Sister Brooke Larsen survives week 1 in the MTC

Hey,
So I got everyone's postcards yesterday! Thank you so much! It made my day! I also got a package from the Etcheverry's full of Lyndie's cookies from Sun Valley. You will have to tell them thank you from me! I love them!

How is everyone doing? How was your trip to Sun Valley? Did you see Arnold or go to his party? Did Ben and Ashley survive? I hope you guys had a lot of fun!

So I have made it through week one and I don't know if Chase can remember but it feels like I have been here for a month. The third day an Elder asked how long we had been here and I answered "about a week." It really has been a really great experience! I have learned so much. I already know how to introduce myself as a missionary, bear my testimony, and pray in Russian. It really is the hardest language ever! But it is coming slowly. When I write you I will write my testimony at the bottom. I met sister Walker and she is one of my 5 roommates. She is an awesome sister I am really excited to be serving with her. My companion is named Sister Burke. She is from Georgia and she is such a nice girl. She is so thoughtful and she is such a hard worker. She keeps me on task when my mind starts to wander, which happens a lot. But she is going to Donetsk, Ukraine. Of the 6 of us in my room only 3 of us are going to Kyiv. And there are about 10 Elders going from our branch. Sister Clark is the other sister that will be coming with us to Kyiv. She is so sweet. We have a really good group of sisters.

Tuesdays are our Prep days, as you can tell. We went to the temple this morning and it reminded me of going to the temple with mom every Tuesday. Walking around the temple grounds both today and Sunday made me a little homesick I am not going to lie. It is weird sitting at the temlpe and hearing the BYU bells and not going to meet someone from lunch. But as weird as it is other then that I haven't really been homesick. We are so busy that we barely have time to shave our legs. I was talking to another sister from Olympus and we were talking about how easy it was to make the transition to being a missionary. I thought it would be so weird walking around in long really attractive skirts and only listening to church music but I have really enjoyed being here. I really have grown so much in the last few days even though I know I still have a very long way to go.

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Well I miss you guys so much! I hope you are all doing well and having so much fun with everything. I look forward to hearing from you.

Cectpa Larsen