Here are the last 2:
Subject: Another lovely e mail from your lovely daughter.
Mi Familia!
I just got all my travel info. I haven't had a chance to read through it all yet, but I have to report to the travel office at 3:00 AM on the 25. So early! It's so exciting in one way, but terrifying and a little sad in another way. I hear they don't speak English at all in the DR, so that will be a challenge. It will also be a little sad to leave the friends I've made here. My comps and I all have the same flight, so that will be good.
Elder Allen, our district leader, went home yesterday morning. Us hermanas didn't even know about it until our teacher started talking about it. Some of the elders took it pretty hard. Elder Brown even shed a few tears. I wanted to mother him, but I refrained. It's a little weird that he went home, but it will be the best thing.
I sat next to Elder Allen. We took out his desk and his comp joined with another comp, so the other Elders scooted over. Elder Taylor now sits next to me. It will be a lot different. He is really confident in his Spanish. I think he took two years in HS. I'm glad I'll be able to ask him questions now. He also talks a lot and I talk a lot in class, so it could be an interesting situation.
There's an Elder Davenport in my district from St. Anthony. We were coming up with ways to remember each others names and I told him my mom lived in Davenport Apts. at Ricks. Turns out his grandparents own them.
We went to the RC (referral center) this week. It's basically the church call center. When someone receives a pass along card or sees commercials on TV and wants a free bible, B of M, or movie, they call in. Missionaries also call to see if people received their free items. I had two people call in while I was there. Both of them were from the South and both of them wanted free bibles. It was terrifyingly exhilarating to work the phones. It was so exciting to talk to real people, but also terrifying because I wasn't sure what to say or how to work the computer. When you send people stuff, you're supposed to ask if they know anyone else who might want stuff too. One lady gave me her pastor's name and phone number, so someone will be calling him to see if he wants a complimentary copy of Mr. Kruegers Christmas.
We also went to the TRC (Teaching Resource Center?) and contacted people in Spanish and taught our first lesson. The Spanish contacting part was no beuno. We don't know very much Spanish yet and everything we do know is a memorized script. So the volunteers would say something and we'd have no idea what it was. It was good practice though. Definitely some motivation to learn more Spanish.
Our lesson went a lot better. We taught about God is our loving Heavenly Father, Prophets, Christ's earthly ministry, The Great Apostasy, and The Restoration. I got a little flustered during my part because the "investigator" was asking questions I wasn't sure how to answer, but my comps. helped me out a lot.
We went to the temple today. It was linda (lovely, pronounced "leenda") It was so nice to just sit somewhere and not feel rushed or pressured.
Time here is so crazy. There's something planned for every hour of the day between 6am and 10:30pm. So that's like 2 full days of work in one day. So one week seems like two. It's long, but it's good.
Lisa and I have the same meal times, so we get to see each other at least once a day. It makes me happy. Her comp. did her student teaching at Hunter the semester before I did. It's a small world after all.
Letters during the week are such a wonderful thing. I know one week doesn't seem that long for you guys, but it's kind of like two weeks for me. So I appreciated the letters between e mails.I was excited to hear that Kyle's EQP is trying to contact them. The Lord has already started pouring blessings out on our family, hasn't he?
I'm playing the piano in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I got to practice today and it was wonderful. I enjoy the small things that make me feel more like a human being.
Now that I'm used to the schedule, it's really not bad. We've finally figured out our planning, so we're back in our apt by 9:30, so we have a little bit of time before bed to unwind. (Sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining about time. I really am loving it here. Just trying to explain it all to you.) It feels so much better having a week under my belt. I know where I'm going and what my day will be like. I feel a lot more confident.
It's been hard getting to sleep at night, but it's finally getting better. I dreamed for real last night, so I think that means I won't have any more trouble sleeping. My dreams were so crazy. I dreamt the Branch President didn't approve of our clothes, so a Hna. in our zone came and told us we had to start dressing like sisters from THe District ( a movie we watched yesterday about real missionaries.) I also dreamt that one of the elders drew pictures of us to help him study spanish and he was on his way to get them laminated. When I saw him this morning, I just started laughing.
Sorry this is all so random and not in any type of order. It's hard to think it all out.
We live on the fourth floor and have class on the fifth floor of another building. That's a lot of stairs. I think we figured just to get to from the ground floor to our classroom is 435 steps. We do that three times a day, then to our apt. at least twice a day. My legs will sure be buff by the time I leave here.
Hmm....what else...
The Elders in our district are still great. They still stand up for us every time we come into the room. The Elders in our zone still carry our trays at lunch. We usually end up sitting by elders not in our district, so they usually carry our trays. We are truly a district now. Yesterday we figured out everybody's first names. Hna. Stringham made up names for everyone last week when she was trying to sleep because the not knowing bugged her so bad.
I can now pray, bear my testimony, and have a very brief conversation with someone in Spanish. How cool is that! A week a go I sure couldn't. Learning Spanish is sure making my English terrible though!
Sundays are probably the best days of the week. We get to listen to music and the spoken word before RS. There's a fireside, then movies. We watched the Testaments last week. Who know there was a love story? There were a lot of cat calls when they kissed. At one point in the movie, the girl says "am I among the wicked?" I could see one of the elders in my district very animatedly shaking his head yes. It was so hilarious.
My time is almost up. I love you all and appreciate your support. I know the Lord is watching out for me and helping me as I prepare to each the people in Puerto Rico. I know that this is his work and that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. He truly loves us and wants us to be happy. We are happiest when we are keeping the commandments. I also know he will bless you all while I am away.
Love you much,
Laurie
Subject: Isn't it ironic, dontcha think?
Hola familia!
I'm so excited to be able to e mail you right now. Thank you for the packages. I was really excited to receive them.
The Lord works in mysterious, hilarious ways. Saturday night I was thinking how glad I was for Sunday because the days were all starting to seem the same. On Sunday, I was playing the prelude music for Sacrament meeting when Brother Warren pulled me out to speak with me. I thought perhaps he was asking me to speak (each Sunday they have to missionaries give 5 min. talks in Spanish. They don't tell you in advance, they just announce it over the pulpit.) Turns out, he wasn't giving me advance notice of speaking, he asked me to be the Coordinating Sister! The CS is kind of like the Zone Leader for the Sisters. I had to go to about a million meetings on Sunday, including Branch Council. I'm in charge of helping the older sisters leave (which I did Tuesday) and welcoming/orienting the new sisters. 5 new sisters came on Wednesday, so I helped them to their rooms and told them all the residence stuff. Thursday night I gave a lesson to the new district on MDT (Missionary Directed Time) and helped the Zone leaders take them on a tour. If any of the sisters have problems, they'll come to me and I'll report them to...someone, I don't know who really. It's crazy to think I've only been here for two weeks and I have this responsibility.
Here's another funny experience I had this week. Last night I was thinking about how I was a little sad to be going to the DR MTC. I've really enjoyed Provo. I like my companions, my district, my teachers, and my zone. I was thinking about how the Lord knows best though and that He probably has a better plan in store for me than I have for myself.
The Lord decided I really needed to learn that lesson. This morning at the temple, when we walked into the chapel, guess who my companion sat next to. My FHE brother from my second semester of college who I had a HUGE crush on. I said hi to him, but he didn't really remember me. It was so hard not to laugh, seeing him there as a missionary and him having no clue who I was. It's a very small world.
And getting smaller too. We taught at the TRC again this week. The Spanish part was no bueno. I couldn't think of anything to say, then when I did, I couldn't understand their answers. Then when we taught the "investigator," we were asking him get to know you questions. He was talking about how he was getting his masters degree in engineering when all of a sudden I was like "You went to BYU Idaho! I know you!" I think he may have been my physics tutor, or possibly even had a class with him. Teaching a lesson to someone you're not supposed to know is difficult.
Tuesday at the RC wasn't as terrifying as last week. We were there for like an hour and a half and I only ended up talking to four people. I accidently hung up on someone! I felt so bad, but I was still able to send him a free bible. All the people I spoke with were from the South. When I was asking for someone's address, I could not understand where they were from. It sounded something like Brentwood, but all muddle. I finally asked them to spell it and they said "B A T O N R O G U E!" Oh. Baton Rogue. I know that place. They probably couldn't understand me either, so I guess we're even. The rest of the time, I made calls to see if people had received their free stuff. I'm sure I must have called well over 20 people and only one person answered. It's probably that way out in the field too. Knock on a million doors and only get in to one house.
One of the elders we sit with at lunch told us of his experience in the RC and it made me feel a lot better. He was struggling with his call and his teacher was trying to help him out. The teacher kept saying "Who are you? Who are you?" Trying to get him to say he was a representative from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but instead, he said to the person on the phone "Who are you?" We laughed so hard when he told us this. We ended up putting it on our quote wall.
I wrote down several things I wanted to tell you in my planner, but I don't have my planner with me. Now I can't remember all the things I want to tell you!
Mom, I had forgotten that New Moon came out today. Is anyone going to go see it? If ou do, tell me whether or not it's any good. We thought about asking Hna. Allen to go see us and tell us about it. The Elders we sit with at meal times think we're ridicolous for liking it.
On Sunday, Kristen Oaks spoke to us in Relief Society and Sheri Dew spoke at the fireside. Tuesday night Richard Edgley, he's in the presiding Bishopric. They were all so amazing.
I'm amazed at how The Spirit works here. At fireside or in class, the people who are teaching seem to know exactly what I need to here. We start class with a scripture and it seems like every time the teachers read the scripture it's directly to me. If there's something I had a question or issue about, the scripture answers it. I wonder if it's that way for others in my district.
Lisa left on Tuesday. Monday night at dinner, she came and sat by me and we were able to talk for a while. We took our pictures at The Map and gave each other a big hug. I'm sure going to miss her. I'm grateful that I could see her while I was here though.
I developed pictures this week. Hopefully they're done. If they are, I'll mail some home.
Thanks for the pictures. I was excited to get them and my comps were excited to see them. I put the picture of Josh eating popcorn in Dad's hat in the cover of my study journal. So cute.
Dear Elder is great. Keep sending letters please. I don't know how it will be in DR, but here, we can print e mails off and read them so that it's not taking up our computer time. If that's the case in DR, feel free to e mail me. I know I said time is precious and it is, but letters from family are precious too.
Thank you for all of your love and support. I love you lots and pray that all is going well for you. Again, if you could remember to put money in my account, that would be wonderful.
Yo se que Dios vive y ama nosotros. Yo se que Jesus es neustra Salvador. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un profeta y El Libro de Mormon es verdadero. Yo se que Thomas S. Monson es el profeta en la tierra hoy. Podemos viver con sus familias para siempre. Yo se que estas cosas es verdadera. En el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.
All my love,
Laurie
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