Off to the MTC

Rinna flew to Utah on May 22nd and reported to the MTC on May 23rd. Because Rinna did well during her Spanish evaluation interview, she only stayed there for three weeks! Yay! She is so excited to teach and share the gospel with others! Im not going to lie the first day at the MTC was super rough. I had no idea what i was doing and everything was so new to me. Ive heard people say that the MTC is a different world and I never really understood that until i got here. After mom dropped me off they started pilling things in my arms and pointing out different buildings that looked exactly the same. That was a bit overwhelming but then after, we went into a big room and all of the new missionaries that had arrived that day were there. We sang some hymns and they gave us a miniorientation. After we went straight into workshops and started teaching right then! Definitely wasnt expecting to be teaching so soon but its a good learning experience. My companera (companion) never showed up so they labeled me as a "Solo" sister meaning that i have to go around with two elders from my district or find another sister. Thursday we got up and went to breakfast and then went to a workshop. Then we had personal study and then additional study time for an hour. I love that i get at least 2 or 3 hours to just read the scriptures and study.Then i went to the gym with my companeras de cuarto (roommates) Hermana Aguilar and Hermana Schoemaker. My other two roommates are Hermana Collazos from spain and Hermana Morales from Mexico. They are so nice and welcoming. I will miss them a lot when they head out next week. Later that night the zone leaders came in and met with us. They are pretty cool and they just oriented us a little bit more about what to expect while we are here. Also we got our new district leader, Elder Stone. All of the guys in my district are like family to me. Im the only girl but they watch out for me. Also tonight i was called as Coordinating Sisiter. Still not exactly sure what that will mean for me but i hear im going to be very busy and that i welcome the new sisters that come in every wednesday. Friday, we got up and had breakfast and then headed to class in our classrooms. Also forgot to mention that classes last for 3 hours. That was definitely hard to get used to and my night classes are even harder to get through since its late at night but i love my teachers Brother Miller and Brother Lee. They both served in Colombia and are very helpful. We learned about the parallels of the Doctrine of Christ with our missionary purpose. After that we had lunch. After that i went to the gym with a girl that was in my ward at BYU, shes going to California speaking spanish but she is here for 9 weeks. After taht we went to class for additional study and then we went to dinner. Dinner is super early here. We eat at 4:15 but somehow im never really hungry after that. After that we went to class and i taught my first investigator. That was so fun and made me so excited to go out and teach! Halfway through class, the computer started singing called to serve and there was a message that i needed to call the front desk, so i did. Annnd mi companera habia llegado!!!!! my companion came! Her name is Hermana Bram and she is from Panama which means my spanish should improve tremendously. Her visa came late so thats why she was late to the MTC. She is so cute and i am excited to be serving with her. Today, well normally my Pday would be on a Friday but its different this week. I only get a half Pday today and then class for three hours and then dinner and then class for another 3 hours. I dont think ive ever studied this hard ever in my entire life but its good and i love it! I also have never been more exhausted in my entire life, trek included! This is mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting but its worth it! One good thing that my roommate told me that was encouraging was that outside of the MTC satan has all sorts of ways to distract and get to you (TV, movies, boy and girls, friends, etc....) but in the MTC he only has your thoughts and your dreams. So any time we get down on ourselves or compare ourselves to other, we just need to kick that though away. A lot of the sisters have had crazy dreams while theyve been here and i just had one the other night so its definitely true that satan is targeting us but the good news is that he's never gonna win. The gospels true. I love this work! Love you guys! (also sidenote that if you dearelder me while im at the MTC then they print out the letters everyday for free and i can get your letters faster. :) ) Hope everything is going well.