Week 3: Eternity to a second

Hello everyone on the outside world!

It feels like it’s been so long, I feel skeptical that I even lived a different life before this. Our district realized this week that the missionaries coming in for six weeks today will leave the same days as us. Crazy isn’t it!

This week went by in the blink of an eye though. Week three was pretty good, I’d dare say. We have had some amazing lessons with our investigators and a few not so good. Our second lesson with our new investigator, Ксеня, we had our first dropped commitment. I was devastated. We didn’t have the vocabulary to tell her that we were disappointed and to encourage her to keep her commitments, so we just made sad faces I guess. It was a little rough since we were challenged to go off book and I committed to it a little too much. We did prepare and I thought I knew everything that I would want to say, when in reality I did not.

I think that’s the hardest thing in a new language is that the spirit will nudge me to say something when I have no idea how to say it with my limited vocabulary. The gift of tongues is so real though. If we put in preparation, the spirit doesn’t give us perfect Russian with words we don’t know yet, but it does fill our mouths with words we have learned and would have forgotten about and just enough of them to get the point across.

The rest of our lessons were bomb! We committed Женя to baptism! He is preparing so well! He does have a smoking problem, but he says he’s been trying to quit forever and that he’ll gladly give it up. He’s preparing to be baptized March 3rd. Ксеня also kept both her commitments and she was so much less closed off our last few lessons. She was really intrigued by families being together forever. We have made so much progress with her being an atheist and we’ve only had three lessons! This is so exciting even though it’s fake! I continually think about how much more joyful it will be when we bring actual souls to Christ.

And now the climax of my email. Our devotional speaker last night was none other than ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND. Oh my goodness, that man is amazing. I promise you, tears were shed. He had such a powerful message despite claiming not to have prepared one. His message was definitely meant for every single missionary on this planet. I will summarize it in the three points I thought were most powerful:

1. Do NOT waste a single solitary second of this amazing opportunity because we will NEVER get this chance again. Not even on a senior mission. Cherish every moment.

2. Missions are meant to be hard and I hope that it is the hardest thing you ever do. It is our way to feel a glimpse of what the Savior felt for us, to share His heartbreak.

3. We are guaranteed one, eternal convert- our self. It will not matter how many converts we have when we get back as long as we come home converted ourselves. Also we can’t convert others if we ourselves are not converted.

Elder Holland is absolutely the best. There were rumors that one of “the big three” was coming down, but I feel like this was so much better. It felt like each of us was in a one on one with him. It was silent for the hour plus he talked. I barely even noticed the coughs from Sister Bunderson and myself (oh yeah, by the way we both have colds since she got me sick). The spirit was so strong. He went way over time and we did not mind it a bit! He ended with an apostolic blessing on all of us and our missions. I have it noted for the most part but I don’t have enough time to share it with everyone. It was definitely a good blessing though.

One really sad thing that happened this week is that we lost the coolest district in our zone to the field. Only two of them were able to see Elder Holland last night so I bet they’ll be upset when they find out. We get a new district today though so we’re hoping they’ll be a good replacement. They are definitely going to love it here!

This has definitely been the best experience of my life and I’m so glad I get an extra six weeks of it.

I hope everyone has an amazing week!
Сестра Вихар

Mom-How are you handling the language? Are you doing well enough that you aren't frustrated? Are you shocked at your own progress, meaning are you doing better than you imagined you would?

Kaeleigh-Trivium/Latin has helped a lot. We just started cases and I'm the only one who is not confused. I feel like I'm doing great for three weeks.

Mom-Are you eating well balanced meals?

Kaeleigh-I have only drank water this past week in efforts to regain health. Before, I would limit myself to one glass of chocolate milk a day. The only healthy stuff is fake frozen vegetables, salads, or sketchy fruit. So I wouldn't say I'm eating terribly or good.


Remember when I told you it snowed last week? It actually snowed this week.


Bad lighting selfie


The sisters in our district sporting red and pink on Valentine’s Day


Bad quality pic of the sisters in our district, most of the district that left, the Georgians and three Russians after watching the testaments. Best movie ever. Just watch it.