Week 2 - MTC

Hello Everyone!

It was another fabulous week in the MTC! I have so much to tell you and only a short amount of time, so forgive all the bad grammer and spelling, and sporatic thoughts everywhere.

Firstly, thank you so much for all the letters and dearelder letters and Halloween packages and treats this week. It was so great to hear from everyone, and I think I will be sick from eating so much candy, but I don't mind! :)

Let's see, first I'll try to answer some of the questions that I have been getting about the MTC and my mission. Wednesday is my preparation day and is the only day that I can write letters or send/read emails. But I can read letters and dearelder letters anyday of the week that I get them. As for the housing facilities, we have "residence halls." They are basically dorms, but we don't call them dorms, because dorms are for crazy college students and we don't act like that. :) My room has three bunkbeds, and six small closets and three little desks. I only could fit like half my clothes in the closet, but it is all right. The room is really small, but we are only in there for about eight hours a day to sleep so it isn't a problem. So my room has me and my two companions, a sister going to hungary and two sisters going to the French island of Figi (I forgot what it is called). Then there are two huge dorm style shower/bathrooms on the floor for everyone to use. I time my showers so I never have to wait in line, but most sisters don't don that and have to wait in line for showers everyday. All dining is cafateria style, all you can eat buffets. I'm sure I have been putting on some weight, but the food is great and all my clothes still fit, so I'm not too worried.

So I found out that "Hall" in Albanian means "Problem," so I have been nicknamed Sister Problem. We all think it is pretty funny, and I don't mind at all.

This week we introduced Elder Castro-Guzman (our French Elder) to root beer floats. He seemed totally discusted and his facial expressions were hilarious! We had another elder in the branch translate his opinion of our tasty American treat and he said, "I just can't love this stuff." I guess it tastes like toothpaste to him. We also found out a little more about him. He likes computers and apparently writes romance novels. He is working on a sample of one of his novels right now in his free time. We can't wait to hear it (I'm sure it will be mission appropriate). We are having a great time and are so blessed to have him in our district, even though communication is hard.

Here at the MTC we have the Referal Center (RC) where missionaries or volunteers from BYU can work. When people call in for free Book of Mormons or Bibles or DVD's, the calls come here to the MTC Referal Center. Then after we send them the free item, we call to confirm that they received it. So this place always has tons of incoming calls and oubound calls. We spend a couple hours in there every week and it is like real missionary work. This week I talked to a man named Jim who has a book of Mormon. I challenged him to read 3 Nephi 11 and told him I could call him next week and we could talk about it and I could answer questions. He agreed, and now I have my first real "investigator." It is really exciting, but also makes me nervous because I hope I can answer his questions.

This week our devotional speakers were Elder and Sister Rasband from the Presidency of the Seventy. They gave great talks and Elder Rasband shared an experience of when he visited a mission a couple years ago and made the Elders go out on a street corner and sing hymns until people came up to talk to them about the church. The mission that they visited was the Albania Tirrana mission, our mission!! We were so excited that he was talking about our mission and then he showed some pictures of the visit there. It made me so excited to get out the field and start teaching the people of Albania!

I got four new sisters last week and another new one today into my district. They are great and training is really going well. I think I am doing a pretty good job at it at least. Sadly, one of the Sisters who got here last week had the flu so they have her in quarantine right now, but we have been sending her notes each day to keep her spirits up. Also, another one of the sisters I'm over that got here last week is having a hard time because she is really home sick. She is in tears everynight, but we have been showing her extra love and I think she is doing better. I had a little cold this week, but took some medicine and am feeling totally fine now. I just avoided the health center though, because I don't want to go to quarantine too. :)

For my small world update (ie: who I have ran into that I know here at the MTC):
Rachel Curtis is here and doing fabulously (yay for Yuma missionaries.
I ran into Elder and Sister McCall who are going to the Washington DC Temple and they said there are Bishop Squires aunt and uncle.
We got a new elder this week named Elder Landon Williams and he is from Thatcher and said he used to hang out with Whitney Hatch all the time.
And from Logan I've seen Cole and Beth Jarrett. It's so lovely seeing friends!

This week, we also listened to Elder Hollands talk from this past General Conference. It was such a powerful message about the Book of Mormon. I really encourage everyone to get on the LDS.org website and watch his talk again. It is only like 13 minutes, and whether you have seen it before or not, it is amazing. I know that what Elder Holland testifies of is true. I know that Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet.

I know that our Heavenly Fathers loves us and so does our Savior Jesus Christ. This is the restored church and the message that I have been called to share and testify of is true. I am so grateful to be a missionary in this time!

I love you all!

Love,
Motra Kelsey Hall

P.S. We can't send pictures via email, so I'm trying to collect enough to make a disc or send my SD card. Hopefully I can get some to you in the near future.

P.S.S. Both of my companions have tape players/recorders(the regular size ones), so if anyone wants to communicate that way, it is an option. Just trying to think of more conveniant ways for those of you who don't enjoy writing as much.