Letter #10 *~MTC~* March 22, 2011

Hello Family!

Wow!! this is it!! the week is here!! it's SO crazy! And this past week has been really crazy. So many amazing and strange things have happened. I didn't get to mention that we have a progressing investigator named Dmitry. Last week when we taught him, we taught him how to pray. We had him kneel with us and say the closing prayer. Even though it is our teacher, acting as if he is a man he knew from his mission, it was an amazing experience to watch him pray! This past week in teh TRC Cectpa LeBaron adn I had a wonderful lesson. We were able to teach a returned Sister Missionary from St. Petersburg, in Russian of course. We got to teach her as herself. We committed her to re-read Moroni 10 and recommit to pray and strengthen her testimony of the Book of Mormon. We also committed her to give a Book of Mormon to one of her friends, or someone that she meets. She said that she would! It was SO fun!! Cectpa LeBaron said after that it was really cool that I didn't let the language barrier keep me from being myself. I had made a couple of Jokes in Russian and it was funny because it took them a little bit of time to realize what I was saying, adn that I was making a joke. It reminded me of dad right after he had had his stroke, and he would always be trying to say something and then we would realize taht he was trying to make a joke!! haha! Dad! I now know how you feel! But when they finally get it and laugh, the struggle to make the joke is all worth it!! :)

This week while we were standing in the lunch room line, one of our Elder's hearts (Elder Bullough) started going crazy, so he went into teh ER to get checked out. He related the experience and said that it was the coolest thing because as he sat in the Health Clinic, feeling TOTALLY fine, he realized that he wasn't going to the ER for his heart. He turned to Elder Hill and siad that he really felt that they needed to go back to their room and get some consecrated oil because he felt that they were going to need to give a blessing. They grabbed teh oil and then were taken out of the MTC to the ER. As they were sitting there, Elder Bullough was reading about faith, feeling that he should prepare for the blessing that they were going to give. Then a girl ran up to them and said, "Elders, will you please give my brother a blessing?" What a cool thing! I'm SO grateful that our Edler's were worthy and willing to be in the right place at the right time to administer to one of God's children!

Unfortunately that has not been our only ER experience this week in our zone. Cectpa Stiles, one of the younger sisters in our Zone, hit her head on a drying last p-day. Not just hit it, but literally stood up into it and hit it so hard that she was immediately pushed back to teh ground. She gave herself a concussion! I woke up, I believe it was Thursday morning, and heard a guys voice on our floor. That is a very abnormal thing. So I climbed... well, moreso fell out of bed and opened my door adn stepped out into the hallway. Sister Stiles room is right next to ours. The view that met my eyes was really scary. THere were about 5 emts on our floor and sister stiles was lying on the floor looking pretty unconcious. One of the EMTs was asking her questions trying to keep her awake. I didn't want to get in the way, so after making sure her companions were alright I stepped back inside my room and Sister LeBAron was awake waiting. I had woken her up as I half fell/half flew out of bed! We sat there and listened to what was going on. There was a knock on our door from one of teh EMTs because I'd left my key in the door, so we stepped out of our room and gave teh sisters hugs just as they were leaving for the ER. We couldn't believe it, but no one else was awake. It had kind of shaken me, seeing sister Stiles like that and I felt pretty sick to my stomach. After a minute Sister Bullough joined Sister LeBAron and I in the hallway. We talked over what had happened and I seriously felt like I was going to throw up. I asked if we could have a prayer. WE all knelt and each said a prayer for Sister Stiles. I can't tell you the amazing power of prayer. I felt SO much peace and comfort, adn even though I didn't know what was going to happen, I felt at peace. It was an immediate affect. We woke up Sister Dawson, who is our "Coordinating Sister" and told her what had happened.

I was able to get a little sleep after crawling back into bed, but woke up again at about 3 am this time. I heard the sisters and so I went to check on them. IT was frustrating as teh doctor had really done nothing or told them anything. Sister Stiles, after having a couple more instances like this, having to call the EMTs is now feeling much better and is going to class again! Wow!! I am so grateful for prayer and the peace that it brings. I know that God is teh director of our lives and we may not always understand why things happen, but if we stay close to Him, we will have peace in our lives. I feel like Nephi in 2 Nephi 4:19, "And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted and he goes on, My god hath been my support and led me through mine afflictions! What a blessing to have the gospel!! My last day to recieve Dear Elder's will be Friday night, so don't send anything that won't get here till Monday or so! Wow!! Less than a week left! It's going to come fast! I lvoe you all!!

Love,
Cectpa Cunningham

and it was SO good to accidentally see Katie at teh TRC this week!! it totally made my week!! I love you girl!!