Russian Candy and Almost Time to Go

(Sent on Wednesday, 1/16/19)
My MTC stay is almost over! I can hardly believe it. It has been one of the most amazing and uplifting times of my life so far. I received my flight plans a few days ago - Salt Lake to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Kyiv. If all goes right and I have my Visa then I won't be emailing for a week and a half or so until I'm in Ukraine on my next P-Day. We just have to assume that we have our Visas. We'll get a letter in the mail either tomorrow or on Friday if we don't have our visa, so we're all very scared of receiving any mail these next few days. Out of the group that left before us only one person did not receive their visa and it was for Lithuania, so I have confidence that I'll be able to make it to Ukraine just fine.

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Me and some Russian candies that our teacher, Sister Baugh (who is photobombing my picture) gave to our class. A little different but pretty good.

One really amazing experience that I was able to have this week - we were practicing doing bus contacting considering that we will be on the bus in our missions (we're all public transportation for travel). Half of us were missionaries, and the other half were people sitting on the bus playing some sort of character. I was a missionary for this roleplay, so we were sent into the hall where the bus-goers received a person to be on the bus. When I came back in I sat on this bus and started talking to Elder Perry a.k.a. Sergei. As we talked for a minute I asked him to tell me about his family. He said that he had two daughters and a son. I said that I have four sisters and one brother and that I love my family very much. Then, I wasn't sure why in the moment, but I testified about how I love my family so much and I know that I can be with them together forever after death. He had to get off the bus soon (our teacher would tell us when their stop was coming up) so I asked him if we could talk more about these things later. He said yes, gave me his number, and then hopped off the "bus".

Me with another Russian Snack - A piece of shortbread with a really cute picture of a cow.

After we finished our roleplay Elder Perry told me that his character's wife had died, and although he told me he had two daughters and a son, if I were to ask him additional questions it would have eventually made it to that subject. It was amazing to see in hindsight that I was guided into talking to him about how we can see our family after death, and that we can always be together forever. Without even knowing, I was testifying to him that he can be with his wife again with their kids. It was so cool to see the spirit guide me like that. Hopefully I'll be able to share some experiences like that with real Ukrainians. Although the situations in the MTC may be fabricated, what we learn and what the spirit testifies to us are real. It's a preparation for what's to come, so as I practice listening to the spirit now I will be ready to listen to the spirit in Ukraine.

Love you all so very much. Keep reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, and going to the temple. If you do all of those things, your faith will never falter. Sometimes the basics are some of the hardest things to do, but I know that when we do these things our lives can be blessed in a magnitude of ways.

Love y'all

 - старейшина Day