"The more you know about exponential growth, the more excited you are about the Gospel" - Elder Palmer

Hey there family and friends,
Thanks to those who wrote me this week, it's nice to hear from all of you. I truly mean that.
This week went by just as fast as every other week, and I'm still loving it. I don't know if I've said this already, but the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. In reference to the weird foods that I mentioned last week- those were all from other Elders in things they got in the mail. Not from the cafeteria here haha.
The Russian is still coming along well, we've been teaching full discussions in the language for about three weeks now. I find that I can work my way around the language, so that I can get my point across, though sometimes it's hard because I can't really express myself. I'm not too worried about it though, because I have already seen how real the gift of tongues really is, and I know that if what I'm teaching is true, the Spirit will testify the truthfulness of my words. But yeah, we're still learning a lot about the language everyday- it's so crazy. We all get really excited when we're writing in english and we throw in a backwards 'N' for a normal n, or an 'H' for an n. Even better is the cursive 'D' in Russian is a g. So yeah, that's kinda cool.
Last week our Tuesday devotional was from Gene R. Cook, an Emeritus Seventy it was pretty good, those are still my favorite part. I think that this week, I've really learned that I have truly been called of God as a Representative of Jesus Christ. There is no need to fewr - especially because the things we are teaching are true. We can humbe ourselves before the Lord, and be bold with the message we are sharing. I'm really coming to see my faith grow by the small and simple things that I am doing everyday. I taught the lesson in District Meeting on Sunday on Faith (I found out only a few hours before, haha, guess I should get used to that) and Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting, so that was exciting. My last chance to formally bear my testimony in English, so I took the opportunity. The new district is pretty cool, all of them are either going to Russia, or Ukraine. Anyway, I'm running low on time, so I gotta go. Thanks again for all your love and prayers. I'll try to share more next week.
Love- Elder Atkinson