Happy November!

Hi Family and Friends!

It's been another busy week at the MTC, and I feel like so much has happened, but at the same time there's a lot that really starts to blur together as the weeks go on. So I'll try to do my best to share some things that have happened over the week and we'll see what we end up with.

First, Tuesday night after I e-mailed you all we had a fireside. We always have one on Tuesdays, and for me that really is the crowning jewel of my Tuesdays. P-days are wonderful, and then getting to hear the speakers Tuesday night is always a huge blessing. Two weeks ago we had Elder Nelson come, it was an amazing talk and I absolutely loved hearing from him. He had so many wonderful thoughts on how to be a good missionary and he answered a lot of questions I had. So after having Elder Nelson I figured that would be all that I would get from hearing any of the apostles at the MTC. Well, lucky me, we had Elder Scott come last Tuesday. It. Was. Incredible. He put together a sheet for all of the missionaries and then told us that we didn't need to take notes, but instead we should just put down promptings and inspiration we get during his talk. He then gave an incredible talk on the Holy Ghost. He had compiled a two page, single spaced, tiny type, document with what he called his life time learning of how to work with the Holy Ghost. You should all pray that he chooses to share it with the Ensign because it was incredible. I have the copy stuck in my scriptures and in just one week I have gotten so much from reading it. Also he stopped a few times in his talk and addressed the Sisters specifically. One of those times I felt was really for me. He looked out at the Sisters and said that our time requirement is not the same as the Elders. He told us that we are to take care of our health, and pay attention to when we need time to rest and that as we take care of our bodies we will be blessed. I felt like that was a message just for me. I've stressed so much over how to deal with headaches and with having sleeping trouble, and that felt like an answer to prayer to hear him say that. Luckily, I've been doing way better for the last few weeks, and I'm hoping that things are on the upswing.

I'll be honest, the rest of the week was pretty stressful. I'm really starting to feel like I'm down to the wire for getting ready to go to Phoenix and that is starting to stress me out. I feel like I need to work even harder than I already have been, and I really really want my Spanish to improve. I do okay talking to Americans speaking Spanish, but native speakers are still a little tricky, especially because as you go from country to country the dialects change just enough to confuse you. That will make things interesting in Phoenix, as I get to work with a lot of different accents and try to understand them. It's coming though, and I'm really really hoping that I get put with a native speaker as my companion because I feel like that would force me to learn the language, and also it would help me always hear the language, which is what I really need.

I had an amusing identity crisis this week that I thought you would all enjoy. As I said in one of my recent letters, I've done a lot of piano playing here. I play prelude for lots of things, and often end up playing for musical numbers (this week being the crowning jewel when I was given music I'd never seen before on Friday and then had to play it on Sunday... can you say, "stress"). Back to my identity crisis. So, Hna Cannon and I were walking to class one morning and some sisters came up and talked to us. They're in our Zone but we'd never really talked to them before. As we were talking one of them looked at me and said "Oh, you're that tall missionary who plays piano." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. My whole life I've been that tall flute player, and now I'm that tall piano player. Wow. That's okay though, I can be a tall piano player for 18 months, then I'll be that tall flute player again. It was just pretty weird.

Okay, I'll answer a few questions:

Todd - Good luck on getting your website done and your project finished. I'm sure it will go really well. I hope you enjoy your long weekend, I'm sure jealous of that one.

Mom - yep, I got the cards from Japan, although I think I only have 4 so far, maybe? Did you ever get the letter that I sent you with the pictures? That's so weird that the one to to the kids showed up first. I'm working on another letter for you and Dad, hopefully I'll get it out today.

Tanner & Morgan - When life gets hectic you just have to be grateful for what you can get... I know how that one feels, so thanks for sending me what you did!

Dad - Glad my letter could be of help for coercing your students... Maybe they'll do better than I did. Also, I got quite a laugh about the pictures you took, I'm excited to see them some day.

Well, I've only got 4 minutes left, so we'll see what more I can cram in. Megan, my old roommate, got her two weeks ago, and she lives just a few doors down from me. That has been so fun. We usually see each other 4 or 5 times a week and get to catch up and say hi. It's way fun to see her, and I've had a good time talking with her.

This morning we had two of the Hna's from our room leave for Seattle and Bolivia. It was way sad seeing them go, but at the same time I was way excited for them and super jealous. Next week we have 2 more sisters from our room leave (there were 6 of us together) and then the week after it's me! Hermana Cannon has an extra week because she's a visitors center sister.

I'm getting so excited to head to Phoenix! Mom, my mission Presidents name is President Beck, and the address for the mission office is the one that was put up on my facebook. for everyone else, once I'm in phoenix you always write to that address, and then it gets forwarded to me.

Love you all lots!

Hermana Okeson