Week 2

Hi friends and family! I hope everything is going wonderful for all of you! This week has been really difficult as we finished teaching Lena but got 2 new investigators, Anton and Lola, and as we have been plunging into grammar! Joy... I take back every frustration or irritation that I have ever had about people who come to America and can't speak English. I get it! It's hard! I'm so blessed that I am not learning English as a second language because I've heard thats the worst! Last week (my 1st week) seemed to focus so much on learning Russian but this past week, we focused a ton on the doctrines and lessons in addition to the language. A reoccurring theme was definitely obedience. Mostly obedience in the mission. At devotional Tuesday night David Evans of the Seventy spoke to us and something he said really stood out to me so I thought I'd share it with you. "If you keep the commandments, the Lord will bless you--maybe not with what you want-- but you will learn to trust Him and there will come a time when you will do ANYTHING He wants not because you want or need blessings, but because you love Him." I loved that:) Also! I read a wonderful talk by Tad R Callister called, "A Consecrated Missionary" or something. It is soooooo good! Please look it up and read it. It is so honestly blunt about what it takes to to really devote yourself to the Lord. From returned missionaries and missionaries in the field I have heard the the mission makes them weepy. hahaha if you know me you probably know that I am already weepy without the mission. So I thought--OH NO!!! I used to cry when I feel the spirit so I thought that I'd be an extra weepy missionary. However, I haven't cried. Like...at all. Automatically I thought...what is wrong with me? Am I really not feeling the spirit? So I tried to make an extra effort to recognize the spirit throughout my days and I do recognize it. It's just different than before and I'm adjusting to it, and I'm okay with it :) I've come to the realization that we can feel the spirit in our lives in many different ways. OH! So Friday we taught Anton the restoration. Then Saturday we talked about the Atonement and Repentance and gave him HW to read the story of Alma the Younger. SO monday before we start our lesson(which was supposed to be about Prayer and Obedience) he asks us a question. Joseph Smith prayed and saw God. Alma the younger prayed and saw God. You guys pray a lot. Do you see God? I prayed last night, but I didn't see God. 1st of all, it was hard to understand what he was asking because it was off topic, and 2nd of all, once we understood him it was hard to explain that we have to have faith that God is listening to our prayers and that no we haven't seen Him, but we can feel Him through the Holy Ghost--without the vocabulary for it. Then! He asks us why we don't drink tea and coffee. Okay now, explaining that in English is hard! But we did our best answering all of his questions and the Lord made up the rest. I love teaching lessons because even though it is stressful, I feel the spirit the strongest while we are teaching and I love it! I love my district! I might have mentioned that before but I just can't say it enough! My district and zone are really amazing missionaries and I love them so much! We all get along so wonderfully and we know how to ease the stress--laughter, yoga, and singing. We sang a medley of Be still my soul and Nearer my god to thee on Sunday during Sacrament meeting and it was so powerful! Speaking of sundays! Fun fact. well...not so fun of a fact haha Every sunday 2 missionaries are called out of the congregation during the meeting to give a 3-5 minute talk. That means...that every week we each need to prepare a talk for the next week according to that weeks topic. I loved hearing the elders and sisters speak at the pulpit and I even understood almost all of it! Im getting over a cold but other than I am doing well. Nothing really eventful happened this week so I feel like I am kind of rambling haha Oh! there was a huge storm the other night and there were literally tree branches flying in the air! (detached from the trees!) walking around in the rain might explain the cold.... :) This morning we went to the temple and I just love the Temple so much! I ran into Jamie Barrus there!!! It was so good to see her! Today I also saw Mark Hudak right before getting on the bus so I wasn't able to talk to him really, but It was great to see him too. Brother Ellett!: I met Elder... Schmidt? I dont actually remember his name but he was like "Kent Ellett told me to look for you and say hi!" haha so hi!! I love it here and I know this what I am supposed to be doing! love you all and miss you :) Cectpa Downing
Here are some questions mom had and she answered The branch president just told us a new rule: no letter writing unless on pday. So I havent been able to respond to any of your dear elders. We meet in class at about 730 and we have study time. 845 is breakfast. class starts at 915 and goes til 1:50 then lunch and then personal and companion study from 230 to 350. class starts at 350 and goes til 650. dinners right after that and then we have study time/meetings/devos/gym time. depending on the day. sorry, thats just a really quick over view. My companion is good! She is from Baltimore Maryland. She is going to Moscow and we leave the same time. We got our "missionary certificates" and my exit date as of right now is later than i thought!! March 17. But that can change depending on transfer dates probably. I love sundays soooo much!!!!! we have study time and relief society as a west campus and sacrament mtg allll in russian as a branch(our zone--like 5 districts. 1 district is like 6-12 missionaries) we have choir practices and then devotionals. and we get to watch movies! kind of haha there are conference talks we can watch. We just watched the Character of Christ by David A bednar! look it up. its AMAZING!!!!