I'm at the MTC!

It's Saturday here at the MTC, but it sure does not feel like a Saturday here. In fact, all the days so far have felt the same. The first day here was very strange. I felt like I did Freshman year at BYU, clueless and bug eyed. There are four sisters in our district and we are the only sisters in our entire zone. We share a small room with 3 bunk bends. I was the last to arrive so I'm on the top. I didn't mind it so much until I got up the next morning and realized I had no idea how to get down because there isn't really a latter. I acted cool for awhile not wanting to tell anyone that I was stuck for some dumb reason so I straightened my sheets really good. Finally after 10 min another sister asked if I needed help, to which I yelped with joy. She then held a chair as I not so gracefully half slid and jumped onto the chair below. Now it's a routine...at 6 am. Today I was in the shower...at 6 am...thinking, this is really weird and it's a miracle I'm awake. And yes, the food is as people warned...scary and terrible. I've keep myself out of the dismal digestive darkness by hanging out near the salads, but every day, every day - man it has only been 3 days and I'm tired of it. I found the cookies you were talking about Mom, they were delicious and they have saved me. Now to get over my caffeine withdraws...

 

I was called to be the coordinating Sister for our zone which basically means I have to go to a ton of meetings on Sunday. I am, however, looking forward to the opportunity to work directly with the Branch Presidency and to help the sisters in my zone in any way I can. It's already become clear a few ways in which I can help the others so I've been slowly figuring out how to make that happen. We've already turned into quite the popular room, we had 6 sister visitors last night. Up until then I'd done a really great job staying under the radar as the oldest person in our building, but one sister wanted to chat about personal lives and asked all of us point blank how old we are. When they got to me, I asked them what they thought. In unison they agreed I was surely 23. I chuckled and thanked them kindly and then told them I was actually 31 and I kid you not I had to plug my ears from the squeals and pick every single chin off the floor. I just blew their minds. It was so adorable. And that is how it is around...adorable. Elders are...well they are 19 and I keep reminding myself they are just like my wonderful brothers serving right now, only younger and I have to make myself love them. It's like being in the YSA ward only, the men out number the women by a billion and it feels like you are in a really religious boys locker room all the time. However, they are all so kind to the Sisters. It's really sweet. They open our doors and greet us in our language. For the most part they really get the respect their calling has come with. I appreciate that so much.

 

Yesterday we gave our first lesson to an investigator...in Spanish. I'm sure you can very much imagine how that went. Uh...hola,soy Hermana Hall. There was a lot of silence, but my companion and I somehow managed to do alright. We bore our testimonies in as much Spanish as we could pull out. I'm pretty sure all I got out was corazon and Dios amor, but it is has they say, the spirit is with you when you've asked it to be there and even with the terrible language barrier, the spirit could be felt by all. I found myself thinking a lot yesterday that if only I could speak in English I could answer all this sisters questions and no doubt she would be baptized. This silly language is holding me up! It is so very challenging, but then I wonder how the English missionaries feel. Surely this is not a cake walk. There is still so much to learn about being completely and utterly inadequate and helpless. This is what the teachers keep telling us, we must first realize we rely entirely on the Lord and after all we can do, when we open our mouths, he will fill them with words. I'm certainly not there yet, and it has become very clear it is going to take a very long time, but the purpose of missionary work is rumbling around in my heart. After all, He called me to be a Spanish speaking missionary and He must know I'm surely capable of it. The Lord doesn't let anything stop His work.

 

I love you so much for your support. I'm grateful for the loving friends and family I have who are backing me up on this. It's sure weird and it's hard, but it is going to be amazing.

 

Today is an unusual half preparation day, my normal preparation day for the rest of the time I'm here is on Thursdays.

 

Love,

Hermana Hall

 

P.S. A special shout out to...Rebekah! Thank you so much for sending me a letter on my first day. It felt so good. Thank you so much. And to Lizzy, my BFF, thank you for the greenie package, that was so much fun and I just got your letter this morning and that was so wonderful to read. Feel free to send me some colored pens, I like the Pilot G2 gel thingies. :)