Mall Field Trip in the MTC...Say whatttt?

My glasses (that I've had for less than a year) busted this week. I opened them and they crumbled in my hand. Not. Even. Kidding. So I took them to the front desk to see if they could send them somewhere to be fixed. Instead, they sent me and my companion on a field trip!

She sent us to the mall! You just don't understand how that sounds to the ears of an over anxious missionary who has been confined here for a month (no matter how much fun this place can be). It feels nice to stretch out a bit. 

So they shuttled us out on Tuesday and dropped us off at the mall. It was hard because it was just before lunch and we weren't allowed to eat anywhere but the MTC.

I'm telling you...walking by Orange Julius and Red Robin...holy cow. Temptation. I am proud to say I resisted and all was well in Zion. Glasses are now in the process of being fixed and we had quite the day. 

We originally had planned to split an airhead to celebrate our half-way mark here in the MTC, but going to the mall was "alright" too. (Our elders were pretty jealous. I think Elder Norseth was pretty close to breaking his glasses too so that HE could take a field trip...) 

To be honest though, I was excited to come back to the MTC. I missed the optimism and humor of our Elders and the powerful spirit here, being surrounded by missionaries. I love this place. This work must be true. Well, OF COURSE it is, haha. I am amazed how I come to understand the importance of my calling day to day through these little experiences.

 We got to host the new missionaries coming in this week! Over a thousand just this Wednesday. So fun!
(Just ask downstairs at the main office on the HOW-TO...they'll give you papers to sign up your district to be hosts.)

During cleaning checks. Elder Hamm decided to dance on top of the chair as he was cleaning the uh...ceiling. We failed our classroom cleaning checks last week because we forgot so this week we went crazy and cleaned EVERYTHING...even the ceiling. :) 

Elder Ballard came this week and spoke to us! Such a wonderful devotional! He told us to learn our message so well that we could share it anytime, any place, and to anyone. He promised that if we know the message, we will be able to find a confidence in that there isn't anything they say to you, that you can't answer or handle.

What a promise! It means so much to me as a missionary of the Lord. He also told us that the best missionaries understand the Atonement. I am so grateful for those trials throughout my life that have brought me closer to my Savior. Without those tests I would have never learned the answers for myself. I wouldn't progressively begin understand the Atonement. 

I still have so much to learn about that perfect sacrifice of the Savior of the world- I wonder if I will ever fully understand what the Atonement did for all of mankind. Most definitely not in this life, but I'm grateful for the knowledge that I do have of it. I have found that one of the hardest things to explain in my lessons is the Atonement (especially in Spanish). How do you describe the greatest event since the beginning of time? I'm getting better at it, but something I'm gonna have to practice!

Love,

Hermana Silva