June 9 Email

Hey everybody!

How is everything going? I have a half an hour to write and if I don't get this sent within that half hour I don't get to email this week so I'm just going to be writing a family email and I'll try to write you all a real letter soon.

Well I almost survived my first week. Tomorrow my district and I get to be host missionaries at the curb for the new elders. The rumor is that the curb side drop off will be permanant just like you guys thought. Thanks so much for that package mom, it was awesome. It's really fun to get mail, especially because there is an elder in my district who gets at least 3 letters a day! It's pretty funny.

Everything is going really good here. Those first couple days were pretty rough. During the day they keep us busy enough that there isn't even time to think of home and get homesick. But the second I get back to my room at night I start to miss home. Everything is getting better now though. My district is really awesome and we are all starting to get to know each other a little more which is making everything more enjoyable. There have already been some pretty funny things happen. I wanted to tel you this one thing that happened. I chose the bottom bunk and one night I got in bed and farted. About 10 or 15 minutes later Elder Guynn my companion said "Elder? Did you fart?" I laughed and said I had about 15 minutes ago. He groaned and said "Oh elder! It lingers up here!" I had to laugh about that one for a while. Also I have seen a few people get hit with a basketball and a four square ball. Sometimes in class I will just think about that and I can't help but laugh. My teachers all wonder why I randomly do that but I don't feel like disrupting the spirit by sharing.

My teachers are great. My first teacher, Brother Storey, got a promotion so he had to be replaced. I met the new guy yesterday. His name is Brother Sagers. I can already tell I will like him a lot. He just got back from his mission 10 months ago. Not only is he a very effective Russian teacher but he has a way of explaining the gospel so simply, it's amazing. My other teacher Brother Bastian is really cool too. The only thing is he is really really busy with stuff a lot so sometimes I'm not sure if he's completely focused on teaching us. Also he was 20 minutes late to class a couple days ago which frustrated me. I feel like I don't have enough time as it is without wasting a second. But he really is a good teacher and a really nice guy. We are able to bear our testimonies and pray in Russian. It's really cool to be able to do that in a different language.

During our first sacrament meeting, a few elders bore their testimonies in Russian. It was really awesome in more ways than one. First of all, some of them could speak so well and they have only been here 6 weeks longer than me. It gave me a strong feeling of hope, that it is possible to learn this language. Also, it was so amazing to feel the power of the spirit. I couldn't understand everything this one Elder said but I understood a lot. It was incredible to feel the spirit that strong coming from a testimony in a different language. I can't wait until I can not only speak, but speak with power and speak from the heart.

The days here are really long but at the end of the night I look back and it feels like I just got out of bed. Sometimes it feels like I just wake up, eat, eat, eat, then go back to bed. Right now we are learning all the rules of the russian language, like the grammar and all that stuff. It's really hard to keep positive when some of this stuff seems like it will never make sense, but then I work on it some more and it begins to make sense. When that happens, the extremely frustrated and scared feeling turns into an equally excited and hopeful feeling. I love being here at the MTC where everyone has so much faith in us. One of the members of my branch presidency was teaching us on sunday and he said "I don't know Russian right now, I'm trying to learn a few things and I'll probably never be able to learn it, but I know if I were called by a prophet of God to learn this language I could." I guess sometimes I forget why I'm here. It's not just to learn Russian. I'm only learning Russian so I can better serve the people of Russia. The reason I'm here is to learn to share the incredible message of the gosple of Jesus Christ. The Lord wants me to share that message, and if I need to learn Russian in order to do that, He will help me learn Russian.

I'm loving the work so far. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me. Bring it on I say. Thank you all for your love and support. Even as you are all praying for me and my success each day, I am praying for you and your success. I can't wait to hear from you soon.

Love, Elder Geddes