TUESDAY, May 15, 2012

Ola Famila!

Today marks Sister Sackley as the very last in her district, with the departure of Elder W at 8am. (Yeah can we all PRAY that the visa comes this week because i haven't cried yet saying goodbye to ANYONE...not even the Irma's and I totally cried saying goodbye to Elder W.) Along with Elder W went Elder C, Elder G and Elder M. Let's just say I was very upset. Next week 4 more leave as well...meaning i have NO one left. So everyone pray the visa comes in!!

Please send thank yous to those on the list. I totally forgot to do them. Also thank all those who have sent me letters, I don't have a lot of time to write everyone back-I wish I could! Grandma, Tina Creek, Nancy McNeil, Cathy Grether....thanks so much! I have loved hearing even the littlest bit of info.

Last but not least (for now) I sent my memory card in the mail yesterday. AS SOON AS YOU GET IT can you put the pics on my flash drive and then send me some of them? I would love it if you could do that....if not, either way, just send the card back ASAP.  The photos I want are me and Irma P before she left in our matching outfits, the zone pictures taken before the Irmas left and then a few of the ones you think are cute after those...I've printed all the ones before those ones.

Tell Logan I want an update every week of the Book Of Mormon reading. I'll be getting on around 2 again today. (my time).   Also, how's the blog coming?   Okay I'm off. bye!

Thanks, Eu Amo Voce!!

sister mad

Hi Family!! (2:00 pm)

So this week FLEW by. Before I knew it, it was Sunday...which was a good thing because without the Irma's here, I was quite worried I'd be bored and sad all week. The Elders are all taking turns babysitting me. Yesterday I went somewhere with the sisters and they couldn't find me and I'm pretty sure I gave Elders W and P a heart attack. When they finally found me they were so worried, it was probably comparable to leaving a child at a gas station. Since then, they all call me the "zone kitten" since i am the only sister and they get to take turns being in charge of me. It's kinda funny.

Since I had no one to sleep with in my room on Tuesday night (the Irma's had left) I took my pillow and blanket and walked around to all the rooms in the residence hall asking if they had an extra bed I could sleep in. I felt a little like Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. I finally found one and it was totally fine.

Wednesday I got new sisters in the room! They are from Utah and Oregon and they're going to stateside missions. I was oh so worried I'd be getting weird girls in the room, but I was very pleased to see they are perfectly normal and fun to be around. Also since this is my 6th week, I feel like the OLDEST PERSON EVER at the MTC. It's a hair flip.

I don't quite remember Thursday or Friday...Saturday night I was so completely tired and out of it that i decided i was not going to be obedient and i went to the Samoan floor of the building (none of them speak English so it's fun to try and get them to speak to you...they're all learning for their missions of course...) anyway, i was down there chatting with them when i heard an elder speaking Portuguese. I invited myself into his conversation and we talked for about 20 minutes about everything from food to America to speaking English. he doesn't know any English so we chatted all in Portuguese AND HE UNDERSTOOD ME. Needless to say, i felt way better about myself and was feeling more accomplished then had i just sat in the room. He's here until July so we talk every day for a few minutes now and he corrects things i say wrong. it's great!

Sunday was great! I had no idea it was mother's day until one of our branch presidency's wives said something. I think a lot of the Elders felt quite home sick on Sunday, especially since none of us could call home. I had to play the piano for sacrament meeting which was a JOKE. Elder G and I were in charge of it and every note I missed he would laugh and then I would laugh....lesson to be learned: Logan and Garrett learn your hymns ESPECIALLY sacrament hymns.  None of my Elders can play and so I am in charge of fumbling through it.  Which like I said, is a joke.

Sister Bartholomew talked about standing for your morals during church. She told the story of King Louis son who was kidnapped for a few days. While kidnapped, his kidnappers tried getting him to do all kinds of things. After day of his resistance they asked him why he wouldn't participate.  He replied "I can not do what you ask, for I was born to be King". How cool would it be if we all thought that way! He knew what he was suppose to be in life, and he knew what his standards were.

I watched the clip of President Monson in the marines this past week as well, we loved it! We also really love the Mormon messages videos...especially Brandon Flowers....there is about a 15 second split of him singing in the first minute and we all listen to it all the time. hahahaha. It's weird to think we haven't heard music or ridden in cars or anything for over a month.

Sister J is one of the sisters in my room now. She was incredibly sick all weekend long and Sunday she just slept in her bed. Around 9:30pm she woke back up and said she wanted a blessing. Since the sisters are new they had no idea where their elders lived in the MTC....I knew where mine were so I went and grabbed Elders C and W (the zone leaders). They came as soon as I knocked on the door to the residence and were in their suits stat. They came over and we went down to a classroom as they prepared and gave her a blessing. It was really incredible to see these two elders rise to the occasion just moments before even knowing the sister's name. Monday she was feeling much better and she said it solely had to do with the fact that those Elders gave her a blessing. Oh the power of the priesthood!

Logan wanted to hear a funny story: Elder W (Pleasant Grove) is a football player and he comes off a little stuck on himself. I will definitely admit I miss judged him the first time I met him. Well this past week someone started singing "mail time" (here's the mail it never fails it makes me wanna wag my tail...) and he was like STOP SINGING THAT!!! and was all annoyed and as soon as we stopped he was like "it's not even that good without Steve anymore" and then gave us a whole run down of his favorite parts of blues clues (when magenta is on). It made me laugh pretty hard and I realized how awesome some of the Elders in our zone are. The Elders come from all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of family lives but they all have the same thing in common: they're here. and that's what matters.

Welp, that's all for now! Eu Amo Voce muito muito!!

Sister mad

p.s. PRAY FOR THE VISA!

p.s.s. Portuguese word of the day : favela. (fa-vel-a). it means ghetto. How did i learn
this? Everytime i tell someone from Brazil I'm going to Belo Horizonte they go "Oh sim muito favelas!!!" You know, like the city is beautiful and very nice and then the rest is FAVELA. look it up on google. I'm sure that'll give you a hint.

HERE IS THE LINK FOR BRANDON FLOWERS MORMON MESSAGES:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PF0h7oqUEQ