Third Letter from the MTC

*****Here is the third letter we received from Adrienne! Brittany Carrasco, Brittany Lesser and Jenny Dickson, scroll down to the bottom for a special note to you!*****

Hey family!

So since i've been here i've heard more and more stories about the Philippines. my teacher had a cockroach bite her EYE while she was sleeping and it was swollen shut for 2 weeks! A cockroach!! Her husband got dangai fever and was in the hospital for 2 months! This other teacher got really sick and transferred to CA for the rest of his mission. i'm really scared that any number of things are going to happen to me while i'm over there but i really hope i don't get sent to the states halfway through. Well saturday night, and monday night i didn't get any mail and i was super bummed. I guess the dearelder was down for a while, but it was good, cause when i did get mail i appreciated it a ton more! I learned some new Mormon acronyms: BRT-build a relationship of trust, OYM-open your mouth. and SYL-speak your language. They have p90x in the gym and i did the core one for about 10 minutes the other day and i'm still sore! Anyway we are learning how to conjugate verbs-yay! now we can actually start making our own sentences that actually make sense. We had a competition on remembering the word markers ang, ng, and sa and I beat everyone in the class except the teacher!

I'm making more friends, but really struggling to include my companion. She's so fun and talkative with me and SO quiet to people in a big group. I'm working on including her more and helping her be herself. I saw Stephanie Hall in the cafeteria yesterday! She's going to California Spanish speaking. I gave her a big hug and we talked for a while. It's funny because i feel like i'm doing the best at everything than i've ever done before (not procrastinating, writing in my journal, exercising, etc. etc. ) but my many weaknesses are suddenly so apparent all the time! It's like when you start eating right and you notice how fat you've gotten! Haha. It's inspiring, humbling, and discouraging all at the same time.

Sunday was AWESOME! We had a great sacrament meeting- I didn't get called on to talk but Elder Aldred from my district did. He's this funny, sarcastic-loves to make fun of everything kind of guy that complains a lot about doing the work and learning the language. And then all of a sudden he gets up there and gives the most amazing, heartfelt testimony about his experience with faith. He started crying and the spirit was so strong-I cried too! i just wanted to run up and give him a big hug but all i could do was shake his hand. Then we went on the Sunday walk to the temple which was so much fun. For the Sunday fireside-M. RUSSELL BALLARD came! wow! it was amazing to hear him speak so close up. he said "We’re a bunch of old men but we're pretty cool" about the 12 apostles-haha! and he talked about always staying worthy of the spirit and my
favorite-"burdens will be lifted and lightened because of your love and affection for  the Lord Jesus Christ". AND David Archuleta sang " The Spirit of God" so beautifully! He is so talented. He left this week for his mission to Chile! Then we watched "the testaments" if you haven't seen
it-you have to! Man what a spiritually fulfilling day. I am loving life and this gospel and am beyond grateful for Christ's atoning sacrifice.

The books we got were a preach my gospel, a bunch of pamphlets all in both English and tagalong, a tagalog-english dictionary, tagalog triple, and 3 conversational tagalog textbooks. I felt like 'Arry Potter on his first trip to Diagon Alley! Mom. THANK YOU THANK YOU for the amazing candy package! it made my whole day especially after not getting mail for 3 days. I miss talking to you all the time too! i find myself looking for my phone a lot- I really miss just talking and laughing with ya'll all the time. Dad- that's so cool how involved you are with the missionaries and investigators. Our devotional on Tuesday was actually about how we need to focus on the members more and getting them more involved increases investigators. The weather IS perfect here! I only wish we were able to go outside and enjoy it more.

Workouts are going good. It was funny cause the other day i was on the stationary bike and reading "our search for happiness" by M. Russell Ballard and these elders beside me were like, " Sister, how do you read and workout at the same time? and why? after studying all day?" and i was like, " well I just get bored if i don't have anything in front of my while i work out. plus this book is really good!" so then the next day we went to the same place to workout and there are the same 4 elders, all on the stationary bike, ALL reading "our search for happiness"! hahaha!
Sundays are really busy for us but now i look forward to them because it means Sunday walks to the temple which means freedom! For a whole hour outside the MTC gates! Jokelang in tagalog means just kidding! haha.

Elena-
Thanks for taking care of all my fb/blog business! you're the best! wow the deals you're getting! i'm so impressed with your garage saleing buys. :) so did you decide on a final color scheme for the room? and is Jamie the official name for her? i've always wanted Sadie for my first daughter (don't steal it!) so if I have a girl first, we'll have Maddie, Jamie, and Sadie. so cute! now it has to be jamie. haha j/k. Last night we did TRC for the first time-yikes! it was scarier than teaching the teacher, but we were teaching people that were members and they just acted like themselves. that put a new spin on it cause we've only ever taught investigators before. that's so great about Ben's job opportunity! Ya'll are SO blessed! I will definitely pray for him to get it. What a cool
story about the car manual and the brake you are so gospel-minded and have so much faith. it is amazing that Heavenly Father really does care about the tiny things going our lives. Even when so much is going on all over the world.

Ben-i saw the french toast sticks! finally! they serve them on tues. I am definitely trying them next week. haha you're stories are so funny-keep em coming! My comp would KILL me if i poured cold water on her while she was showering haha. Do you remember teaching in the TRC? did you like it?

Brittany Carrasco- how did your dinner-pary-thingy go? i sent you 2 letters to your home address, so hopefully you'll get them soon!

Jenny and Britt-thanks so much for writing me! i screamed when i got your letters! there is mail coming your way soon!

Well I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers, letters and love!! kita kitz! -Adrienne