I am nearing the end of my MTC stay, and it's been pretty fun being the more senior district, because then the new elders look up to you and ask you for help and advice. I am pretty sure this is going to be my last week as a ZL. Today was the new districts first PDay so it was fun to see how everyone reacted to it. I played a ridiculous amount of basketball since arriving here, and I can tell that I have at least gotten a little bit better at the game.
Now that I am on the final stretch, I've been studying even harder than usual to try to prepare myself for Russia. We taught a real Russian living in Russia through skype the other day. It was fun to see that even though I didn't understand everything that she was saying, I could still feel the spirit of what she was saying. We were still able to bring the spirit to her, and she was able to take away something positive from our lesson. Yesterday we taught Ruslan, and it was the best lesson we have had so far, in regards to the Russian language. I have seen a noticeable change in the way I speak from just the first lessons with him that were just a few weeks ago.
I've been truly blessed to have the support of those in my district, and for my teachers. My companion Elder Turner is fabulous, and is very patient with me, even when I'm not patient with myself, and I'm lucky to have him as my companion. We heard from Elder Hugo Montoya yesterday for our devotional. It was very entertaining, and I learned a lot as well.
Not a whole lot of other things have been happening, nothing out of the ordinary routine, but every talk I hear for devotional has been pumping me up to go to Russia. My feelings about the topic of arriving in Russia are pretty confusing. I am a little scared, because I don't know the language well enough, but at the same time I am excited to start preaching the gospel to the Russian people. They are kind of both being represented at the same time. It's a little strange. My knowledge of Doctrine, and the scriptures have never been better, and I have been reaping the promised blessings of prayer. I could use all the help I can get.
Oh, and guess what we had for dinner on Monday....that's right, the one thing I was pretty sure I was not going to have for 2 years....Chick fil A. It was still free though, so that was good. (Elder Vincent worked for Chick-fil-A for almost 2 years, and ate many many "free" meals.)
We are probably getting our flight plans in like 2 days, so I am super pumped to figure out how it is that I am going to make it to Russia. The time I spent here has just flown by. The first few days seemed to take so long, but now it seems like there isn't enough time in the day to get done with everything that I want/need to do. Before you know it, a week has gone by, and its PDay again. It's been one crazy ride so far, so I can only imagine how its going to be when I finally get to Russia. The fire of my faith outshines my feeble fears. Ha, I love alliteration!
I know that my Savior lives, and I know that this is His church. I know that I am not going to Russia to "plant seeds", but that I was called to Russia "to reap the harvest". I am here to share the message of the restored gospel, not to sit around saying my mission is too hard, and no matter what anyone else says about Russia, it is ready for the gospel, and the people are eager to hear our message, they just didn't know where to find it.
Say hi to everyone, and that I love them!
Love,
Elder Vincent
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| Elder Vincent and his goofy grin photobombing Elder Turner |
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