Travel Plans!

March 1, 2013

Dear Family and Friends...

Everyone hold your breath. Because this sister has her TRAVEL PLANS!! That´s right. I have exactly ten days until I board a plane and leave for this magical place called Chile. I am SOO excited!!!

Okay, this week has been absolutely awesome. I am going to apologize for the Mormon big name dropping that I am about to do…well more like I kind of apologize. cause we all know that the MTC is THE PLACE to be right now!! Okay...so M Russel Ballard came to speak at the devotional this week!! And it was SO awesome. especially because we have been hoping for an apostle to come almost every week and it had become a bit of a joke. Everything that happened I would turn to Hma Alvarez and tell her: "it's a sign! The prophet is coming! Look they are putting up a backdrop!" or "Look! they are doing an extra security check! it means the prophet is coming!" And finally, today, we actually had an apostle and I ALMOST started crying. Okay I actually might of cried because the spirit is so strong. It's just how the MTC is.

Other exciting name-dropping moments...Relief Society here is the BEST thing ever. We have a member of the general relief society or young women presidency come speak to all the sisters and the spirit is always SO strong. This week was Sister Cook from the YW presidency. What a guest speaker, right?! Also, can i just say, Music and the Spoken word has become the most exciting thing to happen here since we discovered the nut dispensers in the corner of the cafeteria....(I mean sometimes they even sing Broadway songs and it's okay because it's the MOTAB!) but this week…MARLY was on M&SW!! And I elbowed all of my sisters and told them that one of my best friends was up there and I freaked out and MARLY. you rocked it. #biggestfan (p.s...your lips looked HUGE! well done! Love you babe!)

Anyways anways anyways…on to the really cool thing that happened this week. Every week we have this thing called TRC where we get to speak to people who don't work at the MTC and share a gospel message. Now last Thursday, we had been talking to one of our teachers, Hma Ayala, and she had been telling us how worried she is about her little sister, who is super super sick and here in the states visiting to see the doctors and they can't figure out what is wrong with her. So hma Alzarez and I had obviously been very concerned and asked if we could put her sister's name, Katterinna, on the temple list. but we thought that would be the end of that. At TRC, we meet with this cute looking sister from Guatemala and we tell her how our teacher is from Guatemala and it takes us about five minutes to put it together that THIS is Katterinna Ayala! But we keep on asking her questions, and she wasn't super open, but finally we realize that she is having a really rough time. She had to come home from her mission because she was so sick (I think that was why...my mediocre Spanish makes these things a bit difficult to be certain of) and finally, through a lot of questions and a LOT of inspiration, we realized she felt like God wasn't answering her prayers and wasn't listening. I felt the Lord guide me as we invited her to trust in the Lord, to turn to him and be patient and invited her to pray. Then, at the end, she said the closing prayer, and Hma Alvarez felt inspired to promise her that she knew she would feel better. It was INCREDIBLE. but what made this so wonderful is that this isn't some teacher pretending to be an investigator, this was a real person and a real problem. But when I really understood how inspired this was (cause let's be real, I was just happily bumbling along in my mediocre-Spanish-world) is when Hma Ayala our teacher took Hma Alvarez and I aside and told us that her sister has started praying for the first time in a YEAR because of her meeting with us and because she felt the spirit and the desire to turn to the Lord again. WOW.

Okay, so for some funny stories:

This week I was teaching Greg/the investigator he pretends to be- and he full out started laughing in the middle of the lesson because I was very sincerely looking him in the eyes and with great passion teaching him completely false doctrine ahaha. i was trying to explain the priesthood and I got all of my peter/james/john/types of priesthood VERY mixed up

-So mom sent two huge bags of chocolate (mom...are you TRYING to make me fat?! haha) and I handed some to Hma McKnight and she dropped one and we searched the floor for it because we COULDN'T not eat it!!! and in a moment of inspiration, while on my hands and knees in the classroom, I looked at Hma and said: "you know what? I bet this is how Heavenly Father feels about his children. They are all so amazing that not one can be lost!"

Love you all! The work is true, the spirit is real, and I have never felt closer to our heavenly Father. Thank you for all the support, ESPECIALLY the letters from Grandma, Charity, Sammy, Sarah, Katie, a note from Anne, the letters from Sabrina and Sister Jensen and ESPECIALLY the package from Mom. Thank you! I love you all and am praying for you all every night!

Love,

Hma Monroe