July 28, 2009

HELLO EVERYONE,

Well it's another great day as a missionary!!! Everything is just so amazing here, I love it love it love it here. I'm so glad that I am going to Russia cuz I stilll have 10 more weeks here :) well we will see how I feel about that later. I went to the Temple this morning, we get to go every pday! The Provo temple is so beautiful!
So I am going to try to answer all of your questions, but if I forget some I am sorry. I only have 17 mins left.
Thanks for your letters and emails, I love hearing for you all! They feel my day with sunshine! Well things are coming along very well. Its amazing to see how much Russian I have learned in two weeks, I can't wait to learn more though. There is not much new going on though, still I wake up, go to breakfast, go to class, go to lunch, go to class, do personal company and language study, go to dinner, go to gym sometime during the day, and then go to sleep. HAHA thats basically my schedule. Every day is GREAT! I really do love it here.
Mom I check my email around 12:45 when I start my laundrey. Oh by the way mom no one had said anything about my waist line haha!! Oh and yes my clothes are working just great! thankfully all the sidewalks are under covering so it doesnt get very hot since we are in the shade!! Food is great here too, well at least I love it. Some missionaries dont, but it's usually the Elders who just left their parents home and good home cooking. For those of us who have been at college for a while and had to cook our own food, which most of the time wasnt very good, then its great!! I love the salad, so that makes its easy to not gain weight!!
So I see Emily all the time, its awesome. It's so fun having her here! Oh Amy, I taught Emily the Hoedown Throwdown lastnight haha!! We have been able to sit by each other at some meetings, which we realized that it is good that we arent going to the same mission and arent companions cuz we get talking alot when we are with each other, we wouldnt get anything done as companions! Oh by the way she said she didnt get the email forward. her email is... oh nevermind i forgot it so i will send it to you in a letter :)
Scott and Amy, have your baby already???!!!!! Goodness your killing me here! Good luck with everything though, i pray for you daily that everything will go well. Let me know ASAP when it comes. I think it is going to be a girl!
Its been amazing feeling the power of the Lord here. The other day the 9 of us in my district all bore our testimonies, it was so powerfull. Missionary work it amazing and so important! I cant wait to get to Russia. The Lord love us so much! He wants us all to come closer to him. We all need to build our foundation upon him, he is our rock. We need not fear anything when we trust in him. He makes life. We cant forget him and what he has done for us. The gospel brings happiness to everyone and so many people dont have that joy, LETS FIND THEM AND SHARE IT WITH THEM!!!!! I hope you all are doing your part

I love you all so much. I have the best family ever. You all are my strength, I could not do this without you! Your support and love mean so much to me! I need your help though with this work, we full time missionaries cant do this alone. Look for every oppurtunity to share the gospel. The world need its. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!! Have an amazing week, and I can't wait to hear from you!!

Love Always,
Cectpa Gneiting

ps. if my spelling and english is not very good, please just dont pay attention to that. Russian is doing a number on me, i am already forgetting how to say and spell things in English. haha

July 21, 2009

HELLOOOOOOO my wonderful family!!!! I miss you all so much, but not enough to make me homesick and want to come home. haha sorry. Well it's amazing here, I have loved every moment being here. As soon as I walked in the front doors after saying goodbye to you, I just felt at home. Before arriving I thought I would be lost and not know what to do or where to go, oh was I wrong. This place is so organized. As soon as I walked in I was directed exactly where I needed to go, I never had to ask for help. Right after walking in I got my tag, it has Cectpa Gneiting (pronounced sestra) and then the church of jesus chirst of... and thats all in Russian. I would type how it is spelled, but I dont know how to type on the computer in Russian yet. I do know how to say it though!! Russian is coming along, actually very well. Its amazing how much we have learned in only 5 actually days of class. I know how to introduce myself, meet someone, share my testimony, pray, contact someone on the street about the gospel, and then just random words and things to say. So its coming along. There is a huge group of elder/sister going to Russia. There are 2 other sisters going to my mission, and then a bunch of elders going there too. There are missionaries going to Russia that have been here so 6 weeks and their Russian is so good, so I am looking forward to when I can talk like that!!!!
The spirit is amazing here, you feel it everywhere! We are in class basically all day long, and if I was anywhere else that would be the worst thing ever, but because the spirit is in class with us and because what we are learning is the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, every minute in class is amazing! So is is my schedule for every day except sunday and pday is: wake up, eat breakfast, go to class, eat lunch, go to class, eat dinner, go to class, go to bed!!!! haha yup thats basically it, but it great, I love it. We actually have gym time every day too, which oh man i love love love that! I am so determined not to gain ANY weight while being here, so I eat at the salad bar bascally every meal and I work out everyday! The only thing i dont like about gym is that they have this rediculous rule that in basketball only sisters can guard sisters and only elder can guard elders, and just my luck there are no other sister in my gym time that can play bball. I played one day and another sister agreed to play with me, she wasnt very good so I was able to score a lot of points. Soon though i felt like the elders were just using me to win haha cuz as long as i got the ball i usually scored. So I started passing the ball even if I had a wide open shot or drive, I will not be used haha. I just dont like that rule, but oh well.
well my time is almost up, so i love you all!! Please write me cuz first of all i love hearing from you and second of all one elder in my district get like 20 letters a day and packages!
Im so thankful for being a missionary and learning and growing so much! the gospel is so totally true. I would share more of my testimony but i have 50 seconds!!

love you sooooooo much
Cectpa Gneiting

July 18, 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

All is well on my first day here at the MTC. I only have 15 mins to write cuz its lights out at 10:30. So sorry if this isn’t very long. I love it here; it’s been amazing so far! Everyone is so nice and so helpful.

We had a lot of orientations today. We had a meeting about what to expect, & about the gym (which I am really excited for). We also met with the MTC Mission President and then with our Branch/District. Our branch has around 90 Elders/Sisters! That is huge; most branches have 20-30 members. There are tons of missionaries going to Russia. I have 2 companions, Sister Boggs (that is Tiana, the one I knew from before) and Sister Gilmore. They are both great! Sister Gilmore isn’t going to our mission.

Tomorrow we start our classes, so I’ll let you know how that goes. Oh, I am the senior companion, but then in 6 weeks we will switch. I miss you all so much.

I’m still a little nervous about my classes, but I know the Lord will help me. Well I only have a couple minutes left, but I want you to now how much I love and appreciate you. Thanks for all of your support. I know this is going to be an amazing experience. I know the church is true. I know that my Heavenly Father knows and loves me. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and I’m so thankful for His sacrifice for me. I’m so thankful to have this time to serve the Lord. I love you so much and I will write again soon, I’m not sure when that will be though. Haha! I’m still trying to get used to the rules and schedule.

Love always,

Sister Gneiting

PS I saw my friend Emily within 20 mins of being here. We ran into each other at the bookstore. We don’t have lunch or anything together, but our rooms are near each other, so we should see each other every day.