Another Crazy Blessed Week!

Family and Friends!!!

Oh my goodness... So many wonderful things to tell you all about! First off, I really really do love all of you who receive this letter. I know its kinda cheesy, but our teachers say we are missionaries and that we can be cheesy! as long as we are sincere :) so yes i love you all and would also love to hear from all of you!!!

Shout outs... there are a few. First to my awesome and special Bro Scott who finally wrote me and will be an amazing missionary! It's hard work Bro, I know you can do it with a solid testimony like you have. I am excited to hear about Jakes week too... and of course how Kurtis' BC experience is going. (don't get married bro... 17 months more)

ALSO to Brianne Roberts! Who surprised me with the most AMAZING and I really do mean A-MA-ZA-ING freshly baked cookies in the cutest box ever! :) Just receiving that cute package totally made my day! and the cookies just made it all that much better.

Aaaaaand Mike who sent me an awesome tape! I LOVED it!! I really felt like I was talking on the phone... minus the me talking part. I am excited to get my families soon! (MOM PLLLLLLLEEEEASE send me blank tapes, they don't have them here and I really want to respond to Mike- and you guys eventually).

And also Tony for giving me the most awesome Office quote and for finally writing me! :)

OK! So for my experiences of the week...

First of all, last Tuesday after the email I wrote we had the opportunity to clean the temple, which was awesome. It was amazing how much I could still feel the spirit even though it wasn't in session. We got to see the celestial room bare because they were adding decoration to the carpet, so that was pretty cool...

The devotional was awesome. Gerald Lund spoke and it got me really pumped to get out and work work work! AND I also got called as the Coordinating Sister! Which is like the Relief Society president for the sisters. I am sooo excited for this calling. I get to greet all the new sisters who come in every week and go to branch council meetings. So it's awesome because it is a break from the norm. We have 4 new sisters coming in this week (they are going to AZ and WA) so I made them all little signs welcoming them to the MTC and got them some treats! :) The first day can be rough saying bye to family and all, but hopefully I can help them to feel like this is where they belong. I am so excited for my calling.

The week went pretty smoothly. I feel like I am really getting the hang of it, and I feel like Utah is really my home (well home away from home) My new favorite thing to do is bearing my testimony in Thai to passer byers in the hall ways. It's so fun because I can say the most simple things that I have known since basically week one and missionaries say, woah... that sounds really cool!!! haha. It's a good way to build confidence! :)

Happy 4th of July all! It was really neat here at the MTC. And YES I did get to see fireworks. It was awesome, we stayed up 45 min late, and it was allowed! :) We started off the day by surprising the elders and decorating our class room with signs and streamers and balloons, the elders loved it! :) I had a hamburger for lunch, which was awesome. And there was a special fireside that night. It was very historic and made me miss being a student!! It was so fun to watch fireworks because I kinda felt normal for a minute... But realized I'm not when we started singing called to serve while they went off! haha. It was sooo fun.

Sunday was probably one of the best days I have had here because I got to go to all my coordinating sister meetings and was so cheerful all day. Because thursday was kind of a hard day for me, I fasted to be confident in myself and my abilities, and oh man were my prayers answered! I really felt like my confidence grew so much in just that one day.  One thing I really enjoyed was the Sunday night fireside where the speaker said Obedience is not something we have to do that is holding us back, but rather Obedience is our quest and all blessings are predicated on it. It was a really powerful talk!

So on Monday the Phii-Thai's (phii means older) left for Thailand!! (They left last night and are still not in Bangkok! they will be there at 8:05pm MST) It was sad, but exciting. It made me realize (1) that I AM actually going to be leaving this place and REALLY need to work on the language and (2) that I am SOOO excited to get out to Thailand!! Crazy!

So since Sister O'Neil left, Sister Essma (my roommate who is going to Cambodia) is now my companion... which isnt really anything too new, because I still go to class and everything with sister young and sister akagi, but now the three of us have to make sure we walk with sister essma to class and meals and on Pday. Sister Essma is awesome!! and I will miss her so much when she leaves to Cambodia a week before we leave.

Alright, I saved the best story for last!! So yesterday I was at the RC (referral center... we make calls to confirm that people get their media offers they call or mail in for) and I have always been pretty weary about it. I am not a fan of receiving sales calls and know that some people may look at this as one (even though it obviously isn't because salvation is priceless ;))  But I really wanted to have a good experience so I prayed before and searched my scriptures for a good one I could share and came up with about 3. So I was calling calling calling and got a ton of answering machines. When finally this woman named Yolanda picked up.

I asked her if she had received her Finding Happiness through Christ DVD and she said she did but was too busy to watch it. I promised her that when she watched it and took time out of her life for God that she would be blessed, because my life has been blessed as I have done the same. And she agreed with me. We had a great conversation about Christ and I read her my scripture. She told me that she has been so stressed out lately and has been praying for some divine guidance to help her and told me she felt like I was answering her prayer!!

And the neatest part is that she really is so busy and was on a 15 minute break when I called or else she wouldn't have been able to answer the phone!!! I KNOW the Lord was answering her heartfelt prayers!!! She agreed to have the missionaries come and teach her more about how she can make Jesus Christ a bigger part of her life!! I pray for her every night and I put her name on the temple prayer rolls as well! :) Anyone who reads this and would like to pray for her, please do.

I just love this great message that God our Heavenly Father really, truly does love us! And that Jesus Christ IS the way back to him. Everything we do in life is leading us to that great moment when we stand before God and are let back into his presence. It is a reality to me.

I LOVE you all... I really do. Please write me and let me know how you are all doing. I hope you all know how much I really do miss you. I think about you often. I love this work though and wouldn't want to be anywhere but right here.

Please write!

Love,
Melissa

PS. I am now going to be going to the Tuesday 7am Temple session, so if anyone (CHRIS AND ANNIE) wants to come I will be looking for you!!!