling apart. Does that make sense? Things are ahead of their time, but they're so ahead of their time that they're old. I guess that's just how Russia is. The buildings are all falling apart, there are cigarette butts everywhere, everyone is wearing a mixture of super new trendy things and super old clothing, and basically, I just love it. You see little old ladies "babushka's" everywhere or you see ladies walking in stilletos everywhere. It's definitely not America!

Our apartment is really nice, but the sisters before us left it pretty messy, so we have a lot of chores to do today! We are really close to a bus stop which is GREAT since we take the bus everywhere. The area we were assigned to is the biggest area in the entire mission, and Sister Galli and I are both new here, so we have a lot of work to do.

 We are also going to go grocery shopping hard-core (don't worry mom, I'm definitely eating enough now that I feel better). I LOVE the apple juice here. And the cherry juice. And basically all the juice. I also really love buying перожки (I don't know the English spelling) which are like croissants stuffed with either cabbage or potatoes or vegetables. I haven't had a whole lot of "authentic Russian food" yet, but I'm excited to try it all. Sister Galli and I are going to buy some authentic Russian candy today. :) Huzzah! I'm excited to try out all my mad cooking skills. I found a "missionary cookbook" in a free bin at the MTC, so I brought that. And Sister Christensen (mission president's wife) gave all the newbies a "Yekaterinburg Mission Cookbook" with all kinds of fast, easy, and awesome recipes including just normal, American meals and authentic Russian ones. Holla!  I also cooked eggs-in-a-frame Sunday morning and Sister Galli really liked them, and then for Sunday dinner, we had stir fry. So, to celebrate dad's birthday, I cooked two of his recipes. What better way to celebrate?

Church was AWESOME. My friend Sister Henriksen is in Samara, and in her email she said that after 3 weeks of being there, she still doesn't understand anything at church. So, I went in expecting to not understand anything. WRONG. :)

They had all the missionaries new to the branch bear their testimonies, and I was last. I was SO nervous, but I thought I did okay with the grammar/vocab/etc. and I also spoke my own words (not just recititing a pre-scipted testimony). Seriously everybody came up to me to ask me all kinds of questions after and to compliment my excellent Russian. I thought they were just being polite, but Sister Galli reminded me that Russians only speak the truth. So, I must've done a good job! Is it prideful to say that I'm proud of myself? :) I understand probably after 50% of what was going on in church, and if I didn't understand the words of what was happening, I was really fortunate to understand the gist of what was happening. Sister Galli said she was so shocked that she like didn't ever have to translate for me! I would be talking to people, think that I knew what someone said, answer them and then as we walked away I would confirm what was said in the conversation with Sister Galli. I was always right! I'm so good at guessing and making it look like I know more than I know. :) Fake it til you make it! Or as my friend Ethan Damron emailed me from his mission, faith it til you make it! And I definitely will :)

During church, we got a text message on our phone about a referral received from the internet in our area (text was from the mission office). So, we made plans to head over over to that guy's apartment later that night and bring him a Book of Mormon. Well, when we showed up, he had absolutely no idea who we were and didn't refer himself and didn't know any Mormons and was kinda creeped out we had his full name, address, AND phone number. But he came down to talk to us (we had been talking on the phone by the door with him-- the "doma-fone". We took like a 15-minute walk with him outside, and he actually seems genuinely interested. He asked all the "right" questions and was curious about the things we were talking to him about. We gave him Moroni 7 to read and said we'll call him Wednesday! I hope he reads and prays about it because we need men in the church so bad. Our mission has enough numbers to have a stake, but it just doesn't have the priesthood holders to make it happen. If he's really as interested as he seems, it's truly a miracle. A lot of the times when a woman is converted to the Gospel, her husband will leave her (if he hasn't left her already). In Russia, you see a lot of single moms walking around (wearing stilletos and pushing a stroller). Sister Galli says she's taught a lot of single moms here. This guy's name is F.B., so pray for him. We need priesthood holders around here, and I'm going to try to make it happen to the best of my ability!

I'm just really excited to get started here. There are so many things I want to do and talk to people about, but I just don't have the language for it. I don't want to embarass myself by butchering their beautiful language either. I'm just going to try my hardest and do my best. 

This week I really enjoyed reading in Alma 9 (I think) while thinking about all the inactives around here that have turned away from the light that they've been given and how they will be judged for that, just like the Nephites were. In that chapter, it says that their punishment will be more severe than that of the Lamanites who are sinning in ignorance because of the traditions of their fathers. There are plenty of examples of both Lamanites and Nephites here. Some people know the truth and choose the darkness and some people are just sinning in ignorance. Our purpose is to invite ALL people to come unto Christ, so we're trying our best. President Christensen wants all of our contacting to be done pretty much with only a Book of Mormon. He wants us (once we realize that they're somewhat interested-- and some people legitimately are, which I myself doubted before I got here) to get a Book of Mormon into their hand and get them to read some verses out loud (as we're giving a basic historical summary of the book and explaining what it is, etc) and make our message Christ-centered. Then we ask to set up a 10-minute appointment with them to discuss things further. This actually has been pretty effective, and I've seen it work before my eyes too. It's actually worked so well, that the mission is currently short on Books of Mormon. The old mission president would only order 230 a month for the whole mission, but President Christensen has placed an order for 2000 for EVERY month. It just hasn't come yet. :) So Sister Galli and I don't have any more Books of Mormon to give out, so we are anxiously awaiting the next shipment. 

I LOVE YOU. Thank you so much for your prayers-- don't think that they aren't working because they totally are! For some annoying reason, the computer isn't letting me post pictures, so just enjoy the email that my President sent you of me arriving at the airport. :) life is great! Also, my eye infection is GONE! Yay!

I love you!

Love, 
cecmpa Brown

One day more

Can you believe that TOMORROW I fly to Russia? It's seriously so crazy. Half of the elders in my district left this morning, flying to Novosibirsk. Saying goodbye to them last night was really rough, and I'm not going to lie.... I cried way more than I expected to. Something about spending 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 9 weeks.... it really gets you attached, huh? My good friend Ben Moore (going to Novo) commanded me to write him a list of every stress if I'm feeling stressed, just like he would make me do here. It sounds really dumb, but it really works. Of all the elders, he was definitely the one I was closest with. Novosibirsk is a lucky place to get the 5 of them: Elder Stucki, Elder Allen, Elder Hodgson, Elder Moore, and Elder Lewis.

This last week has literally been a blur. A BLUR. We've been frantically packing, so that's been great. At the MTC, in the mornings I either have gym, personal study time, or service (they make you clean and call it "service"-- the fact that it's not optional just cracks me up [we are lucky enough to clean the building we live in, so we just roll out of bed and basically start cleaning sinks, mirrors, etc.]). Every day we have class from 9:15-12:15 then some more study time of some sort. We have lunch at 1:50 (or rather, stand in line for FOREVER and by the time you get to the front, they're serving corndogs again because they ran out of the entree-- AGAIN). I love the MTC. It's funny because people will generally say "you'll miss the food here!" and I either think to myself "what food?" or just laugh hysterically because....nope. There is no way I'll miss the food here.

My favorite entrees so far:
shepherd's pie-- they make a MEAN shepherd's pie, and I'm pretty critical about that kind of stuff (especially compared to mom's)
chicken tenders-- but basically I just like these because I like chicken tenders
.....I'm struggling to remember what else there is. haha. but everyday they also have fruit (the same fruit everyday) pineapple, canteloupe, and honeydew. It's awesome and today I will be feasting on pineapple for the last time for 16 months. yay binge eating!

After lunch we do something on the computer every day, whether it's TALL (the language learning program) or missionary portal (where we have to do Preach My Gospel assessments, language assessments, etc.) Then we have class 3:50-6:50. Then it's dinner time! After dinner we either have more study time or gym (depending on the day of the week). And basically that is my life here.

This last Thursday, we did something called "In-Field Training" where they sit you down in a room (with like 900 other people) and talk to you about what the real world is like ;)
It was actually a really cool orientation (it just literally took all.day.long.) and they really focused on getting to know people instead of just thinking of them as another number. These are the things that I really enjoyed learning:
don't fall into routines when finding people-- treat them as individuals
ask EVERYONE for referrals
key indicators (numbers) make you work smarter not harder
set goals THEN make plans
numbers do matter (because every soul matters to God)
don't miss out on finding opportunities
when you feel in over your head, that forces you to turn to the Lord
prep the members for lessons

On of the first days here, our teacher Sis. O'Neil asked us to write in our journals why we came on a mission. This last week, she told us to write in our journals why we are staying on a mission. She told us to do this evaluation several times on our mission because the reasons for staying will change every couple of months. In my original entry I wrote: "I can do hard things, and I want to become the kind of person whom missionaries come home as. I have a testimony-- which I sometimes forget about-- that I want to strengthen. [I] read confirmation about a mission in my patriarchal blessing. I want to share the happiness that I KNOW THIS GOSPEL BRINGS with other people."

And so now I'm thinking about why I'm staying, but it's so complicated that I think I'll work it all out in my head before I try to type it here. But I think it's so fascinating and so TRUE that the reasons for staying on a mission are different than the reasons for coming in the first place. Something that I've truly come to reason is that you really have to have a testimony in your mission call to be able to make it out here. Everything is constantly telling me to go home-- whether it's me missing my bed, the elders in my district unintentionally being rude, etc. But it's only because I have such a strong testimony in my mission call that I stay most of the time. I remember the spirit I felt when I opened it. I remember how I deeply felt that there is SOMEONE in Yekaterinburg (or the surrounding areas :]) who only I, Catie Brown, can help. And it's a great feeling. And I really think that that's what's keeping me going about 50% of the time. And on the days that I'm doubting myself the most (or even the Gospel), I just remember all the spiritual experiences I've had here, in my previous life, etc. that have helped me feel the spirit. I can't deny the spirit that I've felt in my life. It's so incredible to be able to feel it every.single.day. on my mission. It's beautiful.

I'm scared out of my mind, I'm not going to lie. And I'm feeling especially nervous today because I leave TOMORROW. (whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?) but really. I'm scared to do all the things that missionaries do. I get courage from a speaker who spoke at the MTC. He said that when he was in high school, he was scared to ask out the prettiest girl in school. But one day, a guy passed him a note, asking the speaker to ask out the girl for this other guy. So, the speaker mustered up the courage to ask out the girl, and the only way he had enough courage to was because he had a note telling him to do it. I hope that made sense. But basically, he told us that WE SHOULDN'T BE EMBARRASSED TO DO ANYTHING. Because none of it is for us. We've got a note from Jesus, and that should be courage enough (our mission call is the note). And it's true. I shouldn't be afraid or nervous to proselyte because it's Christ's gospel.

Sorry this letter is pretty scrambled. :) I'm sorry to hear about mom and dad's weird rashes-- that sounds weird. I hope it gets better! I'm glad to hear that Eric had fun at all his awesome stuff. I will be frantically writing real letters today, and he should expect one in the mail soon :) I hope Heather gets back safely from Washington, and I guess I'll call her tomorrow! I also really appreciated the letter from Laura and she will get a reply as well! Life as missionary is pretty crazy, so it takes a while to reply sometimes.

pictures: me and one of the ukrainian-serving sisters
my district and our 2 adopted sisters serving in ukraine (on of them is Elysse Barnes who knows both Kristen and Heather! that was funny to find out)
the classic map pictures
cafeteria shots

Have a wonderful, fabulous, incredible and great day!!!!

Love, cecmpa Brown

Week 8 (1 week left)

Dear Family,

Other than having a crazy week (as usual) and having some kind of crazy eye infection, life is great! I leave for Russia in officially less than one week. That's so weird! We got our travel plans this last week and also our cyrillic name tags. We drive to the Salt Lake airport at about 5am on Tuesday (we're supposed to be all ready to go at 4:30am) and we fly direct to Moscow at 8:30 am. Any calling home I do would be between 7-7:30 am. No, we're not allowed to call from the MTC-- it must be from the airport. I can either call collect, call with a calling card that is SUPER overpriced from the MTC, or maybe use some change? I dunno. We have a layover in the Moscow airport for about 4 hours then off to Ekaterinburg! We arrive there August 7th at 5:15pm Russia time. It's going to be quite a long flight(s).

The only thing to really say this week is that my Russian has made AMAZING progress (which is funny because mom just wrote to ask me about that-- haha). I actually know the grammar REALLY well this week, and lemme tell you, Russian grammar is freakishly hard. But I understand it now. My teacher even pulled me out in the hall yesterday to tell me how well I've been speaking this last week (not that I haven't been great before ;]). The hardest thing about Russian though, is the vocabulary. It's a very "scientific" language so for one simple english word, there's about 7 words in Russia that mean the same thing but more specific. So the vocab is what is killer. I've made so many flashcards to continue to build my vocabulary, but it's really hard. My district does "speak your language" 4+ days a week for the full day, and it hurts my brain.

For the last couple of weeks, I'd felt really impressed to ask for a blessing but I just didn't ever ask for one because of numerous reasons (it's a hassle....it's embarrassing....yada-yada-ya). But after contracting an eye infection, I knew I needed a blessing because God gave me the eye infection to humble me into asking for a blessing since I'm such a stubborn brat :) . I received a blessing of comfort, and in my blessing, the elder giving it to me (Nathan Allen-- he's so awesome), quoted I KID YOU NOT an entire paragraph from my patriarchal blessing with only a few words that were different. It was the coolest thing in the entire world and some amazing promises were made to me in that blessing. It really set me at peace about a lot of things.

As we were walking back from the temple walk on Sunday, I was talking to some of the missionaries from the other district (the new one), and this man in a car at the stoplight yelled out his window "are y'all from Scotland?!?!" and we were like "huh?" then he was like "y'all have red hair!!!!" and we all laughed and I told him we were going to Russia, and he goes "Vladivostok is the best!!!!!" and drove off. We all laughed then took a picture of all of us gingers together. (that's the pic I sent). cute huh? The elders in that district ALL just graduated from high school. Heather's friend, Ky Raymond's little brother Dax is in that district. He's such a nice guy. :)

The last 2 weeks we've been able to skype actual people from Russia (twice) during our "TRC time". It's been awesome! I understand a lot of what they say, so it's great to be able to communicate with them. I have to do a lot of translating for my companion though. One of the men we skyped told us to "live long and prosper" and flashed us the Vulcan sign at the end of our skyping with him. He was really funny. All the Russian people we've talked to seem nice, but it scares me because all the stories we hear are from Ukraine since both of our teachers served there. I am scared that the Russian people won't be as receptive as the Ukrainian people. Obviously the church is stronger in Ukraine anyway-- they have a temple! hahaha.

I passed my "exit interview" with my branch president with flying colors. He said that if he had to fill out some kind of sheet of paper, he would definitely approve me to go on my mission. It's been a huge learning experience for me here, and it's best (I've learned) to sometimes keep things to yourself so that other people don't think that you have big issues. I just enjoy talking my problems out with other people but apparently if you do that here, people think that you're full of lots of problems. So I've just learned to keep my problems to myself.

On Saturday, our class and another class did a role-play where 2 missionaries and a "member" were trying to get an inactive, RM back to church. It was a really awesome thing, and I felt the spirit extremely strong. I was the member, and the inactive RM was one of the teachers from the other class who just felt really insecure coming home after her mission. We helped her realize that if she's felt the spirit before, she can feel it again in her life ( we relied heavily on Alma 5), and it was really awesome. It reminded me of one of my RM friends who's now inactive in the church. I know the church is true and yes, sometimes I get upset at people or don't want to go to church.... but I can't deny the fact that I've felt the spirit there and there's no way I would be feeling the spirit if the church wasn't true. There is no way that I've had all these amazing spiritual experiences if the church isn't true. The church is true! Just accept it, ignore the people that are weird and judgmental, and hey, you can move on with life. There's no point in being angry forever or feeling ostracized because people judge you. welcome to life. Nobody's perfect. The people in the church aren't perfect. The people RUNNING the church aren't perfect. But the Gospel is perfect. And God has perfect love for you. John 3:16. I've loved studying that scripture this last week. That scripture and Moses 1:39 really do explain why EVERYTHING happens. Why is God the same yesterday, today, and forever? Because He loves us. He wants what's best for us. And sometimes, yes sometimes, thats means putting us through trials because HE KNOWS WHAT WILL MAKE US STRONGER. It's up to us to face the challenge. Fight or flight? Based on your reactions to situations, that's what really determines your character. And your character is what you're ultimately judged by. Are you going to sulk your way through life? Are you going to decide to take offense to people? Well, guess what? Everyone has agency and everyone will be judged for their actions. And you will be judged for your REACTIONS to those actions (and also your own actions). So, really? What's holding you back from embracing the Gospel 100%? It's true. You know it, I know it.

Going on a mission has been really hard, and guess what? I haven't even left yet! But I'm super stoked for what the next 16 months of my life will bring and I am determined to not let anything get my down. I need my positive attitude to last me through the cold winters of Russia. I know Heavenly Father loves me, and he is looking out for me.

The temple has been closed for most of the summer but today, we had the opportunity to help clean the Provo temple. Sister Smith and I helped with the small chandeliers in the celestial room and it was so cool to see "behind the scenes" of the temple. It was great to be able to go inside again the week before I head off to Russia.

My p-day is Monday right before I leave. I love you! Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers. Without them, I know I'd be having a hard time here. I love you all so much.

I'll call Tuesday. Love you!

cecmpa Brown

 some gingers in my district and my cyrillic tag

Week 7

Well hey family! Funny how I missed mom and dad at the temple walk on Sunday, but FOR GOOD REASON. :) I had a lot of meetings, and it's probably for the best that I didn't go to the temple. Did it ever occur to you that seeing you would make saying goodbye really hard? :)

So, this week I went into the doctor because of my nails falling off. I saw the P.A. and he didn't really have a lot to say. The good news is that the nail that is currently growing in is stronger (on all my fingers) than the nail that is currently there, and he said that progress is good. Doesn't really look like I have leprosy after all. It was really trippy having 3 fall off in one week though, I'm not going to lie. But if he's not concerned, then I'm not.

And in response to dad saying that I have lost weight (based off of seeing/hugging me at the Worldwide Broadcast), I can say that is completely false. :) I was kind of sick before coming here (throwing up quite a bit), so I did lose about 10 pounds, but lemme tell ya, I've definitely gained it back. Don't worry about it. :) The food here is still awful, but it has gotten more tolerable.

Exciting things happening this week:
1. Sister Brown gets her travel plans either Thursday/Friday/Saturday! All the Russians who have flown out before (except those going to Vlad) have had a direct flight to Moscow, so we're all praying for the same. Layovers are awful, and from what I've seen from others' travel plans, some of the layovers are a good 8 hours.

2. Sister Brown gets her 100% Russian nametag! My last name will be in Cyrillic ....."сестра Браун". pretty exciting, huh? I'm super pumped. We're not allowed to wear them here in the MTC, but I'm pretty sure we can when we go to the airport/the rest of our missions. holla!

3. Elder Hodgson and I are probably going to try out for another musical number. I still get complimented every day on my last one! (though most of those missionaries are gone now....but I seriously have gotten complimented every day since then but the compliments pretty much shriveled up by this last Thursday).

Exciting things that happened last week:
1. Well I already told you about the doctor's-- but the drive there was super fun. It's a really chaotic shuttle system that the MTC has set up to drive missionaries to various appointments for various reasons. We came within a couple streets of our house because we had to pick up some people at those doctor offices right south of Will's Pit Stop. It was really funny driving around. Probably my last view of Provo in the daylight since we'll be leaving for the airport at like 3am. It was also fun at the doctor's office because we got to hear "Babylonian Music" -- meaning the music from the outside world. Gasp. In Russian, you pronounce "Babylon" the same except the "B"s sound like "v"s; so it's really "vavylon". I love Russian.
2. We had a new bunch of missionaries come in on Wednesday. They're all heading to Vladivostok or Moscow, and as a sister leader, I was able to help them with their orientation and stuff. It was super fun. All of the elders, except for one, are literally straight out of high school. It's crazy how young they are, but it's so cute at the same time. One of the elders when he stood up to bear his testimony talked about how he has some kind of eye disorder (he didn't specify) where he wasn't going to be able to go foreign, but because the mission president of Vladivostok is a "world-renowned" eye surgeon, he is able to serve where he's supposed to-- in Mother Russia. It was a really powerful testimony. I love how missions mature people.
3. De-stressing therapy. The stress was kind of mounting this whole last week and because of a hectic p-day and new-missionary-orientation on Wednesday and Thursday nights, I pretty much was dying for exercise and feeling pretty stressed out on Friday. Receiving some very supportive letters on Friday from the whole family didn't really help either. So my friend, Elder Moore decided to de-stress me (he really should be a therapist, I swear), and he had me write down the top stressors in my life in one minute. Then he had me write down things that I do to de-stress in one minute. Then he talked me through my stressors and about how I really can't do anything about them while on my mission (true story). We also talked through my de-stressors and about how I can still do some of those things in the MTC (shopping, anyone? jk). Then he gave me back the paper and let me decide what to do with it. I held onto it for a day then ripped it up into little tiny pieces. I've been fine since then.
4. I've been feeling a little homesick but not really. It's hard to explain. I miss my old life and the ability to do whatever fancies me. Here, everything is so regulated. Which is fine. I know I'll like the field so much better. Can you believe I fly to Russia in 2 weeks? Goodbye America.
5. Pink eye. How could I forget to complain about this the very first line of the email? Hahahahahaha. I got pink eye on Saturday. Yep. It's an exciting life I live here at the MTC. I don't know who I got it from but man-oh-man, I will NOT miss the MTC one single bit. Fortunately, I have those prescription eye drops that dad got me and those are heaven-sent. Hopefully it clears up soon.... or I'll be heading back to a doctor again. Too bad I had just opened up new contacts on Wednesday, so I'll have to chuck those too. Ah well.


I will tell you right now that I do love the MTC. All the devotionals are so inspiring. I feel the Spirit practically every day. I am a huge cynic about a lot of things (including the church at times) but a lot of things just flat-out make perfect sense to me. I've loved reading D&C and studying up on church history the last 2 weeks. With pioneer day coming up tomorrow, I definitely feel like I have a greater appreciation for those pioneers and early Saints and all the things they went through. It was a tough life for them. I love reading the scriptures. I love the 1hr a day I get to read them here-- and sometimes more than that. It's never enough. I love teaching myself and marking up my scriptures. I love finding patterns and similar stories. I love it all. I love wondering about what I would be doing with my life right now if I WASN'T here, and every option I've come up with doesn't come anywhere close to how awesome my mission is and how much I love it. It's easy to feel dejected here looking around at ALL THE OTHER MISSIONARIES, and sometimes I just feel like a very unimportant cog in the machine. But then I read my patriarchal blessing, and I remember-- I am unique. I am special. I am important. And through the help of the Lord, I will touch lives. I'm so excited to get to Russia. They should be very scared because Sister Brown is coming, and she's gonna hit the ground running.

I know this church is true. I've prayed about it. I get a spiritual confirmation of it every day. I've asked for confirmation about being here on my mission right now, and I'm here to tell you-- I've gotten it. I read the scriptures and I just KNOW it. I've been waiting to go on my mission for a really long time-- eternity, actually. I'm so grateful for my knowledge that families are forever, and that means the world to me. I miss you all so very much, but in the end it's going to be worth it. The Lord needs my help and in order to use me, he needs to change me into exactly the kind of person I need to be. It's going to be hard. It's going to be painful, but I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to serve a mission. I'm so happy that I can't even explain it. I love my district. I love my companion. I love the Lord. I love the Gospel and the happiness that it brings me. Nothing will sway that. Nothing can change that. Whenever I feel doubts about being here on a mission, I remember the reason that I chose to serve and I hold that close to me. Everybody has a special reason why they're here, and you can't lose sight of that. If missions were supposed to be easy, then everyone would be on one. True story. It's hard. It's been a trial of my patience (just ask Sister Brown how much she looooooooves people singing obnoxiously loudly in the shower in the mornings), but hey. That's life. And I love it.

Have a great week. :)
I will send pictures later today.

The church is true. The book is blue.

Love ya!
Cecmpa Brown

-me with a shirt/skirt from the freebin wearing a GIGANTIC russian shapka hat.

-me with my flashcards (and no makeup because I have pink eye. yay life)

 

-I ran into my good friend from BYU today, Torie (Victoria) Cooper. She just entered last Wednesday! Heading to Argentina. wootwoot.

by the way, mom: I already submitted the stuff for my mission plaque TWICE. I am sending Eric a letter today and basically just gave him instructions on how to hack into my email.

I also had something else to tell you, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was. OH. YES. Tell the Smiths that I'm looking out for them, but they can also come hunt me down. My classroom is in 8M room 325, so they can come look for me there. I'm pretty much there all day except for mealtimes (8:50 am, 1:50pm, 6:50pm). I promise I'm doing okay. I weigh about 155lbs, and I really think I'm ok. I love you! They could probably sneak me in some goodies ;) but we are good on food. I can't believe I'm going to Russia so soon! hallelujah.

Week 6

Dear everyone,

Get me out of this place. I love the MTC.... I really do. But another 3 weeks here is going to be tough. Being cramped in a classroom all day long is exhausting. This last week has been pretty rough. On Tuesday, 2 of my fingernails fell off. If anyone remembers, they started to grow out weird and dad said it was probably a vitamin deficiency (which is ironic since I was in a nutrition class at BYU and trying to eat healthier anyway....) so that was pretty weird. I put band-aids on those digits and called it good. Then, Sunday night, I was changing into clothes after my shower and my toe kind of caught (but not really, it just snagged) and apparently that tiny amount of force was enough to get my entire toenail off. Um what? Also, it looks like some of my other toe nails are possible on the brink of falling off. Yes, I know nails really have no purpose but oh my gosh, do I have leprosy? It sure seems like it. (is it worth me going to the dermatologist? They are shuttling me there on Wednesday...I'm still not sure if I should go or not. But I think yes because I'd rather go now than get to Russia and die of some sort of disease...you know?) So that's scary. Also, the lady from the MTC doctor's called mom about the insurance. And I was standing right now. And it was so dumb how I couldn't even speak to my own mother on the phone. Who comes up with these rules anyway?

Add in to the fact that I already felt pretty homesick this week, and yeah. I have no idea why I'm homesick, in the best way possible there's nothing to go back to for me. I guess I've just been feeling down because one of our sisters left on Tuesday and went home. The whole zone has been pretty worked up over it, and it's crazy. She's from Provo, and it just really hit me that I could go home too if I wanted. I know it would never happen, but it's weird to think about. The worst thing about being here is besides reading the scriptures and studying.... there isn't a whole lot to do.

This week our elders were talking about their circadian rhythms during study time. I had to ask them to stop because they kept saying "circadian" and it sounds so much like my name that it made me jump so much. They laughed like crazy when I told them why their conversation was bugging me.

On Wednesday, our district was hosting-- which means we were the people to help the new missionaries as they jumped out of their cars at the MTC for the first time. Did this help my homesickness? Nope. (I don't even know if I should call it homesickness because part of it is severe "I hate the MTC"-sickness). It was really fun though. Ironically, 2 of the girls I helped (about 45 min apart from each other) were going to the same mission and lived in the same residence and had the same classroom. Pretty cool, huh? Apparently they stick all the english-speaking sisters in the NICEST residence hall on campus. It was remodeled recently and has an elevator. Um.....what? We live on the 4th floor of our extremely run-down apartment buildling and there's no elevator. I about had a cow. Apparently the MTC thinks that since we'll be living in awful apartments for the rest of our mission, we might as well start now?

Another hard thing that I went through this week was teaching the law of Chastity on Thursday. It 's a weird enough lesson without it being in Russian.....and apparently our investigator had an abortion and didn't see a problem with it. I was not prepared for that at all, but wow. I winged it okay, I thought. We were walking back from the lesson, and Sister Smith says, "oh just so you know, I already knew about her abortion. The elders made me promise not to tell you though." I about died. It was such a hard lesson for me because I just didn't have the vocabulary. I really felt betrayed by my companion because it didn't really seem like she cared about our companionship. I just don't understand people, I guess, because I never would have just let someone go through that. It was awful. Even though it's a role-play, I've found out things about my investigator through the other elders (by accident), but it's not like it changes how we prepare for the lesson.... you know? It was an interesting day, but I've finally discovered the reason why people just give up on their missions.

I had kind of a rough night on Thursday because I've just been having all kinds of doubts about being here. Friday I woke up in kind of a depressed mood, and I just was sick of being here. "Why did I do this to myself?," I thought. But then I decided to read my scriptures literally all day long. I seriously read for about 4 or 5 hours while I wasn't in class. I read a lot in D&C (I've always struggled to read there), and it was really great. I read all about temples, blessings from missions, etc. from about section 100 onward. It was exactly what I needed. I felt so much better after reading the scriptures, and I think that's the first time that that's ever happened to me because I've just never experienced it before. I've also thoroughly organized my scriptures  by the lessons in Preach My Gospel. I've added all sorts of highlights and sticky notes, so it makes it easier to find a scripture in a hurry. :)

I've also begun reading the Church History in the fulness of Times student manual online at lds.org. I really love it. I've never really cared much for church history, but suddenly that's all I'm interested in-- especially after reading the majority of the missionary library. It's also really helped me in my understanding of the Doctrine and Covenants. I started to get on familysearch.org on like Monday. So interesting to look at all our ancestors. It also made me realize that there is SO MUCH family history to get started on in this family. I'm not sure if it's done already, but past about 1720 on every line, there's a dead-end. At least on the website. So dear family, I encourage you to do our family history work. It's so interesting to look at all of it already done, but there really is a ton more to do. And I can't do anything for at least another 16.5 months, so hop on it. :)

I am sosososo glad that mom and dad sent me a leather version of Jesus the Christ. I had been reading through the paperback copy that I got out of a free-bin, and I thought to myself "I don't really have the time now.... but this book requires deep study" and I realized by the time I had that time/desire to study it thoroughly, I would most likely be in Russia. I definitely did not want to haul a beat-up GIGANTIC copy of Jesus the Christ to Russia either. That leather version has been such a blessing. It's small and beautiful. I love reading it. Reading it has been so wonderful. Reading the New Testament about Christ is great, but sometimes it's a little confusing because there is so.much.information. but Jesus the Christ combines all of it into one place and also does a deep analysis of Christ's teachings.

I've loved the thunderstorms this last week. I love lightning. I love thunder. I love rain. I also really just loved how it was a change up from every other day here too. It's just really funny how poorly planned everything is here. They run out of food at every meal. Still. How do you run out of food when you know exactly how many missionaries live here? That's the mystery of the universe. Also, the air conditioner in our classroom broke this last week and water leaked all over the floor. Now our room reeks of mildew, and it doesn't really seem to be a priority here because no one has come to do anything about it even though we called maintenance twice.

The free bins here are awesome, as I've said before. That MTC water bottle I sent retails for like $20, and I got it for free. WAHOO. I also was able to find a set of scriptures in MINT CONDITION that I'll be sending home. They're actually the kind that I really really want post-mission, but I want the updated ones when they come out. So give them to someone who really needs them in our family. They're so beautiful! Also, the pictures I'm sending are of me in some skirts that I got in a free bin here. They are SO GREAT. They are long enough and beautiful, and they fit me just right. It's fantastic. It's like D.I. but everything is FREE. I also got a Free People skirt out of a free bin that fits fine but the zipper is a little weird and ripped, so I've been repairing it. With the repairs, it's a little tight around the hips, but hey. I'm only getting skinnier, right? hahahahahahahahahhaha. Anyway, I've been trying to look for more stuff for Heather, but the people in my building are not quite at her level of physical fitness and don't wear her ridiculously small sizes ;) but I will keep looking. Also, I have been looking for portuguese stuff (and I really love searching free boxes, so don't think that it's a hassle for me), but I have some ideas about why I can never find stuff:

1. the portuguese classrooms are ALL OVER. most of the other languages have classrooms on the same floor in the same building, but I guess because it's unpredictable how many portuguese missionaries the MTC is going to get, so they have no idea how many classrooms to plan for. There are some Brazilians in my building, but then there are Brazilians in the building next to mine as well (that's where Jessica Clive is. I've actually seen her around a couple times. She's so cute, and she looks so happy. So it cheered me up this week. :])

2. the portuguese speakers get sent state side. When people leave for the airport (we only live with people going foreign), they're so frantically packing their suitcases and everything goes to the free bin to lower the weight. But since portuguese speakers get reassigned state-side (at least temporarily), they bring all their stuff with them since it's not as expensive. so hence, no portuguese learning books.

3. all the portuguese speakers are dead. Probably from lack of food, I suspect.

Those were just some ideas. But I love you! Don't think I'm depressed, I just had kind of a depressing week. But I feel so much better now! I love you all! Thanks for supporting me on my mission! Thanks for writing me on my mission! Thanks for paying for my mission! Thanks for praying for me! Thanks for being awesome! Thanks for being the best family in the world! Thanks for sending me food! Thanks for finally getting Eric to write me! (that was awesome....haha)

I love you!!!

(p.s. the other picture of trees is where the elders hang their suit coats during temple walks. It's funny because it's SO HOT outside, but they're required to wear them. so then they hang them up on trees so they don't get dirty. pretty funny, huh?)

THE CHURCH IS TRUE. THE BOOK IS BLUE. SEE YOU IN 2--- minus 6 months and 6 weeks, that is.