FIRST DAYS IN THE MTC!!!

HOLA HOLA HOLA! wait, is this real right now? YES. it is! ahhhh! okay I don't even know where to start! So I am here at the MTC and it is my first p day! I have only been here for 2 days but alas, its p day. and hallelujah it is! So I'll just do a detailed description of the past few days. So Wednesday after Tim dropped me off (love you brother :)).

Being dropped off at the MTC! 

I was whisked away by my sweet host and I got my tags and such! I was like tagged, like knighted or something, by this sweet woman. I almost started crying! I love my tag!!!!! best two names to have on my chest, mine and my Savior's!:) Oh and then the best part of the day... first person i saw with my tag on was... SISTER ABBY ADAMS!!!! best day ever. We were literally crying. It was such a comfort and definitely a tender mercy.

Sister Abby Adams and I

 So I was able to drop my stuff off, then up to the fifth floor of my classroom building and BAM! SPANISH! DISTRICT! GOSPEL! woah, sorry for the caps. hahaha. but really it was amazing! My teachers rock! Hermano Kent and Hermana Wadsworth? or went worth... or something.. haha. So we were all like spanish-y with each other. Oh and I met my district! I love them!!!

My District

Oh I havent even mentioned mis companeras yet! I am in a trio! I am with Hermana Pister (pronounced like easter) and Hermana Webster! Sweet sweet girls! Hermana Pister is from Oregon and she rocks at spanish! literally fluent! Hermana Webster is from Washington state and is just the sweetest! I love them! Being in a trio rocks so far! We are the trynamic trio :)

The Trynamic Trio!!

So anyways my district. There are 7 elders and us three hermanas. All of our elders just graduated from high school, they are all 18! and all but one are from happy valley, usa! haha so that is fun. :) They kind of kept their distance from us at first, intimidated? Who knows... but now we are all becoming friends. :) So what else... oh the infamous food of the MTC... its alright. I definitely have had my fair share of heart burn. buuuuutttt. I work out now so I can eat whatever I want! yeah! Seriously though I run! We have gym time everyday so we run around a track and memorize things. Like we memorized "our purpose" in English and Spanish yesterday! So that makes the time go by faster! so nice! We have lots of workshops here at the MTC, especially the first week apparently. :) The first night here we had a workshop where we as a group taught people. Okay this was the hardest thing ever. truly, I felt like a failure! the investigators were so difficult. I was at the point of like, you don't want us here so we can leave. That was hard. I felt pretty discouraged. But then the next morning we had a "people and your purpose" workshop where basically I left super encouraged and in love with this work!!!! :) It was all about loving the heck out of your investigators. Each is a child of God! truly! I am so excited to get out and meet my peoples!! And love their guts out :) Yesterday we had our first long class time thing. 4 hours! But I loved it! Something about the Gospel and Spanish. It just rocks! :) The best combination ever! We prayed, discussed and testified in spanish! yay!  After I email we get to go to the temple! I need it so I am excited! :) P-days are nice because its chill and we get to do what we want. As long as what we want is laundry, email, eat, and study. Haha but I snuck in a nap! which I needed, because I havent been sleeping the best here. It's all good soon enough I'll be so tired that my body will force itself to sleep... right? :) So the MTC is just a great place. Everyone and their companion says hi to you all the time. Or hola in my case. :) I have seen so many people I know!

Writing letters to my Fam!

I had the best breakfast yesterday... blueberry muffin tops cereal. its real. I promise. Haha everyone keeps telling us not to drink the orange juice, whatever that means. I think its a joke but I'm too afraid to test it. They have like 4 different kinds though! So I'll probably try it soon! more about p days... we woke up at 5:40 this morning, instead of the usual 6:30, to do service. yay! We clean windows around the MTC from 6:05-7 on 

p-days. So that is hilarious. Now every time I see a window I'm like "don't touch it!" since I clean them. But I'm pretty sure they have people cleaning them everyday. With all the missionaries here, almost 4000, and not very many service opportunities, I'm sure there is repetition! Speaking of numbers... the day I came in, Wednesday, there were 800 other missionaries that came in that day. WOW! and in our introductional devotional there was an entire row of missionaries from Japan! They are so cute, I love seeing them around campus. They dont speak any English! I guess we are the closest MTC to them! Oh so I was saying how I have seen so many friends here! i see alot of people from colorado, like Elder Langford (junior haha)! and then alot of people from school. I love seeing sisters because then I can hug them. im loving hugs lately, i take all the ones i can get! haha I instituted companionship hug and its great. We do it every night after companionship prayer. :) Oh by the way, I was made senior companion! haha don't be so impressed, he chose it based on who was the earliest last name in the alphabet. So thanks mom and dad for the last name:) but I like it. I'll be senior for two weeks and then we switch! so I'll try not to get power hungry :) I love being here you guys. so much. this church is so true. and the atonement will cover anything you ever will need it to. I want all of you to know that the Lord loves YOU. and it is never to late to join, or rejoin, the fold of Christ. I encourage all of you to read the scriptures as often as you can! I am in Alma 8 right now and I love it! Alma and Amulek are such rockstar missionaries! :) 

Love, Erica