Thanks for the Russian CTR ring!!! It looks so sweet! I'm beginning to love Russian more than English! ;) Here's an interesting fact... In Russia, they don't use the phrase "Choose the Right" because it was a communist term. Or so I've heard. So the ring instead says "Choose Truth" hence the letters BN (N should be backwards). I thought that was interesting.
This last week, we heard from Richard Heaton, the administrative director here at the MTC, and he asked all of the missionaries, who had joined our Church in the last few years, to stand. He then had four of those missionaries that had been baptized just over a year ago to come up and speak to us by answering some questions he gave them. It was SOOOO interesting to hear how they came in contact with the church and how they did not all want to hear from the missionaries, and didn't want to read, and didn't want to get baptized. But at some point, they received an answer to their prayers, (sometimes it took a while) but at some point, they felt so strongly in their heart that this was what the Lord wanted them to do and that He loved them, that they made the decision to join and then later to serve a mission! I can't even imagine serving a mission after only being a part of this church for a year! What strong faith they must have. I admire them so much, especially because a few of them did not have family support coming out here. Anyway, it was a great fireside.
So, tomorrow will be my first time teaching in Russian, and I can't believe I'm going to be doing it! It's only been 5 weeks and we're already teaching in Russian! Sorry I haven't sent a copy of my schedule to you all yet. I'll try to get a copy made today so I can mail it. Oh! And I'll be sending you pictures on a CD today so hopefully you'll get them soon! Here's a quick funny story... Elder Bangerter (one of the Elders in my district) was writing out some sentences a couple weeks ago, and he had intended to write in Russian, "God gives us our families." He went to the missionaries, who are native speakers, and asked them if he had done it right. They corrected him politely, although they tried not to laugh. He had accidently said, "God squishes our families" instead of gives. Hahaha! We all laughed so hard when he came back and told us! I can't wait to make funny mistakes in the language. Brother Savage assured us it would happen. Oh and one quick thing... We watched this clip on a website, called 6 Billion People, of a man from Russia named Iosef, and he answered questions about himself and life. It was so interesting! We then tried to see what we would share with him and practiced teaching by looking through his perspective! That was a sweet experience. Almost out of time. I love you all so much! Take care! Love, CTAPENWNHA BYW (Elder Bush)
