Hailey in Russia: Week 7 What?

WHAT? week 7? you mean to tell me i leave in 2 1/2 weeks? NO. I AM NOT READY TO LEAVE! I loooove the mtc. I love all my friends here and all my teachers. Ahhhhh, seriously what the heck where did the time go?

dad or mom. can you double check at the bank to make sure that my card will be able to work in russia? an elder in my zone has to call his bank now because they apparently didn't process the papers even though he also went to talk to his bank about being in russia. If you could do that I would be so grateful. lemme know!

papa dales bday party looks SO dang fun! happy bday again sweet papa D! I wish I was there. I hope you all hugged jan for me. Please forward these to her. I love you my sweet sweet cream puff jan. I pray for you! (and all you other preciouses too.)

I CAN'T BELIEVE MY CLAIRE IS FAMOUS! I can't watch the videos here. But friday I am going to ask my fav teacher sister gish to pull it up for me. AHHH CLAIRENCE I LOOVESSSYOU!

so..... everyone.. THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SWEET PACKAGES AND LETTERS THIS WEEK!

MOM AND DAD! AHHHHH dad i can't believe you had a nice chat with dallin h oaks! i love that man. He is so great. Thanks for that package. I am wearing the socks right now.l cracked open the cheetos last night and i drank the juice and LOOOOOOOVE the lipstick! Thanks for your great letters. I can't believe you're my parents. i love you guys soooooo much. I am the most blessed chaaaald in the lands! Thanks for everything. I miss you my best friends!!

MIKE AND SPENC! I bawled when I looked at the photos you sent in that package, but especially the one of me and claire. Oh my heck I just love all the photos. I miss you all so much and I am so excited to eat all the candies and cadbury eggs. quick story: Hayd sent me a package for easter and it had the cadbury eggs in it that have cream inside. What me and Hayd like to do is we ALWAYS say puns for everything. He is so darling and wrote puns on all of the treats he sent. On the cadbury eggs he said "DON'T BE A CAD AND BURY THIS EGG IN YOUR BELLY." hahahahha I still lol. everytime I see cadbury eggs I will always think of that. Love that lad. I am so grateful to have you all as my fam. Mike and spenc thanks for those letters and all the fun decorations. XOXO

RUBY AND JOHN! OH my. thank you so much for the darling flowers! and for the nuts, and pudding and blanket. Everyone is so jealous when they see me with cute pacakges. they all say "your boyfriends mom & stepdad again?" yes. I am the luckiest! I have been snuggling with it every night. Thanks for that sweet letter too. I think of you always and pray for you always as well. Oh my heck I love you both! Thanks for being so sweet. It really makes my day hearing from you guys.

ZELLA, SWEET ZEL! Thank you so much for the COOKIES!!!!!! I DIED! I LOVE your cookies and I wanted to just run home really fast and give you a hug. You're such a beautiful friend. Thanks for thinking of me and for being so kind. I hope to be as giving as you are someday! I will bring you back a special something from russia. I love you!

Okay sorry about this in advance but it's so funny. My comp gets so mad at me when I fart. PS I think that MAYBE I might be celiac because... i get so sick everyday from the food. and I think that explains the gas and sick belly.. So I am going to go get tested this week. I hope it's not that. Like you can get this gal to stop eating bread! puhhlease. haha. anyway back to the story: so my comp rarely ever toots. I have only heard it twice. Last night she tooted and I laughed out loud and was like "I'mma write about it in my journal!" because I said that last time she did it, and she laughed and it made me feel closer friends with her. Anyway last night she just got mad at me for saying that she said "YOU'RE. PSYCHO." and meant it. hahaha and she still hasn't really spoken to me today. Oops. Sorry that i'm trying to be your friend..

The highlight of my week was sunday.

Why?

because they had CHICKEN CORDON BLEU!!! for lunch and...... I ate two plates. And then for dinner it was at the leftover line and I ate it again. HAHA ahhh obsessed.

also.. what happened sunday night was INSANE!! my mind was BLOWN. Okay.

So we went to the devotional, and we get there and it was really weird because MTC president nally said "we are going to do something a little bit different today. We are all going to watch the talk by president bednar called character of christ." Which was a bummer because I love to hear people speak in real life. I had watched that talk a couple weeks earlier and so I was bummed but it was okay because I love that talk so I was happy too. Anyway, so at the end of the video of him talking, I start talking to hermana mackey and cectpa kline, and then all of the sudden everybody starts to stand up FRANTICLY the way they do when an apostle enters the room. And guess what? DAVID A BEDNAR WALKED RIGHT UP TO THE PULPIT!!! UNREAL! Oh my heck. I couldn't even believe it. We all just watched him speak in a video. it was the most evil/ beautiful secret surprise! Anway, he basically said that he was there to have a question and answer session. It was SO AWESOME! An hour question/answer session with an APOSTLE!? ahhh so awesome huh?!?!?! anyway, holy cow. He knows a ton and he is so spiritual.

One of the questions asked was by this sister. She asked "why don't women have the priesthood." and it was so awkward. like... "because that's how God wants it to be?" and so elder bednar started to give her a response and then she CUT HIM OFF and said "LIKKKKEE...... I need a scripture to prove that." WOOOOAHHHH awkward, And he was like "excuse me?" and she said "Is there a scripture that says that.?" and he responded so perfectly. he said, "THEY'RE LIVING." in reference to the scriptures. haha it was too good. Brothers and shishters search your scriptures! you WILL find answers. Anyway, the other questions were really really great. I got so much great insight from it.

Anyway. what happened next is the real highlight of my week because of what I am about to tell you. It was so spiritual. I got my witness that I am needed RIGHT now in samara Russia, and that my mission call is exactly right. It is exactly where Heavenly Father needs me. I was feeling the spirit while elder bednar spoke. While he spoke, I prayed that heavenly father would help me to know that president bednar IS an apostle, and that his message and words were true. He closed his talk, and the closing hymn was "love one another." Which I so happen to have memorized in russian. I was sitting with my cectpa mackey and with cectpa kline because of choir. and I sat in the middle of them. I asked them, " spyome po-russki?" (sing in russian?) and they said DA! (yeah!) so we all sang that hymn in russian with each other. I got so choked up. I started bawling. It was the most spiritual moment I have had at the mtc and probably one of the top ones I will ever have. I felt the holy ghost tell me that I am needed in russia right now. My call is exactly right. I was also impressed that elder bednar IS an apostle, that this church IS true, and i literally felt angels EVERYWHERE in the room. It was overwhelming, and it was so beautiful. It was so nice to finally know that it is no coincidence I am called to Russia. Heavenly Father needs me. It's no coincidence that I am at the mtc at the very moment where apostles come every week. I know that the lessons and impressions I learn from them need to be taught to the russian people. And you know what? I am SO ready. I am so excited to just share that with them. I can't communicate with the people nor will I be able to for a long time, but I know that heavenly father will help my words to make sense with the help of the spirit to bring his children back into the fold.

One other thing elder bednar promised the missionaries was this: "If you are struggling with the language and pray everyday for the gift of tongues, he WILL bless you with that. If you ask your family to pray for you to receive the gift of tongues, that gift will come MORE readily to you." So.. I mean... If you could all pray that I can receive that gift so that I can help others find the joy this gospel brings.. I would really be so grateful. In return I promise to pray for all ya'll! thanks you guys... AH I love you so much.

I pray for you always. I thank heavenly father for sending me you all. I promise him that I will always work hard and try so hard to love all his children. ALLLLLl his children. OH tserkov eesteenah! the church is true. And you are all beautiful, and I love you.

Thanks for making me laugh and be so happy everyone. ps guess what everyone (especially Geo) I think that I am going to put a whoopie cushion underneath cectpa g's pillow tonight. It's gonna be gooooooooood!

I love you all!

- love haileyjane