Devotional. Week 4 I think?

family and friends,
 
another week has passed in the fabulous planet mtc in provo utah.  i love being a missionary, have i mentioned that before? we are so so blessed to be members of this church and to have the restored gospel.  i love putting on my nametag everyday and representing christ. it's amazing.  well, our devotional last night was awesome!! M Russel Ballard just walks on in with his cute wife!!! i have a feeling we might see apostles every few weeks.  his talk was great, he talked a lot about the basics of missionary work and how we are so blessed to have the resources and tools that we do as missionaries.  he told a lot of stories from when he was a mission president and when he was a missionary.  one thing that stuck out to me in his talk-he quoted president hinckley and said how "we need to be ourselve" let testimony flow through us, know the doctrine so we can recall it when the spirit tells us to, and trust in the Lord.  he emphasized that the more we reach out to the Lord, the more the Lord will become acquainted with us and reach out to us.  the spirit was so strong when he bore testimony and he is just a solid apostle.  i am so lucky to be in the mtc right now when so many wonderful people come in. 
 
russian is coming along...it is really, really hard but such a cool experience to learn a new language.  i am starting to just try to think in russian and say as much as i can.  it is way cool to have this experience.
 
all of the older russian districts left this week, and it was so sad.  they were such good examples to us and they will all be amazing missionaries. saying goodbye to my roommates was so sad.  the worst part about the mtc is you form relationships and attachments to people, then you all go your separate ways.  our zone now is only 19 people, which means we will all probably speak in sacrament meeting sometime.  yikes!! scary.  the other zone only has 20 people too.  we are supposedly getting the last 35 russian missionaries coming in for the next two years, and they come in in two weeks ish.  they will split them up into our two zones, so max we will have 16 ish missionaries.  it's exciting, but overwhelming to know that we will be the "older districts" now. 
 
the best part about the mtc is the missionaries and the people who serve the missionaries.  we constantly are striving to all do better and i meet people from all over the world.  there is no other place like this.  sometimes i just never want to leave haha.  i appreciate more than you all will ever know for the prayers, letters, and encouragement.  it is tough, but it makes it easier knowing i have some people rooting for me.  i love you all, and thanks again so much for everything,
 
cecpta demillle