June 27 & 29, 2013

June 27

Mommy (and family)!!

I don't have much to say about this week just three things to address: President Ayre, Re-Assignment, Stomach Flu. The last shall be first:

So I woke up this morning and had terrible stomach pains, got up to fill my water bottle and had a huge head rush accompanied with clamminess so I went to the bathroom because I knew that the stomach flu was going around. Luckily and mercifully, I did not throw up. When the Health Clinic opened we went and the doctor gave me some anti-nausea pills and some Gatorade. I feel perfectly fine now because of the pills and you'll be happy to know that I have been drinking the Gatorade!! Whoot! It's actually not that bad maybe I'll rethink my only water and milk philosophy. Haha! Oh there are always silver linings in everything! And they all come from God, we just call them tender mercies. I also got blessing form my Elders again. They are very grateful for the opportunity to exercise their Priesthood and learn how to give the blessings properly. I don't know why illness is out to get me at the MTC but whatever the reason at least I can learn from it. (Maybe it will spare me from illness in the field haha jk!)

Re-assignment: Last Friday we received papers in the mail that said you have not received your visa so expect re-assignment next Thursday or Friday. So nothing really unexpected there. We did check the mail already today and there are no re-assignments yet. Hermanas Binks and Petersen actually got papers that say that they were not able to re-assign them this week and they have to stay an extra week. They are handling it pretty well but are pretty disappointed with that, so maybe keep them in your prayers. Because the rest of us didn't receive these papers we are hoping that we have been re-assigned- although I almost want to stay the extra week so the Hermanas won't be alone. When I receive my re-assignment or lack thereof I am given permission to e-mail you and let you know so be checking your e-mail for that! I'm excited to get to the field no matter where it is. I know that this is part of Heavenly Father's plan for me. Admittedly, it's a part I did not anticipate and don't exactly desire but through realizing His control of every aspect of my life I am finding the desire for re-assignment also. I was excited for it until I met President Ayre and now it's harder to be excited again but I am finding the excitement. :D

President Ayre (pronounced "air" in English but to Spanish speakers pronounced like "aire"): So because of the New Mission President Seminar, they scheduled time for me, Hermana Jensen, and Elders Carter, Sorensen, and Walton to meet President and Sister Ayre. It was just us five in all of the MTC so that was really cool. So they met with us all and we chatted and got to introduce ourselves. Sister Ayre was so excited when she found out that my friend Jamison taught her Spanish. She was told to look out for me and was so happy to match a face. President Ayre is the most energetic and loving man ever. If I only had one word to describe him it would be humble. Which is fabulous and such an example to me! They have one daughter on a mission in TN right now and another daughter whom they just dropped off at BYU as a freshman. She will be putting in her papers soon and the Ayres are trying to get her sent to Buenos Aires North (which I guess they can do :D). They also have two boys, one jr high or high school age and one I think beginning jr high. Both of their sons will be moving to Buenos Aires with them. They all leave for the wonderful country tomorrow! They said if you could they would take us all with them as family members or in suitcases haha! When we were all about done chatting, President Ayre asked what we would be doing the rest of the night. We explained to him how we "teach" our teachers as investigators and that we would be doing this afterwards. One of our teachers was in the room (taking pictures for us which you should have gotten via text from Sister Ayre) and President Ayre asked her if they could observe us teaching. We suggested that they teach with us as members (we use other teachers as members in lessons). They were so excited! Sister Ayre went and taught with the Elders and President Ayre came and taught with us. It was so incredible! His Spanish is still so good! He served in Costa Rica and is only about 45 I think. The Spirit of his testimony was so strong in the room and he really connected with "Antonio" the investigator. He was so pleased with our progress in Spanish and teaching. He's so incredibly humble! We stepped out and he said something to the effect of "Wow you Hermanas are doing a wonderful job! Sorry my Spanish wasn't that great and I need to practice teaching more but that was so helpful! Thank you for letting me accompany you!" His humility is an incredible testimony to me! I heard him pray twice that night and each time he used the adverb humbly at least twice and asked for humility at least once. He will be an incredible mission president. This is why it became difficult for me to accept re-assignment after meeting him, because they both just make me want to get down to Argentina right now!! It's okay though, I'm accepting it. :D

Fun fact Dad: the south part of the country has indeed been absorbed into the new mission, so I will not be going there. I'm actually happy because of this. That way the couple hundred missionaries can cover that smaller area so much more thoroughly! Another interesting/sad fact: right now there are roughly 180 missionaries in Buenos Aires North Mission, but there should be about 250 or so. That's how many visa waiters there are. The current Mission President says that the hardest thing about the mission is getting missionaries down there.

More interesting facts: Various place around Argentina are having difficulty with visas but of the three Buenos Aires missions (north, south and west) only north and south are having visa problems. West mission visas are going through no problem. Huh! Oh well. It'll all work out!

Thank you so much for the package it's perfect!!! I love you all SSSSOOOOO much!!!!!!!!!! Please head and apply the guidance and instruction given at the Worldwide broadcast! It will bless your lives, the live of missionaries and of course the lives of investigators everywhere!!! I challenge you each to select one thing that was suggested you can do to be a better member missionary and do it this week. When I write next week I will ask each of you what you wanted to work on and if you did it. :D This is the happiest work in the universe!!!

ALL MY LOVE!!!

Hermana Arntsen

June 29

I'VE BEEN RE-ASSIGNED TO THE CALIFORNIA SACRAMENTO MISSION!!!!!! I leave Tuesday the 2nd of July and have to report to the Travel Office at 4:30 am!! Hermana Jensen and Elder Carter are also going to Sacramento! (Elders Sorensen and Walton are headed to Ft. Lauderdale FL.) The plane leaves from SLC at 8:40 am Utah time and we land in Sacramento at 9:27. So I'm not sure when you should expect my phone call but sometime between 5:30 and 8:40 Utah time. Please be at the house because I will call the home phone.

Dad I know how you LOVE geography so I look at the map on my Missionary Portal because I don't know if you have access to mission boundary lines. The following cities are the closest to the boundaries of the mission starting at Sacramento going South then East then North then West: Sacramento, Elk Grove, Stockton, Tracy, Ripon, Copperopolis, Arnold, Pollack Pines, Garden Valley. Following the same directional pattern these cities boarder but lay outside the mission boundaries: Roseville, Brentwood, Livermore, Oakdale, Sonora, then Lake Tahoe. The mission home is fairly close to the temple, which is gorgeous!

I am excited! I know that there are people who need to hear my testimony in Sacramento and there are experiences I need to have there as well. I do still retain my immense love for Argentina and can't wait to get my visa which is something I continue to pray for, but for now I will do my best to do what the Lord requires of me in CA and enjoy it!

The broadcast was phenomenal! I was on the second row! So close to them all! There were about 1300 missionaries in the choir which is about half the MTC. The way the West (Raintree) Campus works is that the missionaries live in WyView and their campus, as far as classrooms and such, are at Raintree. They don't come to the main campus except for maybe some appointments or In-field Orientation. In-field Orientation is for the missionaries the weekend before they leave-which I attended today. It's just a warm up to heading into the field- not that anything can really prepare you for the field.

I LOVE YOU!! Know that I'm living every second of the next 17ish months so that families around the world can have the pure joy and love that we do. You are my motivation and hearing from you lifts my spirits every time, without fail! Please remember to practice one act of missionary work this week and I promise you will feel of the wonderful joy contained in God's work and glory!

Talk to you Tuesday!!

Hermana Arntsen

Letters--week of June 19, 2013

Letter June 20, 2013

This week was great! The days are starting to fly by!  Friday we did TRC for the first time. I don't know what it stands for but we teach real people--mostly members/RMs because it's in Spanish. It was so funny: the first girl's name was Megan and she had just gotten home from a mission in Chile. We were having her read Jacob 2:18-19 but I accidentally told her 28-29! Hermana Jensen was wise enough to also bring her English scriptures and we saw the mistake and stopper her. She wrote on the review that had made her day! The next woman we taught, Hermana Griffin, was the sweetest, most motherly lady. We asked her about any trials she faced in her life, and she broke down crying about trying to ensure the eternal life of her family. Then the Spirit reminded me about a scripture we had used with an investigator earlier that week: 3 Nephi 18:21. We had her read it and I witnessed the Spirit taking it deep into her heart. She said that she had been wondering earlier what makes the MTC so much like the Temple, and she realized it was because we pray so often here. I was thinking about that the other day and counted the least amount of times we would pray--so on a day with only one class period and no investigators to teach--10 times. Assuming the circumstances are right the least amount of times we pray in one day here is 10 and those are never the circumstances. A realistic average is prbably around 20 and that doesn't include prayers of he heart throughout the day! Hermana Griffin is right: because we speak to God so often there is a special spirit here. I encourage you to pray together more often and I promise that as you do you will feel a greater presence of the Spirit in our home. 

Monday night at 6:30 pm the Zone Leaders' district (7 elders) hopped on a place for Tegucigalpa, Honduras! I'm missing them a lot now, they were so much fun and incredible leaders! One of them, Elder Bartchsi, is still here. He's headed for Spain but has no visa. He should be receiving his reassignment soon. Yesterday we got a new district of Elders! Six are going to Mexico and four to Guatemala. Next Wednesday though we are getting four new Hermanas! Which is good because right now in the zone ther are four other Hermanas beside my district and two are leaving for CA on Monday (the other two don't have their Peru visas yet). We won't hear anything about our visas until one week before we are supposed to leave which is when we get our travel plans. We most likely won't get them in time though. We have written down guesses for everyone's reassignment!  State-side would be fun, and I know the Lord has a plan but I really hope I can go straight to Argentina. Neverthelss not as I will, but God will it. Reassignment will just be something I"ll have to come to grips with and I pray for strength to accept it.

I have three teachers: Hermana Comacho is from Puerto Rico, and Hermano Avila served St. Lauderdale, FL Spanish & English. They just teach us Spanish, the accent we pick up in Argentina; however I've heard that in week five or six we get to Skype members in Argentina, but I'm not sure. Elder Sorensen doesn't want to wait and tries to put in the "sh"s every now and then. It's kind of a joke in the district especially because Hermana Comacho doesn't like the accent (even though she says "ll"s and "y"s with a little "j" in there.

Class is great, each class period is three hours long and we have two most days.  Hermana Comacho and Hermano Holman teach together and then Hermano Avila teaches solo. One hour is usually grammar, one is for teaching "investigators." and one hour is for coaching which is more how to teach instruction. Besides our permanent teachers, we have Zone Resource Teachers who pop in randomly to help. They are alos called floating teachers until they get their own district to teach. Hermano Thatcher is the district's favorite! He served in Pennsylvania Philadephia Spanish speaking, of course. Hermano Thatcher said it always made him feel so uplifted when our Elders look so happy to see him so he decided to try and make them feel just as awesome all the time and it has escalated into a compliment war. It's hysterical! "Hermano Thatcher, that was the best prayer I've heard in English and Spanish. Hermano Thatcher, you just know the answer to everything. Hermano Thatcher gives a compliment bu usually in Spanish which, according to the Elders, beats and English complement so this little game encourages the Elders to look up more Spanish. It's wonderful entertainment.

Guess what?! On the 23rd there will be a worldwide mission broadcast in the Marriott Center. The prophet will be there and who know how many of the 12! Elder Nelson said it will be the mission broadcast of the century! And my whole district is singing in the choir! There's an MTC choir about 1200 strong combining with a member coir of 1100. We will be recorded and put on the church website! I'm so excited! Also this past Tuesday was the very first MTC devotional in the Marriott Center, I think just so we can be with the people from the Raintree Campus which opened a couple weeks ago. As we were coming back people in cars were filming and taking pictures of the massive line of 3000+ missionaries. I felt like a zoo display.:)

I'm participating in so many "firsts" here that I know will bless my family forever! Also the new Mission President's seminar is like the 23-27 and Brother Eggot (the MTC choir director is putting a small special group together for that and by special I mean experienced. I filled out a form and will hopefully be able to participate in that. Then I might get to meet my new mission President. They get switched out in July so we (Hermana Jensen, me & Elders Walton, Sorensen, and Carter) might not even get to know the current one.

Let me know if anything really cool happens! Don't forget to go to the temple! IT is the happiest place on Earth!

All my love,
Hermana Arntsen

E-mail June 20, 2013

MOMMY!!!!!!!!!

You will never guess what just happened!!!!! Guess!!!!! Are you guessing?????? When I was walking to the temple this morning with the Hermanas, who should drive by the second we leave the MTC gate but EVAN AND MICHAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They waved and shouted which was great!! I can't believe I got to see them. All the Hermanas were saying "oh are they going to turn around?" and were staring down the street after them, but they didn't which is fine. Anyway that was SO incredibly awesome! Wonderful tender mercy from the Lord! I don't know if it will happen again but that was sure fantastic

I hope I didn't freak you out last week. I assure you I am in perfect health now. I was only sick Wednesday evening, Thursday, and Friday. I went back to class on Saturday and have been fine since then. Thanks you for the medicine! Oh and for the comic section! Dilbert was very funny!

I don't know if I told you but the district that had my ZLs in it left two weeks ago for Honduras. So cool! And the district with the other Hermanas in it left this week. Two went to CA and the other two stayed behind waiting for their visas to Peru. Well those two got reassigned today to Montana and Texas which is so cool. Just so you know that will most likely happen to us but we heard that missionaries going to Argentina and Brazil are getting put at the top of the reassignment list because they are assuming there will be problems with those countries. So I might not have to wait as long to get reassigned. If I do have my visa then my travel plans will come tomorrow! But if not I won't get anything unless I've been reassigned already which probably won't happen so you and I will know what will happen most likely next week.

Also, in light of the Hermanas leaving for CA, Sister Jensen and I were assigned to be the Sister Training Leaders for the zone. We don't really do much but we got to welcome the new district that came in yesterday. Four Hermanas and four Elders. I know one of the Hermanas! Hermana Annalise Carter and I had French together the last to semesters. How ironic right! She and two of the other new Hermanas are going to Argentina. They are going to the new mission in the south which did in fact steal the tip of the world from Buenos Aires North so no penguins for me but I know they will enjoy it. The up side to that is that the area of the BA North mission just got smaller so we can be more thorough in the areas we are assigned because we will have more missionaries in a smaller area. That's really exciting!

I got a letter from Grandma which was so sweet! I'm working on writing you back, Grandma! This week I received more letters than ever before so my pile just got so much bigger and now I have to work my way through the stack. Haha. I also got a package from Karen Scott!! SO kind and delicious! Thanks! You're also in the pile! :D And Hermana Jensen's mother, a saint, had been sending me packages and letters! She says she is only doing what you would do, Mom, if you live twenty minutes away like she does. I told her you appreciate it and that she is helping to fatten me up! Hahaha!

I got a letter from Elder Quinn this week!! He didn't know I had entered the MTC and was so excited for me! He also mentioned an exchange he went on with his district leader who reminded him of me so I got a letter from Elder Hatch, the district leader as well. So that was really fun!

Also, a couple of weeks ago we, as a district, took a Spanish-speaknig assessment. We just recorded it on the computer and the answers got sent to evaluators to help us know what to work on. I got the results this week. There are four categories of scoring, I don't remember exactly but I think they are pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and grammar. Out of 7 I received a 5, 5, 4, and 4 respectively. Hermano Avila, who was going over them with me, said that by the time missionaries leave the MTC they hope that they are at 5s so I'm doing really well! That was great! I'm so excited to learn Castilian! It will be so pretty and I can't wait until my Spanish is at a level where I can communicate without hindrance to native speakers! It is such a barrier in teaching right now, not an impossible one, but mostly one I have to wait to knock down until I get to the field.

Thanks for the family photos! i love them! Especially that one with Michael hanging off the banister/wall thing! That is our family in a picture! Hermana Jensen says we are just the cutest most adorable family! The jacket you sent made me burst out laughing! Hermana Binks (in my district) and I had just discovered that, in our photos on Mormon.org, we are leather jacket buddies and we were saying how much we love our leather jackets and then you sent it to me. Haha! I don't know if I can wear it but thanks anyway! I'll just send it back right before I leave with some other stuff.

Mom, Thanks for all that you've done to get me here!! We did invitatories today and I just kept thinking about the when you went through with me!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that this Gospel is true and that God is sitting and waiting and wanting to bless us. All we have to do is ask and seek! Remember D&C 4 does not just apply to full-time missionaries. In verse two it says that any who have the DESIRE is called. So if you have the desire, get working! If you don't have the desire, pray for the desire and then get working! The desire will come as we seek for it- verse 7. Our work is meaningless without the members and our work is SSSSSOOOOO much more successful with the members help!!!

MUCHISIMO AMOR!!

Hermana Arntsen

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Excerpts from a hand-written letter June 3:

Spanish is going well!  Whatever Michael has I think I also inherited because it is not easy, but easier for me to pick up than a couple of others in the district.  The French grammar and some vocab is extremely helpful but sadly I find I've already forgotten much French. However, a word slips out every now and then, and everyone looks at me blankly so I know I used a French word!

It's not too crowded here.  They do a good job of managing that except in the cafeteria on fast Sunday! Speaking of Fast Sunday, I bore my testimony in Spanish but I mixed up a verb. There are two kinds of "to be" in Spanish: one that describes temporary conditions and one that describes more permanent conditions. So, I accidentally said "I'm a happy person" instead of "I'm happy in this moment."  Hahaha! No one noticed though.

E-mail June 6--Mom sent Megan a screen shot of the June New Era with Megan's photo and an answer to a question.

Mommy!!!
Oh my gosh! I totally forgot that I submitted that! That is so cool though!! I'm on the same page as President Utchdorf!!

 

I just saw Sister Kirsten Shell literally like thirty minutes ago! Her visa didn't come through so she came here instead! (Kirsten was one of Megan's roommates at BYU.)

 

Thanks for the package!!!

Spanish is fabulous! I think there is something genetic in this family that comes with a predisposition to learning foreign languages! I'm picking up the concepts easily and the pronunciation isn't that difficult. I was chatting with a teacher who served in Mexico, and I answered a question of his or something and he said, "Yeah, Hermana Arntsen, you sounded like a Mexican (except he said that in Spanish)." That's pretty cool, but I hope I'll pick up Castilian soon! I don't want to speak dirty Spanish!!! No offense Michael, it all sounds pretty, but I think Castilian will be much better for me. There is kind of a 50-50 chance of a teacher liking or hating the Argentine accent. To my teacher, Hermana Comacho, who is from Puerto Rico, it is annoying and stuck up. But then others like it or say it's an acquired taste. Either way I hear there is no mistaking it. I haven't even been to Argentina yet but I know I will come to love the people, places, and culture and want to share it with you.

We got two new "investigators" this week to teach. So now we teach all three of our teachers. Yesterday we committed Gilberto to baptism with a date and everything but I think we might have to move it up if he continues receive the lessons well. Antonio (Hermano Holman) is GODLEN! He has a religious background, married, a little son. He is trying so hard to provide for them but can't find a steady stream of work. He was so receptive to our message the other day! We invited him to pray at the end of the lesson. He was a little worried about not doing it right but he said, "Okay, I'll say it and then you tell me what I did wrong (but in Spanish)." He said one of the most heartfelt and sincere prayers I have ever heard in Spanish or English! He is so ready for the Gospel (even though he technically isn't our investigator, he is someone Hermano Holman taught so he already has received the Gospel I hope). We are also teaching a 12 year-old girl, Esmeralda. We've only had one lesson with her and it went okay but we are struggling to be creative and find ways to make the lessons interactive and enjoyable for her. Mom, I was wondering if you had any ideas or recommendations because of your time in Primary and Young Women? Friday we start TRC which is when members or non members volunteer to come in and we just sit down with them and teach a little message, like the Elders would when you feed them dinner. Or at least that is my understanding, but I'll find out tomorrow!!

Elder Bowers, in my district, got his visa and left the other day. He is now in the Columbia MTC. Before he left he said that his mother had found out that you can Dear Elder Columbia and Argentina. So while I'm in the field you can go on dear elder and just change the MTC to the Argentine one, type in my apartment address and they will print it out here and put it with the pouch mail. It is way faster than regular pouch mail so when I leave in four weeks you might want to tell people that or do it yourselves. But double check on that.

Hermana Jensen and I were trying to be more personable in our lessons so we thought talking about our families would be good and then easily tied into the Gospel. Well, Hermana Jensen, like the amazing daughter she is, had quite a few pictures of her family and me, being that not-as-good-of-a-daughter as I am, don't have any. Could you send me a couple please? Fortunately, as Michael lent me his Spanish scriptures while in the MTC, he has a few photos stuck in there: one of the Idaho Falls temple, one other the bug, and one of Franklin. As I had no family photo to show, I showed the picture of Franklin. Hahaha! Gilberto and Antonio got a kick out of that! I did talk about you guys but I just showed them Franklin. Boy is that a fun sentence to say in spanish: "No tengo un foto de mi familia pero tengo un foto de me perro." Caitlin will have to say it for you for you to hear how funny it sounds! Then in class I had the photo sitting out on my desk and Hermano Avila (Gilberto) saw it and burst out laughing: "haha no tengo un foto de mi familia pero tengo un de mi perro!" He just thought it was the funniest thing, and it is really funny!! So when in doubt, make your investigators laugh! Haha!

Speaking of Hermano Avila, I didn't get to tell you about him. We've only had him as a teacher and not just an investigator for a little over a week but he is the BEST! He understanding of the Gospel is so profound. He can relate any one concept to any other you give him and use scriptures along the way and he's only 21! He just got back from FL on his mission in January, met a girl a few days later, and now is engaged! I thought you'd get a kick out of that, Mom! But he really is the best teacher! He is teaching us to know the Gospel as he does in such a simple way: through the use of a doctrine, a principle, and an application. The principle is the what, so for example baptism. The doctrine is the why, so to be cleansed from sin. And the application is the how, so by someone who holds the priesthood authority, by immersion, etc. No investigator will really stick to a commitment unless they understand the doctrine. He said by learning the various doctrine of one principle we are able to select the doctrine (why) that will affect that specific investigators needs and help him/her find the motivation necessary to live the commitment. It's amazing! He also started a company to make study journals and mission t-shirts and half of the profit goes to the Church Mission Fund. He got us the prototype shirts so now I have a shirt that says Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission on it, and he gave us study journals. They are really nice. There is a spot for the date, what you're studying, a side column for titles and then lines for notes. He will help me become a very successful missionary. Funny story though, so his Spanish isn't as good as the other teachers because he served part of his mission in English. So yesterday he was giving an example of teaching and Elder Sorrensen (my district) volunteered to be his investigator. This first demonstration was supposed to be in English but Elder Sorrensen forgot that. Just before beginning, Hermano Avila's boss walks in to observe. When Elder Sorrensen opened the door Hermano Avila said "Hey what's going on?" and Elder Sorrensen replied "Hola" and continued in Spanish and Hermano Avila just went with it and taught in Spanish. Apparently Elder Sorrensen forgot and just happened to be in the Spanish groove. But Hermano Avila's boss was observing and Hermano Avila doesn't teach as well in Spanish as he does in English (which he teaches wonderfully in both anyway), so he was a little concerned about what is boss thought. It was so funny though when Elder Sorrensen opened that door and replied in Spanish!

God be with you all!

 

Todo mi amor! (All my love!)

 

Hermana Arntsen

 

 

Thursday, May 30, 2013

FAMILY!!!!!!!

HOORAY FOR MARY!!! That is SO exciting!!! I can totally picture her there (North Carolina)!!! I would email her but I only have thirty minutes so I think it would be better to write her. Mail is very much appreciated preferably of the paper kind because I can get it during the week and know what's going on (also because I only got two letters this week and my companion got at least seven and four packages so I feel a little unloved. I know I'm just being a ñoño which means crybaby but mail is our connection to the outside world).

In response to your letter Caitlin: the MTC is hard! I have never worked harder in my life! Nor have I ever been pushed so hard before! But it is all worth it and so rewarding though probably not as rewarding as it will be in the field! There is such a wonderful spirit here knowing that we are all dedicated to serving the Lord and to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end." That was hard to type, I don't know it in English very well so may this will be better: "Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo al ayudaras a que reciban el Evangelio resaurado mediante la fe en Jesucristo y su expiacion, el arrepentimiento, el bauptismo, la recepcion del don del Espiritu Santo, y el perservarar hasta el fin." That's better minus the accent marks. haha! I didn't really talk to anyone on the plane because I napped haha but there were more than 20 other missionaries on the plane!!!!!  Michael was so excited for me and gave me the best advice yet! I was able to get to my first Sunday because of what he told me. Here in the MTC if you can make to your first Sunday then you'll be fine and I did so there. Since arriving I have seen more than six people that I know.

Mommy!!! Everything is great! I am definitely enjoying the feeling of the Lord's Army all at once. I had a great visit with Michael!! He made me BP & honey and chocolate pudding. I also had a nice chat with Evan who was amazed that I was going into the MTC!! Haha! Thank you for the prayers and thoughts they are much appreciated and felt! 

A description of my week and life here:

The first day was actually pretty good. It was a little annoying to have everyone saying welcome all the time because of the dork dot but that came off the first evening!!! My district is great! We have two companion-ships of Elders and two of Hermanas. The other two Hermanas (Peterson and Binks) are going to Resetencia!! I told them their mission president is the best (President Heyman) and to say hi for me when they get there! Elder Bowers is going to Bogata, Columbia and he got is visa early so he leaves  for the Columbia MTC! After that his companion Elder Walton will be going solo which apparently is allowed. Besides the others hermanas and Elder Bowers the district is going to Buenos Aires North! That's me, Hermana Jensen, Elder Carter, Elder Sorensen, and Elder Walton! We are all really excited!! My zone is good! There are only two other companion-ships of hermanas. One companion-ship is going to California and the other to Peru. They are so sweet!! We have a trio of zone leaders who are awesome! Elder Bartchsi is from AZ and he is going to Spain but Elder Reed and Elder Kliener are going to HONDURAS!! Tegucigalpa, though but I still told them some of what I remember from Michael. In the zone there is my district the district with the other hermanas which is like mine then the zone leaders' district of all Elders, and yesterday we got a new district of all Elders!! Esta loco!!

My teachers are the best, even the other hermanas say they wish they had them. There is Hermana Comacho from Puerto Rico and Hermano Holman who served in Nicaragua. He learned Spanish for the first year and then they needed him to learn a tribal language called Moskito (like the bug that gives you malaria which is funny because he Holman got malaria there) so he's tri-lingual. They are the best teachers, so patient and supportive and friendly. I can honestly call them my friends. Our third teacher's real name I don't know. He is our first investigator so we only know him as Gilberto. When we all arrived on Wednesday our teachers surprised us by telling us that we would have to teach our first lesson in Spanish on Friday at 2 pm!! We were so nervous but it went okay considering our experience. Since then we have taught "Gilberto" five times in Spanish! Our teaching may have improved a little but the language definitely has and our ability to teach with the Spirit for the investigator. Other than teaching, class, studying, working out, and sleeping life is uneventful except for the temple today! Whoot!! Oh, and the food is the same as the Cannon Center so anything yummy you want to send would be incredibly awesome!!!

Never forget that no matter where you are, who you're with, or what you're doing you need to stand for Christ. In all things, at all time, and in all places, even unto death, because that is how Christ stood by us. If I had all day on the computer I could not express all that I have learned or all that I have a testimony of but know that I know that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and that it's purpose is to bring us happiness and eternal life. I am so blessed to have this opportunity to serve in this manner, but you can serve from home too! I love you all so much!! I hope you got my letter but the post was slow because of the holiday. Stay strong!!

Love,

Hermana Arntsen