3rd companion

Hola familia,

This week has gone by so fast! And a lot has happened which is sweet.

First of all, Dad! Way to go on your half marathon! That's awesome.  I laughed at how you said the last 10 miles were the hardest.  But you did it! And now you never have to do it again. :) Sounds like you all had an enjoyable Memorial day weekend as well.  I hope you had some good American Barbeque.

 

So last friday evening Hermana Boomhower and I had to go to a podiatrist appointment for her foot.  It was sweet because we had to shuttle to his office in Provo, so we got to leave the MTC! We were driving around Provo which was really weird.  And we drove right by the Elms and right by Lynelle's apartment. It was fun! Then while I was waiting for Hermana Boomhower in the waiting room, they were playing music! So that was cool. Anyway, the podiatrist told Hermana Boomhower that she has to get surgery because her foot isn't healing.  When we got back to the MTC she went and told the district president, and he said to come in and talk to her the following monday about when and how they want to do all that.  We went in on monday and he had a plane ticket ready for her for tuesday morning.  So sadly she had to go home to get surgery.  They said it normally is about a 2 month recovery and then she can just go straight to Las Vegas when she is recovered.  I'm hoping it all works out for her! I feel bad for her, she had to be here 10-11 weeks to heal, and then just ended up having to get surgery.  But she has a really good attitude about it and was making plans to keep in contact with the teachers so she can continue to learn Spanish and such. 

So with her leaving on Tuesday, i'm now on my third companionship! I must do a pretty good job of scaring away my companions because consistently every two weeks I get a new one, haha.  I'm now a tri-panionship with the other two sisters in my district who are also going to Peru Lima West and that I've been living with this whole time.  Their names are Hermana Lind and Hermana Olsen.  They're awesome.  We've been getting along well and it doesn't feel different since we've been together this whole time pretty much.  Except when they forget i'm with them now and accidentally leave me places.  Yeah, that happened a couple of times haha.  It's all good though. 

On Tuesday we were told that there is going to be a huge new mission president training here for the new mission presidents.  The prophet and quorum of the 12 will all be here, and it's going to be pretty epic.  They told us that in the choir because they are trying to gather enough missionaries to make a choir of 1000, so we are supposed to gather as many as we can to join, and then we'll get to sing for the prophet and the 12 in the Marriott center! This all sounds awesome, right? Yeah. The date of this event? June 23rd.  5 days after we leave.... haha of course.  It's all good though.  I know a lot of people are now hoping that our visas won't come and that we can get extended a week, but honestly I just want to go out in the field.  It'd be cool to see all of the apostles but I'm not going to get to meet them or anything and I'm just way excited to get out there and do work.  But apparently the event thing is going to be broadcasted so that'll be cool to watch anyway.

This past tuesday we got to hear from Tad R. Callister for our devotional. It was fantastic.  He was comparing our church with the church in the New Testament and pulling out all these awesome scriptures and it was really cool.  I really wanted to go up to him afterwards somehow and talk to him and see if he remembered staying at our house but I figured he would just kinda jump in the car and leave or something.  It was fantastic though. I learned a lot.

Now that our district has been here for four weeks, we signed up to host the new missionaries this wednesday.  They were in need of a lot of hosts because apparently this wednesday we got 940 new missionaries in one day, which I guess broke the record in history for the most missionaries arriving in one day. The hosts are the missionaries that meet the missionaries/families at the car and help them grab bags and make sure the family leaves in under 4 minutes and then help the missionary get their nametag and books and get to their room and stuff.  It was really fun!

I knew that Hannah Hoyt was coming in on wednesday, so I was secretly looking for her.  Each missionary was assigned a time on a 15 minute mark based on last name.  There were about 100 cars every 15 minutes that would come, so there were a lot of missionaries.  I figured Hannah would be about an hour in because her last name was H.  I picked up a girl right at the beginning, got her situated, and came back.  I was standing on the curb in a big group of people and I see Hannah out her window yelling, "Alayna!" So I trotted along side her car until they found a spot on the curb and I got to host her! I cut in front of all the other hosts but once she got out and I gave her a big hug I don't think they cared, haha. It was so awesome! I was so happy to see her! And she seemed very excited and happy to be here.  She lives just a floor below me and has class just a floor above me in the same buildings, so I actually see her walking around a lot. It's AWESOME.  I've also seen a TON of other people I know that got here on wednesday, it's so fun.  I saw Ammon Allphin last week or the week before right before he left so that was cool.  I saw Maggie Jones briefly the other day.  And then i've seen like 15 people I know from school. It's fun.

So I have about 11 days left here at the MTC. Crazy! Still no word on my visa or anything.  I doubt they would tell us as this point if it came or not, we just have to see where we are getting sent.  I heard that some people are getting their travel plans today, so I'm guessing that if my visa IS here, i'll get my travel plans today and know what time i'm leaving and such.  If my visa isn't here yet, they'll probably wait until next week and then I think next Wednesday or Thursday, if my visa still isn't here, I get a temporary reassignment somewhere in the states and then get my travel plans a couple of days later.  Super crazy and exciting! My scheduled date to leave is the 18th, which is a tuesday, but depending on where I actually end up going it could be anywhere from Sunday the 16th, to Thursday the 20th.  And then if they think my visa is almost here and is coming in the next week-ish, they'll probably just have me stay at the MTC an extra week.  I guess i'll find everything out in the next week or so though. 

The MTC is awesome.  I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed every day this week.  I love the Spirit that is felt here and I love how much I get to learn.  Every day I'm amazed how real the gift of tongues is! Seriously, it rocks.  I'm starting to feel a lot more confident in teaching lessons and in speaking spanish, even though i'm sure that confidence will be crushed once I start trying to speak with natives. :) haha. 

Thanks for the letters and packages and loves! Yesterday it hit me, "Hey, i'm a missionary. This is awesome!" I'm so glad to be out here and I'm grateful for all the help and support y'all give me. 

Love you all!

-Hermana Jones

p.s. the pictures are my companions and I hosting on wednesday, and then laundry.  Exciting, I know.

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