July 6, 2010

HEY THIS IS LAST WEEKS EMAIL IT DIDNT SEND:
No email? do you guys know my address? its derek.brimley@myldsmail.com i think. anyways, thanks for the packages! they are great.. but, please stop sending me food! I don't have any time to eat it except right before bed and it is making me fat.. I got all the cookies and brownies, thank you mom for going along with zach's evil plot.. I'm lucky i didn't die.. Oh and I did mean that gray sweatshirt, with the zipper.. thats the one i meant, sorry.. its just very cold here, they keep our rooms at a frosty 65 degrees.. Oh dad, i leave around august 31, is what they told me.. it is definitely less than 12 weeks.. Ok. here we go.. Anna: thanks for all the letters! I'm glad to know you are thinking about me.. I miss you too so so so so so so much.. be a good girl for mom and dad.. and give fredward frank brimdawg shorttongue a big hug for me.. Nate: good job on all the merit badges! Stay active and crazy.. Oh and by the way, don't want to spoil it, but Harry dies at the end.. sorry.. The food is awesome here.. I think I have gained 10 pounds.. I weigh about 145, so yeah about 10.. my favorite dessert is ice cream, twice a week! we are so lucky.. Alex: good job at running every day.. Keep working hard at everything.. Good luck, I know you'll get to florida if you want to.. That would be a lot of fun.. Scott: I guess you know your ACT score now.. Let me know if it's good.. By the way, you should take Mr.. Rees for AP lit.. Have fun at Arby's, I know how much you love it.. Just keep working hard, money is all that matters.. Nicole: tell me about your missionary experience! how is florida treating you? you should send me a decorated cake of something.. and Garrett: does pancake mean "dang it"? You should send me some russian slang, they aren't allowed to teach it to us.. Hope all is well with you two.. Mom: sounds like your callin is more important than you thought? Have a missionary experience! I envy you, you can help a real person come to christ.. Good luck.. Thanks for all the letters and such.. Sounds like you are having a lot of fun.. Dad: HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 34 years old, wow, time flies.. And no, the package came on time, we just didn't check the mail for forever.. Good to hear about work, good luck with the new projects, they sound like a lot of fun.. I'm sure they will help support the kingdom of God.. I think you'll be interested to hear that Stephen B.. Allen gave a fireside on the new Mormon.org stuff.. Pretty awesome! If you havent heard, on July 7, the new website is going up, people can post their profiles and stuff about being a mormon and what it means to them.. here is what brother allen said: "this is the reason the Lord gave us the internet.." pretty legit.. Everyone should do it.. We had an awesome week here, because the mission presidents are all here being trained.. We had a fireside with Elder Oaks, and seven other of the 12 apostles.. very amazing.. he talked about why our church is true.. this past sunday the entire first presidency and 10 of the apostles were here.. this place must have glowed.. Going on, Russian is hard, abut fun- I'm memorizin the first vision right now.. I've almost got it down.. We have a goal to do it by thursday, thus breaking some crazy record or something.. we learned a bunch of pronouns, there are just too many of those things.. for every case, for every gender.. it's ridiculous.. Cases are hard, but with this chart we have it's doable.. though without the chart we'd be in for it.. WE are praying comepletely in russian (our prayers have gotten quite simple).. and we can talk about our families in russian, and ask about others' families.. I'm getting better at reading the russian language as well.. We sing all our hymns in russian, i think that actually helps with pronunciation a lot.. weird.. After the first real week, I want some alone time.. I am with someone at all times.. Its hard to get used to.. I cant just go by myself and read.. it wouldn't be so bad if certain people would be quiet for a few minutes.. like MDT time, I really like it, we get an hour for personal study.. but it is hard when there are people goofing off all around me.. Makes it hard to concentrate.. feel the spirit.. I also have never liked falling into a routine, which I am doing, but at least I love the routine.. class consumes the majority of the day, about half russian and half learning to teach the gospel to investigators.. all they teach us in russian is the gospel stuff.. I couldn't have a normal conversation beyond "how are you" to save my life.. I wish they would teach us more useful, practical stuff as well as the spiritual stuff, but oh well.. the MTC and its ways... I'm getting to be better friends with the other missionaries in my district, elders atkinson, thomas, nielson, and pettersen.. The other three are the..... loud ones... Its funny how quickly the strong and the weak seperate..
We had our first TRC last wednesday.. I think it went pretty well.. we had to knock on some doors and bear testimony in russian, and set up an appointment, then come back and teach the first lesson in english.. I did most of the talking in russian, as my comp... anyways then when we were teaching the lesson, he tried to take over.. kept interrupting me during my parts of the lesson.. Man that was annoying.. Hm.. pray for me.. Anyways, ive got a minute left, so just know that I'm praying for all of you, I love you, and i know that this is the truth.. We have the truth, and it is our obligation to spread it.. Sorry about the bad grammar and