Semana 1

Semana Uno in el CCM

 

Como estan? I sincerely hope you are doing bien because I have been praying for you in the MTC. Funny story actually, I was praying outloud with my district and I said 'Bendiceles nuestras familia con gozo y pan". I didn't even realize what I had said until an Elder in my district started laughing. What I meant so say was "con gozo y paz"..... Either way, I think that my prayer was pretty poetic, and I also hope that you had lots of yummy pan to eat this week.

How is the family doing? Today was my first P-Day in the MTC and my zone was able to go to the Temple. It was such a good break from being in classes all day. I put David Gow's name on the prayer roll. Keep me updated on how he is doing. Please also keep me updated on how my mission president's wife is doing. I've talked to a couple of other missionaries who are going to my mission and they have only heard just as much as I have.

 

So.... the MTC. It feels like I've been here FOREVER. When you first get here everyone tells you "Just make it to Sunday and it will get easier." My companion and I kept thinking that that was really weird, but Sunday really has made all of the difference. The days have seemed to go by a lot faster since then.

 

My companion is Hermana Sasser. She would tell you that she is from all over, but she is most recently from Mesa, Arizona because that is where her family lives right now. She was already planning on serving a mission before President Monson's announcement. She took a year off from school before her mission to start raising money for the mission-- she even lived in Korea last year as a nanny, so it is kind of fun to exchange stories with each other. Hermana Sasser is headed to the Argentina Resistencia mission. Since I am in intermediate spanish barely anyone from my district/zone is going to the same mission. Most of my zone is actually going stateside spanish, including two elders who will be going to the Utah Provo mission speaking Spanish. Something that I wanted to write about this week is how much love I already have for my district. It is INCREDIBLE. I respect these missionaries so much. My district includes me and Hermana Sasser and two Elder companionships.

Elder Parry and Elder Hobbins remind me of the Elders from "Saturday's Warriors." They discovered that they had the same birthday (February 18) on the first day... obviously their companionship is divine because they, like the companions in 'Saturday's Warriors," must have planned to be companions in heaven. I mean they came down from Heaven on the same day! (Thanks for humoring me, haha, but really my companion and I can't help but breaking out into "In our humble way" every once and a while. (Yes, I am super blessed to have a companion who is able to make "Saturday Warriors" references with me, haha). Elder Parry is from Bountiful and is going to Phoenix on his mission and Elder Hobbins is going to Kennewick, Washington. Elder Hobbins is also our district leader and his from California. I can't even describe to you how much I love these Elders. They are both 18 and were ready to put their mission papers in immediately after President Monson's announcement. We actually joke that Elder Parry was the first missionary to put his in because he submitted his papers 20 minutes after the announcement (He already had his papers done with his Stake President but his availability date wasn't until his birthday in Feburary, so all he had to do was change it to after the semester.)

Our other Elders are Elder Wallentine and Elder Ashcraft. Elder Ashcraft doesn't turn 19 until April, so the announcement was a pretty big deal for him as well. He is going to the Oregon Eugene mission and he is from Hurricane, Utah. Elder Wallentine already had his call before the announcement, since he was already 19, and he is going to the Chile Santiago East mission.

I feel so close with my district, it is incredible. I guess that is bound to happen when we spend probably 10 hours together in the same room with each other everyday. My love for my district happened only after a couple of days being together. Something I was thinking a lot about on Sunday was that if I could develop such a strong relationship with them so fast, I can't even imagine what it will be like developing a relationship with the people that I teach.

The language hits you hard the first day. My companion and I had to teach an investigator in Spanish on our third day here.It was pretty nerve-wracking, but somehow we were able to bring the spirit with our little/broken Spanish that we had. The spirit here at the MTC is incredible. I can't even describe it. I love the variety of missions that my district and zone are going to because it makes me so excited for how the work is going to grow.

There is so much that I could write about being here. On Tuesday we had a devotional with Elder Richard F. Evans in the seventy. Him and his wife talked a lot about obedience. It was so great. They also spoke on our first day here at the MTC and had us memorize our mission purpose in spanish and D&C 31;3. I gain so much strength from that D&C scripture. I hope to be able to write a lot to you tonight because my time on the computer is almost up. I hope that I can hear more from you soon.

 

LOVE YOU LOTS

 

CON AMOR

 

"Hermana Rich"