I Love My Mission

My Sweet Loved Ones,

Oh how much I really do love all of you! I wish you could know! Thank you for all that you do for me, I so appreciate all of you.

Can you believe I have been here for 50 days.... Isn't that crazy?! I seriously feel like I just got here! My mission is flying by way too fast! Everything needs to slow down! Before I know it, my mission will be over and that will be such a sad day because I LOVE MY MISSION! I always think, "No way can it get better than this." But duh it's going to! When I get out and teach my people, my joy will be unheard of! Like you think you know happy Mariel... But you haven't even seen how happy I am coming out of my lessons! Oh that is a sight to see! Happy Sister Lee, is probably the happiest person you will ever meet in you whole entire life! And I haven't even begun teaching MY PEOPLE yet! I'm scared my heart is going to explode, when I get there, because I already love them so much, when I meet them I know my love will increase magnificently!

Speaking of my people.. guess what... I GET TRAVEL PLANS THIS WEEK!!!! I'M GOING TO UKRAINE IN 13 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is this real life?? Oh I have so many butterflies right now! Haha I just squealed in the computer lab and everyone asked me what was wrong, I then said in my high pitched happy Mariel voice, (you all know that voice) "I'M GOING TO UKRAINE IN 13 DAYS!!!!!!"  How exciting?!?! Alright, sorry for my little girl excitement, I'll now try to get down to the nitty gritty.

Okay I can't stop being excited! This week was just filled with amazing things. On Sunday in Relief Socitey (Relief Society is so awesome here, they always have the best speakers come!) and this week, was definitely no exception. Sister Janice Kapp Perry came! My hero! I feel as though she is such a huge reason as to why I have my testimony. Singing her songs as a child helped me gain my testimony at a very young age and singing them now still helps my testimony grow! It was so wonderful to have her there right in front of me and to feel her sweet spirit. She had created a medley for us to sing, the spirit was so overwhelming I could not even begin to sing. The tears did not cease the whole time she was there. She also had written new words to the song "As Sisters In Zion" she changed the title to "The Sisters of Zion" and it was written special for us sister missionaries. We were the first group to sing it, and let me tell you, Wow! To be with the army of these sisters was such a neat experience. I don't know if you could find the lyrics yet, but please try to find them, they are amazing. I'm so grateful that we had the opportunity to hear her testimony and meet her, yes I did meet her after the meeting! I let her know how grateful I was for her and her sweet songs that mean so much to me.

Last night we had another amazing devotional. Well of course they are all amazing, but last night we heard from someone special... We were honored to hear from Elder Russell M. Nelson. Incredible. The second he walked in the door the spirit felt was so peaceful, so amazing. You could tell that he was a true disciple of Christ. The words that him and his wife shared with us were truly inspired. His wife let us know that we are receiving help from the other side of the veil and I know that to be true! I remember in my sweet father's blessing that I received just prior to entering the MTC how Dad promised me that I would receive help from the other side of the veil from Grandpa Ted, and I have felt his help and I know that he truly is helping me in this work. Miracles have already happened, and I know many more will occur when I get in the field and I am so grateful for the help I am receiving from my sweet angel Grandpa, I truly am lucky and blessed to have him on my team.

Elder Nelson, talked a lot to us about the basic fundamentals of missionary work. Oh he was amazing! I so appreciated his words. He told us that as missionaries we are like doctors. Everyone that we will teach will probably have a pain of some kind. And just as a doctor's job is to heal people physically our job is to heal people spiritually. We can do this. I can do this, because I have been called by the Lord to Ukraine to help my investigators. There are specific people in Ukraine that Heavenly Father needs ME to heal. Oh how special! Brother Egget, our choir director, told us something so cool as we were practicing for our choir number. He let us know that sometimes missionaries have the attitude of "You are so lucky I'm here." when in reality we should ALWAYS have the attitude "I am so lucky to be here!" He then put it into perspective for us.

Picture yourself in heaven with a group of at least 2,000 people all gathered around Jesus. You don't really know what is going on so you ask the person next to you "Hey, what's going on here?" they then reply with anxiousness "He's getting ready to chose! He's going to chose only one of us to be His missionary! Oh I hope it's me!" As you look around the group you see that everyone else has this desire of "oh please, oh please, oh please pick me!" I was one of those people "Oh please pick me!" And He did! Of 2,000 people I was the only one that He chose! I am so lucky! And I know that!

I have been beyond blessed to have the knowledge of the gospel in my life so now in return I must share this joy with my sweet Ukrainians! I get more excited everyday about the wonderful opportunity I have to be in the service of my Lord. There is nothing else in the world  I would rather be doing. I cannot wait to fill the lives of those I teach with this wonderful joy that I have. Elder Nelson really stressed being kind and loving, and you best believe I will be kind and loving to them! I encourage you to all be kind and loving to everyone you meet!

I love you all. I know this church is true with all my heart. My testimony of the truthfulness of it grows stronger and stronger everyday. I love my Savior, best friend, brother Jesus Christ with all my heart, I know through Him I am able to do the impossible. I love my Heavenly Father and the opportunity I have to share His Plan of Happiness. Thank you so much for your prayers and support! My district continues to get sick, so please pray for them! We are leaving soon and it would be so stinky to get held back due to sickness, so please pray for us!  You all are the best, I pray for you everyday and am so blessed to have you in my life. Thank you, thank you!

Love,
Your Sister Lee

our roommates left this week.. so bitter sweet! We were so excited for them, but life at home is a little lonely now

my cute best friends :)

I Am Speaking Russian

Another week come and gone? How could that be? Time is flying here in the MTC!

 
I continue to love it here more and more everyday. And although I am chomping at the bit to get out of here I really am grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here and learn as much as I can in the little time I have left here in the MTC. I know my time here is so very valuable and I do try to use up every second wisely!

Sweet Sister Ford and I :) Love this girl SOOOOOO much. She is COMPLETE blessing! And sometimes we do clothes swaps :)

So in last week's letter I told of Sister Montgomery getting put into quarantine... She was there for 4 DAYS! Poor girl! In a room completely alone... Well she did have one roommate and when she found out she was getting a roommate she was so excited, but when she met her she found out that she only spoke Japanese.. so that was a bummer for her, and for all of us. Sister Montgomery is awesome! She is one of my favorite people here in the MTC, she is very witty and super funny, I can always count on her to brighten my spirits, so to be without her for a few days was quite depressing actually. We as a district are all still taking are yucky tamiflu pill, in high hopes of not getting the sickness as well. Sister Montgomery is back now, still really weak but she is getting better and better every week, so keep her in your prayers!
 
A few days after Sister Montgomery was quarantined one of our Elders went to the ER... drama in our district. Hahaha he is fine though! Like he would probably freak out if he knew that I was writing about this. He was just really sick for a couple of days, he went to the health clinic in hopes of getting some yummy cough syrup but when they checked his symptoms they made him go to the ER. Turns out he had bronchitis, so keep Elder St. Clair in your prayers as well. Maybe just pray for my whole district, because I feel as though we are prone to ailments. Oh man I love my district though we are great, such a power house team! I really am so grateful for them, I feel as though this whole mission thing would have been a lot harder had Heavenly Father not blessed me with the best district in the whole world.
 
We all do get along really well and we learn from each other so much, it is such a great experience! Eastern Europe is in for something huge I'm telling you! Speaking of Eastern Europe I'm getting to Ukraine in 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!! YES!!! Oh I also heard an exciting rumor.. This is a rumor I'm not completely sure! But since there are so many of us Sisters going to Kyiv my mission president has said that trainers may be teaching not one but two new sisters! How cool would that be? If I could be trained with one of the sweet sisters in my district would be really great I think. But this could only be a rumor so I'm not getting my hopes up or anything!
 
We still only have one "investigator", committed to baptism, but he is ready as he'll ever be. It is so fun bearing testimony to him and hearing him bear his testimony to us, it is definitely a blessing! We have been helping him every step of the way during his preparation for baptism, answering any questions he has and helping him with any concerns. I love to see his face light up as he learns new principles that are so exciting to him. Teaching him, gives me such joy. Our last lesson we had he was bearing his testimony of the Book of Mormon, but at the end he said "Sisters, I just have one question. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God, I know it is true, but how did Joseph Smith translate it, did he know the language of the plates?" What a good question! Oh I was so excited about it! I then bore my testimony to him saying "Саша, вот!" Which means "Sasha, look at me!" "You can understand me, I can understand you, we talk to each other, we have full conversations! Can I speak Russian? No! But I do have faith and the Lord speaks through me. And just as the Lord speaks through me so you can hear the gospel the Lord spoke through Joseph Smith so we can all hear the gospel as well!" After this you could see his understanding. He is always so astounded at how well I can converse with him, and when I bore testimony of how I could it was so powerful.
 
Family and friends, I am doing the impossible, I am speaking Russian, I'm teaching lessons to people with hard hearts, and their hearts are being softened. I am doing it through the Lord. I know that to be true. If I were here to only learn Russian, I know I wouldn't retain anything, like how many years of Spanish did I take, and what can I say? Hola.. that's about it. I have been here for 6 weeks and I can confidently go into a lesson with a Russian investigator and teach of this truth in a language I have only been learning for a very short amount of time.
 
This is the true church. Their is no doubt in my mind of that. Everything I have seen while being here is a miracle. I know I have the Lord's help in everything I do and I am so grateful to see His hand in all that is happening. The Book of Mormon is the work of God just like the Bible, how grateful I am to study out it's pages in both English and Russian and feel my Heavenly Father's love for me with each page I turn.

Studying the gospel is one extremely important way for me to connect with my Heavenly Father. Without that I would not know the words that He would want me to say. I love studying my scriptures and Preach My Gospel and learning more and more about this wonderful gospel that has blessed my life so much. In studying these things my testimony grows and I can better bear testimony of the truthfulness to those I teach!I love this gospel and I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father, how grateful I am to teach about them and the love they have for all of us!
 
Please do not take my word of the things that I have said. I encourage you to find out for yourself! Kneel and ask your Heavenly Father if He is aware of you! Ask Him if He loves you! Then read in the scriptures and I know you will receive an answer! In your scripture study from now on, start with a question, and prayerfully ask for that question to be answered and I promise you that you will receive an answer, I know this because it has happened SO many times in my life.
 
I love you all so very much thank you for your prayers and support!
 

Coming home to this sight is so sweet! I love my wall! It makes me feel so at home! Thank you Rozannah for the cute decorations and thank you all of my cute family and friends for the pictures and drawings! Keep them coming! :)

Hope on, journey on, flame your faith :)
 
Love,
 Your Sister Lee
 
p.s. LOVE YOU MOST
 
xoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxox
 
p.s.s. to all you beautiful mothers out there, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Living The Dream

Sweet family of mine! (bom bom bom)

Another great week here in the MTC, but a lot of the same old same old. Oh I can't wait to get in the field so I will have new exciting stories to tell you every week! I am getting actually really trunky here... like I LOVE the MTC and all, but boy I'm so ready to get out there and bring the great news to the people of the Ukraine! It's really hard being here for longer than everyone else, because you are always seeing missionaries that got here way after you leave way before you, I get so jealous! But it's okay, because the time has already gone so fast (this literally has been the fastest month of my life!) I know that I will get there in no time!

The most exciting thing that happened this week is that Сестра Монтгомери (Sister Montgomery) in our district got the flu. She is now in quarantine and our whole district has to take tamiflu. Poor girl, but it was a little nice to have something new and exciting happen to us.. But if you could keep her in your prayers that would be great!

Okay that is not the most exciting thing that happened. I really do have something really exciting to share... ready for it......
 
Caша has said that he would be baptized!!!!! We have been teaching him for just a few weeks and has just been really hesitant about a few things. But we had such an awesome lesson with him last night, oh the spirit was so strong! We had this lesson planned and totally went a different way with it according to his needs, at the end of the lesson I was prompted to ask him to get baptized. The spirit was strong, so naturally I was crying, and if you think it is hard to understand me in English while I'm crying you should listen to me cry and speak Russian at the same time! But he understood me and he said, if we helped him every step of the way he would be baptized! Oh the joy this news brought me! I love  Саша and I know that his Heavenly Father loves him too, every time I speak to him I feel His love for Саша and it is such a neat experience! I love that I can tell people of their Father in Heaven who loves them so much! It is my favorite thing about being a missionary!

Testimony written for investigator

 

We got a new investigator this week (because we got a new teacher) her name is Мария (Maria) and she is so sweet! We've only had one lesson with her so far but I'm so excited to meet with her more.

So last week as you may recall I did have a little bit of a hard time, one of the reasons being that one of my teachers was leaving us. He randomly decided to go to Africa for like a month so we were losing him as a teacher. It was so hard for me, because he has said things to me that I know have completely changed the type of missionary I will be and he has taught me so many great lessons that I needed to learn, to have him leave just seemed unfair. But he did and we went on with life here at the MTC. Yesterday as Sister Robertson and I walked into class a little early the whole class was empty but one chair and in the chair was... yep you guessed it Врат Хофман (Brother Hofman)! What the?!? It totally freaked me out! He just laughed at the look on my face and told me that things didn't work out, I continued to say sorry but in my heart I was really happy, because I think the Lord kept him here for me. I know that there are more lessons that I need to learn from him and I'm so grateful that he is still going to be with us. But due to Врат Хофман's fake out we also got a new teacher Сестра джаксон (Sister Jackson) and she is awesome! So it turned out to be a win win situation for me! The Lord is really looking out for me, I know that to be true, and I'm so grateful that he is, because I know I couldn't do it without his help. He's helping me with everything, especially the language! Speaking of the language..

the District

I sleep talk in Russian, that's super exciting right?! Yesterday morning while I was getting ready my room mate was totally teasing me and I couldn't figure it out but then she finally told me I have been sleep talking по русски it made me so happy! I'm really learning this language now and loving it more and more everyday. :) I cannot wait until I'm just speaking like a native! I guess I already do in my sleep so that's cool!

Friends and family I am doing so well! Better than I ever thought I could be! Thank you for keeping me in your prayers I know that it makes a huge difference, in the outcome of my every day activities. I'm so grateful to finally be living the dream! We were walking back from the temple the other day and a cute little girl said "Mom, look at those pretty Sister missionaries!" She looked at us with such excitement as though when she grew up she wanted to be just like us! What a heart warming feeling.

I feel my Savior's love, in all the world around me <3

Я очен люблю вас!

Love,

Сестра Ли

His Truth I Will Proclaim

Hello Everyone!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers in my behalf they are so so so appreciated!

This week started out pretty hard for me. After a series of really truly unfortunate events I began to get super down on myself. Satan was trying super hard to get me discouraged, he tried to drown me in my own pity, and I am very sad to say that it was working. I was being sad and not the happy Mariel I usually am. Obviously this made me even more sad. I began to realize not only was my sad heart affecting me, but my whole district as well. And oh I hated it! How could I do this to my district? The whole mission thus far they could count on me to have a smile on my face and something funny to say to lift spirits. How could I let them down? After a day of solemnity I finally asked for a blessing. Elder Daw jumped to the plate and was so excited to give me one, it was as though he had just been waiting for me to ask, so he was really excited when I finally did. He gave me such a beautiful blessing and the whole time he was speaking I could feel Heavenly Father's love pouring down on me. How grateful am I to this amazing Elder in my district that he was not only willing but worthy to give me such a great blessing. After I received the blessing I was the real Mariel again, and oh boy did I miss myself! It is so good to be back! And it seems as though after my blessing miracles were happening.
 
The night of my blessing I had the most wonderful dream, I dreamed of MY Ukrainians. My cute little girls and boys and all of the wonderful people of the Ukraine.Oh my goodness, oh my goodness just get me out there now! Heavenly Father knew that, that dream was exactly what I needed to get me going again. Then in class we watched the Kyiv, Ukraine temple dedication. Please when you get the time, please watch it. Meet MY people. My wonderful, amazing Ukrainians. Oh I can't wait. I can't wait to meet them, to speak to them, to love them, and to tell them of our Heavenly Father's love for them as well!

As all of you know, I am speaking Russian. Russian is beautiful, absolutely wonderful, I am so blessed to be learning this language. But just for fun I dare you to look at a Russian sentence and see what it looks like... did you do it? Crazy right? So I've been here for not quite a month yet, and the second day I was here I had to teach a lesson in this beautiful, wonderful, crazy, hard language.. scary! Ever since the second day we have been teaching at least one lesson per day. And what I have been doing is deciding what I want to say in English, then I translate it into Russian then I basically would just read my lesson, just like a script in a play. The thing about that was, as hard as I tried to have this emotion and conviction while I was teaching it just wasn't there because I was only reading words, I didn't really understand what I was saying and when my investigator would talk back to me I would just nod my head and smile, acting like I knew what he or she was saying then continued on with the script. The day I got my amazing blessing from Elder Daw, my heart changed a little. My companion and I were just about to go in a lesson with one of our investigators, so I said a prayer in my heart before we had our prayer together. After I prayed I felt the biggest prompting of  "Get rid of your script! Speak from your heart!" Yeah right! I don't even know Russian! But, I knew it was right. Before we knocked on the door to meet with Makc (Max) I threw my notebook, with my script, back in the classroom. Sister Robertson just looked at me kind of funny but I could tell she was a little excited. We then continued with our prayer and knocked on the door. WE NAILED IT!!! When I say we I mean Sister Robertson, me, AND the spirit. I understood every word Makc said to us, not only that but I could confidently reply! The lesson went perfect and the spirit was so strong. Makc had a complete change of heart just from that one lesson. I know that had it not been for the spirit I could not have done that. The second I walked out the door I hit my knees and said the most heart felt prayer of thanks to my Father in Heaven. I could feel how proud of me He was and how grateful that I finally put ALL of my trust in Him. I now continue to give all my lessons without my "scripts"  and there is such an incredible difference in the spirit! I know that as you continue in your day to day lives there may be things that you think that you could never do, but I know that as you put ALL of your trust in your Heavenly Father you will be able to accomplish these things.

My mission continues to be the best decision and have and will ever make in my life. I have no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where the Lord and my Heavenly Father want me to be. How grateful I am for this knowledge! How excited I am to bring it to MY Ukrainians! :) I know that there are people being prepared for me there, and I cannot wait to find them.

I BELONG TO THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. I KNOW WHO I AM. I KNOW GOD'S PLAN, I'LL FOLLOW HIM IN FAITH. I BELIEVE IN MY SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST I'LL HONOR HIS NAME. I'LL DO WHAT IS RIGHT, I'LL FOLLOW HIS LIGHT. HIS TRUTH I WILL PROCLAIM.

I love you all so much. Thank you for the love and support, I continue to feel your prayers, and I so appreciate them. :)

You all are the best! And since I am a missionary I'm going to commit you all to do something. Smile at EVERYONE you see! You never know who will need it, I promise you will make someone's day. Even if it isn't the person you smiled at, I know that you will have a better day.

You all are in my prayers keep up the good work. Remember, preach the gospel and when necessary use words. :) 

Love,
Sister Lee

I know Christ lives, and I know this because I know Him.

Hello, hello wonderful friends and family!

I feel as though it is necessary for me to apologize for the e-mails I send out, because I realize that I am probably making some of you really jealous... and if they aren't making you really jealous they should be! Because honestly serving a mission is THE BEST thing IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!! I'm so happy my sweet sister Malory joined me today in this awesome work! She will be the best missionary ever! England is so so blessed!!! Sorry, I'm on a super spiritual high right now, I just got back from the temple, oh man do I love that place.

I feel terrible because in years past I have judged the Provo temple immensely, I'm so sorry to say this... but I used to think it was ugly.... and that is not the case at all! The Provo temple is absolutely breath taking! Oh I could just walk around for days and days looking at all the intricate details. And don't even get me started on the spirit that is felt inside this wonderful place! P-days are the best, not because we get to write letters or e-mails (sorry!) but because we get to go the temple! The temple is such a blessing it brings me such joy and comfort. Please attend the temple regularly. I'm so sad I didn't go, as often as I could have when I had the opportunity. Please learn from me and go as often as possible! I know your life will be greatly blessed! One of the sweet Brothers working in the temple today took me by the arm and said "Thank you, thank you. I could not thank you enough for being here today. You know this only takes a few hours of your time, but it changes someone else's eternity." How true is that!? What a blessing it was to hear that. I am so grateful I can do work for those who seriously need it. I always feel their sweet spirits and it is so fun to picture them smiling at me thanking me. Oh I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!!! And I love the blessings of being a missionary! Especially when GENERAL AUTHORITIES COME!!!!

Yeah that's right! None other than the Elder Richard G. Scott was our devotional speaker last night. Such a blessing, and such an answer to my prayers! Every Tuesday the MTC is buzzing about who the speaker is going to be, because Tuesday nights are usually when someone big comes. This Tuesday was no exception, we always try to guess who it's going to be, but usually it just ends up being someone of the 70, which is super great don't get me wrong! But last night was different. Our awesome district, being as awesome as we are, have made the decision to be in every choir (it is such a blessing to have a small break from Russian, the songs are always great, and the choir director=hilarious! Choir is seriously the best!) anyways, as we were rehearsing our musical number for the night, a beautiful arrangement of Nearer My God to Thee (yes my favorite song! :) it was perfect) we see someone going around taking all of these extra security precautions, therefor we really knew it was going to be someone big. When the time finally came for the speaker to take his seat we were all holding our breaths to see who it would be. When Elder Scott walked out, I was overwhelmed. Literally hours before I was reading one of his talks on prayer, totally inspired by how powerful the talk was, I yearned to hear more from him so I looked up another talk and another one, and another one! And then he was our speaker, seriously, my life rocks!

His talk was definitely inspired. It was as though Heavenly Father was literally speaking right through him. ALL of my prayers were answered with just his one talk. He spent a lot of time praising the sister missionaries which was pretty cool, we are so loved. :) He then continued to tell us, though we will have many trials during our time serving and it will not be easy we will NEVER regret this decision. We will do things we've never before done, and we will do them with Lord's help. His talk was based on prayer. And through prayer and faith we can accomplish things unimaginable to man. He reminded us that our Father in Heaven is just that, OUR FATHER, not some scary guy who judges us when we sin or do something wrong, but a father who desires more than anything to hear the thoughts of our heart, our concerns, and our questions. He encouraged us that though sometimes we may feel as though Heavenly Father is not answering our prayers we must give praise and thanks to Him because that probably means that we are in His trust and boy does He got something great in store for us! He sometimes may withhold answers because he desires to increase our faith. Though we may not get answers we must continue our efforts in faith! Our answers may not come at the time and in the way we desire, but it will come. When you don't feel like praying that is probably when you need to the most! In our sincere efforts to give gratitude to our Father in Heaven we will be blessed with great peace and self worth. You know what is so cool to think about? How Heavenly Father is this all powerful being but He still takes the time to listen to us, not only to listen, but to talk back, and He loves doing it! So whenever you feel down on yourself, please I encourage you to keep that in mind!

Elder Scott ended his talk with an Apostolic Blessing. Amazing. He blessed those of us learning a language, that through the power of the gift and tongues we will not only learn the language but master it. He blessed us that we would be strong to over come hard times and trials. He blessed us that we would feel the love of our Father in Heaven and receive peace when we pray to Him. Then he closed his talk with a very sweet and sincere testimony. We sang the closing hymn and the sister who was giving the closing prayer went to the pulpit, but Elder Scott literally jumped out of his chair and ran to the pulpit before she could get there. We were all a little taken back by this because none of us had seen something like this before. He exclaimed "I need to say more!" He then very boldly testified that our calls are inspired. We are to serve in the exact place and in the exact time as we are called. People are there waiting for us and the Lord has prepared them. He urged us to remember the Lord has called us to succeed and not to fail. He then bore the most powerful testimony of Jesus Christ I have ever heard. I wish with all my heart I could remember every word he said though I can't do that I can remember one line which was "I know Christ lives, and I know this because I know Him." How powerful.

I want to end this e-mail with my testimony that I know Christ lives, and I know this because I know Him. He is my very best friend, especially now in times when I am away from all of those I hold nearest to my heart. I know Christ loves each and everyone of us more than we could ever imagine! And Heavenly Father is just the same. Prayer is real! I love having long conversations with my Father in Heaven each morning and each night. The 2nd counselor in my branch presidency told us we can only take one day at a time, and how should you always start your day? Prayer of course! Why would you not? Why would you not seek guidance from the all knowing? That's just silly! 

I love you all so much. I hope you feel my prayers for you. I hope you can see and feel the love of Christ and Heavenly Father
 in everything you do. Oh you all are the best! I am BEYOND blessed!

"I ran the race like I was going to win."

Hola!!!!

 So they changed my mission assignment I´m actually going Spanish speaking!... JUST KIDDING! Haha, I would freak out! Even though Russian is so so hard to learn I would not want to learn any other language!
 
Oh friends and family, things here are still GREAT like I cannot believe how spoiled the missionaries are! I just feel so bad for all of you that aren´t serving here with me ;) Just kidding.. Kind of. Like I seriously have never been as happy as I have been while I'm here. But I don't want to give people the wrong idea, like it is SUPER HARD but compared to the reward the hard work is nothing! it is so satisfying to give it your all, like Dad said on the way up here "Mariel, I ran the race like I was going to win." You'll be happy to hear I'm doing the same! I do not want to waste any precious moment of my time while I'm here so I'm trying my hardest to do my best in everything I do. It is so hard to believe that I have already been here two weeks! What the?! Like sometimes it feels like I was born and raised here in the MTC but other times I feel like I just barely got here. Anywho, all is great and I love you all so very much. Now I get to make you really jealous....
 
GENERAL CONFERENCE IN THE MTC= BEST THING EVER!!!!!!!!! Like yeah General Conference is always great, but this year, holy cow! You have no idea how cool it was to be in a room with literally thousands of stalwart missionaries. Every one was intently focused, no distractions of cell phones or any other worldy things, just us, the speakers, and the spirit, it was incredible. After every session I wanted to cry because I felt like it was going by so fast and I never wanted it to end. All of the talks this conference were amazing, please please, if you haven't listened to them I encourage you to do so now, and when the talks come out, please study them out. So many of my questions and concerns were answered during this conference and I know that the same will be done for you. :) We also got to watch the Young Women's broadcast... speechless. Totally amazing such a GOOD one. Even the boys would have loved it I have no doubt! I must admit though mom, I did shed a tear when the young woman was playing her cello. Oh how I miss listening to you practice your sweet Gorda everyday! But all is well, do not fret :)
 
So if I made you jealous, I'm sorry.... but I'm going to make you more so now. Guess who was our devotional Sunday night! None other than.... VOCAL POINT!!! We had a hard chore concert at the MTC! Okay just kidding! It wasn't a hard chore concert at all, but really so spiritual. Nothing brings the spirit more than music I think, and all of their numbers they prepared for us did that wonderfully. They are all return missionaries so it was nice for them to come and give us advice and just lift our spirits with song. Such a good devotional. And mom if you're not sitting down, you might want to do so now.. Gerald N. Lund gave our devotional last night! Are we spoiled or what?!?! Oh his talk was outstanding. It was all about revelation, the different ways we can receive it and how we should use it. He also talked about ways we can increase our revelation, one way being exact obedience. As a missionary you have A LOT of rules, sometimes it may seen silly or stupid to keep all of them, but I know they are there for a reason and I know I will be blessed by following them. Our district really looks out for each other in everything, so keeping all of the rules when you've got so much support is a cinch!
 
Okay speaking of my district.. I know I probably said this last week but I have to say it again, my district is AWESOME! Every day I love them more and more. I was so blessed to have the district I do. We have two district meetings a week, where we basically just have a testimony meeting with our district. Our zone leader came and stood in the other day and the whole time he was silent. As we closed the meeting he finally spoke up. With a lump in his throat he said "You guys are scary. I have NEVER seen or heard of a district with this type of bond, and with these strong of testimonies. You guys are scary." I knew we were good, but man, we are really good I guess! Oh man it's great! I wish I could just record a whole day for you and send it home so you could see what a day in my district would feel like!
 
K I have to hurry but I want to talk about my teachers for a split second. If you recall last weeks email we were without teachers most of our first week. But to make up for that we were blessed with THE VERY BEST teachers in the MTC... no kidding. I have learned so much these past few days with them and I am so grateful for them!
 
I have to bring my letter to a close now, but I hope you all know I love you so so so very much! I am so grateful once again for ALL of the prayers and letters, I know that is what gets me through the day. You all are the best :)
 
I know this church is true with all my heart. My testimony here is strengthened more and more everyday. I am so grateful for the Savior and His atonement and for the love of our Heavenly Father. Diligently studying out the scriptures and this new language is the greatest blessing I could have ever received!
 
Love,
Sister Lee!
 
xoxoxoxoxxo
 
P.S. I cannot not share this. After one of our lessons the other night I got super discouraged because I had completely messed up. I totally forgot so much of the Russian I knew and I was so beating myself up about it. As we were walking outside my favorite teacher, stopped me and took me aside. He could tell something was wrong and I tearfully let him know the what had happened. I told him how upset I was at myself for ruining what I thought would have been the perfect lesson. He then gave me the advice that I will now and forever hold so near and dear to my heart. He told me how the atonement does not only have to be for sins but also for silly mistakes. Like yeah I messed up, but why in the world would I dwell on it if I can just give that all up to the Savior? Please keep that in mind. I don't know why I never thought of that before. If you make mistakes whether they are big or small give them up to the Lord and I promise he will take care of them. Isn't that the best? :)

I'm Home.

Oh my blessed family and loved ones!

Okay, okay, so much to say so little time! Fist off I hope I don't offend you by saying this but... I'm home. Like I love you all so much but the MTC is where I belong, and I feel more in place here than anywhere else, and I know it will feel like that for another 8 weeks and 6 days but when the the time comes for me to get to the wonderful land of Ukraine that will be home to me! The only thing that I have to complain about here is the fact that you guys cannot come and experience this with me!

It is absolutely incredible here! The spirit... holy cow is SOOO strong! Like every morning I walk outside and I think to my self "Wow the air feels really thick today.... yeah with the spirit!" It is such a blessing to be here when missionary work is such a huge thing! The place is PACKED!!!! Everywhere you look you see wonderful soldiers in God's army and it is the coolest thing. Both the Elders and Sisters walk around with such a bounce in their step, a smile on their face, with purpose in their stride and the amazing light of Christ in their eyes!

Everyday has been such an adventure here, and I have loved every second. I'm not just saying that! Like everyone was telling me "the first few days are really hard, but if you get to Sunday you'll be fine!" Umm... I hate to break it to you but I've been fine this whole time! You guys are a bunch of babies!!! ;) Just kidding! But seriously the Lord has blessed me so much while I've been here. Like the second I start to get like a sliver of homesickness Elder Brad Hauck (friend from High School) will pop his head in just to shake my hand and talk to me for a second, or I'll turn the corner and randomly bump into Elder Mason Paxman (also friend from High School), or Hermana Kiera Wright (friend from High School) will sneak up behind me and give me a much needed tight hug! Obviously Dixie High is repping here and it is legit! My district hates me because I always see people I know and they get so jealous! Haha I love it, I love my friends and the amazing examples they have been to me.

The first few days of the MTC were total crazyness! Due to the HUGE amount of missionaries teachers are scarce. Our district didn't actually have a real teacher until yesterday... so we have been teaching ourselves. It has been really cool to see our progression. Yeah it has been stressful, because we've been teaching an "investigator"... in Russian... since Friday. Crazy? Ya! So I would just go in and say Russian words than English words, pray that I would have the spirit with me and hope for the best. But now we have a teacher and I'm learning SO MUCH!!! My district is the best ever!! Missionaries from other districts would come in and literally be blown away by the bonds that we already have. At the end of the first day we were talking to each other like we've been friends for years! All the other districts in our building always tell us how jealous they are of the unity we have. So that is always really cool!

Okay now for the spiritual stuff. Disclaimer: some of this will blow your mind, Heavenly Father is amazing and some of these things may be too awesome to handle!

So the first day we came in we did a lot of orientation stuff. We went to little fireside type thing where we were welcomed by the MTC presidency and they spoke briefly to us. One thing that really stuck out to me in this meeting was a promise given to us by the President's wife she said "When you were set apart as a missionary, you were set apart from the world." What an amazing blessing! With all the filth and stupid things going on in the world, I'm so grateful that I don't have to be apart of it for at least 18 months.

Easter Sunday in the MTC. BEST THING OF MY LIFE!!!! We had the presiding bishop of the church and his wife come and speak to us. They came for sacrament meeting so they wanted us all to be in the room with them. We all packed into the "great and spacious building" auditorium... and some into the overflow and we all partook of the sacrament together! over 3,000 people at one time taking the sacrament! I wish you could have seen the elders, how reverently they went about making this ordinance as spiritual as it could be. It was incredible, and the spirit there, I cannot even describe. The bishop talked a lot about Easter and the resurrection of Christ and his sweet wife did the same. It was so good to not think about Russian for just a little while and just soak in every thing he had to say. I take super good notes on everything so when I get home we'll just go through all of my notebooks because my time is so limited on the computer! Sorry! But that night we had Sister Sheri Dew come and talk to us, and can I say wow? The focus of her talk was Christ isn't our second chance he is our only chance and I know that to be true!
So I wanted to share this story for last, because it is the thing that has inspired me the most since I have been here. There is and Elder in our district, Elder Jones, he's a young one, 18 turning 19 pretty soon. But anyways the first few days we were here at the MTC I told you our district immediately clicked and came together! But Elder Jones was having such a hard time! I tried everything I could to help make him feel included but nothing was working. You could tell he was super depressed all the time and while all of us were struggling with the language he was REALLY struggling... He couldn't say words that we have known how to say or days. It was so hard for me to see him struggle like this, and I kept wondering why. Every time I prayed I included him in my prayers asking Heavenly Father to just help him feel love and peace! But Friday night as we were all beginning our planning an Elder came in and told Elder Jones it was time for him to get set apart. "Get set apart?!?!" I thought "Oh duh!!!" Before he walked out the door I went up to him and promised him this is exactly what he needed and from now on he will be successful. With a hesitant smile he left the room to get his blessing. As he left I began thinking of how hard the last few days must have been for him! I could never have done the things I did the first few days with out the beautiful blessing that President Sullivan gave me or the sweet one that dad gave me before I left. How grateful I am for those blessings, thank you! I didn't see Elder Jones again that night but the next day I did and what a change!It was like night and day! Now he is the most friendly elder in our district he is our district LEADER and he is learning Russian just as fast as the rest of us!

The Priesthood is amazing, blessings do such great things that we ourselves cannot. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to bring this joy to others.

I want to end this email with a small testimony. I know this church is true! Why else would I leave my amazing family and friends?? HE LIVES!!! Christ died for us, but it didn't end there, He is risen He is risen! I am so grateful for Him and His love and sacrifice for us. I want to boast a little now... I can speak Russian.. like, kind of good. I am bearing my testimony in Russian and I am praying in Russian, I'm reading Russian, and I am talking to people in Russian, and Russian isn't easy, it's like way hard. I've only been here for like 6 days and I can do these things. But I say these things just like Ammon says in Alma 26:11-12 "I do not boast in my own strength nor in my own wisdom; but behold my joy is full, yea my heart is brim with joy and I will rejoice in my God. Yea I know that I am nothing as to my strength I am weak; therefor I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do all things;... for which I,(Mariel) will praise His name forever."! I have no doubt in my mind that I am doing all of these things because of the Lord. There is NO WAY I could learn this language as fast as I am without His help.

You all are the best, I love you more than you'll ever know! Thank you for your prayers, I can feel them and they are such a blessing, thank you! Thanks for the letters, I look forward to mail time everyday so keep them coming! :)
The church is true! Keep up the good work everyone love you so much!
Love,
Sister Mariel Lee
xoxoxoxoxoxo