MTC Week 5

28 October 2015

A friend of Elder Vincent's posted this picture on his facebook page.  I emailed it to him.  This is the picture he is referring to at the start of his email.

Elder Sam Vincent!!!! Whoop woop!!!!

That is actually pretty hilarious, I was laughing for a little while because of that one.

Everything is going great here, I think I have finally hit the point where my Russian takes a turn for the better, and everything starts making sense. Ok, so my district auditioned to sing during a devo(tional) last week and we were told that they would probably use us a few times. We are assigned to sing today for some missionaries coming in.

This week has been really crazy! 2 districts have left for Russia, making our branch like 3 or 4 districts now. It's pretty small and because of the missionaries leaving, we had holes in our leadership assignments. Elder Turner and I were asked to be the new zone leaders, and Elders Memmott and Gee were asked to be the branch's online media coordinators. We just found out last night the entirety of what it is that we are expected to perform. We got asked to be ZL's on Sunday so we are still trying to get a feel for it. If that wasn't enough, we heard from Elder Neil L Andersen of the Quorum of the 12 yesterday for our devotional. I was in like the 3rd row. It was really awesome to see an apostle that close. When he bore his testimony, it gave me goosebumps.

I have learned a lot here in just a few days, and its all kind of happening at once. With Russian too, everything is starting to fall into place and I am feeling pretty comfortable speaking in mostly Russian to my companion and my district. We are getting new elders next week and I am very excited to train them, because that is one of the roles of a ZL. The elders in the other districts didn't even know who I was until about a week ago, and now they all salute me when I walk by...its kind of strange.

Everyone in the district says hi, and passes on their love. Ive tried on the thermals, and as I said before, the Hanes ones work. Also I am a little worried about weight, so I am probably going to send some, or a lot, of stuff back home, because the books they gave me are more than just 12 pounds. Oh and I got some Ukrainian books from the elders leaving that I want to send home so i can learn some Ukrainian when I get back. That will be something fun to look forward to.

Hmmm, what else happened. Ruslan said he would be baptized and the date we set was for the first week in November. He has changed a lot from his first discussion, and so have we. We now understand most of what he says, and can convey most of what we want to say, but more importantly he is able to feel the spirit and understand what we are saying. Thank you for sending me those talks and information from the church.  I haven't had the chance to read all of the one about women and the priesthood, but it sounds pretty interesting.  Everyone looks forward to hearing those interesting things, and everyone is super excited about Andrew's mission call. I cant wait to hear where he is going too! They assign missionaries on Fridays, so if he hasn't been told that he has been assigned by the branch president he might not be until this week.

I pray for you all, and know that you will all be blessed, because an apostle promised blessings to our families for us serving our missions. I'm getting really excited for going to Russia. Oh today I met a guy who served in Vlad a few years ago who was working some construction outside of our doma (dorm?).  He said to be prepared for a culture shock and that its a lot to take in all at once, but that it will all come together one day and that its really fun when it does. I thank you for all the stuff you send me, and I know that you wont be able to send me things as often.

Love,
Elder Vincent

You sent a picture of a tree?

It's pretty and fall time so things are changing!

 

Everyone in Elder Vincent's District

On the ground are (from left to right) Elders Garnder, Hansen, Fredrickson, and  Palmer. Standing up behind them are (from left to right) Elders Foulk, Gehring, Memmott, Gee, me and Turner.

This is a picture he previously sent.  He says the gentleman in the middle is their Branch President.  But did not give his name.  Grateful for the small details he does share with us!

We were able to "email chat" and I was able to ask him a few more questions that were not in his email home.

 Anything my emails were missing?

What is your guess for Andrews mission?  Christmas wish list?  Any last minute things you still need before you go to Russia besides thermals?

Ya I still guess Thailand, and I did email G-ma, and as far as Christmas goes, I don't really know, but they don't celebrate Christmas till January anyways :P

Does that mean I get 2 Skypes for Christmas?  One for Dec 25 and one for Jan 7th or whatever day it is the Russians do Christmas?  hahaha

hahahaha, No, and hey, Im out of time, sorry, but hey you got to chat with me a little bit. Love you, and pass my love to the family. I didnt hear from either Sarah or G-ma this week btw.
love,
Elder Vincent
ps,
I'll be sending a hand-written letter this week, I forgot last week, but Ill remember this week =)

Oh and did you hear anything about the music stuff?  I kinda want to get a box off to you next week with your voice recorder, ipod and other stuff.  Man there are so many good lds short videos out there, wish I could send them, like background vids to conference talks and stuff, but I dont want to risk it so I'm just bookmarking them under missionary stuff for when you get home :D

Da that would be ochen harasho. We have watched just about every mormon message out there since I came to the MTC. I forgot to ask :D love You!!!! Ya, but I'll ask about it on Sunday. The handbook just says it has to be something that invites the spirit.

I asked Ksenya Zabrovskaya who lives in Elder Vincent's Mission area in Russia what "ochen harasho" meant.  She was kind enough to tell me it means "very good".  Thank you Ksenya!