December 10, 2014

Dear Family,

Soooo, the travel plans are as follows: I leave the MTC at 6 am on Monday, Dec. 15, and then our flight out of Salt Lake leaves at 11:15ish to Atlanta. Then we have a layover in Atlanta from like 4;50 to 7:40 and then we board our like 12 hour flight to Buenos Aires, which is supposed to land at 8 am the next morning! All on Delta. So it's gonna be a long day of travel, and I'm not really sure yet what's gonna happened after that, but I think we'll take a bus/car/plane or something to Mendoza from there. So, yay! I'm beyond excited to get to Argentina. I'm nervous too, but mostly just excited and anxious to get to work! I already spent a whole month of my mission!!!! 

How's Christmas in the Pypers house this year? It looks so awesome! Ferb is up to mischief as usual and everyone sounds as busy as ever! It'll be back down to just two kids in the house soon enough, huh? That's good that Andy made some cash, because life is expensive. I'm glad I don't have to worry about stuff like that for a while. So, mom, I got all of the happy mail! The cute little Santa hat, the candy cane of kisses, the pez! My Chilean teacher had never seen pez before so I shared some with him haha. He was entertained. Also, thank you so much for the sweet little necklace charms, I love them! I can't believe how thoughtful that was, thank you! And sounds like I have a barrage of packages on the way, so thank you for being so accommodating and loving and supporting me from afar!

I've been a little sick with a bit of a cough and sore throat, but it got a little better today, so I'm hoping that it will be gone before we have to travel. Other than that, I've had a really great last week so far! My spanish is improving, I feel the spirit mas y mas, and so much great counsel from devotionals and our teachers. Tomorrow we have in-field orientation all day long, I think they just show us how to street contact and make goals and stuff like that, so that should be interesting. This past Sunday we had mission conference which was cool, all the MTC presidency spoke, and then yesterday, Craig W. Zwick and his wife came and spoke and I really enjoyed their words. Also, the little phenom Lexi Walker (12 year old prodigy angel singer, look her up), came and performed O Holy Night, I am a child of god, and I know that my redeemer lives. She was fantastic. Elder Zwick talked about staying safe on your mission by following counsel of priesthood leaders, listening to the spirit, and obeying the commandments. It's really cool that since I've been here, I've had several general authorities and 2 apostles promise me that if I was obedient, that I would be safe and would have the Spirit with me. Good stuff. 

Andy, I ran into Alec Anderson in the cafeteria haha. Apparently, he works here as a teacher, and he said to say hi! I guess you'll probably see him soon, when you come out here!

That is so weird that you're retiring Dad. You've been in the Air Force literally my whole life!!!! I've never known anything else haha. But I know that you will continue to have greatness and success in all of these new endeavors and challenges! Keep me updated! Also, I'm super excited that you might live in UT when I get back!

Mom, thanks so much for taking care of me even from miles away! A couple more things: 1. could you make sure I have about 300 in my checking account before I leave on Monday morning? 2. I don't know, i think that's it actually haha

Alrighty, now for the good stuff. I realized the other day that the MTC is filled with patterns.You learn patterns of righteousness in all things: in how to study, how to teach, patterns of obedience and blessings, how to seek the spirit, how the spirit speaks to you and through you, patterns of how to act and think. Just like here in the MTC, the gospel of Jesus Christ is filled with patterns of righteousness that we can seek out through study and experimenting upon the word. These patterns make up our eternal progression. Also, I studied Moroni 7:32-48 about charity, and wrote down all the aspects of charity and then rewrote them in my own words. Then I picked two of those characteristics to work on this week, and let me tell you, it really helped in putting off my natural instinct to think about me and turn outwards and think about others. It was neat. Try it sometime this week, maybe for family night! 

My district is singing "Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy" in sacrament meeting this week as our going away song! I will miss everyone in my district, especially my companions. I have been so blessed with easy-going, diligent, smart, funny, Christ-like companions. I know we're gonna be friends for eternity! 

I'm trying to think of some more things to tell you....my companion, Hna. Zaugg and I had fun yesterday narrating the four-square game in the gym from above on the track, in British accents. We laugh a lot here at the MTC. I also love all of my teachers, they are so patient and helpful to all of us! I hope I get a chance to teach here when I get back.

Well fam, that's bout it. I love you all! I hope you have such a great week! Yo se que mi redentor, aun que Jesucristo el hijo de Dios vive! I'll write you from Argentina next week!

P.S. I sent mom an email, but I have an opportunity to call home from Atlanta during my layover. If everyone is home, I'd love to! If not, that's fine too, because I'll skype you in a couple weeks too! Let me know in like an hour!

Love and hugs from the MTC,

Hermana Pyper

December 3, 2014

Happy thanksgiving! Looks like y'all had a nice little quiet family weekend! The MTC was pretty awesome on thanksgiving. Elder Bednar came thursday morning and hosted an international question and answer session with all the international MTCs. They passed out cell phones and had everyone text in their questions, and it was a really cool experience. Elder Bednar is an amazing man and a true apostle of Christ. He talked about representative agency, which is agency that represents Christ when you make covenants with God to take upon you Christ's name. He also talked about consecrating your whole heart, mind, might, and soul to your mission. As the MTC choir, we sang "Come Thou Fount" and it was SO AWESOME! The power of the spirit there was so so strong. Afterwards, we had Thanksgiving lunch, classic stuff, turkey, beans, potatoes, pumpkin pie. Stuffed full. Then we had a really cool service project were we made little dry casseroles for a hungry kids program. We broke some kind of record and it was really nice to just lose myself in service. So then we had like a thanksgiving program and then sack dinner haha but it was nice because we ate with our zone and had a little box that we wrote thankful thoughts in and then read them. Then we had a surprise and got to watch Meet the Mormons! That was really special! Then we walked out and the Christmas lights were turned on and everything looked so beautiful! I'll send a pic. The rest of the week was pretty normal, but then Sheri Dew came to Relief Society and spoke. Let me tell you, she is amazing. She is so powerful, and direct, and she gave a really cool explanation of how women and the priesthood work together. She also talked about receiving revelation and she asked a cool question, "Am I willing to engage in a spiritual wrestle?" She described a spiritual wrestle as understanding doctrine well enough and receiving revelation to wrestle the adversary / questions to the ground. Really cool experience. Then guess who came on Sunday night devotional?? VOCAL POINT. They were so good. They started out with the 12 days of Christmas (Straight no Chaser style) and then sang a bunch of hymns. They sang a really beautiful version of Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, and they bore their testimonies in between songs. 

Then, yesterday, Elder David F. Evans came to speak and he shared like a mormon message clip thingy called Share the Gift. I encourage y'all to watch it, it's really touching. He talked then about how he discovered the Gift (Christ) and then embraced it and shared it. So, I encourage you family to discover the gift more fully this Christmas. Mom and Dad sounds like y'all are doing just that with reading the Book of Mormon. That's awesome! I recently just started over and have been reading it again, and already I have learned so much through this missionary lens over my life. The more you discover the gift, the more you embrace it, and the more you want to share it. And the more you share it, the more you discover for yourself! It'sa cycle, isn't that cool? Everything in the gospel is a circle, one eternal round.

So I still the love the MTC, but I am getting a little stir-crazy. I can't wait to get to Argentina! Although, I do need you guys to send me a couple more things before I leave: passport holder, some more proactiv+, a usb with tons and tons of music pleassseee! Haha, and whatever else you think I need. I got the sleeping bag, and the little boxes of candy, and the christmas box with cocoas and then cute wreath and DARLING STOCKINGS! So cute! Thank you so much mom and dad! And thank you for the letter Beks! I sent everyone one back. 

I have not seen Matt King yet, but if I do I'll say hi! Haha. Andy, screen protector is in the black cloth bin on the left side of my little white storage thingy in my room (the one with the mirror over it), or it could be in one of those black and white flowery boxes. I'm not sure. And I don't know about the iCloud password, I'll email you my guesses in a sec.

So anyways, I love feeling the spirit. I love giving all my time to the Lord. I feel blessed every day for this opportunity to serve and have the spirit work through me. I know the Lord is blessing y'all too. How is life in the real world? It is really nice to have so much time to spiritually fortify myself. I have six weeks to learn how to put on the armor of God more securely and then when I get to the field, I will have a couple hours a day to put it on. One of my teachers said something cool/scary. She said going to proselyte is like going into the great and spacious building and inviting people to come and partake of the tree of life. So, let's put on the armor of GOD! YAY!

Alrighty well, before I leave, I just want to say that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that he is the savior of the world and has born each of our burdens. I know that when you embrace the gift of His Atonement and His life, we will be filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and we will be filled with the desire to share this gift that has come to mean so much to us. It means so much to me, more than I could possibly express, and I cannot wait to share it with the wonderful people of Argentina. 

So, watch the message. http://www.mormon.org/christmas. I love you all so much! 

Love, 

Hermana Pyper