i just spent a bajillion years typuing out a really awesome email onto my study journal, but now it won't let me copy and paste it onto here and i'm filled with righteous indignation. so this'll have to do.
anyway, another week! i've almost been here for a month. i feel like i've been here my whole life. like...parents? what are those?? just kidding. time is funny at the mtc. it drags and yet speeds by. my schedule is pretty much the same every day, get up at 6:30 class, study, eat, class, study, eat, class study, bed. bam. and we have an hour of gym which i'm sure you can imagine i love. actually, i've started to kind of appreciate it. i teach sister sandoval how to do cartwheels which mostly just ends up with me getting kciked in the face. actually, i've been teaching her a lot of things, like how to kick a soccerball, cartwheels, french, and how to sing becuase she only ever lip syncs when we have to sing hymns in the district and i'm tired of being the only female voice in the room. in turn, she is teaching me about the brain and the body because she is a ridiculously smart neuro-science major. mostly this teaching just involves her being THE MEANEST MOM EVER because she makes me eat fiber cereal and i cry and whine the whole time because it looks like hampster poop and tastes like dirt. AND she makes me exercise. like the other day, we were having a wonderful time sitting in the grass in teh shade during gym and she looks over at me and says, "we should do some ab exercises." and i was like "why are you always trying to ruin my life?" and then she made me run a mile and afterwards was like "i thought that was great, didn't you?" and i was like "i probably would've liked it more if i wasn't thinking about how much i HATED it the whole time!" we love each other, but seriously. we have so much fun together.
this week was particularly hard for both of us because of some district drama involving our little friend i mentioned last week. he has not been checking himself, and thus continues to wreck himself. he pretty much hates everyone now, but reserves his really rude and insulting behavior to me and sister s, which is cute i guess. i do love getting special treatment. it has been a struggle for me to be nice and loving, especially since any attempt to do so is met with insult and disrespect. the branch president has got involved because he also has a lot of problems with his companion, but i think it's only made his attitude worse. so it'll continue to be a struggle, but i kind of came to teh realization that my committment to follow christ and be his represenative is not dependent on others' behavior. so basically, even if he deosn't make any effort to be nice doesn't mean that i can stop trying. but i am happy to say that i really think my prayers to be able to grow in love for the people in my zone have been answered--i feel like i know they a lot better and love them so much more.
this week, in honor of harry potter coming out (tear sob sob!!), sis s and i made the sisters in our district dress up like harry potter characters and take pictures. we made one girl wear nude pantyhose over her head to be voldemort. it was awesome. and i was bellatrix, because if you could see my hair at the MTC that decision would be self-explanatory. i just ordered pics today so i'll send some next pday!
anyway, things are going well, but still pretty stressful. sometimes i feel like the MTC is like drinking from a fire-hose--i get some water, but mostly it just hurts my face. i really do feel like i'm learning and growing so much though. i got a bloody nose htis week, probably because my BRAIN is exploding on a regular basis, so now it's just starting to hemmorage out of my face. so that's gross, but cool too. and i started reading "jesus the christ" which is awesome but takes sooo much concentration. like whoa, informative and lightbulb moment inducing. i'm really enjoying my studies and honestly scriptures have become my favorite things (WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MEEE AAAAH CHRISTLIKE ATTRIBUTES!!!) the funny thing about the MTC is that you're doing gospel stuff all the time so it's pretty much always on your mind. sis s and i were laughing the other day because she was like, "sister hansen, remember how the first few days you were singing lady gaga in the shower and now you only have hymns stuck in your head?" ha! or i just make up songs about the mtc and sing them to her and she LOVES IT.
yeah the mtc is funny. the other day one of the elders in our district got chastised by a teacher for flirting because he told sis s and i that it was so cute that our outfits matched (but srsly it WAS cute). we were cracking up--poor lil elder. oh! and we started this language training thing where we talk to volunteers that come in who speak the language and i got to see lindsay! (o'rourke) i felt like such an idiot because i was so happy that i just burst into tears and she was like "what's wrong?!!" and i was like I'M JUST SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU! and then i clung to her like an orphan. it was just so nice to see a friend, but hard at the same time because it reminded me about real life when normally the MTC veil is tightly drawn. but it was good!
anyway, i'm not sick anymore. i'm happy, and i love this work. i love hearing from everyoen, so keep the letters comin'. hopefully my email will stop being glitchy, but dearelder is always a good alternative since i can read those during the week. OH! and thank the jeffires for the treat!! it was so great and made my day! (and my roommates). i'm still so perplexed as to how they got it into my room though. do they know the house-elves that work here at hogwarts?? oh and mom, EVERYONE always compliments me when i wear the skirts you made for me, so you should feel good about that. you help me to be a stylin sister missionary. and dad, i squealed with happiness when i got your letter, so keep those coming too. i have to go now, but give my love to everyone! the gospel is true and makes you happy. that's just what i want to share with the world, so i'm working hard on learning how to do it.
ua here au ia orua! te mihi nei au ia orua! (i love you and miss you)
love,
sister Hansen
