Hello Family.

I apologize for how short that last letter was. I had no time to do anything, we couldn't figure out how to save your mail. And at this internet shop in Kazan, it times you and if you're not done in the alloted amount of time, it shuts down. Back in Togliatti we just did it at a library, so it was normal. ANYHOW enough excuses. How is everyone? I started a letter last week (handwritten) that I'm going to finish and send today. Did Caleb get my letter yet? It was awesome hearing from Caleb and Patrick in last weeks emails. And Hope the week before that. It would be fun to email them more often. Letters handwritten usually take a while. By the way, Hope wrote that you just barely got my Christmas package a couple weeks ago. HA it's already spring. But I couldn't really understand what the lady at the post office was saying so I just chose the cheapest option. Haha man that was crazy and forever ago.

Well, way to go with lacrosse, Patrick! It's funny we thought for sure you were going to be a football star, and now you're at the top in lacrosse. You should do it in college. And with skiing... rrgh. I miss skiing, to be honest. Of course, I don't think about it a ton, but lots of times I'll walk through snow here that's perfect for skiing. Russia's got awesome snow, but no mountains (at least where I am). Everything's flat. Dad said Caleb's talk went good (YEAH!) and that things are going well. Also, something about a ZOMBIE movie. Oh man, I'd love to watch a zombie movie made by Caleb. I remember that me and my friends always wanted to do movies. It's so fun hearing about Caleb and reliving my younger years practically. Those were the good ole days. Now I gots all these gray hairs and my hip is broken. Joke. But my companion has some gray hairs, and I get to tease him about it. It seems like things were tough for a while, but things are going up. I'd LOVE to hear from SETH sometime. It's been 4ever. Do you still rock the Chinook? I sure hope so. Them Phat Deenz better be nice and broken in by the time I get home. Tell Chris to teach you how to do a coleman so you can be better than me when I get home. In general I got a pretty good report. Also, this week we've got zone conference (back in TOGLIATTI my NATIVE LAND oh yeahs). I'll be getting all the goods from home then, so that'll be awesome. It'll be fun to look through the handwritten mail. I hope work is still going good with Kent, glad to hear he's still hanging in there. And it's awesome to hear that dad got the big client back. I remember mom told me that Diane Memmott said that the years when they had missionaries out were the best years ever finiancially. It seemed unlikely, but things are pulling together...

Anywho, let me know of any other news, send a word to Tyson for me. DING lightbulb just went off that's why I haven't gotten emails yet, because you're all staying overnight in Logan after Ty's homecoming! Now everything makes sense. Well anyways SEY HELLOE FREM DE MATHERLEND TO MEY LEETLE RAHSHEEN FRENT!!! Man it's gonna be awesome to talk to Tyson and swap stories when I get back!! Let me know how his homecoming was. He'd better be at mine in a year and a half. Speaking of which, I just realized how short missions are. I had my 6 month mark this past week, and Sam's already more than halfway done. WHAAAT? That's crazy. I thought for a second about what it would be like serving and knowing that I'd be home in December. That's absolutely nuts. In about 2 months we call home, and then the next time we call home Sam will already be home. And general conference in soon. And in a couple months Mitch Turner and Christian hit their year marks and a little after that mckay and bryson come home.... Man missions are crazy short. By the way, Sam I love your letters. I feel like we went through blah down times at the same time, ha ha. But things are turning up! March was a slooow month. You're AWESOME way to battle the heat. I loved the story about the Old guy too. I HATE it when you have someone so ready and then magically they disappear or become uninterested, it happens too often. (I just heard Dad mumble "hate is a strong word..."). But I really hope you'll be able to find him again.

OKAY I've got about ten minutes. Wow this has been nice being able to write so long. Maybe once a month you guys can just send no letters so I can write the whole time (JOKE I love to hear from you way more than I like to write). Anywho, what happened this week? Not much. We had a ton of contacting this week because lots of meetings fell through. About a 4th of our branch didn't come to church yesterday because they all work for the same company and that company opened up a new office nearby just barely. Also, Elvira, one of our strongest investigators (who is impossible to meet with except at church because of her schedule) works for them so she couldn't come. This week we were 100% ready to see Tatyana Safonov at church. We arranged for her to ride with Sister Mametov because they hit it off really well at the lessons. We called Saturday night and things were all set, and Tatyana was still planning on coming, but then last minute the next morning she said she wasn't ready. BOOM. It was hard. She and her husband have a daughter in California who served a mission for our church, but Tatyana and her husband Alexei Safonov consider themselves atheists their whole lives. They're trying really hard, but they say they still haven't gotten an answer to their prayers that God exists. Alexei especially has had some really hard times in life, growing up in the Soviet Union. Pray for them, okay? They're such amazingly kind people, and they really are trying to believe. They have kept all the commitments except coming to church, and we're really trying to get them there so that they can have their own spiritual experiences. They're such a great couple. It really feels like doing home teaching with the Bakers, to be honest. Tell the boys that, stuff like that gets you ready for a mission.

Well, that's all I've got, I think. Keep up the good work everyone, you're all my heeerroooooeees. I love you all! Hope to hear from you next week!

Good luck

Alex

P.S. YEAH BRYANT LAW. say hi to brat wood and toone in the MTC. the socks from mitch were a good idea. I'd say, however, to focus on getting darker colors. Sometimes I wish the warmer ones were black instead of light gray.

P.P.S. I can't remember what other questions you needed answers to...