An Extra Week in Provo

6/14/13

So I just found out that I've been extended another week here at the MTC! Crazy, huh? Everyone who is going to Peru that is here has been extended another week, and then if their VISAS still haven't come, they will all get temporarily reassigned. Right now, there are about 30 of us waiting to go to Peru. However, a lot of countries are having delays with their visas right now, so we're not alone. The Elders in my district are all going to Argentina, but their VISAS haven't come yet either. They all got their reassignments today! Three of them are going to Ogden, two to SLC, and Elder Rossler got sent to Oakland, California. They are all really excited to get out of the MTC, and I can't blame them. On the positive side, becuase I've been extended I have the chance to sing in the choir for the big devotional on Sunday, June 25th. It will be cool to sing for the Prophet! I just hope there is room in the choir because last week there was about 400 people over what they needed and when the prophet comes it will be first come, first serve. I will do my best to be in it!

I guess that means I will have another week to learn more Spanish and sharpen my teaching skills! Bro. Busath says he might have the three of us hermanas go into an advanced class for our last week, but we'll see. I'm totally OK with that, but Hermana Lind really doesn't want it to happen.

All of the Hermanas in my zone here at the Provo MTC.
It has been great getting to know each of them.

Yesterday, I went to In-field Orientation with my district. It was really long, but it had some good parts. I learned more about how to teach with a member present and how I can expect to work with the Bishop and ward members. Overall, I learned that I need to be really enthusiastic and trustworthy so that the bishop can trust me with less active families and so the other members and know that I love them and want to help. It was kinda weird though that Elder Christianson from the District (the movies they have all the missionaries watch before coming to the MTC) was there to help teach us. He was really funny! At the end of the orientation, they put on a play and they totally copied parts of The Best Two Years, and he was the new missionary. It was great!

Helping with our weekly service assignment

Other than that, this week has been pretty much the same as the others. Learning lots of Spanish and working on how to teach people. Last Friday, I was sick for the first time since coming on my mission, so that was different. I'm pretty sure I ate something that had me throwing up all night, but I just slept in on Friday morning to about 9:15 and then got out of bed and took it easy the rest of the day. I didn't even miss a class! This showed me that the Lord really is watching over us and helping us be healthy, becuase normally something like that would have put me out for the whole day! By Saturday, it was like I had never even been sick!

I want to share a spiritual thought that I had yesterday. I was reading in Enos, and really loved when he said that "my soul hungered." That is such a great phrase! I feel like I need to want to learn more about the Gospel and want to teach others about it more until my soul hungers for it! That will make me a better missionary, and the investigators will be able to feel my love for the Gospel.

Elder Spice received a package this week with a bunch of bigotes (mustaches) for our district. Everyone agreed that out of all the girls, my bigote fits my face best... not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not -- ha ha!

I got to see my two cousins, Elder Bone and Sister Langford, one last time before they both left on Tuesday, June 11th. I also got to orient one last district on Wednesday. Since they didn't know at the time that we would be staying in the Provo MTC one additional week, they went ahead and called new Sister Training Leaders. They already called the new STLs, so Hermana Lind and I will be released this Sunday and the new STLs set apart. The surprising thing is that this last district I helped to orient is entirely made up of Elders. There are 10 of them! Crazy, huh?

How is this for a door approach?
"Hola! Mi llamo Hermana Marx (El Groucho) y esta
es mi companero, Hermana Libre (de Nacho)."

I am super excited to go to Peru, but I might have to wait a month or two til I get there. The sisters in the last district who left the Provo MTC and were still waiting for their visas were mostly assigned to Arizona and Texas. We were told that if we still have no visa next week, we will ship out of the MTC for sure on Tuesday, June 25th, so maybe we'll get to visit the Alamo or hang in Tucson a few weeks. For now, I'm enjoying my time here at the MTC and loving every minute of it!