2010 December 7

Another long and crazy week! Yesterday was our first day 100% speaking Russian. Or trying to. We did really pretty good. It was fun to try to be creative with communicating with our limited vocabulary. Its good everyone knows the same words else it wouldn't work all that well. By the end of the day I felt I had to keep speaking Russian even though we ended at 9pm. Speaking of Russian, late last night all the new missionaries from Eastern Europe arrived. This morning Sis Whiting and I helped two of the Elders get food at the cafeteria. One of the Elders asked why the drinks were cold, apparently they don't chill their drinks in Ukraine. One of the Elders also complimented us on how good our Russian was after 7 weeks. He said he had been studying English for about 11 years and he felt like he couldn't speak it very well. I haven't met any of the new sister missionaries yet but I am excited too. I put up all the pictures of Christ Mom sent in our class room because we spend so much time in there. Everyone in my district and our teachers really like the pictures. They really help create a more homey atmosphere. I get to see Sister Falcon, my roommate from BYU alot around here. I even got to sit next to her last Sunday during relief society. We got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on Sunday night which was fun. This week in the TRC we get to teach Lesson 2 (the Plan of Salvation) for the first time all in Russian. Sis Whiting and I have been working really hard. Thanks so much for the fun Christmas package! I especially liked the mix of M&Ms. I am sure I will take a lot of fun Christmasy pictures with the antlers. Speaking of Christmas the other night our whole zone went outside by the Christmas lights they have put up for the missionaries and sang 'What Child is this?" in Russian. It’s in the Russian hymn book. It was soooo much fun. It really got me into the Christmas mood. Love you all. The church is amazingly true!!!

Love,

Sister Harrison

Thanksgiving in the MTC

2010 November 30,

Hello everyone! This last week was awesome! First off they shut everything down here the day before Thanksgiving because of the "emergency snow storm" that never came. When the snow finally came it wasn't too bad because there are overhangs between all the buildings we have to walk to. You don't even need boots. It did get cold though. Sis Whiting 'forgets' to wear a coat some days because she doesn't like them even though it is really cold. Apparently cross country skiing is really big in Russia because they have a lot of flat areas. I might get to go ice skating there. One of our teachers told us this crazy story of when he got hurt ice skating in Russia. He even had to go to the hospital. Good thing everyone gets free medical there. We get to go to the temple every week, which is so awesome. We always do service in the laundry room afterwards which is also so fun. We get to talk to all the old ladies that work there. Ok so I need to talk about Thanksgiving. First off we didn't have any class. We went to a devotional after breakfast were Elder Holland talked to us. He had brought all his grandkids with him and they sang us a song. They were so cute! Elder Holland told us we shouldn't be homesick and pointed out some things we should be grateful for. He is always such a good speaker. That day we also did a service project cutting out bags for school supplies. All the missionaries together cut out over 30,000 bags. We also listened to several other speakers. One was the Brother over the welfare services for the Church. He told an amazing story about a town in Africa. Anyways, Thanksgiving dinner was also very good. We had everything you would normally have on thanksgiving. One of the Sisters in my room got a real sized turkey from her mom made of Rice crispies. So all the sisters in our Zone sat in a circle and ate it as we told each other what we were grateful for. Its been pretty lonely her at the MTC because missionaries left last week but we didn't get any new one because of the holiday. Tomorrow we are suppose to get about 16 new missionaries for our zone and the next week 8 native Eastern Europeans are suppose to come in. The church is true! I love you!

Thanksgiving preparations

2010 November 23

Thanksgiving should be pretty awesome here though. We have been told that usually one of the 12 apostles come. Plus we don't have class all day! We get to go to some devotionals and do a lot of service projects. I have been doing well. I am still working hard. My companion is still amazing. The older missionaries left this week. It’s crazy to think that when the new missionaries come next week we will be the older group. When I first came I thought the missionaries already here knew so much Russian. Now I realized that is not the case. I have been getting better at making my own sentences, but I still have a very, very far way to go. This week we have to teach lesson 1 in Russian. Lately I have been learning a lot about conversion. Sis Whiting and I got to teach a lesson on Sunday and we chose to talk about Alma 5:14. We had some great discussions about Ch4 of PMG. I am so grateful to be here in the MTC serving the Lord. I realize more and more that I am suppose to be here at this exact time. I am grateful for the Lord's time table. I am grateful for my wonderful companion Sis Whiting. She is so nice in understanding me and giving me hugs. I am grateful for the teachers I have. Everyone here who teaches us tries to teach with the spirit. I am grateful for the support of the Holy Ghost. I would not be able to do this mission without it. I am grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He is my savior and friend. I am grateful for prayer. There is nothing better in the world than talking to someone who knows and understands and loves you no matter what you do. I am grateful for the support I get from home. I have just got to say that I have a pretty awesome family. I love you all!

MTC 3rd Week

Guess what!!! Sis Whiting and I were able to commit 3 people to baptism this week!!!. Of course one had gotten back from her mission 2 months ago and the other 2 were just some of our classmates, but we'll take what we can get. I can't believe I have been here for a month. Ashley comes into the MTC tomorrow! I am so excited to see her. Some fun things I have been doing: singing in the MTC choir (we sang a John Rutter song called 'Look at the world' which is so pretty), singing Christmas hymns acapella 3 part harmony with some amazing sister missionaries on Sunday (one of the sisters I was singing with is named Sis Roberts. she is from my zone and was a opera singing major at Utah State she has a very nice voice), and finding out that 3 of the 4 sisters in our room worked at Cold Stone. This week about half of our zone is leaving to go into the mission field. I think we will have a week or two until we get the new missionaries to take their places. A random cultural fact about Russia: everyone drinks tea and alcohol. So much is it a part of their culture that when you go tracking or visiting you have to bring your own tea bags so as not to offend them when they offer you tea. You can just pull out the herbal tea that you have brought This becomes an issue when you teach them the word of wisdom because if they stop drinking alcohol they lose a bunch of their friends because its such a social norm. Last Tuesday another apostle came and spoke to us! Elder Bednar talked about separating the doctines of the gospel from the Principles and applications. Soooooooo good! Every thing we teach as missionaries need to be simplified and simplified more so that we are teaching the Doctrines of Christ. All a member really needs a testimony of the basic doctrines and to realize everything else is temporal. The more I study the more I realize how much I don't know about for example the creation or the afterlife, but I also realize that I don't have to know right now. Anyways life is great! Russian is still really hard, but I think its always going to be that way.

I would like to give a shout-out to my cousin Samuel for drawing the cutest picture of a turtle I ever saw for me. Its hanging by my desk and makes me happy everytime I look at it. Love you all!

Cectpa Harrison

MTC 2nd week

2010 Nov 9

It never slows down here. I mean never. Every day is very busy, but it is a good thing that I have Sis Whiting as a companion because she is really good at planning and staying on task. Plus she is so happy and fun to be around. We had another amazing Devotional last Tuesday night. Elder Ballard came and spoke to us about being master teachers. Let me tell you, he is a master teacher. It is very uncommon to have 2 of the twelve apostles come consecutively. Every Monday night we have what is called 'workshops' which is pretty much a replacement for family home evening. We sign up for a class and in the class we are told about some aspect of Russian culture and then taught about some aspect of missionary work. Here is some of what I have learned so far. Most Russians are either Russian Orthodox or Atheist. Usually they are only religious though because of tradition. You can buy everything you would eat here over there except peanut butter is hard to find. We won't be allowed to eat any seafood or fish because their water is very polluted. I was told by a teacher that every missionary apartment has a very good water purifier so you don't have to worry about drinking the water. I probably won't have to worry about eating anything too out of the ordinary because usually missionaries aren't aloud to eat at any one's house. Anyways it should be fun. It was so fun to hear from everyone this week! I am glad the ward is still doing well. I continue to chip away at Russian. We are suppose to start teaching Lesson 1 from Preach My Gospel in Russian in a couple of weeks. Crazy huh! One thing that is emphasized here over and over again is the converting power of the Book of Mormon. I don't think I ever realized before how amazing a book it really is. I love having an hour every day to study from it. Tell everyone I love them.

Mom's comments: What Clarice says is so true about the converting power of the Book of Mormon. Reading the Book of Mormon when I was younger and even today has had such a profound effect on my everyday life. It testifies of Christ and our Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for us. We feel their love for us as we read it and feel the spirit of the Lord in our lives. I feel that from all the scriptures, but more especially from the Book of Mormon. What a great gift it is!