Week 5 MTC

My new ring....

My CTR ring!

(CTR= Choose The Right)

HLJ ring up close... (Haz Lo Justo)

...which means "Do The Just"

My classroom. Pretty legit TV's!!!

"Card in the bookstore! haha We thought it was Mary but....

Nope! It's Jesus!"

Elder Hjelmstad and Brown!!!

Buddies from Water Polo in H.S.

and BYU

Elder Hjelmstad and Lyon...

Both born July 8th, 1992

Roomed together at BYU

Submitted their mission papers on the same exact day

Josh reported to the MTC one week before Elder Lyon

Elder Lyon just left for Peru where he will do the remainder of his training and serve his mission.

This is Sister Tenney

aka... Tressa or Jackie's best friend

She will be leaving to serve her mission in Russia about the same time Josh leaves for Argentina.

They both leave the Missionary training center at the end of September.

Hey Family!

So the weeks keep pickin up speed! I cannot believe that I've been in here for 5 weeks! Totally crazy. This week was really good, but just like any other week, it had its ups and downs!

After I got my shots last Thurs... I got sick. I HATE IMMUNIZATIONS. I laid low pretty much the whole entire day on Sat and then felt way better.

Sunday was great as usual too. The devotional on Sunday was given by a member of the Mission Presedency here at the MTC. He's a retired doctor, so he talked about the importance of being healthy on your mission and to not do anything stupid to get yourself sent home. It was a really good talk because he said that we have to be healthy missionaries in order to be effective missionaries. He gave us a breathing exercise that will help our stress levels not effect us too. I really enjoyed it.

Monday was the best Monday yet! I usually don't like them because gym is in the morning so theres really not much to look forward to afterwards. But it was actually really great! We had a sub in class and He served in Argentina! We talked about the food, people, etc. for like an hour! It got me really excited! I can't wait to meet the people and love them! At lunch I got a letter from ELDER DAVIS!! That was great! And then at dinner I saw LINDSEY AND CAPELLA. Then I got a letter from KELLIE about her baptism! I felt like I was hangin out in Tmec again! It was so great!

Tuesday was Really, really, really, amazing! It had been rumored that an apostle was going to come speak to us at the devotional but we didn't know for sure. We sang in the choir again, just to make sure that we had seats in the gym! Right before the meeting started...Elder Jeffrey Holland walked in. He gave an amazing talk about missionary work. I took a ton of notes and I want to give you all of them, so I'm going to send them in my next letter and maybe Mom can type them into here. My favorite line he said was, "Let your mission change your life forever." After the talk there was a special musical number, a duet with 2 girls. It was a special duet though because one girl sang, while the other signed the song. The song was fantastic and then on top of that I thought about Jenee and her ASL and between those, I basically started balling. The spirit was so strong and I could really feel the Love of my Heavenly Father.

In choir we sang, "Faith of our Fathers." It was really great cuz I kept thinking of how grateful I was, for you guys and your faith to join the church. Thank you so much!

Speaking of love, This week I've been studying love and how we need to love others because God loves us. I've really loved studying it because not only do I feel loved, knowing how much my Heavenly Father loves me, but I realize how much I can love other people. For me I've always struggled expressing my love, but It's been a goal of mine to show people I love them, by serving them and listening to them. 1 John 4 nails it right on the head. I love that chapter.

My favorite scripture of this week is Corinthians 2:9!!!
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

I know that when we love others, serve others, and look at them like God looks at them.., WE are happier!

So my language goal this week was to learn how to ROLL MY R'S. ITS HARD!!!! I basically just have this list of words that I say over and over and over and over and over again. BUT.... ITS WORKING. Haha I've gotten a little bit better. A teacher said that it took her 3 months to learn, how so hopefully my tounge catches on soon.

So the food here is actually not too bad, but... THE FRUIT IS. The fruit is never very good/ripe/normal colored. Oranges are yellow, bananas are green. The only good fruit they have is cantaloupe. Luckily, I just started liking cantaloupe like a month before I left, because I eat it pretty much every single day here! Sometimes they have pineapple and those are the best days ever.

K, well I cant really think of anything else except that I'm doin great! I love all of you so much! And I love being a missionary! OOhhh and I have the BEST FAN CLUB EVER!

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!,

Elder Hjelmstad

Elder Landers (Roommate) & I

Elder Thompson (Roommate) & I

Elder Drete (in coat) & Elder Barker