EMAIL RECEIVED OCTOBER 24, 2012

So its officially less than 3 weeks away! Its so surreal!!! Just a heads up, that everyone keeps saying we need to mention, I think my dept date is nov 12 or something, so the last time I'll be able to receive packages and dear elders is the friday before so we usually leave early monday and mail delivery on the weekends is hit and miss. Anyway, the closer it gets I get so excited! Scared out of my mind, especially since its snowing in Provo today and my fingers are frozen while typing, but definitely excited!

Big news for the week: Last Friday, our teacher's boss came in to tell us that our district had been recommended out of all the Russian districts for a Russian new group to film that was coming to Utah to tour the MTC and Temple Square and stuff. We've seen camaras around lately and don't even think about the election and thats why everyone is here. But they said they usually just poke their heads in, 20 minutes, so just a heads up. Then Monday, a very authoritative man walked in during class and said he would be back in an hour to talk about Tuesday(when they came). His face looked so mortified as we were all wearing red and had decorations up for Sis. Braithwaites b'day. Needless to say we stopped class, picked everything up, took down the Ukranian flag like he said, and he came back as promised. He talked to us for and hour and 15 minutes about expectations, etc. I'm not gonna lie, I did think "this is right in the middle of my language study!" but it was an intense conversation! I guess with the election going on, a lot of people tie missions in with creating a strong generation kind of thing, with politicians, businessmen, so that they would probably be asking us questions on our political views, why we are there, how we feel about Russia, and every anti-Mormon question you can think of. And this guy, Brother Christensen literally went around the room and asked how would you answer this question... Super on the spot! And then once we're all nervous and wondering why they chose our district, he said "just realize that tomorrow you will contact more people than you will your entire mission." Eek! Super crazy to think about though! At this point, politics is the last thing on my mind, but its neat to think that this TV station (REN-TV) is the biggest private news station and is played all over Russia, even in Vlad! 

Well, it was super anti-climatic. We all got up early to look good, we're still girls what can I say, and showed up to class. Bro. Christensen showed up early to talk to our teacher, make sure we were doing something interactive cuz thats what the camera guys want, make sure we wouldn't offend them some more, i was starting to think he didn't trust us! Then Sammy, a guy from the Church Public Relations talked to us some more and turns out he served in Ukraine so he spoke Russian, which was a relief since none of us really do...Well they came, we introduced ourselves, they filmed us for about 20 minutes and then they asked one elder in our district to show them around the MTC. So they did the whole laundry room, gym, cafeteria bit, super exciting I know. But he did say they asked him a few questions about if he wanted to be president, if he thought this experience would help him towards that, or help him want to be pres, stuff like that. It is strange to be thinking so much about politics when all we think about is Russian and church topics. So its been a weird few days but its over now. And we might be on Russian TV!

Last side note, on Sunday, Sister Dibb spoke to us in Relief Society, and at the end talked about President Monson and we could ask her questions. She notes that he does not dye his hair, in case anyone was wondering. And after, we got to meet her! I was wearing my yellow sweater and she said thats his favorite color:) It made me smile!

Well I gotta go soon but I love you all! Enjoy the az weather for me!