my life. my loves. my ramblings.: 4/12/2013

Sorry I am so late posting this. I was out of town. -Jenni

FIrst, excuse my poor grammar but these keyboards are wack and the letters stick. it drives me crazy but we only have a half hour so i don't want to take precious time to fix it!

FIrst and foremost ...

A CEDAR CITY TEMPLE! AHHH. I was so ecstatic. I was telling everyone that morning that I could feel it going to happen and then when PRes MOnson announced it, I started crying (big shocker) and probably gasped too. My sweet companion put her arm aruond me .. she was so happy for me! It seriously makes my heart feel so happy. I was wishing I could be there to see all the excitement in the wards and institute, but I Will be back for the dedication dang it! IF you find out what it's supposed to look like, let me know. I'm super curious! I Love that place.

Second most important news! I have travel plans! Yes. I am LEAVING THE MTC! It is great here ... but lets be honest, there are far greater places to be (like NYC). I got my travel plans this week and I will be leaving the MTC Bright and early on MOnday morning at 4 a.m. We fly out of SLC at 7:15, I have a brief layover in Chicago, and should arrive to the La Guardia airport at 3 p.m. REAL LIFE. I can't believe it. MOst of the missionaries in my district leave on Tuesday or Wednesday, but looks like I'll have one day less in the MTC.

Hermana Puckett really is the best companion I could ask for. I'm super sad to leave her because we get along so well. We laugh together, pray together, joke together, take lots of photos, and sing together all the time (in the shower, on the way to class, in class, in free time, in our room, etc.). SOme of the elders were picking songs for us to sing in spanish the other day, which was super fun. And we are doing a musical number in our branch tomorrow, which will be our only Sunday here since last week was conference. BUt, surprise! We aren't singing. SHe is playing the violin and I am playing the piano to an arrangement we made up last week of Nearer My GOd To THee. WHIle we were practicing, two elders came in (who were from Africa) and asked if they could listen to us play. They said that they had never seen a violin before. It quite opened my eyes! Oh, and the Elders always refer to us as "Peacock-Puckett or Puckett-Peacock" no matter who they are talking to. THey love saying our names together and very fast!

This week has been great to get in the full swing of missionary work -- lots of Spanish, teaching experiences, and moments of being tested! One sister in my room and I have also been going on splits in the morning to attend a gym class at 6 a.m. (Jenni, I thought of you and told her how you get up to do Insanity). It's funny because the teacher plays techno instrumental music, but after hearing nothing but your own district singing, it's like a shock to the system!

I'm getting more comfortable speaking in Spanish and my gospel vocabulary is growing everyday. My teacher yesterday said that I would be just fine because I had a great comprehension of the language and that after a few weeks, I would be speaking better too. I sometimes freeze up and forget simple words and verb tenses, but one day this week we were teaching our "TRC Investigator" (an actor that we teach) and I was able to give an analogy and explain myself just fine. We taught him twice this week and both times, Jose was brought to tears and told us his heart was touched by our message and experiences. Whether or not he was an actor, the SPIRIT is real.

Another teaching experience. We have to teach our teachers everyday (who pretend to be investigators). Hna PUckett and I have a hard time teaching our SIster Casares but love teaching Brother Wilkes. Well, we were teaching him on Wednesday and suddenly ... I just felt like I should bring up baptism. So, right then and there, I share a scripture and invited him to be baptized! We were able to set up a date in the near future and continue teaching him until then. A really great feeling, even if it is "fake."

Also, we had to watch a little documentary (it was done by NY Times called 1 in 8 million and I love it especially because ... I'M going there) but anyway, it is just a photojournalism account of different lives of NYC People. YOu should watch some. But, they aren't members or anything. After watching a lady whose job it was to restore paintings, we had to figure out how to apply the third lesson of PMG. I came up with analogy that her restoring paintings were like the steps of the gospel and how they "restore" our lives. HOw the paintings were dirty and we have sins, but through faith, repentance, baptism, and conversion, we can be clean (like the restored paintings). The teacher LOVED my analogy, which ... made me happy, let's be honest.

And I have to tell you a funny story that happened. I Hope you appreciate it! If you've seen the Best Two Years, you'll remember that Elder Calhoun says "And I know that JOseph SMith is a pamphlet..." WELL, it was our first day in the TRC and Hna Puckett was telling the JS story. I was trying to find James 1:5 for the investigator to read but she had called it "Jaime" so I Was searching my tabs and index for where in the world Jaime was in my spanish scriptures. I even tried singing the song in my head to see just where it was to no avail. I didn't realize it was Santiago. ANyway, I decided teh moment had past and we would just forget reading the scripture out loud. WEll, because I had been searching, I didn't know what she had finished saying, but I realized I had a picture of Joseph SMith and I had forgotten to show it. SO, I Picked it up off the table and said, "Y este es JOseph SMith." YEs, this is Joseph Smith. HOw random. WE were able to move on to something else, but we keep laughing about how frazzled I had been that that was all I could come up with! Haha. OH, learning experiences. We had a good laugh about it.

We also had the Tuesday Devotional, which was Brother Gerald Lund. MOM, IT WAS THE SAME TALK as you have on tape (with some modifications) about personal revelation. It was a little deja vu-ish as you had been listening to that before I left!

Man, time flies on the computers! IF you want to dearelder me, you can today or Saturday. After that, send email or letters to the NYC Mission home (address has been posted a few places!). Mail is the greatest. THank you Cindy Stephens, KElly PEterson, mom, Becky, and JEnni for the dearelders! And everyone for the emails. IF I haven't written you back yet, I promise I Will when I get in the field and have more time! WHew.

I love you all so much! WIsh me luck.

Pictures....