Where has the time gone?

Hello my wonderful Family!

I am so freaking blessed to have such an amazing family like I do. I want to say a super thank you for all the Dear Elders you have sent! I am one of the only ones who have received at least 3 everyday :) You are all super!

There is so much to say, and I am not as skilled at writing as my cousins (sorry.. you have to deal with it). I guess you'll have to acquire my randomness and roll with the punches. see I am already starting to not make sense..

So first off. This week has been SO much better than the first week here. I have really grown so much and have regained Faith in My God and Jesus Christ. It is incredible how fast you can lose that faith. It is scary. Do not fear family, I am working hard each day to make it stronger. It is hard work but it is possible through our beloved Savior.

Yesterday we were all sitting in class, and one of our teachers told us some super interesting information. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to tell us but he did anyway cuz he loves us. We are called a Destructive(not sure she is using the right word here) District Pilot. Meaning we are the first new pilot program to have such a free roaming schedule and class time. Meaning that we don't have certain topics laid out for us to study each day. What happens is that our teachers come in and ask us how we are doing and what has been on our minds. Then we go from there. It is really awesome personally. Also, our teachers we have now are not real teachers. Meaning the people who help us learn have been here in the MTC for 10-40 years. They are all Managers or some other of a certain department here. It is really fascinating! So we don't get some RM who has been home for 2 years teaching us. We get super experienced MTC workers. It is comforting to me. Also... we found out that they have been watching and listening to us almost everyday all day. HAHAH that was awkward. We have two cameras that are in our room. We just didn't think any one ever turned them on. So now we are more aware of our actions and being a little more obedient :) Not that we aren't when we are alone. Our teacher actually said (the one who is head over the pilot programs) that we are one of the most obedient and effective districts he has seen his whole time in the MTC. He has been here for 25 years. But we are not letting it get to our heads.

We have grown so close as a district. We are going to be very sad when we leave next Monday. We can't even talk about it because there are some who break out into tears. However I am so excited to finally get to go to New York! It is so crazy that I get to live there for 18 months on only 400$ a month! I can't wait to help the people of New York come unto Christ and receive so much happiness.

We have had some really awesome lessons here at the MTC. We are teaching the same amount of people as I said last week. Which is kind of disappointing. But we are going to the referral center a lot more. We get to call and chat to real life people who log on to mormon.org. It is way awesome! We have referred 4 people to their local missionaries already! It is really hard sometimes to be confident in my answers and express my love for them because I can't see them and I am talking to REAL people. Not the actors here in the MTC. Although we still treat the ones here in the MTC like real investigators. When we are at the referral center it is super hard to not go into deep doctrine and explain everything all at once. We are just trying to be their friend and send missionaries. However this past week they want us to find someone to progress with. We have tried 3 times to set up a return appointment with people we talk to but they aren't having it. We get a lot of pranksters on there too. Those are actually really funny. It also grows my testimony and to think of real answers I could give them. Because they wont just be online. People in real life will ask those questions too.

OH! We had the first ever companion exchanges here in the MTC. It was so weird. Also our other district that left this week was super ticked. Mainly because it was their last real day together and they were going to be split up. So what happened was, on Friday we got a letter saying we were going to be in a companion exchange on Saturday with the other district in our zone. So we all had to go to this meeting on Friday night and learn more about what was going to happen. So our district got paired up with 32A district. They were the other ones in our zone. So it was nice that we would be with someone we knew but the other district was so ticked. Tons of crying and being like so angry mad they wanted to walk out of the MTC... yeah crazy I know. And the people who were telling us about it knew that too. So they kept saying that we needed to have faith and pray that this is what the Lord wants us to do. I was paired up with Sister Larsen. She is the cutest! She is this tiny girl who went to BYUI and she was so chill. She was like the only one who didn't care that this was happening. I am so blessed that I got her because I was having an anxiety attack over their attitude. Anyway, we had to go off her schedule all Saturday and teach her investigator. Then my companion got paired up with Sister Larsen’s comp and did our schedule and investigators. I actually really loved it!

(She hit send before she could finish!)

Sorry... it sent before I was finished. Anyway. It was a really cool experience because I got to see how I work with other people teaching lessons and how I teach personally. I really liked it. It was so fun. However the other district complained a lot about it so we did like a half-day exchange. It was lame but whatever.

ALSO! We are going to be hosts this Wednesday! Meaning that we get to be out in the front when the new missionaries come and take them to their rooms and get their badges and stuff! I am so excited! We all got so excited when our DL read it to us.

Also, our district is bomb.com at playing volleyball. That is what we do for gym time every morning. It is the best thing in the whole world. We are actually going to go do that right after emailing! I love it. I have gotten really good. Either that or the others really suck hahah. I love my district. I really will be so sad when we leave each other. But it will be so amazing to see every one when we get home.

So, now that it sent without me wanting it to I lost my thoughts... Um yeah. But This week has been really awesome. I am learning so much and growing so much. Me and Sister Jacobsen have made a goal this week to stretch ourselves. Meaning that we are going to do that little extra that will help us be better missionaries. We are going to get better at calling people at the referral center.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE MOM! It really was amazing. I was smiling so big for days. I love you all so very much. Thank you for all the prayers and love. Next time you hear from me I will be in NY!!!!!