This week flew by SO quick!!! So many awesome experiences. I love it here.

Sunday we had an AWESOME devotional about Joseph Smith by Mathew R Holland. Elder Holland's son. Both Elder Holland and his wife were there. It was so cool. I sang in the choir. Actually our whole zone does every Sunday and Tuesday. My testimony of the reality of the Prophet Joseph Smith and love for him was strengthened SO much. I also lead the music in our Branch. Trying to become a little more musical :)  

Picture with our Branch Pres and wife. He reminds me of a mix between Grandpa Rhoten and Gordon B. Hinckley.

Wednesday I got to help welcome our new district!! They are all so great! I love them. I made little welcome card things for them and had everyone in the zone sign them and all the Hermanas donated leftover Valentine chocolate to make little candy bags. We had lots. 

The MTC is so great. We work hard and play hard. Since most of our time is spent studying in the classroom, when we get the chance to play and relax we make it super fun. Our zone usually all meet at gym and play volleyball or 4 square. Both are SUPER fun. If the weather is nice after gym we'll all go get sack lunches and eat out side "a la playa" which means "at the beach" There's a sand volleyball court by our apartments with some picnic tables close by. P-days we ride the bus over to main campus for breakfast together. We've gotten pretty good at bus surfing. Then for dinner we're allowed to walk down the street to Brigham's Landing. There's a Jamba Juice and some burger place and a Kinkos to print pictures there. And we have initiation. Our zone leaders buy all the first timers wheat grass shots from Jamba Juice, which is already 50% off for missionaries. Everyone thinks they're gross and taste like a lawn mower but I really liked it. Pretty fun. 

For the rest of the time here our teacher, Hermano Wright will be acting as one of our investigators. He is pretending to be his younger brother Caleb who is 18 years old and hasn't gone to church in 3 years, struggled with depression, OCD and although was raised in the church, decided he is not agnostic. Hermano Wright chose him as our investigator because he wants to know how to better help his brother. It has been one of the greatest experiences ever because it feels so real. It was hard the first couple lessons when we couldn't get him to understand and feel the love of our Father in Heaven and he didn't want to pray or even try. He had no desire. My comp and I worked really really hard to try and find more about Caleb and truly put ourselves in his shoes and meet his needs. In all of our studies and planning we talked about Caleb and how we could get him to know that he is loved and important. That he is not alone in what he's going through and give him hope. We weren't sure where to go with the lesson and Thursday night during our planning we did our best to follow the Spirit and turn it all over to the Lord. Yesterday during the lesson I finally felt like we hit it right on with what he truly needed and the Spirit was so strong during the lesson. Its hard to describe but it was a really AWESOME experience. 

Thursday I went to Salt Lake for part of the day to go with a group to appear before the Mexican consulate for our Visas :) That was exciting but to be honest I was bummed to miss out on a few hours of studying. Never thought I'd say that but definitely was. On the train thing back to Provo my companion and I were trying hard to find someone to share the gospel with. Every stop we moved to a new seat and talked with someone new. A lot of them were already LDS... but we got to talk with one girl who is thinking about serving a mission and at the very last stretch of the ride we sat with an older Hispanic lady and had a good talk about Mexico City and the gospel AND it was in Spanish!!!! She said she already had a Book of Mormon and it wasn't for her but it was still a sweet experience to share our testimonies in Spanish outside of the MTC. I was really grateful for it. 

I love it here and am trying my best to become a more consecrated missionary and give my whole self to the Lord. I saw Aubrey Callahan today at lunch! After the temple we ate at main campus. It was so fun to see her! I also saw Kelsey Turner's cousin, Alec! I was so shocked that he recognized me. But that was cool. And congrats to Kimmi Facer!!! I am SO excited for her. Another Mexico missionary. She will LOVE it and be such an AWESOME Sister Missionary. That's actually the same mission Nathan McBride just left to. 

Well about time to get off. Still lots to get done today before class. Nothing better than being a missionary. Spanish is coming well and I'm doing great!  Thanks for sending pictures! My room looks super different! Adorable. Good work Madi :) Talk to you next week! 

Love you lots!

Hermana Rhoten