Week 1

"The Map"

So Pday is Thursday. We didn't get one last week because they figured we didn't need to do laundry.

Mom- if you log into my email and find a HOBY email, Emmy's should be on there. Or message her on facebook or check my texts with her.

I've seen like 12 Westlake kids, mostly sisters. There are a ton of sisters here.

Sister Megan Barney (in glasses), a high school friend

Russian is super hard but I feel like I'm progressing really quickly. I've almost finished basic core (which is some memorization of scriptures and knowledge of certain vocab and phrases). Sister Bednar (more on that later) told us to ask you to pray for the gift of tongues for our district. My Spanish is pretty decent too, if I may say so. Which is good, because we get our travel plans for Madrid tomorrow! We are being transferred to the MTC there and will leave either the 19th or 20th of this month.

Schedule is packed. 9 hours of class almost every day, plus study time, an hour of exercise, and meals. 

Miller, Schick, Wilkins

It's tough being in a trio. Elder Miller is from Mapleton and is one of the three in our zone of 17 who just graduated. Super cool, and we get along probably too well. Elder Schick is 20 and is from Kaysville. We're very similar and clash a lot. He likes to be right and seem like he has knowledge about everything which drives me nuts. He reminds me of 12 year old me. I love him, but I want to kill him sometimes. On Tuesday we got frustrated so Miller took us into a room and we blew up at each other. We said what needed to be said and moved on. I feel like the issues have been resolved mostly. I've been asking our way cool ZLs for their advice on it. They said since he's older he feels like he needs to prove his superiority and feels like I step on his toes (which I probably do a little). I've been praying like every half hour for charity and patience. But the issues are mostly resolved, I just want to keep improving.

Our district is awesome: three elders and four sisters. Us Elders and one sister are going to Moscow, Two sisters are going to Vladivostok, and Sister Jenne is going to Seattle Russian speaking. We get along so well it can be hard to focus sometimes.

Brother Hale is really cool. Our "investigator", Vika, is sweet. We have almost committed her to baptism, hopefully tomorrow. 

Moscow bound missionaries

Provo MTC zone

We've had two crazy spiritual nights so far. On Sunday, Sheri Dew came and spoke to us about how questions make us seekers of truth rather than doubters. After, we watched a talk Bednar gave on "The Character of Christ" in the MTC in 2011. Life changing bruh. On Tuesday night, Elder Bednar actually came and spoke on the Savior's pattern of ministry "One by One". Our companionship got to be in the choir and sing a song Elder Bednar wrote about it.

Things are going well!

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Elder Wilkins

Старейшина Wilkins