Partyin', Partyin', Yeah

Okay, so maybe we don't party in the MTC.

Where to even start about this past week?? First off: I FINALLY got my flight plans yesterday. So 3 of my roommates got theirs Thurs, like you're supposed to, my comp got hers Friday. I talked to my teacher Sat and he said to go talk to the travel office, but they're not open Sunday, so I went Monday morning & they said they had been recorded as printed and I should have gotten them and it was weird, and I think it just goes to show that Heavenly Father does have a sense of humor. I've been working on having more patience this past week, primarily with the elders in my district (I love them, but they're still 19 and bother me sometimes) and with myself to just know that I'm not going to be this awesome teacher after a week, so I really do think He was trying to be funny since I was so excited to finally get my flight plans, so then I was freaking out that there was something wrong with my visa and that this really was a joke and I’m not going to NZ, but I really am! And I'm so excited! Turns out I'm not flying by myself, there's 6 total, so prbly 5 elders... oh joy! haha. We have a lovely 6 hr layover in LA and then a 14 hr flight to NZ...my goodness, help me! I have this fear that I'll have to go to the restroom super bad, but I'll be by the window and the 2 other ppl on my aisle will be asleep, haha. 14 hrs, I can't even comprehend how long and miserable that's going to be. & then I get to NZ at 5:30 in the morning, so it'll be a nice and long day when I get there. So this time next week I'll only be a few hrs away from NZ! (they are 18 hrs ahead of EP).

So the elders in my district left this morning and it's just weird not seeing them. We all really did become such good friends, they love me and were constantly taking pictures with me, haha, jk jk, okay, so maybe they did take a lot of pics of/with me, but I'm not proud! hahaha, Anywho. I totally felt like it was EFY b/c we haven't known each other that long, but we're all "besties" now (kinda) and we're all going our separate ways now. I know they'll do great, they were such a good example to me of working hard and staying focused. we had district inventory last Saturday, and we really didn't have anything to complain about each other, which is awesome. I see other districts and I realize how blessed I was to be in my district. Okay, so maybe the main complaint was that ppl were farting too much in class (I don’t know how I missed it, I never even smelled anything) but two elders wanted everyone to raise their hand and admit it was them, or at least announce why they were leaving the class room. "you just gotta own up to it!" my goodness, boys will be boys!

So our VC training starts tmrrw and we're hoping it's only us 5 sisters from our zone b/c we're all such good friends. I'm excited! Even though its really only 2 days of training b/c we have p-day on Friday again (I get to email again!) & word on the streets are that some awesome sisters will be giving tours at Temple Square Saturday evening if you're in the neighborhood.

OH, so we played Jeopardy with one of our teachers on Saturday & the topics were PMG, the fundamentals (the new curriculum, we're supposed to use the fundamentals in every lesson. The 8 are: we invite, they commit, we follow up, 2) revelation thru the BofM, 3) Rev thru prayer, 4) rev thru Church attendance, 5) Role of the Holy Ghost in conversion, 6) how to begin teaching, 7) teach ppl not lessons, 8) ahhh, what is it? oh, Our purpose=the doctrine of Christ: faith, repentance, baptism, HG, and ETTE), BofM and the Handbook. Thankfully my comp and I read half of the handbook right before we played so we dominated those questions. It ended up being a tie, how convenient, ha ha, but it was still awesome to play. I haven't gotten an adrenaline rush in so long! & It was fun to see how much we had learned in the past 2 1/2 weeks.

So more about the fundamentals, I have developed such a strong testimony that if we use these fundamentals in a lesson, that it really brings the Spirit and helps us teach better. After we went over the last one in class, our teacher wanted us to make a lesson plan and write down where we would use each fundamental. We were teaching our "investigator' in 20 min, so we didn't have much time, but we realized we were already using the fundamentals. & in the middle of teaching that lesson I felt so confident (which was great since Monday last Monday was not a confident booster as I explained). I know that if we try to use these fundamentals that the Spirit really will help us!

I can't even pick one chapter of the Book of Mormon that I read this week that I loved. So the last one I read was Alma 32 about Faith. & I loved it. I'm also definitely reading all the missionary stories with a completely diff perspective now and seeing the blessings that are waiting for me if I try my hardest as a missionary. I love reading about Ammon.

Funny story: so we had "in field training' last Friday since our elders were leaving. And there are prbly like 400 of us in this big room and the teacher asked a question, and the kid before me said what I was going to answer, so I just said "he stole the words right out of my mouth" & the teacher said "that's not sanitary" & for some reason I thought it was really funny and laughed really loud and EVERYONE heard me and EVERYONE was turning around to see the crazy sister that was laughing, & the teacher then said into his mic "it wasn't that funny." my goodness, I wanted to say "have you never heard someone laugh before??" & I then I was just laughing b/c I wasn't really laughing at anything, & there as this group of Japanese eldesrs who don’t speak English on our row and they were all starring at me for quite some time while I was laughing, I’m sure thinking, "That sister is crazy!" Yeah, I laugh, so what! haha

Well time is up, but I get to email Friday too! Love you guys! OH, since Megan is fired and didn't send me the address to my mission home last week, would anyone be so kind and send that to me? Thanks!