MTC Week 2 !

The four sisters in Michelle's district.  Her companion is beside her

Olympus Titan 2012 Graduates!
Sister Ellingson, Elder Jeppson, Elder Sorenson, Hermana Warner

Hola Madre y familia!! Thank you for your sweet and encouraging words my dear. I've tried to think of something funny to tell you about, one day Hermana Quayle and I were going on a walk and a bug flew directly in my eye. Literally squirming and stuck in my eye. I cried and then I laughed for about four days about it. So this week, it has been interesting. Full of ups and downs. I think the best way I described it to Brooke was how on the mission you have good days and bad days, but in the MTC, you have good hours and bad hours. I am trying so hard to just focus on the good hours and laugh off the rest! It has been a very humbling experience to work on relationships with a companion and focus that this is the Lord's work! I have a long list of scriptures to share with you and of course I forgot my English scriptures (my Spanish scriptures usually do me no good at this point, ha!). But one of my favorite moments in this week was a scripture I came upon in Moroni 8:2-3.... Look it up. I changed the words 'son' and 'Moroni', to 'daughter' and 'Michelle'. It made me realize that even though I am going to go through hard times, the Lord is so incredibly grateful for the things that I am doing. He is continually shaping me into who I need to be.    I prayed before personal study for guidance and came across Charity. THE PURE LOVE OF CHRIST. 1 Corinthians 8:1, "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." In the footnotes, edifieth means to build up, strengthen, establish, repair. My whole purpose as a missionary is to "repair" the lives of those whom the Lord is preparing for me. Another thing I wanted to know more about is Grace. Have you ever stopped to think of what that word means? Look it up in the bible dictionary. My favorite part of it says "The main idea of the word is divine, a means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ." Ha, this was made for me! In John 15:7 it says "7 If ye aabide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall bask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (I am looking these up on LDS.org) Look at the footnotes. I can use this throughout my whole mission, no matter what I am striving to do. If I ask for it in humble prayer, then I will be blessed. I am so thankful that I have been able to point out the tender mercies from the Lord, he has helped me daily through scriptures and I have felt His love when I need it the most. 
My schedule? I wake up at 6:30, work out, breakfast, then class. In class, we study language for an hour, doctrine for an hour, and then something else that varies with the day - so 3-hour time frames of class. It's sometimes hard to focus and stay awake but I do! We have an hour of companionship study, an hour of personal study, and an hour of language study, so I am literally in the same classroom from about 7:20 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.  I am learning every single day. Thank you for the package! I was talking to a sister in my room and was telling her how it is so hard to even explain and put in to words how much I love and appreciate my family. And then she said, "That's probably how our Heavenly Father feels about each of us, we are so special to Him!" 
So Spanish, pretty much I feel like I'm in a different world when I try and speak it. It is so incredibly hard, but I know I will get it. I am trying to be patient with it, but I just need to up my study time. I feel like there are not enough hours in the day to study for everything. And there aren't enough hours in the night. I need more sleep! I am trying so very hard and am truly putting all of my effort into learning and growing. I have my moments where it is very discouraging. But then I recieve my own personal witness of why I am HERE! So we teach these fake "investigators" (volunteers) and we had our first one on Friday in SPANISH! I had no idea what I was saying, but I did bear my testimony about God's love for us and it was just like a rush flowed throughout my whole body! It was incredible!
I am learning so much everyday it is amazing.  It is overwhelming and some days I don't think that I'll ever learn Spanish, or that I'll ever be able to teach others adequately.  But, I do know that EVERYTHING is possible with the Lord's hand.  No one could do a mission on their own.  There is an incredible force here, so many missionaries!  All here for the same reason.... 
I have learned more about myself in the last two weeks than I ever have. I know this incredible experience isn't about me, this is about the Lord. I am making it a goal to surround everything I do, to do it in Christ's name and remember why I am here and why I chose to be here. I may or may not be counting the days until I am in LA., only 30 more days, less than 4 and a half more weeks! Patience... patience.... ;) 
It is hard but somehow it is so rewarding..... 
I love letters and dearelders! My family and the Gospel are the greatest blessings in my life.  
I LOVE YOU! Hermana Warner