Life at the MTC is Good!

Hermana Pratt (Jamie) in the middle of the MTC Provo!

7/15/2006

Yet another P-Day! This week went very quickly. The beginning of the week was really slow and now it has picked up a lot. The days run together, it feels like we are doing the same thing everyday-well we pretty much are! I like this Dear Elder.com thing. It is nice getting the letters right away. It doesn't seem like it takes my letters as long to get to you as it does for yours to get to me. Dear Elder if you submit by a certain time it will be same day delivery.

It sounds like Alli's wedding was good. I bet Lael was way excited to see you at the reception. She said it would be weird to see you guys without me. I bet they were excited you showed up though.

She has a little bit in the letter here where she is responding to some things we wrote to her and asking for me to send more things to her and even stamps!

That is awesome you went out on the lake- so jealous! That sounds so awesome! You guys buying a house for a project is a blessing in disguise. It is great for you to have something you need to work on and stay busy. (Not sure if she thinks we just sit around all day)

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. ( I had a few bad days! But better now) It is getting easier for me, now that I have gotten letters from home I have been happier and haven't had any problems. It is still hard to want to pick up the phone but can't.

Sorry to hear about Chris. My prayers are with him. Chris is her uncle and he was in an accident. He is doing well now!

So Landen Faulkner came into the MTC Wednesday. I saw him Thursday, he came up behind me and surprised me while I was vacuuming. (She vacuums?) He is going to Mexico City. I think he may be in our zone. I will find out tomorrow if he is at church/our Sacrament meeting. I had no clue he was coming in! That was cool! He seemed really happy. Those first few days were hard!

I don't know if I told you, I wrote a talk in Spanish about baptism and I will write one tomorrow for faith. They don't tell you who's talking until after the Sacrament. So, everyone has to be prepared. The sacrament meeting is totally in Spanish. We have a counselor from Chile. After listening to him and his wife talk-we have A LOT to learn! It is so hard to understand them! I had to teach a principle last week as part of our meeting with the Branch Presidency.

It is amazing teaching the lessons. I am getting so familiar with the lessons each week that you memorize what the scripture is, where it is with out even trying. This week was #2 about the plan of salvation. It is a lot harder because there is sooo much we know about it and you don't want to share all the deep doctrine at first. We taught a volunteer investigator the second lesson and he asked questions like why would God allow the fall if he loves us and why does he allow so much sorrow! We were like - hello - first time teaching this. It was good though but he pounded us with questions.

Hermana Morphis and I are doing better I think - well it is me. She is a tomboy more so than me. She is a sport/theater/music person (weird combo). She sings and dances constantly. Totally nerdy but a hard worker.

It is amazing how much this place stretches you. We do so many things that I'm not usually comfortable doing. Getting in front of people teaching, spilling all your thoughts and desires, sharing testimonies, anything you could can think of. You have to get outside your box, that is the only way to learn. That is the only way to share the gospel. It is hard in the referral center and calling people we don't know and then sharing your testimony and hoping they will accept the missionaries onto their home.

We had John K Carmack speak to us. An Emeritus of the 70. He showed us where in the Bible the law of Moses justifies Nephi killing Laban. The most interesting was where in the Book of Mormon it shows that poligamy at certain times is called of God (Jacob 2:29-30). Times when he needs his people built up. He had everyone raise their hands if they came from poligamy. I swear 3/4 of the audience did. It was amazing. I laughed and proudly raised my hand. :) He also showed us a Book of Mormon that Hyrum Smith was reading before he died. He showed us where Joseph Smith had written in it. It was cool!

Erica sent brownies this week. That was so nice of her. She always does really nice and thoughtful things. Have fun with them on the lake and for Alli B-Day party coming up. Tell her happy B-Day for me!

I'm sending you all of my pictures. I have some extra photo albums in my container with the rest. Will you put all my pictures in some sort of album for me or in a bin in order or something. That would be great!

So this week has been a lot better. I'm praying so hard for the spirit to be with me. I'm praying to have charity. I'm trying to learn to love and care about my comp but she never shuts up. She's always talking and singing. It isn't as bad as it sounds though. ( I love that she is having this struggle. This is the one thing that Monte and Jamie always complained about me. They would always want me to be quiet and not talk. And I just wanted to share with them. So I love this! HE HE)

If I weren't going foreign I would be leaving this week. The Elders in our district get to go to the Spain MTC for the rest of their training- Lucky! Things are going well.

I can tell the days the Spirit is with me more because I learn and remember better.

I don't really eat anything anymore. 50 minutes of gym time isn't enough to get an appetite.

The Lord really is blessing and helping me. It is amazing how right everything feels. I can pray in Spanish and for the most part bear my testimony in Spanish. Not perfectly though. We are teaching the first lesson in Spanish this week, next Friday.

I'm Being taken care of. Things are good. I miss calling home for the most part I am too busy to think about anything. Thanks for everything! It was nice to hear from you so much this week. It helps a lot to hear from home.

I think I've told you everything I can think of. Stay Strong! Pray for the Spirit to be with you! Be happy for the Gospel is a message of happiness and joy!

Love

Jamie

I miss my first name already!

She writes this on the envelope: Don't worry, I already lost my Spanish hymn book-bought another one then found the one I lost the next day. Lost my Spanish Book of Mormon! I am hoping it will show up before I buy another one! I haven't changed that is for sure! :)

These two Elders are the only two that wait to walk with us and open the door for us. We don't open too many doors for ourselves. As it should be. The other Elders always race for dinner!

Left to right: Elder Jermain, Elder Rowley, Hermana Stacy Brinkerhauff, Hermana Amy McGuire, Hermana Jamie Pratt, Hermana Mandy Morhpis. Outside the Parley P. Pratt Building.

Jamie and Stacy Brinkerhauff with the Prophet Joseph Smith Statue at the MTC

Left to Right: Heramana Pratt, Hermana Morphis, Hermana Brinkerhauff, Heramana McGuire

These are Jamie's room-mates and Hermana Morphis is Jamie's companion. This was taken just outside their room at the MTC