Week of Hardness

My schedule: So every morning I wake up at 6:25 and say prayers and then I get ready for the day. I always take showers at night because the shower line in the morning is super crazy and you won't get into the shower before class. Personal Study Time starts at 7 down in the classroom. So I go down there and study what ever I feel that I need to study to better increase my knowledge and how to help me investigators. We have breakfast at 7:40 where I have fruit and usually all-bran with bananas (it's become an addiction!!). Then we go back to the classroom for some more personal study time. Then next we have class from 9 to 12 on the day that I'm describing. The class times change almost everyday but I'm describing my least favorite schedule. Then we have lunch at 12:15 where we get the first wave of mail (packages and hand written letters) then after that we have another 3 hours of class. In this class we either teach our progressing investigator or got the the Language training center where volunteers come in from BYU and we teach them. Then next We have language study for an hour. After that we can go to dinner at 5:15 and then we have TALL lab at 6 for an hour. TALL lab is a computer program that helps you pronounce a little better and teaches you grammar and such. Then after that we have gym for an hour where lately because my companion is hurt we go do the stationary bikes or go out to the field and walk around the field if it's nice outside. But everyday we have one hour of language study, one hour of gym, one hour of TALL, two hours of personal study time, and 6 hours of class. It's a great schedule. We got to the temple every Friday and I love it!! our first week going some little Finnish lady came and gave us a ton of names to do because her and her daughter have been trying to do all the names and such but they have hundreds to do so they decided to come and grab some of the sister missionaries so it's been nice I enjoy doing the work for this ladies family. And then every Sunday we have the temple walk in the late afternoon where we just go hang out on the temple grounds for an hour. It's great I love temple walk!!!

Well this week have been a pretty hard week for a couple of reasons. Number one is our companionship just about blew apart at the seems. Hermana Griffeth has been causing some pretty big problems in the companionship because she won't work as part of the companionship she wants things done her way and she won't let me and Hermana Lao say anything. So we finally had to get a teacher involved and everything seems to be going better between me and Hermana Griffeth but her and Hermana Lao are still butting heads a little bit. I love Hermana Lao to death. It seriously feels like I've met her before and like we have a great purpose to fulfill in this life together. I don't know what it is but something. We are great friends. Number two hardness there are some major problems with our district. They have been breaking rules right and left and it is really making the spirit disappear in our district. It is really upsetting me. Our district president has tried really hard to talk to them but they don't respect him so I don't know if the problem is going to get better or worse. I think it's going to get worse because it is getting worse. One of the teachers pulled them all out and talked to them and they still just laughed and made fun of the situation. So I don't know. I only have a month left with them so I'll just have to put up with the disobedience I guess. Luckily for me the 3 of the good elders in the district are coming to my mission and only 1 of the elders that likes to break rules. But that one is actually trying really hard to be better!!! So I'm glad I get to work with the obedient ones. Number three is Hermana Lao got some bad news this week. The first week here she was playing volleyball and came down hard on her knee and she heard a "pop" I tried to convince her that it was her ACL but she wouldn't believe me and she is/ was against medicine of any kind so it was hard to try to convince her to go to the doctor. SO we finally convinced her after she could barely walk anywhere last week. So she went to the doctor I went with her to the hospital where she got x-rays and MRI's and they let me watch. And then the doctor here at the MTC interpreted them himself instead of the letting the orthopedist do it. And told her that she just had to have physical therapy which made her happy because she thought she tore her Meniscus. Well yesterday afternoon we went back to the orthopedist and he had a surgeon there waiting for us and him and the surgery checked her knee and she has a torn meniscus and a torn ACL. She has to have surgery on Monday. It's a 6 - 8 week recovery so we are hoping to work her hard in physical therapy and at night before bed and get her ready to go before we leave so she can fly out with us. She is really upset about it. I'm quite sad for her. It's a pretty massive trial but I guess all we can say is I'm happy that she got it figured out now and she gets to still go to Argentina. Oh and the Anesthesiologist is in our branch presidency and he is going to let me come in and watch the surgery so I am quite happy about it. Hermana Lao has been really nervous through this entire thing so she has dragged me everywhere so that I can help her understand what is going on and such. It's a big trial but everyone is working with us really well. We aren't getting behind or anything so it's great.

Well other than that I love it here. I love the spirit here. I love the opporutinty that I have to learn the gospel. I'm going to write everyone individual letters. and don't worry mom I'm sending off a package of pictures today.

Love you all!!

Cherysh