"It's me! A mario!"

Hey! Here's another email for you.

It's been a really good and really fast week. It's hard for me to distinguish between days, everythings seems to run all together. At first, time went by so slow and now it seems to fly. Didn't I just write an email yesterday?

MOM AND DAD: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I just love you little love birds and I hope you had a great day. You're an inspiration to us all :)

On Sunday in Relief Society (with all the sisters at the MTC) Hna Shelley performed her musical number! It was amazing. She sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" to the tune of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and brought them together at the end. She is such a great singer.

It has been a week of goodbyes...two of the districts in our zone left and we didn't get any new districts this week, so our zone is super small, only three districts right now. Also, our roomies left at 3 am this morning. They are going to the Dominican Republic MTC because they will be serving in Puerto Rico. So sad to say goodbye to everyone but also really exciting. It makes me think of when I will be leaving (2 1/2 weeks) and makes me super nervous but also anxious and excited!

Alright, who's ready for some "stuff of the week"??? ME.

Song of the Week: "Holding Hands Around the World" (fromt the Children's song book). Sister Rosemary M. Wixom (Primary Gen Pres) spoke in Relief Society on Sunday and we sang that song for the opening number. The chorister was all excited and said that on the chorus, everyone should hold hands with the people sitting next to them. I look to my left and Elder Burton, Hna Shelley's accompaniest's companion was sitting next to me. Awkward! Don't worry, we didn't hold hands, we just exchanged some nervous laughter. Oh, missions.

Quote of the Week: "We're still 19."--some random Elder. Some Elders had somehow put on of the Elder's nametag on the men's bathroom sign hanging from the ceiling and he was jumping up and trying to get it down as everyone was laughing their heads off. As Hna Shelley and I walked past, the random Elder said that quote. Yes, yes you are still 19. 19 year old boys are funny.

Sad Story of the Week: My dips record was broken!!!! By 6. I have some work to do!

Fact of the Week: Hermana Shelley runs into people a lot. Like, she literally runs into people.

Something I Realized I Missed This Week: Mario Kart on Nintendo 64

Well there you have it! Basically everything you need to know about my time here at the MTC. For my Spanish update, it's going pretty well and we have actually made some native Elder friends, one from the Dominican Republic, one from Mexico, and one from Argentina. They're really great and it's good to talk to them and practice speaking Spanish. They are all learning English so we talk in Spanish and they responed in English. It's kind of hard talking to natives but it's good to practice. I need to get used to it pretty quick!

Wow I'm really lacking in spirituality this email. I will tell you about the Sunday Devotional. It was top notch. It was given by Brother Heaton. He talked a lot about how to define success and that success isn't only the outward manifestation of your work, but also the actual work you put in. He said that a lot of times you will work so hard and not get a baptism. Instead of getting disappointed and depressed, you should change your mentality and know you have put in all the work you could have and God is pleased with you. He talked about the word "perhaps" and how it is used a lot in the scriptures. We labor diligently that perhaps we can bring some soul unto Christ (Alma 29:9?). He said that when you have this perhaps mentality, when success such as a baptism comes, you can say "Wow, what a gift!" and if it doesn't, you can say "Well, there was no guarantee." And instead of thinking to yourself "I did it!" think "He did it and I got a front row seat."

This doesn't just apply to missionaries and baptism. This applies to all of you. Work hard and perhaps the Lord will bless you in the way you expect, and perhaps it will be in some other way. But I want to testify to you that blessings do come. God loves you and will give you so much. One of our substitute teachers talked about how, we can't give a bread crumb without receiving a loaf from our Heavenly Father.

I love you!

Hermana Hill