Week Four

hi family/friends!this has been a great week. happy new year! my new years eve was fun... we left class at about 8 p.m. to get changed for gym and we soon found out that gym was cancelled. so, the obvious response when gym gets cancelled is to eat as much junk food as you can! the sisters from our zone all combined forces and christmas treats and we had a party. my companion hermana rohr's family sent her chips and salsa from chili's, a lot of us had sparkling cider, and so many cookies and brownies and candies and popcorns. it was swell. we all made the new years resolution to lose the weight we ate that night. ha.

i have learned a lot this week and have had a break through in my teaching skills. i owe it all to a man named brother campbell in the T.E. the t.e. is a place you can go to practice teaching to a teacher or have demos or practice the language. my companions and i went to practice teaching about the plan of salvation but we ended up just having a really good discussion with brother campbell and completely changed our lives. :) seriously though, i vow to name my first born child brothercampbell.

oh. remember how i was sick my first week here? my cough never went away. in fact i am still coughing as i type this. not that dramatically though. but anyway. we decided it was time to go to the doctor again because nothing was working. so we went to the little clinic here and they ended up sending me to a real hospital because they didn't know what was wrong. that's right, i got to leave the bubble of the mtc and go into babylon. i was so free! there was even a tv on at the hospital! anyway.. turns out i have bronchitis. pretty cool, eh? i'm on drugs now and should be cough free any day now. any.. day.. now.. cough. cough.

i keep running into people i know here at the mtc. it's crazy. like two girls i went to high school with live like three doors down from me. (no pun intended.. three doors down) and my friend andrea kinghorn from the elms is in the zone right across from my classroom and we always go to gym together. there's a red head boy from our home stake in west jordan here. rachel edwards' brother teaches here. two of my friends from high school teach here. i ran into my friend's mom at the temple. another girl i knew at the elms is here. a girl who was in my single's ward in virginia beach three summers ago is here... such a small world... my companions joke that i know everybody at the mtc. but i kind of do. anyone who's anyone is serving a mission right now. anyway.

i sure am learning a lot here. i was telling one of my companions the other day, that even if my leg got chopped off tomorrow in some freak accident and i had to be sent home from my mission, i think i have learned so much and grown so much in just this 4 weeks that it could last me a lifetime. i know that the savior really lives and loves us and wants us to come to him and let him take our burdens. and i know that he will. i'm so grateful for the impact that knowledge has had on my life. i know it's because of the atonement that i've been able to make it through any hard time in my life and that my faith in jesus christ is what makes all things possible. i'm so happy to be living life at this time and am so grateful for all of the people and places and experiences that make up my life. man. i wish that everyone in the world would go on a mission. there is nothing that gives you more happiness and peace and comfort and confidence and faith. i'm so excited to go help other people find it. it's crazy i was so worried about leaving other good things behind.. like kaiizen, and taking longer to graduate and join the peace corps, and all of those things. because really, there is nothing better i could be doing to bring peace to the world than this right now. i'm so grateful for the opportunity i even have to be here. thanks, mom and peter. thanks family and friends for all of your love and support and packages and prayers. i miss you all and hope you are doing well. 4 weeks down, only 17 months to go!

love,hermana morrill