Saying Goodbye to the Provo MTC!

Pretty much my favorite picture ever. ;D

December 5, 2015

First off, I LOVE the Christmas card! I even like how I look in all the pictures! You better send me one, I'll keep it forever! I LOVE the title of the card too! It really is perfect. It's definitely my favorite one over the 19 years of Christmas cards I've seen. (:Also, send me more pictures too. They don't make me homesick at all, so I would love more pictures from now on! (: 

[Have you seen Trace?]So! YES I've seen Elder Trace Barney everyday that he's been here. :D It's actually a total miracle how I saw him on Wednesday when he got here. I was sitting at the dinner table right in front of the doorway where everyone comes in to eat (there's a miracle right there because I usually sit on the other side of the table with my back to the door). And right at the perfect moment in time, Sister Murray stood up to go get something and so I kind of looked up and for some crazy reason I looked up/out the door and Trace was walking past the door (not through it) with his host heading to the book store to get his new study books and stuff. WE BOTH SAW EACH OTHER! That's such a miracle! I mean, there are hundreds of people that walk through those doors and the fact that no one was blocking my window from the open door at the PERFECT moment!

Here's another good one just for you. (;

I jumped up and ran to the door to say hi and we only had like 10 seconds, but we shook hands and said we loved each other and who knows what else. Let this by my testimony of how mindful The Lord is of our wants and needs. The next day we saw each other in the cafeteria and I walked around with him while he got his food and he seemed to be pretty happy. He said his companion has such a good heart. 

Anyway, so I have dinner from 5:30-6:15 and he has dinner from 5:45-6:30. So Trace always comes up to say hi to me when he comes in for dinner and I usually stand in the food line with him so we can have a few minutes to talk. I think Trace is pretty happy here. So that's good! He's got a picture of us on his camera so he better send that to you guys! 

​Happy Birthday Mom! 

[How is the language coming?] The language is coming along alright.. Sister Murray is A LOT better than I am, but it's really nice because while we're teaching our investigator I can ask her what they said. So she is kind of like my personal translator. And if I don't know a word in Tagalog I can ask her what it is and she usually knows. I'm getting the vocabulary down kind of good, it's the grammar that gets me. Sentences in English are quite different than Tagalog. There's like eight different ways to set up a sentence. And you have to learn how to make command/infinitive, past, present, and future verbs. So like the word "help" in English there's help, helped, helping, and will help. In Tagalog it's something like mgtonong (command/infinitive), ngtonong (past), ngtotonong (present), magtotonong (future). (You can ask Tyrel if that's right). Anyway, I have a hard time with the grammar and which type of verb to use. Luckily I don't get upset with myself even though I'm probably the slowest/least good with the language in my district. But I keep improving everyday. (: 

[Are you ready to leave the Provo MTC? What are your thoughts about leaving?] I'm really excited to leave the MTC, but I suppose it's a little worrisome because I really do like it here. I finally got used to my schedule so I'm a little worried I won't like my new one.. And I really hope my district stays our district and doesn't get split up. But I'm mostly excited! I'm going on a super fun adventure, it'll be great. :D

Brayden & Sadie

I'm hoping that I pack everything and everything fits and is within the weight limits. My carry-on can only be 15 pounds which is a little scary because that was the one with all my heavy stuff in it when I flew down to Salt Lake. Oh well, it'll be good. The MTC gives us a lot of time to pack so hopefully I use that time and not just take naps. (; 

[What is your P-Day schedule like?] P-Day's always start off with going to the temple. Today was the first day we did an initiatory instead of an endowment session. If people think the Rexburg temple is crazy.. Wait till they see Provo. It took sister Murray and I two and a half hours to do an initiatory! Yikes! Then we eat breakfast at the cafeteria in the temple since we miss our breakfast time in the MTC. The temple makes heavenly omelets.. Just so you know. Haha. Everyone here calls the temple cafeteria food celestial food. Haha. Apparently it's really good.(; 

And then after the temple Sister Murray and I come to the computer lab and print off our emails so we can spend our emailing time actually emailing instead of reading all the emails. It works out great. Then we go do laundry while we read some letters, then we go get whatever stuff we need at the bookstore, drop a letter in the mailbox, or anything random thing like that. Today sister Murray got a hair cut too, so just silly things like that. 

Chance photo bomb! :D

Then we get our sack lunches (because you can't go in the real cafeteria in P-Day clothes) and pick up our dried laundry clothes and head back to our residence rooms. We usually hang and fold our clothes, eat our lunch, then take a nap. After nap time we come email, then head off to dinner in our skirts and after dinner we have class till 9:15 and then go back to our rooms for the night. (: P-Day's are AWESOME! It's so nice to just relax a little bit, get things done, and of course email home my favorite friends and family! (: 

[What was the highlight of your week?] I'd say the highlight of my week was seeing Brayden, Sadie, Chance, Dani Johnson (Sadie's best friend/favorite roomate), and Super Trace. I actually got to sit down and visit with Brayden and Sadie for a little while on mom's birthday! Woo! Happy Birthday to you and me! (; 

For Grandma!

I also really enjoyed this week the amount of fun I have with my zone. I get along great with everyone! They all think I'm super funny which makes me feel good. Also! Elder Thomas in the district that came to the MTC the same day as mine is a combat medic for the Army. Man! He's got some crazy stories! He's only 21 and already has a Purple Heart.. AHHH! He got shot in the back while fighting ISIS. Luckily he was hit where his vest was, but he said it caused some difficulties. I bet his mom is thrilled he's on a mission now! Haha. He reminds me of Logan.. And not just because his last name is Thomas too. Haha. They're both super buff and pretty much just real men. (; 

Happy Birthday to Grandma Nuthead! I wore her pink rain coat this week in honor of her. I actually got a ton of compliments on it so.. Way to go granny! 

Maganda saging po kayo at mahal ko kayo! :D