Week 5! All I can say is that this week was crazy!!

Dear Everyone,

This week was crazy.  No joke...crazy!  Things happened and I remembered thinking, "Did this really just happen??".  But it was good too!

First of all, Let me tell you an awesome 
story.  So...as many of you know, I sometimes sleeptalk.  I have done that a lot since getting here.  One of the Sisters in my room has a hard time sleeping so she will come up to me in the morning and tell me about what I said the night before. It is pretty awesome!  But last week, She came up and told me that I was sleeptalking...IN RUSSIAN!  How boss is that??!? So cool, right?!?  I was super stoked!  It was basically the most awesome thing EVER!  :)

Anyways...

Weird Thing Number 1 - Thursday was sad because one of teachers just all of the sudden decided to go to Africa.  Random...I know.  So we had a goodbye party for him.  

(saying goodbye to one of teachers, Brat Hofman)

He showed us a bunch of mission pictures of Russia and such.  He also had lived in Ukraine, so he told us all about that also.  It was pretty awesome.  It just made me want to leave the MTC right then!  Too bad I still have 4 weeks left!  So we were all bummed that he left.  Then a few days later, we walked into our classroom to see him sitting there!  His visa didn't go through in time so he couldn't go.  Weird...I know!  So he isn't our teacher anymore (we got a new one), but he is still helping us out.  So that was the first random thing that happened this week.

Weird Thing Number 2 - So I have been running almost everyday since I got here.  But I guess this week was when everyone decided to notice!  EVERY time I run, some elder or sister says somethings about how long I have been running for, or how much I must like running.  They aren't even people I know and most of the time, I just overhear them talking about it.  It's weird.  But I have been getting faster so I do lap a lot of people, especially elders.  hehe :)

Weird Thing Number 3 - Every week, we go in and do assigments online.  We walked in this week and it was a speaking Russian test.  It was weird because we had no idea we were having one!  Talk about stressful!  But funny too!  But mostly stressful because they were hard questions!  Like, "describe the difference between Martin Luther and Joseph Smith?".  How am I supposed to know that IN RUSSIAN! It was a little crazy but good :)

Weird Thing Number 4 - I found out on Thursday that I was doing the musical number for Sunday in Sacrament.  That was a little weird, but it ended well.  We did an arrangement of "I know that my Redeemer Lives". It was so pretty, and for only having a few days, it actually went really well! I played the violin, Sister Barnes played the piano, and Sister Robertson sang.  It was so much fun!  I know that music is a great way to share the gospel and I loved being able to play a violin again! Weird thing about the musical number is that there was no music stand so I had Sister Lee hold my music while I played.  It was so funny!!!!! But it all worked out great! :)  

Weird Thing Number 5 - I spent over an hour all by myself!  Sister Sink had an interview with the district president and so while she was talking to him I was just in an office all by myself.  It was so weird.  I didn't even know what to think!  It was funny that it has only been a few weeks but I'm already used to always being with someone else!

Weird Thing Number 6 - I totally called our Speaker for Relief Society.  I was talking to Sister Hunt and I was like, "Sister Oscarson is going to speak today" and she was like, "No."  But then I was right!  I was so pumped!  It was SO awesome! It was her first offical assignment since she got called to the YW president.  I even got to meet her!  I gave her a hug and told her that I loved her!  Then we talked about my mission a little.  She said, "Tell them that I love all the Young Women everywhere, even in Ukraine".  So then I was like, "Man, I just love you so much" and she hugged me again.  But seriously, I love her!  She is AWESOME!  Her husband served as a mission president when she was 25!  How crazy is that!!?!?! But that was a highlight for this week!

Weird Thing Number 7 - We found out that we have an entire new schedule.  you know how I sent you an example day...Well now it is totally different!  Oh well!  Change is inevitable, I guess!  I'm curious to how long it will take me to get used to it!  We eat 45 minutes later now, which after eating a set time everyday for a month, will take some getting used to!  But it will be good!

(Ben and I.  Ben is going to Finland.  He leaves today, I think.  Ben is Ashley's friend!) 

Weird Thing Number 8 - We are getting so weird!  Like slap happy all the time.  We come up with stupid songs, we die laughing of the dumbest things, and the littlest things make us so happy.  It is crazy.  I  composed a song (in Russian) about loving Tide-To-Go and now the I feel like all Russian Speakers know it.  It makes me so happy!  But it is weird. Evidence of this is some of the pictures I sent home this week...We are weird!

(Sister Hunt and I at the temple!  She is so cute and I love her! :) )

(This includes sister montgomery, sister lee, sister robertson, sister hunt, and I.  We had some fun!  :))

Weird Thing Number 9 - That Laekynn came in and left before I did, even though I came in before she did!  She left this morning!  

 sad :( But I am so excited for her to share the gospel in Vegas!  She will be great!  I will miss seeing her everyday!  I love that girl!  

Weird Thing Number 10 - After we got back from teaching, we discovered that one member of our district, poor Sister Montgomery, had tested positive for the flu and was quarantined.  It was so funny!  But we feel bad.  They moved her out of our dorm to a totally different building.  And because our district was around her, we all had to go to the Health Clinic.  Hence, the Tamiflu.  

All of us are on it for the next 10 days to hopefully prevent us from getting sick also.  It was so funny at dinner last night when all 10 of us popped our pill at the same time.  It was great!  Everyone around us thought we were crazy!!! Until she gets out of her quarantine, I am in a trio too, which is different, but fun!

Anyways...Now do you understand the weidness!  Thankfully it was also really good.  I felt the spirit a lot, our lessons were good and I laughed a lot!  I love being a missionary! :) Below is what I wrote to the branch this week 

"This week was interesting, to say the very least. I feel like a bunch of very unexpected things happened, which was kinda crazy. With Sister Sink losing her grandma, and Sister Montgomery being quarantined, meaning that I am also companions with Sister Barnes stressed me out a little but it's been ok. I know unexpected things happen in the mission field so I guess it is good to be prepared.  
This week we taught Sasha two times. We taught him about the Atonement and then in the next lesson, about the first half of the plan of Salvation. I am so excited for next week when we are going to teach him (finally) about eternal families. The lessons last week (especially the one on The Plan of Salvation) went so well. I think I am almost to the point where I hardly need notes anymore, just for a few words that I don't know. He is progressing so well. It is really exciting because not only is he keeping his commitments, he is exceeding them! We asked him to read part of a pamphlet only to find out that by the next lesson, he had read the whole thing! He seems so excited to learn!

We also taught Tonya and Christina this week. That was exciting because we have never taught them. The lesson went really well, but it was also difficult because it is a struggle to try and decide what the best way to teach them, because even though they get taught together, they are two different people with two different sets of needs. I'm excited to teach them again this week!

This week for my personal study, I tried to change up the way that I study the Book of Mormon. I tried a couple different techniques that I really liked. First, when their was a list of attributes (like Alma 7:23) I would define the meanings of each attribute and think of an example. The other techinique was to really apply it to myself. I did that with Alma 14. I thought about how the Lord helps me through my trials and He has a plan for me. Studying the Book of Mormon everyday has really helped me realize how true it is. This book has blessed my life so much. I know that it is the word of God. It contains so much help and I know that if someone reads it, ponders its truthfulness and prays about it that they will come to know that it is true!"

 So...I love you all!  I know the church is true and I love being a missionary...weirdness and all! Write me this week!  Please :)

Sister Ford