Week 4

Sister Dexter is doing so well! I'll let her tell you about it :)

Here is a little something from her email this week:

My district is great! there are 10 of us, 4 sisters and 8 elders.... haha just 6 elders, i wanted to make sure you were paying attention. Russian is fabulous. I love it! I'm on week 4 here. In a little over a month, I'm going to be in Russia! I'm pretty excited :)

 

We had a substitute teacher the other day, and she is from the Ukraine. After I taught her in Russian she asked me if I spoke Ukrainian, and I said no. But she said that my accent was like an Ukrainians. Isn't that cool! I may not sound like a Russian yet, but I don't sound completely like an American! It was a proud moment. My companion is great. Sometimes I think we get along tooo well. We are just such joksters, and my comp is the sarcastic one of the two of us. Yeah, by a lot. I'm trying to by as genuine as possible with her though, because, lets be honest, a relationship based entirely on sarcasm isnt a very sturdy one.

I love the gospel! I am so grateful for our caring Heavenly Father, the fact that he granted me the desire of my heart to return on a mission is evidence enough for me to know that he loves us more than we understand. I also know that we can help those around us feel this love by caring for them and serving them as the Savior would. I am so excited to be on a mission, but the truth is, we are all on missions, responsible to do all we can to lift those around us. I love you all!

Write me! Tell me about your lives! I love hearing about normal peoples lives :)

Love (almost) from Russia,

Sister Dexter

First P-day

We heard from Sister Dexter today! She talked to the language elevator and may be moving classes which means she will possibly be in Moscow sooner than 9 weeks. Her companion is Sister Pitser from Woodburn Oregon. Sister Dexter's take on her: "She played rugby for BYU..... enough said. She is awesome! She is such an example to me of boldness and humility."

Sisters Dutson, Dexter, and Pitser

It's a little long, but I think it's worth the read. This is the letter she sent to the president this week:

The spirit and the environment here at the Missionary Training Center, is unlike anything else on earth. It is a place where a missionary can feel the spirit, stronger, perhaps than they ever will for the rest of their lives. It is also a place where a missionary is humbled by the expectations that they can not hope to reach on their own. This feeling of helplessness is, for lack of a better word; scary. But it is through this realization that a missionary can come to rely and depend upon the Lord, and in this process our weakness are made strong in the Lord.
This is my second time coming here to the Missionary Training Center. And it is the exactly how I left it, and the missionary that arrived here in March 2013 and the one here now are the same Sister Dexter. But I have grown and healed this past year. I have more improving and humbling in front of me, I can't even imagine their magnitude, but I am now in the position, physically and mentally, that I have the choice to feel the Holy Ghost and the choice to feel the healing power of the Atonement. Whereas, before, my mind was constantly weighed down by the incalculable weight of depression and anxiety, blinding me to the joys of life, making it impossible to feel the peace the gospel brings that I so dearly wanted to feel.
I am so grateful that the Lord has directed me to return on his mission. I hope that he is able to teach me through this mission and for the rest of my life, and that I will have the wisdom and humility to listen. Through this all, hope was there for me almost all of the time. Hope is the part of the gospel that I have the most love for. I love hope more than anyone or anything. And it was this past week that I found in the scriptures that hope is often used as a substitute for the name of Jesus Christ. Hope is Jesus Christ. The realization that I love Jesus Christ more than anything in this world was such a tender mercy for me. Where there is hope there is Christ.

She sends her love

Stay classy 

Sister Dexter was here

Sister Dexter is now in the MTC! Mother Dexter successfully dropped her off for the start of her adventure. We haven't heard from her yet, but I thought it would be fun to blow up her email with an unhealthy amount of emails. You can join me in this endeavor, if you would like :) 

Her email is taylor.dexter@myldsmail.net

She loves to receive random interesting historical facts, so send some her way.

 

 

 

We know that she is still kicking because she very stealthily left a note on the back of her friends car who works at the MTC. Luckily the car was dirty enough to leave her mark :)

stay classy

This is it

Hello! I'm Sister Dexter's sister, Paige. I'm going to be putting updates and random other fun things here on this blog so that you can live vicariously through Taylor. You're welcome.

Sister Dexter reports to the MTC in Provo this Wednesday so that she can learn to preach the Gospel in the Russian language. We don't know how long she will be there yet, but it will be for at least a day. So you can count on that.

Stay classy