Hilary's 1st Email

                               Hola!

  The day has finally come when I am able to write you. HOORAH. It's Thursday May 10. I mean, I've been at the MTC for eight days! Wow. Okay, thanks for your packages and emails! I feel so loved. I love you so much and miss you greatly. Okay, let me start from the beginning.

  The first day at the MTC is sort of like a movie. There is an orange sticker on your tag that you have to wear your first day which causes everyone on MTC campus to say, "Welcome Sisters!" in their new language. I felt like I was Zach Efron on a Disney Channel movie or something. Everyone was walking passed me and smiling and greeting me (and everyone else that was new). But Disney is a good analogy. The MTC is the happiest place on earth. No, I'm being completely serious. Okay, I'll get to that stuff later. So on my first day I had soup all over my dress and in a workshop I introduced myself as Elder Norton... It was a humbling day. (And that was not the last time I've introduced myself as an Elder. I don't know what my problem is.)

   My companions are great. Yes, I'm in a trio. Sister Giles is from South Jordan and Sister Ellis is from Kearns. They're both hilarious and we get along so well. Sister Ellis and I were talking about how concerned we are about being in different companionships; the standard has been set high.

I've seen many friends here at the MTC.  I've seen a picture of Sam Miller on his mission and also, there's a giant picture of Parker Wilson knocking a door. Crazy! I've seen a LOT of my friends from BYU that work here. I saw David Doxey. He's such a good guy. I saw Sister Howe and Sister Wilson. The MTC is just such a happy place. You don't realize how good life can get until you get to do things like this.

   My Spanish teacher's name is Hermano Loaiza. He is fantastic. He's a really sweet BYU student who is a native Spanish speaker. He's a really good guy and I'm so grateful for him every day. The spirit is felt very strongly in his classes and I'm so glad to know the MTC hires people who are pure and who care about the important work. Everyone here is fantastic.

   Yes, class is 100% Espanol. It's so great though. I feel pretty comfortable with the language. I mean, it's VERY challenging, but I know I have help. On our second day, we taught our first investigator, Martin. We met with him five times and now we're moving on to a new investigator. Things were hard with Martin. We committed him to baptism, but I just felt like there was so much more that needed to be accomplished that we just COULDN'T because of the language barrier. We've had a couple workshops where we've had the opportunities to teach in English and I love it. I love bearing my testimony and promising others blessings I know Heavenly Father wants to give them. BUT. Until I learn more Spanish, I can't do that. HA. I mean, I can, with the Spirit. But it's just very very hard. Our first few lessons with Martin were terrible. We decided what to say beforehand and went in and just read it straight to/AT him. Saturday night we hit rock bottom. We were all really frustrated. Sunday was a good break and after fasting and studying and listening to many great mission conference and fireside talks, I felt a lot more prepared to teach the gospel. I realized (D&C 84:85) that what we needed to do was just depend on the spirit. If we did what we needed to to understand the doctrine and have the companionship of the spirit, he would carry the message. And he did! Basically I had a really great conversation with Martin and was able to answer some questions he had and I felt like he was really beginning to understand. Anyway, overall it was a really good learning experience. I look forward to female investigators who I feel like I might be able to connect with better. Most importantly I look forward to understanding the Spanish language better so I am a more functional instrument through which He can share his messages.

   Elder Clinger is great. He's a really good kid. So is Elder Christiansen. Both are in my district, which is literally the greatest. My first letter was from Lucky, I've also heard from Paul Park and Mitch and Abby :) I love everyone. I hope everyone is doing well.  I'm so glad to hear about Adam's games! And about the gifted program. YOU ROCK.  I can't call on Mother's Day, but I will call when I'm traveling, which is May 22.  I'll be sending some things back soon. Thanks for all the food! I'm not so hungry though; I'M JUST HUNGRY TO HEAR YOUR WORDS! SO WRITE ME :)

LOVE YOU