1 down, 17 to go!

Sawadii Kha!!

Yup that's right, 1 month down and 17 to go. K-just kidding. I'm not counting down. I love being a missionary and haven't had any kind of desire to leave. i feel like with every passing week I spend here in the MTC my letters will get progressively lamer and lamer.. (for you to hear
about...not for me). We basically do the same thing every week. To an
extent. But alas, and none. I will continue to write and share some of my
favorite moments and hope you don't find them boring.

So 2 weeks ago we were privilaged to hear from Elder Ballard (yay!
Apostles are the best!) and then Last week we got another surprise and
got to hear from Elder Nelson. It was seriously an amazing meeting
begining with the most beautiful violin solo my ears have ever been
graced with. Then by deafult Elder Nelson was awesome, but my favorite
part was probably when Sister Wendy Nelson Spoke. I've never seen/heard
her speak before and I seriously LOVED her. She basically talked about
being obediant and how we should careful not to spend time doing things
that aren't on our "To do while on earth" list (it applies to us as
missionaries, but also in our non-missionary lives). She was just
amazing. I kinda want to be her when I grow up. I think I might have
mentioned this before, but I still think it all the time. I've decided
that the MTC is basically a 3 week-3 month motivational speaker seminar.
Or EFY / Ed week on steriods. I love it. There are some wierd moments
when I feel like I'm in an army and I have no feel will (example- "get
out a piece of paper and write all of these 50 things down. Now. Where's
your paper? Write it") But then I realized that I have all the agency in
the world. I could get up and walk out of here right now. But I won't.
And yes. The MTC continues to be great and I continue to love it. (sorry
to everyone out there who hated this place....I guess i'm just weird. but
then again... you know this.. so yes).
So probably one of my favorite things about this week was one of the
activities we did in class. As you know, I love my teacher Brother
Saakhaa (which ironically means 'branch" in Thai so this week when we
were talking about Branch Presidents and such I was totally confused for
a little bit...) So this Brother Saakhaa is great and really knows our
district and what we need. We're really loud and excitable which can
sometimes lead to problems (maintaining quiet dignity can be a challenge
for us). So one day he said "ok. we're going for a walk around the MTC
and your only rule is: You can't speak. Don't say hi to other
missionaries or say thanks to people who open your door... just be rude
and stay quiet. haha. But really... NO talking. Just listen." It was
probably the coolest experience ever. It's amazing how much you can learn
when you just be quiet and observe things. It was so neat to learn from
the spirit. My thoughts covered everything from the Creation to "oh, Do
the 3 nephites hang out all the time? What about John the beloved? Does
he get in on that reunion, too? Do they ever try to stalk Cain as a
joke?" but then also to more serious things. I had some change in my
pocket and when I heard it clink together, it made me think of Judus and
how he ruined his entire life and eternal salvation because we valued
false riches over perfect joy and happiness. What a sad little man. But
yes...It's amazing what you can learn when you just LISTEN.

In other news.. We are now all 100% in Thai. I pretty much feel like my
brain is being ripped in half and then shredded and then minced and
blended and then glued back together by a 6 year old (thanks Eric). But
it's really great at the same time. Especially when we make mistakes.
Yesterday, Elder Partridge said " You possessed my body. I need to
fart."I'm not quite sure what he meant by the first part. But I'm pretty
sure he meant "I'm sorry" by the last part. Hilariously enough: depending
on your tone, "Kha tood" can mean I'm sorry... or I need to fart.
Excellent.

Sad news.. ALL of my friends are leaving this week. It's sad. Plus, I
won't have a Thai speaking companion until I get to Thailand. My next
comp will also be going to Cambodia.

Ok-My times up now. Thanks for the letters, I'll be writing to you again
next week. Which seems like 2 seconds away to me... time is weird as a
missionary.. We're gonna go for a walk now. YAY! I love you all!!! LOVE
LOVE LOVE!