Hasta ver

SO. MUCH. NEWS.

First things first! My district left me at the beginning of the week :( I did cry slightly, but only like tiny leprachaun tears. I miss them. They were top shelf. Two stayed behind however, including my old companion and Hermana Greer. Hermana Pyle has been complaining about pain in her knee so they're keeping her back. She had an MRI a few days ago and there's nothing wrong...but she says she can't climb stairs so she's staying at the MTC for physical therapy. Hermana Greer had one or two slight emotional breakdowns about a week ago so they decided to reassign her to Denver, Colorado (still Spanish speaking) to be trained and then she'll head to Paraguay. This week she's been a lot better and she now leaves the same time I do...which is...THIS MONDAY AT WAY TOO EARLY!

So starting Wednesday I have been doing Visitors' Center training! Can I just say it has been so good. Amazing, in fact! I wish I could hug all of you who are glued to the screen because it is that good. Saturday night we'll be up at Temple Square helping to give tours! Wait that's tomorrow night. Whaaaat! Stoked. But that's not even the coolest part. I'll get to that. First I want to talk about my bomb.com district. There are 8 of us total- Sisters Madsen, McNamara, Earl and I are all going to Hill Cummorah and the other three are all from Utah. Sister Poon is from Hong Kong and she is going to the Visitors Center in Oakland, California. Sister Aruwiti (said like Ah-ru-wee-sis) is from Kidipest (um spelling what has happened to you) and she is going to the Visitors Center in St. George. Sister Poulson is one of the first Sisters to serve in the Portland, Oregon Visitors Center since it opens at the end of the month, and Sister T (No way am I spelling her name) is Tongan heading to the New Zealand Visitors Center! (DAD ITS YOUR PEOPLE) They are all SO wonderful. We don't really have companions right now ha so I just switch around who I teach with. Last night I taught with Sister Poon and it was really really great. One of the best experiences I've had teaching here I think. Her English is great and although we have different styles of teaching we were able to listen to each other well and it turned out great!

Ok so I'll get to what I think is the coolest part. Go to Mormon.org. Vayan! Do you see the chat button? Chat with live missionaries? Um...that's us! The Visitors center sisters! I have now been trained and yesterday I got to start. We always chat with our companions online as well, but its just an opportunity for anyone to get on and ask questions. Obviously we get a lot of dumb people with nothing better to do than waste their time and everyone elses, but even just yesterday I got to talk with people who had legitimate questions and wanted to understand better. It's great because sometimes people are embarrassed to ask a question or they don't have much time to meet with someone. Through chat we can set up return appointments (online) as well as help them meet with the missionaries who live next to them. Yesterday I talked to someone from the Netherlands and someone in California. Because of the way they have the rotation set up and because of New Zealand, there is someone on chat 24/7. I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be one of the people who does it! So if you have a friend who has a question, or if you have questions (anyone can get on and ask) then you know what to do! I'm a little nervous about some of the sisters that get on, but overall it's been really great so far. Also as a bonus, I'm allowed to chat Spanish speakers as well as English :) Woot!

Ok so I leave this Monday at 4am! Next week's email should be dazzling I would suppose. So much is happening! POR FIN! I realized that I'm really going to miss other people I've come to be close with here- two districts especially. After my district left and before I started VC training I was taken in from my homeless state from a district that came in a week after mine. There's also a random district down the hall that I've become super close to. Probably because of volleyball. Did you know that volleyball brings people together? Sometimes it makes them enemies but I'm not competitive enough for that.

One last thing! Please don't send any more dearelders. They don't print them on Saturdays or Sundays and then by Monday I'm gone so they will just trash any I get- it's not worth the money to forward them since it's a free service. Cartas, cartas! Envienme cartas, por favor! Thanks to everyone for how much support you've given me over the past 10 weeks. The MTC alone has been such a great experiences.
Miss and love many of you (Sorry but I don't know who reads my blog so the "everyone" word ain't comin)
Cheerios and cheetos!
Hermana Ray

PS. If anyone actually likes my swimming thoughts sorry I haven't had time to write them today. Next week! If you don't like them, Merry Friday!