Week #8

hey all! This is real life!! not like it was fake before...but it officially hit me. We got our travel plans in the mail on Thursday night!!! Right when we saw them we were all jumping up and down and squealing and crying...okay so I was the only one crying... haha It just hit me so hard that I bursted into tears! happy, terrified tears!

SO we take off from Salt Lake at 8:30 AM Monday the 28th and we have a layover at JFK in New York for like an hour and half, then we head straight to Moscow! then wednesday we have some training and street contacting, then thursday we get to spend the day contacting in Red Square. YES! RED SQUARE! eeep!! :) We also found out that we will be hosting tomorrow (giving the new missionaries brief tours). Kind of funny because we just got here last week...I have no idea where anything is still. It'll be fun though :) I love seeing new missionaries with their little pink stickers on their tags and excited and panicked looks on their faces. haha Its the best :D Wednesday at TRC we taught a man from Yekaterinburg. He was so awesome! He joined the church when in 2008 and just got back from a mission in Las Vegas. During the lesson, he told us his conversion story and it was so powerful. After, he gave us great language advice and missionary work advice, and then he wanted to take a picture with us...thats never happened before haha it was funny. I bought a baby Preach My Gospel, and I just love it! It is so convenient! It is going to be soooooo loved by the time Im done with it. Its already filling up fast with quotes, tips, and creative ideas. Little treasures from our teachers, and the General Authorities. Even with out all of the little treasures, PMG can help anyone!! not just missionaries! I encourage you to go get one if you dont have one and study it! You will find your own little treasures and insights from it. I was studying the "pray often" section yesterday along with some talks, and I found a great talk by Gordon B Hinckley that fits right in! It is called :"Blessings from Family Prayer." Read that talk too! I know..lots of hw for you this week. haha It totally got me thinking about the long term and short term benefits, and power of families praying together. OH!! DALLIN H OAKS came last tuesday!!! How could I forget!? He talked to us about the uniqueness of our church and what about it makes us that way. It was really cool! It really helped me to understand that embracing other cultures and beliefs is needed! We arent here to force our beliefs on anyone, we just want to help them understand why it is so different. It was way interesting :) Well I love you all so much! I know that even though going to another country is scary, it is what the Lord needs of me and I am willing and excited to do it! Have a great week! Take care.