Update!

We have received another letter from Lauren and she is doing great! She is busy as usual, but instead of just one letter she sent us three separate letters, one for each of us at home! She writes, “The MTC is great! We work very hard and we play hard. It is amazing! I definitely have moments though, where I wish I were back home just watching a movie, then I remember that this is the best thing I could be doing with my time, and I repent.” She urges us all, to remember to pray and study our scriptures everyday. She lives for letters, don’t be afraid to write. Her MTC address is:

Hermana Lauren Jones

MTC Mailbox #208

TX-DAL 0131

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604-1763

THE FIRST LETTER!

The MTC has been a whirlwind adventure to say the least! I'm learning a lot and growing and working VERY hard! I am only praying in Spanish now, even my personal prayers. I can say my purpose in Spanish which is, "Invitar a las personas a venir a Cristo a fin de que reciban el Evangelio Restaurado mediante la fe en JesuCristo, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, la recepcion del don del Espiritu Santo, y el perseverar hasta al fin." En Ingles: "To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End." I also just memorized the first vision in spanish and I'm working on memorizing it in English. Maybe I'll send it in my next letter, because there isn't a ton of time to do it right now. I can also contact people in Spanish and bear my testimony to people. It's been an amazing experience! We have a goal to contact 10 people a day (just missionaries we encounter in the halls) and on our second day my companion (Hermana Daniels) and I contacted some English-speaking Elders and they were sooo impressed! They still couldn't contact in English! So, we're working hard and keeping very busy.

Every day we wake up at about 6 and get ready really quick so I can get to my personal study time... which is the BEST part of my day!! I love being personally taught by the Lord through the Holy Ghost! After personal study, we have breakfast and then we have gym. I usually run, and yesterday I ran 2 miles in under half an hour without my inhaler! I was feeling pretty good and I could have run further, but we had a LOT to get done! Then after gym, we have class with Hermano Rosales, who is from Mexico! He is a GREAT teacher and he knows how to inspire us! He is a great great teacher and we have good times. After class, we have lunch and then we go back to more class for about 4 hours! Then after we have companionship study and estudio idioma (language study) we go to dinner. After dinner we are taught by Hermana Blanco who is so sweet! She has such a great spirit and loves us so much! You can definitely feel her love as soon as you walk in! Then she teaches us until 9:00 and then we spend half an hour planning for the next day, all the things we're going to study and do and how we're going to reach our goals. And then we head back to the residence hall and then get ready for bed and write in our journals and sleep. Pretty crazy, huh? We are always anxiously engaged here!

I had a cool experience on Sunday. The night before, my Zone leaders asked me to give the prayer in Sacrament meeting and I said yes. So, Saturday night I spent a lot of time looking up words and practicing my prayer in Spanish so that I wouldn't look like a goober in front of all the missionaries in my Zone (all of the other districts had been here at least 4 weeks!). So, Sacramento meeting was great and we sang the closing hymn and I stood up to walk to the pulpit and my mind was BLANK! I couldn't remember ANY spanish! What was I going to do? So... I just prayed and hoped that something would come. As soon as I opened my mouth, it was filled! I was so grateful! I was able to say EVERYTHING in my heart and I said it very well! The Lord definitely blesses us as we work hard and prepare and have faith in him and act!

I only have 10 minutes left! Ah! There's so much I want to say to you! First, THANK YOU for all the letters and emails and Dear Elders! They have given me strength this week! There have been a few tough days and then getting that letter after Dinner just made me so so happy! I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all of my friends and family who remember me and write me! So, don't stop writing! Even little short letters mean the world!

Ok... so, my district has 4 Elderes y 4 Hermanas. Which is pretty unusual... most of the Districts in my Zone don't have any sisters. But, we have an even split. I LOVE the hermanas I'm serving with! We have so much fun together and they are such strong women in the gospel! I love my time with them! My companion, Hermana Daniels, is from Shelley, Idaho and she's amazing. The other sisters are Hermana Barney and Hermana Christensen. Hermana Barney is probably the happiest person I've ever met and Hermana Christensen is just a sweetheart! I love them all!