Hola!!

 

How is everything in Missouri?? And...any where else y'all might be...Hahaha.  This was a GREAT week.  Hermana Brown and I made some goals for our last week.  We are hoping that we will be able to hit the ground running when we get to California.  That is all we want. 

 

Last Sunday we had Sacrament meeting.  21 people.  Wow.  That district of 13 left this week, and so now it'll just be the 8 of us in District 42 B and the Branch President and his wife.  We have been feeling rather lonely without the other districts.  We loved our Branch presidency.  It has been hard to see our zone/branch dissolving.  I have really loved our Branch president and his wife.  They are SO great.  I will miss them.  But it is so neat, the Branch presidency has told us multiple times that the last groups of missionaries they've had are the most obedient missionaries they've ever had.  What a compliment!!

 

I found that Hermana Brown and I are the perfect companionship, you know why?  She has an obsession with ranch dressing just like me!!  She eats ranch with spaghetti too!!  I never knew I would find someone that loved ranch as much as me.  Haha.  Okay, that isn't the only reason why it's been great to have her as a companion.  She is a good example to me when it comes to scripture study.  She always has a great scripture to share!!  I love it.  We both have come a LONG way, that is for sure. 

 

Hermana Brown and I had an awesome experience in TRC this week.  TRC is when volunteers come to the MTC and let missionaries teach them.  So it's just like when missionaries will come over and they share a message after diinner.  That sort of thing.  I love it.  But this week was by far the best experience.  We were to do a 40 minute lesson (instead of two 20 minute lessons like we've done with every other week).  We were assigned an elderly couple.  (Keep in mind this is always in complete Spanish).  We discussed the Atonement with them, and also the importance of repentence.  That through the Atonement, repentence is possible.  We read a few scriptures with them.  We had a great discussion!!  But then at the end, they gave the sweetest advice.  I am not even sure how I understood it all, but I did.  And I could tell that Hermana Brown knew exactly what was being said as well.  I didn't tell anyone, not even my companion how nervous I was to leave for California.  I was freaking out.  I think Heavenly Father knew that I needed the boost.  And not just me, but Hermana Brown.  After we were done she and I talked about it and how we both had been feeling nervous and scared.  We knew the advice and comforting words were definitely inspired. 

 

We had a 9 hour in-field orientation meeting yesterday.  It was loooooong.  But it was so great.  They really stressed the importance of working with the members in our wards.  It was so exciting!  I hope everyone that reads this knows that missionaries LOVE referrals.  LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  Missionaries LOVE it when you go into lessons with them and HELP TEACH portions of the lessons.  You members are where the spirit can really come from in some lessons, especially if you have had similar challenges, or similar life styles.  Sharing your testimony at the end is always good, but teaching portions is always GREAT. 

 

In the orientation, we watch a video on how to gain the trust of ward members.  Elder Bednar was speaking.  He spoke of two elders that had come over one Saturday morning.  They were playing with Elder Bednar's children, watching cartoons with them.  Then the Bednars fed them breakfast.  After breakfast the Elders asked Elder Bednar (who at the time was a stake president...I think?) if he had any referrals for them.  Elder Bednar replied, "Elders.  I love you.  But I would never give referrals to missionaries like you.  You have just wasted an hour and a half of the Lord's time, you could have been out finding people.  You have been in my house for too long, now leave."  Ever since I came into the MTC, I never realized how blunt Elder Bednar was!!!  I have watched MANY MTC devotionals by him and he just says it how it is. 

 

Yesterday we also watched a clip from another one of those leadership conferences that was done in 1999.  Called "Feed the Lambs, Gather the Sheep" I may be wrong...it was something along the lines of that.  Any way, President Hinckley was talking about the number of convert baptisms for the year.  He said that there is no reason we couldn't double the number of convert baptisms.  In 1999, there were 308,000 convert baptisms.  There have never been that many convert baptisms since.  How cool would it be if that happens this year??  Or the next?? 

 

Okay.  I would like to talk about my district for a bit.  Mom, Dad.  You were right.  I have gotten so close to them.  They have been my best friends, we love each other so much.  I don't think I have ever shared my testimony with anyone more than I have shared with them.  They have seen me grow within the last, short 6 weeks we've spent here (We don't even stay her for a full 6 weeks!!  It's more of 5 and a half weeks!!).  I think that is what brings us so close to each other though, the fact that we have been here together since that beginning.  I mean yes!  Of course we had great tesimonies when we came in.  But we all have seen our testimonies grow drastically!!  I know for a fact that I have changed SO much.  I am thankful for this change I have made in myself.  And I thank my district for all of the insights, thoughts, prayers, and laughs.  We always have a GREAT time.  The Elderes and Hermanas CRACK ME UP.  The elders are like children, until you see them pray, or give blessings.  They go into super spiritual mode!  They are some great men.  San Fernando is lucky to have them.  We all have been trying to ignore the fact that we say goodbye in 2 days.  It is going to be sad, and hard.  We just have to remember, it's not goodbye, it's, "See you later." 

 

Well.  That's about it.  I'm freaking out.  I'm scared to death.  My brain says I'm inadequete, but my heart says I'm called of God, that He will be with me every step of the way.  I can do this...it will be hard.  But I can do this.  Next email will probably be so crazy.  I can't even imagine what this next week will be like.  Thank you for all of the support.  I love you.  And thank you for all of the prayers. 

 

 

Love,

 

Hermana Ah Mu

 

 

 

Holaaaaa!!!

 

First of all.  I have GOT to say, this has been THE best week I've had so far.  Hermana Brown and I are rock stars at teaching!!  Seriously, I have never felt so good about it all.  And it is not even like we are experts at Spanish, we actually are terrible at speaking it!!  But some how, we are able to teach what we need to teach because of the spirit.  Every lesson we taught this week went VERY well.  We have not had to take in any notecards with vocab on them or anything.  All we bring are scriptures.  It has been very cool because we go in thinking that we'll teach one thing, but it always changes!!  And some how we are able to teach what we need to teach when we didn't even study the right thing.  It is very cool, it just makes me THAT much more excited that I only have about a week and a half-ish until I will be in CALIFORNIA!!!! :)

 

Sunday, in Relief Society, Carole Mikita (Spelling?) spoke to us in Relief Society.  It ws sooo great.  Y'all know who Carole Mikita is?  The Religion news reporter, she does the church news between General Conference sessions.  She told us about her family.  They are ALL converts.  And she talked about the importance of missionary work and that we will be planting many many seeds, more than we may ever know.  And that we are always being watched.

 

Okay, so Monday was Mom's birthday.  It was kinda funny, I found myself eating chocolate cake and hot tomales with popcorn (Some of her favorite things to eat).  It was not planned but I was laying in my bed that night reflecting on the day and that came up.  I know that she is with me on my mission, not many people can say that they had their mom by their side on their missions.  I know that she is proud of me.

 

I recieved some awesome DearElders from Owen and Olson that day.  Haha, thank you for the reminder of her birthday Owen.  And how are you enjoying my old phone?  Phone's aren't that special, huh?  Haha, I have not really missed my phone the entire time I've been here.  The only thing that I really miss is how accessable my family and friends were because of the phone, I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it does in my head.

 

I also got some DearElders from Sister Bell and Sister Jensen, well actually "Sharrrizzle My.Jensizzle."  Ask her about that.

 

At one of the devotionals we had, we were told that baptisms do not matter.  I know it is easy for missionaries to go out and think, "Man! I'm gonna go and baptize 10 people on my mission."  I honestly have no goal as to how many baptisms I wanna be a part of.  It is not about numbers, these are real people I am going to be teaching.  I never want anyone I teach to feel like they are just a number to me.  That is one thing I will be SURE to prevent.

 

Heavenly Father loves me.  I think I always thought that he did, but I have never known and felt it with all my heart until I got out here.  I have felt His love so much.  I know I am on the right path, it is a great feeling. 

 

Owen mentioned also in his DearElder that I only have 17 months left!!  NO MORE COUNTING DOWN, okayyyy??!?!!  I don't wanna think about that!!  I can't believe this month and how fast it has flown by. 

 

I have said this so many times with my district, but the more and more I've gone on, the more I have realized how great this work really is.  And yeah, I came on a mission because I wanted to share the gospel, I came because I knew it would make me a better sister, daughter, and future wife and mother one day.  But, now I see that it is not really about me.  Yes it will do those things for me, but more importantly I am helping the world prepare for the second coming of Christ. 

 

For the Teusday Devotional, Richard G. Hinkley (an Emeritus General Authority) came and spoke.  He was SUCH a great speaker.  He spoke of how great our work is!!  That Worldwide Broadcast changed everything.  The way we do our work is completely different.  It is such a great thing.  He said that the Lord provided a way for this age change, isn't it interesting how our generation is told to use technology in useful ways and that we can point our abilities towards the church, whether it be with geneology or missionary work online?  And then the age for missionaries was dropped, and now we as missionaries are being asked to use Facebook, blogs, ipads, etc.  It is very interesting.  He also said that today, we have more tools and methods than any other missionaries and people that have been before us.  We have more tools and methods than any other people in the history of the earth!  We can use the internet for missionary work, I mean why not?  The world has become much smaller because of the internet, people are so accessable.  I invite all who read this to make an effort to reach out to non-members and less active people.  Even if it is just sharing a scripture from the BOM as your status on Facebook, or if it is just messaging someone that is less active.  When we watched that broadcast, we thought, wow, hopefully, one day we will be recieving so many referrals from ward members, tracting will be gone.  Tracting is good, it works, but it's not really the BEST thing all the time.  Brother Hinkley also talked about the importance of keeping the area book up to date.  We as missionaries must be dignified in our actions and language.  We must learn the most important doctrine of all: The nature of God.  He said that was the most important thing.  He also said we demonstrate our love for Heavenly Father by loving the people we serve.  He said that we must always think, "Do I wanna say, "I wish I had..." or "I'm glad I did...""  I know for myself and probably every other missionary, that we all want to be able to say, "I'm glad I did"

 

I also heard Michael is starting his mission papers?!  AWESOME.  Tell him I am SO happy for him and proud.  Keep me up to date on how those things go.

 

Well, only one more week here.  One more P-day.  I feel very nervous about the language.  I know it will all be alright though, as long as  I do what I did this week it will be fine.  I just need to humble myself and put myself in the Lord's hands.  When I am down to nothing, feeling like I am unprepared, don't know what to say, I always pray to Heavenly Father and just tell him that I have nothing and that I need Him and His help.  Heavenly Father never lets me down.  He has been here helping me every step of the way. 

 

I am SO excited to go to California, and I can't wait to talk to mi familia on the phone!!! :D  I will speak some spanish for you!  Haha.  I will send y'all my new address next week since I am here for another week. :)

 

Love you all. 

 

 

Love,

 

Hermana Ah Mu

July 12, 2013

Hola!

 

Okay, so last Friday evening was one of the most amazing experiences I have had thus far on my mission.  Mi companera y yo had to teach a lesson to Loliña.  Our pdays only last until 6pm.  Anyway, that evening Hermana Brown and I were sitting in class, VERY discouraged with what we were learning.  Something like Reflexives...I don´´t know.  But anyway, she and I were SO discouraged and we had to teach Loliña.  Hermana Brown and I had NO idea what we needed to teach Loliña.  We decided we´´d go pray about everything.  So we found a little corner of our building and prayed so that we would know what to teach.  We poured our hearts out to the Lord, we told Him we had nothing and were nothing and that we needed His help right now at this moment so that we might be able to do what we needed to do.  After the prayer we felt inspired to find a scripture on peace.  WE also felt that we needed to let her know how much Heavenly Father loves her and that He cares about her, and that that is one of the biggest reasons we pray to Him diariamente.  WEll, it came to our trun to teach her.  (Loliña is an investigator my teacher is pretending to be, so in a sense this is a fake investigator, but we like to believe we are still able to teach with inspiration).  Hermana Brown and I stood at the door and said one more quick prayer.  Then we knocked.  Loliña let us in.  We started teaching her.  Hermana Brown and I are not too sure what we said at all.  The only thing we know is that we shared a scripture on peace.  Everything else was the spirit.  At the end we felt like Loliña should pray.  So we asked her to, she was very nervous and doubtful about whether or not Padre Celestial would even listen to her.  We shared our testimonies and then she finally prayed.  The spirit was SO strong!!  At the end of the prayer we just sat there in silence for a good 2 minutes.  I asked her how she felt.  She said it was a different feeling, unfamiliar.  She couldn´´t describe it, except it was a good feeling.  We explained what the spirit was, that it was God´´s way of sharing his love for us.  Then we asked her to commit to praying every day.  She said yes.  Hermana Brown and I left, adn stood in the hall with tears in our eyes.  For the first time we really REALLy taught by the spirit.  WE were most definitely recipients of the gift of tongues.  I have a testimony of the gift of tongues.  I still to this day, a week later couldn´´t tell you what we said in there.  It was amazing. 

 

Anyway, Hermana Brown and I have found that the Atonement is VERY hard to teach in simple words that make total sense....it´´s hard enough to do it in ENglish, and Spanish it´´s even harder. 

 

Sunday was GREAT.  The MTC presidency has a 2 hour meeting for the entire MTC every fast sunday.  IT is amazing how many people are here on campus and on the other campus.  The MTC meetings used to fit everyone in the gym.  Now The meetings are now broadcasted to the Wyview and Raintree campus, there´´s 3 overflow rooms in a different building here on campus AND now there are missionaries watching the broadcasts in the cafeteria!!!  IT´´s CRAZY.

 

Sunday devotional we had Brother George Durrant (VERY funny man!!!) and his new wife, Sister Susan Easton Black.  I guess she was a professor at BYU for a long time.  She was actually the first female religion teacher at BYU.  Pretty neat, huh?  Both of their spouses and died, and they'd known each other for a while...then ended up getting married.  THey are such a happy couple. 

 

Every Sunday we have a movie night.  THere are different rooms showing different movies/talks.  This last sunday I was able to watch and listen to a talk that David A. Bednar gave here at the MTC.  It was a talk he gave on a Christmas morning.  It. was. amazing. !!!!!  He spoke on the characters of Christ.  How we must always strive to obtain the characteristics of Christ.  AMAZING stories, and he actually did the greatest imitation of the Cookie Monster!!  I never would have imagined him, an apostle!!! Standing at the pulpit imitating the cookie monster!! Hahaha he related cookie monster to being like the natural man.  It was also very cool to listen to this talk because it is something that only us missionaries are able to listen to, since this is not a talk that can be looked up online.  I so wish I could look it up though!!!  He talked about how we as missionaries are right when we say,"I can't do this."  He said that is quite true.  He said that we can't do this, only with HEavenly Father can we fulfill our great calling.

 

 Teusday night was great, and Emeritus General Authority spoke.  Myrtis Kenderick.  He was very very cool.  Had so much to say, I couldn't write quick enough.  BUT, the biggest thing I wanted to mention about him is that at the end of his talk, he bestowed a blessing upon all of us missionaries.  There were three things:  Always have the comfort of the spirit, He blessed us that our knowledge and understanding with the languages will be quickened, and we may have fond rememberence of the truth and that we may have instant recall of those moments throughout our life.  After every teusday night devotional we have a district devotional review.  That is where we discuss the dev with our district and someone from the Branch presidency.  President and sister Jolley were with us, and they said they have been in the Branch presidency for 4 years, and only 3 other times have they seen someone bestow a blessing up the missionaries in the MTC.  So cool!!

 

Yesterday, Herman Brown, Hermana Thompson, and Elder Andersen were SICK.  So there were only 4 of us in class all day.  It was an ODD day, but I don't thingk I have ever learned more that I did yesterday.  It was a good day, except I'm glad everyone is feeling better today.  I hope I never see the day where I am too sick to move....

 

There's nothing else that happened that was really too interesante.  I did recieve a WONDERFUL package from "The Orem AH Mu's!!"  They sent me donuts, mmmm they were good!  My district says thank you too!  I have also been very lucky to be recieving DearElders from people!!  Thank you to all who DearElder me.  It's great. 

 

I am sad to hear sister Call was transferred!!!  But excited for her as well, she is so great.  I sent her and Sister Morris a letter....I addressed it to both of them, not too sure how that'll work out....

 

I came across a GREAT escritura!!!  3 Nephi 5:13.  Look it up. 

 

There are some things I wish I would have known before I came here:  They provide bedding (sheets, pillows, blankets, etc.),  gym shorts ARE allowed, is my green blazer dry clean only?, there's vending machines in the residence halls....and we can use our cards on them?! ( I swear they are tryihng to make us fat, especially since they add $8 to  my card every week.), I wish I knew where to find a computer that can send photos on....

 

I love it here though.  Everything is going GREAT.  I can't wiat to get flight plans (I know that is a little ways away...but still).  I can't wait to see what this next week brings.  Miracles happen here, I never thought they could happen here since there's no real investigators, but they do.  I am learning SO much, and I am seeing that 6 weeks REALLY is not a long time....I am glad I still have 2-ish more weeks, that time is VERY much needed.  Well, thank you for the support, I love y'all.  SOOOO excited for Ashley (The greatest SIL of ALL time!!)  11 more weeks!! Woot wooooo!!!! :)

 

Have a fantastic week!!!  I know I will have one!!! There is no such thing as a bad day, there are bad moments, but NEVER bad days!!  That is something great that I learned from Sister Call and Sister Morris.

 

 

Love,

 

Hermana Ah Mu

 

 

P.S.  Here is my Mission Motto:

 

 

"In the Great California Ventura Mission we are preach my gospel missionaries.  We baptize, we obey with exactness, we seek to be trusted more than loved, and we teach with power and authority."

Friday, July 5, 2013

Friday, July 5, 2013

Hola!!

Como le va?

Will you still love me if I'm fat after my mission?  The food here is so good.  Chocolate milk and donuts every morning for breakfast.  Yum.  Haha, I am just kidding, gym everyday helps a bit with that. 

  

Tell Kristen Marsey she will love the MTC because every where you turn there is someone singing a disney song.  And don't even get me started on the bathroom.  you cannot walk in there without hearing girls singing Tangled, Beauty and the Beast, Enchanted, etc.  It's pretty funny.  there are either hymns or Disney songs.  It's just great.  And everyone always joins in even if you don't know anyone.  Haha.

Can't believe I've been here for over two weeks already!!  I have loved it.  The first week and a half was rather hard to focus in class, and also during study time.  Our district is very talkative, we had a nice district meeting on monday, and discussed how we are on the Lord's time and that we must not waste it.  Ever since then time has FLOWN by and the language is coming ALOT easier.  I am thankful!!  My language study time is alot more productive and I am finally figuring out how to work with my companion better.  Now we do more companionship prayers, and work together in lessons way better. 

Okay, where to start....This week just flew by, but I guess I will start with Sunday.  Relief Society was AMAZING.  Sheri Dew came and spoke to us!!!  I loved it!!  I didn't realize all that she has done.  She is an amazing woman and has so many fantastic things to say!  She talked about the importance of being a productive missionary.  I've heard, "Obey with exactness, not with obsession."  Robert P. Swensen spoke to all of us (Every fast sunday there is a guest speaker that speaks to the MTC.)  He was awesome.  He told us at the beginning he wanted to be "our grandpa" for a little while and tell us everything that he learned as a missionary.  It was so so great.

Every Sunday, as a district, we get to take a walk around the temple.  This last sunday was rather interesting....At the corner of the MTC there was a man standing there with a giant cross protesting.  I just don't understand why of all places would you stand by the MTC...?!  He has got to be crazy if he thinks he can change our minds!!  We are just beginning this 18 months/2 years dedicated to the Lord.  There is no way that could hurt us. 

the Teusday devotional was GREAT.  Michael O. Richardson I think it was, he is in the General Sunday School Presidency.  What a GREAT speaker!!!  He began with reading his mission journal entries to us.  It was funny becuase one day he would say, "Today was great!!  The language is coming so well!!  I can't wait to get out to the feild."  then the very next day, "Today was no good.  I am never going to learn the language."  I laughed because I have a feeling that's what my journal will be like.  One day I'll be totally ready to leave, and then the next I'll be caught writing in my journal at the wrong time.  Haha, just a funny thought.  But anyway he talked about David O. McKay and the stone he saw while he was on his mission.  I thought it was so very interesting that the day David O. McKay saw that stone was a day that he and his companion were very very down.  Their P-day had turned into a P-week!  And then they came across that stone, "What e'er thou art, act well thy part."  Brother Richardson talked about how we always need to be asking ourselves, "What kind of missionary am I?"  And then later on in the future, "What kind of wife am I?" "What kind of mother am I?" And are we always bheing the kind of person we truly want to be?

I meant to tell you!!  I got a wonderful package from "the Ah Mu's from Orem" (that's what they wrote on the card) LOVED it!! :)  There was a bag of snickers in it.  Yum!!  My district says thanks too!!  :)

4th of July here....it was alright.  We would usually have class at 6:30 and go until 9:30.  But last night we got to finish class at 7:15!!  We had a special devotional.  We sang a lot of patriotic hymns.  It was neat.  After that they surprised us all by showing the movie 17 miracles.  I saw that for the first time during Fall semester last year and told myself I would never watch it again, it's too sad.  But...I did watch it again last night.  It is a good movie, and everyone should see it, but it is sad.  After we watched that, it was about 10:15 and the president of the MTC told us there was ice cream waiting for ALL of us outside and that we would be able to watch the fireworks that go off at the Stadium of fire.  It was just funny because we are in the bubble here.  You can tell it was driving us all crazy to be cooped up within the fencelines.  The fireworks ended at about 10:45.  We have never been out so late!  That might be the latest I will ever be out on my mission.  I am paying for it today though.

We get to do our weekly service every p-day at 6am.  Yay.  We get to leave the MTC campus an clean the church building next door.  That is where the Senior missionaries get their trianing.  It's fun to go off campus, but it's also really weird.  I was actually assigned to sweep the entries ways outside, and I was walking right along the side of the road.  It was WEIRD.  haha.

We have got two investigators that we will be teaching for the rest of our time here.  Diego and Lolina.  I like Diego, he is very receptive to the spirit and what we have to say.  He wants to learn more.  Lolina...not so much.  She lets us in her house, and then when we start talking to her and asking her questions she rolls her eyes and doesn't care.  I don't like it.  Our investigators are just our teachers that are playing an investigater they had on their mission.  So apparently they are both progressive, so that's good.  Lessons are getting easier.  And I know I've said this before, but the MTC has been the best!!!  But also the hardest because of the constant excpectations that I hold for myself.  But ever since the Teusday devotional, I have let my expectations go.  I need to be the missionary the Lord wants me to be.  He has made me the way I am and He knows what I need to be.  I know I can do this.  I have gained LOTS of faith from this experience.  I thought I came in with great faith, I was mistaken.  I am now seeing that I came into the MTC believing, but now, I know that I am converted.  I have never prayed so much, and so long in my entire life.  I have never had a greater apreciation for the scriptures in my whole life, and I know that will continue to grow.  I liked Preach My Gospel.  But now, I LOVE it.  There's something different about it now that I'm a missionary.  I know that there is no other way I could learn this much stuff in so little time without the Lord.  I heard that the military has been trying to use our same language study programs and books, but just cant get it as quickly as we can.  We know why, because we have the spirit.  And in everything thing we do, we do it prayerfully. 

Well.  That is about it.  Thank to all who DearElder me.  I love it.  It is so nice to have the support. 

Yo se que Jesucristo es el Salvador y Redentor.  Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es verdadero.  Thomas S. Monson es el profeta verdidad.  Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial, yo se que nosotros somos sus hijos.  Este creencia ayuda a viver feliz.  En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu

Oh!! Forgot to mention the temple is now closed so no more temple for us.  It is a HUGE bummer.  There is a rumor going around that they may bus people to Timp. for a seesion the week before you leave for the feild.  Don't know it its true yet.  

June 28, 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

Hola!!

Okay, let me just say, I have never...EVER been so grateful for the English language.  This week had it's ups and downs.  It is very easy to get discouraged when it comes to learning the language. 

Every teusday we have a devotional.  They used to be held in the gym here on campus, but because there are so many missionaries we get to walk to the Marriot center evevery Teusday evening!  It is so amazing, it feels like we are an army.  Probably because we are God's army, but you can look ahead and backwards and the missionaries seem endless.  I'm sure Satan is very scared, he knows our potential.  He knows what we're doing.  Anyway, the special guest that came on Teusday was Janice Kapp Perry!!! And her husband!! It was SUCH a great devotional.  And it was different than most will be.  It was a musical devotional.  First, her husband spoke.  He talked about how we may not get any baptisms, that we may just prepare the way, plant the seeds.  It was a very good talk.  Then Sister Perry spoke.  She was HILARIOUS.  I wouldn't have expected that from her!!  She told us the first thing her husband ever said to her...they were in the same music class at BYU.  And she never knew he noticed her, but one day she was about to play for the class, but brother Perry said, "I was just thinking, those lips look like they were made for something better than playing the clarinet."  Right after she told us that, he jumped up to ther podium where she was standing and kissed her!!  We all started cheering, then sister Perry said, "That's the last time I will ever tell that story!!  I can read that man like a book, I just never know what page he's on!"  Hahaha, the devotional was also very spiritual.  It was so strong.  She had us sing a medley she had written just for us.  We sang many primary songs, it made me miss Primary alot!! But it made me very happy.  She has also written a new version of As Sisters of Zion!!!  Just for  sister missionaries.  It is called The Sisters of Zion.  We sing it every sunday in relief society.  But on teusday night, Sister Perry rewrote the EFY medley and put new lyrics in for us missionaries.  The spirit was so strong, every missionary stood up!  Such a powerful moment.  Oh! I meant to say, I am in the MTC choir, and I guess that evening everyone got to see me up close on the jumbo tron....kind of embarressing, but oh well!

WE have officially finished teaching our first investigator.  Please don't ask how our first lesson went....hahahahaha, we got here wednesday and had to teach a whole lesson in Espanol on Saturday.  Terrible.  Just terrible.  Hahaha, at one point I couldn't remember what the name of our church was in spanish, so I just read my nametag....Hahaha.  Mi companera and I have taught 4 or 5 lessons in Spanish, and with every one it get better and better!!  We are trying to learn how to rely on the spirit.  It doesn't seem like it would be hard to learn, but it is.  I myself am trying to work on having more faith and rely on the spirit.  Also, I am trying to work on being more charitable and gain more knowledge from the scriptures. 

That broadcast!! It was SO neat!!! :D  The choir was amazing.  And the meeting was so interesting!! What a huge comfort it was as well.  I always knew the members needed to be involved, but now that that broadcast was shown, I think it'll be even better!! And it was great to know that we will be getting help from the wards...or atleast we hope to get help.  Haha. 

There is a woman from the Branch presidency that was talking to me about how much she loves to go out to Oklahoma and see family.  She says she likes it because she is actually out "on the mission feild."  Hahaha, oh goodness....I thought that you would like to hear about how the mission feild doesn't include Utah....

I have LOVED getting DearElders from Owen, Olson, and Colton Bell.  Those things make my day....Seriously just send me one everyday!!  And don't worry about rambling!! Haha, I like letters!!  I love to hear how things are going.  I really have not had any troubles with homesickness or regret.  I know there are a few that are so homesick it slows up everything.  And regret because they are super upset with what they have "gotten themselves into."  It makes me sad to see that.  I think it can be easy to forget the main reason we're here.  It's not for ourselves.  The next 18 months/2 years are the Lords, we are dedicating it to Him.  He will help us if we are obedient, and have faith. 

I have found just how great personal study time is.  I really value that time, it's one of the few times I have to actually study the scriptures for me, and I don't have to worry about Spanish.  I love it.  I learn SO much, my testimony is already growing so rapidly!!  I love it.  I can say my testimony in Spanish, I can pray in Spanish, and...that's about it.  I can read it, but don't really understand anything. 

There is supposedly a nasty intestinal virus that is going around the MTC.  It's so bad we aren't allowed to shake hands or hug....but I always forget. 

Tell Colton Bell that I ran into her cousin!!  She was very nice, and it's fun to have another person that I kinda know outside of my district. 

My district!!!  Oh, I love them.  We do everything together!!  They have become the greatest friends.  We've already planned a reunion!!  It's a bummer that the Elders won't be serving in our area.   

The food here.  YUM.  It's probably not a very good thing, but I love it.  I am afraid to know how much weight I have ALREADY gained...but hey!  I try to run a mile everyday, and we work on abs so we don't get "the pouch." Hahaha.  Well, Everyone, have fantastic week, and isn't it 4th of July??  Maybe not...i don't know.  Happy 4th of July if it is actually this week!! 

Love,

Hermana Ah Mu