So right after I emailed everyone last Friday I ran into Elder Hicks. I think Dylan Hicks? He seems so grown up and mature! And he's the district leader for his district. I've seen him one other time. It's crazy that he'll be leaving the MTC before me even though I got here three weeks before him. He was very nice and delivered your message, dad. I think the schedule finally caught up to me this week because I was so tired. One day during personal study I was having the hardest time staying awake and I fell asleep TWICE right in the MIDDLE of highlighting a scripture. Our lessons are starting to go much much better. Well all of them except for one. Last Friday we had our first (and probably not our last) experience with a lesson going exactly how you don't want it to go. Looking back on it now it was actually really funny. We were teaching him about prophets and had him read Amos 3:7 where it says God doesn't do anything before revealing it to his prophets first and then our investigator asked if WE were prophets. I only understood the prophet part so I said "Yup!"....apostasy. Somehow we finally realized what he had asked and did our best to tell him that we were actually not prophets. Oops.
The language has been coming much better this week. Much MUCh MUCH better. My teacher told me to pray for specific help. not just "please help me with the language" so I started praying that I would just be able to remember what I study and I have never had such a good memory in my life before. I put forth the work and do the studying and then God helps me remember what I study. I've been able to remember stuff that I've only studied once and it's been a huge blessing! My spelling in English is getting horrible though. I'm starting to spell in Spanish. There aren't very many words in Spanish that repeat letters. I wouldn't say I'm starting to think in Spanish but I think about certain Spanish phrases and words a lot.
After our lesson we went into the computer lab (there's a program that helps us learn Spanish. We can listen to native speakers and then speak and compare how we sound...it's really helpful) anyway my companion rolled her chair over to talk to me and since her headphones were on she was connected to the computer so the entire computer followed her and crashed to the floor. It was really loud and she was so embarrassed. We started quietly laughing for just a second and then we both started crying. haha I have NO idea why. Too much emotion for one day I think. Our teacher came over and the look on his face was pure confusion that it made me start laughing again. Every time he came over after that to talk to us he was really hesitant. I think he was worried we might burst into tears again. I bet Dad, Justin and Scott never experienced random outbursts of tears like that on their missions! Embarrassing story of the week #2 ....There is an Elder in my district named Elder Crapo (pronounced cray po) Well I called him Crap- O TWICE! I felt bad...I hope he doesn't think I was making fun of him.
It's really cool to hear about the increased number of missionary applications. One of the Elders in my district has a friend who just got her call to Switzerland (German speaking) and she's only 19 or 20. She must be one of the very first young sisters to get her call. She doesn't come to the MTC until February though. I doubt I'll see any of the young group in the MTC while I'm here. But I'm sure I'll see a lot while I'm in the field. Is there anyone in our ward that will be serving a mission now? And Yes I do need my four generation pedigree chart please. Just sometime before I leave the MTC. I don't think I'll need it while I'm here but it would definitely be easier to send it to me here than Cali. And yes I have stopped pirating my notebooks for paper. I will use the paper that mom sent me.
This Sunday my district is doing a musical number for sacrament meeting and I am playing the piano. We're doing the EFY Medley (As sister's in zion/ the army of helaman) great song! So every Sunday we watch a movie after the fireside and we got to watch The Testaments. It was SO good. I got more out of it this time than any of the other times combined. The elders couldn't handle the kissing scenes though. They had to be told that whistling and clapping was not appropriate. It was funny. Oh and that Sunday morning our alarm clock was the fire alarm. The entire building had to be evacuated at 6 in the morning and we didn't get to go back in and get ready until 7 (which is when we're supposed to be at breakfast). Everyone was sleeping on the floor in the building across from us. It was funny to see so many missionaries in their pjs sleeping on the floor. They said some dust set the alarm off.
Sister Dibb (Pres Monson's Daughter) came and spoke to the sisters on Sunday. She was so awesome. She told us a lot of fun stories about the prophet that made him seem like just a normal person. I guess he his after all. When she got called to the young women's general presidency he called her and said "do you want to know who the new presidency is?" and she thought he was letting her in on the secret and got all excited. Then he read her name and she started crying and said she couldn't do it. As her dad he told her that she could and then as the prophet he asked if she would accept the call. It was a cool story. She also told us that He treats his wife really well and told us a couple stories about that. I wish I had time to write them but I don't sorry. Maybe next week! Hermano Christofferson also tells us stories about the 12 apostles all the time and it's so neat! (I told you his uncle is D. Todd right?)
Mom- Yay I'm glad you can put my emails up on my blog now. Thanks for doing that! Did it snow yet over there? We got a lot of snow yesterday.Hopefully you got all the vegetables out of the garden. I really miss fresh veggies. I can't wait to be in California because I'm already sick of the snow. Skirts are just not warm enough for snow! Luckily we really only have to go outside for meals because our class and dorm room are in the same building. How come you're making stockings for everyone? And why don't I get one???? Just kidding. Kind of. Will Christmas be at your house this year?
Dad- Good to hear about Romney. I put him on the prayer roll last time we went to the temple...hopefully that's okay. But I would just way rather have someone as president who holds the priesthood than anyone else. I didn't have time to vote last p-day but I will today. One of the sisters in my district is from Virginia and she didn't even vote! sheesh. She said she doesn't care what happens because it won't affect her since she's on a mission. I think who runs our country DEFINITELY affects us even if we are on a mission. Plus we won't be on a mission forever. It sounds like the garage looks nice! And it sounds like mom is making the front porch look nice for Halloween. I'm definitely going to miss decorating for the holidays this year.
Jessica- Tell the boys thanks for the pictures. They were so cute!! And the pictures of them in their Halloween costumes are adorable. My favorite picture was the one of them in the truck with all the pumpkins. It seems unreal that it's Halloween in the real world. Thanks for helping mom with the blog too. Oh and the story about Alex and his pumpkin was so cute. I read it to my class and they all thought it was funny. What color did you pick for the house? And when will the house be done? Or is there not a set date yet? That's awesome about your new calling. That will be fun and keep you really busy I'm sure! I thought you were going to say relief society president haha. And snail mail is great. I don't care what form it comes in I just like to read it. I do get to read dearelders anytime too though...in case you don't want to use stamps every week.
Andrea- I'm glad Matt finally sent you my talk. I haven't even listened to it so I don't really remember what I said. I can't believe Scott ate all of that. There are actually several elders who eat like that every single meal here. It's so disgusting. Even eating the "healthy" food here probably isn't even that healthy. For breakfast I saw one sister with 3 donuts on here tray and nothing else. How did your audition at Golds go? That sounds fun! Did you choose aqua fitness or is that what they assigned you? I think you'd like teaching the elderly!! At least I would. If you email me a link to your blog I will not be able to read it. They have all sites blocked except for email and lds.orgCould you copy and paste it into a dear elder? I dunno if you'd be able to do pictures though. But you could email the pictures. That's probably a lot of work but I won't have time to read it if you email it. I barely have enough time just to email. Tell Boston thanks for singing his ABC's for me. I really enjoyed it :)
Thanks everyone for praying for me! I feel very loved and supported from everyone and it helps a lot! The work is hard but for sure not the hardest thing I've ever done. Everyone said it would be but I disagree. I think because there are so many people willing to help. Maybe the field will be different. Actually I'm sure it will be. The day that I got here one of the sisters leaving said "This will be by far the hardest thing you've ever done" So I assumed she was talking just about the MTC. But I like it here and I'm learning a ton!! I know I've only been out 3 weeks but I'm already wishing it would slow down. Can't wait to hear from everyone again!
Con Amor-
Hermana Billings
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