From Russia With Love: 1 Month Down 17 to Go

This week has been an incredible week as Sister Walker and I have made such amazing progress with our investigators and with our goals. I am so much happier in our companionship. Being with just one sister is much easier than having two companions. I have seen so much growth in myself as I have given all I have to building God's kingdom here on earth. I have seen myself slowly but surely warp into a better, stronger, and a more willing missionary. Life here in the MTC is not easy. The schedule is exhausting, but somehow everyday, I am able to push forward and give Heavenly Father a little more of myself. Each night I "return and report" to Heavenly Father on how my day was, what I did well and what I didn't do so well on. Some days, I am excited to tell him how hard I worked and that I gave everything I had, but other days it is a little harder because I know I could have given just a little bit more (especially when I accidentally fall asleep studying...haha).

Please keep me in your prayers! Holy cow, the Russian language is hard! I feel like I learn and learn so much, but there is still so much left to learn. We finally learned cases last week. This has helped with forming sentences, but it has also made me realize how complicated Russian is. Now I see why Russian Missionaries use to be here for 12 WEEKS. In TRC, we taught a sister that served in Samara. She told us that she was the worst of the worse in speaking Russian, BUT she learned it. She promised us that we would learn the language. So to answer the question: How is learning and speaking Russian? It is coming along. I had a sweet Elder from my district give me a compliment earlier this week. We were asked to teach two missionaries in our district about a specific scripture. Before I taught I warned them that my Russian may be a little sloppy and slow. After the lesson in front of the whole class, he said, " Sister McCartt you speak very well. You said words even I didn't know!" The way he said it at first made it sound like he was surprised that I knew words that he didn't know, but he reassured me saying, "You said your Russian wasn't all that great and that it may come out broken. I was just very surprised how clearly you spoke." Even though I was embarrassed that the whole class heard this, I was also very touched. I definitely have work to do, but sometimes it is harder for us to see our own progression. It was nice to hear that I am making progress.

Our class often gets down on ourselves because of the hard language. I think one day our teacher Brother Hale wasn't happy by our negative attitude...okay, I don't "think", I know he wasn't happy because he gave us this incredible pep-talk. He had asked us to commit another Sister/Elder to baptism in Russian. I was paired with Elder Wride. A lot of us helplessly and begrudgingly said we would after begging for him to let us to teach in English. He said, No. The Lord has called you to speak and preach in Russian so let us practice speaking RUSSIAN. Well needless to say, we taught in Russian. As I taught Elder Wride, I was overwhelmed with the Spirit. The Spirit testified to me that I COULD do it even if it was hard. It wasn't me who taught Elder Wride, it was the Spirit who testified and who taught him. I was only the instrument. He at first rejected my invitation to be baptized (The teacher has told them to so that we could use the Spirit to soften the investigator's heart). After he said "no", I sat there silently letting the Spirit soften his heart and guide his thoughts. He came up with little excuses why he didn't want to be baptized. It was so powerful to feel the Holy Ghost working through me as I bore testimony and shared with him that I knew Heavenly Father would support him. I told him that I know Heavenly Father loves him. As I sat there, tears filled my eyes. I felt so much love for this investigator that I wanted him to know how much his Father in Heaven loves him. I sat there to let him think and to continue to be taught by the Spirit. Tears came to his eyes. I felt the strong need to then ask him again if he would be baptized. He said "yes". After the lesson, Elder Wride told me that it was incredible to feel the Lord softening his heart by the Spirit. He said that by what I said and by what he was taught by the Holy Ghost, he felt that his once excuses were not reasons at all to not be baptized. It was a wonderful feeling to see his heart change.
After the lesson, Brother Hale felt inspired to give us that "talk" I spoke of above and let me tell you---it was amazing. I can't perfectly portray the Spirit that was present or the way he bore his testimony, but I can share some of the things that he said that truly impacted me. He said that our attitude is essential in this work. He said, get rid of the negativity and stop saying you can't learn the language because you CAN. He proclaimed, "YOU have the creator of the universe on your side. He WILL help you. See your potential and who you can be. Go home, ask the Lord to forgive you for your doubt and negativity, and covenant with him that from now on; you will be positive and fully rely on Him." He promised us that we would see a difference. I did what he promised. I have ALREADY seen such an incredible difference. Please continue to write and continue to pray for me!

AH, I almost forgot to mention that I got a fabulous package from Shea this week! Some amazing treats, soda, and a cute little duck! Thanks Shea, I love you. I am writing you a letter!

Momma, I wish I could have talked to you this week. Thanks for all your dear elders. Thanks to dad and you for being so awesome. Share with the family my love, the email i sent, and the pictures. I love you lots!

I look forward to hearing from you,
YFLD,
DEV