March 5, 2014


Hello all,

Life is good here at the MTC. Nothing has changed, save I have become a better person and have gained more knowledge and understanding. Life is pretty good, and not tons has happened this week. Oh, and I have little more than a week and a half in the MTC. That's not terrifying at all.

I did, however, go to Vegas for my Visa. Whoo. No me gusta Vegas. I feel no regrets about never going there before. The moment we got off the airplane we were bombarded by slot machines and all manner of worldly posters and signs... :/ It rained the entire time, and the part of the city we were in was quite dirty, and the people were pretty sad. So. After being in the MTC for a while it was quite the shock, and it made me realize exactly how big of a shock mexico is going to be. Whew. It's gonna be fun. The Mexican Consulate was adorable, though. It was like stepping into a little piece of Mexico. There were little kids running around playing and talking in the most adorable Spanish, and I almost melted right then and there. 

I love Latinos. I don't exactly know where this love came from, besides the fact that they are extremely lovable. :P One of our "investigators" is this 60 year old Latina woman from Mexico. Oh my goodness she is the cutest. Every time  we teach her I just feel this immense love for her; I feel like a lot of it is because she's such a wonderful person and shows love herself. One of our teachers, Hermana Cabello, is from Peru, and it's the same sort of thing. She is so loving and hugs us all the time and we just love her so much! Some time I will tell the story of Hermana Cabello. She was an investigator for 4 years before she joined the church, and she was so Catholic she literally was planning on being a nun up until a week before she was baptized. Craaazy story. But now she is so into the gospel and is one of the best teachers we have. She also taught at the Peru MTC as well.

Anyways, Vegas was fine I guess. I heard that the picture the lady in the airport took and sent it to dad's phone is now on the blog! Yay. I look terrible, because we were literally in the airport from 2pm to 11pm. Our flight got delayed about 5 times, then cancelled, then a new plane was rescheduled at the last moment. We didn't get back to the MTC until 3am in the morning. And guess who had to wake up in just a few hours? ME! It was great. I made a tons of friends with the other missionaries that I was travelling with, including one Elder who is going to Hermosillo! We sat next to each other on the plane and he told me his conversion story and it was awesome. Have I mentioned there are a ton of converts at the MTC? Also, I loved how all over the place members were coming up to us and being so nice. :) When it was hitting 10pm at night and we were sort of hating it, some families even brought us some food. Mis Padres, never fear. There are people all around the world that take care of missionaries wherever they are. 

Speaking of which, news has penetrated even the MTC that Ukraine is in outright civil war, that Russia decided to play referee, and that they've moved a lot of the missionaries in the area. That's about the only news we've received here. What else is going on in the world? I can't explain how detached I feel.

The language is going well. I think I've finally understanding the grammar structure of Spanish, although it's definitely taken some time. Indirect and direct object pronouns and their place in a sentence threw me for a loop, but with much practice I finally understand it, and can create practice problems. I can only speak in simple sentences using that structure, though, so that's still a challenge. 

This week half of our zone left for their missions, so now it's just our Sistrict and a district of 3 Elders and 4 Hermanas. You can only imagine the problems this creates. All 3 Elders are now Zone leaders, and they also have to do the Sacrament with just the 3 of them. It's pretty sad, but yay Hermana power! :D

I've also met some pretty fascinating bus drivers at the MTC. Whenever we have to go to main we take a bus, and I've met some awesome people. One was a guy whose family was Jewish but then they converted to the church, and then he went on a mission to Armenia. That's a Mormon Message waiting to happen. "I'm Jewish, I speak and teach Armenian, and I'm a Mormon." Mom, you would have been so fascinated with his story. Another one of our bus drivers is a total ski bum. His attitude is so laid back and absolutely hilarious. It reminds me of Brighton and some of the kids I used to ski with. Man, do I miss skiing! :( I love how it dumps snow continuously after I go into the MTC. 

Well, I have no time. Sorry I have no spiritual thought this week, but I promise I will make up for it next week! I love you all!

Hasta Luego!

Hermana Day