Conference was AMAZING!

Conference was AMAZING! I definitely want the Ensign for this conference. This is the first time in my life I have gotten so much out of General Confrence. However, if I wasn´t looking at the screen, I got the urge to cross-stitch. That was interesting. And I did watch the General Women's broadcast. That Beehive did do an amazing job for the prayer and that violinist was good.

Our district elders did the haka on Sunday. I have a video of it, but I can't send it this week. Mi compañera is Samoan, and she told me about the origin of the haka. Way back when the world was younger, women were the warriors of the islands. Sometimes they rowed for days to get to battle. Each island (Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Samoa) has a different haka. The haka in the video is the New Zealand  version. The haka was used to call down the light and power of the gods into you, so that you would be a better warrior. So these women warriors would perform this dance before they battled. So, imagine the haka, imagine seeing it being done by women tattooed from the waist to the knees and seeing that tattoo, and you will understand why our district leader said ´´if I saw a woman doing this, I would never want to see them again and I would want to be at least a mile away from them while they´re doing it.´´

 

My favorite parts of the day in the MTC is when I first get up in the morning and when I'm on TALL. In the morning, even if my dreams are weird (like the one last night where I was a monster and I was trying to help a guy get through the office without getting caught), I'll wake up, and a happy, cheerful song pops into my head (like this morning, it was ´´Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride´´ from Lilo and Stitch). It helps me to have a good attitude throughout the day. Also, TALL (Technology Assisted Language Learning). I love TALL because it has you doing so many things to help you learn the language faster. It has you listen, speak, type, identify. It's very visual, and I'm a visual learner, so it helps me a TON to learn español. When I learn from the books, the language doesn't stick like it does after I'm done with TALL. And the native speakers help too. We have 5 Mexican teachers for each day and they're always willing to help with your pronounciation, and they're always saying ''Speak up'' ''Fuerte, fuerte'' ''I can't hear you'' to get us to speak. The more we practice, the more we get better.

 

My favorite thing about the CCM is that I'm happy here. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be at this time. Before the mission, I was always missing something in my heart if I wasn't working towards a mission, but now I'm here, I love it. Sure, there's hard times--You find out the world isn't about you, for example-- but it's been a great experience overall. It's just like college, but we're learning about the Gospel and how to better serve the Lord.

Hermana Moleli is going the Washington D.C. South mission, just like me. They pair up those who are going on the same missions when they can. Our other hermanas in the district are going to Kansas. Our district leader and his comanion are going to Honduras, and the other two elders-one is going to El Salvador and the other is going to Twin Falls, ID. It's funny, because the elder that's going to Twin Falls is from Washington D.C. So, he's from Washington D.C. and going to Idaho. I'm from Idaho, and I'm going to Washington D.C. We basically switched places.

So, a few weeks ago we had a devotional and I think it was Elder Bednar, and he was telling us the story of the sons of Mosiah, particuarly the part where they baptize 5,000 Lamanites and he said, ´´That would be a number to call in to the mission president:´sorry, president, we only had 5,000 baptisms this week. We´ll try to do better next week.´´ I thought it was funny.

 

Our first week here, we did a service project and I learned how to fold a fitted sheet and actually have it look nice.

 

So much more I want to write, but I gotta go! Love you all. Hermana Brown