MTC Week 7

 Hello Everybody!

Short Version: After 7 weeks of continuous zoom meetings, I’m doing surprisingly well. I’m pretty anxious to get to Chicago and will not miss being in the same room all day, but I will also miss the fun times we have together as a district. This week was quite the adventure having my companion's power go on and off unexpectedly (he lives in Texas). It’s back on now and should be for the rest of the time at the MTC. Russian is starting to feel natural. It rolls off my tongue.. Haha just kidding. I wish that was the case. It’s coming along but still takes a while to correctly construct a sentence. It’s also pretty horrifying to listen to someone talk at a conversational speed. I was practicing speaking with a Native Ukrainian teacher (she also speaks Russian) and I did not understand much of what she said to me. Practice makes permanent though, right?  

Long Version: I was pretty excited to see the snow this week, especially since we never get very much in Tri-Cities. My companion, on the other hand, was not so excited to see snow. He lives in San Antonio and got about 4 inches. A lot of you probably saw in the news how crazy Texas has been lately, but for those who haven’t, most people had power outages unless they lived near a hospital or fire station. His wifi was toast for about 2 or 3 days and he was sleeping in his winter coat because his house temperature got down near 40*F. Eventually, he found a friend who had power and went there during the day for MTC classes. His power is back now so I think we’re in the clear. 

     For some reason, some of my sweaters and slacks will show up purple over zoom. It must be the way the light reflects off it or something. I’m thinking it has to do with the material of certain clothes but who knows. It’s so fun because I have a pair of pants and a sweater that both turn purple in the morning light, so I look like Waluigi or a Human Eggplant. I’ll attach a picture below. 

     Yesterday one of our teachers was telling us about Russian foods and I will admit, they do not look appetizing. Not all the foods sound gross but here is an example that will demonstrate my point. It’s called Holodets. You make it by boiling the fat off a pig thigh. Once you’ve collected the fat and grease, you make a jello-like dish out of it. You put meat and vegetables into the fat, and refrigerate it so the fat solidifies. At this point, you have yourself a lovely dish ready to be gobbled up by absolutely nobody! The rest of their food doesn't sound as bad, but some of them are close. That being said, this is coming from the guy who eats a breakfast sandwich in the morning and a ham sandwich for lunch every day. I’ll be kind and eat whatever food people give me, but please pray I will not have to eat Holodets. 

     Me and Elder Rockwood figured out we can use videos as zoom backgrounds. Everybody got Rick-Rolled at the beginning of one of our classes heehee. 19 year olds will still be 19 year olds:)

       “When you reach up for the Lord’s power in your life with the same intensity that a drowning person has when grasping and gasping for air, power from Jesus Christ will be yours. When the Savior knows you truly want to reach up to Him—when He can feel that the greatest desire of your heart is to draw His power into your life—you will be led by the Holy Ghost to know exactly what you should do.”  (Russel M Nelson)

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