… Well not exactly, but it feels like it! My first P-Day has been AWESOME so far! We started the day at 6:15 and got ready to walk over to the Provo temple*. I know I always joke about how ugly that temple is, but it is BEAUTIFUL on the inside! Also, it has a cafeteria, which was super awesome. The food was so great, way better than anything I’ve had at the MTC cafeteria so far! Not that I’ve been starving or anything 🙂 The temple trip was super fun, I’m so glad we get the chance to go each week before we leave. I wish there was a temple in our mission!

My companion is Hermana Hurd, and she is so sweet! She’s from Mantua, Utah. We are two completely different people but we’re getting along pretty well! We really even each other out in a lot of ways. She’s been having a hard time with homesickness since we’ve gotten here, so if you guys wanted to include Hermana Hurd in your prayers I think that would be great!

The other girls I am rooming with are Hermana Nieves, Hermana Read, Hermana Goates, and Hermana Gardenier. Hermana Goates and Hermana Gardenier are in the intermediate Spanish class and they have been so helpful and supportive of the rest of us! They’re seriously like the room moms. Yesterday, they left uplifting notes on everyone’s pillows and it was just the sweetest thing ever. I don’t know how anyone can be so good but they really are! Hermana Nieves and Hermana Read are in the beginning class with Hermana Hurd and I, and they’re also going to Argentina Posadas so I might end up being with companions with one of them someday! Hermana Nieves is super fun and chill, she also completed a year of school before going on a mission like I did. Hermana Read is actually a college junior, and she is really good at Spanish! Not fluent, but she knows a lot more than us. She probably should be in the intermediate class but she never called for them to put her in so she’s stuck with us 😉

Our room decided that every Friday we would have a little devotional for just the six of us! This last week Hermana Gardenier and Hermana Goates were in charge and one of their moms sent us cake! It was so awesome! Hermana Hurd and I are in charge of this next one 🙂

The Elders in our district are so funny! There’s 7 of them, three of them are in a tri-panionship**. I keep forgetting all of them are just out of High School, it feels weird being older than them! I used to look up to the Elders in our ward like they were way older than me, it’s weird having them as my peers! It’s weird, but still so fun! Anyways, I haven’t gotten to know all of them super well yet, but I can say that they’re all great. When it’s time to study, they work hard, when it’s time to talk and have fun, they play hard! The district*** wouldn’t be nearly as fun without them.

So… Spanish… In my setting apart blessing it promised that I’d become so fluent in Spanish that I’d sound like a native, and I’ve gotta say, I can really feel the spirit helping me learn! I can see improvements in my Spanish every day, and slowly but surely I am able to say and understand more each day! I’m not saying I’m gonna be fluent in six weeks, but I think I’ll be able to hold a normal conversation by then without saying “Como se dice…” (How do you say…) every minute! The Gift of Tongues is real!

We’re teaching a fake investigator every day en espanol. His name is Marcos, or at least that’s the name we know him by. Our first day of teaching him was super scary and really kind of bad, but after that we got a lot better! Hermana Hurd and I are really starting to get the hang of planning lessons! This Sunday we’ve been asked to teach Relief Society, and we already finished the basics of our lesson. Now we just have to worry about making it fun!

Our Spanish teacher is Hermano Peery, and he doesn’t speak one word of English to us. I like him a lot! He’s super patient and never acts annoyed when some of us don’t understand what the heck he’s trying to tell us (which is basically half the time). He’s also super funny! Sometimes when we make grammar mistakes he goes “Apostasia” (apostasy), or when the computer isn’t working he goes “El Diablo” (the devil). He also quotes Nacho Libre a lot. We /think/ he tells us more jokes in Spanish because he laughs a lot and we just kind of laugh with him even though we have no idea what he just said to us. 😉

At the end of our language class yesterday I was pretty close to tears. I was asking Hermano Peery how I can get more out of reading the scriptures in Spanish because it feels like even though I get what’s going on, it’s not really helping me learn the scriptures in Spanish. He tried to give me tips, but like I said, he only speaks in Spanish to us and I literally had no idea what he was telling me. After asking him to repeat himself like 5 times I finally just nodded and acted like I understood. Then Hermana Read gave me a note in English telling me what he was trying to tell me, so thankfully I got an answer. Anyway, at the end of language class Hermano Peery had us read Alma 26:37 in the Book of Mormon and it made me cry! I felt so much comfort from that verse, I am so glad Hermano Peery had us read it. Here’s what it says:

37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.

I am so grateful to have Hermano Peery for our teacher. I can really feel the spirit in our classroom thanks to him and this awesome district. I can’t wait to see what the next 5 weeks here at the MTC bring!

Before I end this super duper long email, I wanted to remind you all that even though I can only send and read emails one day a week, I can read DearElder messages every day while at the MTC! If any of you would like to send me a message through DearElder, I’d LOVE to hear from you! Here’s the address you’ll need:

NOV 15 ARG-POS

2005 N 900 E Unit 15

Provo, UT 84602