Our P-day got switched to Tuesday this week.

Hola!

I didn't take a lot of pictures this week so here is one for you. It's lovely.  But at least you will know I am alive.

Our P-day got switched to Tuesday this week. Sorry, I'm sorry if you all panicked yesterday and thought I got my visa or something this week. I promise I will call when I know what the plan is. This week we hit our one month mark as missionaries in the MTC! Time is flying by so fast. That means I'm already 1/18 done with my mission. That is way too quick. All of the days are starting to blend together so bear with me sometimes we get back to our room at night and as we start writing in our journals we ask each other "What happened today. Did we teach Marcos? No, that was yesterday. No, I think that was this morning." As of yesterday, we are now the oldest district in our zone.

Happy Birthday Dad! Hope it was great and I'm glad you got my postcard. I will have you know that my companion and I sang Happy Birthday to you in Spanish that morning. Speaking of Spanish, it is definitely coming a long. There were several days this week were we spoke in only Spanish. I prayed in English for gym this week and it was the first time I had prayed in English for almost a month. It was very weird. I actually stumbled over words in English. My weakness in my companionship is that I understand more than my companion so I sometimes forget that she doesn't always understand whats going on in lessons and I keep talking. I have had a goal to help my companion speak as much as I do in lessons this week and we have done a lot better. We have had some great lessons this week.

Love this book.

According to the schedule, this should be my last week in the MTC. We found out yesterday that Elder Kent got his visa but the rest of us are on the list for temporary assignment. We are told to check into the travel office on Thursday to find out if we have a temporary assignment. There is only a chance we will get reassigned because there are only 150 spots for reassignments and there is a long list. We were told that it is first come first serve so we will see what happens on Thursday. If not we will stay here for a few more weeks although I would much rather get out in the field. Often times we will be waiting in line around the cafeteria or bathroom or anywhere and we will begin the conversation of "Where are you from?" "Where are you going?" "How long have you been here?" When we say Peru and that we don't have visas and that we might get reassigned this week the response is usually, "That sucks, I would hate that." Quite frankly, I have never understood that response. I gave the Lord 18 months of my life to serve wherever he needs me. If that means stopping in another mission to help someone he needs me to help then I will be happy to do so. I am a servant of the Lord. I will go where He needs me to work, whenever He needs me to be there.

We got a note that said "literally the cleanest room I have seen all day" on our clean check this week.  You would be proud.

This week has been such a happy week. I will quote my journal from one day this week. "I really don't remember what happened today but all I really do remember is that I was happy all day long." The sun has come out this week! I love the sun. It is my favorite. I say lots of things are my favorite but I really do love the sun. My companion and I try to do our language study outside everyday to get out of the classroom. It's been so warm they opened the field and we go out to play futbol (soccer) during gym time. I am studying hard. My personal study time is my favorite time of the day. It is the shortest hour I have ever experienced. I never understand it. I studied Moroni 7 for 4 days this week and learned so much from it.

So what are the odds that my companion and I are the only people who are able to play the piano for sacrament meeting on Sunday? Not good. But we are. I played the piano for sacrament meeting even though I have never played in front of anyone in my life. My companion and I switched off because we both only know a couple of songs. I made two mistakes in prelude but during the meeting I didn't make a single mistake. I willingly played the piano for the Christ's meeting and he helped me to play well even though I'm not very good and hadn't been able to practice much since I have been here.

Silly Elders.  They were all trying to do a wall sit.  The Elder actually on the wall is trying to break the MTC record for wall sits.

This week for Devotional we heard from Elder David F. Evans (seventy) and Steven Allen (managing director missionary department). Steven Allen was Elder Kent's family so our district sat right up in the front row and we stayed for a bit after the Devotional and were with the entire MTC presidency. He was really funny and in my opinion gave one of the best talks I have heard since I have been here. At one point he called missionaries up from the audience and asked them what they had given up to be on a mission. One Elder said he had given up his girl. He said "Yea you did. And on behalf of all RM's thanks for the donation." It was so funny. On Sunday for Relief Society the entire new General Young Women's presidency came and we heard from the president. This was their first official assignment after only being called three weeks ago. They are incredible women.

I hope you all have a great week this week. This work is real. There are angels on both sides of the veil helping in this work. I can feel the prayers from people from all over the world. The Lord blesses me everyday.  

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Rhoten