October 28, 1996 - Monday

By the way - Saturday night I was comforted.  I don't know if I like having Ст. Beckstrand in my room, but it looks like I'm stuck with him.  It isn't so bad, but you know I don't like change.  I had to give up some space and I know I'm being selfish, but hey - I'll get over it.

I'm going to fast today because I want to feel the Spirit.  I don't like the way that I feel.  I think anytime that I can't pray sincerely I'll threaten myself with fasting.  At least maybe I'll lose some weight before I leave.  Only two more weeks wow.  It seems weird.  When the group leaves tomorrow we'll be the oldest group of Ruskies left.  Wow.  Last Friday we went to the temple and Sister Habel & Sister Pipken were there.  I didn't stand by either of them on purpose, because that would be hard to concentrate.  They are companions and are both very beautiful.  But I shouldn't look.

It's about 9:46pm and earlier today, right after supper, we all received notes that I had written.  (I talked about them on 10-19-96. )  It felt so good to hear people talk about who they thought it was and how it made them feel.  It felt really good. 

Okay - we had TRC again tonight and all day I had had negative feelings for Ст. Parks.  So when we went into the teaching I don't think we taught with the Spirit as strongly as we could have.  I didn't really think we accomplished our goal and I was mad at myself and at Ст. Parks etc.  Not feeling at all like I had [when I did TRC] with Sister Jensen.  But when we got back to the dorm Ст. Beckstrand  sensed I had a concern and basically testified that I did good, got me in a better mood.  It felt good.  I love everyone and Ст. Parks included.  I love you.  В имя Иисуса Христа.  [In the name of Jesus Christ]

October 14, 1996 - Monday

Today ended so awesome.  It was a really long dang partly because we had three lessons in grammar our midday class.  But our evening evening class we went through a discussion in Russian first and then the last 5 minutes was in English.  Well we ran over the time limit and we went to TRC:  the Training Resource Center.  We had a little orientation and then we went to a door and knocked.  We just talked to an older guy and we got him to commit to helping an inactive family down the street.  It was [a] pretty weak commitment. 

I improved in the second one by leaning forward when talking with this guy, who was next. 

Sister Jensen was my companion & he [the investigator] kind of teased us about this.  It went a whole lot better though.  We were on time & we got him to commit to talking with his wife about inviting a[n] inactive family down the street to dinner one night where we give them a little lesson and invite them to church.  We improved a lot with the second one and I feel awesome.  It makes me want to get out in the mission field and start teaching.  You are probably wondering what this is on the page [picture on the left].  Well the guy that was giving feedback thought that I should have [a dress] since I was with a sister.  [I remember that he held up the dress to the screen and kept moving it around so that my face was visible under the hat.]

I have to go now, but I want whoever is reading this to know, that I have a deep love for my Heavenly Father.  I felt so comfortable in the room and I know it was because of our prayers before entering.  Thank you!