"Navidad"

March 29, 2011

 

Family and Friends!,

 

So this week, everyone in our district is calling it "Navidad" or Christmas week: we get our travel plans! To many that may seem small, but when there are not many more major accomplishments than the halfway-point at the MTC, travel plans are your key out of here! Should get them in two days, on Thursday. We have no idea if our visas are here but since the consulate came and supposedly signed them, hopefully I will get that golden ticket this Thursday! My flight should be on April 11th which is a Monday (which means I will get a P-day not this Saturday, but the following Saturday before I leave to get things together and do laundry). And YES I will be using a telephone at the airport :)

 

This week I have been working harder than ever on teaching and understanding the deeper meaning of the Gospel of Christ. Hermana Elias and I have made a lot of teaching appointments and have learned from almost every Spanish instructor here. Great stuff to work on. I feel a little bit more comfortable with the language now so that we can do more during the lesson flexibility wise. Still have tons to work on but I know it will be baptism by fire when I fly into Buenos Aires! Woooowwwooo!!!

 

This last Sunday was amazing. Fast Sundays at the MTC are pretty comical. Everyone is kind of on edge if you an Elder, and more emotional if you are a Sister haha. We stop eating at 5:30 Saturday and eat at 6pm Sunday. I never fasted a full 24hrs but it is a great experience haha! I learned a lot about relying on prayer. I felt I really needed to bear my testimony and I did, choking through it. I bore my testimony in Spanish about the Atonement (It was on my mind since it was 5yrs exactly since the Carissa McGee case happened) and I felt something I had never felt before. I left even though I was scared, testifying of Christ- I felt the words came easier. Then, we had Mission Conference and the President Brown (MTC President) gave an AMAZING talk about Christ's last 24hrs on the Earth (ssimilar to Elder Holland's talk "None Were With Him" but in much more detail). I felt such a conviction to learn more about the Atonement and have studied for about 2 hours a day on it since then. I feel the more I know about it, the better missionary I can be. Amazing stuff huh?

 

Well I want to switch from a serious topic to the funny things at the MTC I have found in the last 7 weeks:

 

-While doing service in the Gym mopping floors, the scale to weigh yourself is close in sight. Every 30 seconds you hear a wail of "ohhhhhh noooo" from about every missionary that has gained some sort of weight here from eating all you can eat.

 

- While walking to the temple today, there was a 12 pack of Dr Pepper on the sidewalk. We all stopped and starred at it for a while like it was some sort of missionary trap. We guess that someone from Utah had someone drop it off for them but we passed the test and didn't take any. It was hard though haha. Like manna from the sky tempting us! :)

 

- The cafeteria is where we think up many cool games. I probably have slumped down to the level of my 19yr old Elders but we all need some fun. I can eat a WHOLE apple in 3 bites, we play shuffleboard with the salt shakers, I am the referree for the Elder's eating contests (pizza, etc), I can break a banana over my head, and we count down the days til "ice cream wed and sunday". But don't worry, I still very much act like a lady! :)

 

-We have learned how to slack 3 of the bunk beds together and we all sing 4 part hymns in the showers.

 

 

Well, that is it for this week. Fun and games and serious learning. Great huh?! I am so lucky to be trusted to do His work. Thank you sooooooooooo much for yur prayers!!

 

 

Hermana Thatcher!