Life as a Missionary: Russian, Russian, and more Russian!

Another week has just flown by. This week was filled with a lot of fun activities such as making microwave s'mores, celebrating the 4th of July, Russian, Russian, and more Russian!

So today... the best thing ever happened. We have an ID card that we use to get into all the buildings and we always have to have it with us… and today… mine accidentally fell into the toilet! As if using community bathrooms weren’t bad enough, I then had to put my hand into the COMMUNITY TOILET to retrieve my card. Definitely a highlight of my life.

Spending the 4th of July here was a very humbling experience. A little ironic too. Here at the MTC you are on a very strict schedule and you are confined to the Church property. Yes, I am comparing it to a prison. I was made aware of how beautiful this land we have to live in is. We are SO blessed to be able to worship however we please, and to be able to live however we want. Granted America doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation, but there is always hope for the future. I truly believe that we are different from any country in the world. I now sound like I am about to announce my bid for the 2035 Presidential Election, sorry about that, ha ha. But I am truly proud to be a citizen of this country.

This week was Fast Sunday, so we bore our testimonies (in Russian) in sacrament. It was probably one of the scariest things I've ever done, but I decided to trust in God and bear my testimony. I wish I could say that some big miracle happened and that I gave a ten-minute testimony in perfect fluent Russian, but that was not the case. My testimony was probably 1-2 minutes of broken Russia but nevertheless, it was one of the most spiritual experiences I've had. I think back to four weeks ago and I literally couldn’t say "hello" in Russian. Now I can testify of the gospel in it! I know that the Lord answers prayers. Sometimes it takes a lot of time. I've spent many days of these past few weeks frustrated with myself because I am not learning as fast as I would like. Looking back, I realize there was no way I could have learned all that I could on my own. It made me realize that sometimes we don’t realize that God has been there all along.

I am a firm believer in prayer. Prayer is literally our lifeline to God. Never feel like you are not worthy to talk to God because of what you've done because that is just the Devil trying to keep you from feeling the relieving power of the Atonement. God wants to hear from us because we are His children.