Week 6 in the MTC

Its week 6 in the MTC

I'm gonna keep it short and sweet this week.

First off, Volleyball Tournaments are the new thing! When I first got here, I wasn't very open to anything other than basketball but because of the swine flu scare we couldnt play basketball or soccer. cSo, after endless rounds of Lightning or Knockout depending on where you are from I moved on to games such as 4 square. Don't knock it till you played it. It's way fun to say the least. Anyway so a couple of guys from my district asked me to play volleyball one day and reluctantly I played, only to fall in love with the game and form a solid team of 4 now that have taken over the entire tournament when most teams have teams of 6. Yesterday, they actually brought back basketball and even though I contemplated going and playing, I am just way too engaged in the volleyball tournament to leave it right now. So, 5 days out of the week (excluding Sun and Tuesday) that is what I look forward too most.

WE went back to the RC and I was fortunate enough talk to two people and give basically the First Lesson and commit them to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. They both said they would without question, so I'm excited to call them back in a week and follow up with them. This week's experience was much better than last weeks were a guy yelled at me for 40 min about Joseph Smith being a fraud. I ended that convorsation by politely bearing my testimony of the restoration and how God loves all his children and got off the phone. Hopefully, my restraint from screaming back planted some sort of seed :)

This week, from Thursday morning to Sunday Morming we had SYL, which stands for Speak your language. WE could only spek Russian except in a few rare occasions. This basically was 10 grown men grunting and pointing to things for three days straight as I'm sure we butchered the Russian laungage in every way that we could. Although it was difficult by the 3rd day, I was actually dreaming and thinking in Russian. I'm intrested in what will happen on Aug 5 when we have to speak it for 2 weeks straight.

I also held DL meetings and am currently trying to unify our district through obedience. After I met with each of the elders and bore my testimony, and commiting them to goals where they can improve, I have noticed a considerable difference in our district. Being DL is not easy but it helps me be extra obedient, so I can be an example to the other elders.

And lastly, I'm way excited to leave. I'm begining to talk to inanimate objects such as a bowl of soup and a dryer in Russian. Sooooo, I think I'm going nuts. Lol. No, but really, I'm way excited to get out into the field and be able to share my testimony with others and invite them to come unto Christ!

I want you to know that only through repentance and the atonement of Jesus Christ we can be saved and have eternal happiness. I have experienced the blessing of the atonement and hope that anyone reading this will strive to use the atonement everyday.

I love you so much even if we've never met, because we are all childern of GOd and are all brothers and sisters.

Love, your missionary,

Elder Curran

PS fwd this to anyone who you think might like to read it!