Dearest Dears,

Hi, how are you? Hopefully good... Hopefully I can get some letters sent out this week to you all :)

Yeah, I can't believe it either. Already past my half way mark. I don't know if I am more excited or nervous about that. Okay, more excited. But a bit nervous, though I have learned a good handful of spanish, I am going to need to kick it in to high gear if I am going to feel capable of going to a country that doesn't speak english... Especially Chile! I have heard a lot this week about how fast Chileans speak. Eek!

This week has been... quite the week. I think the MTC is great, but as you all know it can be challenging too. Most of you who remember the MTC are men, or former Elder Missionaries. Now imagine the MTC difficulties as a GIRL. An EMOTIONAL GIRL even. Kind of a scary picture, eh?? (My poor companion - She's been so patient with me when I have hard times). But the miracle is that for the hard times, something will always bring me up again. Feeling the spirit in such great abundance each day definitely makes up for the hard. Yesterday afternoon we got to teach our very first lesson in Spanish at the TRC. It was...interesting... But we did it, believe it or not. Though we didn't understand everything our "investigator" said, and he probably didn't understand everything we said (because we sound like we're 3), we did it. And we had spaghetti for dinner after the lesson, so that made up for the not so good parts of it. Every Monday after dinner we teach the native spanish speakers in spanish, and the spanish speakers teach us in English. Though it is so hard, on our part and on there's too, this is definitely the highlight of my week. I'm not exactly sure what it is about teaching with the natives, but it really makes me happy. I can really feel the spirit when these elders testify and it makes me want to do better to have more of the spirit when we teach.

Hey, Do you remember Sister Argyle from our old ward that lives by the Dixons? I see her almost every Tuesday and Sunday night because she helps out with the choir. She said if you ever need to relay any messages, she's there... And yes, the choir is INCREDIBLE. I love having the opportunity to sing in it. Brother Eggett is our director on Tuesdays, so that's pretty cool.

Did I ever tell you it's super weird to be so close to home? It's kind of an odd feeling walking to the temple on P-days or Sunday and to think, "my friends are all just blocks away from me..." Well, it's weird. Thats all. It will be good to be on the other side of the world :)

I just want you all to know how much I love you. My heart is so full of love for you. I am excited to get to know and love the people in Chile too. Hopefully I can learn Spanish before then!!!

The Church is true!

Hermana Jones!!