Priesthood session without Training Table!

Yes conference was gr8. I really loved a lot of the talks and it was fun because we all got to watch it in Inglish. English. All the missionaries in Samara got together in a room downstairs while all the members watched it in Russian.

But. Some important business to attend to:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATRICK. I'm sorry I didn't mention that during the last e-mail. I feel like a jerk for that. But I'm going to write you a nice ole Russian letter for your birthday. By the time it gets to you it will be Hope's Birthday, so maybe I'll do something for her too. And then dad's will come up...So actually what I'll do is write notes going for each one of you for your birthday for the rest of my mission. And then send home a dog from the street. Or an old soviet millitary car that I sometimes see policemen driving around in.

Anyhow, thanks so much for the easter package mama!! I was a little sad so see how much you spent on it though... I really did appreciate all the stuff you sent though. And when I say "appreciate" I mean that the only edible stuff left over from the package is 1 box of Mac'n'cheese (out of 3) and the mints. And PB of course. But that was awesome to get all that from home, thank you SO MUCH for thinkin of me. That's one thing that I really want to work on, is discernment for others. I really want to be the kind of person who's really perceptive of others so that I can help people out. Sam and Mom are really good examples of that. Maybe it's a girl thing. It was really amazing for me to hear that you invited Bro. Yancey to come up for dinners on Sunday. That's a perfect example of going out of your way to lift up someone who's having a hard time. That's part of the baptismal commitment, what a great way to fulfill that. I'm sure he'll be really fun to have over, especially if you get grandpa and him going back and forth. I hope that's still going on when I get back!

So, Sam's going to be a trainer again, eh?? My trainer told me that if a sister trains, it's a big deal, because sisters in the field don't have the regular leadership positions. And you ardy done it 2X now!!! Ahh yeah! That means you're a good missionary. Who's surprised? Plus you've had nothing but native-speaking companions before that, so I bet your Spanish is rockin'. My Russian really flew when I was with Elder Kazakov in Kazan. And that was just one cycle. Lucky Duck! Is your new companion-itza from America? I'm sure you'll write about it next email, just curious. It's going to be crazy over the next two cycles. On May 6, at the end of this cycle, 15 missionaries are going home. 25% of our mission. And then at the end of next cycle, another 25% of our mission is going home. So everyone that's left is going be training or leaders pretty much. Scary. I'm happy here working with a companion on his last cycle! I get to "kill" him. That's gonna be weird... Anyways,I haven't been the "oldest" in a companionship yet. Well, don't need to worry about that yet! Still got about 4 weeks. But enough about me WAY TO GO FOR BEING A GOOD MISSIONARY. You're an awesome example, sistar. Keep it up, and be EXACTLY obedient for your new dochka (daughter). That'll be so important. But you ardy no that!!

ITEM OF BUSINESS I forgot to address. Mom I got some important news/information for you that has to do with the mission blog and the Law of the Land. Apparently, it's illegal for you to put pictures of anyone up on the blog without permission, so if you have any baptism pictures or anything like that, you have to blur out the faces or something. Same with regular e-mails, if I've written an investigator or member's name then you have to omit it. It sounds RIDICULOUS but I guess that's what they're telling us. Apparently the church gets in trouble for all this "violation of privacy" stuff. Also, I'm gonna work on not writing too much about investigators' specific stories in my emails... in the white handbook it says to not write personal stuff about any investigators. HOW'D I MISS THAT. Anyways, just felt like I should let you know... sorry if that makes stuff ridiculous, it's just what they been telling us so that the church doesn't get in trouble...

And now with a couple minutes left, let's get back to Conference. Wasn't it amazing? I really loved it. I heard Elder Porter's name, that was really cool. Also, there's been a lot of excitement, because the mission president of this mission who just finished up last June, President Bennet, is now an area authority. It was fun for all the missionaries to hear his name over the pulpit yesterday. I never got to meet him, but I hear from lots of the older missionaries that he's a real champ. Also, we found out that he's going to be serving in Moscow COOL huh. He might be visiting his old mission so I might get to meet him. We'll see.

Mom, I LOVED Elder Oaks's talk. I think it was you who mentioned that one. That one, along with some of the things I learned in Elder Christofferson's talk were exactly what I needed. Answers to some of the questions I had coming into Conference this time. It was really amazing. I think the other talk you were thinking of was Elder Robbins from the 70. He talked about "be" and "do." I really loved his talk, even though it was mostly for parents. But I learned a lot from it. And of course everybody loved Elder Scott's talk. Errrrrrrbody talked about marriage. Kind of fun/weird for me. President Monson's talk was good during Priesthood, too.

And it's already time to go AHHH I love you all so much family. And friends, if they read this. Things are going good, I love my mission, and it's already getting too short!! I love it so much. There's lots of good things going on, I wouldn't trade all the stuff I've learned for anything. Until next week.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEE

ALEX