Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?

This week flew by! It's probably been the fastest one I've had here so far. I've only been here for three weeks though so that's probably not saying much haha. Your fourth of July sounds like it was really fun! This is the first fourth in years that I haven't watched the fireworks at the golf course. Even when I was in Italy, we factimed and I watched them on my phone! Here we had to be home by 8:00 and we weren't allowed to participate in any fireworks. We did see a few in the distance from our window. Our celebration consisted of wearing red, white, and blue and then at night I found some bubbles in the drawer, so I put on a little bubble-blowing show. Pretty exciting, huh?? Haha not really, and unfortunately it will probably be the same next year, but the year after that when I am home, I will do something really fun :) Your hike sounds like it was beautiful. But you are right, the view and scenery you had was drastically different than the cacti and dust that I experience everyday. I would love to see some of your pictures :) Something green and bodies of water would be a great sight!

Happy July!!

I can't believe that it is already July!! As of today, I am officially in the Arizona Gilbert Mission. It's very exciting! I love it here. It is hotter than anything I am used to, but I love it! The low 90s sound quite nice though:) I think our hottest day here so far actually hit 120. Insane. The birthday party for Ryder sounds like a ton of fun! I wish I could have been there to run through the sprinklers with the kids, but there will be time for that when I get back. The library is closed today because the AC is broken (haha that would never be a problem in Washington!) so we are at a members house and they have four little girls. It's actually very comforting to have them all running around as I write this :) Did you remember to bring my letter to them up there with you? I wish I could see Baby Emree's big smile! Do you have any pictures of her now? I would love to see her. 

A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight

She's in her area and her Pday is Monday ...

It's so good to hear from you. I was so excited for today! Things are great here in Arizona and I love it. I'm glad I got to talk with you on the phone even if it was just for a little bit. Although it's too bad I missed you at the airport by only a few hours. I'm glad you had fun on your trip to Utah. And he might be before my time, but I know who MC Hammer is! Interesting choice for your conference entertainment. I'm glad you got to see Chris before you left. You're right, I am very lucky to have so many wonderful sisters :) I love Ben too though!!! I remember Mt Ellinor too. That was a fun day :) A difficult hike that we were not completely expecting, but it was great! We will have to do that again when I get back.

She's Left the Building

Hey everyone,

There's no new letter but she got to make phone calls from the airport on her way into the mission field. She sounded excited and nervous but not bad enough to pass up an opportunity to show off her mad Spanish speaking skills. She won't find out her Pday and address for letters until she's there ... so stay tuned and I'll update you when she sends her information. She send me more photos with blurbs under them ... so I'm entering that as her 'letter'.

These are pictures of our very last class all together. It was on Saturday.

This is my afternoon teacher Hna. Gibbons.

Time is Flying By

The weeks are most definitely flying by!!! I can't believe I have so little time left at the MTC. You heard correctly! This Tuesday...so I guess last night...was the first every Tuesday Night Missionary Devotional in the Marriott Center. It was so great! Our speaker was Mervyn B. Arnold of the Seventy and his wife. They were so cute! They both gave wonderful talks and the Spirit was so strong there. It was nice to be in the Marriott Center again...almost like I was back at school! One of the coolest parts was walking back and seeing the long line of missionaries stretching out in front of you and behind you. There are so many of us!! That's too bad that you didn't see me! I definitely got on camera!

 

Annika looks so cute! I love the picture with all three of them swaddled :) melted my heart. I did get your letter with my blessing and the pictures. Thank you so much! It was so great to read through it again. Oh! please tell Adelyn that I think she has beautiful blue eyes :) I can't believe that Ryder is already two! Tell him happy birthday for me please. That is one of the hardest things...not being there to see all six of them as they are growing up. But I love hearing stories and seeing pictures! I can't belive Jadyn is a fourth grader now!!! I can still remember the day she was born. Hahaha I went to the hospital in my munchkin costume. Hey!!! I was in 4th grade when she was born. That's crazy! Tell her to write me a story and illustrate it and send it to me. I would love that :)

It has been quite the week. Last Wednesday night I got to welcome the new district with the Zone Leaders as part of my calling. We went over some things with them and then I took the sisters to their room. They live right next door to us. There are four of them. They are great! It was fun to work with the ZLs and be able to do that. I'm sad that I don't get to do it again today too, but that's okay! That same night I talked a lot with Hna. Weloth about things I want to change and work on and improve upon. She and I have a lot to learn from each other and help each other with. I'm sad that she's not coming to Arizona too, but I know that she will do fabulously in Pittsburgh and that the people there will absolutely love her.

In our class last week, Hna. Zullo had us write down one challenge we were facing. Then we went outside and studied Lesson 1 specifically to find answers for that question. And it worked wonderfully! I recieved comfort and encouragement and a place to begin to study more things that can help me. The Lord really does have perfect timing. I don't know why we ever doubt that and think that we know better. I was stressed out the night before and then the very next day, through inspired teachers, I was able to find answers to my questions. And then today at the temple I ran into my friend Eliza Stratton from BYU. I knew that she came into the MTC today and I was hoping I would be able to see her. I ran into her right as I was leaving the changing room. She looked really nervous so I was glad I could see her and tell her everything was going to be just fine. The Lord really does loves us and has things worked out for our benefit. We just have to trust Him and His timing.

We've talked a lot lately about the importance of listening and asking questions, in our lessons, but it applies in all areas of life. We have to listen to people we associate with and understand them by asking questions and finding out what they really need. Asking questions is also better because it allows them to think through and process things instead of just being told. We have to listen to the Spirit for guidance in all things. That is something I am really striving to do. It can be really hard! But I know that He is there if I learn to listen the correct way.

Hna. Marquez wasn't feeling well and received a blessing, but all is well now. We are all pretty sick of being sick, but it seems like most of us are completly over it now. An elder in our district did break two of his teeth though. His dad is an oral surgeon and they are from Park City so he's home all of today for emergency surgery and then he comes back tomorrow. The rest of the Elders said that he and his mom both started to cry when they picked him up. He gave one of the talks on Sunday. It was really funny because he went up to the pulpit with nothing in his hand and then pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and started to unfold it and it crinkled pretty loudly. Even the Branch Presidency was laughing. He is a really funny Elder!

I got my travel plans!!! So exciting!!!! I leave the MTC Tuesday morning at 4:30 a.m. which is not so exciting. Our flight leaves at 8:36. I was thinking I would call you and Dad (and I suppose anyone else who wants to be at the house that early) around 7:30, which would be 6:30 your time. It wouldn't be for very long, but it would be nice to be able to. Does that sound good? My flight is Delta #2463... I figure Dad will probably want to track it ;)

Saturday night we played Capture the Tie as a Zone and then we and the sisters from one of the other districts sat in the stairwell and chatted for a while. It was very nice. I think that we all needed it. Plus, Hna. Weloth was able to find some other sisters who are going to Pittsburgh too! She has been pretty bummed about being the only one so that was good for her. Then we went downstairs to our room and that's when we discovered that somewhere along the way, Hna. Marquez had lost the key. So we said a prayer and began to retrace our steps. At this point it was pretty dark, but we tried anyways. I'm sure we looked pretty silly crawling around on our hands and knees in a little line to make sure we didn't miss an area. Then in a last attempt we took off our shoes and walked around in the grass to see if it would be easier that way. Despite all our best efforts, we didn't find it. So we went to the front desk and had to ask for a replacement key. Quite the adventure! We didn't have very much time to get ready that night.

Relief Society was really good this week. Our speaker was Anne Clegg from the Relief Society General Board. One of the other sisters on the board has a daughter in the MTC so she had her come to the stage and gave her a gift bag from her mom. The sister started crying and it was such a tender moment that I got a little teary-eyed too! The MTC is turning me into a softy! It made me think of you and that I miss you too. I love you mom! That night we had a really good devotional too. He told a wonderful story about two missionaries who had the goal to teach 20 lessons a week and on Sunday afternoon were only at 19. They remembered that there was a YSA activity at the church so they went there to see if they could find anyone to teach a lesson to. Pause and rewind a week. A young women had a dream about being in a grove of trees and seeing a yound boy some ways in the distance and seeing him kneeling and praying, with two figures in the air above him. She woke up and had such peace when thinking about that dream. Her friend invited her to the YSA activity and she accepted without thinking much of it. Ok now play and go back to Sunday night. The missionaries got to the church and asked if anybody wanted to be taught a lesson. Someone told them that there was a non-member there. The missionaries asked if they could teach her and she said yes. They felt impressed to show her the picutre of the first vision. When she saw it, she stopped them and told them that she knew it. She was baptized two weeks later. What an amazing story. I can't wait to be a part of miracles like that!!!

Anyways, that's all for this week. We've talked a few times about Priesthood lines of authority and I would like it if you sent me dad's line. Also, which mission in columbia is Jacob Moss in? An Elder in my district is going to Columbia and I was wondering if it was the same one. I won't be able to e-mail you until my first P-day in the field. I'm not sure when that is, but I think it will be the first Monday I am there. Until then, I love you very much!!

Con mi amor,

Hermana Baria