Sickly Week‏

Zdrastvuitye!

This week has been so busy! I love it! Lots of teaching and studying, as usual. I can't believe I'll be on a plane in two and a half weeks and I'll be in Russia in 3! Aaaah! Time is flying! I cannot even express the level of excitement that I am feeling.

This week we had the opportunity to be a part of the Ogden Temple Rededication. That was an amazing experience to say the least. All of the missionaries in the MTC crammed into the gym and got to watch the broadcast. President Monson, President Eyring, and President Bednar were at the Rededication. It was so inspiring to watch these men talk about how important temples are to them. I hope in the next 20 years there will be a dedication of a temple in Russia. How great would that be?? Speaking of temples, I'm also very excited to see the Meridian Temple when I get back. I don't know if it'll be done yet, but I've been showing some of the Elders in my district pictures of what it will look like on the outside and I get more and more excited every time I see it. It looks like a tank, it's so chubby. I can't wait to see it in person.

We still had a normal Sunday schedule after the Dedication was over since that took place in the morning. I don't think I've told you this before, but in our sacrament meetings, the Branch President randomly picks two missionaries from the crowd to give the talks. No warning, no mercy. The talk only has to be like 2 minutes long, so it's not even that big of a deal. I was positive that Sister Jessop would get picked since it was her last normal sacrament meeting before her and her companion leave next week and she hasn't spoken yet, so I didn't prepare diddly squat. Lo and behold, I was chosen to speak. I must have blacked out a little bit when the Branch President called my name because I don't remember anything up until I was standing at the pulpit. The topic was on Faith in Christ, something I've talked about a million times in lessons, but I was caught so off guard that I couldn't figure out what to say during most of it. It was definitely a struggle, but at least I don't have to worry about speaking again until I get to Russia.

So... I sort of got food poisoning this week. It was 100% my fault, so don't shake your finger at the MTC cafeteria staff or anything. One of my very favorite foods at the MTC are these dinky little packaged peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I don't even know why I love them so much, they're pretty generic PB&Js. The jelly is delicious, the peanut butter to jelly ratio is on point, they're just good. Anyways, the easiest day to get these sandwiches is on Friday so I sometimes hoard them and eat a sandwich or two throughout the day. I figured it wouldn't be a horrible idea to just save one for breakfast the next day. I've done it before and nothing happened, so I did it. There were obvious physical signs that the sandwich should be avoided the next day, but I let pride take a hold of me and I did eat. I'm not going to go into the details, but let's just say I didn't feel too good for the rest of the day. 

Speaking of not feeling good, I've had the worst cold EVER for the past few days. It literally came out of nowhere. I woke up on Monday feeling fine and dandy and then BAM, full blown cold by the afternoon. I have no idea where it came from and I don't particularly enjoy not being able to breath. Thankfully one of my teachers made me leave class yesterday, so I got to take a 2 hour nap. It was heavenly. I wanted to die when Sister McKell and I went to the temple this morning. The nighttime cold medicine hadn't worn off yet, so I fell asleep about 6 times in the Celestial room. Awesome.

We got to teach a native Russian through Skype this week and that was an adventure to say the least. When we showed up to class earlier this week, this guy from the computer lab came in and said we were scheduled to have a Skype appointment in 10 minutes. No biggie. He said that there was some sort of glitch in the system that neglected to inform us of this. We had about 5 minutes to throw together some sort of lesson and go. When we got to the lab, Sister McKell and I picked a sweet-looking Babooshka named Elena. We couldn't get Skype to connect to her for the first couple of minutes, and it cut out like a million times, but I enjoyed it! Elena was seriously SO nice. She is a member and she helped us a lot with our grammar and pronunciation throughout the lesson. At the beginning of the appointment, she asked us a question that neither Sister McKell nor myself could understand. We kind of just stared at each other and said "shto??" (what). Elena lives in Yekaterinburg, so she's about as Russian as they come. Anyways, after we very eloquently asked "What???" she tried to ask the question again, and again we did not understand. She got kind of feisty and asked very sternly, "where do you live" in the most beautiful English I've ever heard in my life. Not really, but it surprised me. I had such a great time talking to her. I had no idea what she was saying most of the time, but that's okay because I think she felt the spirit. I think. 

Yesterday, Sister McKell and I got to host a new International sister! The International missionaries get to come a day early because of travel time and jet lag and stuff. This particular Sister is from Japan (military family) and is going to the Baltics on her mission. It was so fun showing her around and taking her to the devotional. We are getting 3 more Russian Sisters today which means they will be in a district of just sisters, which is pretty much unheard of. It will be interesting to see how that all works out.

Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to hear from Elder Ballard in our Tuesday Devotional. His talk was SO amazing! He straight up said that he didn't have anything prepared, so he was just going to speak to us like a grandpa speaks to his grandchildren. I definitely got that vibe from him. Elder Ballard talked about family, prayer, and perseverance. It was so inspirational. I loved every minute of it. The spirit was so strong and I felt so empowered after walking out of that meeting. The part that stuck out to me the most was when he talked about families. It's just so amazing to me that missionaries aren't just teaching other peoples' families, we are teaching our own spiritual families. We are all spiritual siblings and we're gathering our own brothers and sisters together. When I try to look at everyone as my literal brothers and sisters, how I perceive and teach the people completely changes. I'm not just saving THEIR family, I'm saving mine. We know the way back to our Heavenly Father, our job is to help everyone know the way back too.

The choir director has informed us that the Elders will be singing in the Priesthood session of Conference. I guess the Sisters got to sing in a previous Women's Conference, so it was the Elders' turn. That will be a great experience for them!

Well... that's about all for this week! Keep your chins up and keep smiling! Thank you all for your love and support. I appreciate all of you!

Da Svidanya!

Love,

Cectpa Megan Wagstaff

Wacky Week‏

Zdrastvuitye!

I cannot believe I only have 3 and a half weeks left in the MTC! I still have so much to learn and that's a little bit scary to think about. It makes me so excited to think that I'll be in Russia in a month. Crazy! I'm not really sure why, but this week had quite a few funny experiences. Heavenly Father is probably trying to compensate for some hard times that I have experienced over the past month. Believe me, those random hysterical moments are 100% necessary to stay sane in the work that we're doing. There were lots of rough patches this week, as expected, but it was great for the most part! 

Funny story time! When we were teaching one of our investigators named Galeena, we got into the subject of baptism in our lesson and she wanted to know how we are baptized in our religion. She talked a little bit about how in the Russian Orthodox religion, they are baptized as a baby by having water sprinkled on them by a Priest. I tried my best to explain how we are baptized in water, but I didn't know how to say "baptized by immersion" or "dunked in water," so I decided to draw a picture on the board. It started out okay, just two stick figures standing in a little pool of water. Then when I tried to draw what it looks like after the prayer is said in the font, it totally looked like the guy stick figure was drowning the girl stick figure. I could not control myself after that. I was laughing so hard for a solid 3 minutes after everyone had already moved on. We eventually got our message across, but that was priceless.

Embarrassing story time! So, after every Sunday devotional, there's a plethora of movies and talks that we get to choose from and watch as our weekly entertainment. When Cectpa McKell and I found out that Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration was one of the options for the night, we planned out exactly where we were going to sit in the devotional so that we could get out of the gym and into the movie as fast as possible. At the conclusion of the devotional, Cectpa McKell, Cectpa Kim, and I sprinted out of there. Not even exaggerating... we literally ran. Almost immediately outside of the gym exit is a somewhat tall ledge that separates the grassy area from the sidewalk that I was on. Cectpa McKell hopped over it like it was nothing, so I figured I would be able to heave over it with no problem. The start was pretty seamless; I jumped up and successfully planted one foot on the ledge. However, I underestimated the lack of stretchiness from my pencil skirt and struggled to get the other leg up. Mind you, this all took place in a matter of 3 seconds, so it was not as drawn out as I'm making it sound. Anyways, I was hardcore teetering at this point and was unable to steady myself. Probably as ungracefully as possible, I let out a pitiful little shriek and fell backwards in front of about 25% of the the congregation that was behind me. Also, as I was falling, one of the Elders that was behind me couldn't decide if he was allowed to catch me or not (he's not), so he just stood there with his arms straight up in the air like a criminal when I awkwardly glanced at him after I fell. Oober embarrassing.

Elder Richard G. Scott came and spoke to us at the Tuesday devotional and it was amazing! He spoke about prayer and how meaningful prayer should be to us in our missions. I love Elder Scott. He teaches so patiently and intently. You can't help but feel God's love when he speaks. Literally every sentence in his talk was a power statement. I spent most of the time frantically trying to write down everything that he said, which isn't a good note taking strategy by the way. The spirit was so strong! I will cherish all of the notes that I have taken at the MTC for the rest of my life.

The rest of the week was pretty average. Lots of studying and teaching as usual! Everyone has been super tired in my District and a few people are starting to get sick. Hopefully that doesn't get around to everyone else. Being sick is never a fun experience and I definitely don't want to experience that here. Too much to learn, too little time to be bothered with illness.

Our choir director told us that it is very possible that we could be singing in Conference. He doesn't know for sure and he hasn't promised anything yet, but he thinks it is likely that we will. If we do get to sing, they are going take the people who have had previous choir experience first, and I don't know how they're going to determine who else will sing. So I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it even if the missionaries do get to sing in Conference. I'm really excited for Conference either way! It'll be interesting to see how that will play out in the MTC.

On Sunday, we get to participate in the Ogden Temple dedication. They're broadcasting it to the MTC and we get to take part in that! I'm so excited!

I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember to make sure that prayer is a priority in your life. Seriously though, I have seen the blessings that come from sincere prayer and I know everyone will benefit from it. Stay strong and keep smiling!

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Cectpa Megan Wagstaff

 This is a picture of a picture of a Baptism in Russia. They had to cut out the ice!

Holy Half Way

Zdrastvuitye!

Holy cow!!! Half of my MTC time is almost over!!!! Saturday is my districts halfway point and we are going to have a major vecherinka (party)! I still have so much to learn before I go!!! At this point I would be so grateful to have 12 weeks instead of 9 in the MTC. I've learned so much thus far, but at the same time I'm definitely not ready to head out into the real world yet. I know I'll be ready at the end of my 9 weeks, but there's still so much to learn!!! Ahhhhh!!!!!! I'm so excited! Time is just flying by.

This week Sister McKell and I got to move rooms. Sister Fackrell and Sister Leavitt left for Russia last week and our Branch President suggested that we move in with some Russian sisters that lived right across the hall. We love these sisters to death, so of course we agreed. Their names are Sister Kim and Sister Jessop and they are amazing! They leave in like 2 or 3 weeks so we will most likely have the room to ourselves after they go on to Russia. Love them! Today we are getting about 35 new Russian missionaries. We will have 14 Elders and 8 Sisters in our district and the other Russian district will get 12 or 13 missionaries. I am so excited to meet them! They're going to be like our little babies!

Kind of a weird thing happened this week, but it was really cool! Sister McKell and I were sitting outside during personal study time and this guy walked up to me who looked very very vaguely familiar. He said: "Hey! You don't know who I am, but I know you. (Not the best way to start a conversation I might add. Anyways...) I served a mission with your brother in Boise. We were in Jerome together!" I remember seeing him in a picture or something... or maybe the Spirit helped me recognize him... I don't know. I think Trevor has talked about him before, but this Brother's name was Brother Jones. We talked a lot about Trevor and about how much he enjoyed serving with him. It made me all teary-eyed talking about my big Bro. It was so cool to talk about Trevor and how far he's come. Brother Jones teaches at the MTC and that's why I was able to come across him. Crazy cool experience for sure!!!! (I am taking this out for Trevor because I don't know if he knows this, but Brother Jones told me that he wants to surprise Trevor at his homecoming. I don't know if it'll end up being a surprise since he needs to know the details from Trevor, but I thought I'd let you know for fun.)

Fun fact! So I have another story to add to the "What Elders Do Before Quiet Time" chapter. I have no idea why, but one of the Elder's moms decided that it would be a swell idea to send her son a plethora of Nerf guns. This particular Elder decided that it would be fun to stick sewing needles in the Nerf darts and shoot them at people. They've been doing this for about a week now, so initially it wasn't that big of a deal. The Elders got poked a lot and would have contests to see who could handle getting shot in the same spot more than once with a needle. All was well until two nights ago. The Nerf gun Elder tried to shoot one of the Elders in my district with a needle dart, but he deflected it with his towel, in the process pushing the needle out of the dart and onto the floor. The Elder from my district ended up stepping on it and the entire thing shoved up into his foot. They had to run over to the ER and get it X-rayed. Turns out it broke into three pieces inside his foot and he had to get it surgically removed yesterday because one of the pieces was too far in. Silly Elders.

Spiritual experience! Yesterday my class did a teaching exercise where we were supposed to identify our investigator's concern and then the investigator would choose a random verse from the Book of Mormon at any time during the lesson. The verse had to be completely random, not premeditated or anything, and we had to resolve their concern using that verse. When I played the role of the investigator, the Elders who taught me had to resolve my concern about why we need to do so much in the church. The scripture that I randomly picked had something to do with a desolate land that was basically a skeleton graveyard. Their answer was definitely a stretch but they made it work. They said something along the lines of: "Through trials, tribulations, and turning to the Lord, we prove our faith. The people who were intending on inhabiting this desolate land had to work to build a foundation. Our duties in the church build the foundation of our testimony and faith." Totally paraphrased that... but you get the idea. The Spirit told them how to make it work, and they did.

When my companion for the exercise, Elder Peterson, and I taught our investigator, we jumped to conclusions too quickly in regards to his concern and ended up missing the mark by a lot. We thought he was having issues finding joy in his life since he didn't love his job and he didn't know what he wanted in life. Totally wrong by the way. The scripture that he randomly picked was, of course, in a war section. It talked a lot about how the men joined together for a common purpose, so I instantly related that to church attendance. I have no idea why that idea came to my mind and I have no idea how we made that work, but somehow we managed to pull a lesson together. We expressed how he could find joy in his life if he went to church. Let me just mention that he was smiling/trying not to laugh during the entire lesson. After we closed our remarks, he said something totally unexpected about our lesson that caught Elder Peterson and me by surprise. He told us that our assumption couldn't have been more wrong regarding his concern. The problem that he had initially thought of that he never got to say had to do with why there is only one true church on the earth. He said that we did a subpar job at addressing the concern that we came up with, but we unintentionally answered his unspoken concern to the tee. He was smiling and laughing during the lesson because he was amazed that we were able to answer his question without even realizing it. We had no idea what we were saying during most of the lesson, but since we were being guided by the Spirit, it was exactly what he needed to hear. The Spirit will teach through you as long as you don't push Him away with pride.

This week has just been so great and spiritual. I cannot even express how much I've learned and grown spiritually in this past month. Remember that the Spirit is always with you as long as you invite Him. That's something I've learned the most at the MTC. The Spirit is always with you, but if you want to continuously feel and enjoy the blessings of the Spirit, you have to ask and not let pride get in the way. Keep doing good things for others and remember who you are!

Da Svidanya!

Love,

Cectpa Megan Wagstaff

Definitely a Work Week

Zdrastvuitye!

This week consisted of lots and lots of work, but that's the MTC life for you! I'm finally getting used to everything, so that's been a huge blessing thus far. Study, work, learn, eat, sleep, repeat is the gist of our daily schedule. I love it but I definitely know why It's called Missionary WORK.

We taught our investigator Era SO much this week, which has been great because she's the only investigator that we've had for more than three lessons. Our teacher Sister O'Neil is the one who acts as Era and she does such a great job at pretending to be a stubborn investigator. During one of our lessons Sister O'Neil full-on started choking on something and we had to have an unscheduled intermission so that she wouldn't die. We didn't have to do the Heimlich or anything, but she was still sort of choking even after she got back from the break. This is going to sound horrible but I had to try so hard to keep from laughing when Sister O'Neil broke character and tried to contain her coughing. The lessons are still pretty rough as a whole, but not as bad as last week. We're slowly getting better!

We got a new teacher this week to replace one of the Sisters who will be moving in the next couple of weeks. Her name is Sister Lund and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. She just got back from serving in Samara about 2 or 3 months ago, so I will definitely have to pick at her brain before I leave the MTC. 

Spiritual experience! One day Sister McKell and I were studying outside when a lone Elder came up to us. No idea where his companion was. This Elder changed my whole attitude on teaching with the spirit. I don't remember his name, but I do know that he is from Brazil and he received his call to serve in the Atlanta Georgia mission, English speaking. He probably spoke Portuguese before he came to the MTC, so he was in the same boat as us in terms of learning a new language. This Elder asked if he could share a message with us and of course we agreed. He shared such a short, sweet message about reaching our potential and I felt the spirit so strong. His grammar wasn't perfect, he didn't pronounce every word correctly, he couldn't remember a lot of words, but that didn't matter because I could feel that he genuinely believed in what he was saying and wanted us to believe it too. His lesson taught me so much more than just doctrine; he taught me that the language doesn't matter as much as the spirit. As long as you feel the spirit and try your best, they will feel it too. The language, grammar, and pronunciation is just a small part of a big picture. It was so great to witness that from the flip side.

Fun fact! Most of my fun facts have to do with the Elders in my district because the sisters don't have time to participate in any shenanigans when it's time to go back to our dorms at night. Anyways, every night the Elders in our zone have told us that they will do one of the following before quiet time: have a Jedi battle in the hallway, have a Harry Potter battle in the hallway, have a TRON war in their individual rooms, or pull their mattresses into the hallway and have a wresting battle. Super spiritual, right? The Jedi and Harry Potter battles consist of throwing invisible force fields or spells at each other and then acting them out when they get hit. Sounds very entertaining to watch. The TRON war is what gets them in big trouble. One of the Elders has a rubber frisbee that they take turns chucking against the wall to see who can hit the most people via ricochet. Lots of Elders have come to class with many bruises. They get in trouble because... A. It involves people getting hurt, and B. The frisbee takes chunks out of the ceiling and walls. You'd think that would keep them from playing it, but it doesn't. The wresting battle is mostly the Poly missionaries' (Polynesian) idea. I've heard that they get super into it and start singing stuff that sounds like sacrificial rituals. Awesome. 

Sister McKell and I had so much planned for us to get done on this P-day until we were walking by some other Russian Sisters's dorm and noticed that they were climbing all over stuff for some reason. When we asked what they were up to, one of them said that her journal had fallen down a crack between the wall and the closet, so they were trying to figure out a way to get it out. Since Sister McKell and I are so charitable and humble, we decided to help out. Our first plan was to straiten out some wire hangers and use that as a platform that would be lowered down with two chains of belts and shimmied under the journal. After about 20 tries, we decided that that wasn't going to work. After that, about an hour of our effort was spent shoving long strands of straightened out hangers underneath the journal and trying to hoist it up. That didn't work either. We ended up ripping out a strip of plywood that connects the dresser to the wall and just pulling it out from there. The sister who owned the journal offered to pay for the damage if anyone called us out on it since it would only cost like 20 dollars to fix. That was a fun 2 hour adventure.

I think that's all for this week! It did get really stormy a couple of times last week, but it was nothing flood-worthy. There was a ton of thunder and lightning which is always cool. Anyways, choir is still really amazing, the devotionals are great, and my companion is sent from above. The choir director said that if we are going to sing in General Conference, we would know within the next couple of weeks. For now it's a no, but that could change in the near future. I hope you all have the most wonderful of weeks!

Do Svidanya!

Love,

Cectpa Wagstaff