Week 6 - Thanks for Sticking Around!

I've got a few things to relate to all of you, but once I get into the field I will definitely try to feed yall some more content.

I figured that I might as well start with the food that exists in our room. Its alot. ALOT. there's a picture at the bottom with life size me for comparison. We ended up giving about half of it away to the english elders that moved into our district . they are on the floor above us so we dont get to see them very often, its kinda a bummer but we hope that they felt a little more included after that.  👍👍

Our devotional speakers this week (Devotionals are talks given every Sunday and Tuesday night to the whole of the MTC) were Tad R. Callister and *Drum Roll Please* David a. Bednar!! Holy Smokes can i just say that both of these talks were some of my favorites that have been given at the MTC. One of my favorite moments of either of those nights was when Elder Bednar literally STOPPED THE CLOSING HYMN and started us all over signing it because it related so much to his topic, something he hadn't planned. 

It was hilarious to see the Conductor literally jump when she was tapped on the shoulder and proceed to cut us off (very effectively i might add, we all stopped on the dime) so that Elder Bednar could talk to us. Holy smokes I loved that. we also sang an absolutely awesome rendition of I Know That My Redeemer Lives in as the Choral and it sounded super insanely good. I'm Pretty sure God himself gave us a thumbs up when we were done. TOTALLY awesome! did i mention that Every other MTC in the World watched or will watch that devotional? Yeah crazy stuff.

So Everyone remembers those TRCs i Talked about, right? No? Ok, quick recap. 'We Teach real life people, in russian, in person'. So this week we switched to Skype TRCS😓, which means we talked to real people over skype that are native speakers. the trip with this is that usually they are actually in russia or actually in ukraine, usually. i say that because our real person this week was Marina, an absolute angel of a woman but man did we have a good laugh about the situation she put us in before we started teaching her. it went like this. 

We ring her up and she answers... only to hang up 6 seconds later. Confused, Elder Fackrell and i look at each other and shrugged thinking the line dropped or something. we call back. we are greeted in english with "One second please elders!" to which we reply "Uh... Of Course!?!" 🤔we then proceed to here *Boop* *Boop* *Rustle of shopping bags* "Here are your bags enjoy your day!" (In english). A few seconds later we here her get into her car and settle in. the screen goes live and we introduce ourselves. WHILE we are sitting there talking with her sharing our message she is casually eating and talking every once in awhile with whoever is in the passenger seat.😅😂 To top all of this off, i'm pretty sure she was driving and doing all of this at the same time. Oh my goodness i loved her and i hope we have her again. She brightened my day and we still managed to have a fantastic lesson! oh  yeah, she lived in Salt Lake City!😅😅

Scripture this week is 1 Corinthians 15:10 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

I'm not going to say anything about it personally, but i leave you with this small challenge. Where can you see the help of others in your life, whether it be from God or from someone around you, and how can you show your appreciation for the fact that you couldn't have done it, whatever it was without their help. 

ешь свои овощи!!!

1. All the boys from Fresno going to the Provo MTC overlapped! Elder Thompson (Far right) and Elder Durant (Middle) and Me (Far left, in case you needed it)

2. Continuing Destruction (Constant entertainment) 

3. Life size me for comparison

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WEEK 5- WOOOOAH WERE HALFWAY THERE

Halfway through the MTC that is... Its ok though! Hopes are high and we are learning! So lets get to it!

First news; we learned Russian. I know, its wild to think but get this. we had to teach a lesson COMPLETELY in Russian and i was able to say all the words i needed to with little to know thought or trying to remember many of the words. Yes i spoke slow, but it made it easier and it wasnt as choppy, because lets be honest with ourselves, had i talked fast i would've sounded like a video conference call between Mr. SayItTwice and Crush. (I dont mean to confuse anybody, but thats the image a want all of you to see in your heads😁) So there we go, thats the Russian Update for this week.

Second news; we lost our Armenians this week. Очень грустный (Very Sad). They were an awesome bunch and it sucked to see them go. On the upside, they did leave one of their own (One of the Best thank goodness😁) and a bunch of snacks and stuff... Im going to stop right there and make sure everyone understood, they didnt just leave a few pop-tart boxes and some Kettle Corn, NO. These legends left behind two LARGE boxes of food, ranging from Swedish fish to animal crackers, from Zotts (not entirely sure still have to try those) to Haribo Gummi-Bears. So shout out to them for that! 👍😀👍

Heres something that happened literally TODAY. We moved. I dont just mean our room our our hallway or even just the people in our building, no. The Entirety of the MTC moved. All 2000 some odd missionaries had to pack their stuff and transport it. to say that the hallways were packed would be an understatement. I felt like I was trying to escape one of those poor cities during Independence Day. It was a log jam of mass proportions. (oh yeah Third News😅)

Anyways, thats about it so i'll end with my Favorite Scripture this week.  this scripture comes from Alma 30:44 ; 44 But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.  

Everything Witnesses that there is a Supreme Creator. That Grand Design we see in everything is the hand of God and all we have to do is look into the scriptures for the truth of these things. The Bible and The Book of Mormon 'Another Testimony of Jesus Christ' both hold truths that we can look to to strengthen our testimonies and reaffirm our commitment to our Faith.

Im excited to continue giving all of you stories and keeping yall updated on my life, So as always, if you have any fun or interesting stories you may want to share, feel free! im always down to read something good from the lives of my family and friends. До скорого!

1. All the stuff i had to move (Food included)

2. Me and the Boys at the Provo Temple (Its been closed for like two months)

3. THE ARMENIANS

4. A Cactus Cooler Chandelier

FROM SHELBY

It's been SO GREAT to see and talk to Jacob every week.  For all of my life every week is spent looking forward to the weekend, and suddenly, for the first time in my life, I wake up so excited to see WEDNESDAY morning. Wednesday you guys!

We message each other throughout the day and then call him once all of us are home to be able to call together.  Most calls are updates about life at the MTC and and a little about life here at home.  Every once in awhile we're able to pick up a little additional info or story that doesn't make it into his letter.  Recently I've been noticing little comments he makes about keeping his companion happy, and how his companion really likes to toe the line and follow every rule to the letter (as it should be!).  Well, I know my kid.  That boy LOVES to push boundaries...flaunt rules...tempt fate...generally be obnoxious until he's on the verge of getting busted.  Well, I asked him how life with a companion is going. He fed me the token "Great, Elder Fackrell is a great guy!", then I asked him what does Elder Fackerell think of having him as a companion?  His response?  "Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure he thinks I hate it here".

Wait.  What?  For real?

Dude, why would he think that?!

Well, Jacob mentions that his companion is a real "straight arrow", LOVES following the rules to the letter...which I know from experience is like a red flag to a bull for Jacob.

Here's an example:
Flip flops were not allowed at school. So Jacob wore flip flops anyways but had shoes in his bag in case anyone said anything.  He wanted to bet me that he could get through the day wearing them because his teachers liked him and wouldn't call him out on it. Well, a counselor did say something at the end of the day, but by then he was in swim and was allowed to have them on, BUT the counselor gave him a warning not to wear them all day again.  WELLLLLLLL, Jacob investigated the rules and decided that flip flops were banned because there was no strap around the heel holding them on.  So the next day he put those flip flops right back on WITH A STRING TIED FROM THE STRAPS AROUND THE HEEL!  A string you guys.  And he got. away. with. it.

#technicality

So enter the companion who sees a rule and follows it without question.  None.  Apparently Jacob is finding loopholes and technicalities all over the place.  Nothing major, but enough to make his companion crazy with the constant challenges that Jacob poses to his sanity daily.  Just a small example is the "fortress of solitude" Jake turned his bed into.  MTC rules state that if you can't sleep then try finding a way to block out the light, New Companion states that you're not allowed to build "Forts" (which is true).  So Jacob gets permission to block out the light from the leaders and then spends the next several weeks calling it a "fort" to annoy his companion.  And THAT my friends, is my kid in a nutshell.

I miss that ornery booger so much!

Another Week Bites the Dust... Literally. Week Four.

Let me just say that that it has been an increasingly difficult task trying to come up with more fun stuff to talk about😅. Ill do my darnedest though. I'm going to start with my learning experiences. 

We have these things called TRCs. I honestly have no clue what it stands for, i just know that when they say we have one coming up that i feel a pang of stress followed by a brief moment of "Whelp" immediately followed by me trying to forget about it until the time actually comes around for us to actually participate and plan for it. Its honestly not to bad, we just teach people small little lessons and spiritual thoughts. The problem is that these are in Russian, so when i walk in and see the little old lady who's actually from Russia (Larissa) my heart gets really excited because i know that I'm going to have some good "conversation". "Conversation" because all we have to do is ask a question and sit there for three minutes listening to a legitimate Russian talk their native language. You know those moments where all you can do is nod, smile say 'yep', and hope it wasn't a question? That's exactly what it felt like whilst sitting there as she explained her family tree. absolutely astounding.

 Also, this week, i got the opportunity to do the Sacrament Prayers in Russian. It was wild because i actually was able to understand all the words in was saying and that made it all the m,ore fun! super crazy how much the Gift of Tongues has worked on me and my District while we have been here. I know quite a bit of Russian. to show you some of the words that i am learning (literally the tip of the iceberg. Like, its the tip and its roughly the size of a golfball, and everything under it, i.e. the rest of the ice berg, is gosh dang the size of the Statue of Liberty *Scale to best estimate*) make sense? If it doesn't have someone explain it to you. I would try but... i let yall guess why. Anyways its kinda fun because i also get to basically choose the words that i want to study form a huge list of words. fun stuff. So now onto the most exciting parts of my day.

 Destruction and construction of campuses. its especially exciting when they are destroying things. And What is the first thing that happens when i get here? they begin tearing down the buildings right outside of my classroom. there was a day when they first started tearing down the buildings when we were coming back from exercise time out on the field. The glorious sound of destruction could be heard from the great distance and me and the rest of the Russians that were with me were eager to go an see what was happening. Naturally we all raced back to a point where we could see what was happening. we reached the Point of Best Viewing and proceeded to watch what this backhoe, scooper arm, big ol machine thing was doing. we sat and watched it for a while and as would be expected nothing happened. we sat and watched and wait. the seconds ticked by into minutes as we watched this machine moving around waiting for it to bring down another chunk of this building. as we were preparing to leave because of our tight schedule, we hear from the back "Wait, its doing something!" Bless the heart of whoever was waiting and watching because as i turned, i beheld with awe the destruction of an entire wall, and most of the classrooms that were once there. All those that were there let out a Holler of Joy and chattering with excitement we ran back to continue on with our day, our goal of gazing upon the Awesome Power of Mans Machine. 

Anyways, that's about all for this week. All the pics and stuff that i figured might be fun to show are included. As a final thought i want to share i scripture that was shared with me this week. It comes form Alma 26 and its about missionary work. The whole chapter was great, but my favorite verse was Verse 30.  30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some. I really enjoyed this because i am very aware that there will be trials that come my way, but i know that if i can be the means of helping one person come unto the light and truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will all be worth it. The whole chapter is a fantastic read. I've been in Alma a lot recently, and with good reason. he was a great missionary with alot of great insight and wisdom. anyways, i am excited to continue my learning Here in the Provo MTC and will keep trying to find things to share! As always, don't be afraid to share your thoughts and stories with me! i always read them and its super fun to do so! Love you All! Удачи и оставайся умным

1. Some Words i'm Learning

2-4. The Destruction!!

5. This smug cat that is not afraid of anything and wouldn't leave me alone while I was eating (Sister Mittens)

THESE MTC WEEKS... Week Three

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, and Goodnight! I've got to get all the greetings in whenever i can! I want to start by thanking all those who sent me emails this week, i really enjoyed all of them, and appreciate, the pictures and comments that were shared. I loved all of it so thank you! Lets get started on an update of my life here in the Beautiful State of Utah on this here MTC campus. Let me just say this, there is no way to describe how time works here. Because every day goes by in the exact same way, i have officially started to forget what day it is regularly. I thought that this last Thursday was a Saturday and got excited because no class! little did i know that 800 class was gonna sneak up on me in the morning. and with every day comes a night and boy do i have a quick story to share about my nights here. Its starts like this: i was getting about 3-4 hours of sleep on the regular. for the first 2 weeks i woke up consistently with back pains and such. So i thought to myself "Is this really how im going to spend all NINE weeks here in the MTC?" the answer was no. so i decided to nab an extra mattress and throw is underneath mine. this means that i have about a foot and a half of space between me and the bottom of the bed on top of me. And it worked! and to make it even better i added a 'Curtain' of sorts to block out the lights (Pictures attached). I'm getting some of the best sleep I'm getting now, but there is one downside... i consistently wake up in the middle of the night and sit up to try and find my watch, only to slam my head smack into this bar that manages to be right where I'm sleeping each night. needless to say i find that it is no longer worth it to find my watch and fall back to sleep😅. and its happened consistently, so that's pretty fun. Also, we lost a lot of the Russians that were here before us. they finally got sent out to their assigned fields of labor! kinda sad, but there were all super cool so i was glad i got to get to know them. (IMPORTANT NOTE, everyone refers to missionaries by the languages they are speaking. Russian Learners are 'Russians', Armenian Learners are 'Armenians' etc. i suppose there are some Elders and Sisters where we call the the 'English Elders' or Spanish Elders'. its really whatever fits best and makes the most sense to say in a quick sentence.)  anyways, there is another picture enclosed of all of us in a room having a sort of going away party with all the Armenians, Georgians, Russians, Latvians, Lithuanians, etc.. All of these Awesome Elders are in my hallway, and they are super awesome guys. Also just a fun update to give yall an idea of how my language studies are going, i taught my first lesson in Russian to someone i do not know! I could understand the basics of the sentences they were trying it say, and could respond, slowly, in full sentences with what i wanted to say (for the most part).😁 It was super crazy to see the progress that i and my class have made. Stuffs crazy. Anywho, i thought that this week i would use a scripture that i found rereading Helaman 12 Verse 1. And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him. When we put our trust in the Lord we are able to draw from the pool of His INFINITE GOODNESS when we are feeling down and out. He Loves us and he wouldn't want us to fail in our endeavors to try and stay on the Straight and Narrow. The infinite goodness of the Lord is something that will never fail us if we but trust that he is there. God Loves us and wants us to return to live with him, i know that this is true and i know that we all have the capacity to feel his love for us, we need only to ask for it.  
Бог любит нас и хочет, чтобы мы чувствовали эту любовь. i love you all and as i have said, don't be afraid to share your stories with me. i love hearing them even though i cant respond, they are super awesome. Ill try to keep mine as interesting as possible, so ta ta for now.

1. My Fortress of Solitude

2. Me and some other Kiev/Moldovans realizing our shirts (his pants) make up the moldovan flag

3. Me and Elder Kull (From Germany) holding our Zones Sunday ice cream trophy (i made up 7 of those bowls) of the 25 people that contributed we put down 101 bowls. The scoops filled the bowl for the most part so... yeah

4. The Armenians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Russians, Ukrainian, Estonians having a party

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