So I think I am starting to understand the schedule here...
Step 1) you get up, you're tired all day, you eat a few meals, go to a ton of meetings, read and pray a lot, and then go to bed.
Step 2) Repeat step 1
But really, every day seems the same. I am anxiously awaiting the time to go out in the mission field so that I can deal with real people with real needs. I understand that the mock lessons and practices are necessary but they just seem so fake most of the time. I mean how often is an investigator going to say, "Yes, I know what a prophet is. Yeah, agency! I know all about that and I could even list off the major points of the gospel and the Atonement. I will read the whole Book of Mormon by next week and I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet..." I wish! But oh well, what can you do when the only people you teach are other missionaries and BYU students. Ha ha.
It is great to hear about what everyone is doing at home. It sounds like everything is going well. Tell Colton Reed congratulations on his mission call! That is awesome.
But yes, I am doing well. I have adjusted pretty well to the missionary schedule, etc, but what I am having the hardest time doing is trying to find out who the Lord wants me to be as a missionary. I feel like I have to competing personalities (one being the quite, reserved Elder Russell that is sweet and never says much and the other being the outgoing and funny Elder Russell and makes people laugh) and I don't know which the Lord wants me to be. It has been hard for me to try and figure this out. I guess maybe the Lord wants me to be myself but at the same time I feel like I should be changing into the person He wants me to be. It is a little frustrating.
I have already had several experiences that have changed me. One day, we had a substitute teacher and she had us bear our testimonies. It was the first time that I had ever borne my testimony in Spanish. It went well. Upon hearing our districts testimonies, the teacher invited us to come bear our testimonies in her class, especially because there is a missionary in her class who wanted to go home. So we did. We went later that day and bore our testimonies and guess what! I translated for my companion because he doesn't feel very comfortable speaking English. I think I did okay.
As far as the language goes, I have good days and bad days. I feel like I have improved but it is still so difficult to teach the lessons and things. I just never feel prepared enough to teach. I hope I will improve.
Business related, I haven't yet received my package but we will check tonight. I should get it soon if you sent it last week. All of my companions are leaving Monday or Tuesday but I have yet to get my flight information. I could be leaving before my next P-day or I could be here for a while. It all really depends.
I thank you for your prayers and thoughts on my behalf. I love you all and I am so grateful to have you as family. Please forward this email to as many people as you can. We only have so much time to write and I probably wont be able to write everyone. Dearelder.com works great! You can use that I can read your letters all week long. Well my time is about up, so I have to go, but I will keep you in my thoughts. I love you all. Until later!
Love,
Elder Grant Russell
