PICTURES

Where is Ukraine?

 P Day is Tuesday

 Temple day with the District

 Provo temple

 Russian

Elder Witt

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Letter #2

Week 2! Well technically its week 3 but it's letter 2. Anyway so far so good! The days are seeming to go by faster and faster, we get to our rooms and ask what we even did that day, but we are still learning a bunch. This past week one thing we learned was a case chart in Russian, which is coming along slowly, but it's like what tense each word should be in so you don't sound like as much of an idiot when speaking haha. Today I brought my camera and I plugged it in and it wouldn't upload the pictures..so I'm not sure why but I guess I will have to look into that, so it will be another week until you get pictures, even though they really aren't that excitinghaha 

Last Tuesday night we had a fireside and we got lucky because we got to listen to Elder Dallin H. Oaks speak. They told us that apostles don't come very often but it was nice to hear from him. He just talked about when we are teaching we need to make sure we don't talk down to or act superior to our investigators, because well..none of us really are. I love that because we aren't better we just want to be their guide and help them have a closer relationship with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. We were talking about it after as a district and someone said Elder Oaks reminded them of a quote, "We must do something for someone that we know they can't" I love it. It is just so important to serve others no matter what the do or believe or anything. Just serve them and you will both be happy. 

Another thing i have learned here is  it's not what we want to learn more, it's do you want to teach better. We also came up with a class motto, since we aren't the best at speaking Russian it's "First we teach then we speak" so we teach by the Spirit not as much by Russian. Which I think is important to remember. We committed our investigator last week to baptism after we had taught him, and even though it was a proxy it was still cool and the Holy Ghost was felt. We also got 2 new investigators this week, Maria and Nikoli, we taught Maria and she is pretty tough to talk to but we teach her again Thursday so we will see how that goes. Today we went to the temple again and that was pretty good. 

The other day Elder Puckridge wrote a fake letter to Elder Houston from his "girlfriend" and we had the district leader hand it to him when we got the mail, so that was pretty funny. Other than that we've just been reviewing vocab, studying and such. Love you guys! Thanks for your love and support!

Love, Elder Witt

It's official...I'M A MISSIONARY! 10-8-2013

 All my nieces and nephews!

 We are so silly!

 Talking to Sabrina on facetime.

Nice kiss Oakley!

David's first letter

Cemya N friends! 

That's family and friends if you didn't catch that! It is so nice to be able to use the computer to communicate with you all. I bet you were expecting a letter yesterday but today is our P-day! It has felt like we have been here quite a while and it hasn't even been a full week haha. I got to see Elder Witt (Hayden..haha) right after I got my room key and badge and such, so it was good to see him, but I haven't seen him yet, but hopefully I will get to again and get a picture or something before he leaves but I'm not sure how much more time he has here. I also got to see Elder Black just for a minute when we were walking to class, so it was good to say hi, but he is on west campus and I think leaves today so I think that's the only time I'll see him. So the first day I got here and went to class after I put my stuff in my room and I thought I was going to get my companion but he hadn't arrived yet. So I got to choose between the three other sets of companions who are in my district who I was gonna be with. Our District leader is Elder Walker his companion is Elder Farnsworth, then there is Elder Houston and Elder McDonald and they are all in the room next to ours, then in our room it is Elder Maltba and Elder Horn. So yes, it is a district full of just Elders! haha We are all going to Donetsk except Elder Farnsworth and Elder Walker they are going to Russia and they leave in 3 weks to go to the Spain MTC..and I'm not sure why. We have two sister teachers Sister Jackson and Sister Harrison. They both went to Russia on their missions and they both are pretty good teachers. Then on Saturday my companion from Australia finally came! Elder Puckridge. He has a pretty cool accent and he uses heaps of new words that are pretty funny, yeah heaps is one of them haha. We all try to talk like him but it doesn't work and says we have horrible accents haha. He is pretty cool and a good example and companion. That first night we went around to different rooms and had scenarios of investigators and we taught them and such.  On the second day, so Thursday, we had to teach and "investigator" Boris. He is working here but is acting as his friend Boris who knows a little bit about the gospel and lives in Russia and only speaks Russian...haha We went in there to teach him so we read some of the notes we had taken from class and from a book we got and had no idea what we were saying or what he was saying haha It was quite the experience. We have been teaching him every day and it seems to get better and better each day and we are able to speak and understand more and more. Elder Puckridge taught with me yesterday and he was able to pick up Russian so quickly, he was able to teach without hardly any trouble ha. It is good though because he tells me to just use the words we learn in all of my conversations then I will be able to remember them more easily. It is crazy to think that I haven't even been here a week and I can teach, say prayers and say other  simple words and phrases in Russian. Saturday we had classes. Sunday we had Priesthood and then Sacrament and I said the prayer and had to say some of it in Russian so that was tricky haha. It is a totally different environment than in our home ward haha but it is a good one. That night we had a fireside about the Holy Ghost being the teacher and not us. Then we watched a video of a talk by Elder Bednar about not being self centered and look outward like Christ did. He is such a great speaker and leader. Monday we had class and gym at night, we played volleyball and that was pretty fun. Then today we just got back from the temple and it was a really cool experience and the Provo temple is so beautiful. It was cool to go to the temple with our whole zone. There are 2 sets of Sister missionaries then 2 sets Elders and they are cool, but of course not as cool as our district ;) 

The rooms all have bunk beds and I sleep on the bottom bunk. The bed isn't as big or as comfy as my king size at home but that's alright haha. We spend a lot of time personal reading and studying on our own, but I think that schedule is going to change since the Russian speakers from west campus are coming here today. The rest of the time is in class studying, listening to people speak, such as in district meetings or devotionals and eating. The food isn't too bad here and it's nice that we can eat however much we want but I think they prepare us to eat the food in the country we are going to no matter the taste..haha. 

Like dad said the language has been very difficult and a little frustrating, but I know that the people will be taught more by the Spirit than by my Russian, but I am definitely still working hard and trying to learn as much as I can. Thank you mom and Marcus for the letters and package. Marcus you make me laugh and good job on your football games! It was good to hear about what you have all been doing. Thanks Leslie and fam for the other package of goodies. I heard a quote and I am sure I am going to butcher it the gist of it is The more you suffer for something the more you learn to love it. So I know that I will eventually learn Russian haha. I forgot my camera in my residence so I will have to load my pictures on next Tuesday..sorry

Thank you so much for everything and I love and miss you, but not too much since it's only been a week ;) 

Keep the letters and emails coming they are great!

Love,

Elder Witt

And he's off...

Saying our last goodbyes for 2 years!

 

 We'll see how tall Marcus grows in 2 years...

 

 In front of the Missionary Training Center (MTC)

 

All crammed in one car to drop him off at the curb! Literally...

He got his bags and we waved goodbye!!!

Here are a few more pictures from my farewell day and ordination!