Week 3 in the MTC

HEH HEH HELLOOOO!

Oh my gosh today when I got online and saw all the emails my heart leapt! ahhh i love you all!

FAMILY. THANKS FOR ALL THE PACKAGES!!! OH MY GOSH TELL DANIEL THANKS FOR THE ROSE SYRUP! I am going to have some rosemilk later. That was really night. Give him and his indian family a hug for me. I will write a thank you note to send home soon with some other letters. mom i love you, you crafty cutes. I really am the luckiest daughter in all the lands. Thanks for the gasx and for the flossers too. Oh you're just heaven on earth. You are too dad! i know you help with the packages too. YA LOOBLOO TEBYA!!!!!! (i love you, in russian accent.) 

RUby and Jon thanks so oooooo much for your care packages! I really do love that parchment you sent me! If you haven't gotten my letter in the mail yet, then just know I go into depth about how much I love that package you sent! ahh you take such great care of me. also, thanks for sharing that story about the mtc. It is so true. we have to be really careful to make sure that we are diong things which allow angels to be around us! 

 I can say the most simple prayer, and I can bare the most simple testimony. My next project/goal is to translate MY testimony into russian. That way it'll sound a lot less scripted, and come from the heart more. My teachers tell me though that even though its the basic testimony from the language books, they really feel the spirit when I testify so that's good. I am falling in love with this language though, even though i despise it sometimes. I feel like I have plateaued so i prayed and asked heavenly father to help me absorb and retain all that i study and memorize. And just last night as i was planning for TRC lesson which is tonight, I was able to translate my english into russian! it is still really broken, and not formed correctly, but they are the same words and I really felt the spirit help me. Its so cool to pray for help and then recognize when we receive it! 

nothing too new here, I still love sister mackey so much. We really are so similar. She is such a spaz and it makes me so happy. We had a reeeeeeallllllly bad experience on monday. Like... really bad. Sis G NEVER helps us plan our lessons. She is so prideful because she is, as she puts it, "so much more mature and smarter than both of us (me n sis mackey.)." because she is 5 months older than me.... and she also studied french for 7 years. She really doesn't communicate and I am so scared of her. Because she has a temper like the beast from beauty and the beast. haha i'm being dead serious. She is just mean. Just plain ole mean. our lessons go like this: me and sister mackey plan out the whole thing IN RUSSIAN, ask for sister g's input, and she sits back, and stubbornly says "i already know what i'm saying. so plan the rest." ummm what? and she always says things that doesn't even relate to our lesson we plan and it makes me so frustrated but when we try to talk to her about it she gets SO ANGRY like it's our fault. The worst part is, is that we talk about it so lovingly. but she just gets mad. like, she shakes. and yells. anyway, I was sick of it so i told my teacher sister gish and brother holt that i am struggling and i don't know what to do because all i do is show love to her. And so sister gish told me that we were all going to sit down and have a talk as a companionship with her, so that she could hopefully help. so we did. 

 I adressed my concerns out in the open and said that there is a lack of communication and that we wanted to fix it so that we could feel the love in our companionship. OH MY GOSH WHAT HAPPENED NEXT WAS CRAZY. she had the most angry face on. she wouldn't look at us. she was huffing and puffing and red in the face and sister gish asked her why she wouldn't address her feelings, and sis gerristen said "I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT. NOBODY LISTENS TO ME" typical, she never wants to talk about it so how are we supposed to listen when she won't talk? which makes no sense because we want her help because she knows a lot about the gospel. Anyway, long story short, sister gish told her you can't be a good missionary if you don't communicate. And when she said that, sis G stood up and stormed out of the room. Then, she came back and SCREAMED at us and threw stuff and said really explicit things. It was way scary. And it made us shake in our boots. It was really scary. I am leaving out a lot of details because it's a way long story, one that I can't wait to tell you when I get home. 

So anyway, later that night one of the wives of our presidency was prompted to visit us, so she came over and talked to sister G. And then she finally apologized for all the mean things that she has said which was cool. I accepted her apology and I am hoping that things get better but I am really worried that it wont because after the apology, she still is being short and impatient and gets angry about stupid little things at me and sister mackey. Sister Gish, our teacher, is going to tell our branch president because she thinks that sis G needs medications or counseling. And I do too. Because the way she reacted and the things she said were unreal. It was almost like an evil spirit took over her. So Yeah, I really am concerned for her. I want her to be healthy, and I don't want to constantly have to be afraid to ask her to participate because she will just flip and be angry at us. I really hope that things go well because I am terrified of her. haha uhhhhhh 5 more weeks. I can do this. I will just pray for her. I have prayed for her because I feel like it's my fault she is is being mean, like i have done something even though I haven't, 

ANOTHER APOSTLE CAME TO THE MTC LAST NIGHT! D. Todd CHristofferson. That's four apostles I've seen the four weeks I have been here at the MTC. His message was amazing. He held up a box of cheerios. The back of the box said "Trusted." then he went on to talk about what we need to do to gain heavenly fathers trust and how we can gain his. It was a great perspective because you never really think about him trusting you, you usually just think about you trusting him and his will and his way. His testimony at the end really really hit my soul. He said something along the lines of, "I want you to hear from my witness, and from my mouth:This is Jesus Christ's church. He leads it. He presides over it. He has called YOU because he trusts you. He believes in you. He knows you. He loves you. You are his." It was really powerful. 

I am trying to keep that mindset as I deal with adjusting here at the MTC. I love the spirit here and I feel that I am growing so much, even though it is really hard because of my companion. I have faith and hope that over time it will get better.

To answer some questions, Pdays ARE on wednesdays now. They are relaxing. I just read emails and write emails and go to the temple and eat breakfast there which is yummy, and I get to just relaxx in my bed and read scriptures, study russian, do laundry, it's the life. The food is good here dad, but it's starting to get old really quick. But they have two salads here that are like zupas tasting salads! those days I go salad crazy. I love my salads. 

HAHA funny story real quick. SO I am way gassy right? and I fart like crazy. Apparently when I wasn't in the room, sister G told sister mackey that it bugs her when I fart. HAHAHAH I'MMM SORRRRY I'M HUMAN! 

 I had to say goodbye to my friend from the singles ward sarah coates last night. I love her! she is going to missouri! And I had to say goodbye to my shlynee baby! that was rough. I love her and her whole district. I am way closer to her district than my own. They are all so awesome I will miss them.  ESPECIALLY MY ASHY! but last night at the devotional where we heard christofferson, we got to sit together. It was a great last hoorah. I will miss seeing her here. 

I love yo uALL!!! thanks so much for all the love you send me, and show me. I really am so grateful for you all. Keep writing me dear elders! They truly do turn your day around. Thanks for all loving me. I am the luckiest missionary here at the MTC! I pray for you all individually, and I know that the lord is really aware of each of us. So aware that when i prayed to know what heavenly father thinks of me, he told me through D. todd christoffersons talk. And the same goes for all of you! Jesus christ love all of us. He wants us to come to him. And his arms are wide open! he loves you, and he knows you. YOU, are his!

I love you all so much. thanks for your prayers and for your support. Thanks for keeping me lifted! I will be better at writing letters. Mom, i am sorry that I can't skype or call home for mothers day. HOWEVER! you just have to wait a few more days and I will call you from the airport when I fly to russia on june ninth. time is flying! 

I love you! I hope you all have a great week. Thanks for letting me vent about that story that happened on monday. My pdays are on wednesdays now. I CAN'T BELIEVE CLAIRE IS GETTING ANOTHER TOOTH!!! I MISS HER! I LOVE YOU CLAIREANCE!!!!!!!!!! i love you all. Never forget it okay? 

love hayster, cectpa tweeeeeeeddddddde