8/2/2013

 This week has been amazing. :) Hey Dad! It truly has been amazing but definitely a roller coaster ride as well! But, I think the roller coaster has leveled out for now! Haha! Thank you so very much for everything! I love you Dad! And I WILL stick with it! Thank you so much for your confidence and you are very welcome for the letter!

 I LOVED the care package! It was such a wonderful and SWEET surprise! ;) Thank you for the stamps as well! I am definitely having many adventures! ;) One of mine, is..... I have taught 3 lessons with virtually with no notes! This last one we got to teach someone who spoke NO english and we shared a scripture with him and we had the opportunity to learn a lot about him and to share our testimonies with him! Today, we also had the chance to go up to the temple to write letters and just bask in the beauty of it all. It was soooo perfect. :) So peaceful, uplifting, gorgeous in every regard and EXACTLY what I needed. Sigh..... :)

 Hey Mom! Thank you so much for everything and again for the package!!! My companion's name is Elder Alvarez and we are just so different in almost every way! He is from California. And I'm not sure exactly what it is..... we just have different ways of doing everything! He's really chill and I'm pretty uptight about doing everything inside the lines and just studying all the time and I get on his nerves quite often...... ;) We are still working out the kinks but we have had some REALLY good talks and things are getting better. :) Thank you for asking! I hope and pray that things will continue to improve! Compromise FOR SURE! I am already learning so much about interacting with people and EXCELLENT lessons regarding patience and kindness. I know that I wouldn't be learning these lessons if I was anyway where else. :) This work is beautiful and sacred and I am SO happy to be here! Although it's incredibly hard, it is also incredibly rewarding. :)

 My exercise program is going well! I've found a new passion in jumping rope! I absolutely love it! My goal is to get to 100 jumps without a single mess up! It's a work in progress! Haha! Also, my room is still going strong with our push up plan! We are up to 24 a night and are going to continue to increase by 2 each week! I've also been trying to eat healthy and I have been running so much. That has been SO WONDERFUL for me! I get to run outside on the field by the temple looking at the mountains with a gorgeous blue sky right over my head. sigh...... it's such a blessing! :)

 I'm glad things are going well in Moses! A Temple trip?! that is so amazing! The temple here has been closed for cleaning and won't be open until Aug 11th. :( I will still get to go once though! :) I'm so glad you, Tanner and Dad could have shared that experience though and I wish I could have been there.  I absolutely love the Columbia River Temple Grounds. :) The grounds here at the Provo Temple are gorgeous as well. :) I really hope to be able to send pictures soon! 

 Tanner's trip sounds like SO much fun! I'm happy for him! Please let him know I love him and hope he is doing fantastic! I can't wait to here all about it too! 

Again, thank you so much for the care package and the knowledge that I receive everyday that I have such a strong support group. I love you all so much and I WILL try my best.

 One night when I was walking back from a Tuesday night devotional at the Marriott Center I looked up at the mountains and just thought, "That's why I'm here. I'm here to build my mountain and with every prayer, every scripture, every kind word, every smile, every act of service I am building my Missionary mountain as high as it can go! I can't wait to get to to the top and help as many people out along with way and when I reach the top just shout HOORAH FOR ISRAEL!" Sigh.... again, thank you for everything. Please know that I know that this church is true. the spirit is real and can be an amazing influence on everyone's life. I know that our brother and Savior Jesus Christ died for us and without Him, none of us will ever make it back to live with our Heavenly Father. Joseph Smith was a Prophet and the church is led by a prophet today, President Thomas S. Monson. I'm so grateful for this Gospel. It has built me into everything I am and continues to bless me everyday and I am so excited to give back with all my heart to others so that they too can have these blessings! Give everyone my love! :)

PS- some really cool experiences that I forgot! Elder Alvarez finished the Book of Mormon for the first time last night and we got to share that experience right outside the Provo MTC! It was so special and wonderful. I love that Elder! Also, Elder Doman (one of my roomies and a truly fantastic Elder) just got his visa and is heading out to Brazil this coming Tuesday! So wonderful for him! I'm kinda scared to get mine, if it comes, but I know that Heavenly Father will put me where I need to go! Whether it be Brazil or New York and He will get me there when He needs me there! Also, Portuguese has been going so WONDERFULLY if I didn't mention that already! I've REALLY been hitting the verbs, conjugation rules, nouns and just everything super hard! I went to bed the other night with my eyes just aching from reading so much! But, I can feel the preparation and the spirit blessing me as I continue to press forward and learn this amazing language. Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but, I was called to be District Leader and have had such a good time magnifying my calling! It's been hard, that's for sure! But, I'm learning so much and truly feel blessed! My P-day is every Friday by the way, if you didn't already know that. Also, thank you so very much for the letters, they are such a blessing and ALWAYS make me smile! :) Right now, I know these next couple weeks in the MTC are going to be wonderful and I still have lots to learn but I cannot WAIT to get out into the field! Here, everything is so structured, not that that's a bad thing! But, I'm so excited to go out into the field, experience something new everyday and meet so many new people! I feel like I'm kinda rambling but overall, I just wanna let you all know that I love you, THE CHURCH IS TRUE and I'm doing wonderfully and I have lots of wonderful people around me to help me when I'm feeling down. :) All my love! Thank you for everything! Talk to ya next week! :D