Week 3 in the MTC

Its Week 3 and lets go ahead and start out with Whats HOT and what's NOT.

WHATS HOT-
P DAY (ooohhh sweet pday)
- Sunday Night Yoga
- Watching the Testaments on Sunday Evenings and listening to 2000 elders giggle at the same time when the kissing scene comes on.
- Procyliting to LDS Missionaries on the MTC grounds
- Refferal Center

WHATS NOT
- Random Weather, going from being sunny enough to tan then running from giant hail, and then being dreanched from rain on the way home from the temple all within 8 minutes.
- Other Elders peeing in the shower across from you as you shower {Gross, guys!}
- Unlimited Food, Limited GYM

Some foreshadowing for next week's events - This week is Mission President Seminar Week. Which means that all the new Mission Presidents going out to their respective missions, including my own, and most of the Apostles and the Prophet will all be on the MTC campus all week! Stay tuned till next week to hear if I get to run into any of them!

This week one of my two Russian teachers BRAT (Brother in Russian) Bradford, who served in Ukraine. told us how in ancient Russian times Russians who were exiled from Russia were sent to the (Krai) which means edge in Russia. Krai was the territory of Ukraine and was similar to Australia for Britian. Anyway, in Russian, there is one way to say in a country and in a peice of land. Since Krai was considered an edge in Russian Language when you say in Ukraine you say it the way you would for a peice of land. Since Ukraine has become its own country, there is this huge argument of how to say in Ukraine. And since we have a native Ukranian living on our floor, my companion and I decided to say it the way as if it was a peice of land and he blew up! lol. Furthermore we created a huge argument between him and his companion who is a Native Russian. Sorry if that was way boring, it really was much more entertaining than I explained it, and if you were there, I'm sure you would have thought it was hilarious.

Ok, so this week we were able to go to the Referral Center and take inbound calls from people who are intrested in the church and want different types of literature or movies for free. Just a little bit of knowledge -- the Referral Center is actually considered a mission for some missionaries, who are disabled and is actually one of the highest baptizing missions. Anyway, I was able to take an inbound call and share my testimony with a lady about how God is our Heavenly Father and how we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I felt a wonderful sprit as I was able to do this and overall it wa a very pleasent experience.

Yesterday, we were commited to SYL which is speak your language. For a day. No english and only Russian. Because most of these elders have only been exposed to Russian for a few weeks, some stuggled more than others. Elder Valazquez, who is already funny, made me laugh as well as the entire district as he would yell out random phases that number one were irrelavent and 2 were incorrect, grammatically. Some of his favorite phases were: " How many DOG? " " "Bird Flu" " Don't, he to bless" and my favorite "Nightmare Food."

As far as working out everyday, my workout group, which consists of 3 elders from my district and 4 from other districts, is going strong. We have worked out every night for 17 days consistently with the exception of Sundays, where Elder Olson leads us in some stretches. Also, we now have a District song, Nearer My God to Thee, that we one time sang 6 times in a row. We start and finish each class with a song and prayer.

Finally I want to leave with you my testimony of Obedience. Although I have gained this testimony later than I would have liked, I know that by strict obediance to the counsil of our leaders in general and of the Prophets and Apostles, and in turn God, we can gain blessings beyond our understanding. I challenge each of you reading this to live with strict obediance and to pray to your Heavenly Father to thank him for every blessing you have recieved in your life! I love you and so does God, our Heavenly Father, and he wants to see you again someday!

Thank you for all your letters, Everyone who has written me via either US mail or Dear elder has recieved a response.

LOVE ALWAYS,

Elder Curran

PS. please fwd this to anyone you think would like to read it