Grand Missionary Adventures: Happy "P-Day!"

Mom here. We got photos this week. I will post them after Kate's letter.

This week I saw Allie's friend Shane Donovan!! He got here on Wednesday and I saw him as he was getting shown around by his host. I haven't seen him since, but he seemed like he was in good spirits and he was excited to get to work. He's going to Atlanta, Georgia...I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.

This Gospel is SOOOOO awesome!! Just this last week in my studies I have realized just how connected everything is in the Gospel. I had been thinking about several rather different subjects (how cool it is that there are so many people living different lives that all connect and happen in ways that our Heavenly Father has planned for us, how precious each passing moment is and how much significance moments can have in our lives, and that there are ways that we can show our faith in order to lift ourselves and the people around us up) and then in one of my classes, our teacher said something that connected all three of those ideas plus gave me more to think about. He talked about the fact that we are all here to be tested and if we will align ourselves with God's purpose for us, we can help other people. Sometimes it's ourselves and sometimes it's the Holy Ghost telling us to do something, but if we are trying to be good people and follow what our Heavenly Father would have us do, it will turn out for the best. I don't know if I could fully explain how that idea connected all three of my previous thoughts, but it gave me some insight into how connected things can be. I'm a little sad that I haven't taken this kind of time to study the Gospel like I should - better late than never though, right?

Sister Julie B. Beck came and spoke to us on Tuesday - she talked a lot about temples and how we can become better people through the covenants we make in the temple. It seemed like her talk covered a LOT of different sub-subjects and one of them was loving people for who they are. She said that sometimes people may appear and seem at first to be unlovable. She gave us great advice for what to do in those situations. She said that the most effective thing we could do would be to pray to know what to love - because our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love everyone perfectly. There is obviously something that we can love about that person. They will be willing to share with us what it is we can love about that person. The world would be a much better place if everyone would take the time to do that with those seemingly un-lovable people. That advice has already changed the way I look at my fellow-sojourners on this earth.

So, we lost the Hermanas in our room this past Monday! Triste!! We now have 3 empty beds in our room which makes it feel a bit sad and barren. Luckily we are getting two new Hermanas in our zone next Wednesday! After the oldest district leaves on Monday, we're only going to have 2 districts for three days - crazy! We will have all of 14 people in our zone. I think we'll be getting two new districts on Wednesday so that will help us fill up a little faster.

We had an extra service day this week - we had to get up early to go to the sack breakfast line at 6:30 and be ready to do service at 7:00. Luckily we got to the line early - it was getting long fast because a lot of people were doing service. After a series of mix-ups we ended up in the right building to help out, but we didn't have a lot to do. So, we helped out with some custodial stuff (putting linens away - I feel like I'm qualified to work in the hotel maintenance industry now) and then had an hour before class which made for some good make-up study time.

I NEVER would have thought I would be saying this - but we got to go to bed early last night and it was AWESOME!!! The power was scheduled to go out at 9:30 in our building so we had to get back at 8:30 to still have our allotted hour to get ready for bed. So, instead of going to bed at 10:30 we went to bed at 9:30 and it was blissful!! The MTC is awesome but it is tiring and we only have a certain number of hours that we can sleep. So, if we don't sleep well, we can't really make it up (unless we pull and Elder Pitcher and nap in the classroom while we're supposed to have personal study - which is actually allowed on Sundays because we have so much un-structured study time).

Mom, you will be happy to know that I am improving my volleyball skills! For the last two weeks I have played volleyball during every single gym time. It's SO much fun! It's really fun to play with the Elders in our zone (that are leaving on Monday - sad!) who really know how to play. Sometimes I have to dodge spikes that are rather hard, but it's worth it to get some good practice.

The weather this last week is beautiful! I was so worried last week that we weren't going to get any fall season at all. Luckily we do get a little now at least. We're trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

We had a companionship "Coaching Missionary Study" where one of the instructors just helps us know what to do better as a companionship - Hermano Barrio said something that I really needed to hear. He told us a secret: we don't have to speak perfect Spanish here! What a relief! He said that as long as we're trying hard (and we are!) and trying to bring the Spirit in our lessons that it will be okay. People will come closer to Christ and that is our whole goal.

We did the MTC choir for the first time this week and it was SO great!! The director was awesome because not only did he help us sound good, he taught us the meaning behind the song. No time to expound - only one and a half minutes and trying to type in the computer lab is really distracting.

I love you all! I hope that all is going well and that you will keep writing. Also, I just want to let you know that if you're worried about chocolate melting, it will probably make the journey just fine. Elder Hardesty's mom sent him chocolate from Hawaii and it made it here just fine....not saying that you should feel obligated or anything :)

Mucho Amor!!

Love,

Hermana Palmer