July 18, 2012

Gah!! I have so much to tell you and so little time! Here are the snippets!!

-Thank you so much for the package, I was craving chocolate that day so it worked out perfect. And I am LOVING those wallets of the Peterson bunch. I carry them everywhere with me and really need wallet sizes of the Mills kiddos too. Seriously brightens my day everytime I pull out that picture of baby Drew just as happy as could be!! I didn't realize how much I wanted a package until I got one, it really was like Christmas morning. Mail is everything out here!

-Some of the new Elders in our district are staying here in Provo for their mission, which means that our house is in their mission!! So I told them to call you up sometime for a meal, and also I want any referrals for them. (Dad could you get me Shylee's address again? I think about her often.)

-We have our flight itinerary's already, and with all of this it comes to be that my stay in the MTC is only for about 2 1/2 weeks. It has been so interesting the change of perspective here. Outside of the MTC whenever we tell people where you are going, or what you are speaking the answer for a stateside/English speaking mission is a little less than excitment. But here in the MTC where you are going does not attract any attention, other then to access how long you must be here in the MTC. Don't get me wrong the MTC is AMAZING, such a great Spirit here, with so many one of a kind experiences, but it is definately hard, and humbling. And not the best food, and you are trapped in these small confines. So I am very grateful to only be here for the time I am, because I'm not sure how Jordan did it, or any of the other 12 week language speakers. That is 4x more then how long I am here!!! Wowzer!

It will just be really nice to unpack, and to talk and be able to actually do what we are being trained here to do!! So exciting! Also I don't know how much time I will have but if anyone other than mom and dad want me to call them I don't have cami's or anybody's number memorized (I know I'm bad) so send me a letter (not email) with them in it before then.

So Sister Luke, Elder Losee, and I leave Monday morning. Our flight leaves SLC around 8ish, and they do say that we can use a calling card and can call home before that. So I hope you don't mind waking up bright and early to hear from me. And I'll try really hard to keep it together and not cry! :) And you should be proud, homesickness has not even been one second of an issue here. But I'm sure the tears will flow when I can actually hear your voice.

We have about a 3 hour flight to Dallas airport and then another hour to Lubbock. We should get there at about 2 on Monday!! So excited! This is my last p-day in the MTC.

-I hope the fires are quieting down. This past week Sister Boyd woke up at 4 am to go to the bathroom and freaked out because the room smelled like smoke and woke us all up in a frenzy. So funny!! She searched our floor for any sign of a fire, and we told her to go back to bed and the fire alarm would be pulled if it was an actual fire.

-We heard from Elder Featherstone last night in our Devo. It was such a good talk. What an amazing man. We also had Jenny Oaks Baker come for the fireside on Sunday night. I didn't realize that she is Elder Oaks' daughter and the fireside was so great! She is so talented.

-Dad if you ever see a Sister Laporte, or George, or Creal at Temple Square they were sisters in our district and I love them all dearly and you should tell them hello for me!! They just left the MTC today! We loved them!

I love you all,

This work is true!!! And so much fun!!

Quotable

Amanda quoted this in her email today.

Points for anyone who knows who said it!

July 11, 2012

Hello!

Well like everyone always says this work is hard but not in any way that you would expect! We have to learn to listen to the spirit for all things to say and do, and not teach from our knowledge or from brain to brain, but from heart to heart. So the first 3 days were really hard. It is a hard concept and just totally thrown into it. I kept saying to my companion that it was like drinking out of a firehose with all the classes and activities they had us working on. ESPECIALLY since we came a day late and they had to pack that in too. But as we all call it here in the MTC it is amazing Sunday, the day when finally you feel like your not trying to keep afloat anymore and you get a grasp on things. I think it works this way because Sunday is the first time that we have anytime to ourselves to actually ponder on what we know, and to let it sink in. But Sunday was great, and since then things have been so much easier to understand and our "investigators" have been progressing. -in TRC and we teach our teachers: we do alot of role playing.

My companion is Sister Laura Luke from Taylorsville. She is the one that I added on FB before because Cassi knew her and knew she was coming to the MTC and to my mission the same day. We get along great, and it is interesting since we have learned we are very opposite. She is very laid back and even came 2 hours late to the MTC just because she isn't worried about time. Which is teaching me A LOT  of patience. I like to be early to everything and overly prepared, and knew that patience was going to be a big learning experience for me in the mission, so I guess it is just starting for me now. :)

Then we have Sister Haley Boyd from Maryland going to Riverside CA and Sister Maddison Caldwell going to Tempe AZ. It is a great little group of sisters here in district 6C and we go everywhere together and love to laugh. Sometimes we think we are a bit more rambunctious then the Elders but I think that it is just because we are totally comfortable in our skin. We are loving it here.

There are 5 Elders in our District. Elder Ash from Kansas City, Elder Losee from Sanaqin, Elder Komm from Montanna, Elder Karl from Canada, and Elder Baker from Burley! They are all going to Tempe execpt Elder Losee is coming to Lubbock. They are a great group of Elders and seriously impressive that they are 19 and are so strong in the gospel. I look upto them.

I am happy to say that homesickness has not hit me!!! HOOORAY!! I have been very blessed in this because I was so worried about it. I did sleep on the floor the first 2 nights because I COULD NOT fall asleep on the mattresses here. But I got over that :) I know I'm weird. The only time I feel sad that I'm not with my family is when I'm having a hard time understanding lessons and I wish I could call home. But after talking it out with my companion things feel better.

Sadly the temple is closed so no temple visits for us :(

ALSO PLEASE will you tell everyone and have Carmen put it on FB and such that DEAR ELDER is amazing and people should use it. I can only email once a week but dear elder come right to my mtc mail box and I can get those 2x a day. You need my MTC mailbox #126.

Will you tell my lazy siblings that I would love to hear from them? I know it has only been a week (less than) but it feels like 7 years since I've been on the outside.

My departure date is July 23 and it says I won't be released from the mission till Jan 20th. so no Christmas I guess.

I don't have my list of things I wish I had, it was small anyway, but I'll send it in a letter after this.

I love you all so much, and miss you terribly, but know this is where the Lord wants me. And I'm excited to be here.  Love you all to the moon and back! Kiss my babies for me! And don't let them forget their Auntie!!

-Amanda