Heyoooooo

Man I love writing these. 

This week was very different than last, but for good reasons. I'm growing. 

My district is freaking hilarious. Theres 12 of us and we all grind together. But I have to be real, the Hermanas here are so much better at spanish than the elders. Elders are cooler though so it cancels out. We were able to take our white dots off of our tags on sunday after conference which means we aren't the babies in the mtc anymore. Yesterday new missionaries came to the mtc and i'm not going to lie, my heart ached for them. Some of these elders are seriously so tiny it's the weirdest thing. They look like Michael so i automatically want to hug them all but that goes right against the rules on page 33 in the missionary handbook. 

OK THIS MADE MY FREAKING VIDA. Dad you're not going to believe this. Earlier this week we were going over how to pronounce the letters in the alphabet. Easy stuff. When we got to the letter p my teacher LEGIT said parangaricutirimicuaro and everyone was like whatttt. Well guess who else knows how to say that word like a native, this chica. His jaw just about hit the floor and I knew at that point exactly why I was on my mission. jk......but also not it was incredible. Dad, never thought the day would come, but thank you so much for teaching me how to say parangaricutirimicuaro. 

General conference was good. The CCM shuts downnnnn but its also super cool to watch it as a missionary. It was so funny listening to all the hermanas freak out when Nelson was announced to speak, or Uchtdorf. The best. Also 8 new temples! what the literal heck! so dope. shoutout to orem utah. you finally made it bb. 

Mi companera es Hermana Steed. She's awesome and we lift each other up when it gets hard. Her testimony inspires me. I legit cant imagine being the only member and leaving my family. Heavenly Father knew she needed to be my companion. Doesn't allow me to be a wimp haha. Also she's a freaking fitness trainer. Not really but she sure feels like one. We ran sprints last week and did solid cardio for 25 minutes today. We were running around the track and five laps in she says good job. we are halfway. i was like QUE

Having a companion is weird though. Luckily i'm blessed with one i like. You go everywhere together and do everything together. Again with the snoring.....a couple nights ago I couldn't sleep so i rolled over and said hermana steed, do i snore hahaha she was SO quick to respond. Yes, yes folks, i snore. I don't know what to do about it. Send advice plz

This week I started to feel a little funny. I wasn't homesick and I wasn't sad. I think I was just a little in shock Im actually here. There have been a couple times Ive been walking around with my district and have totally zoned out. Ill blink like 5 times and tell myself to wake up. I cant believe im here. BUT here's the dopest thing ever. The night before I left I was sitting in my room with my mom, kinda emo, and she said, make every goodbye you've said, worth every tear you shed. That has stuck and now it's something the hermanas in my apartment say to each other. Saying goodbye stunkkkkk. So glad I don't have to do it again. Ive got a lot of work to do to make up for all those goodbyes. Im trying my best!!!!! Also another thing I like along those lines. hehehe its about to get spiritual for a sec bear with me this is my job. Terrence M Vinson said something I really liked in conference. He said if we succeed without sacrifice what was it worth? the answer is no. so here i am. 

Food here is not doing me any good. This elder legit pulled a dragonfly out of his burrito and my spirit left my body for a second. 

Something else I was thinking about this week. As I thought about serving a mission, lol like the past year, i heard a lot of people say just put your life on the shelf for 18 months and serve the lord. Yaaaaa no. Im not putting my life on the shelf. This IS my life. I love my Savior and what he's done for me. I owe it to Him and everyone around me to do His work. 

Ok this killed me. During Uchtdorf's talk he made a parallel to Bilbo Baggins from LotRs. We had a devotional after conference in which missionaries could share what inspired them from conference. This chick, hermana excuse me, LEGIT stood up and bore a 5 minute testimony on JR Tolkien. Felt a little like girls camp hahaha. That was weirder than the dragonfly in the burrito. I was DYING. 

So ya! Thats kinda whats up right now. I loveeeed opening up my inbox and seeing emails from everyone. Its hard to respond but plz keep writing. It makes my week. 

I want everyone to know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and it will make you so happy! 

Love love love love loveeeeeeeeee,

Hermana McKinlay