First P-Day 11/21/18

Nobody ever warned me that a mission was going to be this hard. Easily the hardest thing that I have ever done so far in my life. 

The first day in the MTC was crazy. Just so much information in such a short time. Like trying to drink from a firehose. Towards the end of the second day, I was feeling so overwhelmed that I was wondering if I really could do this. Then we had a meeting with our branch presidency and we were all interviewed individually. I was interviewed by Brother Russell, the 2nd counselor, and he is just the coolest guy ever. As we were talking he said that I was clearly a really positive and optimistic guy and that if I keep up my good attitude I'll make it. then he said that he wanted to give me a hug. I said that I really needed one and we just had the biggest, greatest hug ever. After that everything has been a lot better. Days are still really hard, but every day has been better than the last so far. I'm sure that it will continue getting better. 

I have a really cool companion, his name is Elder Gale. He's from Kansas City, Missouri. We're kind of complete opposites, which has been a challenge at times, but we usually get along pretty well. 

My district is super cool. I love everybody in it. There's 8 of us in the district, and 5 of them are going to the Baltic States the other 3 of us are going to Kyiv. We're all learning Russian, which is about as hard as you could imagine it. I can say a really basic prayer, which is pretty cool but man everything with the language is such a challenge. 

Another really interesting challenge is going to be when I get into the mission field. Not only is learning Russian going to take me around a year, but once I get into the field I'm going to have to learn Ukrainian as well. When they gave us our books, they gave me and the other Kyiv missionaries almost three of every book - one in English, one in Russian, and one in Ukrainian. 

All my books. They weigh like 25 pounds.

I've heard that the languages are pretty similar, but I've heard different things about it. Some people say that it's 80% of the same thing, some people have said that it's 30% of the same thing. Either way, it'll be rough, but I'm very excited to use it so that I can bring the gospel to the people of Ukraine.

I had one really awesome moment so far this week that I just thought was incredible. It was during personal study and I was reading from Alma 11. The chapter is about Amulek and his great debate with Zeezrom. As I was reading suddenly I felt this prompting to look out the window to my left, and right there directly out the window was the Ukrainian flag. 

Suddenly I felt this overwhelming feeling and these thoughts suddenly started pouring into my head - Ukraine is real. There are real people out there and they are searching for the gospel. For the first time, I realized that there truly are people out there, somewhere in Ukraine, that are waiting for me. That I have been divinely called to go and try my best to save the souls of the Ukrainian people, and that some of them are waiting there for me. It felt like the spirit was whispering directly to me. 

It was a real testimony builder of the power of the spirit, and that it works in mysterious ways - sometimes the spirit will testify to you about something that is completely unrelated to whatever you're studying or listening to, but it's what you need to hear in the moment. Since that prompting, I have been trying very diligently to keep studying Russian for the wonderful people of Ukraine. 

Me and my roommates and companion.
L-R: Elder Bectal, Elder Gale (companion), Me, Elder Hansen

I've also been very blessed to be with some of the coolest roommates on the planet - Elder Bectal and Elder Hansen. They've already been here for 5 weeks and are going to the other mission in Ukraine and have been helping us a ton with our Russian and with our survival. They've been so fun and such great stress relievers. They call us their sons and they are our Dads. I love them so much.

Also I'm actually so so happy that I get to spend Thanksgiving here!!!! It's going to be the coolest experience ever. We're going to have an apostle come and talk to us tomorrow which will be super sick. The rumors going around are that it's either Uchtdorf, Bednar, or Holland. Whoever it is, I know that it'll be an amazing experience. They're also going to have tons of turkey and cranberry sauce, so while it won't be Thanksgiving at home, at least it will still be Thanksgiving. 

Hope you all have a good holiday!

This is me and an elder in our zone from Australia who just left for Russia. He's 7'1".