A REAL LIFE HEDGE HOG!!!!!!!

This week! WOW!

A few weeks ago I hit 5 months on my mission!!! NOw it's almost 6...time flies!

I did exchanges this week and I'm so grateful for the experience that I had. I was with sweet Sister Belikova, and I learned so much! She is from Kazakhastan and probably is one of the strongest members of the church I have ever met. She taught me so much about things that I thought I already knew so well, escpecially the Atonement.

I don't know if you have sensed it by my letters or not but the Atonement is my very favorite thing. It is such a beautiful gift that we are so priveldged to have, I don't know what I would do with out it! But after being with Sister Belikova I have gained an even sweeter love for it. She talked to me about the Atonement and how precious it is to her. I could not stop my tears as she bore her sweet testimony. She told me that before she always used the Atonement, it has always been something so dear to her, but just recently she has taken a new perspective on it, and now thanks to her I have too.

She talked about how many of us use the Atonement merely just because we have the desire to return back to our Heavenly Father and receive the gift of Eternal Life. I thought well "Yeah that is what the Atonement is for." She then went on to say that as we study the Savior's life as we come to understand him and all that he did for us, as we come to know him, we will use the Atonement in such a more meaningful way. The Atonement is a gift given to us. As we use the Atonement we show our grattitude for it, we show our love for our Savior. We let him know that his sacrifice did not go unnoticed or unwanted, but instead his sacrifice truly means something to us. Wow, I wish I could have just recorded her testimony and shared it with you.

I can't even begin to put into words the feelings of my heart. The Atonement is so real and so precious. I encourage you all to gain a deeper understanding, a deeper love for our Savior and show that by using this beautiful gift. 

Sister Belikova and I

On Saturday we had Mission Conference! It was so fun to see all of my sisters again and the elders as well! Our mission is getting so big! We were pleasured to hear from Elder Evans from the First Quorom of the Seventy, who is the head of the missionary department, and Elder Bennett from the Second Quorom of the Seventy. It was a spiritual feast listening to their words and I was escecially lucky because the next day they came to our ward to speak in sacrament-- double whammy!!!!

I'm sorry my time is short I wish I could tell you the awesome things that I learned from them but that will have to wait until another day.. Let's just say, the work truly is HASTENING! :)

I love you friends and family I'm so grateful for you! I love my mission!

Oh wait before I go I have to tell two very amazing things that happened last night (Sorry they aren't super mission related..)

1. I SAW A REAL LIFE HEDGE HOG!!!!!!!

2. A total tender mercy happen last night, I've been missing my little bro, shout out to Simon! But as we were contacting last night, this kid came up to us and just started talking to us, he was so cool and really just reminded me of Simon when I asked him his name and he said Симион, which is like the name Simon in Russian, I totally thought he was joking!! But he wasn't and it was awesome and I loved it! Love you little bro!

But that's all for this week, sorry it's super short!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee