Last email from America

This is our zone doing the Russian smile. 

(starting left back) Elder Luekenga,Elder Parker, Elder Puckridge, Me, Elder Maltba, Elder Horn, Elder McDonald, Elder Alvord and Elder Lusk

then in the front row Sister Anderson, Sister Bruening, Sister Watts, Sister Farmer, Elder Houston 

Ready or not here we go! I just wanted to send one last email today since I'm not sure when the next time I will be able to email. I just want to say that I love you guys and thanks again for all of your prayers and support, I am glad I am going to teach people about Jesus Christ and not going off to war haha I can't believe we leave Tuesday morning at 3:30 am! We have been packing and I can't believe how fast nine weeks has gone by! I have enjoyed hearing from Dallin H.Oaks, L. Tom Perry and Russel M. Nelson and so many other members from the 70 and their wives while here at the MTC and I know that they are definitely apostles and disciples of Jesus Christ. It has been a good  time here at the MTC and I am so grateful for my teachers, district and zone but I am so excited to get to Ukraine and help guide people to the light and gospel of Jesus Christ, even though they won't have any idea what I am saying haha 

Oh yeah we got new Sisters and Elders this week for our zone! so we hosted on Wednesday and brought in, I think it was, 750 new missionaries then on Thursday night my companion and I and the Sister Training Leaders got to have a meeting with the new Sisters and Elders that came into our zone. So that was fun getting to meet them! Too bad we only get a few days with them though haha We also did infield orientation Thursday, that was long but it was good and it makes me more excited to get there!  

I remember dad saying "you will forget all of the Spanish you have learned" and I didn't believe him but I have ha and only Russian words come to my mind, but I guess it is a good thing since I will be speaking that for the next two years. haha I love you so much and can't wait to be in Ukraine in less than 48 hours! 

Thank you for the Thanksgiving, Christmas  and other letters and gifts I have loved them. 

Even though I only know a little bit of Russian I am again so excited to serve and love the people in Ukraine! 

Until next time, and I will be writing from Ukraine..

Я тебя люблю!

-Cтарейшина ДавиД Витт 

Last Week in the MTC

здраствуйте! 

How are you doing? It was a good week and I can't believe this is our last week here! Time flies! 

Today was an especially good day because it snowed a bunch here so we made a snowman and played in the snow and such and it was a good time. I love my district haha

Thanksgiving was a way good day! I mean the food obviously wasn't as good as homemade, but it was still good! It was my companions first Thanksgiving so that made it even better! In the morning our zone started off with a little Turkey Trot and we ran around the MTC a few times haha so that was fun.

Like I told you the MTC  did this huge service project providing meals for over 350,000 people here in Utah. Here is a link with more info, and my companion is in one of the pictures hahaha http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1284&sid=27822133#x1WiYiORwl5iU285.99 

Since we are Zone Leaders we got to help be in charge of it a little bit, we got to be in charge of one of the 70 tables and get the people going and such. My companion and I got to help refill the lentils and rice bins and figured out that together we moved about a ton of food, literally a ton haha 

But it was really cool seeing everyone work hard and fast to get as many meals done that we could. We also got to listen to one of the Apostles. Elder Nelson, from the 12, and his wife came and spoke to us. It was really awesome  He said how important it is to get to know and love the Bishop and Ward Mission Leaders so we can serve with them to lead people to Christ more effectively. 

Then we had a Thanksgiving program and it was funny and fun. a few people we called on to help give a little skit and that was funny. Then we also go to hear people play music and we got to hear Cтарейшина Maltba play the piano. He is so good and I wish I could play the Piano haha it is an awesome talent. Then to finish off our Thanksgiving day we watched Ephraim's Rescue. Such and incredible movie. Like I have said before I do not comprehend the pioneers. His story and faith is incredible. It was such a good movie I loved it and recommend it to everyone. It was a great Thanksgiving! 

This week also got our travel plans and it is so real now haha 9 weeks flew by! We leave the MTC at 3:30 am then fly from the SLC airport to Chicago to D.C. to Munich to Donetsk! I hope our Russian name tags get here this week too! Yesterday we had a culture meeting with all the Russian speaking Elders and Sisters and it makes me more excited to get there and embrace the people and culture. 

This week Nikoli finally got baptized after being pushed back for 7 lessons because of different reasons so that was exciting. I love that we can teach so much but not know that much Russian. I only know a tiny tiny bit of Russian but I am so excited to learn more and become fluent in the language. 

On Sunday we had Mission Conference and one thing I liked was how a man was a stone cutter and could make awesome designs in stones and such but the architect had asked that they be plain square stones. The Stone cutter didn't want to but did them how the architect had asked. When the project was complete the stone cutter saw how beautiful the arch was from the stones that he had cut and was glad he left them plain so they could be beautiful how they were. And then it was related that Jesus Christ is our Architect and he knows what the end result we can be and so we need to trust in him and know that even though we may want to choose something else that we like or that is more fun, we need to follow the His plan cause he knows what is best. Then we had sacrament and testimony meeting as a zone and it was great. I love my zone! It was another good week here at the MTC!   

Я тебя люблю!

-Cтарейшина ДавиД Витт 

P.S. 

my address in Ukraine for now will be 

Elder David Charles Witt 

Ukraine Donetsk Mission

Prospekt Bogdana Khmelnitskogo 67a

Donetsk 83087 

Ukraine

So Thankful

здраствуйте! 

How is it going? Another week! And now down to 2 more weeks here! Time flies! This week was a pretty good week! We got pushed back on all of our investigators so we didn't teach that much this week, mostly book work and reading and such.  

This week for TRC we taught only one lesson that was 40 minutes long. We usually write down a majority of what we want to say but this week my companion said let's just go in with bullet points for topics and write down a few scriptures. I didn't want to because I wasn't sure if I would remember any words, but that's what we did. And we talked for 40 minutes and we both talked about 50/50 so that was a cool experience of how we just need to have faith and trust that the Spirit can lead us what to say. I also saw a glimpse of the gift of tongues cause I was using grammar that I have no idea how to use haha and I know I couldn't have done that by myself.  I can't wait to get into the field and exercise more faith and learn more language. 

The lady who makes the Russian name tags came in today to make sure our names were spelled right so that was exciting and it made this even more real, so we will probably get them at the end of next week..? I think and I hope haha but I will have 2 T's instead of just one so that's cool. 

Sister Jackson's birthday was this week and so we used the glow sticks to spell happy b-day and put sticky notes everywhere haha it was a good day and she was way grateful. Brother Holt was talking about his mission and people he taught and stuff after we had found a video of the dedication of the Kyiv temple. He also said how there is a lot of hands on service because a lot of people have gardens, so I am excited about that!  I am glad to have good teachers. Our district has been doing Purple Пятница and it has carried over to the other district (our 2 districts are the whole zone..ha) so I will have to get a picture from someone and send it haha  

I can't believe Thanksgiving is already here. There are so many things I am grateful for! I am grateful for my parents, my sisters and their families and my brother. This week I have had the opportunity to learn more about  and review Joseph Smith. I know that there has never before or never will be again a 14 year old boy who gets persecuted day in and day out and until he gets murdered for what he said he saw and knows and expect no recognition, giving it all to God. "Millions shall know brother Joseph again"  I am so grateful for him adn his willingness to endure so we could enjoy the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the truth it has in it. And most importantly I am so grateful for my Savior, Brother and Redeemer Jesus Christ. We would be nothing without him. I am grateful for this time of the year that we can be reminded of all of the things we have been given and all of the things that we have. It is a wonderful time of the year. I love you and miss you but I know it is just a short time in the eternal perspective . 

Until next week 

Love, 

 -Cтарейшина ДавиД Витт 

Mormon Memes

A few funnies that I sent David

Helaman 5:12

Zdrastvweetyeh! 

I'm not sure how to spell it so I will just sound it out haha This week was another good week. For our fireside Sister Mary Ellen Edmunds came and spoke and she was hilarious. This week I also did a Plan Study Teach Cycle (PSTC) with another one of the teachers and we taught Maria. I found out stuff that we weren't able to communicate very well with her before...haha the teacher was rerally cool, брат(brother) Parson. We said a few prayers while we were planning and made me realize how important it is while planning for our investigators. 

I have the First Vision down, in Russian, so I am glad I can say that now. We have just been teaching and learning and reading and studying. So a lot of work but it is good. We taught our investigator, Nikoli, in English, just to make sure my companion and I could both make sure we know the doctrine and such. It is exciting but also nerve racking that we leave so soon! 3 more Sunday's and we are out. 

Oh yeah this week there was a Russian teacher, from Russia, that sat in in our class sicne her district just left and it was cool to hear how she spoke and such, I really can't wait to get over there and teach.

I used Helaman 5:12 a few times this week, I really like that scripture it is way important that we build our foundation on our brother and Savior Jesus Christ. Another thing I was reading was Ether 12, and I didn't realize how many times faith was used. It obviously is saying how important faith is.

Today was the last day we will be able to go to the temple because they will be cleaning it and such, so it is the last time we will be able to go for two years. I love the temple so much and know we can receive revelation and guidance when we go there. There is no other place in the world that you can feel how you can there. It is such a wonderful blessing and we need to not take it for granted since we live so close to temples! 

Thank you for your love and support! 

 Love you!

Love,   

Cтарейшина Вит

(Elder Witt)

Month Mark

This week was a quick week and I can't believe it is already pday! The older Elders and Sisters left this morning and it has already been weird without them. There will be 14 people including the Branch Presidency so that'll be weird ha. There was this Elder I met and he is from Switzerland and is going to the Murray and Taylorsville area haha so look out for him! His name is Elder Bolognesi. The first out two things I remember from this week and that I really liked was a talk by Elder Holland, such an excellent speaker, fire and brimstone, but it was about when after Christ died he came back and saw Peter fishing and asked him three times, "Peter, do you love me?" and he said "yea Lord" and the third time after Christ had repeated himself he said he needed disciples not fish, if he wanted fish he could get fish. I really liked this one so look it up. The other thing I liked was a quote that I heard "a bell isn't a bell until you ring it, a song isn't a song until you sing it and love is a verb, so we need to use it" It is just sayin we need to love everyone no matter what, share the Light and Love of Jesus Christ and love them. Our Investigators are doin alright, Nikoli is progressing and Maria is doing some stuff but she still doesn't seem interested. We also taught one on ones just another companion in our district, that went well, I taught Elder Maltba. Then my companion and I also taught CT. Maltba and CT. Horn, who were posing as friends or family members that they know and we get to be someone we know that is a non-member. Thank you for the letters and such! can't wait to hear from you again next week! 
 
Love,
Cтарейшина Witt

Zone Leaders

Hey! It was a good week this week and I was so glad to get the packages of candy and such! Even though I have a ton of candy..I feel like I am going to get diabetes by the time I leave here! haha I can't believe that  this week it has been a month! It has gone by fast! another month of here seems pretty long ha but I am pretty sure we will be on a plane to Donetsk before we know it! I can't wait for that day! haha It was so good to get pictures from Mel and Shar from your guys' Halloween Party! I love the pics so send more! 

This week then my companion and I got called to be Zone Leaders because the other ones leave next Tuesday for Ukraine! So it has been a unique experience. On Sunday we had a ton of meetings and it felt forever especially since we were fasting haha but it was still a pretty good day. On Sunday I got to see Hayden one more time and we both had our cameras so we finally got a picture! so hopefully the attachment sends! I know he will do awesome things for the Hmong (is that how you spell it?) speaking people in California and all the other people he comes in contact with. He has always been a good example to me and am grateful for him. I am also grateful for tender mercies that our Heavenly Father! 

This week we have continued to teach our investigators and they are both progressing pretty well! Some days are better than others but overall going well. We will now be teaching another missionary in our district then my comp and I will be teaching another companionship in our district portraying someone they know who they think would be someone who needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. 

We did this activity in class where we would ask the investigator if they would be willing to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and they were told to say no. We were then supposed to wait a minute to get impression as of what to say so we could soften the hearts and I think that is an important lesson that we are quiet for a minute and wait for inspiration so we can be a clearer window for the Holy ghost to touch their hearts. 

We had some extra time one night so we did some family search and I got all the way back to Adam and Eve! haha It was pretty sweet! I did it twice with two different lines both from the Witt side, I wrote down the second one, but I didn't on the first and on the first one I went through Constantine and such! it was pretty cool! check it out and see if you run into Constantine again!

Thank you for the emails, letters and candy haha 

I love you all and cant wait to hear from you again next week!

Love, Elder David Witt