First week in the MTC

HEY EVERYONE!

The MTC is a super cool place. Pretty magical actually, time goes by SO slow it's basically like magic! Haha.... I feel like I've been here for a year.. not a week! But it's great. The LONG days are actually really really good days. Every day in my journal it says something like "today was a looooong but good day." But yeah, I've already learned so much!

Ahh where do I even start?? My companion is the bomb. Her name is Sister Tara Laidlaw (like laid down the law). She was born in China and was adopted into an LDS family in Murray at age 1. She was pretty shy at first but she is the COOLEST person. We get along super well and have a great time. We're always either laughing, feeling the spirit, or BOTH!. Our district is AWESOME! There are 12 of us. 4 sisters, 8 elders. We're the only sisters going to Ohio, the others are going to New Mexico. There are 3 elders going to Ohio and the rest to new mexico. After about 10 minutes of talking we were automatically all best buddies. We have so much fun and have super awesome talks about church stuff too. I love my district!!

I have seen so many people I know. Like literally everywhere we go I see someone I know. I'd list them out but I can't even rememeber... lots of people from our ward/stake, PHS, BYU, Nauvoo, and I don't even know what else. It's cool. Remember the guy I talked to on the phone at work that's going to my mission? Met him! He's in my zone. I've run into Chris Higgins a few times and he says thanks for the cookies mom. Oh speaking of, thanks for the packages you sent me mom! We're gonna eat the cookies as a district tonight. Everyone is way excited. And thanks for the blankets! We're not freezing anymore, hallelujah. Thank you! And thanks for all the letters you've sent! If you want to send some dear elders that'd be cool ;).

Okay I think it would be most fun to share funny things that have happened because there have been a ton. I decided to dedicate part of my nightly journal entry to funny things that have happened. So first day, my host got us SO lost and I'm still confused at where things are because of it. After us and the roommates (all companionships are going to different missions. The other 4 girls are in the same zone but S Laidlaw and I just kinda chill there) got in and settled we decided to shower. But nobody remembered to bring a key... so we were locked out and had to get help from our STL's (S Doty and Hickenlooper- Alli served with E Hickenlooper in her mission.) They got us a spare key and we got back in. THEYRE THE COOLEST I LOVE THEM. Next thing.... We all realized that we were assuming someone else would bring an alarm clock but nobody did... you were right mom. So we had to borrow one and buy it the next day. (The one we borrowed didn't go off but luckily one of the girls in our room woke up in time). So day 2, first full day in the MTC, we meet with an investigator. We were tlaking to her as comps and I noticed she had garment lines... people in the district were trying to figure out if she was a member or not and I told them that she has garments. They call me sister batman now because apparently I notice little things really well. The next morning we were all blow drying our hair in the room and the curcuit blew out... we had to get help from the MTC housing people later that day. Haha oops. One day I ran into a door and got a huge bump on my arm. Before we got the blankets from mom I was too cold to sleep so I got one from the dirty bin in the hall... S Laidlaw says those blankets remind her of when the colonial people gave native americans blankets and gave them smallpox too... she calls that blanket the smallpox blanket. I'm not dead yet though so it's fine. Plus one of the custodial ladies told us the blankets only get washed every 3 months anyway... ew. So next funny thing kinda happens a lot.. I'm taking after mom! I fall asleep sometimes... in lessons... in devotionals.. in church... people call me out sometimes. Worst one was a member of the branch presidency who talked to me after and said "when you kept falling alseep it made ME tired! And he was all worried about my sleeping habits.. Itold him I'm just not a morning person (we had 8 am sacrament.. after we'd been up for an hour and a half. barf). 

SO YEAH the mtc is great. food isn't that bad (E Fowers in my district loves it I think... he's gained 10 lbs in a week HAHA) my teachers (S Martin and S Linford) are the coolest. So in tune and they're fun and just great. Love my district. LOVE my companion. Love the work! We have 2 investigators we're teaching this week. Vanessa and Katie, pray for them please! (Even though I saw their garment lines and know they're LDS lol). Thanks for all your love and prayers and support! I hope all is well back home. I'm learning a TON. I don't think I've ever been able to recognize the spirit so well, I've felt it all time and have had a lot of cool experiences. Watched the character of Christ devo video thing and loved it. I'm hoping to figure out the whole picture thing... wish me luck!

Love,

Sister Barnes

Oh one last funny thing. S Laidlaw and I were walking back from a lesson and 2 elders walked passed. They were foreign and one said "heeeyyy seesters" and when they passed us his comp said "seriously???" and it was funny.

LOVE YOU BYE