Hola Familia,

MTC life is pretty great! Being a missionary is pretty awesome so far.  This week was good because we got our schedule for the next six weeks so we'll be able to get into the swing of things.  The days here go by really slowly, but I can't believe it's already been over a week that i've been here!

On Saturday, Hermana Hyer and I taught our first lesson to our first investigator, Pepe.  Pepe is actually our teacher Hermano Stevenson, but Pepe is a guy that he taught while on his mission.  We planned a lesson for Pepe and pretty much just wrote down word for word what we wanted to say because we had no idea how to give a 30 minute lesson in Spanish after just three days! So it went pretty well.  We didn't use notes to get to know him or to pray or to bear our testimonies so that was good.  Then we taught Pepe on Mon, Tues, and Wed.  By wednesday we just had to bullet what we wanted to teach and were able to follow the Spirit more and didn't have to plan everything we were going to say. The gift of tongues is sweet! On the first day, Pepe told us his son's name was Cepillo.  We didn't think anything of it until a couple of days later and all of us in our district found out that "cepillo" means "toothbrush."  So that was funny.  Also, we got to teach our first le de Castidad (Law of Chastity) lesson so that was fun too. 
On Sunday, our speaker for the MTC relief society was Janice Kapp Perry. It was really cool.  She gave a good little talk about sister missionary stuff (that I don't really remember but I have it written down in my journal.) And then we all sang a song together.  Apparently the song we sang is one she just wrote, and it goes to the tune As Sisters in Zion.  She said that we were the first people to ever sing it! The Spirit was really strong.  That night, for our Sunday devotional, Shane Littlefield came and spoke.  He is the Manager of Pre-field services for the mission department.  He and his wife gave nice talks.  Sunday was a great day!

On Monday, we decided as a district to coordinate our colors on Tuesday as good luck for an apostle coming to our Tuesday Devotional.  We decided that we would all wear green, and the Elders would wear green ties.  Blessings come from Unity, right? Yes. Correct. Because guess what? On Tuesday Elder Nelson and his wife came to speak to us! It was so amazing.  The MTC is so crowded that not everyone can fit in the same gym for the devotional, but we were singing in the choir so we got really good seats.  Sister Nelson talked a lot about using Family History with missionary work.  Elder Nelson talked about a lot of stuff! He was just practically giving us all sorts of great advice for our missions, so I have a couple pages worth of notes from the devotional.  It was cool that he came especially because he was the one that gave the great missionary talks at the past two conferences. "Ask the Missionaries!" and "Catch the wave!" The Spirit was really strong.  Plus he personally thanked the choir for singing and said it was beautiful.  I was in the choir, so yeah.  He pretty much thanked me and said I sang beautifully. 

My district is pretty cool.  I am the only one in my district not from Utah.  Everyone in my district is 19.  A lot of people from our zone are leaving in the next two weeks, so I guess we'll be getting a lot of new districts coming in. 
My companion got her visa in this week! She is flying down to Peru on Wednesday morning. When she leaves I'll either be a solo missionary and get a cool "solo" sticker on my nametag or will be a trio with some other sisters.  She turned in her stuff for her visa near the end of January.  I turned mine in at the very beginning of March.  So, we'll see when mine comes in.  I'll probably be here all six weeks, but i'm curious if i'll get it in time to go down to Peru or if I'll temporarily get reassigned somewhere in the States.  A LOT of people are getting reassigned while watiting for visas.  Someone in my zone got assigned to Oklahoma, Tulsa mission! Elder Hilton. 

Anyway, being a missionary is great.  I've learned a lot of cool things and i've only been here barely a week! The language is coming, slowly but surely.  I'm just excited to be able to speak fluently but I know I gotta work hard and be patient to get there.  The Spirit is so strong here at the MTC.  It's a great thing to be able to just get away from the world.  I haven't even missed my phone or Facebook at all! It's nice to not have to worry about anything worldly, and just focusing on the things of the gospel and teaching people.  I'm so excited to get out into the field and DO WORK but I know I still have a ton to learn and i'm taking advantage of being here and feeling the Spirit here. 

and guess what.. We get Papa John's pizza every friday night! It's so awesome!! Or as our district calls it, Papi Juan's pixa.  I think that's spanish or something.
Thanks for all the fun packages!
Love you very much!

-Hermana Jones

P.s. hopefully the pics attached.  my companion is in the blue, and the other elders and sisters in my district are in the pictures.  As you can tell, i'm as photogenic as i've ever been.