Hola! Como esta?!
I think I got my
package on Tuesday;
it was so long ago I can't remember. I don't always get the dearelder right
away because our district leader might not check the mail late enough in the
day and when he does we don't get it until 9:30. I love all your letters though. They make me SOOO happy. 9:30 is my favorite time of the day. I
LOVED the package…especially the blankets. My bed feels so
much more comfy now. Everyone loves how soft the blankets are and the
sisters in the zone think I'm like the queen of Sheba or something when I lay
on my fuzzy blanket and read my pile of letters haha.
I am doing so well!
I've been so blessed to not really be homesick at all. I miss you all and I
love hearing from you but I don't worry, which is good. On Saturday this
week I woke up with a bad
sore throat and all week I've been battling a cold. We don't get a ton of sleep
and the days are busy which hasn't helped but I have been blessed to be able to
focus most of the time and get everything done. On Saturday and Sunday I really didn't feel well and my throat hurt
pretty bad. Saturday night Hermana Gardner was nice enough to stay home from our
personal work out time so I could take a nap. I still don't sleep super well
here but I got to rest at least. On Monday my head started getting really congested and
I've used all the Kleenexes I brought and finished off the box in our
classroom. BTW would you mind sending me some more little packs of Kleenex? The
ones here are not quite so nice and my nose it super sore. Last night the cold
moved into my chest so I've had a bad cough that hurts today. It's all a sign
that it's moving forward though and I should be feeling better by Saturday.
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| Hermana Millet with Brad Forsyth, a friend from high school and teacher at the MTC. |
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| Elder Seastrand from our ward with Hermana Millet. |
I saw Jay Seastrand on
his first day and we got a picture together. He looked so happy and ready! I
have been really impressed with him lately, like when he gave the prayer at my
farewelll. He is a super mature kid and I know he will make a great missionary.
I have also seen Darian and Greyson in passing.
Here's the basic week
review:
The days have been
better and better and I feel happy all the time. I feel totally content and the
MTC feels real. My teachers are soooo cool! Hermano Lunt served in El Salvador.
I can tell he was an awesome missionary who worked hard, loved the people, and
had the spirit with him. Hermano Hardy is super short but he's a spiritual
giant. He loves us so much and wants to help us so badly. Sometimes in class we
get to have English lessons about the Doctrine or the Book of Mormon.. Those
are my favorites! I love learning from them and feeling the spirit.
On Friday night
after our favorite volleyball game of the week outside in the sand we had a
zone talent show. (I learned later that it was kind of against the rules but oh
well.) We had an elder chug three bottles of water in 21 seconds, an elder who
sings like Jason Mraz, a sister who yodels, Hermana Gardner, Redford and I sang
and more. It was so fun! I love our zone.
Our first normal Sunday was pretty good. We have Relief Society in the
morning with all the sisters and Sister Sheri Dew spoke. It was SO cool! She is
awesome. She talked about exact obedience which Hermana Gardner and I are
really trying to work on. She said, "Obedience brings blessings. Exact
obedience brings miracles." I LOVED that. Exact obedience is something
small I know I can do 100% perfectly which will bring great blessings. She also
talked about how we have to authorize the spirit to teach us by inviting it
there and being ready to listen. That was also really great. I won't give you a
play by play of her whole talk but it was great.
Then we had Sacrament
Meeting with just our zone. For Sacrament meeting we all have to write a 5
minute talk in Spanish on a specific subject, such as baptism this week and
they announce after the sacrament who will be speaking. Terrifying! Luckily I
wasn't called on this week. There's a greater chance the longer I am here
though. Did you know the MTC counts this as my 3rd week?! Today is my 2 week
anniversary but according to them I'm in the middle of my third week (weeks
start on
Monday). I only have 3 full
weeks left! Holy cow!
Later that afternoon
we had the temple walk where we basically walk around the temple and take
pictures and relax (in the blazing heat haha). I have seen Tisha a few
time and we got a picture together on Sunday during our temple walk before she headed out
to Arizona today. She is adorable!
That night we had a
devotional by Robert P. Swenson who has been working in the missionary
department for a long time and is the new mission president for the Brazil MTC.
He was great. He talked about things he has learned. Later that night we
watched an old devotional from Elder Holland from this last Thanksgiving Day in
the MTC. It was SOO good. Obviously, it's Elder Holland. He talked to us about
how lucky we are to be on the earth in the last days. It was a very spiritually
uplifting day.
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| Hermana Millet with Sister Tisha Santana from our stake. |
Monday was
kind of normal. Study, teach, eat, repeat. In the cafeteria have some good
wraps and salads that I eat for lunch a lot. This week I discovered putting
pineapple in my wrap. It was A-MAZ-ING. My zone sits in the cool kids part of
the cafeteria away from everyone else haha, it's great. The elders like to toss
their napkins around and see if they can get them inside someone's cup. Oh
Elderes. (That's our catchphrase that the Hermanas and teachers say all the
time, "Elderes, Elderes, Elderes".) On Monday night we have a great tradition of having FHE
with all the sisters in our Zone where we eat junk and talk. I love all the
Hermanas. They are so wonderful. PS the picture last week was of bunday Monday...because on Mondays we wear buns. Ten awesome
points to whoever can name that movie reference.
Tuesday was
kind of a hard day for me. We did the TRC for the first time which is where
members come in (who can speak Spanish) and we get to know them and teach them
a lesson. The first lady we taught is a grad student at BYU who spoke Spanish
on her mission. She was super nice and patient with our Spanish and spoke very
clearly. The second lady was a little older and a Mexican native. She spoke
really quickly and directed most of her comments to Hermana Gardner because she
can understand them and respond better. She was super nice but it was a little
discouraging. That afternoon we had our first teaching appointment with our
"new investigator" Cris (aka Hermano Lunt). For some reason I was
really nervous. I guess I wanted to impress Hermano Lunt since we haven't taught
him yet. We have been studying, "How to begin teaching" in class
which is all about getting to know them and bridging into the lesson. I totally
get that in English but it's a little more difficult when I can't understand
what they say to respond or say the words I want to. Hermana Gardner and I have
been doing a lot of role playing though and I felt prepared. I said a prayer
before we went in and felt comforted and ready. It started out okay, although
Cris was a little difficult. But then we jumped into the religious aspect of
things way too fast and I didn't know how to back it up. I was worried and
frustrated and I think the spirit left. The rest of the lesson went downhill
from there. We couldn't even remember the tune to the hymn we were going to
sing in Spanish (it's hard because you don't have the words to remind you, you
just have to go off the notes) We had practiced and had harmony down and I felt
like it would really bring the spirit but we butchered it haha. The bright
point was at the end I bore my testimony and I tried to look right at him and
get the spirit back and I think that part went okay.
It was frustrating but
a really good learning experience. I know I'm going to have to continue to have
patience in my self and trust more in the Lord. I hope everyone doesn't think
I'm super discouraged because I'm not. I really do love it here and am learning
so much! It is a trying time.
I am out of time.
Sorry! Requests: stamps, envelopes, white t-shirts that look semi decent (or my
grey half marathon one) a few more socks (regular-the best looking ones) Kleenex,
homemade goodies-if you decide to send goodies. The end. Love you!
Love you!
Hermana Millet
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