Lovin' the MTC

Wow. Can you believe I'm already 1/3 of the way done with my stay here at the MTC? The time is just flying by and before we all know it I'll be down in NM!

Wed: It was P-day. We cleaned our room. We had 2 roommates leave for their missions last week so I moved beds and closets so I wasn't right next to the door. I also got mail.

Thurs: I saw Sister Jenkins... and once again broke the no hugging rule. I also saw a sister who was in my mission prep class. Hermana Waldrop y yo had a teaching appointment and we got some good ideas for things to implement into our teaching. We had a new district come into our zone this week so the zone got together and sang "Secreta Oracion" (Secret Prayer for those of you who don't speak espanol) I also had a much better language study than I'd been having. We went to the RC that night and i had a few good phone calls. And I got some mail.

Fri: It was an insane day! Our district decided not to speak any English during dinner which was okay. Then Hermano Erickson got here for the evening and didn't let us speak any English during his class period either, so we went from about 4:30 to 8:30 or so with no English. He also wanted us to speak Spanish when we got back to our rooms that night. Hermana Waldrop y yo also taught part of the first lesson in Spanish--something that they normally don't have missionaries do until about their 5th week. Yeah, it's intense. I saw Sister Jenkins again after dinner and we shook hands. Also congrats to Kayla (cousin) on the engagement--sent me a letter with details!! And also congrats to Marc and Monique (uncle/aunt) on baby Allena! I was going to send you a congratulations card, and then realized that I don't have your new address. So if someone would get that to me, it would be fantastic!

Sat: Oh boy. We have learned ALL of the concepts we need to learn. The next 6 weeks are going to be spent reviewing. Yeah. EVERYTHING in 19 days. 18 since we can't really count the first day I was here because we didn't have class. No wonder my head has been spinning by the time I get home every night and collapse into my bed... or rather up the ladder and into bed since I'm on the top bunk. Dinner was the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten in my life. Nothing sounded good so I decided to go for the mandarin orange chicken. Yucky. But even worse was the egg roll they served with it. I have a problem wasting food so I always eat everything on my plate, even if it's not my favorite. But I couldn't bring myself to finish the chicken and rice. And the egg roll... lets just say that one bite went into my mouth and right back out into my napkin. yeah, it was that bad.

Sun: Our speaker in RS was Ann Madsen. She gave a really good talk on prayer. In District Meeting I gave the lesson--also on prayer. It made me realize how much i miss teaching my Sunday school class. The district who left this week gave our musical number in sacrament meeting. I can't remember what it was, but it was one of the priesthood hymns about missionary work. It was way neat. After sacrament, we did a companion exchange because Hermana Crawford y yo wanted to go to the temple and study our scriptures and the other two didn't. It was nice to be able to talk to her and get to know her better. While we were at the temple, I once again saw Sister Jenkins. We got a picture together. As soon as I get some pictures printed out, I'll send copies home (I'll send 2 so you can give one to the Jenkins because her camera batteries were dead.) When we went into the cafeteria for dinner I was getting toppings for my sandwich and Elder McRae (cousin) came over and said hi. That was really the first time I've seen him since my first week here. He said that Sunday was his halfway point. Holy Cow! Of course, that will be me in about a week and a half. YIKES! We also went to the Fireside and Sunday night movie. They showed the Testaments this week. It's nice to just chill at the end of a long week and watch a movie. Oh, I wore my green dress--the one I made--and got a bunch of compliments. That makes me feel pretty good about myself. Of course, I never say that I made it, but occasionally my companion or roommates tell people and they're even more impressed :). President Peters, our Branch President, also told us that there is one more case of Swine Flu in quarantine who is supposed to get out Wed (today). If there aren't any more cases, we'll be allowed to shake hands again. We're all crossing our fingers!

Mon: For service we had to clean the showers AGAIN! We played volleyball during gym and I got some good hits--I'm really conquering that ball! Poor Elder Kinney though (one of the elders in my district). He was playing basketball and dislocated his shoulder. He was supposed to leave tomorrow for the MTC in the Dominican Republic. Let's just say that we get to keep him in our district, and he might still be here after we leave because he has to have surgery. He's got his consultation today. We didn't speak English at dinner again. Okay, I've had some questions as to what the TEC is. It's the Teaching Evaluation Center where we go and contact or teach one of the teachers and they give us feedback on how we can improve. We had another TEC appointment to work on contacting in Spanish. I had words put into my mouth--and it was way awesome! I didn't get a dearelder from Grandma and Grandpa, only the one they sent wondering if I'd gotten theirs. I got letters from home. Oh! We also taught the first lesson in Spanish to some of the elders in our zone who have been here 3 weeks longer than us. They're also working on the first lesson (because they're working at the normal pace unlike us) They were quite impressed.

Tues: We taught the second lesson twice, once to los otras hermanas y once in the TEC. We got some good feedback there. Played volleyball and 4 square during gym. And our district had yet another injury. Elder McCrary sprained his ankle--way bad. Yes mom, I'm being careful. Both injuries have come from playing basketball and I don't like basketball, so I think you're safe. Elder and Sister John H. Groberg were our devotional speakers. They gave way good talks on getting people to the temple and paying closer attention to the Spirit. We sang Called to Serve for the opening hymn and I cried just like I always do.

This morning we went to the temple which was great as always. I really do love going to the temple and the Spirit we feel there.

Well, I love you all. Thanks for the letters! They really do make my day. Have a fabulous week and be watching for next week's letter to find out what exciting things have happened this next week, week 4 at the MTC. I hope Mom and Kesha are having a blast at girls camp and aren't being eaten by bears ;)

Love Hermana Good

Oh, and one final piece of good news that I had to save for the very end: At the devotional last night they announced that the ban on shaking hands and huggings has been LIFTED!!! We can shake hands again! So amazing! You should have seen our zone when we got back to our building last night! That totally made my day!!! So now it's legal to shake hands and hug my roommates and friends (who are girls) who are here! Yippee!!!