Elder Neil L. Anderson

Dear Family:

I am grateful that you loved my letter, but I wanted to send you a Mother's day card, as well as a Birthday card for Dad. There weren't any Mother's day cards in the book store, so I got something I think you will like, so wait and it should come soon. I really love receiving letters, so tell the family to send me more! I loved receiving the card from Claire, and I posted it on my wall. Tell her I really like the kitties she put in my note. I love these pictures! It's funny, but they really brighten my day when I look at them. So if you could please ask the family to send me pictures, that would be awesome!

Just to tell you our progress in the language, we are giving the lesson of the Restoration 100% Russian. Yep, just a little over a month and we are teaching in Russian. It's amazing. I could never learn this language on my own so quickly. That apostolic blessing of the gift of tongues given to us by Elder Scott really works! And just to blow your mind even further, The speaker at the devotional yesterday was Elder Neil L. Anderson. We have been at the MTC for about 5 weeks, and we have listened to THREE apostles. This never happens. I feel that the Lord is preparing us for something big. Something amazing is going to be happening.

It's exciting.reading about Porter's experience with fighting Darth Vader (I am so jealous of the young padawan) reminded me about my own Jedi experiences. One of the missionaries from an older district showed us how to use the colored pencil leads and if you position it right, you can take a picture and it will look exactly like you are holding a lightsaber. It's really cool, and I will have to send you some pictures.

Mother's day was the last Sunday for the older districts. For a special musical number for sacrament meeting, a district sang the EFY medley in Russian, but they switched the words "we will be" to "we are now". It caught me by suprise, because I am now the Lord's missionary. This week, the older districts left for the mission field. I woke up at 4:30 those two days to see the missionaries off. It makes me so excited that in another 6 weeks it will be MY turn.

During gym time, I usually like to play volleyball. We share gym time with missionaries going to Italy, and they are really good. In the evenings and mornings some of us like to get together and work out. It's hard, but it really starts the day right.

Elder Fitzgerald and I are starting to work better together now. The most important thing I am learning is compromise. We both can't get everything we want. As a missionary, you are going to work with companions that just aren't that compatible with you. You need to remember that both of you are there for the same reason, and that is to teach the people. That is all you need in common to be successful. So Elder Fitzgerald and I are very different, but we are learning to put aside our differences and just get to work.

Since all the older districts are gone, we needed new zone leaders. They are from our district, Elder Garret and Kodra. It's really cool, because the music coordinator, sacrament meeting coordinator, and zone leaders are all from our district. No one else from any other disctrict has a calling. We all have senior companionships, but the calling is shared. (I am the senior companion for the rest of the MTC) Our branch president President Childs told us that we have a special district. I believe it. We have had lots of struggles, but we are able to come together and support each other. After every devotional, we have a district review, where we share our testimonies and things we learned from the devotional. Every time, I am astonished at how strong we are. It's exciting.

Thank you for the packages. If it would be possible, please send me one or two short-sleeved fitted shirts. It gets really hot sometimes here, and also it will get to over 100 degrees in Russia in the summer. I don't want to die. :) I would also like vocal music. Mainly choral (group music) but solos are okay.

I am almost out of time, so I will send more via letter. I love the family, and tell the grandchildren that I feel their prayers for me. Tell them also to send me lots of drawings!

Love, Elder Hoggan

P.S. The Church is true!