Loving You!

Hi Family!

It's our second P-day and I haven't gotten any better at managing my time. We keep rushing to do things but still fall short on time before we leave for the temple, but I will try to write as much as possible. My thoughts are going to be scattered for sure, but hopefully you'll get the gist.

I lost the back of one of my diamond earrings and the earring fell out while I was running, so a new pair of cheapies would be great. :) Mom, the shower bag is perfect! I love it. I hang it up when I go to the shower and nothing gets wet. I'm a little speedy gonzales when I take a shower--usually one of the first ones in there. It takes a while to develop pictures here. I finally got some today so hopefully I'll have time to send those. I will take more pictures so you can see what's going on around this place.

I bore my testimony on Sunday. I was the first (and only, actually) from my district to bear my testimony (we're the newest district) and I did it in Spanish. My heart was beating so hard I was having trouble swallowing, so I was the last to get up and said it in Spanish. I'm amazed that the words just flowed out of my mouth. My district calls me the district bully because last week when we were playing volleyball I went to save the ball and kicked it straight into Elder Stoker's face. It knocked off his glasses and we were all rolling on the floor laughing. The district leader said that we need to work on being more kind and called me out during one of our district meetings. They won't let me live that one down. The elders all called me a conundrum too because they don't know how old I am and they don't know if I have a boyfriend--judging by the number of Dear Elders I got in the first week. And I LOVE Dear Elders!! My companion also told them that I sound just like the little mermaid so they always want me to sing. I know this is all random, but this is life in the MTC.

I've learned the First Vision and starting to learn D&C 4 in Spanish. Mom, I found your cute note in D&C. It made my day when I found that. Thank you so much for thinking of me!

Alright, so here's the real story. This week has been fantastic and terribly (but wonderfully) humbling at the same time. Every day I find another reason (or am reminded) to be more humble. We're teaching "investigators" and I want to say things from my mind and mouth when it really should be solely from my heart and from the Spirit. I met with my teacher Hermano Rosales who taught me an important lesson about learning and teaching. He asked me how priesthood holders bless themselves with the priesthood. They don't lay their hands on their own heads and give themselves a blessing but they exercise their priesthood and give others blessings and in turn learn and grow. Does that make sense? He said that I need to be like this with missionary work. I can't have the mindset of learning Spanish for myself. I can't study the scriptures looking for ways to better myself. And most of all, I can't be prideful in what I learn and what I can teach. I need to study Spanish in order to communicate with God's children in Sacramento and I need to study the scriptures to meet the needs of investigators. I need to study so that I can help them understand what they need to know in order to feel the Spirit and want to be baptized into Christ's church. It was very humbling hearing that from Hermano Rosales. He said that learning Spanish and the doctrines will bless me as a side effect but that I can't be doing it for that purpose--it's all for them.

On Monday night one of the elders in our district told us why he'd been called out of class several times. He shared with us how two missionaries were teaching his best friend's dad and when his best friend's dad said that he didn't feel good about reading the Book of Mormon, one of the missionaries said that was an answer from the Spirit. The elder in our district said that that missionary didn't have the Spirit with him and that he himself didn't have the Spirit and needed to go home, work things out, and return to serve his mission when he was filled with the Spirit. I was so sad to see him go. I loved this elder. My heart ached for him--I know that he truly does fear God more than man and he was willing to admit his fault, work things out, and prepare to serve an honest full-time mission being filled with the Spirit. He said he knew the Book of Mormon is true and that he is looking forward to serving a mission when he's settled everything. Again I was humbled. That took a lot of courage and faith. Our district is truly sad that he's gone. He is such a wonderful young man. That was another hard part of this past week. But I know that he was doing exactly what he would teach the people in Oregon--that we all make mistakes and that we need to seek the proper authority in order to make restitution and be worthy of having the companionship of the Holy Ghost. None of us judged him. There was an outpouring of love and he's where he should be right now. When he comes back he's going to be such an effective missionary.

Well, one minute to go. I love you all and pray for you every day. I hope you're all doing well. I'm doing well! Just trying to be more humble, trying to keep it together. My companion and I are a great match. We know how to lift each other's spirits, which has been a great blessing here. I love it here and am happy.

love you, hermana