Clarice's first email from MTC

Hello everyone! Life has been really exciting so far. Who ever told me that you would have a little time to get settled the first day lied. As soon as I got here I was hustled off to my room where I left all my suitcases and then I was hustled off to the classroom to get started on learning Russian. Ok so we didn't learn that much Russian the first day, but we were kept busy with orientations and such. I feel like I have been here for a long time already. We have learned how to pray and bear our testimonies in Russian, and we are expected to have the first vision memorized in Russian by Wednesday. My companion's name is Cectpa (sistra) Whiting. She is from Hawaii. I love her already! She is so strong in the gospel and wants to work really hard just like me. She was at BYU for 3 years working on an elementary education major. She is already an excellent teacher. We have had a goal this week to invite the spirit into our companionship studies and have been working hard on it. The best part is she is also going to the Yekaterinburg mission! We are going over together and everything. I don't know of anyone else going to our mission in our branch at this time. My branch president's name is President Harrison! But I don't think he is any relation of ours. He is originally from Price but lives in Provo now. We get a lot of personal time with our branch president and his counselors or have so far. I know they are all great people. The president and one of his counselors were mission presidents in Russia. Our district has 6 sisters and 4 elders which is crazy. Usually the elders out number the sisters by alot.The amount of Sisters in the MTC is small enough that we only have one big Relief Society. This Sunday we heard from Sister Doxey of the general board. If anyone wants to write me (not that you have to or anything) I would suggest you use Dear Elder .com while I am in the MTC its pretty much the same as email and that way I can get a print out of your letter. I love you all! I also love this gospel more than anything!

A mother's forward

Blogging is a new experience for me. I hope I can share things here that will allow others to know what my daughter is experiencing on her mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has gone on a mission because of her desire to share the joy that has come into her life by living the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She has left behind home, family and friends for 1 1/2 years to serve the Lord fulltime. She has put school and life here on hold while she goes to serve others thousands of miles away. She will learn to rely on the Lord for help and strength. She will learn to love another culture and people and come away knowing that we are all children of God, we are all brothers and sisters. She will learn that true joy in life comes from serving and sacrificing for others as our Savior Jesus Christ did while he was on the earth. I know about this because I served a mission for our church in 1985 in the Canada Montreal Mission. What a rich experience it is! Though I will miss her deeply I am grateful she has chosen to have this experience.