Week #5: Last week in the MTC (CCM)

Hola Padres!

Okay so most important detail first...This week they had for one meal a normal GREEN salad and shepherd's pie!!! It was absolutely delicious and I had to get seconds of both! Their salads here usually have fruit, nuts, extreme amounts of strange meats and some white cheese...(fresc....something) anywho, this green salad was made of Romain and spinach and cucumbers! It was SOOOOOOO good!

Alright awesome lesson this week... Don't complain! If it isn't a big enough deal to talk about it directly to the person then it isn't big enough to complain about to others...

I have been spending my personal study time studying humility...D&C101:37-38 and especially D&C 67:10 is a new favorite scripture! It is just really interesting thinking about the process of stripping ourselves of pride, jealousy, and fears.

OK, so I think I have told you a little about our new roommates...did I tell you about their alarms? I can't remember, but it is really quite hilarious. One of their alarms goes off an hour early just so she can hit snooze... and the other one goes off 10 minutes before mine but it is a weird glowing orb that lights up our entire room with strange colors and it makes really cheap ''ambient'' noises...so every morning I am treated to the sounds of an ocean pier...yup it is even complete with seagulls! lol. Anyway, one of them Hermana Young looked really familiar and it wasn't until last night that we realized we lived in the same dorm the same semester and BYU Idaho! How funny is that?!?

Funniest rejection line I have ever heard straight from the mouth of Elder Robbins, ''No, I'm sorry I really need to water my....turtle''  Elder Robbins also has a thing called Sassy Saturday... our district now calls Saturday Sasserday! lol

This week has gone by crazy fast.I can't believe I am actually going to be in Arkansas in 5 days!!! And it isn't going to slow down either because all day tomorrow is a class called in-field orientation, Saturday and Sunday is general conference, Monday is one more day of regular classes and then I am getting on an airplane Tuesday morning!!! AHHHHHHHHHH! I am super excited but also getting a little nervous... I can kind of speak Spanish but I can't really understand it when people speak to me....it is super frustrating. And when sister Howton and I are teaching I'll ask a question to the investigator, the investigator will answer...and then I just stare at my companion....It is really quite depressing, but I know I will get there eventually!

 Oh, and some more exciting news! Hermana Howton and I officially finished cover to cover El Libro de Mormon in a month! 4 weeks! Boo-yeah! There is no way we could have done that without the Lord's help because we really didn't have that much time in our schedules and we really aren't that fast at reading but by the end of the book I was thinking about sitting on the floor with mom reading and how long it took to read one chapter...pshh, that is easy peasy now, and I am so thankful!

We went to the Mexico Temple for the last time in our CCM experience! I understood so much more than I did the first two times and it is such a blessing to be able to see how far I've come!

I am getting pretty good at flipping my r's...I haven't mastered or come even close to the rolled rr but I am determined to get it!

Thank you so much for your answer to my question about what gives you strength! It was such a beautiful testimony and gave me strength! It was funny, I was reading it on the bus on my way to the temple this morning and I had to read and reread each sentence, because of noises, bumps, language...lol and the big red book reference made me burst out laughing! I miss you a lot!

I am so excited for Maryanne and Haley! They are going to love it in the MTC!!! They are going to be absolutely fabulous missionaries! Have they already given their farewell talks?

I am trying to think of anything else exciting that happened this week... I bruised my thumb playing volleyball, then forgot about my bruise and played again and so now I have a bruise on top of a bruise....

One day we taught Hermano Smith's other district at 7pm outside... (i had only gotten 1 mosquito bite up to this point)...I now am the proud owner of 47 bites... yeah, that was not the funnest night of my life.

Oh, I bought a temple recommend holder! It has Spanish on it! And it makes me very happy, I'll try to send a picture of it...next week.

I love you all bunches and bunches! I hope you are enjoying your new phones! Have you been using my Mac? and iPod? And have you been up in my room because I was thinking about it the other day and how I left a bad of dried fruit and m&ms in there...I'm just hoping you found them and put them in a more appropriate spot...like your tummies :) I love you!

Super excited to call you!

With toda mi amor!

Hermana Ives

Oh, mom you know that Spanish note that you left in my bag??? I looked at it the other day and it made me super happy that I understood all of the words and conjugations! It took me a while but I got there!!! Teehee!