HAPPY 4TH OF JULY. AMERICAN DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAY.
That's from a song that Elder Hollingshead was singing this morning.

Today is one of those days where I feel sad that I am not allowed to write off little letters to friends. You're gonna have to pass along a congrats to Chelsee for me--she just emailed and said she's off to Kyiv Ukraine!!!!!!!!!!! We're gonna have so many connections. There were a ton of awesome friends from the MTC who went to that mission. And there's Elder Maksymov in our mission who is from that mission. And also I get to go there to the temple for visa trips. I'M STOKED FOR HER. So that's big news. WAY TO GOOOOOOOOOOO! Also, mail will not take as long. That's dang cool. I'm starting to realize how everything is changing! So much is going on without me, I feel like I'm off in my own little world. It's a really cool feeling, actually. We had a ton of miracles this week. I'll get to that later. I just love hearing that people home are doing good. I like to hear about the hard stuff, too, even if there's nothing I can do but pray about it. I think one of the things I've learned more than anything else throughout the course of my mission is the power and reality of prayer, whether it's prayers for our own welfare or the welfare of others. This week we had some cool experiences regarding that. Actually, my whole mission I've been having cool experiences regarding prayer. Now I'm getting all nostalgic! I'm so happy to hear about Patrick! He's going to be a rock-solid missionary. What an amazing kid! I pray a lot for the kids to realize the importance of a mission and get prepared for it. I feel like everyone is safe. I could have done a lot more to get ready for my mission, probably. It will bless those boys immensely if they take is seriously.

There was LOTS of news that I was really happy to hear about! I'm so excited that things are going well with the Bakers. Dad is such a faithful home-teacher. I feel like he's the perfect example of one who fulfills his calling because he doesn't just go there once a month because he's told to, he's actively working with them. I'll be praying for Vincent, even though by the time I heard about it, you had already had him over. I love the Bakers! I've met a few couples here in Russia that really remind me of them. They're the nicest people. I thought it was great to hear about dad falling asleep too hahaha. I love the little deets from mom. I also thought it was really cool to read about adoption. We're already in Chile and Russia, and who knows where else the other three kids will end up. It would be really interesting to have that kind of a connection right in our family. (Of course, I'm still for it even if it's a little American baby. AMERICAN DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAY)

It was really cool to read about Aunt Mecy and Grandpa Alex. I know you've been a huge help to them, and it probably means the world to Alex. I'll be putting up prayers for Aunt Mecy. Pass on my lurves to everyone up at the picnic! I'm really excited for things like that after the mission.

So, I've realized that my emails have gotten more and more boring the longer I've been out. I'm gonna have to work on that... But with my last five minutes I want to tell you about some stuff that's been going on. Our branch got combined with Elder Bahr's branch, so now we have a ridiculously huge branch of 70-ish people. And we have lots of big guns, including a member of the 70 and the district president. Rock solid branch. This Sunday was testimony meeting, and lots of members testified about the temple. I felt the spirit really strong while they all talked about their temple trips. I love these Russian members so much. They have so much faith. They travel for days to get to the temple. We had some investigators there at the meeting, and I'm sure they felt something, too. We met a new investigator two days ago. He has the worst life ever and he's got SUPER EXTREME FAITH. He has had drugs in his life and troubles with family and things, and he's been reading the Bible and praying for years. He told me yesterday that the morning before we ran into him, he prayed to know where to go and then ten minutes later we ran into him and his mom. TO BE CONTINUED...

LOOOOOOOVE

ALEX