Drumroll please..... !!!!!

"Sister Withers,

At this time, we have not received your visa to travel to your mission.  You will be serving a temporary assignment in the WASHINGTON DC SOUTH MISSION until your visa arrives.  Please email your family as soon as possible to give them all travel information"

Ahhhhh!!!!!!  I am so excited!!!! I leave the MTC on Wednesday morning at 2:30am (!).  My first flight is out of SLC, 6:00am, to MSP - (Minneapolis St. Paul ironic huh? :)  And my next flight leaves at 10:20am, arriving in DC at 1:42pm.  

I am the only one from my district going to DC, my companion is going to Independence Missouri, and the other Elders are going to Houston Texas, Cleveland Ohio, Ogden Utah, and LA California.  I am flying Delta; my first flight number is 1440 and my second number is 1764.  I am traveling with 4 other missionaries who have been called to Washington DC South on a reassignment, and I am so excited.  I don't know anything about this mission though, so can you research it for me?  Do I have the temple in my mission?  Does the mission go outside of DC?  Am I in touristy stuff or in suburbs or both?  

I have a calling card and should be able to call you sometime between 4 and 5 in the morning, MST time...so I think that is 5 or 6 for you guys?

I am beyond excited.  I will probably start packing tomorrow, since its P-Day...and I also get to go to the temple because the Provo temple finally opened!  

Thanks so much for everything and for all of your support!

I love you more than all the liberals in DC,

Hermana Withers  

Adios Mexico!!

We got to talk to Chad this evening.  He sounds great!!  He is excited to be on his way, and he even spoke a little Spanish for us.  He will be in Chile tomorrow (Tuesday Aug. 13), and we are excited for all the adventures he will share with us.  This was an email that he sent earlier this afternoon:

Dear Family,

I am leaving today. I leave the MTC at 4:30 pm, fly at 9:25 non-stop to Santiago, it is a 9 hour flight.  I get to Santiago at 6:30 am, have a 5 hour layover, and then a 1 hour and 10 min flight to Concepción.  

I have been told differing things on whether I can call or not.  In these situations I choose what makes most sense, so if I get a chance, I will call you all.  I don't know how much it will cost to call.  For your information, 1 US Dollar = 513.5 Chilean Pesos.  I hope to speak to you either this evening or tomorrow during the 5 hour layover.  

There are 14 Concepcion missionaries leaving from here today, and 2 more leaving from Provo.  There are 7 Viña del Mar missionaries leaving from here with us.  I hope I fall asleep.  

Anyway, that is all for now. You are the best parents, and the best brother and sisters in the whole wide world.  I love you all so very much.  :) x 100,000,000!!!!!

Elder Withers

Staying one more week

August 11, 2013

Dear Family,

Hola!  I am doing well.  I can’t wait to leave.  They sell ties here, and the price ranges from 80 cents to 4 dollars in American money, so I’ve picked up a few more. 

¿Por qué no?  I am really happy to get into the field. 

Thank you for the dear elder letters.  They haven’t finished sorting all of today’s mail, so I will check tomorrow for mail.  I got an email from my Mission President or his wife actually, about entering Chile.  I like that kind of stuff.  Nobody has told me anything about when I am leaving.  I am fairly certain (87.45% certain) that I will be flying out on Monday.  I am trying to not repeat myself between snail mail and email, so this is short today. 

The facilities here are marvelous.  Although this is the newest MTC, these buildings are probably older than any of the other MTCs.  There isn’t air conditioning in the apartments.  My apartment is really close to the wall, so it can be hard to fall asleep, especially with all the honking.  The police are everywhere in this city… second to taxi companies and drug cartels, the police force is probably the biggest employer.  A few nights ago, about twenty police vehicles raced by, all with sirens blaring.  None of the police cars ever turn their lights off.  Even if they aren’t pulling someone over, they still have their lights on, all the time.  It is odd.  

I talk with native Spanish speakers every day, and I can usually understand most of what they say, and say most of what I want to say.  The Latinos I’ve roomed with say my Spanish is good, that they understand me.  I am hopeful that I can learn more.  I would like to tell you that I am leading the district in both speaking and understanding, but there is still a lot that I don’t know.  

My testimony is growing; Joseph Smith was a real prophet.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the true church. Thomas S. Monson is the prophet.  I love you all so very much. 

I love you all, more than the number of spoonfuls of cereal I’ve eaten in the last 6 weeks!  Thanks so much for all your love and support. 

I really do love you all, 

Elder Withers

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for writing me and keeping me updated on stuff.  I love hearing from everyone.  This has been another terrific week.  So, yes!  I am here for one more week.  I confess I was a little bummed to get one letter that said, "Hey, we have a reassignment coming for you this week, will keep you posted!”  to "Actually sorry about that...we need you to stay one more week and eat our ice cream and learn more Spanish."  It's all for a reason, but Thursday was a little long as I kept letting myself fantasize what next week will be like....and I must not have a very good imagination.  There are 3 missionaries leaving from our district next week.  On Monday we have one going to Paraguay and one going to Chile, and one more going to Eugene Oregon.  There is one missionary staying for visitor’s center training, and then there are us 6 Rosarioites who have been chosen to stay one more week.  I got rid of the original disappointment and am ready to take on this next week.  It is going to be soooo fun and I get to learn cool stuff for one more week. 

On Friday, the MTC has what is called In-Field Orientation, which is like a last hurrah meeting thing for all of the missionaries getting ready to leave the following week.  Everyone in there was leaving except for like 12 of us (as far as I could tell).  I kept getting asked when and where I was going...and I was just like "Oh… hey, yep...so there were too many of you who are leaving, that they had to pick some of us to stay and party without you...I don't know when I am leaving, but Bye!"  I felt as though I was a new missionary who didn't know anything and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.  So that made yesterday long and hard too.  Over 450 missionaries leaving, and all I heard about all day was every one's flight plans.  Ahhh....life never goes like you think it will.  Even when you think you have everything figured out, there is never a guarantee and often the Lord has a bigger and better plan, we just have to let Him give it to us, and then follow it faithfully. 

I hosted again this last Wednesday, and it was crazy.  Over 850 missionaries entered that day, and I'm willing to bet that way more than 1/2 were Elders.  THERE WERE SO MANY ELDERS.  It was AWESOME!  But it also meant that I only got to host one Sister (who was going to France) because there just weren't that many Sisters entering this week.  I think the graduation effect is in full swing, and all of the Elders who just got out of High School are starting to come in at full speed. 

I keep hearing people say this line, "Are you going to make excuses, or are you going to make it happen?"  I LOVE THAT QUOTE.  It can be really easy to justify laziness.  And laziness is not the way of the Lord.  The more time I have spent serving my mission the more I have learned... that time is going to pass no matter how you serve, so it might as well be done right.  Not everything is going to be sunshine and rainbows...but having faith that the work can get done, instead of making excuses to not do it will result in so many blessings. 

Last Monday morning, we were getting ready to start class and our teacher said, "Lets have a power walking contest around this floor."  So we did!  And it was so fun!  I'm sure we all looked ridiculous with our grandma arms going as fast as we could swing them, but it was so fun.  And of course the 6 foot Elders won...but we should all just agree that they cheated with their genetic advantage because they have much longer legs.   

The other night (not sure which specifically) my companion and I and the other Hermanas built a blanket fort with extra blankets from the two unoccupied beds.  We shoved all the junk food from packages in there, and at the end of each day, we spend roughly 10 minutes just eating, talking and decompressing.  It is so much fun and I love to go from that to writing in my journal, to prayers, to bedtime...to starting fresh the next day.  It is an excellent system :)

Last Saturday, I learned what missionary work is all about.  There is a HUGE painting of Christ, teaching the disciples in the main building.  And the whole time, all I could do was stare at Jesus feet.  Thinking about what He did, where He went, who He taught...and the thought hit me like a bus, I AM FILLING CHRIST’S SHOES.  I wear his  name on my heart along with mine, and together we are serving.  I am doing what He would do if He were here, and quite literally filling his shoes.  It is just a cool thought for me to think about, and now every time I see paintings of Christ here I can't help but look at His feet, smile, and get super excited to be in the field finding and teaching real people.

On Sunday, we had a devotional...and the speaker was JENNY OAKS BAKER.  My MTC experience has been incredible, but that really put the cherry on top of the whole deal.  She would talk for like 3 or 4 minutes, and then play beautiful violin arrangements of hymns (I know that My Redeemer Lives, Amazing Grace, A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, and more).  It was the best devotional yet.  Her kids also played I am a Child of God together and it was so good and super cute. 

On Friday, we got to talk to the real Luis, investigator that our teacher has been acting as.  It was so cool!  He is from Puerto Rico, and I couldn't understand anything he was saying, but it was still cool to listen to him. 

 I just think it should be documented that the Elders in my district are such gentleman.  They have always held the doors open and offer seats all the time, but lately they have been taking our trays after meals for us, so that we don't have to go into the disgusting dish room that smells SO BAD.  The cafeteria people can never be paid enough money, because it smells awful in there, and lately we haven't had to go in!  It's so awesome!

Another thing I keep hearing around here at the MTC is, "autograph your work with excellence."  Good one, huh?  I love it.  At the MTC we are all serving and doing the Lord's work full time, but there is something to be said of doing right, and "autographing it with excellence."  And also I hear "Your future is as bright as your faith."  Which is so awesome for me to hear often.  Sometimes I let myself freak out about potentially difficult companions, areas, etc... and I have learned that thinking that way is garbage.  Everything will be just fine, THE HARD PART IS HAVING FAITH. 

  

Thanks for all of your love and support, I love you more than all of the sand in the seas,

 Hermana Withers

Surprise!

I have been told to quickly send an email to my family because I received the following letter in my mailbox today.

 

"Dear Sister Withers,

 

At this time, we have not received your visa to travel to your mission and becuase of the large number of names that were submitted for temporarty assignment this week, we were unable to place everyone on the list.  Unfortunately, you did not receive a temporart assignment this week, but your name will be turned in again next week and you should receive that information in your mailbox by next Friday.  Please email your family as soon as possible to let them know you will remain at the MTC for another week.

 

Thank You

 

MTC Travel Office."

 

I don't have any time to write now, but I will on Saturday.  I love you all!

 

Hermana Withers

More pictures of Chile-bound cousins (Elder Withers and Elder Hill) at the Mexico City MTC

At the MTC map... Argentina Rosario

One More Week!

Aug. 3, 2013

Chad’s Letter

Dear Family,

Hola!  I want you to know that I found the ice cream.  The store sells it.  They have ice cream cones and sandwiches and magnum bars and popsicles flavored like strange and foreign fruit.  It is good.  Do you still like Frosted Flakes?  I have a story that will make you proud.  2 weeks ago they installed breakfast cereal dispensers in the cafeteria.  I was the first person in the history of this MTC to crank Frosted Flakes out of that machine.  They were Grrreat! 

You would not believe the food here.  It ranges from Costco pizza on Tuesdays (to trick the new arrivals… I fell for it too), to the most questionable salad bar I have ever seen.  There is this one red fruit that I could hardly swallow.  The spicy salsa is bueno.  The Elders from Mexico say that the salsa is okay for them to eat, but gringos shouldn’t try it.  I handle it better than they do.  It was really spicy at first, but now I am used to it.  I had no problem with putting jalapenos in with my fruit loops. 

I hope you’re having a fun summer.  I am glad to hear that you are having fun at the lake.  I have only a couple weeks left of summer.  It is crazy to think about.  I will be heading down south into winter.

I am making great headway in learning Español.  I’ve figured out how to decide when to use por and when to use para.  We had a member of the 1st quorum of the seventy come and speak last night, and I’ve been told that during August, an Apostle will come.  Thanks so much for all the dear elders and the letters.  Thanks for those Ensign talks in Spanish. 

I can’t believe how fast time is flying.  I am 2/3 of the way through with the MTC,  and then I will be in Chile.  It isn’t the same narrow strip of land by the sea that Moroni talked about, but I like to think it is.  I am so happy to be here. 

I love you very much,

-Elder Withers

Rebecca’s Letter

Dear Family,

It's been another terrific week!  Last Sunday during Relief Society, they mentioned that there were 1300 sisters gathering together each Sunday here at the MTC.  Cool huh?!  Each time we meet we always sing As Sisters in Zion, and it’s always so incredible to sing with that many sister missionaries...it brings such a powerful and lasting Spirit. 

Crazy thing happened earlier this week, I ran into an Elder Withers......and it wasn't Chad.  Apparently Dad's Uncle Russell has a grandkid named James Withers headed for Australia on his mission.  Ha, it was so weird.  I was eating dinner with  my zone, and this Elder just kept staring at my tag....and I was like, "uh do I know you?"  And then a whole conversation ensued as we tried to figure out if we are related.  He knows Grandma Withers very well, and says that she is his great Aunt, so that makes him my second cousin.  Small world. 

Last Sunday, the cafeteria got so full that they had to block the doors shut to hungry missionaries because there literally wasn't a single spot to sit.  It was the first time I had seen that, and I haven't seen it since...which is good because those missionaries had to wait about 15 minutes until it cleared out a bit.  Good thing I was already in!

It really feels like I have been in the MTC for ages...and it’s only been a month (to the day actually!).  A person's sense of time is sort of warped here, but somehow the weeks are flying by. 

On Monday we had a TRC lesson, and our investigator was an immigrant from Chile Concepcion!  And......her Spanish was also lightning fast.  I did my best to understand but all I could pick up was the basic point of her comments each time she spoke.  She dropped all of her "s" but was also the kindest lady ever. 

Every Tuesday morning we play volleyball as a district and it is so fun.  We go out to the field and play in the volleyball pits and it feels like we are all at a beach digging our feet into the sand.  It's so fun!  Tuesday night, we all (everyone in the MTC) walk to the Marriott center for the devotional, and it is hilarious.  People come out of their office buildings, from Campus, and the parking lot...and all stare at the thousands of missionaries marching like Helaman's army.  A lot of them wave, in one particular window is a group of people who wheel over a white board and write messages and put it against the window.  As missionaries we all just laugh, wave back, and under our breath say how it makes us feel like social aliens.  If we were anyone else, no one would care; but because we are missionaries (!) people get excited.  It’s fun to feel like we are the star of some parade each week.  In the devotional this week, the speaker said that as of July 25th, there are 73,522 missionaries.  AWESOME.

On Wednesday I got to host!  And it was SO MUCH FUN.  I hosted one sister from Minneapolis going to Brazil, a sister from Provo going to Chile Concepcion (Chad's mission), and another sister from California going to Mississippi.  It was fun to welcome each of them and be one of their first friends here.  You would meet them at the curb, wait for them to quickly say goodbye, ask if they had any keys or a cell phone they needed to get rid of, make sure they had their immunizations record, take their luggage, and take them all over campus...to drop off their stuff, get their books, and take them to their class.  It was fun, and also made me grateful that a missionary only has to say goodbye once.  One of the best things about hosting though was waiting on the curb for another sister to need a host...you just get to watch as SO MANY MISSIONARIES COME.  (Side note:  Every 15 minutes about 100 missionaries would check in!) 

At one point while on the curb, my companion and I were just talking and saying "hi" to new missionaries, when a big, yellow bus pulls in.  It was packed to the brim with people (and it wasn't a short bus, we are talking a real live school bus).  The letters "sc" were scratched out and replaced with the letter "k" to say "kool bus."  It was definitely classy, trashy, and so awesome all at the same time.  I don't know how many missionaries were getting dropped off, but there were a lot of supportive people on that bus (:

  

Sort of interesting… apparently the number of Spanish speaking missions has decreased, and English speaking has almost tripled.  There are SO MANY SPANISH TEACHERS.  They just don't have a district to teach.  The Mexico MTC has absorbed a lot of the Spanish speaking missionaries.  This means that most districts have 2 teachers, and we have 9.  NINE I TELL YOU.  It's really helpful because there is almost always a teacher available to help a companionship one on one.

Earlier this week I heard someone say, that diligence means still working hard even when you are tired.  I love that!  It's so true.  By 7:30 or 8:00 my body and mind really start to become tired, but there is still so much to learn, and I couldn't live with myself if I slept my mission away.  5-10 minutes each day could add up to a substantial chunk of time wasted, that should have been spent serving or learning.  Some days I am more tired than others, but somehow I also have enough energy to get things done.  It's like the time going fast but I feel like I have been here forever... sometimes I feel tired but I always have enough energy to keep going.  Don't know how it works, but it's a miracle and I am so grateful. 

So.............travel updates.   Drumroll....................my visa didn't come.  My name will be submitted on Monday for a reassignment, and I should have my stateside call by Thursday or Friday, and then I will leave the next Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.  I saw it coming, so I am not disappointed.  The only people getting visas to Argentina right away are the Australians because they have a relationship similar to the U.S. and Canada.  I am excited for my next assignment and will be sure to record with my voice recorder when I open and read it.  All 6 of us Argentina Rosario missionaries are getting reassigned, so some of us might go to the same place!  We will see, and I can't wait to give you the update next week! 

I didn't see the Hobson's on Wednesday, but I ran into Elder Hobson this morning.  He looked good, and its so awesome that Elder Dial got to be his host!

Thanks for all of your love and support.  It means so much, and I know I have the best family in the whole world.  I know the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true and also one of the greatest blessings Heavenly Father has ever given to the world.  I know every prayer is heard, that families can be together forever when sealed in a temple, and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.

I love you all more than the number of people waiting to hear the truth,

Hermana Withers