Adrienne's First Letter!

Adrienne wrote us from the MTC! Here is her first letter:

Hello po!

Kumusta po kayo? I can't believe it was only 3 days ago that I was with ya'll. It feels seriously like its been 3 weeks. Mom- I MISS YOUR FOOD! The MTC food is okay-but I eat a salad or wrap every day for lunch and dinner because I don't like the other options. They sound good but it looks nasty and I haven't tried it-but probably tastes gross too. For breakfast I usually have cereal or a bagel and fruit. I'm never that hungry though because I'm not moving around much. Yesterday we were stuck in our classroom for TEN HOURS! It was tough.

I love my companion, Sister Winger from Utah. She is very sweet and laid back and has wanted to serve a mission her whole life. We have a ton in common and work really well together. We have four international sisters for roommates that are all very sweet and have beautiful loooong black hair and beautiful accents. Sister Seu is from New Zealand and she is always making fun of the American accent. She said ‘watermelon’ and ‘ice cream’ in an American accent and it sounded so funny. My district has 5 elders and 4 sisters in it. All of the elders are really fun and nice. Elder Christensen is our district leader, he's very loud and excited and enthusiastic about the gospel. He will randomly shout, "I'm so pumped! I wish we had 5 investigators!" or "Man we have the coolest sisters!" haha he's crazy but it helps the rest of us get excited. The other elders seem very young! Sometimes I feel like I'm hanging out with Grant and his friends!

Anyway, all the missionaries in my district are going to the Philippines-just different areas. Only 2 elders are going to Quezon city north with me and my comp. The language is so fun to learn! knowing some Spanish has helped me a ton! and my teacher is very patient and nice. She teaches by repeating words over and over and over and we repeat her every time. She has a tv screen with words on it and she writes on the chalkboard-that way we get visual, audio, and muscular (as we take notes) learning. plus there are oly 9 of us so we get a lot of special attention and help and can ask questions whenever we want. We also have very helpful workbooks and even a Tagalog preach my gospel. I can't believe how much we've already learned!

Yesterday we taught Julito in tagalog. He is from the Philippines, trying to get into BYU. His uncle is Mormon and told him to meet with us to know why his life is so blessed. He knows very little english and we know very little tagalog so he volunteered to meet with us. He is a very happy and humble guy. We taught him that keeping god's commandments will make you happy. I felt inspired to share Mosiah 2:41 (Mom-Your favorite!) with him when we were preparing. Most of the time we were looking at our notes, and sometimes he didn't get what we were saying, but we prayed with him and I sorta understood what he told us about his uncle. He read mosiah 2:41 in Ang Aklat ni Mormon and the spirit was definitely there. He seemed to get it and then I bore my testimony and Sister Winger bore hers. It was hard because he couldn't really ask us a question because we wouldn't understand but I think he got what we were trying to say. We are teaching him again today about the plan of salvation. We have to bear our testimonies to 10 people in tagalog and we all have to prepare a talk in tagalog each week. They the bishop randomly chooses 3 people to give talks after the sacrament is passed. AH! But it only has to be 5 minutes.

I saw Sister Kelly Rogers, she leaves next week for NY. I saw Elder David Archuleta in the cafeteria, but I didn't go up to him. He looked very determined not to make eye contact with anyone so I didn't want to bother him. He is very short and petite-much smaller than you would think! He doesn't really look like he does in magazine or even at Stadium of Fire. A lot of people are getting the flu so they told us not to shake hands or touch anyone.

I love gym time! It's an hour every day and the gym is really nice. It's full of all the equipment you need, they play church movies and there's a P90X area. Also every morning at 6 am they have classes just for the sisters. My comp and I are going and we've done yoga and kickboxing so far-so fun! It snowed really hard yesterday and I didn't have a coat! I am really glad I brought boots and some sweater-y tops. So far, surprisingly, it looks like i didn't forget anything at home! We are so busy from the second we wake up to the second we go to sleep. My eyes are red and have circles under them but when I'm going throughout my day I don't feel that tired. It hits me at about 8:30 every night. I'm so grateful for the clear confirmation I received that this is where i should be at this time. I'm grateful that I have that every day. it gives me strength and energy to try harder and be better.

I am SO happy i got the comp that i did. She is very obedient and works very hard. She always encourages me to work harder and stay focused. She is good by leading by example.

Well tell me more about everything! I love DearElder! Please everyone write me on Dearelder.com! I get the letter the day you send it and it means I can respond faster! Well, times up. but I love you and I miss all of you so much. I love the MTC and that we can pray and receive answers. KITA KITZ= (see ya!) -Sister Garcia

P.S.- if stuff is misspelled everywhere-sorry! i only have 30 minutes and i'm typing at lightning speed!