My Last P-day

Hello one and all!

Hopefully this side of general conference is finding you well, rested, and spiritually charged. I was so excited for general conference and was not let down by any means though I wish I could have heard more from President Hinckley 8) I was deeply touched by Elder Worthlin's talk and will remember it for the rest of my life-I felt the spirit so strongly.

I guess the exciting news around here is that today is my last p-day, if all goes according to plan; the next time I write will be from an internet cafe in Russia! As far as my plans go (I mailed mom and dad this info in more detail) but my flight leaves Monday around one o'clock and arrives in Denver, then after a few hours we take off to Frankfurt, Germany and then on to Rostov-skipping the expensive Moscow. 8)

We don't know if we have our visas. An elder in our group (there's nine of us traveling to rostov-3 sisters) asked the travel office about our visas and they said that they hadn't heard from Salt Lake yet, they said either way we would find out Thursday or Friday but that if we heard before then-it will mean that we don't have our visas, so we don't want to hear from them till Thur or Fri. Hopefully everything will be on schedule and we won't have to play the guessing game while living out of a suitcase.

The temple was amazing today, sad to think it could quite possibly be the last time for awhile but really special. Cectpa Kelemen and I stayed after and did some sealings which was special since my companion hadn't done them before. The first sealing I did had a very special spirit about it and afterwards the "wife" leaned over and said: "that was a baby", it was really neat. The temple was great, though we were late for an appointment we had made where a sister comes in and talks about looking our best and (the reason we did it) gives us a free bag of nice makeup. We didn't realize that when you do sealings you stay for the hour, so we missed it, but luckily the sister had left the makeup for us and after apologizing we got it.
I received the vests mom-thanks they'll work great!

O yea, the elder also said to tell you that if our visas were delayed we would get to buy a phone card and call you on Saturday to let you know of our plans and what was going to happen-wait in the MTC etc, but if you don't hear from me then that probably means that we will be leaving on Monday. We haven't heard any instructions from our branch president as to calling you or when but I assume we can and will. In the letter I sent it has the exact time of my flight leaving and arriving-I know we leave for the airport around ten, so I think we'll either call you before our Salt Lake flight or Denver flight since we have a bit of a layover there. Anywho, lots of ifs but that's all they really tell us here.

Steve- Congratulations!!!!! That is soooo exciting! I was sad that I was in the MTC and surrounded by a bunch of people who really don't understand the depth that is that experience and the energy and excitement of it all, so I had a quiet victory to myself-but inside I was jumping up and down and screaming. It's about time you got a medal of your own-I guess the band was just so injured and incomplete once the class of 2004 left-it's to be expected....ahem.

Well congrats, and continue to have the same drive, work ethic, and fire-just cause you won one thing, doesn’t' mean the rest will be handed to you on a silver platter. In fact, now the bar is raised and you have to work even harder to impress them more each time cause people expect it of you-cool huh?

Good luck at BOA, have a great time (I love the area, and hopefully you'll be able to see Dean Westman who I think lives in the area-I know I loved it when we went to Chicago, lots of fun) just, in the words of Pres. Hinckley to an advice-seeking elder: "don't be stupid". Wise council I think, especially when surrounded by teenage boys who seem to lose all rational sense when put on a vehicle or into a hotel room with lots of other boys. Don't be afraid to be the voice of reason and say: "Hey guys that's stupid!"

Anywho, random band advice. Hope all is going well with the rest of the family!
Thanks so much for the letters Mike, Jess, and kids! I'm so excited to get back and play with Benson, Grace, and Breenie and who knows...maybe someone else. 8) Be sure to listen to your mom and dad ok guys? Always CTR! And feel free to send some more pictures through the pouch ok? 8)

Oh, and in answer mom-yes I guess you could say I've "passed off" the discussions even though we don't pass them off because they're not memorized, but I have studied and am able to teach (it's never the same twice) about the different principles in the first and second lesson along with most of the third lesson (which is most of the same vocab) and we've gone over the word of wisdom and tithing though I don't feel like I would know enough to teach it effectively-always much to study.

Thanks for the continued support and prayers! The next few days will drag as I'm waiting hopefully for my visa, not that I don't love it here but I wasn't called to serve in the MTC but Russia. 8)

Oh yea! Sorry, my thoughts are sporadic, but dad: in the temple a sealing was done for a Oimet (a French first name as well) who knows, maybe an ancestor of the famous golfer? It made me smile and think of you, and I felt proud that I knew a golfer's name other than Tiger Woods.

I can't think of anything else that I was going to tell you about, but hopefully tonight's speaker will be great to send us off to Russia and I can really live this last P-day up and get everything prepared. I love you all and love this gospel and that we have the power of God on the earth again so that we can be sealed together for all eternity and continue to grow and learn together. I love you all and hope that the holidays will be fun for you-be sure to send me pictures of the kids' costumes, I know they'll be adorable!

Hopefully next time in Russia,
Cectpa Richards