Week 3!

First of all, I have something to say. If you are reading this on the blog and you have not written me a letter/sent me cookies/cake/candy then STOP! (hammer time) and get on that. Si ustedes quieren escribir en español, pueden. Puedo leer! Es un milagre!
Are you finished?
Good. Read on.

Hello everyone! I am now an experienced veteran of the MTC. I've been here for three weeks and I'm 1/3 of the way finished! (For everyone who is not as good at math as I am, that means I have 9 weeks total and 6 weeks left.)
I guess I had better start off this e-mail with the goofy stuff. We have a ridiculous, goofy zone and crazy things happen every day. I think the hilight of the week, though, was yesterday when some other Elders in the zone came in to "teach" our district. They chose me and another Elder as their investigators so we had to invent lives for ourself (remember, this is all funnier because it's going on in Spanish). So, Elder Keeling and I are brother and sister. We work in the local spoon factory. As spoon testers. No, not what you're thinking. We actually just bang them on tables. Yeah, it's a family thing. Our family has worked there for generations. Neat, huh?

Everyone should be very proud to hear that I taught a lot of Elders a lesson in humility during gym time this week. Elders and Sisters aren't allowed to play in basketball games against each other, but we can play knock out. And by "we can play knock out" I meant that they can stand in line and be knocked out systematically as I move down the line. I was unstoppable. I'm thinking about going pro. Ok not really, I'd need to grow six inches, but it's been fun out-shooting the
Elders.

Mom, thank you for the pazelles. If you're not in my family and you're wondering, "What are pazelles?" you need to e-mail my mom right now and tell her to make you some. But don't really. That would be hard for her. Just imagine the most delicious cookie you've ever eaten in your life... and multiply that by 50 billion. Yum. An even bigger hit than the cookies, though, was the BUBBLE WRAP. Our room was a noisy place for a little while, but it was soooo fun. (I guess that goes to show how boring the MTC is...)

Now I'll move on to the more spiritual side... So go put on your church clothes or something.

Here at the MTC we have something called the "Referral Center" (RC).
Here, we make outbound calls to make sure people have gotten DVD's/books/other random stuff from the Church that they have requested. The last three times at the RC I didn't really enjoy it or talk to anyone cool or anything, so on Sunday night I decided I wanted to change my attitude about it. I prayed to have a good attitude about the RC on Monday (yesterday) and... IT WORKED! I went in with a better attitude and I had a really great experience. I only talked to two people in that hour and a half, but it was worth it. One woman had been cancer free for 15 years, but just last July her Oncologist (sorry if I butchered that spelling, Mom, Spanish is doing strange things to my English) found another tumor growing on her kidney. She had to go through treatments again and she's been really depressed.
When I told her what I was calling about, she told me about a friend she had once who was Mormon and she just seemed like she had such a great life. She was very eager to read the Book of Mormon and talk to the missionaries!

Then I decided to move on to calls in Spanish...
Yeah. Me. Calling real people. Speaking a different language. Our teacher said "Ok, last call before dinner!" My Spanish really is growing. Sometimes I do calls in Spanish and it's easy to understand their accent. Sometimes... it's not. It just depends on where they're from and how slow they're willing to talk, haha. Well, I talked to Miguel and he, also, had questions about the Church. He had watched the Lamb of God video and he really liked it and he was eager to learn more! We sent missionaries and a Book of Mormon to him, as well.

So there you have it! Attitute really is everything! And prayers really are answered. I know that Heavenly Father heard my prayer and that He helped me to have those incredible experiences. Sometimes prayers aren't answered as directly or as quickly as that one was, but He knows what is best for us and gives us what we need.

Thank you for the letters I have gotten so far. And if you're one of those slackers out there, now is the time to repent! I will forgive you, I promise :) I love you all. Have a wonderful week.
　
Love,
　
Hermana LaPray