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!