Well, this letter might be cut a little short. We have been packing today and Sister Thrall and I have hair appointments in roughly 20 minutes. Gah! Time is just flying by.
Last Thursday we received our travel plans and found out to our disappointment that Sister Thrall and I are leaving a day later than the rest of our district. Also, last Thursday Sister Thrall and I, along with two elders in our district were chosen to be example missionaries for the Large Group Meeting tonight for all the missionaries that just came in today. Sadly, we do not have TRC (where we teach volunteers) and it will be in English which will feel strange.
We also had our last meetings with our progressive investigators, Sergei and Sasha. I cried. On Saturday we taught Sergei and began by telling him that we could not meet with him again because we were being "transfered" . I know it was only a roleplay with our teacher but he had such a hurt look on his face and he did not understand. "But we are friends and you are leaving me?" he asked us. Somehow we managed to explain in Russian that those were the rules but that he was not alone because he had the Book of Mormon and his Heavenly Father through prayer. We all beared our testimonies and Sergei told us that he had decided in the past week to be baptized. We were very excited.
On Monday we met with Sasha and continued to prepare him for baptism. He told us his wife would be coming home the next day (this entire time he has talked about her but we have no idea where exactly she was). He accepted the commitments and understood why they were important. Then, just like with Sergei, we had to tell him that we were leaving. He tried to convince us to call our mission president and tell him that we don't want to leave. Again the three of us bore our testimonies and it was a very heartfelt meeting. But it was not easy to tell them that we could not continue to meet with them. We told them a little about the new missionaries that would be teaching them. We chose two elders from the other zone who are going to Moscow as well (remember the Elder we met at Village Inn, Dad?).
I am ready to head to Moscow. I am going to miss our teachers a lot. They balanced eachother so well and we had a good time. Last Thursday we had a horrible planning meeting and found out from one of our teachers that the other teacher felt like a horrible teacher. We all felt so bad. So we decided to write all about our teachers in the service box where we write down ways someone has helped us. It was a great experience and we did it for both of our teachers. Both of them nearly cried and I cried.
Yesterday was a little rough as my companion Sister Thrall felt homesick for the first time. It has been a few interesting days because many members of our district had emotional breakdowns and such. Surprisingly, I have not been scared. I am nervous but I am excited more than anything and I know I can more now than I ever thought I could three months ago. Just like Paul in the New Testament I am realizing that I can do all things through Christ if I put my fear instead and trust in Him.
Well, I am nearly all packed with the exception of the things I am going to need for the next 6 days. Only two more gym periods where we can play volleyball and we have orientation all day on Friday. It feels like it has come up so quickly. Next you hear from me I will be in Moscow. Crazy! I love you all! Bon voyage!
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