First Week at the MT

Oh my gosh I have soo much to write about and don't even know where to start! I only have an hour to email and I have a lot more emails than I thought I would that I have to reply to so hopefully I can get everything in, and I'm SO sorry if you emailed me and I didn't have time to get back to you this week. 

Okay so let me tell you about my first day:

Well first off when you get dropped off at the curb of the MTC and they grab your bags, there was no time for me to be sad because my host started bringing me all around the front of main campus to get everything I need. After that was done, I had to get on a bus to go over to West Campus (where all the missionaries going Spanish speaking live and have classes and everything). While I was sitting on the bus waiting to leave I felt super overwhelmed and sad and nervous but then when the bus got to West Campus as soon as I got off the bus I saw my good friend from BYU Elder (Spencer) Bradham!! I was so happy to see him oh my gosh. He said he was waiting for me to get there because he knew I was coming in that day and him and my host were fighting over who got to help me with my bags and take me to my apartment/classroom. He ended up showing me where my classroom is and everything and sat there with me and the 3 other Elders that were already in there and talked to me which really helped me not be as nervous.

So finally my whole district, which consists of 6 companionships (2 sister companionships, 4 elder companionships), got there and I got to meet my companion! Her name is Hermana Sellers and I love her so much oh my gosh. We instantly became the best of friends and we get along so well and laugh about everything. We are seriously the same person it's so crazy. Also, a sister who I met on facebook, Hermana Peterson, ended up being in my district and we were so happy! Me, Hermana Sellers, Hermana Peterson, and Hermana Duran all live in the same apartment and are the only Sisters in our whole district and our whole zone (which has 36 Elders and us 4 Sisters)!! So we get a lot of attention which is nice(:

I love my district so much, they are awesome! For all the non Mormon people, my district is who I spend pretty much all day every day with and have class, study, etc. with. And my zone is who we also spend a lot of time with, and our zone is made up of 4 districts. I was seriously so blessed. I'm pretty sure my zone has all the funniest missionaries in it, we have soo much fun! Also, me and Hermana Sellers are pretty much obsessed with these two Elders in our zone hahaha they are so cute and they're awesome to hangout with. It's so hard not to crush on people here, especially with the super strict "no flirting, no hugging the opposite sex, no being alone with the opposite sex, etc." rules. Last night me and Hermana Sellers were talking about how much we miss hugs from guys because it's just not the same as hugging a girl.

Oh, another random thing: so incase you didn't know, there are also strict rules about staying with your Companion. You have to be within sight and sound of them at all times (except if you're in the bathroom/shower). So it's a good thing I love Hermana Sellers so much!

Anyways back to my first day haha; We started learning Spanish right away and I'm so surprised at how much I understand of what my teacher says (my teacher is AWESOME by the way. We all love Hermano Whittaker). He talks in Spanish 90% of the time and I almost always know what he's saying. Remembering how to actually speak Spanish is the difficult part.

After we had a little bit of class time we had to go to this welcome meeting with all the other new missionaries on West campus and right as I walked in they asked me to say the closing prayer in front of everyone, typical haha. Afterwards all the leaders shook my hand and asked about my relationship to Henry B Eyring (it's crazy, everyone I meet asked me if/how I'm related. Sometimes people I have never really talked to in my zone and stuff will be like "hey Hermana Eyring I heard you're related to President Eyring" so it gives me a bit of celebrity status here (; ).

After the meeting thing we got to go back to our apartments and unpack. It took me SO long to unpack. I felt so bad because Hermana Sellers was done so quickly and it took me forever. Mom, I really should have paid more attention to where you packed things in my suitcase. Lesson learned!

Also, I already had huge blisters on my feet after the first day and it hurt so bad to walk. Me and Hermana Sellers were struggling so much because we both could barely walk AND we got lost trying to find our apartment/class AND it started raining while we were walking around aimlessly. Somehow we were still laughing the whole time though haha. Overall my first day was super good.

Now for a bunch of random things I want to talk about:

WOW, the Gift of Tongues is soo real. 2 days after we got into the MTC, we had to start teaching our first investigator. IN ALL SPANISH. We were all so scared and me and Hermana Sellers volunteered to go first. We said a prayer before we went in and started teaching that we would be blessed with the gift of tongues and be able to understand our investigator and speak to him. I don't even know what happened but while we were in there I could understand everything he was saying and I would just open my mouth and start saying random things to answer his questions. Afterwards Hermana Sellers was freaking out telling everyone in our district how awesome it was haha. Everything I said was a blur but our investigator understood all of it and it was crazy. It was the coolest thing.

Okay let me just talk about how much I LOVE my district. Oh my gosh! They make me so happy. I still haven't cried at all being here from being sad (only from feeling the Spirit haha). We all got so close so fast and we have so much fun together. Sometimes we get super off track and get a little bit in trouble but it's worth it. Also, all the Elders in our Zone have been in the MTC longer than we have so they all took us under their wing and come and talk to us/hangout with us all the time. They are all hilarious! We eat every meal with most of the people from our district and we all laugh so hard and it's so fun.

I love the MTC!! Everyone is SO nice here. And everyone says hi to each other whether they know each other or not. Whenever me and Hermana Sellers walk past a group of Elders they all always say "Hola Hermanas!" and talk to us a little bit and it's so great. Once again, we love the attention of being some of the few sister missionaries on West Campus.

So on Sunday everyone from West Campus got to go over to main campus to go to the Sunday devotional. And guess who I saw there... SISTER (MADDIE) MEHR!!! One of my roommates from BYU! We were so happy to see each other we hugged like 10 times haha. I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have the picture we took but she does so when she emails it to me I'll send it! So far here I've seen Elder Bradham, Elder Fowers, Elder Romney, Elder Preece, Elder Kropelnicki, Hermana Gull, Elder Stubbs, Sister Mehr, Elder Schroedter, and a few more that I can't think of right now. I didn't realize how many friends I had at the MTC! Also I've made TONS of new ones. It's so awesome and I'm going to be so sad to leave. 

Well that's all I can think of for now and I have very limited time left for emailing since this was so long haha. I'm trying to attach pictures but it's taking forever so I'll probably send another email in a minute with all the pictures. I have some quality ones on my camera hahaha.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH AND MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY. I've told Hermana Sellers about so many of you and I'm so excited to show her all the pictures I picked out to bring once my mom *cough cough* sends them to me(:

I hope you all are doing awesome.

Adios, Buenos Dias (: