Eu amo MTC!

My goodness familia! I love the MTC. So much... like, I could stay here for a few more months and be perfectly happy. It's just such an amazing experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

So last Tuesday after I emailed you, we went to the temple and I ran into family! We were sitting there and I saw someone who looked really, REALLY familiar. I leaned over to Sister Anaya and I said, "You see that guy over there? I'm about 109% sure he's one of my cousins I've never met." When Sister Anaya finished laughing at me she looked at him and she said, "I can totally see it. You could be brother and sister." *I didn't even think that we looked related, but okay* As we were walking out of the temple I saw him so I figured I'd just ask and see if I was right or not. Me: "I have a question for you." Him: "Yes, ma'am." Me: "Are you a Stolworthy by chance?" Him: Confused look "I am." Me: "Is Mark your dad?" Him: More confused "Yes, ma'am." Me: "Oh great! We're cousins!" It was Mark and Kari's son Spencer. It took him a minute but then outside the temple he heard my first name and then I guess it clicked who I was. He called Kari and told her. Turns out he does TRC every Friday, so there's a one in a million chance I'll run into him again, but it was cool. It made my day. I was surprised I even recognized him... he was more surprised but it was still really funny. That night for Tuesday devotional Linda K. Burton came and spoke. It was probably one of the best talks ever given in the history of the Church.

On Wednesday my district was asked to be host missionaries. So, we missed our first classes and we got to wear the big white stickers that say "Missionary Host" as we helped the new missionaries as soon as they got here. It was pretty fun, but I discovered that most sisters bring a lot more stuff than I did. A lot more stuff.

So my companions are amazing. Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when he put three completely different people together in one room. Sister Mills has the funniest laugh in the world. Even if nothing is funny, when she starts laughing I automatically start laughing. Her laugh is so contagious, and when I start laughing she laughs harder. It's really a vicious cycle, but almost every other night the two of us end up on the floor laughing so hard we can't breathe. Sister Anaya is usually just standing and looking at us because she doesn't understand what is so funny. Eu amo minha companheiras.

On Thursday the realization of how long we'd been here hit me. It was kind of weird. I wasn't sure if I should have been excited or if I should have been sad. I love the MTC. It's so cool.

On Friday, Irmão Gray went to a friend´s wedding so Irmão Machado came and substituted. He~s from Florianapolis, Brasil but he lives here now. He married the sister of one of his companions and they just moved back to the United States 4 months ago. Irmão Machado is one of the funniest people I´ve ever met. He had so many stories... and we laughed so hard all day long. We also taught TRC lessons on Friday. One of the members we taught just came back from her mission in Portugal so she had all kinds of things to tell us. The other member was a sister from João Pessoa. She spoke so beautifully. I´m sorry, but Portuguese is the most beautiful language in the world. End of story. *Perk of learning both Brasilian Portuguese and the Portugal Portuguese- we can understand everybody. The Brasilian missionaries can´t understand the Portuguese de Portugal, but we can.

Saturday was much fun. We taught two lessons to our investigators. Lenir (Irmão Gray) is a difficult investigator. He wouldn´t do the things we´d asked him to do, but then in that lesson the Spirit made us be bold. It was kind of crazy. I don´t even remember all the things that came out of my mouth. I´ve since been told that is a normal thing. If you speak with the Spirit you won´t always remember what you said because they weren´t your words. It was crazy, but the lesson was amazing. We taught the First Vision and the Spirit was so strong. Then, out of the blue Sister Anaya committed him to be baptized. It was amazing! Foi marvilhosa! That same night we taught Denise (Irmã Kimball). Denise is amazing. The Spirit was definitely there. It was so strong and by the end of the lesson all four of us were in tears. It´s amazing what happens when the Spirit is in the lessons with you.

Sunday was probably one of the best Sundays of my life. Church was great, all the meetings were great, and then after devotional we watched "The Character of Christ." It was a Christmas devotional that Elder Bednar gave at the MTC a few years ago. They only show it here at the Provo MTC, but it was probably one of the best talks ever given. I definitely have a long way to go and a lot of work to do, but it's totally possible. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the MTC? This place is fantastic.

I forgot to tell you one thing you asked about a few weeks ago: sleep walking/talking. It's basically an every night thing. Sister Anaya is terrified. I wish you could have read the email to her friends. She was so funny. I talk every night and I sleep walk every other night. Actually, last Friday I woke up outside of my room and the doors are always locked. Fortunately, Sister Mills is a very light sleeper and woke up as soon as I knocked on the door. It was about 1:00 in the morning. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see someone in my life. :) Minha companheiras say that I speak in Portuguese in my sleep and that the other night I was talking about the Resurrection in my sleep. Sister Anaya said she felt like a slacker because she doesn't dream about the gospel. I don't remember any of these things though. I'm perfectly safe and normal though, so don't worry about me. Everyone thinks it's really, really... like, REALLY funny. Jokes are made all the time about my sleeptalking... and because I'm from Idaho. People have all kinds of jokes about Idaho... and they don't even make sense, but I laugh anyway. That was random, but yeah. My brain is all over the place.

As far as Christmas packages go, I do have a lot of books and I don't know if I would have enough extra weight depending on what you're planning on sending. Sorry. Also, Dad, the lady one the plane gave us $50 dollars. We asked the travel office what to do with it and they said to keep it, so Sister Mills kept it. She also had 30 euros that she gave to us. Sister Mills kept the $50 and 15 euros, and I have 15 euros. That's all it was.

I sent a postcard to y'all today and in it I mentioned maybe getting an emergency package sent this week? Possibly? If you love me? Just in case it doesn't make it to you here's my list: 1- Gain apple mango tango dryer sheets (I need those ones, my yellow blankey is not supposed to smell like anything else) 2- German chocolate (trust me, I need it. Actually, I just want to give some to some people... can you believe people have never had it?) 3- luggage tags. I gave mine to Sister Pace.

Also, Feliz Aniversário Eric and Ammon! I´m going to write Ammon a letter and mail it to your house Mom and Dad. P.S. Can I have Clarissa and Sam´s email address? In Portuguese, Ammon's name sounds pretty awesome. Irmão Gray really likes that name. Sister Anaya said she´d forward her emails to me so that you can read her stories about my sleep stuff. Oh I love her. I´m sorry, I´m kind of scatter brained right now, but I love you all and I love being a missionary. It´s the coolest thing ever. I love the gospel and I love the opportunity to give this time to the Lord.

Eu amo vocês!!!

Sister Smith

P.S. The coolest thing about Portuguese is that I can understand Spanish... and Italian.... it's so cool. Erin Anderson gave me a hymnal with her testimony in it in Spanish... and I can read it. I almost started crying when I realized I could read it. So cool. The Spanish and Italian speaking missionaries can't understand us, but we understand them. Irmão Gray and Irmã Kimball said that they can understand them all, but other people can´t understand them. Portuguese really is the best language. :D

Here is the part of Sister Anaya's e-mail: 

Yesterday, my two comps and i were in the residence hall. We were talking about spicy food as i was eating hot chetos and takis (which my loving dad sent me) and so Sister Smith says, did you know that people that eat lots of spicy food are more tolerant to pain. she was like Yeah so i've heard that for Latino women giving birth is less painful. Sister Mills comes in and says "Is that why they have so many children?" In all seriousness. i died. We all did. We ended up on the floor. I was coughing cause i had takis in my mouth and that was just seriously so funny!

Sister Smith yeah she's is still sleep talking. Three nights ago, she strated yelling "SISTER ANAYA! SISTER ANAYA!" I'm asleep and im like shes doing it again. Im used to her sleep talking now.

Last night she started talking about Christ's resurrection and then talking in Porteguese! Im jelous! i wish i could dream in porteguese and dream of the gospel! not fair! lol

Two weeks ago!

Okay so as you know i have two other companions/ roomies. We'll, the first day at the MTC she worned me that she sleep walks. I don't believe in sleep walking so i was like okay this girl trying to be funny. so a week goes by. Three days ago, i witnessed it! I always thought of sleep walking as an illness so i was like no way? Okay so this night, i could not sleep. I probably stayed up till about 3. Around 1 i hear my comp. (Sister Smith) She yells "OH SHOOT," I freak out of course and grabbed my blankets. She gets out of her bed, walks to her closet, opens it and walks back to her bed. She sits on bed stariing out the window for a solid 20 seconds. Longest 20 of my life. She then goes back to sleep totally normal. Okay so about an hour passes. This time she yells, "No just let me finish im almost done with my work. PLEASE!" This time i just started cracking up but i had to hold it because at the same time i am super scared because never have i experinced this i mean duh who has? Okay so after yelling, she walk out of her bed, goes to her desk, grabs her pen, clicks it, then on the way to her bed says "Compeniera." She then sits on her bed, and this time stays starring outside for about 1 whole mintue. Then goes back to sleep. I couldn't sleep for the longest time. hahaha The next day, i talked to her about and she just had a blank starel, she had no idea what i was talking about. Well since then i have heard her have full on conversations with herself. Last night she recited the "Missionary Purpose."

Happy Birthday Ammon!

Sister Smith and her companions

They were so cold!

The whole district