Thanks for sending the care package. I ate the chocolate anyways:) It was perfectly good all melted! I am loving the MTC. I weighed myself and I lost 5 pounds... how I did that.. I still do not know.. I eat big meals every meal. I don't even work out very hard. Nevertheless I am happy!
I sang in the choir this week and it was super cool! It reminded me of being back in choir with DeValk. It was like being in Acap. The one with all the immature sophomores and juniors. Not Jazz Mad. Anyways, when I was at the Tuesday night devotional last night, we had the opportunity to hear from the President of the Relief Society. I forgot her name but she gave an enthralling talk about missionary work and it got my way pumped to go out! I wanna go out now but I probably couldn't make it a day:) I have 6-7 more weeks here before they kick me out. 
As I was sitting there, the congregation was singing some prelude songs. I was singing the bass line (naturally) and the kid sitting next to me (Elder Herring) turns and asks if I was in choir. I tell him yes and he said he was in choir too at Red Mountain High School. Red Mountain isn't too far from us, so I asked him if he ever sang in a regional choir, and he said yes! Turns out, Elder Herring was in the Regional Choir that I was in, my junior year when Charles Bruffy was our conductor! Craziest thing, I never would have guessed. What a small world.
All the missionaries learning Russian say that there is a wall around week 3. You get super discouraged with the language and hate yourself because you can't understand anything and that it is such a humbling experience... I haven't hit that wall, nor can I see that wall in the foreseeable future! I am feeling really solid with the language and I am learning on average 20 new words a day. I don't say this to brag, I say this because I believe God has blessed me with the ability to learn this language. I have been praying to have the Gift of Tongues every night with my companion. I am so glad to not be struggling with it! It's truly a blessing to me.
My companion on the other hand, Elder Hansen, is not in the same boat. He is struggling a bit, but he is working so hard! He reads the Book of Mormon every night while doing push-ups, does pull-ups counting in Russian, he gets extra help from the teachers during free time. He is working so hard and it really is an inspiration to me. He is such a hard worker I want to be just like him. He comes from a family of 11 kids. 6 chocolate and 5 vanilla as he likes to say:) They have adopted 6 kids and Elder Hansen has named 3 of them! He is such a great missionary I am extremely blessed to be put with him.
I met another elder named Elder Daniel Rojas (I think that is correct). He says he went to Desert Ridge with Courtney and Ashley! You will have to tell them he says hi. I am up to 10 pull-ups this week. Doing more and more each night is an analogy for learning Russian. You can't just do it all at once, but a slow and steady climb to the top is the way to go.
Got a haircut about 20 minutes ago and it is super duper short! just gotta give it some time. The lady mentioned as she was cutting, how fluffy and thick my hair is:) hahaha they always say that.
Thank you so much for the Twisty Bag Ties! That was so funny dumping those out and getting weird looks from my district! They had no clue why I received plastic clippy things but I knew right away:) My flip flops are fine now:) The clip and tape fix is holding up, but I will let you know if I have any other needs!
It was cool reading Elder Woods' blog! I will have to stay caught up with his adventures.
I miss you all so much! I will be back in 2 short years. The church is true and I love you
Love always,
Старейшина Гарднер
Elder Gardner
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