Week 2

Hi family!!!

Well, it's still going really well here at the MTC. I love it here, and I can't belive I am already half way done. It makes me sad to think that I won't be here, but i'm excited to go to nebraska and have real investigators that we actually follow up with. we have fake investigators here, but i'm excited to get real ones. Tell Claudia that I see Reeve alot. I got a picture with him today, but it takes a couple of days to print, so you'll probably get it and a bunch of other ones next week. Thanks everyone for their dear elders. It's actually kind of sad to go a day without one, but I guess I can't expect a letter everyday ;)

I keep hearing about some elusive package. That sounds nice. I need some no show socks like there is no tomorrow.

I have been writing down things throughout the week that I wanted to tell you, so here it goes.

EVERYONE loves my scripture case. They want Jared to make them one.

This one is funny. We had to all write on the board why the Book of Mormon was the keystone of our religion, and Elder Klumker wrote "Without it, the whole church is false." Then, he didn't like how that sounded, so he went back up and erased the "without it" and thought about what else he could say. So then, I look up and all I see is that someone wrote, "the whole church is false." baaah ha. we all had a good laugh about that one.

There is a creamsicle tree on this campus. No joke. You go up to it and smell the bark, and it smells EXACTLY like creamsicles. It's amazing. Also, sometimes when it rains, in certain spots it smells like cherry jolly ranchers.

Our teachers (who are AMAZING, ps) always pump us up for the mission. Brother Brown had us imagine when Christ came to the Americas, and they all shouted "hosanna" which means, save me or grant me salvation. Well, he can't come down right now to everyone, so he CHOSE us. He chose me, knowing my talents and my weaknesses, when he could have had anyone else, to help others find salvation. That was a really really really cool experience.

How's David doing?

I had a substitute teacher that knew Laura. Her name is Julia Carlson

Also, unless Jared has already bought a new pair of scriptures, they sell them here and you get a sweet discount on everything at the bookstore. A quad is like 30 bucks.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!!! AND KATIE NEXT WEEK!!!

Oh, I got proposed to. By a Tongan. So I guess I'll be coming home pretty soon. hahaha. It was at the gym. He kept talking to me, and I kept avoiding him, since that's what we're supposed to do. And then at the end, he was like "You wait for me for two years?" And I was like, I can't, gotta go! and he just yelled, "I'm serious!" as I ran away. haha that was good. P.S. 4 square is really fun.

Dad, can you tell me that story about the sheep that you told at Grandpa Goodwin's funeral?

Have you shipped my bedding to NE? It needs to be there in 2 weeks?!

Jared, there is such thing as an inflatable tie. So you can use it for a pillow. Kind of genius. This Elder in my district has it. He reminds me SO much of Louis from Even Stevens.

We have to pack up tomorrow and move 2 floors down. Woof.

We had Mary N. Cook or something come yesterday to Relief Society and talk about Virtue. She wanted us to thank everyone in our lives who were role models of virtuous women. So, that would be all of the women in my family.So, Thank you. Also, could you thank Sister Holdman? Thanks

On Tuesday night, we had a devotional where the speaker talked about the purpose of missions and there are 2 reasons. 1. do the work of the Lord. 2. Sanctification of the missionary. It was really cool. He told us to pray every night to be blessed with the knowledge of who we really are and that we will be astonished. He said that Sanctification is the process by which we become what we've always wanted to be. That's really cool. I already see myself growing in to a better person, the kind of person that I want to become.

Yesterday, our Branch President and his wife gave us a departing lesson, since they won't be here next week when the Elders go to South Africa. They shared a story, and at the end it was pretty much have a mission where you don't want to take your tag off at the end of it. I started freaking out. I don't want this to end. I've only been here for 2 weeks, but I don't want it to end. I want to keep doing missionary work, and do the things that I am doing. I know I have a while to go, and I might change my mind a couple of times, but I know I will definitely be sad to take that tag off.

We are learning more and more about teaching people and not lessons. It is SO cool!!!! Something else that is cool, is that we have all of these fundamentals of how to be a good missionary, and they can all be found in Alma 18. It's so cool that we are patterning our curriculum based off of what the Sons of Mosiah did, and also Christ in 3 Nephi, who were obviously the best missionaries. Pretty great.

I love preach my gospel. Study it. It will make you a better person. Casey said she is studying it to teach her children. I love that idea. We learn more and more about how it was developed and how it will make us more effective missionaries. It's amazing.

This morning I woke up at 520. WOOF. we had to be at the temple dressed and ready to go at 630. It was really cool, and the Provo Temple is so pretty! Funny story, the elders in our district had to change their alarm to wake up earlier than normal, but for some reason it went off at 130 am. But they didn't even notice, so they got up and started showering hahahaha. That just shows how sleep deprived we are if 130 am feels the same to us as waking up early in the morning. hahahahah. they realized a little later and then went back to bed. haha. Luckily on p days we can take naps. I took about a 1 1/2 hour nap today which was AMAZING! I get so exhausted by the end of the week, that just helps me to make it through haha. I fall asleep way fast now. That's really nice.

Well family, keep sending me letters! One Elder got like 8 letters one day. I wouldn't hate beating him. hahaha. I love you all very much, and I miss you, but it helps that I have Sister Belka. She is so much fun and she helps me whenever I start to get a little discouraged- nothing huge, I was just sad when we went back to teach our "investigator" that it wasn't this huge spiritual experience where I was bawling like the first one. She told me they wouldn't all be like that and that it wasn't always our fault. hmm.. go figure. I probably should have figured that one out on my own. But I'm glad to have her. We have a lot of fun. It also helps that I love my district and I love what I am doing here, and the person I am becoming. This church is true. There is no doubt about it. Heavenly Father loves every single one of us PERFECTLY. He wants us to come back to him and to do what is right. He set up a way for us to come back to him through the Restoration. Way cool. Well, I only have 30 seconds left, so I better get this sent off before it gets deleted.

I love you all, and write me lots!

Love, Sister Martha Proctor