Happy belated Birthday Mom! I sent you a card but I doubt it got to you on time.
What a crazy fantastic week it has been. I survived my first week in the MTC. The first day was definitely emotional. I started balling when they put my missionary tag on. It was such an amazing feeling. But then I had to immediately take a photo for my ID card that lets me into all the buildings. So that didn't turn out very good. The day I came in was one of the largest groups to ever come in. There were 538 new missionaries last week. There are about 2,700 total missionaries here. My first night dinner was Steak and potatoes so I was really happy :) The food has been pretty decent the other days but I have a feeling that by October 23rd I'm going to be really sick of it. The salads and soups have always been delicious. On Wednesdays and Sundays they have BYU creamery Ice Cream. I haven't had any yet but everyone loves the Creamery Ice cream.
My companion's name is Hermana Andrews. She is from Mesa, Arizona and is going to the California Santa Rosa Mission. Her brother is in the MTC as well and he is going to my mission spanish speaking which is crazy.Her brother tore his ACL and has been in the MTC for 14 weeks already. He leaves on Sept 11 (I think) to go to LA. I just love Hermana Andrews. She is so awesome and we get along so well. It's amazing how well we complement each other. We are the only two in our room which is really nice. There are two sets of bunkbeds so we could get another set of Sisters in our room in the coming weeks. We have a communal bathroom. There are two in our hall and they are never very busy. The showers are always available except they were full Sunday mornign but I only had to wait about 30 seconds. It is so hard to shower and get ready in 30 minutes after our gym time. I've gone to the classroom with wet hair several times.
The second day was definitley the hardest. My district is really advanced in Spanish. They all took it in High School which was really recent for them so they are already way ahead of me. My teacher Hermana Cutler said this is the most advaned group of Elders she has ever seen and that I'm right where I'm supposed to be in learning. But I am still working hard and trying to learn as much as possible. We currently only have one teacher which has been really hard. We are supposed to have two teachers. One to be our investigator and one to be the classroom instructor. We have just had fill in investigators. We gave our first lesson in Spanish on Friday morning. It was really difficult. I have a hard time understanding Spanish so I didn't really know what was going on most of the lesson. We taught Mateo (the "investigator", who is actually just a random teacher) on Friday and Saturday then found out he will no longer be our investigator. On Monday we got a new one but only had a hour for all four companionships to teach him.
My District is awesome. It was hard the first fews days just because they are younger and still 19 year old boys but I've grown to love them all. There is Elder McKinnon (going to Forth Worth), Elder Campbell (Santa Rosa California), Elder Powell and Elder Hunt (going to Louisiana with me), Elder Hales and Elder Frame (Hales is the District leader, they are both going to El Salvador, San Salvador, they leave for the Guatemala MTC on Sept 10), Elder Griffin (going to LA, BAT, he actually left us on Monday. He got bumped up to intermediate Spanish. It was so sad to see him go. We seriously live in our classroom. We head there right after breakfast, leave for lunch, come back, leave for dinner, come back and stay until 9:30. In that time we have 3-6 hours of class depending on the day, personal study time, companion study time, language study time and daily planning time. It is really hard to sit in the hard chairs all day long. I just want to sit on the floor but it's not allowed since it's a fire hazard. hermana Andrews and I are always so excited to lay on the floor when we come back to our residence hall at night. We have about an hour in our room before lights out at 10:30. It's a challenge to get everything done since we just want to lay on the floor. She has a lot of back problems as well. She actually had a rod put in her back a few years ago because of scoliosis.
Our Zone is great. There are only 5 sisters though, including Hermana Andrews and I. Two of them leave for Tempe, Arizonia on Tuesday. It will be sad to see them go. The other Sister, Hermana Keanini is from Hawaii and she is going to NY NY North so she will be with the Morgans. In my Zone there is an Elder Blauer. I was SHOCKED to meet an Elder Blauer. He is from Parraquin, UT. His grandfather's name is Clive.... are we related? Doesn't grandpa have a brother named Clive. I couldn't remember if it is Clive or Clyde. I also meet a Sister Blauer. He is from Riverton, UT and is going to Singapore. Her grandpa's name is Wallas...?
I've seen a ton of people that I know which is really fun. I've run into my freshman roommate Brittany and bunch which is so fun. I've seen a couple random people from High School and everyone from the ward. I even saw Amanda Nordhagen last night. Her companion seems really nice. I didn't see Austin Heiner until Sunday, it was weird that it took that long to see him and it was for only a second.
Dear Elder letters are so awesome. Thanks for all the letters Jenn and Raye Ann!!!!! Jenn that was really cool what you shared about the NTB fb page! The Elders always make fun of Hermana Andrews and I because we tend to get more mail than the boys. Just so you know if the letters are in by 12 Mountain time I get them after dinner. If the letters are in after 12pm then I get them the next day at 6pm.
I've already used my sewing kit twice. hahah I helped Hermana Andrews with a hole in her PJ shirt. Then there was an issue with the eye and hook on one of my skirts so I fixed that up.
I don't think I will ever get used to getting up at 6:30am. The hardest day to stay awake was on Sunday. I may have fallin asleep during Sacrament Meeting. This morning by 8:30 I had showered and gotten ready, eaten breakfast and was done with all of my laundry. It was amazing. Who knew that was even possible?! :)
Sunday's are so awesome. We have a Devotional then we can choose from several films to watch. This week the Devotional was by Stephen Allen from the Missionary Department. It was a great talk. Then we watched Elder Bednar's talk that he gave at the MTC last Christmas. It's called Character of Christ. It was absolutely amazing. If you can find it online, watch it. It was so good!
Thursday is my P-day. We get to go to the temple on Thursday mornings. I loved being able to go this morning. The inside of the Provo Temple is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Since we go to the temple in the moring expect my emails to come in the afternoons.
Tell me more about the Hurricane in Louisiana. Mom mentioned it in her last letter but not much about it so I asked one of the gym instructors and he just said it was really bad but not expected to be as bad as Katrina.
Anything else going on in the world I should know about? haha
For my Mission Plaque I want 2 Nephi 31:20-21
"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
And now, behold, my beloved brethen, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God, And now, behold, this is the doctrin of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen.
Also, I can't believe Haley is having a boy! That is so exciting!!!!!!!
Thanks I love you lots!!!
How's school for everyone? Is Logan loving his Chinese Immersion? How are your kindergartner's Jamie and Raye Ann? I am so happy that Katelyn and Jackson are loving school, hopefully it gets better for Jenna. Congrats on your callings Joe and Jill. Sounds like they will be fun.
Have fun in China Mom and Dad!!!!!
Any questions for me? Any thing specific you want to hear about?
Love,
Hermana Blauer
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