MTC Photos

 This is Amanda with her friend from High School, Marie Davidson, who is in the MTC at the same time as Amanda.

This is Amanda with her MTC Companion, Carla Luccion outside the Provo Temple.

This is Amanda with her MTC district. They are all in the advanced Spanish placement because they are all fluent in Spanish and need to be at the MTC only a short time.

Another photo of Amanda with her companion.

Amanda and her companion having fun at a "light saber" battle (uses trick photography-- notice the shadow of a hand above Amanda's head. The photographer is holding a colored pencil so that it looks like it is in Amanda's hand, ha ha :)

Name tag collage

This is a collage photo of Amanda's desktop at the MTC. It features her nametag, her watch, her wallet (Which Cali made for her for Christmas).

California, Here I come!

Hey family!

I tried sending you some pictures, but I don't know if they all sent, so I'm going to try again later today. They're pictures of me and my companion and our district, one of Marie and I, one of me with my hair chopped off! And one of my companion and I having an epic light saber battle. How you do it is you act like you're holding a light saber, and then the people taking the picture put a colored pencil in front of the camera and it makes it look like that. Haha. We've been having fun.

We had in-field orientation yesterday which is 9 hours worth of workshops to help us get ready for the field. It was great! We learned a lot of really useful things. I was wiped out by the end though. My companion and I had to teach a lesson right after, and it was the hardest lesson we've done. Usually if we prepare enough, the spirit will guide us in what we need to say. We spent a lot of time preparing for this lesson, but when the time came we were just exhausted, and felt stressed and it was hard to have the spirit. So it didn't really go that well. We said sorry to our teacher after (who was the "investigator" we taught) and he said, "Don't even worry, you did fine. I love you a lot." He is so awesome. It reminds me of how the Savior responds when we mess up or sin. When we come to Him and tell Him how sorry we are for not doing a good enough job even though we did our best, He says: "Don't even worry, you did fine. I have given my life for you to make up for the rest. I love you." He loves us so much. It is an incredible feeling to know and feel that.

K they do something so cool for TRC for those who are in advanced Spanish. You know how I used to always go volunteer as an investigator? I thought we were going to be teaching people like that, just regular members and it's someone different every time. But for advanced Spanish they've hired people to be actual progressing investigators for us! Some of them are converts, and some of them are actually non-members! We have no way of knowing who's who, so it's kind of a lot of pressure. But not really, it's just awesome and that's how the field is going to be. I love our investigator! Her name is Hely and it's been really fun getting to know her and share the gospel with her.

We got to go to the temple today!!!! It was the only full P-day I get in the MTC so I was so grateful. I LOVE the temple. It was amazing. I've missed it a lot. Heavenly Father loves us so much and loves to bless us in His house.

I can't believe I leave on Tuesday! Ah! I'm so excited. I don't really feel nervous, I just feel really focused. I really want to use the small amount of time I have left to prepare as much as I can. And once we get out in the field they have a 12 week training program for us greenies that is supposed to help us be successful missionaries. I've heard good things about it so I'm excited to see what it's like!

Life is good! I like it here and I'm learning how to be a missionary.

I love you!

Amanda

Amanda gets a missionary haircut -- before & after

Amanda was debating about getting her haircut for her mission. I guess she decided to go for it!!!

First few days at the MTC!

Hellooooo! 

How are you? I hope all is well and you are enjoying normal life. So guess what? I am leaving to California on Feb. 26! I got here my first day and they told me I'd only be here for 12 days. I can't believe how short it is! There's a lot of work to do while I'm here. The MTC is an interesting place. It kind of feels like college-level EFY but with a much deeper and profound purpose. I love how much they emphasize our purpose here - it really helps us prepare. I ran into Spencer Gilbert (Marin's brother) and he was so funny. He said, "That's good you get to leave so soon. People are weird here, and after you've been here a while you start to become them." Haha, I thought that was hilarious. And kind of true. I've seen a ton of other people I know too! Like: MARIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Tiffany Mcelprang, Tona Nielsen, Elise Christensen, Kari Christensen, Emily Steele (who I worked with over the summer), Derek Day, Austin Oliver from Local Motion forever ago! (Sarah do you remember him? He was in Clap Back), Kelcie Earl, Sha Anderson, and a ton of other people - I can't remember everyone. I feel like the whole world is here! It's so fun. Oh Sarah! I also saw Steve Forsyth and Josh Palmer. They're awesome.

My companion is named Hermana Luccion. She grew up in Argentina but has lived in Orem since she was 9. I love her! She is obedient and willing to work hard. We are helping each other become the missionaries we need to be. Every day feels like it's a week long - but in a good way. It is amazing how much we accomplish in the space of a day. Sometimes I'll say to my companion, "yeah remember in that workshop yesterday...?" And she'll be like, that was this morning. Haha. Time is so different here. I am exhausted by the end, but I love it. I am grateful for this time to prepare.

So, I'm trying to think of what else you'd like to know. My district's awesome. There's 6 sisters and 4 elders. We get along great and there's some really funny people. We even have and 18-year-old elder and a 19-year-old sister. We also have this thing called Zone Teaching where we get to go help the missionaries in beginning and intermediate with their Spanish! It is so fun - I love it. And they really appreciate the help. Those poor missionaries were feeling so lost with their Spanish - they said everyone just speaks Spanish to them all the time and never teaches any Spanish. Haha. Poor people were so confused. So yeah it was fun to help them out. And I got to meet a whole beginning Spanish district that is all going to Ventura! Mine's really mixed - people are going to Chile, Peru, Argentina, and California, but none are going to my mission. So it was fun to meet some who are.

So yeah, missionary work is super cool. I'm really excited to be a part of it. And everything's fine. I don't know why people talk about how the MTC's so hard and you just have to get through it. There's a lot expected of us, but your experience is totally what you make it. I like it here.

Oh and I only have 30 min. per week on the computer to read emails, write you, and email my branch president - so if you could primarily use either Dear Elder (which comes 2 X a day) or send letters through the mail hat would be great!

I love you guys. Thank you for everything.

Peace!

Hermana Cannon