Hello Family,
Another P-day here at the Provo MTC. It's currently 7:20 AM and I'm halfway through laundry for the week. My schedule is a little crazy today, so I'll be emailing later. Schedules are crazy because tomorrow is Thanksgiving!! and the MTC does this giant service project that we have to train for today. Plus the temple is closing early so we have to go earlier to the temple. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN! It's crazy I can still remember the year you turned 60 and everyone was at our house for Thanksgiving. I'm probably going to repeat myself in my email but, last night was devotional and Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke! It was crazy but really cool to hear him speak to just the missionaries.
So the bubble of perfectness that you feel when you first get into the MTC has officially broken. We now have two investigators (our teachers) a week and TRC once a week (on P-day)! TRC is this thing, well I'm not really sure what it is exactly because our first one is tonight, but basically you go in and meet a random member of the Church and you teach them a lesson to help them. The major problem is it's completely in Ukrainian. Plus, they watch you and tape you so you can evaluate how you did. I'm sure it's very effective, but definitely intimating. So for our lessons for our investigators, Sister Moore and I have been writing out what we were going to say like a script. We realized during our first lesson with (Sasha) this week, that this was way too stressful. We decided to memorize a few key phrases in no particular order and let the spirit guide us. It totally worked! It was a really neat lesson and we're going to repeat the process with our other investigator this week to see if it really works or if it's just a fluke.
Yesterday before we taught I got so frustrated in class that I started crying" Poor Brother Fiel (our teacher) had no idea what to do. (Keep in mind that he and I are the same age). He felt so bad, but it really wasn't his fault. I was just overwhelmed. Mini breakdowns are common in my companionship. We have a joke that if I'm not crying, then Sister Moore is, or vice versa. Don't worry, I'm not depressed, its just really stressful. on Saturday night in class we had a lesson about stress management. I think all of us felt it was about a week too late. I constantly have to remind myself that I've come so far with the language and not even the gift of tongues comes overnight. One of my favorite stress relievers is Choir, we have the BEST choir directors. They are so funny and put a whole new meaning to the hymns we sing. Last night we sang, "Come Thou Fount" it was awesome. I also bought a hymnal in Ukrainian, the Elders in our district love to sing so we're constantly singing in Ukrainian. I think singing really helps me to read better in Ukrainian. The other great stress reliever I have are the Elders in both Ukrainian districts. They are SO funny! Right now, they're having trouble in the cafeteria, the ketchup and the Barbecue dispensers look very similar, even though they are clearly marked and it never fails that at least one of them comes back to the table with barbecue sauce instead of ketchup. Another funny story is apparently they don't have ladders on their bunk beds. So if you are on the top bunk, they just have to jump up there and pull themselves up. A few of them got stuck and it's always funny to hear that they have to jump back down and try again. We've told them we'll exchange on of our ladders for one of the towel racks they have in their room. I don't mind, but then again, I'm on the bottom bunk! :} Well, my laundry is almost done so I should wrap this up. Don't worry about me Mom, things aren't perfect, but they never are. I'm still having a blast, and I'm learning Ukrainian!
Love, Sister Daniel
PPS That's so cool that Sabrina and Zach won!
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