Hola!

Okay, so first of all, if you could send your emails dearelder.com, that would be helpful. I only have 30 minutes total to read and send. Mom, could you send Kyle's emails dearelder.com too? Thanks! So this week was pretty exciting. We got two new sisters in our zone, Hrma Read and Hrma Smart. Hrma Read is headed for Madrid and Hrma Smart is going to Texas. They are both really great. The oldest district left yesterday for Carlsbad California and Chicago. The Hrmas from that district were great and we'll miss them, but I know they're just going to do something better than the MTC. I got called to be the music coordinator for my zone, which is awesome. I have to teach everyone how to lead music, and I'm pretty excited about it. Yesterday we had Elder Hafan from the 1st quorum of the seventy come and speak to us about how to gain a testimony. He said that there were three parts. We have to search it out and use our reasoning. To base a testimony solely on feelings isn't enough. Then there is the feeling of the Spirit and lastly experience. As we live the commandments, we are able to see that blessings come and it's awesome! One thing that I've learned from being here is the concept that Christ taught, 'If you love me, keep my commandments.' More deeply though, I've learned the concept of 'You show how much you love me by how many commandments you're willing to keep.' The more and more that I am obidient, the more I see direct answers to my prayers. It's crazy! My teachers, Hrmos Taylor and
Mortimer, are really great. We always play this awesome game called Sacamen las papas. Basically we pass a ball around and have to say a vocab word when we are caught with the ball. In the end, we start chucking the ball at each other like crazy and falling out of our seats. It's hilarious and a nice change of exhausting pace. I've never been able to sleep better than i have here. I'm always bushed by the time I lay down that I'm out in about two seconds. There is a lot of mental and emotional strain, but i absolutely love it. We listened to a talk by Elder Holland a couple of weeks ago and he talked about his mission. He said not to get caught up in the idea that I've "left real life" and that I'll get "back to real life" after the mission. He said "this is REAL life." There isn't anything closer to what life is all about than what I'm doing right now. School, work, and all that other stuff is just a complement to saving the worl from spiritual death. I think back when i was in High school and I had friends that were in-active or not LDS and I thought that it wasn't my place to say or do anything about it. But now i realize that I was sitting back as someone was falling and did nothing, just because i didn't want them to feel like I was all up in their grill. I wish that I would have taken the time to help someon, rather than just let them down. Hopefully I can make up for it somehow while I'm on my mission. I love you all!