Russian 101

Hello!

This is Elder LeFevre reporting from the "Iron curtain"!  I continue to appreciate the love and support from everyone.  Thank you for the packages Brenda, Mom, and Mike M!  You guys are the best and my salsa night on Saturday was the coolest party. Turns out the whole zone was having a Mexican Night! MMMMM!  It was the celebration before our schedules were changed.  P-day is now Wednesday, our schedule is slightly more structured, and I could not believe at first that our schedule needed adjustment. So far, it has been treating my companion and me well.

Another couple of things have happened to make this past week exciting.  A week ago, I had the opportunity to hear from Elder Richard G. Scott and yesterday from Dallin H. Oaks!  How cool is that? Super Awesome that’s what that is!!   I took about six pages of notes combined from their devotionals.

 This week has added to my testimony the truth that God loves each and every one of us and not only does he have a plan for us as a whole, but individually.  I know God would never put us through a trial that we cannot overcome.   We are to strive and stretch ourselves beyond the comfort zone and endure! By showing faith in Jesus Christ, he will have his hand always extended to us and then we can be invincible to overcome anything and achieve our full potential.  We must act upon our righteous desires and exhibit faith to go from believing to knowing and achieving constant conversion.

This past week has been great. My companion and I had to opportunity to hear the first lesson in Russian from the older Elders in the district and it was so cool! Do you want to know what the cool thing was?  I actually could understand some of the language spoken and I was able to converse back in some Russian!  I am so excited to see how far I have come in the language, but I need to stay diligent in my studies. My goal this week is build vocabulary and to memorize some phrases needed for tonight's TRC! We have to greet, get to know them, bear testimony, follow up on commitments, and extend an appointment.  My mind is about to explode!  The funny thing is we have barely started to do SYL as a district and it is the quietest time of the day.  SYL is when you speak your language 100% of the time allotted.  It forces us to make sentences within our minds and piece together conversations, even if it is as simple as, "I love the food."  (Not a phrase, which I would use for some meals here!)  The most troubling thing about the language now is memorizing verbs and vocab.  It is really unfamiliar looking letters and sounds.  I am afraid that I am starting to replace my English with Russian.  I have not used thank you or welcome in English in forever it seems!  I know that I should not get discouraged, because it is promised to us that if, we continually treasure up the words of the Lord, that when the time comes the Spirit will allow you to recall those things. Tonight is like my chapter test and I hope I get an A!  I know I will, I have not been slacking. Time is almost up and then the iron curtain is going to fall again.

LOVE YOU ALL!
Старейшина Лефевр

Everyone fears us !

Last Tuesday was the bomb!!   After the temple I went to the devotional they hold every Tuesday and we were blessed to have Elder Rasband come speak to us about the three steps we need to become the best missionaries and Disciples of Christ ever!!   First was to bridal our passions, then garnish thy thoughts, and lastly PRAY FOR THE HOLY GHOST!   It was great because my district is way cool, but sometimes we can find ourselves getting off track and we needed that kick in the behind to remember why we are here.  Every day I am learning something new, whether it is spiritual, Russian, or good habits.

The MTC has its moments where it can be a little tiring since we are constantly studying the scriptures or the Russian language.  My companion, Elder P, and I are the only ones going to Russia in our zone and we take pride in that.  Well righteous pride that is!  (hahaha)  My Branch President is hilarious; every Sunday is amazing and my favorite day of the week.  Not only because we get chicken cordon bleu but we get to hear President H speak.  He likes to make the comment to us that we "are Russian missionaries!   We do not look unprofessional and act unprofessional ever because we set the example at the MTC and everyone fears us!"  (hahaha)

 While sitting at the "Iron Curtain" on Saturdays we all participate in a toast in Russian it is quite fun to see the look on the other elder's faces in the cafeteria.  I hope that I will get pictures sent to you soon.

This week has been crazy when in dealing with the Russian language. We have been learning cases and memorizing charts, along with conjugating verbs and adding onto our testimonies, prayers, and greetings.  Even my singing in Russian has gotten better as well and I no longer make others' ears bleed! The thing I look forward to everyday is GYM and language study.   I don’t get to see much of Jon though he is up stairs in my classroom building.  But I have said hello to him in Russian and like to see the puzzled look he gets as I greet him!  (hahaha)  Same goes for Trevor and Kyle.  

The doughnuts came through yesterday and everyone loved them! (haha)  in fact they are gone just about and thank goodness because sweets+ me = trouble!!  (hahaha)  I have been staying obedient and sticking with the rules here.  It is funny because most of us already talk about how we can't wait to get out of here!  It is really cool don't get me wrong but sitting and eating makes me want to take a nap and I am not allowed to do that especially after a Sunday Lunch! 

The language is coming and I am trying to make my own sentences, which in itself can be confusing. When you translate it from Russian to English it is cave man talk!  Their language is all about speaking at the person and not with them.  Oh btw natives came and they are super sick and they have been telling us stories and about Ukraine mostly.  We have had the opportunity to practice Russian with them and it is a good thing to know that when I speak they can understand my Russian!   I just pray that I don’t have too many "X" because to pronounce it sounds like a person hacking a lugie and I accidently did release a projectile once or twice! (haha)

   

I appreciate the support and for the packages!!   I Love all you guys back home!

Старейшина Лефевр

Extras from letter on April 15

Kyle wrote a letter home this week and I wanted to share a little from that letter. 

No worries !  Learning лруский is really tough. I study all the time and I am tired when bedtime comes. All the world is behind me here and I have a clear mind to allow the Holy Ghost and Russian language to enter.
My district is awesome!! We all have fun and my companion is chill and we work well together.  We are observing 110% obediance since we are Russian missionaries.  We take pride in it here.  Every Saturday we sing in Russian at 9:30 pm.
Sunday was fun, got to sit next to Trevor and watch the Joseph Smith movie.  Everyone made noise as Joseph kissed Emma, it was great ! 
Tonight, I have to walk around the hall singing in Russiam as punishment for using "Bro" instead of "Elder". It was a bet me and my companion made.  Hope all is well and love the letters.

Love ya !
Старейшина лефевр
(Elder Lefevre)

Week 1 at the MTC

The first week at the MTC was CRAZY!!  My brain was swirling around with everything on the schedule and just getting all the orientations done. Trevor was there to greet me and it was way awesome to see my best friend welcome me to the start of my mission!  I will never forget it!  I went through the doors and picked up my tag along with my ID and then I was shown my room. I was the last to arrive in the room and from there went to orientation.

Once there we received our first couple of assignments. Homework already!? Yes. We had to read the white handbook, pick up my Russian books and study supplies, memorize our purpose as missionaries and learn the alphabet by Sunday! From there we went to class and began to study the first chapter in Preach My Gospel. When I walked in I looked on the board and there was my name with a heart drawn next to it!  I began to laugh and later learned it was Elder K G down the hall who I see frequently from the Russian classroom!

Russian is one crazy language! The alphabet is easy because you can pronounce any word as long as you know the sound of the letter; there are no tricks when combining letters. My favorite letter of the alphabet has to be 'X' because it sounds like you are going to hack a lugie on someone! and it is how we say Christ!  Within a week I have memorized my testimony and know how to add upon what I have said previously.  I have learned greetings and have integrated them within my day with my companion, Elder P.  Elder P is a cool companion and we are learning to teach by the spirit and 'bank off' each other’s comments. My district is full of hilarious characters and guys whom within a week, I have become friends with fast. We barely started to sing in Russian and it’s hard not to crack up because someone passes gas really bad or we just sound tone deaf!

Sunday we had the BYU men's choir come for our fireside and it was SWEET!!  My favorite song was the one from New Zealand with bamboo drums rocking the house to get a standing ovation!  On Sundays we get to do temple walks and I’ll be sending pictures really soon I promise. The Spirit is very strong here and I look forward to each day.

Love Elder Kyle LeFevre

Trip to the MTC

We left Las Vegas the morning of Tuesday April 5th to travel to the Provo MTC.  We stopped in St. George Utah at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, one of Kyle’s favorite places to eat.  Our second stop was Cedar City, where we visited Aunt Margene, Aunt Marcia, Sarah and her kids.  That night in Provo, we went out to dinner with Bree, Palolo, and Lauren at the Texas Roadhouse.  It was great to see the girls.

Wednesday morning came too soon and it was definitely crazy.  Why do stores open at 10 am instead of 6 am?  Don't they know that they are wasting daylight?  Kyle and I went to several stores to pick up some last minute items.  Kyle mentioned that morning that he had forgotten to get his hair cut and really did not want to be "scalped" by the haircutters in the MTC.  Apparently he had heard horror stories of Elders getting really short haircuts.  I think Ben was one of those who had the MTC haircut experience. So the final stop was Supercuts and on to the Provo temple for pictures.  Bree met us at the temple to help take pictures.

At the temple we lost track of time (Kyle had a 1:00 report time to MTC), and realized it when Kyle stated he was hungry.  Not really caring if we were late, we went to the BYU Creamery where he got some cookies n cream (very caloric) milk to hold him over until dinner.  We then lazily drove back to the MTC entrance (more like stalling) and entered the left hand entrance lane. 
I did not realize that the experience of dropping Kyle off would really be that short.  As we turned left, Brittany saw Trevor at the curbside so she opened the window and yelled at him.  Trevor saw us and ran down the sidewalk, keeping up with us as we were directed to a curbside drop off spot.  At this point I felt like I was dropping him off at the departing gates of McCarran Airport, with MTC security making sure we didn't stay too long. After we parked (very temporary), Kyle jumped out to greet Trevor.  The smile, with some fear in it, changed to a smile of confidence.  I could tell he was happy to see Trevor.  We only got to talk for a few minutes, take a few pictures then we had to let him go.  It was hard to see him and Trevor walk off. 

As we left, (yes I cried) I knew that he would be okay and protected. It’s kind of strange to have that comfort knowing that all will be well. On our way home I decided to let Larry drive just in case my eyes sprung a leak thus hindering my excellent driving skills.  The drive home seemed very short.  Later that night (about 11pm) as I sat down to watch Glenn Beck then it hit me that Kyle was not sitting next to me on the couch.  Yep it was at that moment that my eyes sprung a big leak.