Surprise!!!

Hey everyone!

So it turns out that you are allowed to email the day before you depart for your mission, so here I am! This weekend has been interesting, but lots of really cool and spiritual things have happened. 

On Saturday night we had our Secret Santa party and we all exchanged our little gifts that we had made. I had Hermana Anderson, and I copied a poem out and laminated it for her to take on her mission. Elder Hunt had me, and he printed out a picture of our district, where everyone had written sweet little notes which was soo nice, i loved it. It was such a fun evening, even though we had just finished our last class together and things were starting to come to a close. I also got a surprise package from the family!! (the grandparents, Aunt Kim and Uncle Brian, Chandler, and Chelsey's family!) It was SO cute it made my day! I needed that little box of sunshine that day and I'm so grateful for that. Also, after we all said goodbye to Hermano Lund, Elder Mills did one last haka for us. It was really emotional. In New Zealand, I think they often do the haka for those they love to show their strong appreciation and love for them, so it was amazing. Everyone was crying, and there are really no words to describe how beautiful it was. 

Sunday was such a rough day. The elders had a bet going to see how many times I would cry that day, hahaha it was no fun. I walked into our classroom, and the whole board had been erased, including our goals and everything we'd written on it over the and for some reason that made me so sad! But anyways, before sacrament meeting we had a meeting with our Branch President, and he taught us how to get out of duct tape if we ever get kidnapped (Yeeaaaah it was kinda strange, but helpful!) He also talked to us awhile about our missions and meeting our mission president and what not, so that was really helpful. We had sacrament meeting, which was fantastic. At the end our whole district sang Nearer My God to Thee, but by that time I definitely couldn't make it through without a small breakdown. Elder Hunt played violin for us, and it was just a really awesome experience. 

Oh, i totally forgot to mention that when we woke up that morning it was SNOWING! It was amazing. We had all been praying for one last snowfall before everyone left, and Heavenly Father definitely answers prayers. After lunch we (Hermana Beggs, Ybarra, Green, Elder Mills, Weddle, and I) had a "snowball" fight which was SO fun!! Of course, by the end of the evening all of the snow had melted, but it was amazing while it lasted. After sacrament we walked to the temple one last time and took some pictures. Then, we had our "last supper" (it was actually really gross so I had my usual bowl of cereal) 

Our devotional last night was super good. First of all, Elder Hunt played a prelude piece on violin for the whole MTC which was super cool and soooooo good. The whole devotional was a program by the BYU Men's Chorus, and it was amazing. They sang lots of really cool songs, and they are just super talented.It was such a good last devotional.  

Alright, here comes the worst part of this weekend.....

After devotional we all went back to our classroom one last time. We went around and had a small testimony meeting, which was super cool. It was really nice to hear everyone's testimonies and why they decided to come on a mission. They all have changed my life, and they are all some of my closest friends now. After the testimony meeting, we all got blessings, which was probably the best part of the evening. (even though i was ugly crying through the whole thing). Elder Weddle gave me my blessing, and I know that every word he said came straight from my Heavenly Father. He told me that I am exactly where I need to be, and even though I had doubts and trials before my mission, that once I'm there, all of those won't matter anymore. He said that my personality will touch so many lives in Provo, and to always keep a smile on my face, even through the hard times. It was one of the most spiritual moments I have ever had here at the MTC. I'm so grateful for the elders in my district and that great power they have to bless us with comfort when we really need it. It was amazing how personal each blessing was for each person. They all got what they needed to hear, and it blew my mind. This church is SO true. 

After blessings we all started to part our separate ways. One of the hardest things I've done so far here was walking out of that building away from these people that I have grown to love so much. 

This morning, we woke up at 2:15AM to see Hermana Green and Ybarra off to Ecuador, and we stayed up until 3:30 to see Hermana Anderson and Flood off too. It was so difficult to say goodbye to them. When I tried to go to sleep that night, I thought I would surely just cry myself to sleep, but I suddenly felt like I had someone right there beside me, comforting me, telling me things were really going to be okay, and i felt at peace. It was amazing. But when I woke up at 6:30 I stood up, wondering why the others weren't waking up, when I looked over and saw their empty beds I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry because it was suddenly so real. 

Today it's just me, Hermana Beggs, Elder Hunt, Davenport and Mills today. Elder Mills leaves in an hour and a half, and then by tomorrowit'll just me and Hermana Beggs. 

I have to go now, I'm kinda freaking out but I'm also really excited. I don't have my address to my mission home, but my parents should have it if anyone wants to send me letters. 

I love you all so much! 

Hermana Segle

Last P-Day in the MTC!

Hey everyone......

This week has been interesting, to say the least. It's been pretty uneventful, so this email will probably be short. 

I've had a lot of hard days this week. With everyone getting their flight information and what not this past week I was starting to feel a little down on myself about my mission call so it's just been like a weird, kinda bummed out feeling. But it's okay! I am muuuuuuuuuy animada for my mission, I just think being in the MTC is hard sometimes with everyone going different places. I'm sure once I'm in the field I will be totally fine. 

It's also been a weird week because this is our last week together as a district, and we're all really unsure about how we feel about it. The other district in our zone left last week, so it was just our district until we got new elders yesterday. We've all sort of had this unspoken rule in the classroom that no one was gonna talk about how we're all leaving each other on Monday. It's going to be a really, really difficult weekend for all of us since we have pretty much become family. I've never gotten so close to people in such a short amount of time in my whole life, and they have all honestly changed my life in so many ways. Also the fact that we are all going to different places makes it really hard to say goodbye. It's funny how close you can get to people when you spend about 12 hours a day with them for 6 weeks. Also the fact that I feel completely NOT ready to teach real people totally in Spanish is kind of freaking me out a lot. 

Today we got up really early and did laundry so we could go to the Temple with our teacher, Hermana DiCarolo. It was great, and today's been pretty good so far! Sorry this email is all over the place....

On Sunday it was fast sunday, so we were all starving that day. I was really super tired that day though because me and Hermana Anderson accidentally stayed up reeeal late talking about our missions and what not, but I didn't even mind. Hermana Anderson is a lot like me, so I connect with her really well and she's such a sweet person. Anyways, during sacrament meeting I played piano (it was bound to happen eventually) and it went pretty well seeing as I haven't played piano in SO long. We watched the Christmas Devotional that evening, buuuuuut it was so hard to pay attention. The great part about that evening was a talk that we watched from a Thanksgiving MTC devotional in 2012. It was by Elder Holland and it was literally amazing. He talked about how we are in the last dispensation, and how ancient prophets (like in the BOM) KNEW they were going to lose, but they saw a future of us as missionaries, and knew that we were finally going to be the dispensation that's gonna win, no matter what. I wish you all had the access to watch it, because it is truly amazing. I had never seen Elder Holland cry so much during a talk. He also gave the most powerful testimony of Joseph Smith that I have ever heard. Also, please read D&C 133: 44-53 and keep in mind that we cannot leave our brother, Jesus Christ treading alone. We need to help him through sharing the amazing message of this gospel. 

Another kind of emotional night this week was Devotional on Tuesday. I was NOT expecting it to be, and I was kind of ready for a lame devotional with boring speakers buuuuut. After the first speaker, they had a special musical guest. Her name is Lexie Walker, and she's 10 years old and literally has the voice of an angel. She's sung with David Archuleta, sung in Carnegie Hall, sung for the President, etc. etc.... but for some reason she started singing and I started thinking of my sweet sisters and I just started crying out of the blue! (i swear I'm not depressed hahaha) but it was just so hard to see a 10 year old that reminded me so much of my sister and at the end of her songs, she came up and spoke about how she wanted to be a sister missionary some day, and it was just amazing. The rest of the devotional wasn't too good but that little girl definitely stole my heart and stomped on it haha. 

I guess this week has also been hard because I haven't really gotten many letters or emails. I'm so so so soooo grateful for the dear elders I've gotten but I guess it's all good. I only have today and tomorrow and Monday to receive dear elders and after that it'll only be letters and emails soo it would be so cool if I got some! 

Anyways, I'm leaving the MTC on Tuesday at 4:15 PM. Me and my companion are the last ones to leave, and we'll be alone all day on Tuesday. Everyone else had flights that were really early either monday or tuesday morning, and then there's us. It'll be a sad day for sure. I'm sure we'll just try to get to know the new elders and help them with their Spanish. I've started packing a little bit and it's so crazy to me that it's already been 6 weeks. It feels like I've spent my whole life here but it also feels like I just got here yesterday. It's a really weird feeling. But anyways, I'll be teaching some of my last lessons today, and then we have a crazy long in-field orientation all day tomorrowand that's not gonna be fun at all. Then after we have a Secret Santa party on Saturday night,and then we're basically done. So crazy. 

1 month down, 17 more to go!

Write me por favor!
Sorry for the lame email!!

Hermana Segle

PS I'll attach some photos in another email.

MTC pictures, part 3!

Thanksgiving shenanigans and only a week and a half left!

Heeeey everyone!!

Another week has passed here at the MTC, and I believe I am beginning my 5th week! I only have one more P-day after this one!! Whaaaat that's INSANE.

Anyways, lots happened this week and I don't have much time so this one might be a little brief. I also wanna try to send some pictures and that ALWAYS eats time up. 

So first things first: THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!! Thank you all for all of the sweet Dear Elders that day :) It was a strange day, but definitely the best one I've had in the MTC thus far! Elder Bednar spoke in Devotional and it was like Q&A style, and they handed out like 70 cell phones and we all texted in our questions. It was weird holding a cell phone again....I can't believe it's been a month since I had even touched one. Craaazy. Anyways, it was really enlightening and he's a fantastic speaker. Singing Come Thou Fount was also soooo cool. In the words of Elder Davenport, "I thought on that last note that all of us were just gonna be translated into heaven" haahahahaha but really it was AWESOME. I love that hymn. After Devotional we went to our thanksgiving "lunch/dinner" and the food was SO DISGUSTING. The turkey was questionable and everything was smelly. But that's nothing really out of the ordinary at the MTC cafeteria. Then, we went to a Thanksgiving program thing that was really casual and fun and Elder Hunt played violin and it was SO GOOD. It made me miss clarinet a lot though. Anyways, then we had a sack dinner (yes, my real Thanksgiving dinner was actually a sandwich and chips....) and then we walked to the temple which was great because while we were there this sweet hispanic family came up to us and gave us little bags of candy which apparently were put together by the Orem Spanish ward (WHICH IS IN MY AREA!! :) ) So I talked to the family and told them I was serving in Provo and they said they love their sisters. They also said their sisters don't have cars (maybe I'll get lucky and I'll be a walking missionary and MAYBE I won't gain a thousand pounds on my mission). But anyways, they were really sweet people and it made me soooo so excited for my mission because those are the exact people I'm gonna be serving with. After all that we did a service project where we had to wear ridiculous and ugly hairnets and put together meals (I might send some pictures) but anyways our district sang primary songs the whole time and one of the service coordinators took a video on her phone hahaha it was super cute. The best part of the whole day was the evening though. We all watched Meet The Mormons!! And they handed out yummy popcorn and it almost felt like I was at home again with my family. Then, after the movie they said they had a surprise for the missionaries so we went outside into the courtyard and they plugged in all of the christmas lights!! It was so beautiful I wanted to cry. I'm so excited for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, the sisters in my room and I tried to make jello and we stuck it out the window to harden it and it WORKED. Hahaha kinda gross, buuuut yeah. It's not snowing here though and it's been strangely warm which makes me slightly sad... 

So let's seeeeeeee what other things have been happening. Spanish is getting harder. Grammar sucks a lot. Some days I feel like I have it but then when I teach a lesson I just scrap all the grammar and fall back onto the basics which is really annoying and makes me feel like I will never, ever learn Spanish. It's getting super overwhelming. 

FUNNY STORY THOUGH. 

Okay. So. 

Our district was learning how to teach the Law of Chastity (yeah. kinda awkward) but anyways we were in the middle of practicing teaching each other when I see Elder Weddle shake up a bottle of Orange Juice that belonged to Hermana Green. Hermana Green grabs it back from him, opens it, and it just EXPLODES. Like you would think it was coke or something, it was just foaming everywhere, and juice got ALL OVER the walls and ALL OVER the ceiling and chalkboard and carpet. We were DYING. Like, I had always heard the orange juice here was sketchy but now I truly believe that it should not be  ingested under any circumstance. It was so bad, and it got all over Hermana Flood, who was wearing a white skirt. It was hilarious. 

Another cool thing...for Relief Society on Sunday SHERI DEW came and spoke to us. Now, I know what you're thinking. Sheri Dew is a lady that used to be in the general presidency of something or another, and she's just another lady Savannah will most likely fall asleep to. FALSE. Sheri Dew is literally who I want to be when I'm here age. She spoke clearly and concisely, she's the CEO of Deseret I'm pretty sure, and she's just an AMAZING woman. She spoke about Women and the Priesthood (yeah, most people stay far away from that topic) but it was fabulous because she just NAILED IT. We as sister missionaries have authority from our Stake Presidents and mission presidents to be representatives of Jesus Christ and we have access to the Priesthood. I could write a million paragraphs about it but it was awesome. I love this church. 

For Devotional on Tuesday we had VOCAL POINT. Yeah, like the adorable accapella group from BYU. They blew my mind, they were so amazing at singing and speaking. It touched my heart. And also, Hermana Green's cousin was the producer so I got to meet him and his mom (her aunt) who is in MOTAB. That is just a family of singers cause Hermana Green is amazing at singing too. 

A word about Hermana Green-SHE WENT TO SCHOOL IN EUREKA CALIFORNIA AND SHE KNOWS SIERRA(my cousin)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE TALKED ABOUT IT FOREVER AND MY MIND IS BLOWN!! It's such a small world!!!!

I got a package from Dad on Tuesday also, which was AMAZING. I got tons of food and a gorgeous ring (dad-I'm wearing it right now!!!) It made my whole entire week. 

You guys have no idea how much missionaries love mail. We love everything. We love getting emails on P-day. We love letters. We love packages. We love dear elders. Even if it's tiny, it means the world to us and it can make a horrible day go to a great day in moments. So please keep writing!! 

Spiritual thought for this week....

"The Sin of Mediocrity"

Our AMAZING teacher, Hermano Lund gave us this thought for this week. 

Are we cheating ourselves of the potential we have, the potential that Heavenly Father has for us? I learned this week the reason why I decided to come on a mission. It was more clear to me than ever before. Heavenly Father has big plans for all of his children and he doesn't want you to fail. Hno Lund said that the difference between a mediocre missionary (or regular person) and an excellent one are VERY small things. Things like reading your scriptures, praying more, waking up on time, being obedient in all things, serving others, even just SMILING at others. That's what makes you an excellent person and  I PROMISE Heavenly Father will fill in the rest. 

I have so much more to say but I want to send pictures so I'll go ahead and finish this. 

I love being a missionary! I love this gospel, keep sending me dear elders, I only have a week and a half left to get them so SEND THEM IN! ;) 

I love you ALL. So much.

Hermana Segle 

:)

MTC pictures, part 2!

Meet the District

Okay, I'm gonna tell you guys who everyone in my district is!!! Starting from the left, there's Hermana Anderson, then Hermana Flood, then me, then Hermana Green, then Hermana Beggs (mi comp) and then Hermana Ybarra. In the Back, starting with the left, there's Elder Mills, Elder Weddle, Elder Davenport (he told me to tell you all that he's embarrassed about his rudolph nose zit) Then on the end is Elder Hunt. :)

3rd Week at the Grand CCM

Hey everyone!! 

This past week has been pretty good! As usual, it's had its ups and downs. I'm kinda bummed because we didn't get a P-day this week and we had to just figure out a time to email and do laundry and take it out of our personal study time but it's okay. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! We are pretty much just doing service projects all day but we have a sweet devotional that day and rumor has it that either Holland or Bednar will be speaking. I'm personally banking on President Monson buuuut we shall see ;) 

So, cool thing: On tuesday we had a devotional and Elder Oaks came and spoke to us and it was soooo good, as usual. My district also sang in the choir, and we sang Nearer My God to Thee! The devotional was broadcasted to all of the MTCs around the world. The devotional tomorrow will also be broadcasted. It might actually be on BYUtv!! So watch out for it and please record it if it's on there because we are singing in the choir again and we're singing COME THOU FOUNT!! It's the MoTab version too and it's sooo soo soo good. Seriously. That song is lifechanging. It's the celestial kingdom of all songs. 

Family: Thank you so much for the package!!! I am LOVING my new glasses and everyone else loves them too, I'm so happy with them! I've gotten 2 letters from Michal so far, and I am so grateful for them :) Also I got a package from Grandma Bowerman which was super cool!

Dad's gonna be helping grandpa with his surgery? That's awesome!

So my favorite part of the week is the temple walks on Sundays, usually around 3-4ish. It's great to escape the compound for awhile! ;)

Mom......I may be in need of some tights by the way. 

So let's see, I had a couple of cool experiences happen this week.

First, I don't know if I've told everyone but in my branch here at the MTC, we all have to write 5 minute talks in Spanish for each Sunday, and they assign you a topic and then in Sacrament meeting they'll randomly pick someone to speak and this past Sunday I was chosen to speak....It was pretty scary but it was on the Atonement and repentance and it went pretty well :)

This week's focus seems to be the Atonement because on Monday we taught our difficult investigator (Adrian) and we decided to speak to him specifically about the Savior's suffering in Gethsemane. We showed a bible video (the new ones are REALLY well done.) and I bore my testimony about the Atonement and the spirit was actually super strong and Adrian had tears welling up in his eyes and it was just a really fantastic lesson. 

However, the rest of that day kind of didn't go well. I guess I was bummed out because I hadn't gotten any mail, and I was just feeling a little down on myself and for some reason I was starting to feel very burned out with teaching the lessons and having to do a lot of the speaking by myself and that evening we had to teach our new investigator (Lauro AKA Hermano Lund) and we were planning on teaching about the Restoration but I just felt so lifeless during the whole lesson and I was just struggling a lot and feeling very alone. So after the lesson, it just kept getting worse and worse and eventually I was just trying my best to not cry during the rest of classtime. That evening, Hermano Lund had his sister come in and be a "guest speaker" and talk about her mission in Russia (btw she was in the same area as Saratov Approach-scary!) and it was a really really good talk, and she talked about how trials are necessary on missions because without them it would be too easy. She said, if you had the opportunity to take all the trials you've had in your life away, would you? I look back on the trials in my life, I look back on the nights when I had no one else to rely on but the Savior, and I think: of course I wouldn't want to take those trials away. I experienced some of the most growth in my life during this summer, and during my winter semester of college. I got so close to my Savior, and I'm grateful for them. So, it was a very amazing talk. Afterwards, Hermano Lund noticed that my lesson didn't go well, and that I seemed a little bit off so it was about 9:20PM and everyone was getting ready to leave for bed, but Hermano Lund came up to me and asked if he could talk to me for a minute, and as soon as we got out into the hall I just started crying. I hadn't cried that much since I've been on my mission, but I had just kept a lot of it bottled up. We went into a room and he asked me what was bothering me, and I told him I was having a lot of companion issues and I just felt like things weren't going that well, and talked me through it and gave me really good advice. I am grateful for the Lord sending him into my life, and his amazing and humble spirit. He is a fantastic teacher but I know that he cares specifically about the needs of his students and that whole experience was so great. As most of you know, it's incredibly hard for me to express myself and show any sort of weakness to people I don't know very well so this was kind of a big step in my MTC experience and I'm so grateful for it. But it gets better. That night, I was sitting in my bed, and after talking to Hermana Anderson and Hermana Flood about it (they're 2 other sisters in my district) we had quiet time and I was reading in my scriptures and I went straight to my plaque scripture, D&C 84:88 but I realized I had never read any of the preceding scriptures. It turns out, that entire section in D&C is all about missionary work, and how as long as we are being righteous and doing what's right, the Lord WILL bless his missionaries. He will send ANGELS to bear us up. He knows it's hard. Of course He does. but He also knows that we can make it. 

Sorry that was so long, it was just a really cool experience. 

The language is steadily progressing, I'm basically done memorizing the First Vision en espanol! There are days when I feel like I am just as bad as I was when I first got here, but it's okay. 

Also, crazy thing-our district is kind of cursed with health because this week Elder Davenport found out that he has SHINGLES on his face! If he hadn't gone to the doctor the moment he did, he could have lost his eyesight. Wow. Another cool experience with that-the Elders in our district gave him a blessing and for some reason during the blessing I just started crying! haha I was just so thankful for the amazing blessing of the priesthood! Men, you have the POWER OF GOD. Elder Davenport is rapidly getting better and I know it's because of the Priesthood. I love it. 

Wow this was just an emotional email I am so sorry haha I promise I am doing fine! Letters and Dear Elders are ALWAYS loved and appreciated. Packages too, but....no pressure ;) 

I love you all SO much. Remember the Lord loves you. Remember the power of the Atonement. Remember that Christ suffered all things so we wouldn't have to go through it alone. 

I love being a missionary!! 

Watch out for me if you can watch the broadcast tomorrow!!! :)

LOVE YOUUUU

Hermana Segle:)

PS. I LIKE SWEET POTATO FRIES NOW!!!!! :D 

PPS. look up the background story behind the writing of come thou fount. it'll blow your mind.

MTC pictures, part 1!

Highlights from my second week at the MTC!

Hola everyone!!! 

I can hardly believe that it's P-day again!!! The days seem to go by so slow but so fast at the same time. I love not being the newbie anymore, my whole district has this thing now where if we see a new person at the MTC we see who can say "WELCOME TO THE MTC" in a really loud obnoxious voice first. I've won a few times :) We love wednesdays for that reason alone. 

So, let's see....

Friday: We got a new teacher!! His name is Hermano Lund and he was the guy pretending to be our investigator Francisco. He is literally sent from heaven he is such an amazing teacher. He served in the cold part of Chile and he is the BEST teacher we have had so far (we've had about 9 teachers in our district since we've gotten here and apparently that's very unusual...) 

Saturday: We practiced teaching the Plan of Salvation with an elder in our district, Elder Mills (from New Zealand) and it was such a great experience! It boosted some of my teaching confidence. Hermano Lund taught us a lesson on how to cope with stress in the mission field and it was SO GOOD. We ran downstairs and did wall-sits and recited Our Purpose in Spanish and it really got our minds going again. (We are in a classroom for about 9-12 hours a day, so we get a little restless...)then, he read us a poem entitled "he's been there before" by i think troy whittle but if ANY of you could find it and send it to me ASAP that would be wonderful. It made all of us hermanas cry. 

Sunday: RAN INTO LEXIE JEPPSON AT RELIEF SOCIETY!! She was singing for the musical number and it was BEAUTIFUL. And I turned to my companion and i said "I think that's my roommate from BYUI" and it WAS! I think she's leaving for Hungary soon but she is still just as great as ever and it was so cool seeing her. Me and my comp taught our district lesson on Sunday about faith and it was honestly the best lesson I've ever taught, the spirit was so strong during that lesson and I got so much closer to my district. We had a devotional, then watched the Joseph Smith movie (it's SOOO GOOD every single time) anyways though, during the devotional Hermana Anderson had a cyst pop in her abdomen and she was in so much pain but she didn't want to tell anyone until after and so she got a priesthood blessing from Elder Hunt and Elder Davenport and it was truly amazing to see how that kind of service blesses people. It was amazing to watch. She's feeling better now though, so that's good. But it was a little scary.

Monday: We slept in since we were up late with Hermana Anderson and it felt SOOO GOOD! We taught Adrian another lesson, and it went a little better. We also did a new TRC with members, and it started out horribly but by our second lesson it was great. I finally got some Dear Elders today, so that was super nice. 

Tuesday: We were taught by a teacher named Hno Wolffe (who served in N. Carolina!!) but it was AMAZING. He is an amazing teacher and we learned about how to connect with people when we first meet them and during our first lesson and we practiced that a lot . After lunch, we were kind of restless again so me and some of the elders and hermanas talked about TV shows for like an hour and a half hahaha....

But also we had devotional and we sang in the choir again, we sang Jesus Once of Humble Birth, then Linda K burton talked to us. It was a good devotional. I didn't fall asleep (I usually fall asleep when women talk in general conference) so that was good!!! 

Wednesday: For service we raised the flags outside of the MTC!!! So cool!!! There are 32 and we got to pick them all out. (so naturally we chose a canadian flag, an ecuadorian flag, and a new zealand flag) Then we taught Adrian again, and it went well. We talked about the Plan of Salvation, and next time we're gonna more in depth about the Atonement so I've been studying that a lot. We then had a party for an hermana in our district, Hermana Hanna, her boyfriend sent in like 2 cakes and sparkling cider so that was fun!! Then we taught our new investigator, Lauro. (acted out by Hno Lund) and that went really well!!

So let's see...overall it was a really great week. My spanish is still coming along slowly but surely. I'm almost done memorizing the First vision!! woohoo!!!

Anyways I'm gonna end this now so I can get started on attaching some pictures!!

Love you all!! the gospel is so true!!! Send me letters!!!

Love,

Hermana Segle :)

PS pictures are coming!

1st Week at the MTC!!!!!!

Hey everyone!!!!!!!

First of all, it started snowing as soon as I walked over here so that's pretty exciting.

Second, my P-days are on THURSDAYS. Not Mondays. Lo Siento.

Third, SEND. ME. LETTERS. PLEASE. :) It's much easier to just communicate through letter writing and I get those every day here. (also  dear elders are super nice too) 

Anyways, soooo wow it's kinda stressful trying to tell you guys EVERYTHING when i only have like an hour, so I'll try to cover as much as I can. The first week has definitely been great but also overwhelming. When I first got here, I dropped my stuff off and went straight to my class, where the teacher was speaking all in Spanish but I felt pretty cool cause I understood most of what he was saying. Other than that I remember nothing about my first day. It was basically a blur. 

The food isn't very good, so whoever has been telling me the food is amazing at the MTC you're wrong cause I'm super grossed out by most of it (and my companion got food poisoning on like the second day and she was throwing up all morning). Luckily, I'm a picky eater and didn't eat what she had but still. Que asco. 

We wake up every morning around 6, and my apartment does the early morning fitness classes for sisters which is pretty fun! It's soooo weird that I have a badge now and I basically don't have a first name, but I'm getting used to it. 

OKAY. SO. MY DISTRICT IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I know everyone says that about their district but I'm completely serious. We're all going different places (except me and my companion are both going to Provo) and we're all weirdos but in the best way. One of the Elders is from New Zealand and he's going to Australia SPANISH SPEAKING. He said there were only like 8 missionaries speaking spanish there so that's totally crazy. The other two are going to Philly and then one other one is going to Mexico. Two sisters are going to Ecuador, and then one is going to Chicago and one is going to California. Anyways though, our district is SOOO tight already. They've really kept me going and kept me from being sad and homesick. I love each of them so much. We're doing secret santas as a district and Elder Mills (the one from NZ) is teaching us the Haka. So cool!!!! 

Let's see...what else. Well, you would all be proud to know that I have taught over 5 lessons to investigators TOTALLY in spanish. I can pray in Spanish, and I can bear my testimony in Spanish and everything! Our first investigator's name is Francisco, and he's pretty cool. But then Last week we got TRCs which are also investigators (I think both of mine are really members though, they're just acting) and our TRC is named Adrian. He's about 22 and goes to BYU but he stresses me out a lot because he's just kinda overwhelming and asks a lot of questions we don't know the answers to. In fact, yesterday was one of the bad days because it was so long and we had to teach 2 lessons. But Adrian's lesson went horribly and we hardly got to get to our lesson and when we got back to our classroom I was just sorta upset and down on myself and crying a little bit so that was no fun. But our lesson with Francisco yesterday went much better than Adrian's. 

The Spirit is seriously SO strong here. I've learned more Spanish in one week than I learned in 4 years of High School Spanish, and I know that's because I have quite a lot of help, and that I was set apart to be able to do this which is super awesome. We also have an awesome branch presidency and each week we have to prepare a talk in spanish and they randomly pick someone which normally I would be scared about but I'm glad I'm being exposed to speaking in front of people. On Sunday, we had a sweet devotional and our district watched Elder Bednar's talk, "The Character of Christ" and all I can really say is GO FIND IT AND READ IT. It had me crying like crazy it was so powerful and so great, it made me want to be a better person and a better missionary. HOLY COW I AM A MISSIONARY?? That's still so weird to think about!

Oh, also my district is pretty musical and we all sang in the choir for devotional on Tuesday and we sang Praise to the Man which was AWESOME! I love it here. Some days. If I didn't have such an awesome district I would definitely be having a much worse time. 

Dad-I'm trying really hard to read my scriptures in Spanish but it's SO HARD. I've only gotten through like 4 verses because I really wanna get to know all of the words. But I'm getting there. Everyone loves the bag you gave me by the way, and it makes me miss you. 

Having to stay with a companion all the time is kind of weird and difficult for me because I'm sort of a fast walker and yeah I don't know, everything about that is just hard to adjust to, but it's okay. 

My teachers here have been amazing too!! Our main teacher is Hermana DiCarolo, who is from Italy, served her mission in Spanish speaking california, and she is AWESOME!! She is a tiny little lady and she inspires me and teaches me so much. 

Oh, another weird thing is that all the hermanas are like older than our zone leaders and older than the elders. Super weird. Also I'm senior companion! woohoo. 

I miss all of you so so so very much. I know this gospel is true, and I love the Lord with all my heart. I know I'm where I'm supposed to be and  I know the Lord is looking out for me all the time. He's answered so many of my tiny little prayers this week. In fact, after one hard day I remember I laid in my bed and taped to the top of the bunk was a little post it note that had a scripture on it, and I think it was the one that was like "bear with patience thine afflictions" and it was SO COOL. Like I've never received revelation so quickly. The MTC is amazing like that. I hope you are all doing well and I'm so sorry this email is so random and weird but I'm still trying to get a hang of the whole thing. Also, my english has started getting worse as I learn Spanish. It's so weird. 

TE AMO!!! I love you, I love this gospel, and I miss you so much!!!! 

AGAIN. WRITE ME LETTERS POR FAVOR! It's easier to explain stuff. 

Adios!!

Hermana Segle