General Conference and other such wonderful things!

Despite the fact that I know English very well and can communicate in it (unlike the Russian that we're trying to speak), I don't think even English words can quite capture how wonderful this past weekend was. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to sing in the choir at General Conference. All 364 of us were pretty excited to be loading buses and driving outside of the two-block radius that has been our world for the past little while. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a drive between Provo and Salt Lake quite so much in my life. :) We were able to listen to part of the morning session of General Conference as we drove up there, and something about sitting in a bus full of missionaries listening to Conference was really neat. We rehearsed for a little while in the Little Theater, which reminded me of Steven's choir concerts so that was fun. Then we got to go through this secrety tunnel and up into the choir loft. As I walked out into the loft and the thousands of congregation seats came into view, I was filled with this intense excitement and a desire to share with each of those people that I am a missionary. There was so much power as we sang those songs together - yes, our rehearsals were powerful, but nothing compared to what I felt as we actually performed. I was filled with the meaning of those hymns and such joy and excitement to share it. "Praise to the Man" was especially powerful for me. I was struck with the realization that, despite all the evil that is spoken of Joseph Smith's name throughout the world, we as missionaries are going forth to bear our testimonies that we KNOW he is a prophet of God. What an incredible responsibility and opportunity. It was also so powerful to sing "Called to Serve" as the intermediate hymn - and it made me happy how excited the congregation was to sing it with us. :)

It was really neat to be sitting so close to so many General Authorities (I had a direct line of sight to the back of President Monson's head when we were standing up), and it was touching afterward when they waved to us and thanked us. I felt like a part of something magnificent. The bus ride home after Conference was special, too. We had a testimony meeting where people shared what they'd learned and felt from this experience. So many people bore testimony that because they'd been in the choir, their inactive/non-member family members were watching Conference for the first time in a long time. And our bus driver touched all of our hearts by telling us that he's been trying to avoid the church for 21 years, but that he listened to Conference that day. I was really impressed that God knows each of us and that none of us were in that choir by accident. That evening, after we'd returned to the MTC, my roommates and I watched our songs from lds.org, and that was definitely exciting - every few seconds we'd burst into cheers because one of us or someone we knew was on screen. It just made me so happy to see so many of my friends in that choir - I've truly come to love the people I've met here. That experience is one I'm definitely going to treasure for the rest of my life.

Sunday we got to watch General Conference in the auditorium with all of the missionaries, and that was a neat experience, too. There's something special about being gathered with 2000+ missionaries to listen to prophets speak. I really felt that so much of what was said was just for me - the apostles and prophets answered the specific questions I had, and I was greatly edified. It was also interesting that I felt that basically everything applied to me - previously I would have been like "Oh, I'm not a single parent, so this doesn't apply to me." But this Conference I was like "I'm going to have investigators in this situation, and this talk will help me help them." That was a neat realization.

My district started our two weeks of the English fast. It's been somewhat of a challenge, and we all miss the English language and being able to understand one another. But it's already helped so much and I know it will continue to do so. Right now I'm especially grateful that Sister Busch and I have been speaking Russian with each other for the past few weeks - it's been so helpful to have a few weeks of practice and experience. Our teacher told us the other day that the first time Russian missionaries spent their last two weeks completely in Russian, they entered the field speaking as well as missionaries who had been out three months already. That's definitely a blessing I would like, so no matter how difficult this goal is, it's going to be so worth it.

Elder Archuleta entered the MTC last week, and it's been a lot of fun to see him around and sing with him in choir. He's one of the nicest young men ever and always holds the doors for us. And he's funny, too.

Our new Russian districts have been here for a week. It's been a lot of fun to work with them and get to know them. And it's also made me realize how far my district has come. The improvement from day-to-day is almost imperceptible, but as we look back on our seven weeks, it truly is a miracle. There's no way we're doing this on our own.

At our devotional last night, Elder Wickman told us that they key to being a great missionary is to love. And I think that's so true. I want my mission to be defined by my love for the Lord and for those I'm serving and serving with. I also think that applies to life in general - the key to being a great person is to love. That's what life is about, and that's why I'm on a mission.

-Sharisa