Tuesday July 17, 2012

Hola Everybody,

My primera week at the MTC has been wonderful.  I have learned so much, and it is so awesome to be here.  I am learning so much and it is so good to be here.

I only have a few minutes left of email time, so I will try to get to the most important stuff first.  Hopefully I can tell y'all everything.  Dearelder.com is probably the best way to communicate with me, but snail mail works well, too.

My companion is Hermana Ward.  She is from Boise, Idaho, and has a associate's degree from BYU-I.  She wants to be a marriage and family theropist.  She will be going to the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission.  She is an amazing missionary and I love her so much.  She has the most amazing spirit and always says the most beautiful prayers.

There are 6 elderes in my district and 4 hermanas.  The elderes are going to Philadelphia, Texas Fort Worth, and Baton Rouge.  The other dos hermanas are going to El Salvador.  They will be leaving the Provo MTC in 2 weeks so that they can go to the Guatemala MTC and continue to learn Spanish.

I have been learning Spanish so fast.  It is crazy.  Back at home it would take me a couple of days to truly feel like I had mastered a word, but here it only takes a half an hour of study or so.  They encourage us to HSI (SYL-speek your language) all the time, and it truly helps.  All of us are getting really good at Spanglish.  I am also forgetting how to spell in English, because when you are learning Spanish where everything spells the way it sounds, english doesn't make much sense anymore.  We learned that the word for cute in spanish is "mono"  which is the same word as monkey.  So when you tell someone that they look cute you are really telling them that they look like a monkey.  My companera y yo have been having such a fun time teasing each other about being monkeys!  :D  (You can also use the word lindo)

Relief Society on Sunday was different.  We learned how to be a lady.  The following information is for sisters only.  So all of you men can just fall asleep for a few minutes. :D

·  Use knees so you gracefully descend stairs

·  walk with feet straight ahead.  Not out like a penguin or in like a duck

·  Stand with feet together.

·  Sit up straight.

·  Cross your feet at the ankles.

·  If you cross your legs, make sure they go the same way, so that you look like a lady.

·  Take small bites

·  Chew with your mouth closed

·  avoid loud laughing and speaking

·  avoid high fives

·  wear something on your lips (like lipgloss or lipstick)

·  smile always

We even praticed standing up and sitting down.

We have already taught 3 lessions in Spanish here.  Ellos son muy dificil.  (they are very hard).  We are learning that it is most important to teach by the spirit.  Even though we don't understand what Mari (our investigator) is saying and she probably doesn't understand what we are saying, the most important thing is to feel the spirit, and then everything else will come.

414 missionaries came to the MTC last wednesday.  It is amazing to be in a place with such great people and to see missionaries everywhere.

On Sunday, Sister Jenny Oaks Baker did the fireside.  She played her violin for us, and it was so wonderful.  She was at Stadium of Fire when the fireworks whent into the stands, but because she was protected by angels none of her children were hurt and she only got hurt on the arm a bit.

The church is true and I love you all,

Hermana Julie Anna Sanchez