" ITS RAINING. I HATE RAIN. But I Love Missionary work *thumbs up* " (March 26, 2014)

#exactobedience

man what a crazy day. im really frazzled right now cuz its raining and cold and most of the internet isnt working here on west campus..yeee....

ANYWAYS give emily a BIG hug and a kiss from me. im so excited that she is home and now she can send me letters too ;) 

soo let me start with the funny story of the week.

On wednesday (last week) we welcomed the new hermanas. We took them on a tour and we acted like we had been there forever. Id say things like "oh yeah so weve been here for however long weve been here haha" haha so they had no idea we'd only been here a week until friday haha! but i love them. its just 5 more sisters and they are so sweet and very musically talented. theyre going to mexico and arizona for their missions. other than that its been mostly the same routine. wake up, eat, 3 hr class, gym, eat, 3 hr class, eat, 3 hr class, bed. TO DAD i adjusted to the mtc schedule about two days in. HA :) so im not really lacking too much sleep the only thing im lacking is brain energy. so much studying and spanish i feel like my head is gonna explode!! but im literallly loving every minute of it. ive accepted the fact i will not be fluent but i know i will at least be able to understand most of the language and stuff. one of my teachers served in Rosario so he is telling hermana shotwell and i all about the cool things there and how they say como andan instead of como estan...i think haha not too sure. so Sunday was a wonderful spiritual reload for everyone. The girls in the district were really focusing more on the language than the spirit this past week and im so glad for sunday because it puts everything back in perspective. but you know me...never one to really stress about things so im not stressing over the language im just enjoying feeling the spirit and strengthening my conversion in Christ and the work.

The language will come.

the devotional on Sunday was the famous "Lock your Heart" devotional! it was great and i knew it was gonna be a great eye opener for some people there. It made me so grateful for the choices i have made before going into the MTC and making sure I am worthy to perform the work of the Lord. It is so important that we all make sure we are worthy so that we can be perceptive (sp) to the spirit. it was kinda awkward at first though because three elders had come to sit next to shotwell and i and they were kind of being "friendly" to us and made us a chart of the korean alphabet with their emails....hahaha we just said thank you we didnt flirt back or anything but i just thought it was funny...they got so stiff when the guy was speaking. I LoVEd iT! haha sorry i feel like im putting way too many hahas. okay.

so monday nothing special happened but this one sister who had been with our district for a week was packing up to head out to the idaho pocatello mission. we were staying with her in a 2 bed one bath place and when she was packing up, hermana shotwelll and i got permission to move permantly to that apt.! its right next to the other part of our district but it is so nice! its just us in this apt and so we get to have more time with showers and everything. "living the MTC marriot life" thats what we say! hahaha!  then on tuesday it was THE MOST BORING DAY OF LIFE. i mean it.

the teacher wanted to do personal interviews and while the others were getting interviewed we are supposed to just do persoanl study. . its a three hour block right?? he only gets to four girls and then runs out of time!! so hermana shotwell and i didnt even get an interview! the study was great but i just felt it was a little much and too quiet i couldnt sit still, the we did gym and ate and for the next study block we were supposed to do Personal, companion, then language!! so just another study block without being taught anything!! then it was devotional. hermana shotwell and i bought chips and salsa from the bookstore and studied cuz the other girls just went to choir. and now we are on today. PDAY we go do service (cleaning up classrooms) then the temple, and then we go to print all of our emails so we can read them and we stay on main for lunch. and i just threw laundry in and here i am emailing! after we finish laundry hermana shotwell and i are invited to play volleyball with another zone so we will do that! im loving it here, saw megan williams again and next week she will take a picture hahaha

okay so mom-

i answered most questions in a letter i sent you but ill say again the bug bit is basically gone, the seamons are amazing, my eczema issssss well its there haha.  haha and no im not doing the choir because we arent singing in general conference. no word on visa but i heard they were doing month to month visas which means id head straight down! 

Dad- dear elder me that article about argentina and bro holland! super cool!!

Mom-Alsooooo if you want to send a chunky necklace? like the orange one im wearing with the striped shirt in a picture im going to send you...it would make alot of outfits perfect haha!

Tell me all about emily coming home and stuff, and i expect dear elders from her too ;) So miracle of the day!! The bus driver on the way to the temple played lana del rey "summertime sadness" which happens to be one of my favorite songs! but on a serious note. hermana shotwell and i ran into a lady who had served in the argentina rosario mission as we were getting out of the temple! she gave us lovely tips and it was a blessing we ran into her!

So I love how things are going here and I love the experiences im having and all the things im learning. Hermana shotwell and i decided the theme of this past week is "We are doing the Lord's work, so we have to do his work, his way" #exactobedience. Well, sending my love to you all!! I love you all so much and im sad i cant be there to welcome Emily home but have her know i love her with all my heart!!!!

LOVE

HERMANA SANDERS III

"Sis-trict of problems/1st week of MTC" (March 19, 2014)

 "I can't recall the taste of bread."  

Hi! i could never forget about you guys! i am so pressed for time it's unreal. but anyways this first week has been so great. when people have felt any kind of homesickness im just fine. like im strong, i miss you guys and all but im just loving it here. there is no place i would rather be and i know this is exactly where im supposed to be. it is so comforting to know that.

so onto the mommy questions. My bug bit was infected and on thursday night it popped, i drained it then we went to main campus to get hydrogen peroxide and antibiotics. all is well now but it was really gross!! haha so our toilet wasnt really working, like it would flush and all but barely. on friday one of the sisters took a massive poop and clogged the toilet.. it happened at 1100 am so we went and asked to have it taken care of. we get back to the apartment at 930 AND ITS STILL THERE AND IT SMELLS AWFUL. so you can imagine how i was. exhausted, after a whole day of learning spanish, i march to the front office with my comp and i basically say "im not leaving here till i have someone to fix the toilet." i was "missionary mad" but i ended up swallowing my annoyance and went back to the apt. defeated. at 1045 the security guy shows up with a snake and ends up fixing the toilet but honestly, i was still annoyed but sooooo thankful they fixed it. it was awful.

im taking my singulair and my eczema is fine. so im on the west campus because im a spanish speaker. we're at the wyview apts. and so instead of dorms we get nice apts. with showers and all, so no community showers!! also the campus is a lot more open and not too closed like main. the classrooms are other aparments and we have a chocolate cabinet that we can hide our chocolate in haha! the food though.....sooooo i cannot stand the food. it is pretty gross. i feel like frodo right before he goes into mount doom when he said "i cant recall the taste of bread" instead in my case its actual normal healthy natural yummy delicious food. ugh i miss that but they have really good chocolate milk. a cool thing! so on sundays we get to go on sunday walks because it is such an open campus. and on p-days we can walk to the place called brighams landing and they have jamba juice and a bread place, cupcake, burger and such. its also nice just to get off campus.!

So let me get to the real stuff. my companion and i are literally perfect. she is so cute and she reminds me alot of anna/shelby. really sweet, kind, and doesnt talk in the morning so we dont get annoyed with each other. i can honestly say i wouldnt have had such a great time here if it werent for her. we are tiiight. in my district it is 6 sisters. and thats also my zone. ...all girls...only estrogen...and alot of emotions. hermana shotwell and i were called as the STL(Sister Trainer Leader) zone leaders which means we are pretty much the big cahunas of the zone....haha jk but we are the only girls not having serious problems plus this other sister whos sweet. but we have to deal with all of them. im grateful though because it has taught me patience and ive learned to love others i normally wouldnt have gotten along with. granted ive had alot of help from heavenly father but its all good. weve dealt with a girl wanting to go home due to depression and anxiety, and two other girls suffering from that as well but the one wanting to go home is the stl for the district so its been bringing all the other girls down. hermana shotwell and i have been trying to get them couseling but they are all really resistent to the idea but its under the direction of the branch president sooo its just a weird situation. tonight we get to welcome 5 new hermanas to our zone. and hopefully this incoming district with have things together. i have hope!

so my spanish. its coming along. ive been able to pray and teach lessons to "investigators" and get my message across. the teachers pretty much only speak to us in spanish and that has been helping alot. i love this language and i actually love to learn it because its just so beautiful. the devotionals are just so amazing. so we get bussed over there to main on sunday and tuesday for the devotionals. its amazing that so far each talk has been something our district has really needed. the one on tuesday was about how God has created many wonderful things and we are so tiny in relation to the universe. but yet god still knows us by name and loves each and every one of us. ive been trying to have the perfect love for the hermanas in my district and zone and honestly, with the lords help it has really been coming along. i care about them and i just want them to be happy and know that they have a purpose to be here on the mission. we have a great calling and there is no way we are expected to do this alone but we have God on both the right side and on the left. its a very comforting thought.

so all in all i am loving the MTC. my comp and i are on fire and even though there have been alot of issues in the district, we have been able to stay afloat and stay strong. we havent even cried yet! haha everyday theres another breakdown but honestly all i gotta say is hormones hormones hormones. this is what happens when you stick a bunch of girls together with no elders to balance out the estrogen. hahaha sooo that is that. im learning so much from the spirit, about the sirit, and about the gospel, and honestly even though learning the spanish is hard, it isnt the single most important thing. i can feel my conversion to the gospel growing stronger and i pray for the people i will teach everyday, i love being a missionary and i love wearing the nametag. seriously ive been here what, a week? and i already can wait to get out to the field. 

so mom, thank you for the "dear elders", keep them coming! also can you send me a costco pack of my gum STAT and more perfume before i leave. be enchanted by bath and bodyworks. dad-i love ya.

ally and aaron-i hope everything is going well.

emily-dont read the letter im sending until youre not a missionary just because of the beginning part.

tell rachel bischoff thank you for the dear elder!!

and tell more people to dear elder me cuz i love getting letters and i wont get them in argentina. haha i love you all so dearly and i hope everything is going well. i cant wait to hear from you!

oh and sorry for all the typos! haha have fun fixing this before you send it out.

Jessica Entering The MTC (March 12, 2014)

First stop, MTC Provo (March 12, 2014)

La Fiesta de Adios (March 9, 2014)

Dana and Naomi sang such a beautiful song for Jessica: