Leaving MTC!

We did not receive a letter this week as Laura left at 5am on “P-Day” and so did not have access to the MTC computers. However, we did get a phone call and it was wonderful to speak with her. (When missionaries leave the MTC and are at the airport leaving to fly out to their mission area they are allowed to phone home.) We were impressed with her strong desire to serve and, in true Laura style, she was excited and happy to be starting a new and wonderful adventure. For us as her parents it was a bitter-sweet moment as we knew that our next conversation would not be until Christmas.
The Mission President (President Pike) phoned us that night to say tell us how impressed both he and his wife were with her preparation. They also informed us that her Spanish speaking ability was way beyond what they would normally expect and that she would be helping her more senior companions to improve their Spanish!
Laura’s first area where she is now serving is the city of Covina (About 22 miles (35 km) east of downtown Los Angeles and with a population of about 50,000.) Having not heard from her since her arrival in California we do not know much about her companion; the Mission President, during his phone call to us, told us that she was Korean. We look forward to updating you when we hear from her this week.

MTC Week 2

I loveeee the "dear elders.org" letters!!

All is well here at the MTC! I cant believe I have already been a missionary for 2 weeks- haha ok thats not very much but still! One more week till I head to Cali- got my flight plans, may 25th 8:30am, we have to be at the front desk at 5am- ouch. The schedule here is study, breakfast, study, class, lunch, class, personal study, gym, dinner, study. haha, its cool though I like it. Sometimes we have devotionals and stuff and Tuesdays are our p-days which I really enjoy. gym is awesome because I play hardcore vball with all the elders and its super fun. sometimes other sisters play and the intensity goes down so I never invite them to play haha, christlike? anyways, we have had all sorts of Mormon celebrities come through here since Ive been here, Sheri Dew, Elder Holland, Mary Cook and Ann Dibb (President Monson's daughter)- that has been pretty cool.

This week has went by a lotttt quicker! My body isnt hating the early mornings as much and the food is going down better and all that fun stuff. Classes are really good. My companion Sister Curlee is awesome and I love her! We are a lot alike so we get along great and work together really well. We just got back from the temple which was good.

MTC

Thank you so much for all the letters! I love them, I feel kinda bad because I have got a whole lot of mail from family and friends and no one else in my district really gets any. I just got a new companion yesterday, Im with Hermana Curlee, she is adorable (she looks 12 years old) and so nice and was moved up from intermediate to advanced. Her Spanish isn’t very good. We even get to leave the MTC today (me and my comp) because she has something wrong with her legs and has to have specially made shoes so we are going to get them from the outside world- wowwww haha, my first real missionary outing- Im excited, even though it means I cant wear P-day clothes for that hour that we are gone.

Oh, so the other day I really didnt want to iron a shirt that had ruffles on the front (yeah I know- Ive been ironing things- its crazy!) and they were sticking out so I got tape and taped them down hahah, mom you would have loved it.

I feel like Ive been forced to become a fully functioning human being- someone that irons their clothes and wakes up at 6:30, I am still trying to figure out how I feel about it. Im not tired and the days are starting to speed up- those first few days were the longest days of my life- without a doubt. But I am starting to get the hang of things and its exciting that this new chapter has started in my life and who knows what its gunna be like... Im assuming hard but rewarding... lets hope so. I still keep calling people "guys" which is a no-no. I already miss being called Laura. Hermana Christian will grow on me though, Im sure. We are only aloud to email family- TRAGIC!! Oh by the way, Ive only met one other person going to my mission and his name is Elder Martinez from Rigby and he is super cool, and we leave on the same day, he is my district leader so thats legit. Yay for friends!