Hola Familia!
There is so much to tell you
that I don't know where to start. I love the MTC! It is awesome. I cant
believe how much I have learned in only a couple of days. I have already
written about 100 pages of notes of things I have learned, and studied
and revelation I have recieved. I am worried I wont have room for
anything but notebooks in my suitcase when I get home at this rate. I
love that nothing about this time is about me. I can focus on the Lord
all the time and I think I am the most happy I have ever been. I feel
like I fit right into the MTC. Everything about it is my favorite. I
work hard and have changed a lot already. I am striving to be an exactly
obedient missionary and so far so good.
I am in a trio companionship with two other sisters
going to my same mission. I love them both and we all get along great.
We were told that if we can have a good companionship in a trio
that only having one companion will be pretty easy by our branch president. He said he always loved sisters that could make trios
work. Their names are Hermana Johnson from Smithfield UT (No she didnt
know any family of ours) and Hermana Procell from Payson, UT. We are
three sisters in building 3M in room 333 which we think is kind of
funny. We are sad though because we arent near anything or anyone we
know. Our district has 11 missionaries, our companionship and the rest
are elders. We are all waiting for Visas either to Peru or Columbia
and you can tell that we are just the odd ones out that they had to make
room for because we are all different levels of spanish, and we are the
only foreign missionaries in our zone. But we still have a great time.
We mostly study all day in a really small room on the top floor of a
builidng with no air conditioning. We have a fan that sits in the
doorway, and at this point I think just about anyone in the district
would be willing to risk their lives for that fan. I am so impressed
with so many of the Elders in our district. At times they share some of
the strongest testimonys I have ever felt and give some of the best
insights. Its funny though because a minute or two after that they will
do something that will remind me that they are definitely still 18 year
old boys at heart. Two of the Elders are converts and have only been
members for a few years. It is so awesome to hear their stories. Our
district leader is part Peruvian and his name is Elder Valle. He is
pretty much a celebrity around here because he was the main guy in the
mormon message Staying within the Lines. Go look it up on LDS.org. Its
funny because everyone wants pictures with him all the time. We cant go
anywhere without getting stopped by someone saying ,"Hey! You are the
guy from the mormon message video". We got to meet our branch president
a couple of times this week. I think that he is a wise man and I learn
so much from him. He was a mission president in Peru Lima South mission
and was a temple president.
My spanish is coming so quickly. I could understand so
much from the very start. My teacher and I have fun talking back and
forth to each other in class. Most in my class cant speak very much
except for Elder Valle and I. We got to teach our first "investigator"
(teacher) the second day here and my companions werent able to
understand what he was saying so I taught him for about 30 minutes and
they bore their testimonies. He said my spanish was really good and he
wanted a book of mormon. I learned after we taught that he was a teacher
(which I had assumed) but the cool thing about them is that the
investigator part, including the name and everything about this
investigator is a real person that the teacher taught on their missions
that they keep in touch with and that some how stopped taking
discussions. They said all teachers do this and as we missionaries pray
for them by name and teach them miracles are happening with them.
Happy Easter (Feliz Pascua!) Yesterday was such an
awesome day in the MTC. We had a special (they used the word
historic) sacrament meeting where there were over 3,000 missionaries in
attendance and the sacrament was passed by over 100 missionaries at
once. That has never happened in the MTC before. The Spirit was so
strong I dont think there was a saw in the world that could cut through
it. We got to hear from Bishop Causse from the presiding bishopbric of
the church and later last night we had a special devotional where Sheri
Dew came and spoke. They were both incredible and it was cool to be so
close to them. I could see their eyes blink.
Today has been a good day. We went to the Provo temple
and did initiatories. It has been raining and the sun shining at the
same time which is awesome.
If you could let
everyone know that I am allowed to email everyone but at the MTC I am
only allowed up to an hour on the computer because there are so many
people that need to use computers. If you write me on dear elder or
snail mail then I will get it much sooner. We get to check for letters
from dear elder twice a day and if you write me that way I will be able
to write you more. :) Thanks so much for the easter packages from you
guys and the Anson family. That was so nice of you guys.
I know that this Church is true with all my heart! I
know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and the Redeemer of the world. It is
real. The Spirit is real. I have felt it so much this week.
Hope to hear from you soon!
Love,
Hermana Rhoten
P.S I apoligize for any spelling errors. Studying spanish makes my already bad english spelling and grammar worse.
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