Week 1 (MTC) Better Than Disneyland!

Week 1 (MTC)

It's been 1 week since we dropped Elise off at the MTC.  We have received a couple of letters and emails in that time.  We are so happy that she is loving every minute of her experience.  She is such a great example and inspiration to us.  We love her, and miss her but, we know she is doing the work of the Lord.  Below is her first letter detailing her first week at the MTC!

Better Than Disneyland!

I have officially finished my first week at the MTC! It's been quite a roller coaster! I just want to say thank you to everyone who sent me mail while I was here! I will do my best to get letters to everyone today.

After I got dropped off we picked up our books and headed right to the West Campus. All of the west campus is Spanish speaking our teacher calls it little Mexico! It's so great to be around so many Spanish speakers. We had our first class that night and it was COMPLETELY in Spanish....WHAAT? I didn't understand anything except for Hola. It was quite the adventure. My teacher, Hermano Whittaker, is sooo patient with me and helps me a ton. My companion is Hermana Zimmerman she is the bomb at Spanish.. She helps me a ton! My district is all Hermanas and we are all going to Villahermosa! We are already the best of friends and have some FUNNY stories..

Thursday- We had our first gym day, it's probably my favorite part of the day. We spend most of the day in our classroom. We have 6 hours of class everyday, 1 hour of personal study, 2 hours of language study and an hour or two of additional study. It's A LOT of studying, but it's so good! Gym is really the only time we go outside. I usually play speed (I whoop tush at it. it's great.) or 4 square. It's a ton of fun. Our zone has 5 districts in it, and we are all really close. We have so much fun. Our branch presidency is bomb. They help us so much.

Friday- This day was SOOOO rough. We had to teach our first lesson in Spanish. It was horrible. I forgot everything, including my name...ahhh. My companion had to introduce me. I had no idea what was going on. I had to read my prayer out a book and my companion had to whisper words to me. Worst experience EVER.

Saturday-I was determined to do better at the lesson. I studied and prayed so HARD. During lunch some of the Elders were talking to us and told us not to worry about what we were teaching just to make sure our 'investigator' knew we loved her. It worked. Our lesson went so well and I understood what was going on. We just talked to her and got to know her better. It was so good, she asked me questions and I totally knew what she asked me. After it was over we went to our classroom and knelt down and thanked our Heavenly Father. We couldn't have done it without him! We taught in the afternoon and at class that night I understood everything he was teaching us. It was amazing. It was also the funniest night. We laughed so much that my abs hurt the next day. Hermano Whittaker asked me to pretend to be Samanta ( our investigator) and he was asking me what my boyfriend was like. I had no idea what to say, and the next thing I know muy caliente came out of my mouth. Hermano Whittaker's face was priceless. Everyone busted up laughing and my companion turned bright red and looked at me like I can't believe she's MY companion. We couldn't stop laughing. SUPER EMBARRASSING. (muy caliente means very spicy. I thought it meant hot...) then we were doing our book work and I had a question about a sentence that said My teacher is very boring. so I asked Hermano W and he was saying that sentence in spanish and it sounded like a burrito boring in spanish= aburrido. So I looked at him and said "a burrito?" and he couldn't stop laughing. It was soooo 

funny! It's hard to get him to laugh and he couldn't stop. It was HYSTERICAL.

Sunday- It was good. We joined the MTC choir, so fun!

Monday- We had a service assignment to clean our chapel it was fun. We taught Samanta again. She went to church and I remembered spanish!!! WHOO. It was another great lesson!

Tuesday- Our district gets distracted a lot and we decided to make a new goal and be better about it. Our studying was so good. In the middle of personal study Hermana Weaver gets up to go to the bathroom. All of the sudden she comes running into our classroom yelling "Ayuda me! Ayuda me! Ayuda me! (Help me! Help me! Help me!) the toilet is over flowing!" Hermana Zimmerman jumps up and runs into the bathroom puts her foot on the tub and grabs the plunger and starts plunging. In our classroom I can hear a huge gush of water spill out and start pouring out of the bathroom and then I hear " Ayuda me Elders! Ayuda me!" then a Teacher comes running in and stops the toilet. Water is everywhere. Hermana weaver didn't even go to the bathroom (thank goodness) she just flushed the toilet and the water wouldn't stop. It was so funny! We made it rain in the classroom downstairs. WE are STILL laughing about it. L. Tom Perry came that night to Devo at the main campus. We got front row in the choir and it was so cool. I think he's my new favorite. He skipped up to the pulpit. He was so funny and enthusiastic (that's his favorite word.) I learned a lot. God is sooo good!

This morning we got to go to the temple. We did an endownment session and it was so good. We ate breakfast in the temple cafeteria.. IT was SOOO good. I can't wait to go back next week. After this I think we are going to go do our laundry, write letters, go get a jamba juice (don't get any ideas.) study and then we have class at 6. I am so excited.

This place is literally the happiest place on earth. Everyone is so focused on the same things and we don't have any distractions. It's so awesome. I am not going to lie. It's so hard. I don't get spanish, but I am working my best on it. I make a fool out of myself. But it's OK because the Lord is helping me. I have to work a lot harder at the language than the rest of my district and it's so frustrating! Everyone is so patient with me and the help me and encourage me. I love it here. I will be sad to see it go. I can feel the spirit so strong everyday. I know this is where I am supposed to be. My testimony has grown so much over the past few days. I can't even believe it. Sometimes is gets frustrating always having someone with you. and being with the same 6 girls 24/7 is so annoying at times. and then I realize I am thinking to much about myself and not about my purpose.

I love you all! I have sent out a bunch of letters and hope to send out a lot more today! Thank you so much for the packages and the letters. I have the most mail out of my district so far so keep 'em coming!! Hahaha.

Hermana Riedelbach :)

p.s. I can't get the card reader to work right now. so I'll send pictures next week!