Bethany Goes to Russia

Skype conversation with Bethany (written by LeAnne):

I woke up this morning to find an email from Bethany, which is below. And as I was reading it, I saw on Skype that she was online. Just as I was getting ready to call her through Skype, she called me!!! It was so wonderful to talk to her and SEE her!!! She looks really good!

She has been trying to figure out how to get her computer online at her house, but has not been having any luck. So she's thinking of just taking her computer over to the boy's apt and leaving it there. They bought a bunch of cords so that everyone can hook up their computers at the same time to go online. There is also a McDonalds close to the boys apt that you can go online for free.

This morning she was online at the Pizza Hut just a few minutes from her house. She was able to go online on her computer there.

She is doing really well, but misses everyone of course! That is the only hard part of this whole experience.

Bethany told me that the most amazing thing about being in Russia is how much praying she has been doing! She said that she has never prayed so much in her life, never read her scriptures so much, never relied on the spirit so much. When Rudi gave her a Father's blessing before she left, he said that Heavenly Father would keep her safe and send angels to be with her. Well, she told me that has been so true! She prays everyday before she leaves her apartment that angels will attend her and walk with her and that she will constantly be prompted to know that right things to do, the right choices to make. She bore testimony to me that she knows she has had angels walk with her. She feels them constantly, especially when she is having to go to school or home by herself. She has been prompted many times on simple choices, such as which way to walk home from the metro. But they have been very distinct promptings. She also told me that she is constantly reading her scriptures. She constantly has the desire to pick them up and read them. She thinks she's read more in the past 2 weeks than she's read in her whole life!

She's still struggling with learning Russian, but one of the other teachers, Heather, is going to help her. Tonya, her mom, is going to help her also and Bethany is going to help Tonya with English.

Bethany made her first purchases yesterday. She bought a couple of presents for her cousins in Utah. (Yes, Val and Abby...that's you!) And she bought herself a CD of some type of church music. She said it reminded her of the beautiful music in the movie Ever After that the monks sang.

The teachers are going to Moscow next Friday through Tuesday, so she is looking forward to that.

Her iPod lost all of it's songs! She said she cried when it happened. Somehow the got deleted. So I'm going to burn her a copy on CD of her list of songs and mail them to her on Tuesday. She said that her music has helped keep her from getting too homesick. Especially listening to the songs which the family recorded. Bethany said that whenever it got really bad (the homesickness), she'd listen to her Dad and brothers and sisters singing and it really soothed her.

Well, that's about it. Like I said before, she is doing great, and asked me to give her love to everyone.


Bethany's email:

----- Original Message -----
From: Bethany Eller
To: Mom
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2010 6:17 AM

Subject: Hello

OK, so I'm online at home. The thing is though, that I'm on the girlfriends computer! The Nephew said that it won't work on mine, I'm not sure why though. And she doesn't have Skype downloaded and so I'd feel weird downloading something onto her computer. I'm not sure how this is going to work. I'm thinking about going to a store and seeing how much a satellite thing would cost. I had one in Corona and it worked really well. It might be worth it if I bought one, though I'm not sure how it all works. I'd have to ask one of the boys. I'm really getting tired of not being able to talk to you when I want too. I really miss you guys and I want to see your faces!

Also, teaching is going better. We got evaluated on Thursday. I was ready to poop my pants, I was so nervous! I did not want Jesh in there listening to me and writing things down on a piece of paper. But I said a HUGE prayer beforehand. I asked that I would be able to teach the way I normally do, so that Jesh could see what I was doing and fix my real mistakes. I was afraid that I'd be so nervous that I would make bunches of mistakes that I normally don't make. I also asked Jesh if he could sit behind me so I couldn't see him. And he did! I wasn't that nervous when he was there. I played it cool! After teaching he pulled us into one of the rooms one by one to go over how we did. As soon as I walked in I asked if I failed, and his answer was "No, actually I think you did the best." lol I was so relieved! I couldn't believe it! Of course there were things that needed fixing, but nothing too major! I need to go into more detail about things, and use the BMC's more often and tell the kids the rules of the games that we're playing... lol which I usaully do. I just didn't do it that time because we ran out of time so there wasn't even time to play the game, let alone tell them the rules! lol So I think over all it's going well. I am running out of ideas for kids games though. I have to do the games section for a month before I can change. But that's only 2 more weeks!

The kids have their moments, somedays they are good, somedays not so much. I think they are starting to realize that we're not here to play though. So that's good. And of course I'm starting to have my favorites and not so favorites! lol There is one little boy that I'm trying to figure out how to fit him in my suitcase without getting caught. Though I'd have to fight to get him because all the other teachers want him too! lol He's the smallest in the class and he looks like a baby, but can talk! It's crazy! lol

Yesterday we went to the St Peter and Paul Fortress. It's a mausoleum for dead rulers/famous people. lol The Romanov (spelling?) family is buried there too. I got lots of pictures to show Val and Abby. We also went to a prison. That was so creepy. Syveta (our ILP Principal) said it was the scariest prison in Russia. It was only for bad political people, not criminals. And you had your own room with a bed and small table. You couldn't talk to anyone. It was just you by yourself. She said that the guards used to wear things on their shoes so that the prisoners couldn't hear anyone outside. She said people went crazy in there. And it completely creeped me out! It was so scary!

That was about it for yesterday. Also, I'm sure you'll hear that the group is going to a festival tonight. It's the end of winter festival where they burn a doll of a lady. I'm not going, I planned on it, but I got this icky feeling that I shouldn't go, so I'm not.

Well, I should end this letter, I love you so much and miss you even more! :)
Love Me

PS are you watching the olympics? I saw some, but its just not the same without you! I don't like it!