Week 1: MTC week ONE

This week has been the longest week of my life! It has seriously felt like I've been here for four weeks. P-day still kinda snuck up on us anyway since it felt like it would never come and it finally did! Leaving my family was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but miraculously, I haven't been homesick at all since I got here. I LOVE it here. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to come here even if it meant I didn't get to go to Spain. My companion and I are seriously like best friends. Her name is Sister Bunderson. The funniest thing is that we actually knew each other before the MTC. We were in the same group at Philmont and she and her sister were the ones who let me sleep with them in their tent there. She is awesome and definitely knows how to balance getting work done while still having a good time. She was also supposed to go to Spain but she is going to the other Ukraine mission (the sketchy one I have no idea how to spell or pronounce (*Dnepropetrovsk...Kaeleigh and I call this the "Ukraine, D-whatever" mission. Give her a few months and it will roll off her tongue. Also, the reason she calls this "sketchy" is because this mission was closed about three years ago because of all the political unrest and missionaries were evacuated.)

I have a strong testimony that companionships are inspired. It was only the second day when Sister Bunderson, who is allergic to all nuts, ate a brownie with nuts in it. I am so glad I grew up with an allergy in the family cause I can't imagine her being with a companion who wouldn't know what to do or take it seriously. The strangest thing is that I saw the brownies had nuts and was prompted to tell her but we were separated so I looked for her and as soon as I found her she had already eaten it. I was a little upset that I acted on it immediately and it still happened, but I took her to the nurse immediately and thankfully we were able to help her there.

Our zone is the absolute best!!!! I love them. The funniest thing is that the Russian zones have been notorious for being THE ROWDIEST zone in the entire MTC. We certainly know how to have a good time here, even if it is not at the most appropriate times. I try to let them know when they need to tone it down, but it is such a struggle trying not to let on that I think they're funny, especially when the timing isn't appropriate. Thankfully, our zone is huge into volleyball. We play it every day during exercise time, and honestly, sometimes it's the only thing that can push you through a 3 hour long lesson.

Our district is really cool. There's me, Sister Bunderson, and Elder Blake who are all going to Ukraine but all different missions. Elder Blake and I will join forces in July though. Sister Mullberry and Sister Goodell are our roommates and they are so cute and so much fun. Our Russian class is honestly a party. There are two elders in our class and they are seriously knock-offs of Dwight and Jim from The Office. Elder Cole (Dwight) and Elder Lindsey (Jim) are seriously the funniest. You think I'm kidding but Elder Cole acts like Dwight 80% of the time. He is from Fairbanks, Alaska and apparently his hobbies include riding polar bears and he always talks about Alaska. Elder Lindsey is like the most rounded guy I have ever met. He is a huge nerd who loves Lord of the Rings and such, a jock who played varsity football in high school, a music junkie who can play some wicked classical music on the piano and also plays the bagpipes while wearing kilts (he's Scottish), and also LOVES chick-flicks. Elder Cole is serving in Kazakstahn (a service mission near Russia) with Sister Mullberry, Elder Lindsey is serving in Maldova (I've heard rumors they're combining with us too?), Sister Goodell is serving in the Baltic States (Latvia), and we have 4 other sisters in our district not speaking Russian. Sisters Austin and Smith-Driggs (fun fact: I met her briefly at BYU volleyball camp) are going to Estonia, Sister Bruner in Latvia, and Sister Christenson in Lithuania. That's our
district!

I would say that there were three highlights of my week:
3-we had Chickfila for dinner and leftovers for lunch.
2- I complemented a Samoan sister on her polynesian skirt wrap and she gave me one for the complement.
1- the biggest highlights have been our lessons with our investigator, женя (Zhenya, It’s a unisex name that only translates to Jane in English but he’s a guy). The 1st lesson was a riot since we asked him if he had any questions from church (in Russian) and we think he said yes, but we should've realized we can't ask questions like that and expect to understand after literally one lesson. so we
went on with our scripted lesson. after the lesson, Sister Bunderson said goodbye, and just sat there. We were so confused but we sat there in silence waiting for it to get less awkward. Obviously, that didn't work. also Sister Bunderson kept laughing cause she was nervous.

Thankfully the lessons have gotten better as we learn from our mistakes and we learn more Russian. We've taught Him how to pray and committed him to reading the Book of Mormon. I really look forward to having him as a teacher though, hopefully. We're not supposed to know that he's a teacher, but we're pretty good at figuring stuff out. It has been a full and good week! 10/10 would recommend a mission!

Sister Vehar


Elder Cole, Elder Lindsay, Sister Bunderson, me, Sister Mulberry, and Sister Goodell

Most of The zone before devotional


The Russian class minus Sisters Mulberry and Goodell

Russian class in front of our favorite missionary scripture

THE DISTRICT
Back L-R: Sister Bruner, Sister Mulberry, Sister Goodell, Elder Lindsey, Elder Cole, Sister Smith-Driggs
Front: Sister Christenson, me, Elder Blake, Sister Bunderson, Sister Austin (she has a boyfriend here in the MTC)