1st Letter From MTC

Hola Familia!

    So as you have now figured out my P-Day is on Friday's! I am having an awesome time here at the MTC! It has literally been nonstop action since I got out of the van. My companion is Hermana Manwill from Missouri, she went to UVU for a year before serving a mission. She is absolutely darling. The first two days we were matching which was totally unintentional (haha don't worry we have the pictures). She is what I thought I was, meaning she is always worried about being late or doing something right and I'm the one who says, "chill, we're new, we're good". I also am starting to yell at her sometimes when she gets super worried about something...kinda like old times in my apartment.
I live with 4 other Hermana's though none of them are going to Tempe, it turns out we are the only Hermanas going from our zone. The other 2 Hermanas in our district are going to Pittsburgh and they are both from Utah but are great as well. We have 6 sisters in our room which is tight but not really that bad. The last two sisters in our room are in a completely different zone than us and they have been here already for about 4 weeks and will be here for another two (I don't remember where they are going).

    I love my district! We really hit it off last night. Finally after the first day of us all not saying a word to each other we finally all started talking and laughing once our teacher left so we could have personal study (clearly, it didn't really happen). It feels like we have known each other forever and it has only been 3 days!!! The other Elders in our district are all going to Tempe so they will be with us for the next 18 months. Last night we finally went around and talked about our ages.....well I am the oldest (not surprising) and the youngest is actually our District Leader who just graduated from High School this month. He is also the tallest one in our district at 6'4" and I am still the reigning champion for always being the shortest.

   I ran into two sisters from my school ward here at the MTC it was awesome! Sister (Haley) Sender is waiting for her visa to Brazil so she is here in Provo and lives on the floor above me! I kinda wish she had gotten married to her boyfriend because they were cute together. She almost called me Aimee when she saw me because she couldn't remember my last name until she saw the badge. Also I ran into Sister (Camille) Garrett who I also wish had gotten married to her boyfriend especially because I think he is waiting for her (precious). Still exciting to see them both because I did not have high hopes on seeing anyone I knew here.

    Dax a word for you. I have met Sisters who are going to Peru and have not yet received their visa's and so went here to the MTC and then are being reassigned while they wait. Pray really hard!!!

    Not much has really happened in the past 3 days. I am exhausted beyond belief. The first night none of the girls really slept. The lights were off and we were quiet but as Michael Weston has taught me, your brain stays in alert mode in an unfamiliar area. I can attest that that is very true. Last night was easier to fall asleep but since we had the temple this early in the morning we had to be up early in order to meet the rest of the district at 6:50 and the other girls in the other zone in our room had celestial service (not called that anymore) at 5:45 so the whole room was up nice and early. I also couldn't fall asleep last night until about an hour later. This morning I almost fell asleep while in the temple...super embarrassing.

    Tonight we teach our first "investigator" in Espanol so pray for me and my companion! We don't really know any Spanish and I can only figure out what they are saying because I know Italian but I have no idea how to reply. Ughh so frustrating! We were told not to worry too much about Spanish but that our "investigator" spoke barely any English. We are attempting to pray together in Spanish and alone in order to learn the language better which is getting better. I can fudge my way through that but I have no idea how we are going to talk for 30 minutes in Spanish after only 2 days of learning (this is harder than it was at BYU). 

    You better watch the broadcast because they are definitely panning the sisters. I have no idea what I'm wearing so sorry no hints there. We are on strict guidelines on how we are to look for that day. Like we all must wear dark skirts and solid tops. No accessories except for earrings that are smaller than 1". We are supposed to wear blush and lip gloss so we do not look washed out. Sometimes this place is tighter than Fort Knox. Oh and our hair must be behind our shoulders so our names tags can be easily seen. Also our tops are supposed to be no lower than if we put three fingers below that weird indent on your chest....I'm still trying to figure out how that works with my tops...I am a sinner!!!!!

     With my package on Monday if you have not sent that yet can you send me some basketball shorts of mine (UofU ones) and some other shoe sock things??? It turns out that one of the packages we got fits the shoe size of a 9-11 of which I am not and found out yesterday when they would not stay on my feet. In addition to that I would love some pictures of the family because I looked like a q-hole the first night when I was the only one without family photos. Laminated is also a good idea if that is not too much trouble.

I went on a stationary bike yesterday during our gym time and realized that after biking 5 miles my butt hurts. However I did that and than ran on the track with Hermana Manwill who plays soccer for UVU so she is much more athletic than me and ran the whole time.

Sorry for the weird jumps in conversation I am just trying to write down everything that comes out of my brain before I totally forget or run out of time.

I guess I love you all, :)

Hermana Rich