Letter #5 *~MTC~* February 15, 2011

Hi Family!!!

Wow!! Another week gone by again!! I will just try to highlight some of the things that happened this week! :) Every week we get the opportunity to meet with one of our teachers. They just kind of check up on us and see how we are doing, ask what they can improve on, and see if they can help us with anything. They are also really good about encouraging us and helping us know what we can improve on and what we're doing well at! I was able to meet with Brother Wilson this week. it was really cool to talk with him. He said that he was really impressed by all of our Russian. We had taught the older district all in Russian that week. he said that he had noticed that I wasn't using my notes (well... I did have to look at like 2 or so words) and that as he watched he saw that I was putting together my own sentences. He said that as h e watched he thought, wow, this is the gift of tongues in action! I really did feel the help of the spirit as I was teaching that lesson. It is really powerful to teach in Russian because I can't say very much, so the gospel can't help but be simple and basic because that's all I can say!! And that's how it should be! I still have SO much to improve on! I want to be a better teacher and be able to communicate in Russian! Our TRC went really well this week also. In the TRC volunteers come in and they let the missionaries teach them! Super cool! Sister LeBaron and I have seemed to often times get people who are hard to teach, well... it's probably just us. but that's what the TRC is all about, to learn how to be better teachers! This week though, we had a really great lesson! The lady we taught was super nice and the spirit was definitely there as we taught.

I also FINALLY finished memorizing the first vision in Russian this week!!! YPA YPA!!! (that's Russian for OORRAAAHH) :)

This past Sunday I was blessed to be able to give the lesson for our District Meeting! Every Sunday we will meet as a District before lunch and have about an hour to have a lesson and learn together. The topic that I did was how to be a successful Missionary. I focused my lesson on the example of Aaron in Alma 22 and how he was able to teach King Lamoni's father with such power! Then we talked about the purpose of the MTC and how we can gain that power! Alma 17:2-3,9 &11. My main goal was to give us all hope and a purpose as we are in teh MTC! 12 weeks is a long time, and if we forget what we're to be doing here.... it's even harder! Elder Holland stressed, as he talked about the MTC, that we will NEVER EVER have the time that we have to study here ever again! We have to make it count! As we studied about Aaron we went through most of the scriptures in Alma 22:1-18 talking about the points that I sent you from my study journal! I had really tried to gather all of the information that I needed for my lesson and was praying that everything would fit well and the spirit would be there! As we talked, certain points that the elders and sisters brought up led perfectly into certain things that I had been studying. Their comments allowed me to be able to talk about what was important for me to share in the things that I had studied. Elder Bullough pointed out from v.14 that Aaron made the gospel sound exciting! That was a perfect poing that Elder Holland had talked about. He said that from Mosiah 27:11 & 18 that he doesn't think that the earth literally shook, but that Alma's earth shook. He said that we need to go and astonish people!!! :) We h ave the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this is exciting!! Go and shake some people's earths and astonish them!!

We focused on how Alma 17:2-3 we need to focus on studying, fasting, and prayer! That is how Aaron and the sons of Mosiah gained their power to teach! All of us missionaries already have all the power we need! We have been set apart, but it is up to us to gain the power, and that comes through study, fasting, prayer, etc! They GAVE themselves to these things and we need to do the same to gain the spirit when we teach! from the talk I sent you I also quoted, "the Lord doesn't expect immediate perfection, but he does expect IMMEDIATE progress!!" It was really good to be able to all learn together as a district! Zone Leader Bullough told me later that day that he had never marked so many scriptures in his life! :) The scriptures apply to all of us, and we can learn SO much from them! I have really enjoyed reading different stories slowly in the Book of Mormon and drawing out the principles and lessons that are there. We can totally miss them when we read fast, but there is SO much that can bless us directly in our lives and is what we need to learn!

Thank you SO much for the care package!!!! i LOVED the pjs adn wore them to bed last night! I needed those hugs because it's hard not to be able to give you a hug! Especially on Valentines day!! Mom! you are WAY too good to me!! I sure love you! I am also SOOOOOO excited about Grandma being sealed to Grandpa and Dad to them!!!! Give her my love!! Dad!! Did you ever think that that day would come?!! How EXCITING!!

I hope that everyone is doing SO well!! We have devotional tonight... and we're all crossing our fingers that we'll get to hear from a member of the quorum of the twelve!! :)

Have a GREAT week!!
Cectpa Cunningham