Greetings from the MTC!

Hey Everyone!

Greetings from the MTC! I love it here. I've been super busy since the moment I arrived. The great news is there are lots of Albanian missionaries in my District and we will all go there together. There are 5 Elders and me and my two companions. Sister Yourstone is from Iowa, and is amazing, and our other companion is Sister Peatross from Provo. Sister Yourstone and I have really hit it off though. She is amazing at basketball, so we always give the Elders some good competition during gym time.

I have already learned lots of Albanian. By day two we were praying in Albanian without our notes. And this Saturday we have to teach a simple version of the first lesson from memory, without notes, in Albanian. I'm really nervous, but the Lord is blessing us with much understanding of the language.

Sister Peatross knows lots of people that work here since she is from Provo, and she is next door neighbors with the facilities coordinator here at the MTC. He hooks us up with great seats for the devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday nights. He even told us to get there really early on Tuesday night, but he couldn't say who was speaking. We were in like the sixth row, which is very close considering there are 2400 missionaries here. And it was totally worth it because Elder L. Tom Perry and his wife came to speak to us. It was an amazing experience and the Spirit in that meeting was undescribable. Elder Perry talked to us about the things we need to do to be good missionaries and he gave a great message.

We were also treated on Sunday to have Sister Vicki F. Matsumori from the Primary General Presidency as our guest teacher in Relief Society. She also gave an amazing lesson. Everyday here at the MTC brings something exciting and spiritual and new, even in our very set schedules.

Sunday was a pretty busy day for me. Our Branch/Zone consists of our district, the Hungarian District, and a couple other districts that are going stateside. I'm apparently the only one in the District who plays the piano, so I got to play for our sacrament meeting, which was great. I really love to play and miss doing that. Also, the only other two sisters in our whole branch/zone left on Monday for Hungary, which means my two companions and I were the only sisters left in the Branch. And every Branch must have a Coordinating Sister (kinda like a R.S. President who takes care of all the sisters in the branch), so with only three sisters to choose from, somehow President Pratt chose me. This meant I had an additional four hours of meetings so far this week, which means I am missing out on four hours of study time. I'm not too worried though, because I know the Lord will bless me for serving where I'm called. Part of my responsibility as Coordinating Sister is to orientate all the new sisters that come to our Branch each week. I'll be orientating four new sisters tonight, which I'm kinda nervous about, since I'm not exactly oriented to the MTC yet myself. I'm still excited to meet them though.

As far as class, we spend most of our time learning Albanian, but still have to study the gospel and discussion lessons too. I'm so blessed with an awesome district. We all get along really well, and probably have more fun than we should. The Elders in our District are: Elder Moise from Bountiful, Elder Anderson from UT somewhere, Elder Castro-Guzman from France, Elder Smith from Florida, and Elder Wallentine from Boise. We are a pretty tight little group! We have really come together this week too as we try to help and communicate with Elder Castro-Guzman because he knows very little English. He has so much faith to come here and have to learn Albanian through English, which he doesn't really understand. We always keep him in our prayers.

Wednesday is Prep Day and so we get thirty minutes of email, but best of all we get to go to the temple every Wednesday. We went this morning and it was really great. It gets better every time I go!

Since I only get thirty minutes of email, everyone recommends that instead of emailing me (cause I can only check that on Wed.) just email me a letter through DearElder.com. Then I can read your letter any day of the week that I get it, and it doesn't take up my email time. Then if you have questions about things I'm learning or what the MTC is like, I can respond on Wednesday when I write home.

I haven't taken many pictures, but if I get a chance later today I'll try to hop on the computer and send a couple of the pictures I have. So you can at least see my companions and District Elders. By the way both of my companions went to BYU, but I still love them.

I'm so grateful to be here on a mission right now. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church on the Earth today. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ in the grove and that he restored the gospel to the Earth. The Book of Mormon is true and Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God. Jesus Christ lives and atoned for each of us. And our Heavenly Father lives and loves us too. I'm so grateful for this knowledge.

I love you all and miss you tons, but am so happy to be here on my mission!

Love,
Motra Hall