First MTC email

First off, thank you for the package!! I loved! I actually just barely got to go pick it up. It's great. And your right. I have a very limited time on the computer. haha but you can always write more mom!!!! I liked conference a lot, they were all good, it is pretty funny at the MTC to see how all the missionaries react to certain things. it's uncomfortable, but fun. Doing priesthood the sisters watch the young womens conference. which honestly was better than almost all of the conference sessions. Uchtdorf rocked his talk! So that was lots of fun. And yes that's very true, you have a lot more confidence in me than I do.

I have to prewrite some of my letter because i only have a half an hour on the computer, and between reading all the e-mails it doesn't leave me a ton of time, so here is some of my pre-written letter, enjoy. You need to forward it to becca and stuff cause I didn't have the chance to write her a ton of details yet.

First matter of buisness. Things this daughter of yours needs:

1. a long letter

2. a razor, mine has decided to leave me. And if you decide to send that to me (it's a blue venus one) please also send popcorn. I desperately need a razor. Also if you send me a package you may feel free to send my blowdryer and curling iron, I can't believe i forgot them, but it has somewhat backfired.

3. And...a letter. I love you mom but a one sentence flash card does not a letter make. :)

Secondly would you like to hear my mission motto that i have taken. It is what i have to keep telling myself over and over again everytime I want to curl up into a ball and cry.

"Ask and ye shall recieve; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened." I say it over and over and over again, it gets me through the day, and keeps me motivated in my prayers.

You at home may ask what exactly it the MTC about? Strict obedience is the firm answer i give. And as this is not a natural gift of mine I have to work extra hard, but I really do try hard.

And what people say about the MTC is all true!! You lie awake at night and listen to multiple girls in your room sob themselves to sleep. But you will be proud to hear that I have not cried, not once!! Which i find simply amazing. Curl up into a ball and die, yes, but cry, no.

My companion is awesome, we get along really well. But she struggles here a lot, and she doesn't concentrate very well, and her family hasn't written her at all yet. And she cries, a lot, like ALL the time. she is one of the ones that sobs herself to sleep at night. It's rough. Her name is Soeur MacKay. So it's fun. All the girls are fun in their own ways, and so are the boys, but they are never on task. They just sit and talk all the time. But they are pretty funny.

I go to San Fransisco on Friday. i leave at 5 am, and i get back to the MTC at 9 pm. So that will be fun, a whole day of freedom! haha They have been sending us all different days and Soeur Green was on monday but she didn't wake up, so she was like freaking out, so we did an unauthorized split and I had to get up and run her across the MTC in pajamas and no shoes to meet her group cause none of the other Soeurs would get out of bed. haha So much fun, so I guess technically I have already broken a pretty big role. But my district leader is 18, and he isn't going to call me on anything.

All you do is study. all alone. You only have a teacher for 3 of the 7 hours you sit in a classroom, it's really weird. But my teacher Frere Bloisel is super awesome! I love him tons!! He's pretty funny when he's trying to explain something that none of us understand.

I'm sorry this is hurried but my 30 minutes are up!! Haha so I will try and hurry the end of this. And we only get to write on Tuesday, but we get letters everyday, so write dearelder.com and then I can have my letter planned out before hand.

Oh! And just so you can think about it, the date that my mission is supposed to end, although it can change, is September 30th, 2014. So crazy!! So you guys can start thinking about your trip!

I will write Haley today, but tell her that i love that picture she sent me so much! It almost made me cry.

So quick sum up, the MTC is fun. I only get mad sometimes when I get woken up before 6. The language isn't at all coming. Our investigator Dominque is adorable, but doesn't understand what we are saying at all and it makes me want to cry. hopefully i'll get better at teaching. but i can bear my testimony in French, so that's a begginning. I will send it to you next time and you can see what you think! Its pretty simple but oh well. The food is good, I have not gained any weight, we have enough gym time that it's not a problem. haha

Love you guys so much! So proud to be your daughter. Tell dad that I miss him tons, and love him, and hope that his surgery goes well, i pray about that more than the gift of tongues probably. haha Thank you for the letters, and the package! I'll talk to you next week!

LOVE YOU!!

Love,

Soeur Jackson

who only has 5 weeks until she arrives in Paris, it has never felt so far away. ;)