Week 3 of the Missionary Training Center - October 29,2016

Week 3 out of 78! Can't believe I'm almost half way done with the MTC! This week has seemed like an eternity to be honest. Just a very repetitive schedule of class, eating, more class, eating, and more class. By the time I go to bed, I can't remember that I ate for breakfast. The spanish is coming along though! Slowly but surely I'm able to speak more and more every day! The gift of tongues is real for sure! Also, all of the other missionaries that were in my zone before I got here have left and it was hard saying goodbye to all my new friends! Most of them went to Ecuador and Nicaragua! Kinda glad I won't be joining them over there haha but we got 2 new districts on wednesday to replace them so that was pretty fun welcoming everyone in! All the new missionaries have a little orange dot on their nametags so every time we pass someone with an orange dot, we yell "bienvenidos a la CCM!" (CCM is MTC in spanish) So now there are roughly 60 people in my zone which consists of 6 districts! You kinda get used to running into the same people 10 times a day haha It's been fun to meet all sorts of new people here and makes new friends! It's also so fun to run into people from BYU too! One of my best friends from BYU is here for another 2 weeks before she heads off to Denmark and it's so nice to talk to her every day! Also, shout out to all the people who send me dear elder letters! I absolutely love them and it's so nice to be able to read them throughout the week! Well, I gotta go but thanks for all the love and support!! Adios! -Hermana Thorstenson

Week 2 Saturday, October 22, 2016

October 22, 2016 Hey everyone! It's crazy to think that this is my second week as a missionary! It really is true when they say "the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days!" Everything starts running together haha I feel like a sponge that's being sprayed by a firehouse. So much to take in and so little space in my brain. It's great though. My spanish is coming along though! I say "Lo siento" almost every other sentence haha I have more flash cards than I know what to do with! Ok funny story. So in my district, there are 8 elders along with my companion and I. Everyone is going stateside spanish except for me. All of our departure dates from the MTC were supposed to be Around Novemeber 22nd. Well our district leader came in the other day and announced there had been some changes. He would be leaving on October 31st along with a few other elders and everyone elses dates had been changed too. The worst part was, he told me I wouldn't leave until December 8th!!!!! I started freaking out. Like pure horror and confusion. Then he announced that my companion wouldn't be leaving until december 26th!!! That made absolutely no sense so we were both having minor panic attacks! Then they started laughing and told us it was just a joke and we would be leaving on November 22nd. I was so angry but I have to admit it was pretty funny haha I sit in a classroom with the same 10 people for 9 hours every single day so you could say we are all getting pretty close haha the only time you take breaks are to eat or exercise. I am so tired some days but thats when I just pray extra hard! The spirit is so strong in the MTC and I'm so grateful to be here!!! I know that this is where I'm supposed to be! The Lord knows each of us individually and knows our worries and concerns. He can help us through anything! Also shoutout to all my friends that I run into at the temple on sundays!!! It makes me so happy to see a familiar face every once in a while!!! Much love from the Provo MTC! Adios! -Hermana Thorstenson

Sister Thorstenson enters the Missionary Training Center

October 12, 2016 Sister Rachel Thorstenson entered the Missionary Training Center at 1pm MST.