Тиждень Вісім - Week Eight

Hey Everyone! It literally feels like it has been one day since I sent out an email, except it has been a week and now I'm sitting here at my desk typing on a computer and wondering what on Earth actually happened during the last seven days. I know a ton of stuff happened, but now everything in the MTC is blurring together and I don't actually know what was this week or last week or next week or anything haha. All I know is that my time in the MTC is almost done! Next week is my last week that I will spend in the MTC, which is just insane to me! At the end of next week, I will have been a missionary for TWO ENTIRE MONTHS, which does not feel real. I'm so happy for my 9 weeks in the MTC, because they have been awesome. Honestly, at first I was really worried about it and I thought spending two months in the MTC was going to be pretty brutal, but I wouldn't trade this time for the world. I have loved getting to know both of my companions, Elder Hasson and Elder Key, and I'm so greatful to have been grouped together with those guys for my MTC stay. They have made it so awesome! I also love my district and I have loved trying to learn the language, and I love feeling like I'm making progress in my Ukrainian! It's amazing to see that progress first hand. We met the new Ukrainian district this week, and when we were talking to them I realized just how far I had come, and it was amazing to me! I couldn't even recite the cyrillic alphabet when I started, but now I can actually talk with other people! The progress has been insane! This week, I had a super awesome experience with the language when Elder Hasson and I went to teach a Ukrainian lesson and his internet went out right as we started. I had to give a lot of the lesson myself while we waited for his internet to start working again, and I was actually able to do it! I could express myself and say what I wanted to say, and I could understand what our friend Ларісса was saying too. Now, I couldn't actually communicate super well, because at one point she said "Я не розумію як відчувати Святого Духа (I don't understand how to feel the Holy Ghost)", and I said "Як ви відчуваєте коли ми читаємо пісання і молитися? (how do you feel when we read scriptures and pray)" and then she said "Добра (good)" and then I said "Так, Я відчуваю добрий коли Я відчуваю Святого Духа також (yeah I feel good when I feel the Holy Ghost too)", and then I just moved on haha. I think she was very confused by the fact that I was like "nailed it" and moved on after a one second explanation of the Holy Ghost, but you know you do what you can. Luckily Elder Hasson hopped on pretty soon after that and saved the lesson. We also had the opportunity to meet over zoom with some Ukrainian non members that Elder Hasson knew, and it was awesome! They are so much fun to talk to, and we really love them. It's a father and a son named Alexey and Hleb, and they agreed to let us teach them the first lesson during our next meeting! WE ARE SO STOKED! They are amazing and I cannot wait to talk with them again. For my Spiritual thought this week, I really wanted to focus on prayer. Going into the MTC, I really didn't really feel too confident in my praying skills (which is a very weird thought to have, I know), but as I have learned and have begun to understand prayer better, I have realized just how big of a blessing it is! Through prayer, we have the opportunity to kneel down before the throne of God and talk to him literally WHENEVER WE WANT. How cool is that? God loves us, so he gave a direct conduit through which we can talk to Him! That is so amazing. Oftentimes, it's easy to think of prayer as just a box to check, but there is so much more to it than that. Through prayer, we can ask God for help, we can tell him our feelings, we can go to Him for advice, and we can receive blessings that are set aside only until we ask for them. The coolest part is that prayer is not anything like receiving a letter with no return address, because God listens and then responds to our prayers! Through personal revelation, He answers us and helps us in our trials and in our questions. Jesus Christ even said it himself: "Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you" (Moroni 7:26). When we ask God in the name of Christ through prayer for that which is good, and we have faith that we will receive what we asked for, He will give it to us. That is such an amazing promise, and I urge all of you to put that pattern to the test in your own lives. I have seen in it my own, and I can testify that it really does work. God will give us the good things we ask for, we just have to pray in faith to receive them first. I love you all, and I hope you have the best week EVER! Until next time, Elder Horsley

^Elder Key lives in Portland. He's also great at Photoshop. ^Saying goodbye to Elder Lloyd