Week Three

Hi, mom/family.

Thanks for all the Christmas things you sent!I got lots of packages and cards and letters from people and it was awesome. Although I was saying that coming into the MTC around christmas time probably gave me unrealistic expectations about the amount of mail I will regularly be receiving. But oh well. It sure was nice.The MTC is so fun around Christmas time. We had a bunch of devotionals and firesides and talent shows and activities. It was awesome. Neil A. Anderson came and spoke, as well as L. Tom Perry. And Barbara Thompson from the General Relief Society Presidency. Oh and Greg Olsen. Amazing. Neil A. Anderson's talk was by far my favorite, though.. He talked about the condescension of God and personal revelation and how we'll be able to see miracles on our missions and literally see the spirit of god come down and touch the lives of the people that we serve, as well as ourselves. I have like fifty pages of notes from his talk. So good.L. Tom Perry's family stayed around and ate Christmas Lunch with us. That was pretty cool. He had all his grandkids and stuff and they did a little Christmas program for us. Oh. The talent show was so funny. I especially wanted to mention this to Corey.. and to Dad.. you know that Sblime song, Santeria? One of the Elders remade the song on the piano with the lyrics being about waiting for his visa. There are lots of missionaries here that have been waiting for like 15 weeks to get to Brazil because they have been having visa problems. Anyway, it was the funniest thing ever. And that line where it says "believe me when i say that i got somethin' for ya punk a..." he said "that i got something for your family.." ha. it was good. Very funny.Christmas dinner was pretty pathetic. I've got pictures I'll send home sometime. But they just had us make sack dinners. We could have four items. One was a nasty nasty sandwich that I opted out on. So I ended up eating an apple, and orange, and some cheddar sun chips with a bottle of water for my christmas dinner. Nice. Luckily between all of my roommates, we had enough Christmas goodies sent to us in packages to make up for it. We had a little district Christmas party. It was so fun. The elders in our district are just amazing. Have I mentioned that before? They are such good kids. They all have amazing testimonies and work hard and are so funny. I was so worried about feeling annoyed of hanging out with little 19 year old boys, but these Elders are awesome. I wouldn't spend my time hanging out with any other 19 year old boys on the planet. Anyway.. Have you ever heard of a Tim Tam slam? I hadn't either. But a tim tam is this cookie that's from Australia. It has like carmel or chocolate filling in the middle and it's a rectangle shape. Anyway, you bite off two little corners on opposite sides so it's like a straw. Then. You dip it in some hot chocolate and drink the hot chocolate. The cookie then starts to melt from the inside-out, and when it starts to get soft, you slam it all in your mouth and you have a little taste of melted chocolatey heaven. The elders have been obsessed with it. We have videos of our Slam party. We also gave each other presents and had a little Christmas tree and everything. Not quite like being at home, but it was still an awesome Christmas.In other news, Elizabeth Smart is my nextdoor neighbor. I don't want to like pimp her out or anything. But She is super nice. I had talked to her a lot before actually in the bathrooms getting ready for bed but I never knew it was her. She's really funny. Anyway. Then I found out it was her because she played the harp at the talent show and they announced her full name. Crazy. She's great.My companion left for Madrid at about 4 a.m. this morning. Crazy. I can't believe I've already been here 3 weeks. Except at the same time if feels like I've been here for 3 months. But now I will be back in a tri-panionship with Hermana Smith and the new Sister in our district, Hermana Rohr. It should be great. They are great girls. We've already started teaching the First lesson in Spanish as a district.. We call ourselves the celestial district. Ha. But we don't have to officially teach it until week 6 which just seems crazy.. so we started this week. It's amazing how much we already know. We kind of just threw ourselves into the fire yesterday and tried it without preparing. I surprised myself with how much spanish i knew. I mean, it's very possible that none of it made sense.. but to me I felt like i was speak spanish.Well, I am loving it here. Something that I really learned this week is that Heavenly Father really answers prayer and we can receive personal revelation. He is so aware of each of us and wants to help us if we ask him. I had a very very neat experience with receiving some personal revelation and it really just strengthened my testimony of prayer and of talents. I think missions make you more confident. I know that Heavenly Father loves me&has given me unique talents. I know that I'm being sent somewhere that my unique talents will be the most helpful. I know that the work I will be doing for a year and a half is exactly what I need to be doing right now and is so important and crucial. I don't have to worry about anything because I know with all of my heart that the things I am teaching are true and good. I don't think it would be possilbe to be a missionary and work as hard as it is required if you DIDN'T know it was true and good and really believe in what you are teaching. Anyway, I know that Heavenly Father really does know us all and want us to be happy and wants the best for us. I promise you.Thanks again for all of the packages and mail and stuff! It really helps me to feel like people out there haven't forgotten about me. I miss everybody and think about you often. Have a happy new year!

xoxo

Hermana Morrill