great news!

Hi Everyone!!

So to start off, my visa is ready!! I have to go down to Las Vegas to pick it up so Hermana Taylor and I (she's the only other one from my district whose visa is ready) get to fly down on Monday and make an appearance at the Mexico Consulate. We are SO excited :) 

This week has been great with some difficulties between me and my companion. I never thought I was strong-willed until this week when I felt like she was directly opposing me. I'm working on it and it's getting easier to work with someone who is so different from me. For Relief Society on Sunday we had a guest speaker and this week it was Camille Fronk Olsen and she was FANTASTIC. I seriously wish I had taken a class from her at BYU and that I had ordered her book when I saw it this summer in the Deseret Book magazine. She spoke about female missionaries in the scriptures and focused on the New Testament. She just finished a book called "Women in the New Testament" and I bet it is amazing. She was funny, and well-spoken, engaging and a great teacher. All of us loved it and wish we could get our hands on her talk. I'm already planning to read all her books when I get home :) Another spiritual highlight from this week was our Tuesday night devotional with Brother Ellis of the 70. He spoke about enthusiasm and how it comes from the Greek which means inspiring. Enthus = inspiring and theos = God. So inspired by God leads you to be enthusiastic which I love since as missionaries we need to be led by the Spirit. One way to show that is through our enthusiasm for the message we have as we share it with others. 

Other than that, nothing much else is happening here. We went up to main campus yesterday so my companion could get a typhoid shot. If possible, I think she hates shots more than I do—she caused quite a scene when they brought the needle out! And every time I go to main campus, I manage to run into my friend Jordan Hansen! It is so fun and makes it feel a little more like home. 

A random side note: my roommate Hermana Gurley (from Georgia) is hilarious. We have been running during gym and we sit next to each other during class and she has noticed my facial expressions. She has started taking candid photos of my every chance she gets. I think by now she probably has a few dozen of me and she will just laugh as she looks through them. They are pretty funny and I have tried to not make faces but I can't stop! My face just shows exactly what I'm feeling. Also, Hermana Taylor (from Canada) told us she heard from a missionary in our mission in Mexico City, who has to shower with buckets and wash their clothes with a washboard. Mom, the first thing I thought of was you on your mission! I'm hoping we can pay people to do our laundry. I am not relishing the idea of hand washing all my clothes.

Our teacher Hermano Hardy is leaving us. His schedule for this upcoming semester makes it so he can't teach us in the afternoon anymore so we are getting a different teacher. He has been my favorite teacher by far. He brings the spirit with him and I just learn so much from him. He tells us stories from his mission and he has inspired all of us to better, just by his example. To this end, he challenged us to read 3 Nephi 27, study and pray for revelation and seek answers to three different questions. We all opted to get to personal study early this morning so we could study for the full hour and fifteen minutes before breakfast. It has already been an amazing experience and I have had so many ideas come into my mind. I invite you all to pick a chapter of scripture and just think of a question you want answered. Study it out and pray for the spirit and I know you will receive the answers you seek. I know this Church is true and that through prayer and the Holy Ghost we can learn the truth of all things. I love my Heavenly Father and know he cares for us and that we can pray to him about anything and everything.

I love you and pray for you!

Love,

Hermana Bennett