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.