Week 2

Can you believe it? Technically this is my 3rd week in the MTC! Only 9
more to go! haha
Just in case you forgot this is your long lost russian daughter Cectpa
Carling. I've loved reading all your letters, they make me laugh!
Sounds like you guys are staying busy. And Mom I'm sorry your phone is
not beeping constantly anymore....

You've all asked about my schedule and food and sleep here at the MTC
so lemme just fill you in. Every day I wake up at 6:30 or sometimes
earlier to go to kickboxing class for the sister missionaries at 6 or
to do laundry on Pday so I can take a nap in the afternoon : ) Each
day is a little different but basically we have breakfast then
personal study time and then class from 8:30-11:45 and then lunch and
then class and language study and dinner. Then more class and
companion study and additional study. Haha. Oh and we have an hour of
gym! Each day is different but Monday and Friday it's before lunch and
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday after lunch. That hour has been
awesome! Our whole branch is way into Sand Volleyball (said with a
nice russian accent) some people get super competitive but we set up 3
or 4 nets depending on the day and go to town! But we've also played
frisbee and gone jogging around the temple. Sister Biggs and I also
went to the fitness center the other day and it's wayyy nice. They
have lots of cardio equipment and some free weights and bikes and mats
and exercise balls. And 4 big screens playing mormon messages on Mute.
haha I don't really know what the point of that is but it's nice to
look at while running.

The food is alright. It's very similar to the canon center but for
some reason not as good. I've been sticking to the good ol' banana
dipped and peanut butter and the make your own wrap/salad bar when the
line is short. But it's not too bad. After 12 weeks though I'll be
ready to eat some russian borscht.

I've been sleeping just fine, thank goodness! There's an elder in our
district who is having a rough time and although I'm still exhausted
(especially mentally) I fall asleep right away and wake up thinking
russian words that I learned the day before. I still am not sure what
they mean but I think that's a good sign! haha.

The language is ROUGH! We just learned the other day about the 6
different cases. Meaning nouns will change cases depending on where
they are in a sentence and how they are acted upon. So my mind kind of
exploded against the wall but it's amazing how real the gift of
tongues is. Every night in my prayers I pray to heavenly father (in
russian) for the holy ghost and the gift of tongues because with that
I'll be unstopable! Haha hopefully... We shall see. It is really
coming along. I'm up to reading 3 verses in the BOM (kah knee gee more
mona) that's how you say it russian. And although I don't know all the
words I'm starting to recognize alot of them!

Cool thing happened this week. Our whole district has been
participating in the MTC choir which is a lot of fun. (Eef you gotta
do it) And they had an audition for a small ensemble. 8 voices to each
part. And guess what I was chosen! And this next week I'll be
performing for all of the apostles! Next week 162 new mission
presidents will be coming to the MTC for training and Pres. Monson and
the 1st presidency will be here as well as several of the 12 and area
70. So every morning this week we've been practicing. We are singing 5
pieces throughout next week and they all have to be memorized by
Saturday! Mom I'll be sure to write down the names and composers of
the songs cause they are AMAZING! Also another cool thing. My
companion made the choir too! As well as 5 other russians in our
branch including Elder Betteridge who is in my district (also my
favorite elder, if you are allowed to have one) So we represent! It's
going to be wayyyy cool. We're singing Consider the Lillies and Come
Thou Fount. So you can't go wrong with that!

Eef I'm so excited for you to come here. You're going to love it! It's
very hard but still alot of fun. I can't think of anything you really
need to bring except for enthusiasm and excitement to have every
second of your day planned for the next 8 weeks. How long will be you
be here? It'll be cool.

Also I'm glad to hear you had a good fathers day. I hope you get my
card soon dad. I thought instantly of you when I saw it! Also a bit
jealous of the snickerdoodles and the steak.

Sam and Anna! How fun are all those camps you're going to! That will
be awesome. And Sam I'm sure you look like a stud with the contacts.
The girls at Will James will have hard time focusing in class if you
sit next to them I'm sure! Anna you must write me and tell me all
about girls camp. It's soo much fun! And make sure you sing all the
songs super loud!

Aaron- I love you bunches. And I can't believe you slept in tilll 2.
I'm super jealous. Also I think of you and Ethan all the time.
Especially since I'm around a bunch of elders all day. I just laugh
and laugh. I'm not going to lie you guys have helped me well in
dealing with them. lol. Yesterday we quoted Hot Rod a little too much.
We even sang Going on a Date to help learn the Dative Case in the
russian language.

Mom and Dad. I love you sooo much and am so grateful for your love and
support! It means the world to me. Dad you wanted to know about my
branch a little more. Pres. Harrison is our branch president and is
super cool. A little intimidating but way cool. He served as a mission
president in some russian mission I can't remember. Bro. Heaps is one
of our counselors and I love him to pieces. He is soo funny and his
wife is awesome. He actually served his mission in Billings way back
in the day when it covered Idaho and Wyoming and the Dakotas. So he
wants to come visit and go to the temple sometime soon. We are
required to prepare a 3 min talk in russian every sunday and they call
on us randomly from the pulpit. Super scary but wayyy helpful in
learning the langauge. So far I've been clear but have been asked to
play the piano. We also sing all the hymns in russian and my favorite
elders in my district had to give the sacrament prayer in russian.
They were super scared. But yeah. Our branch is cool.

I have like 2 minutes left on my little timer so I must run and finish
everything up today but I love you all sooo much!

Cectpa Carling

No comments:

Post a Comment