A Look into the Near Future

Well, I'm done with week 2! On to my last week here in Provo. We got our travel information last week so we will be leaving the U.S. early Wednesday morning. I'm so excited but the more I think about it, the more nervous I get. I've met sister missionaries from all over. I even talked with and did my best to comfort the sisters in my residence floor who are from Pakistan, Brazil, and the Philippines. They were sad last night because they were homesick. They have birthdays coming up in November and that's got to be rough! I talked to one sister for a long time about it and she told me the food is so different here and she misses home but she prays and the Lord blesses her really quickly. I met another sister from the Ukraine and she really inspired me. She was so brave as she sat by us at lunch and spoke to us in broken English. Thankfully I understood her. But it really struck me then that I'll be in her shoes in a week. I'll be surrounded by Spanish speaking missionaries. I'm excited to be immersed in the language and the culture. I know I will learn a lot very quickly. Ive been told the food in Peru and Bolivia will be very strong at first because they use so many spices.

Week Number Two

I am so upset that it snowed last night. what is up with that? I actually am staying really warm. I'm so glad I’ve got so many sweaters and those wool tights. They are both saving my life right now. I think I'm going to Peru now. I just got my travel information last week. It explained what airline we will be on and when we'll have to leave. It's pretty crazy. We'll be going at seven in the morning so we have to get up around five in the AM to be ready to go. It won't be very easy at all to sleep the night before. I still don't really know what to think about it. So the flight we'll be on is five hours long and we have to stop in Georgia and wait for our next flight which takes five more hours so I'll be fluent in Spanish before I get to Peru haha.

So in my room there are two bunk beds. I sleep on the bottom bunk and no one is on the top so I stole the pillow because the pillows are super flat. So now my arms don't fall asleep anymore haha. On the other bunk bed Hermana Hernandez sleeps up top and Hermana Harman sleeps on the bottom. We have two closets for our clothes and two mirrors attatched. I'm not very good at explaining so I'll send a picture before I leave.

So I can get the dear elder letters every day if you were to write that many. But I only get to read e-mails on Wednesday. Okay the Elders in my zone are so funny they have to have the a.c. on all the time, even when its forty degrees outside. They all like to tease me because my coat never comes off. They are all so fun. I love that we get along so well. The most incredible thing happened to me in the last couple days. I've been really stressing about learning Spanish because so many of my district elders know it really well because they had two years of Spanish in high school before they came. not fair. I prayed and prayed I could understand things better and quicker somehow. So the next day we got a new Spanish teacher who grew up in Argentina. She is learning English right now in college so it is so helpful. I truly believe that she came here because I needed to have her teach me before I go to Peru. She is so full of the spirit and I can understand her so well. She really cares about us. Her dad was in the Quorum of the seventy, her name is sister Ortega. Then yesterday guess who came to our devotional? Elder Scott, the apostle. So we had two apostles back to back. That never happens usually. I feel so blessed. He also gave us apostalic blessings, one specific blessings to the sister missionaries was a protective shield. I felt so good and I honestly cried because I could feel his genuine love and appreciation for sister missionaries. He also blessed us with the gift of tongues. So after he was done speaking my doubts and fears were completely gone. I know I will learn the language and be able to say what's in my heart to the people in Bolivia. My mission is teaching me so much. I'm really getting a lesson in patience right now. That seems to be the theme of my life for some reason. But I am getting so much help.

First Letter Home

I only have a half an hour to write so I'm sorry if this ends up being short. I will type as fast as I can. So the day I got here I was alright. I didn't cry that night or the night after that because I was so charged up by the meetings we had and all the initiatory stuff happening. But on Saturday night I was starting to realize there is a lot I need to do in only a week so I got a little overwhelmed. I prayed and prayed that I would feel better so I wouldn't be a mess and not do my best in class and when I studied. I've had so many wonderful experiences since that night. It seems like every meeting I've gone to and everyone I've talked to gives me some sort of comfort. Then I just had to deal with four blisters and a migraine. Trials come in many forms that’s for sure. It actually made me laugh that I'd get blisters before I'd even been here a week. They were from those cute shoes with heels I wore to my farewell. So I might be sending those to you at some point. I went to the temple this morning and after I prayed in the celestial room the Lord told me that I need to let myself go at my own pace with the language and not worry so much about understanding everything right now. He has helped me so much. I love how close I feel to Him here.

We are so busy all the time. We got to hear Elder Russell M. Nelson speak yesterday. It was so amazing! I felt so blessed to get to hear him speak because not all missionaries get to hear apostles speak while they are here. The food here is so yummy! I love my companeras. They are both so much like me I know that it was inspired. I feel that way about my whole district. There are so many amazing people I'm surrounded by.

I found out too that I will probably be staying here instead of going to the Peru MTC. A lot of missionaries who are going to the same mission have told us that they just found out they have to stay here because the MTC is so full over there.

The Adventure Begins

My First Blog

I finally have a blog! I am starting to get so nervous and excited for my mission. Only seven more days till I enter the MTC. This is going to be such an awesome adventure. I can't wait to learn how to be a missionary. I hope I don't cry too much when I give my talk on Sunday. All of a sudden I'm getting emotional over everything. So most likely I'll be a mess. But it will be alright, I have my parents speaking with me. Just as long as my mom doesn't start crying.