Week #1: My zone is GREAT!

May 31, 2016

HEY FAM!

It was so great to hear from you guys! So my P-day is on Tuesdays so I should be on the computer around 8:30 or 9:00 on Tuesday mornings in case you wanted to get on and chat or anything. Also, apparently if you go online on Dear Elder or something, you can write to me and the front office will print it and bring it to me that day.

The MTC is great so far though! My companions name is Hermana M and she was Aubrey's roommate at BYU! She is so sweet and we get along really well! She is a music/theater/dance major at BYU, which is so different from me but its really cool and she’s an incredible singer. She is from Houston, TX (Spring area) and is serving her mission in Sacramento, CA and is obviously Spanish speaking as well. One thing we have in common is that her sister passed away in a car accident 3.5 years ago and was 18 years old too. So right around the same time frame and they were the same age. We joke and say that while we are mission companions here on earth, our sisters are probably companions on their mission in heaven. 

 

Hermana Greenwood and Hermana M

As for the Spanish, it’s definitely a work in progress. We have already taught 4 lessons to an investigator in Spanish and they actually have been going pretty well! The first lesson we like planned out everything that we were going to say and read a lot of it but after that, we decided that it wasn't really helping us learn Spanish and it made our message less meaningful so now we just plan an outline of what we want to say and its helped a lot. It's frustrating when you can't say what you want to say but its only almost been a week so I still have 6 more weeks to learn (5 more weeks of Spanish and then a week of visitor center training at the end).

My zone is GREAT! They are so welcoming and fun to be around. One district left this morning, which was a bummer, but we get 6 more Hermanas and 3 more elders tomorrow! I absolutely love my district already. There are 4 Hermanas (including me and Hermana M) and 4 Elders. The other 2 Hermanas are Hermana J and Hermana G. They are so great! I get along really well with both of them but especially Hermana J. She was at BYU and lived in Helaman as well and we have A LOT of mutual friends. Hermana G is so sweet and extremely innocent and is just so cute. She seems to forget literally everything that she needs. On the first full day, she forgot to change out of her shower shoes and wore her flip-flops around campus, which is totally not allowed. She forgets to wear her nametag pretty much everyday. She doesn't know ANY music, its actually so sad. The Elders are great! Turns out Hermana J was dating one of the Elders in my district at BYU and they were still dating when they got to the MTC. So that's pretty funny. The other 3 Elders are pretty quiet but they are starting to be more social which is great cause when they do talk they are so funny. 2 of the Elders are really big runners too so we've had some good conversations about that. They never did cross country or track in high school but they run on their own and have each done like 4 Ragnars and such. They're great. 

The food is pretty good but I've done a good job at not eating much and I haven't had any desserts since I've been here. I think I'm trying to go the whole time without sugar, which will be good for me cause I really would like to not get fat on my mission, if that's possible. I also have run and worked out every day since I've been here. Not so fun running on an indoor track for forever but it's better than nothing. 

 

It appears Erin has gained the reputation of an "nike"girl athlete.

The pictures that I'll attach are the ones that Hermana J took because turns out this camera is like super junky and the pictures are all blurry. I feel bad asking you guys to send me a better camera but I really want to have good pictures to remember my mission and not a bunch of blurry ones, so sorry, but if that's possible, it would be much appreciated. 

Also, turns out I would like to have my black pencil skirt and my flower pencil skirt, so if they haven't already been taken by Amy, Lisa, or Dana, could you send those too? (Her clothes were snatched up by her sisters but we got the skirts to her.)

One last thing, maybe you could send pictures of our family or the family calendar or something cause that would be nice to have. The Christmas card just isn't cutting it haha. (We tried to get her to take it with her, haha)

I really wish that I could be with you guys in Florida right now but I know that I am supposed to be here. I want to hear all about it! I'm sure you're having a blast. 

Sorry to hear about all the flooding in Houston but I'm glad that nothing happened to you guys or our house.

I don't know who in our family uses what email so I just attached who I knew and I figured that you guys are all together. 

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!

Hermana Greenwood