July 6, 2010 (2)

dear family: my bad, last weeks email didn't send. not enough time. Dad: happy birthday! 47 years, you don't look a day over 20, george clooney you. oh and everyone else, happy 4th of july. we had a huge celebration here. it was weird, they had this program about how the founding fathers and stuff were inspired to set up this country so the gospel could come to the earth. which is cool, but the actors and costumes were... entertaining. eventually the angel moroni came out, the mtc president, in a nice white robe. it was nice and cheesy. then we got to watch the fireworks from the stadium of fire, until like 10:30! way past all of our bedtimes, but it was a crazy night. oh and thanks for the pumpkin bread, everyone said it was delicious. I've seen zach and eric, eric seems very and excited and happy, i don't know what you're talking about. At least when I see him. Russian is still huge and overwhelming, though i now have the first vision memorized, i can talk a little about families, make an appointment, and follow up on commitments (can't quite make commitments, just follow up on them) like say "did you read in the book of mormon"? or "it's unfortunate you didn't read out of the book of mormon." Yeah, they seem to make it a point to teach us their version of russian- totally formal and pristine. they refuse to teach any slang, like cool, or really anything but spiritual stuff. so i've taken it upon myself to teach myself some more practical vocab like foods and clothes and stuff. I have like a hundred flashcards. the grammar is completely screwy. every verb forces a different case for the next words, and we just have to memorize what it is. and there are two verbs for each verb, imperfective and perfective. like "to run" and "running". In less than three weeks, we teach the first lesson in russian at the trc. which sounds impossible right now. though when i think about it, i've been here  less than 3 weeks, and i feel like i've learned a lot. so as long as i don't level off, and work hard, i'm sure i can do it.
 
whoa I can create new paragraphs!!!! yay.
 
I don't know how long i can take being with someone 24/7. i almost exploded yesterday (i mean i kind of did explode).
 
We play soccer mostly at gym, it is a lot of fun, but a lot of exercise now that i'm fat. i totally score goals. i never used to do that in elementary school soccer teams.
 
What do you guys want out of these letters? I feel like i'm getting repetitive. like i'm writing the same thing every week. its hard not to, because i have the same exact schedule for every week, so we do the same things. write and tell me what you want to hear about.
 
Oh mom and dad- they let us read the ensign, and I totally thought of you when i read page 33 (the july one). and nicole, i thought of you when i read page 45, elder Ballard's one. Good stuff! everyone should read at least elder ballard's. he is an awesome writer.
 
I'm reading the book of mormon pretty much solely for personal study. I don't think i've ever read it straight through this fast. I just got to mosiah and like 300 years just flew by.
 
oh and if you didn't get the messages, i loved all the packages, but i don't have time to eat any food, they don't let us bring food to class. I still have almost all the food you've sent. Don't worry, they give us several desserts per meal. though i'm getting tired of the mtc food. eight more weeks! the older district is getting their flight plans next week, then leaving the week after that. i've never been so jealous.
 
I am still really enjoying the mtc, its just very confined, very repetitive, kind of like prison. everyone here is kind of already going crazy. I am. Just being with so many people all the time makes me want to scream. I dunno, I'm just used to being able to go into my room and read. Here, i share a room with three people, one of which i can never leave, and any "free time" i have is spent studying.
 
So, am i not going to get any emails from you ever? you know my address right? Its sad... I want to hear about whats going on.
 
anyways, this is probably a terrible email, I'll try to write more next time, not much really happens here. and i'm running out of time and last time it timed out early so I should just hurry and finish.
 
Thanks for everything, keep writing me! I love you all, the church is true, ya znayoo shto, kniga mormona, izmenee vashoo jhizn kaloocheemoo. ha ha, try and translate THAT!
 
Love,
Elder Derek Brimley