This week has been a tsunami of emotions! Mostly good emotions, but sometimes not. The great thing about the MTC is that you can receive comfort and counsel from literally anything or anyone. It's amazing how easy it has become for me to turn something as insignificant as a leaf sitting on the sidewalk into an object lesson about breaking away from social conformity or whatever. The Spirit has a crazy effect on your perception of simple things.
Anyways, this week was a lot less insane than last week since we didn't have to scramble as much to figure out our schedules and where everything is. Every single minute of our day is planned out to the millisecond, which is great, but it sometimes feels very prison-like knowing that we can't leave. The MTC is almost literally a voluntary, spiritual prison. You have to be up and ready at a certain time and place, you have your meals at a certain time and place, you have to be at your classes at certain times and places, you can only work out in specified areas where there are staff watching you, you can't go anywhere alone, you can't bring bags into large meeting areas, there's a large fence around the outside, and there are guards on duty 24/7. The only differences between prisoners and missionaries in the MTC are: prisoners get to watch TV and are there for a longer period of time; our food is better and we're always happy regardless of the fact that we know we're physically trapped here until our departure date. I love it here despite the isolation.
Another strange thing about the MTC is that time doesn't feel like a real thing. It feels similar to what I imagine being stuck in limbo is like. The fist couple of weeks have flown by, but at the same time it feels like I've been here for three months. Some days feel like there is literally no way that they will end, and others feel like a constant Friday. Lunchtime feels like dinnertime, bedtime feels like morning; it's just a strange time warp that I don't know how to get out of.
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Fun fact time! All of the Russian missionaries sit together at lunch in a specific area. This particular section of the cafeteria kind of sticks out of the building almost like an addition on a home and it is separated from the rest of the cafeteria with columns. We call it the "Iron Curtain." Only Russians are supposed to eat in the Iron Curtain, but there are always a few non-Russian newbies that don't know any better and sit there. We never estrange them or make them feel bad or anything, I just think the Iron Curtain Concept is funny.
Another fun fact! We don't have any of these in the sister's dorms, but apparently in the Elder's dorms they have these things called Narnia Holes. A Narnia Hole is basically a hidden time capsule that previous Elders have put stuff in. Here's an example: One of the Elder's in our District noticed that the light switch cover in their room was loose, so he figured out how to twist it around to expose the inside. I don't know how, but the light switch hole was crammed with literally anything from candy to letters. I guess most of the rooms have Narnia Holes in them because another Elder came to class with a tie that he found in one of these holes, and his companion found a watch in another Hole. Sounds like they're everywhere. The Elders managed to break open a closed-off air vent and found people's photo books, clothes, letters, belongings, pretty much anything.
One more fun fact. There's an unspoken rivalry between the Russian and German Elders (of course it's the Elders) that started who knows how long ago. The Elders from either side figured out how to unlock the room doors using only a wire hanger, an envelope, a long piece of floss, and a vacuum (don't ask me how they discovered that), so they always break into each other's rooms and change alarms and stuff. Someone brought a fake bug that chirps every four minutes and hid it in the Elders from our District's room. Let's just say they were very very tired the next day. The Germans also decided that it would be fun to go curling on the carpet with a hot iron. Of course they used the Russian's iron, and of course the carpet melted to it. Glad I'm not an Elder.
Anyways, on to this weeks activities. A majority of our week consists of language study and teaching our investigators. Right now we have two investigators named Era and Kasenya (they're just our teachers who are playing the role of an investigator). Teaching them has been a very humbling experience for sure. I learned very quickly about how important it is to have the Holy Ghost as your companion along with your real companion. Some of our lessons have been successful and others couldn't have been worse. This is 100% determined by how strong the Spirit is in our preparation and in the lesson. I'm not going to sugar coat it, most of the lessons this week were really hard. The Russian has gotten pretty discouraging and times and it is extremely demoralizing when you go into a lesson feeling really confident and then you can't remember anything that you just spent hours memorizing. I have gotten discouraged to the point of crying sometimes and the only thing that keeps me from giving up is the fact that I can pray for comfort and KNOW that Heavenly Father WILL comfort me. Every time, without fail, when I have prayed for comfort, I've gotten an answer. The package that I got from the family was a HUGE answer to my prayers. Right after Cectpa McKell and I got out of a rough lesson, I was in tears. I was feeling so inadequate and disappointed in myself. Immediately after I prayed for comfort, our District leader handed me a package slip and I couldn't have been more grateful. My testimony has definitely been strengthened in the area of prayer. No doubt about it. The Russian is coming slowly and I need to remember that it's only week 2, so I'm not going to be perfect at the language. The Gift of Tongues is real, it just takes some faith to believe it.
Alright, enough of the sad things. Regardless of what I just wrote, this week was actually pretty fun. We go to the temple every P-day so that has been an excellent blessing for lifting my spirit. After we do a session, our Zone is allowed to eat in the temple cafeteria. The food is so good and it's really cheap! Love it! I probably mentioned this previously, but we also do a temple walk every Sunday after sacrament and that is one of my favorite parts of the week. The weather was so perfect, but my eyes decided that the lovely gray overcast was too bright, so I pretty much ruined everyone's pictures with my red-eyed squint face. You can probably see it in some of the pictures that I sent you. My eyes were literally flowing with tears and I had to try so hard to make a somewhat happy looking face. Didn't work out so well.
Choir was amazing as usual. We sang "Jesus Once of Humble Birth" at the devotional on Tuesday and it was so powerful! The Spirit was so strong. We haven't had any apostles come and speak to us yet, but I heard that the numbers heat up when it gets closer to conference, so we're in the money zone. Hopefully I'll be able to hear from one soon. That's all for this week!
Da Svidanya!
Love,
Cectpa Wagstaff
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