One week

Hello! I can't believe I have only been at the MTC a week. So much has happened and I honestly feel like I have been here a year. People say that the MTC is hard but they never really say why. I think its because we are going from six in the morning till literally 1030 at night. So the schedule is pretty hard, and it feels like there isn't hardly ever time to work on what I need to work on. But it has also been a time for extreme growth. I never really knew how much I didn't know. My prayer has become so much better. My relationship with god is actually being formed. All the things I thought I knew, have been changed. It's hard to explain really. I always believed in this gospel but I'm actually learning why I believe the things I believe. I'm taking more time to actually delve into things I haven't before. It's been a hard adjustment because I haven't felt good enough and some days are better than others but I can truly feel my self changing for the better.

My companions, that was a struggle in the beginning because one of the sisters rubbed me the wrong way and I was really trying to love her but everything she did seemed to bother me. But we have what are called companion inventories where you all talk about whats going well and what could be improved on. Me and the other sister explained our concerns and our discomforts with our other sister and she explained things and ever since it has been really great. I think part of the problem is the fact that we are actually a lot alike in a lot of ways. We all have strong personalities and we all seem to complete each other. One sister (the one I struggled with) is REALLY knowledgeable about the scripture references and the Gospel, another sister is really uplifting and happy which raises my spirits, and I think I'm the positive- go with the flow one. If we combined we would be the absolute missionary. We are still working on somethings but it's a lot better than it was.

I think my expectations were I would learn the lessons and have a lot of time to read for my self and figure things out better. That hasn't really been the case, I'm enjoying what I'm learning but I'm still trying to figure out how to most effectively spend my time.

I haven't seen Bryce yet but I have seen Tannen once and I also saw Chelsey George today too. They are both doing great.

The Elders are surprising at times with their spirit and their dignity and other times they are 19 year old boys who just want to mess around. But they are all great and it's fun to get to know them. There are 8 Elders in our district, and three sisters and only five sisters in our zone so we are the relief society. We share a room with the two other sisters who are going to Belgium Netherlands and are learning another language (they are really nice).

We had a fireside on Sunday and we able to listen to sister Sheri Dew. It was amazing she talked about how it's not an accident that we are here and three things we should try to do 1 read sec.138 and pray to know the lord it there for us and who we are. 2. lean on the lord always. 3 Ask the lord to teach you how to receive personal revelation.

So this last Tuesday we had a devotional and we had been told that for the last three weeks an apostle has spoken so we didn't know what to expect for our devotional. I was ECSTATIC to learn that Elder Bednar would speak to us. I wish I had more time to tell you everything but he focused on getting us to learn the difference between doctrine, principles and application. we often focus on application rather than doctrine. Why do we home teach? because the lord told us to, that's not the doctrine, he told us to find the doctrine in the Scriptures.

I don't have much time left so forgive my mistakes but I need somethings from home. For some reason I didn't pack shorts i thought I had but didn't as well as my backpack and I cannot remember where I put it! Also I don't know why did didn't know this but we are not allowed to have gum (big problem :) ) So if you could send like altoids( Cinnamon) or something stronger than just life savers that would be great. It is definitely getting colder as well and I don't know I can last much long I think I need a bigger coat and Some nylons ( I don't know if there is such a thing as thigh nylons but that would be awesome. and Tamales would be great too. :) Thanks for everything my time is up so I will talk to you next week.

P.s dad I have been getting up at 540 to exercise in the class they provide for the sisters, I'll explain more next time, but I thought you would be proud :)