Hola fambly! It's so good to get to write to you again!

Well, my first bit of news is that my companion Hermana Fitches got her visa alright, and headed out to Espana on Tuesday! It was sad because the two of us got really close, but I couldn't even cry, I was just so happy for her. She's such a wonderful missionary, I just know she's going to do great in Spain. She told Hermano Richardson that she plans to find and Baptise the King of Spain. If anyone can do it, my Hermana Fitches can.

So, I've been back in my trio for the last couple of days!

Oh! I got my flight plans. They pushed me back an extra day, so I don't leave until Wednesday morning, March 11th, very odd. The rest of our calss leaves the 1oth, but they are keeping all the Houston people for an extra day. No se porque. I figure that the plane tickets for Wednesday to Houston were cheaper or something. It's no big deal, we'll get to be there for the devotional Tuesday night, so that's fun. It should probably be an Apostle or something though since they're making us wait an extra day. I'm honestly SO excited to get out there and start working, but at the same time, I still have moments of "que es eso?! Yo no se Espanol!" Really though, the language is coming along. It's surreal, but I can feel myself slowly becoming bi-lingual (sp?) Hermana Saylor said that learning a second language is the hardest, because you've been wired one way already, so now you're literally having to cut a new pathway in your mind.

Alright, anyway, So, I'm leaving on the eleventh, and apearently I'm allowed to call home from the airport! I know you all have lives ect. but I was hoping you could go ahead and expect a call from me from between... I think it's eight to ten in the morning when I'll be allowed to phone home, but a lot of that's going to be airport time, so I don't really know how much time I'll actually have to talk or when I get to call, but it's probably at sometime in there are not in the afternoon when I actually reach Texas. I didn't even know that this was allowed, before a few weeks ago, but now I'm really excited to talk to you!

That's so great about Jessica and Jillian getting married! It's so weird how we're all sorta kinda adults now. I still have these moments when I'm sure I'm secretly a teenaged girl. Anyway, I hope their weddings are beautiful, you'll have to tell me all about the parties. And that movie "Taken" sounds like something I'd enjoy. I don't remember seeing previews for it, I guess I've been gone long enough that I'm going to start missing stuff like that... OH! Before, I forget. Fool sent me a letter and in it he mentioned that he'd accidentally bought too many tickets for the Midnight premier of Watchmen, so he wanted to know if Jensen and Chantal were interested in seeing it! His e-mail is jollificator@gmail.com, I think that's right... if it's wrong than his real e-mail address is in my address-book on g-mail. Anyway, if Gina wants to go, she should e-mail him and say so. I'm not sure how many other extra tickets he has, but he usually gets way too many, so if there's anyone else who wants to go... yeah. It's weird thinking about movies. You know, I genuinely miss movies. Television not so much, Firefly sure and some other totally amazing shows like that. But the other day I was reading the admonition of Paul (again) and I started thinking about how 'praiseworthy' some modern day cinema is. It's like what me and mom have talked about before, with how people sometimes gravitate towards these epic stories of good vs. evil without realising that they're familarising themselves with eternal stories and principles...

But I don't mind going without. Actually, I think it's great, because when I do come back, I think I'll appreciate those things more than I did before. Kind of like with you all, my wonderful fambly! I miss you lots and lots, but I know that if I came home now it wouldn't be as sweet as when I come home in 16 months.... this has been on my mind a lot lately because one of the Elder's in our district Elder Stirling, is headed home (not forever, we hope...) what happened was that he was having some problems with his ankle/foot, so he went to get it checked out. Turns out there is A LOT wrong with him. he has to get surgery next week and he'll be out for 4-6 MONTHS. They gave him options too... he coudl stay here and work in the RC, or go home get released and reenter the mission field in 4-6 months when he's recovered. He decided to go home. I think he's the only person who thinks this is a good idea. He's actually really excited, which is weird because I never would have thought he was like that. Sure, it would be really rough to be trapped here for SO long, but poor crutchy is working on his 16th week right now and he survived. As an RC missionary he's been doing nothing but Spanish calls for a long time and his Espanol has gotten REALLY good.

Anyway, it's not my descision and maybe if I was in his situation I'd make the same choice... I hope he recovers fast and is able to resume his mission pronto.

Urgh, that made me feel a little sick when you talked about Charly's friend and pulling stupid pranks like that. I mean, I know he wasn't a missionary yet, but you think he'd be thinking about that kind of stuff before he even got here.

Elder Master still gets stacks of letters of Anti-Mormon material every day. He's started destroying them though, so that's good at least... We figure it'll stop when he leaves for his mission on the 10th. Oh! That's right, don't sent any DearElders after like... the 6th, probably. They won't forward them on to me, and after I leave the MTC they charge money to use DearElder.

Wellll.... I already wrote a longer letter by hand! I LOVE you all, SO, SO much! I'm always so excited when I get your letters. I'm really happy here, but I'm also excited to leave soon. Todo bien. The church is true, the sky is blue, get married in the temple live happily ever after, good night! Paz y amor ustedes.

MWAH!

Dear Fambly! February 20, 2009
This pretty, pretty cloud paper is courtesy of my new companera, Hermana Fitches. I'm always a little paranoid that my emails don't get through for some reason--but, as long as it did get through , you'll know all about her.
So--Elder Ballard spoke on Tuesday! It was so inspiring, I wish I could show you my notes(But I'm keeping them!). He talked a lot about the church in the press and about what a great opportunity we have to teach people at this time when the church is becoming so well known. He kept saying "Elders and Sisters we're in a hurry". Talking about the missionary work that needs to be done before things start to get really biblical. He talked a lot about statistics (which usually drives me crazy) which was neat and he had a huge emphasis on the Holy Spirit as the only true missionary. The rest of us are just gloves.
It was a wonderful talk. I've been so lucky to get to hear TWO of the twelve sepak here. Elder Ballard also made us all laugh when he declared, "Not all of your girlfriends will leave you..but some will." Which was especially hilarious to my district because one of our Elders, Elder Herrman's girlfriend was there. Let me explain.
She's an EMT, so she comes to the devotionals sometimes, but thus far, Elder Herrman has REFUSED to go talk to her at one of these, because as he said in his words "It would be incredibly painful for both of us." I said "That's stupid" in reply. She's crazy in love with him too, she writes him just about every day--like pages and pages and pages and she sends him girly packages of cookies and candy and teddy-bears and all sorts of useless love propoganda.
Okay--so, I didn't just say, "that's stupid," I went on to explain that he HAD to go up and talk to her because it was going to be such an AWESOME moment of pure agony! I'd kill for a monent that intense and sad and romantical! I said it was going to be amazing because they would both be constrained from expressing their true feelings--so it would be really, really awful--but that he HAD to do it. To experience the agony of the the love denied.
Well, I AM a romance novelist..ish..sort of. Anyway--I talked him into it. Later he told me, "That was horrible. I shook her hand. I wanted to die." But really, I think he's glad he did it. I didn't really ruin his life. Just kidding, he didn't say that.

There's another Elder in our district who I've mentioned before, Elder Master. He's been having a really rough time recently. The language is a struggle for him--he doesn't even want to try anymore. On top of that his family have basically disowned him for joining the church, and it's even worse now that he's serving a mission--his father just copies and pastes page after page of anti-mormon crap into DearElder.com and sends it to him. He got about 10 letters on Wednesday --all lies about the church. We've told him over and over again to just chuck them out, but he doesn't want to. He says he's going to keep them until his father joins the church and then let him burn them.
I was talking to Hermana Fitches about this later that day when I heard Hermano Hadly call my name--he said he'd overheard us (he also seemed to appear from nowhere, did I mention that I find him REALLY intimidating?) and he wanted to know what was going on and if we were doing our best to encourage him to "Do the right thing." I assured him that we were.
It was really touching though, to see how much he cared for this poor Elder. He and Hermano Richardson are both so intense. I imagine that finding them on my doorstep would be the equivalent of being "repeatedly smashed in the face by a 2 by 4 made of the Holy Spirit". Hermano Anthony's words, not mine. Sometimes, it can seem like they're really passionate about the work--but us little missionaries are not so important to them--so, it was really touching to see how concerned Hermano Hadly was when he heard about Elder Master's homelife.
Well, that's not as true of Hermano Richardson. He admitted that working at the MTC is the most important thing in his life right now. Sitll--they're both really intimidating--just in different ways.

Was it Popa who didn't like "God's Army"/ "The Best two years"? Hermano Richardson hated them too. He said they represented the lazy/mediocre missionaries. He wants us to be sons (or daughters) of Alma, Ammon, Dan Jones--it's really inspirational.
Well, I'm just about finished with my list for this week's topics. It wasn't real long this week, just because I felt I had more to say about the few things that I did want to mention. Did I already ask about Fictionpress/, my reviews and you possibly sending them to me in an e-mail?

OH! Remind me about the story of John P. Lillywhite please.
My dreams this week have been "non-spanish" which is to be expected since I don't speak as much spanish with my new companion. I had one really bizarre one when I watched a pair of twins grow and develop in the womb--except that for the babies it was like a fantasy world and they saw themselves with adult bodies already and I swear I heard "Ice Dance" (Edward Scissorhands) playing in the background. There was also a dream about trees that looked like gigantic hundred-foot versions of the 'brain-blood-vessels' we saw at Body Worlds and they were filled with man-sized apes with flaming purple fur. ...Should I keep my dreams to myself from now on? I also had a dream that I came home. Just for a visit. But I was sad. I felt like I'd dishonored you all, because in my heart, I knew I needed to complete what I'd set out to do before I could experience a truely joyful reunion.

Thank you so much for the scriptures, they help me much in my personal study. And tell poor Jensen that everything is going to be fine--Dad's suggestion of trying animation is excellent, I think. You should do what will make you happy--if you try your best and act with a level head and an open heart, the Lord will help you achieve your goals. I know that from experience. I can't wait to see Laney's latest newsletter! I was so sad when one didn't arrive this week. I hope everything is as wonderful and normal as it sounds. I'm always so happy when I get letters so I can know about all of the adventures going on.
I love you and I miss you! Hermana Lirioblanco

P.S. I've begun making characters for my companeras too--to add to Penny Lane's book. Here's the latest..drawn while watching "Mountain of the Lord".
PPS My review of "Mountain of the Lord"; cute and solid in some ways, but how is THAT a scottish accent? Is it really that hard to find a Scott?!

My New Companion!!!!

Hi folks! I sure missed you this week, but everything is going great. This may be the best week I've had here at the MTC yet. My biggest news is this: remember how I told you last week that poor Hermana Fitches had been sentanced to being stuck here while she waited for her visa? While all the other Hermanas in her district got to leave?! Well, I was chopped off of my trio and given to her as a new companion--we thought it was going to be really hard to deal with because we're in seperate districts, but it actually was one of the greatest things that's happened to me yet! I love Hermana Gurney and Hermana Thomas, and I still see them all the time since we share a room/schedual and classes, but this has been a really wonderful opportunity for me to become closer to Hermana Fitches. It's more like I have three companions now...

Hermana Fitches--I already told you a lot about I think, she's led a hard life, but we're all so happy she decided to come out here, she's such a wonderful Sister, and she's so sweet. Filled with this great desire to serve the lord. She was really sad that she didn't get to go to Spain with the others, at first, but then, on her first day without them she admitted, "I LOVE being a solo-sister!" she and her otehr companion, Hermana Bell, got along well, but Hermana Fitches admitted that they were very different, especially in the category of teaching styles. Hermana Bell was very exact---very 'professor' like the gosple is a lecture. I on the other hand, am not that way at all, as you can imagine. The words that my teachers have used to describe me are Hermana Anothony: Blunt, straightforward, very real. Hermano Prestwhich: "You're doing fine." (He's not awesome with feedback). Hermano Hadly: "Good job testifying." Hermano Richardson: Friendly, 'buddy-buddy' more conversation than lecture.

So, it's been different for her, to be companions with me after being companions with Hermana Bell (Who I love to death, specifically because she's so exact, it's something I have trouble with) but I'm so glad that I got to be companions with Hermana Fitches. She says she's a lot happier now than she was before (she didn't like the MTC very much at first) and I hope that I've helped to make her feel more comfortable.

But---what IS weird about it is that my 'MDT' (Missionary directed time, basically time for studying on your own/with companions) is sometimes durring her classes and vice-versa. It didn't prove to be a problem until the other day, when my ENTIRE district had planned activities durring MDT that invovled them not being around, and I didn't know, so I went to drop Hermana Fitches off at class with Hermano Hadly and was suddenly alone. (It is NOT good for a missionary to be alone.) I knew this, but I tried to cheat a little, by standing at a funny angle so I coudl look through the peep-hole into their classroom, that was I could technically 'see' my companion and wasn't breaking the rules by being alone. Our classrooms are right next door, so I was standing there waiting for someone from my district to show up and wondering why they were all ten minutes late when suddenly the big-boss lady of our whole zone comes up behind me and asks the scary-dreaded-missionary question, "Hermana, where is your companion?"

I explained my predicament. She suggested that I should go into the classroom and stay with my companion until we figured out where they all had dissapeared too. I didn't dare argue (Okay, I did a little, but just because Hermano Hadly was teaching and he terrifies me a little.) Anyway, I ended up trapped in their class all afternoon. It was a good experience though, I got to review Haber (they are three weeks behind my class) and Hermano Hadly (though a little scary) is an AMAZING teacher. I liked it so much that I purposfully sat in on a few more of her classes so I could learn more from Hermano Hadly and Hermano Richardson. I think I've talked about both of these teachers A LOT before, but now that I've actually been in their class, I have SO much more to say, bear with me:

Hermano Hadly and Hermano Richardson were companions on their mission. They are both incredibly dynamic, powerful teachers. But they are very different people. Hermano Hadly is fastidias (sp?) very neat and clean and tidy. He always looks sharp. And he's very strick---at one point two of the Elder in his class started aruging about something silly (kind of half joking) and he just said, very quietly, "Elders, Why is this happening in front of me?" and dead silence fell over all of us. The Elders went pale. He told them, still very calm, to go outside and discuss what had happened and then pray together. It was. AWESOME.
He also hates to get chalk on his fingers. He uses one of those little chalk-holder things.

Hermano Richardson on the other hand, uses his hands to erase the chalk-board, so it gets all over his clothes and face and hair, he always looks a bit like he can't dress himself all on his own. He's this huge, buff football player, so a lot of his clothes barely fit in the first place, and he's always battered, looking like he was just boxing someone and then threw on a suit and wandered into class (that is what happens most of the time actually, he boxes, his eyes are always black and he broke his nose last week,) he's really load and funny and he's always kicking the furniture around while he's teaching.

It's amazing to me that they got along as companions. They're such opposits. the other day Hermano Hadly just about shot Hermano Richardson because he dared to wear a black belt with brown shoes. It was adorable.

In any case, it's been REALLY nice to be semi-adopted into their district this week. And Hermana Fitches is such an inspiring companion for me to have. She's got all of this personal experience to draw from when she teaches. We had a great experience teaching in the together this last week, it was powerful good stuff.

AhhhH! Why do I always run out of time so fast?! I've barely talked about anything I wanted to say.

Alright, well, As usually, I'll be finishing up my experiences with this week in a hand-written letter. Elder Ballard spoke this week at our tuesday night devotional, and that will be the first thing I talk about in my letter... I LOVE YOU! I'm sorry I can't ever shut up, it's a curse. If I wrote you in spanish my letters would certainly be shorter...

Love, Hermana Lillywhite

P.S. Elder Ballard didn't remember me, I'm sure. I didn't ask him, but I'm sure he didn't and I know you were going to ask! MWAH!

13 Feb 2009

Dear Fambly, Feb 13, 2009
I ran out of yo gabba gabba paper! So sad-maybe there's a "Hot Topic" store in Texas where I can get some more. Anyway, where did I leave off in my e-mail? I think the next thing on my list is Hermano Prestwich. So, I think I've probably already told you a lot about him, I may have even already mentioned that he and Andy Moyes served in the same mission!
Mexico City North is a legendary mission--Andy did not do it justice in his letter, apparently, but that's okay because it's so cool to hear stories now that I'm in the MTC. Anyway, Hermano Prestwich says he didn't know Andy very well--but he was part of what went down there, so it's relevant. They just baptized so many people and what's really impressve was that their "retention" (not sure that's the right word, but I mean to say how many people get baptized and STAY active) anyway--that number increased by like 200%. It was incredible-they show their stats in our meetings all the time to motivate us to tackle people into the font(my words not theirs). So, Hermano Prestwich is awesome--he's kind of soft spoken but very direct--he's one of those people who teaches with questions.
I feel SO lucky to be surrounded by such great teachers--even the teachers who aren't actually MY teachers have taught me so much like Hermano Hadly (straight-face comedian type) speaking of which, mom-what is the name of the comedian we watched right before I left?! It's been driving me nuts that I can't rememer his name. I think it's similar to the name of a famous missionary who Hermano Hadly and Hermano Richardson talk about ALL the time. Anyway, Hermano Hadly is great. He and Hermano Richardson were companions on their mission. And Hermana Saylor I told you about, I think. She is my shero. This week she got us to agree to be "no Ingleis" around her new class so they would start off taking spanish seriously.

Oh--and I have to tell you a little more about Elder Wadsworth. He's very fun. His whole thing is analogies. So, in class the other day he began to wax philisophical. According to Elder Wadsworth, missionaries are in the army of God (normal enough) and here are his views about missionary work in North america (I'm sure he'll worry about South America, Asia and Europe later). English speaking missionaries are like the footsoldiers! Spanish (stateside) speaking missionaries are FLAME THROWERS! Hermanas are snipers "Because they just penetrate the heart!" And Senior missionaries are Special Ops! I seriously love this Elder so much, he's so much fun, I think we'll keep him around.

Also Hermano Anthony was asked by one of the Edlers "What happens on the frist day we're out in the field?" And before Hermano Anthony could answer Elder Wadsworth jumped in and said "You arrive at the airport and you're really tired, then you eat with the Mission President and then you meet your companion, then you go to bed, wake up at 6 and work your butt off for two years--then on the plane ride home you drink a ton of Dr. Pepper, and every one is all happy to see you, but then they basically go back to living their lives and your Dad's like "get a job" and you're all like "Que es eso, where's my fiesta?" then, like sixty years later after you've had like 6 kids, you go to meet your father and he's like, "So how did it go?" and you say "well, I made some mistakes and stuff, but I was a good person and I worked really hard on my mssion, so am I okay?" and God says "Esta bien." and you're set." Just like that. No pauses or nothing. All of that in response to "what hapens on the first day of your mission?" Awesome.
He's exactly like that in his lessons too--but he's really sweet and he's got a dynamite testimony. He was the first Elder to memorize the first vision in Espanol.
Apparently part of the "service" portion of my mission will be translation . I'm excited for that. Hermano Anthony said that he did "A LOT" of translation stuff for his investigators (for job interviews and the like) he was stateside spanish too.

The RC has continued to be a very interesting and valuable experience. It seems like I ALWAYS end up on the phone with people who just want to talk and tell me their whole life story (they're typically drunk) which is fine because after ten minutes of patiently listening when I finally say "Would you be interested in having a couple of our missionaries come by and share a message with you about Jesus?" they always slurr "Sure! Send 'em over!"
Really, It's really interesting. I really feel for these people. I want to help them as much as I can. I just think it's interesting that I'm having to LISTEN so much more than talk at them. It's been a very good lesson for me to learn to just shut up.
It's not like this for everyone though. Hermana Gurney seems to always end up talking to really sharp folks who "aren't interested, thank you very much" which means, she's having to learn to not argue with them and just bare testimony. Maybe we're all getting exactly what we need.
I didn't get to say everything I wanted to--today was really hectic, but I'm planning to just write you and grandma next week, so hopefully my letter will be a bit more complete--sorry for the lack of structure...**
I had a really wonderful week, I hope the same can be said of you! I love you so much! Hermana Lillywhite

Hi! I'm so happy to be writting to you guys again! (ahhh forbidden word... sorry, to you brothers and sisters in God.) I had a really wonderful week and I hope that all of you did too!

First of all, I'm una malo hija! I totally forgot about Daddy's birthday in my last letter! I really felt bad on the eleventh when I was like "AHHHH! I can't write till friday to wish him a happy birthday!" time just moves so wonky here, I did not even register what the date was... so... HAPPY BIRTHDAY PADRE! Te amo, as Laney says:)

I loved getting all of your letters and all the packages this week! The tights are great mom, they are nice and thick--very hard to tear, which is really saying something now (Without piano and kung-fu, my nails have grown very, very long and they are sharp. I tipically give myself something resembling a paper-cut with them once a day, but they are just so pretty I don't want to cut them. I think I'll grow them out till they're as long as Jensen's.

Not that I don't do kung fu and piano now. I still play whenever I get the chance to for a few minutes---but it's tough without music. I didn't think to bring any. A bunch of missionaries did though, but they're like crazy talented concert pianists, who are nuts. Anyway---some of the Hermanas keep asking me to show them some moves. We're all going out into the scary world soon, so it's not a bad idea.

But anyway! THANK YOU! Thanks so much for the presents for valentine's day. Us girl's were feeling all silly because we're basically nuns and it's valentine's day and WHY, WHY i ask you, do they sell valentine's day cards and candy in the bookstore here? That's just cruel. (I know it's for the senior couples and also the silly missionaries with significant others 'waiting' for them, but still) But then I got such lovely valentine's day pressies from my fambly and I was so happy! We're having a little fiesta today durring laundury to share candy and comiserate in our 'as-single-as-we'll-ever-ever-

ever-be-hopefully' states.

Laney's card was adorable, it's hanging up in my room with Grandma's (or it will be if I can find any tape, I think we used it all, labelling all the objects in our room in Spanish) That's cool that you found a Grandma Valentine's day card! I saw it and giggled. Very cute. Laney, Te amo tambien! (That may or may not be the correct way to use that word) There's a lot about Spanish I still have to learn, but we've been doing a LOT better this week. We taught the first lesson in Spanish on Thursday, which was quite an adventure. I can't congegate very well still, so I'm pretty sure I sounded something like this "God to give us Prophets for to teach and guide the cities and childrens of our Father in Sky." just about a direct quote, I'm pretty sure. My brain knows these things, but mi boca es lento. I have faith I'll improve though. I think I am improving, but I don't notice it as much anymore since I've got all the basic stuff down. And paranguaricutirimicuaro, which is important. ish.

Our new Hermana's aren't new anymore! We got another district this week (no Hermana's, only Elders) and our four Hermanas are finished with their three-week stay here (Two are headed to the MTC in Guatamala (sp?! I hate not having google to check my spelling) and the other two are SUPPOSED to go to Spain. I say supposed to, because one of them hasn't gotten her visa yet, Poor Hermana Fitches will have to stay for a few extra weeks, which is sad because her companion Hermana Bell is leaving. She'll be a solo sister (the only Sister in her district) which means that we'll be escorting her around. That's fine though, I don't mind, I love Sister Fitches. But I'm sad that she has to be alone now and that she can't move on to go be in Spain with her companion.

I was really pleased to hear about Brother Matsumori's phonecall! Her talk was so lovely and inspiring. I was already a little weepy about children in general because Hermano Richardson said something along the lines of "I'd give my life for a child to have the opportunity to be raised in the gosple" he gave us this passionate speech about how precious children are and how important it is to spread the gosple for their sake, because the world is such a cruel place to children sometimes. Then Sister Matsumori stood up and talked about primary and about some of the same things and I was kind of a weepy mess--I'm glad I 'looked great' because I felt like I looked like a sniffle ragamuffin. (Fun Fact: The word ragamuffin totally translates into spanish! Pelagato! My new favourite. Don't worry, I look up useful words too.)

But it was really sweet and touching. We all sang "I am a child of God" in our various languages and it was pretty tender. Girly, but I had the good sense not to be cynical for the sake of cynicism. It doesn't need any help, after all! I did say the prayer too, but not very well I'm afraid. I was a little nervous (I looked kind of pale, I thought, on the big-screen), and I haven't really prayed in English for a month, so I was a bit confused, I kept wanting to switch into Spanish.

Anyway, it was a very touching program. We appreciate babies so much more now that we only get to see them on Sundays (the mission presidents/visitors bring in their kids on Sundays sometimes). Occasionally I am tempted to grab a stroller and run away. They are so cute!

Grr! There is so much more I want to write about... I hadn't even gotten to Brother Prestwich's historia yet. Well, I love you all, so, so much! I miss you! Thank you so much for the gifts! Happy Valentine's day, and happy birthday again Daddy!

Love, Hermana Lillywhite

Querido familia, Feb. 6, 2009
Tomorrow I have officially been in the MTC for one month! Can you padres y amigos believe it?! I really can't--it feels like I just got here in some ways, but then, in other ways, I feel like I haven't seen any of you in ages! I miss everyone so much.
After I sent my email I got some of your latest letters from Dear Elder! I read them while I ran some errands--Laney is so adorable--we will be able to talk spanish to each other when I come home! And Daddy,--that story you sent me was so good and so sad. Very timely too, but I'll get to that later.
The music on the IPOD is perfect! I'm very pleased with the selection and so are my companeras y las nueves Hermanas en mi cuarto. Some of my favorite songs are missing--but that's okay, they'll be waiting for me when I come home. My favorite to listen to is "I dream of Jeanie".
Mommy-you are so cute--you're totally Lucy, I now always have to look suspiciously at the cafeteria workers! I'm sorry to hear about my poor little car--I was just thinking about it earlier and hoping it was working all right for Jensen.
I'm totally paranoid that Hermano Prestwich and Jensen are in the same Calculus class. Jensen--look for a guy with a broken hand and very pale blue eyes! Then--hide in his trunk and come to the MTC. You and mom should dress as Lucys! It'll be awesome.
Really though, I have such a craving for cheese-on-a-stick.I always wonder now if mommy is thinking about the same foods as me. I've continued to lose weight. The food here is...not excellent. I mostly eat bananas and whatever junk food/ice cream is lying around. Sometimes the soup/salads are all right.

Oh! So--in my email, I had a list of movies that frequently come up. I really wanted to put Serenity/Firefly on the list--but sadly that would be a lie. I bring up that movie a lot, but since no one else has seen it--people get lost in the details. We were talking about agency, for instance, and I tried to tell them about the whole "you can't MAKE people be better-thing--but nobody got it. They were confused by what genre the movie was supposed to be in.
This also means that when I gaze out the window and say; "Here's us, on the raggedy edge." I look insane--but it's still completely appropriate--so why not?
Err--that e-mail thing sounds REALLY cool, but there's one problem. All of the reviews/p.m.s that I get from fictionpress come through the site--and they always leave a "do not reply" message at the end of the little messenger-email. It's probably not a big deal-I bet the email just goes nowhere, but if you can figure out how to make it stop sending these messages to fictionpress, that would be nice. (But I'm sure it's not a big deal." Speaking of which--would it be terribly inconvenient if I asked you to send me all the reviews I've gotten in the last month? I told everyone I was leaving and wouldn't get their messages, but IF somebody sent me reviews anyway, I'd love to read them.Anyway, thak you! Thank you so much for taking care of my e-mail and everything--there's nothing I can do about it here...
Mom--you've asked about my dreams--and I don't think I properly answered your question, so YES, I dream in spanish just about every night. There was one neat one that I had this week--Hermana Thomas interpreted it for me.
So, I dreamt that the three of us were in a beautiful city park teaching a lesson "Dan-Jones" style! but we were also taking turns watching others preach. I think I remember Hermano Richardson posed exactly like Dan Jones at one point..So, we were all preaching, but the people wouldn't listen and we were running late, so we started to leave. A few people changed their minds and said they wanted to be taught--I felt like all of them really wanted to be taught, but some were afraid or proud. I think a few went to go talk to Hermano Richardson (who only spoke spanish) and Hermana Gurney said "Vosmos. Debemos hallar los hijos." We were looking for children. There were children in the park, but they weren't the ones we were looking for. They were being loud and rude and I caught a few of them trying to put candy wrappers in my purse when I wasn't looking. I made them take them to the trash can. Their parents watched and looked tired and bored.
We had to leave. Sister Thomas said that the city was ugly (in English) and we had to travel down under the freeway to find this place where the children were hiding. I thought the city was beautiful. It was an urban mess of dilapidated buildings and twisted metal structures that were crumbling into the sand that was leaking through the cracked road. The sky overhead was red hot, dyed purple like nightime. It was empty however. Sister Thomas said that the city was Beautiful.
I could hear spanish whispers. The children we were searching for were hiding from us. Their little fingers and dark eyes were visible around corners-but they would disappear. It was like a game for them. "Por favor, venid a mi."I'm not going to tell you about Hermana Thomas' interpretation--just because it was embarassingly obvious once I thought about it. It was still a really neat dream.

So, I told you about "crutchy". Elder Frei is his real name. He's a wonderful addition to our district and the other day he admitted that he's pretty sure he tore his ACL because he prayed for patience. I should have taken his advice--and I DIDN'T pray for patience, but I did pray not to be afraid anymore. I was still a little nervous about talking to people (especially on the phones in the RC) but I did it anyway! I was still nervous though.
So, I prayed not to be afraid, and the result is, I'm not...But now I just LOVE everyone I talk to, so much. And...that's a little difficult sometimes, because most of them aren't taking their eternal salvation as seriously as I am. It's so hard to talk to them without saying something like "PLEASE! I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOUR SOUL! LISTEN!"
I'm not a very good RC missionary, but I'm working on it.
Geez, there are so many stories..I just don't have enough paper, ink or time.

But I HAVE to tell you about Hermana Fitches.
Hermana Fitches is one of the new Hermanas in our room--I won't go into too much about her story--but it's an amazing story. Her parents divorced and left the church when she was very young. She lived in an abusive household until she finally quit school and left home when she was just fifteen. She was homeless for four months while she looked for a full-time job to support herself. She described having to shave her head because of the unsanitary living conditions (she stayed in a pipe) which made it difficult for her to find a job.
She got into all sorts of problems for the next few years (smoking/drinking etc.) then when she was 18 she found her grandmother (in Long Beach) and went to go stay with her. Her grandmother said she didn't have to come to church if she didn't want to, but Hermana Fitches said she was so grateful that they were letting her stay there that she went just to make them happy. Her ward did a massive awesome fellowshipping job and she became active again!

She told us this story and it was just so inspiring--I felt sure that her experiences would help her find common ground with some investigators. Sure enough, she's already found someone on the phones in RC! She's been teaching him the discussions over the phone, and he's had hard times too recently, so she's the perfect person to teach him! It's really wonderful how her experiences can help people.

Okay, I also wanted to tell you about Hermana Saylor--she is one of the teachers for our zone and she is my shero! I want to grow up to be her--I love this woman. She's a spanish genius and she had to have a meeting this week about clothes with us--it could have been horrible and vague like they usually are -but instead she was really cool about it--but also CLEAR. She even pointed out things we were wearing that weren't acceptable. (I'll be sending some things home soon...) But she was SO nice about it! I don't know how she did it. Whenever the staff at Kimber tried to talk to us about the dress code, I was always SO ANGRY! But she really got to me. For the first time in my life I actually felt guilty! (Don't be too worried, I wasn't immodest, we're just not allowed to wear socks instead of tights and no corduroy! I'm sad about that because I have to send my adorable corduroy jacket home (though I bet you're happy to hear that mommy.)
Also, I really went through tights FAST. I need mre, but the only stuff they sell here is this horrible flimsy brand that lasts about six seconds of walking with a slight breeze in the air.
Could you possibly send me some nice sturdy support hose? Something that won't get destroyed? Also, if it's not too much trouble, I was really hoping for tights from welovecolors.com (grey and black) they're a really GREAT sturdy brand.
Also...this is sad. My shoes aren't as awesome as I thought they were. It's been a month and the sores on my ankles are just getting worse and they apparently don't have arch support after all...I'll probably be fine WHILE I'm in the MTC, and I can look for better shoes in Texas, but is there any way you could send me some inserts? "Dr. Scholls" or something like that? I don't know anything about this--I just know my feet are killing me.

All right now, before I finish, I just want to tell two more short stories about my companions.
Primero, Hermana Gurney es muy chistoso! She had a hole in her pocket and she sewed it up yesterday and then this morning she noticed that she'd accidentally sewed a pencil into the lining. Silly, but it made me laugh, a lot.
And then Hermana Thomas. She apparently had never heard of, nor read The Song of Solomon before. I enlightened her as to it's contents and we read a bit. You've never seen an adorable little blonde princess look so appalled. It made my whole life.
Before I close, I want to let you know I had the opportunity to do sealings today at the temple--it was incredibly moving. All of our names were from Mexico. The sealer was kind enough to sit and talk with us for a while after we were done--he talked a lot about when we go throuh the ordinance with our husbands someday, and about the difference between Immortality and Eternal Life. Eternal is one of our Father in Heaven's names. So, Eternal Life is life with God. I've heard this before and I could have sworn that one of you told me this, mummise--madre y padre!

I love and miss you all, but I'll see you soon enough. This month passed by rapidly, and I know I've only got a very little time here, and much to accomplish.
Hermana LirioBlanco

Perservero

As I wrote the subject line, I wondered if Perserverar is irreuglar.

I don't remember, and I'm a crippled letter-writter without Google and Wikipedia at my fingertips.
I LOVE you all so much! I have gotten so many wonderful letters, it's really insane, and I'm so grateful and happy to all the people who took the time to let me know how things are going back home and to offer advice and tales of experience (I've recently had to figure out that my own experience is a bit... well... in progress, shall we say? So, I am so happy to hear from everyone else, but as you can imagine, it's sometimes difficult for me to find the time to respond properly to my letters... Daddy? Mommy? Could you let Bohden know that I'd lvoe to write him but I don't have his address? Anyway, he asked some really good questions, and I thought I'd talk a little bit about that stuff, but first I just wanted to say I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU! MWAH! Seriously, I love getting so many letters.

So the Superbowl was magnificent?! I have to imagine it as such. On Sunday morning we had a massive meeting with the entire MTC and the presidencey and everything for fast sunday and When President Clegg said "You have to focus! I know that some of you are, today, preoccupied with that thing of the outside world, The Superbowl--but you need to stop thinking about that stuff and keep your mind on the work!" (I'm paraphrasing) anyway, the point is, I was totally NOT thinking about the Superbowl until he said that, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it for the rest of the day! I was so stressed and I was all sweaty and nervous--is it possible I was channeling Chris?! So, the next morning, when our Gym "lifeguard" girl took pity on us and told us the details of what had happened, I was very grateful.

It sounds like it was a really awesome game, I'm happy for you all. Really.

oh! Back to that most frequently asked question: "How is Spanish coming?!"

Well... I thought it was going well, but then on Thursday in the TRC the three of us were preparing to go in and teach and pretend investigator lesson 2, in English, for the LAST time, and Hermano Richardson walked up and asked us something in Spanish. I had a moment of my mouth working faster than my brain and immediately said "DOS!" thinking he had wanted to know which lesson we were teaching. Hermana Thomas said "Dos!" as well, very confidently. Hermano Richardson looked confused, but he smiled and said "Bien" and left. As he walked away Hermana Gurney said "He just asked you how it went... and you said two."

Well, they say you have to make a million mistakes before you're fluent in a language, so I might as well start now!

So, I was feeling like a dope, as we went in to teach lesson 2 to this fake investiagtor, but it turns out that our Investigator is from Mexico and has only been in the U.S. for about eight months. She's struggling with English. It wasn't planned or anything, because no one we talked to had a similair experience, it was just the luck of the draw that we ended up teaching someone who asked us to please speak in Spanish whenever we knew how to say something! We ended up teaching most of the lesson in Spanish and it was amazing! She was really helpful too, she would corrected us when we messed up a word or nod encouragingly when we were doing well! Lesson dos, is definately meant to be taught in Spanglish. It was so cool, and I realised that i knew how to say a LOT more than I thought I did. And I could understand everything she was saying too (althought it was clear she was trying to speak slowly and use simple words... like talking to a Spanish puppy)

The language is gorgeous! I cannot wait to be able to speak it properly... I just need to be patient and not get frustrated, because I'm bound to have a lot more moments like "DOS!"

We had a good laugh about it, at least. It's amazing how hilarious everything becomes when you don't have television.

I do actually miss TV a little. I don't miss WATCHING tv, but I miss certain shows. Mostly, I miss Firefly. And arrested developement. And Ugly Betty. And Scrubs sometimes... There are some movies that come up a lot here... I can't figure out why, this particular list of movies is so commonly gleaned from by the teachers and student here. They are all gareenteed to come up at least once a week durring Gosple disscussions.

Count of Monty Cristo*
Rocky
Zorro
Indiana Jones
Princess Bride*
Lord of the Rings*
Harry Potter*
Jane Eyre*
Everything C.S. Lewis related*
Monty Python and the Holy Grail "On second thought, let's not go to the MTC, it is a silly place."

(*technically literature, though some people don't know that.)

I never saw Rocky, it was n my list of movies to see before I left, but I didn't see it! Everything else, I can totally relate to.

I finally found Lauren--I mean Hermana Porter LAST NIGHT! I was searching for her for two whole days, but we ended up running into each other on our way back to our rooms Thursday night! It was so great to see her! We only got to talk for about five seconds, but I hope she's doing well! I'm going to try to visit her in her room tonight, but it's on a different floor from mine, so I have to have the cooporation of both my companions.

I'm goign to have to put the reast of it in my written letter, because I'm running out of time again!

Just one last note about Spanish. I learned a new word (It's actually the name of a city) it's Paranguaricutirimicuaro! i can totally say that. I like to say it around Natives, or just people who really know Spanish well, because it always makes them smile. Hermano Anothry said it's "Money". You are cool if you can say it. He's a bromista (joker).

I've gotta go! You'll get my hand-written letter soonish, I hope! I love you all, so, so much!

Dear fambly, Fri. Jan 30, 2009
I'm parnaoid about writing in pencil. It's silly but I always think pen is better for some reason...Anyway--I was in the middle of talking about Paul and my recent change of heart towards him when the counter ran out! I've really been trying to explore the origins of my thing against Paul. I really don't know, but I found a passage about Paul raising a man from the dead after he fell asleep while Paul was preaching and fell out of the window he was perched on. I had (at some study point, YEARS ago) highlighted this passage and written "Bored. To. Death." in the margins.(The Acts 20:7-9)
I was a hostile little scriptorian. Anyway- I told you about Elder Wadsworth & Elder Master and how they just straight-up don't get along--but neither did Barnabas and Paul. They split up in the middle of their "mission" and had to get different "companions" Acts 15:37-40.
These are just details to a larger message and history of the beginning of the Apostacy --but as missionaries--the disciples of old had the same kinds of struggles that WE 21st century missionaries do.
They had all sorts of other struggles too--like being murdered by their investigators--that we (hopefully) don't have to deal with. Maybe they got realy exhausted and didn't want to wake up at six in the morning (or they had a companion like Hermana Thomas who likes to get up at FIVE!) maybe it was too hot or too cold.
Often times--I imagine the disciples as this united front of Christ-like followers who were always completely focused on the gospel and got along perfectly and never wanted to "gulpear en la cabeza" (punch in the head, in badly spelled/conjugated spanish). But I can understand now how missionaries can be effective teachers and how they can love the gospel and each other, even--but still not like each other. I see it with Elder Master and Elder Wadsworth. They are both filled with a lot of light and love--and they manage to work around their differences.
The other day--I saw them do something cute. One of the teachers said "At some point in your mission--you may find yourself with a companion you don't like" I HAD to glance over at them. I saw that they were both smirking a little and then something really neat happened; Elder Wadsworth held up one fist towards Elder Master & Elder Master gave him a little pound. ADORABLE!
I'm really lucky that both of my companions are so wonderful. I adore both of them and it's amazing how well we get along. We've been together for almost a month now and we've yet to have a fight. The closest we ever got was when I dared to call Hermana Thomas "Princess" during a basketball game. You should have seen her, though--she's all little and blonde and she tossed the ball into the ground all angrily--for some reason it looked like a pumpkin to me. It was more funny than anything else that happened all day--and that is saying something because the MTC is pretty hilarious sometimes. By the way--I've decided I LOVE the MTC after all.
But--I'll be happy to leave in a little over a month. The food just isn't great. Speaking of which--you asked a few letters ago about if I thought I'd manage to lose any weight as a result of not wanting food. At the time, I was really cross because I got that letter after I had JUST found out that I gained 10 WHOLE pounds! (This was about a week in) But, I decided not to mention that until I had managed to lose the weight again--as of this morning, I'm back to normal.
All right--now I have to say--THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I received the lovely care-package! It was the best thing ever! I and my companions were totally overjoyed to get my music and all of the CANDY! DOLCES! YAY!!! ARRRIBA!! QUE DEVERTIDO!!
It was really such an amazing gift--and the T-shirt is so adorable! I feel so cute when I'm out playing basketball and sporting my colours! I needed another T-shirt too, but I didn't want to buy the ones they sell at the bookstore because they're just not cool--so that was perfecto! Muchos Gracias!!
It's hard to tell--About the Spanish...I think I'm doing well. Who knows?!
Laney's little newspaper is so FUN! I'm so glad to see that she's keeping busy and having a good time with her projects! She's such a creative little genius-child.
So, I'm real excited for Lauren to come next week! Sounds like her farewell was lovely-and there are RUMOURS that we're getting a new district this week--I'm crossing my fingers that Lauren will be a part of it--we won't know till tomorrow at least...
I've gotten some cache around here for being the cousin of a Steelers player. The Superbowl came up in class so I said, "My cousin plays for the Steelers." and Elder Wadsworth said "Who is he ?!" and I said "Chris Hoke." "YOUR COUSIN IS NUMBER 76??!!" "Yeah!" "But..He's like...GOOD!! He's not one of the bench guys--he plays!"
We didn't even notice about the "Blonde, Red Brunette" of our trio! Now, it's our new thing! Way to be observant!
The mummies sound awesome! I am so up for dead-things-tour when I get back!
PLEASE tell me who wins the Superbowl. The teachers won't (Hermano Richardson MIGHT.)
Sounds like everything outside the gates of the MTC is gairy good..ish. This stimulus thing sounds like an idea we already tried that didn't work out so great.
Today I took a nap. I didn't mean to. It was one o'clock and I decided to rest for a minute before I started my letters, but then it was 3:30 and Hermana Thomas was waking me up so we could go do laundry!
So, that's why this letter is a bit short! I'll make it up to you next week, promise! I want to say thank you --for writing so often and for the encouragement and love...I see missionaries here, who don't have that. It's tragic--but it makes me so grateful for all of you, that much more. Also, I LOVE listening to "I Dream of Jeannie". When the song comes on I always have to say "That's my daddy!" Laney's letters are always so sweet! Jensen-genius, I'm sure you're doing great in your classes! WRITE ME. Mommy--gracias pour the scriptures you send me--many of them come right in time for our lessons!
I love you!! Hermana Lillywhite

Side note on the letter: Hermano Lillywhite, this is Hermana Thomas. I just wanted to add a little note to this letter and say thanks for the music. We love it! Anyways, that is all. We also love Hermana Lillywhite to death. Ciao! Hermana Thomas