zdrast foot chuh! how is everyone doing? thanks for all the pictures, dad, though i wish i had more time to look at them, or i could print them out or something. this week has been like every week here. pretty much a repeat. and every day is a repeat of the day before. even the months, now that i think about it. like today we got some new native russians, its just a repeat of what happened last month. which is good, i think it makes time go faster.

first off: happy birthday grandpa! 37 years old, and you don't look a day over 35! i hope you had a great day, you deserve it!
and as alex mentioned to me, happy birthday harry potter.

speaking of alex, thanks for the letter you sent. i'm glad you had a good experience at efy and arent engaged now. it's also good to hear that you are recovering from your kissing disease. next time maybe you will be more careful... i'm very jealous of you that you get to go to florida. i never got to go on such an awesome trip when i was your age. kids these days... though i do get to go to ukraine. i win. Be safe. beware of SHARKS. oh, and you said you were paying, but i heard from a reliable source that you aren't. anyways just have fun.

thanks nate as well for the letter! sorry you are out of the tournament though. i'm sure it was the other team's cheating that won it for them. i can't see you losing. your letter was great, but i haven't gotten those rolls you promised mom promised me. just sayin'. love you man!

anna- girl, you stank, take a bath. the showers here are pretty good most of the time, though not great like ours at home. sunday mornings they always somehow turn into snow storms. i want to see youre doll's dress when i get back. or send me a picture. oh and tell the wii to mind its own business. fourth grade is the best, i had mrs. wagaman. you are so lucky, i'm sure you will love your teacher. you get to learn times tables! so much fun, i promise. and yes, i am very ready to go to ukraine. love you anna!

scootter- thanks for the email. glad to hear you are having an eventful summer. i loved wakeboarding, but i remember i got sore as well. beirut concert? so lucky. i am starting to forget all my music, it is sad. it will be fun in two years remembering it all. and i am jealous of your florida trip as well. you are one lucky duck. don't forgeett  your underwear.

mom- have a lovely shark week. i haven't heard from you since llaast tuesday ssorryy thee kkkeybbooarrd is messing upp. but i did get two then, so i guess i forgive you. how are things? i don't know what else ttoo say. I love you!

dad- sounds like you are living the life to me. thanks for the letters this week, i thihnk you have actually written the most (except anna) so keep up the good work. i love you!

oh, and thanks Lori for the email! it's good to get unexpected surprise emails every oncee  in a while. how is bauer? that rascal.

so, what happeened this week. brat ponzach is back, we all are very excited. but i think he was the most  excited. i'm sure garrett can describe him, he is such a great guy, and ggiiddy when he gets excited. so funny. hm. our district likes to challenge itself with goals. this week we memorized moroni 10:4-5, and the missionary purpose, we have 2 SYL days, and a bunch of other random little goals. its fun. wee  are teachign the plan of salvation tomorrow, and i'm not extremely ready, but i can "do it."  i gave the sacrament prayer for the bread last sunday, that was fun. the branch president said i was the first one to get all the accents perfect. I went off campus aggaain on friday , to get my naparniks glasses. we met a dude who went to donetsk five yyeeaars ago, he told us about it. he had a maid the whole time. he said "for the first six monthhs, its going to be hard". great.

some days i feel like i learn tons, and some dayss  i feel like i can't stick anything to my brain. it's odd. have i already said this? its super annoying, i feel like i cant concentrate or focus, and then like the nextt  day i can memorize as much as i want. but then i cant again like two days later. maybe i'm just being lazy and making up excuses. this week we talked about verbs of motiioonn, very generally. i'm afraid of them. there is like 16 ways to say "go" and like three ways to say each of those. plus they all conjugate, usuaalllly not normally. scary stuff.

we got the new elders, i felt bad for them. everyone aattacked them, trying to give them advice and prove to them how old and wise they were. like sacrament meeting- the first like seven testimonies were directed to them, telling them it was going to be ok, just work hard. if i were them i'da punched someone in tthhee face. i hate when people are that condescending. we've been here like six weeks. we arent' that experienced with missionary work. i dunno, it was funny. i'm really hating this keyboard today. i feel like a retard reading what i've written. i'm not thaatt  bad at typing, i promise.

anyways, i don't want to run out of time, so:
keep the mail a comin'
keep the packages a comin'
i promise i'll send some pictures (i am supposed to get some on friday, i'll send them then)

i love you all!
church is true!
book of mormon word of god!
ya znayu shto!

love, elder derek brimley (elderek