Elder Calder Horsley

Привіт все! This week was really one for the ages. I hit my halfway mark in the MTC, saw my cousin Elder Calder leave for Arizona, watched the missionary devotional with my cousin Elder Horsley, and got to go to Влад's house! It was amazing! I have loved the MTC so far, and it was crazy when I hit my halfway point on Sunday! I've been a missionary for an entire month already, which seems surreal. I felt like I had just started the MTC 5 minutes ago, but NOPE I'm more than halfway done so I don't know what happened in between my five minutes and five weeks marks. I really don't have that much time left in the MTC, which is getting me so nervous and excited at the same time! I still have a long way to go with my Ukrainian (and even though I can't speak it very well, my Ukrainian emailing skills may just be top notch [but also not really]), but it really is coming along, and I cannot wait to get to Texas and start working! That time will come, but for now, I'm ...

Привіт все! As I sat down to write this email today, I was trying to think about what happened this week and I honestly have no idea. My mind is blank. HOWEVER: according to Duolingo I have been grinding out some Ukrainian practice for the last seven days. I think I'm just using all my memory for Ukrainian words so my brain is kicking out any recollection of anything that isn't Ukrainian (or song lyrics). Oh well, what can you do? Maybe one day I'll have thought about Ukrainian for so long that my English will start to decline and as I get better at Ukrainian I'll get worse at English and I'll just have to speak Ukraine-glish when I get home. But before that happens, I need to at least be decent at the 'Kraine haha. But in all reality, I'm getting much better at the language! I know I say that every week, but it's so true. Between Duolingo, MTC lessons, and the gift of tongues, I have been taught to speak in FULL SENTENCES. Now, that's not even somet...

Привіт знову! Let me just tell you firsthand: I don't know what it is about the MTC but it activates the part of your brain that controls your dreaming and hijacks it and then decides to forward you the weirdest dreams you have ever had in your life. If you want some seriously psychedelic dreams, you don't have to do drugs, you just have to serve a mission. I almost never have dreams and then this last week I had some that are definitely going on my watchmojo top 10 strangest dreams list. I had one where I thought there were all these secret passages in my house and I was very disappointed to wake up and find out that that was not actually something we had decided to build onto our house during these past infinity months of construction, but we finally did get grass in our yard, so that kind of made up for not having hallways inside our walls. However, on the other hand, with everything finally getting done, that means that the pool we've been working towards is getting don...

ПРИВІТ ЛЮДИ!!! Week two in the MTC has been successfully completed, and it was a definite 10 out of 9. I know I said this last week, but the gift of tongues is totally real, and I'm so beyond happy that it is because I have been tapping into that good stuff for the last 14 days now. I definitely would not be where I'm at now without God's help with my language skills. If I was just left to my own devices, I'd still be saying "велика шишка" in english, and no one would understand why I was calling them a big pinecone. In other news, I receive my reassignment today and I will be temporarily serving in the Texas Dallas West mission! I am so beyond excited to serve in Dallas, and I literally cannot wait to get out there! The coolest part about it is that the suburb where I used to live in Texas is right there in that mission. It's crazy to think that I will be headed back to one of the places I used to live, and I cannot wait to get in on that good barbecue. I...