Fourth Letter from MTC 3/22/13

I can't believe you guys went to some of the March Madness games, I am jelin (jealous). Oh, one of the Elder's Dad sent us all March Maddness brackets and I am picking Duke and Kanssas to be in the final with Duke taking it all.  

 

I thought that my spelling couldn't get any worse, but it has (hahaha) the spanish is starting to mess with my spelling skills. You should read my journal, I have random words in spanish because my mind is fried by the end of every night. 

The time is flying by here, on Monday I will only have 2 weeks left ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh crazy! In no way am I prepared to go into the field, but at the same time I am excited for my real mission to start (haha). We all joke that it is a fake mission in the MTC and we are waiting for our real life mission. I can't tell you how much I love all the girls I am with, at night we can never fall asleep because we talk for days. Our conversations are really weird and we all think we are super funny. All my roommates get packages multiple times a week and our room is just over flowing with food. I tell them that you guys don't send me food because of obvious reasons, haha. 

Good news about Sarah her personality is slowly coming back and it is great. This week my companion and I had to clean all the community showers, it was quite the experience. There was enough hair on the walls and clogging the drains to make 10 wigs, I was considering sending the hair to locks of love. There was one tub that we had to clean and I guess that everyone on that floor thought it would be awesome to shave their legs in it and not clean it out!

So when is WHIT getting her mission call??? I am dying to know where she is going. My Spanish is slowly getting better, so that is good. Nothing has really changed, I relive the same day every day here. It is like Groundhog Day same schedule same people same food same everything haha. But I really do love it with all my heart and I feel so blessed everyday. I can't think of anything more important I could be doing with my personal life right now then serving the Lord. 

My testimony is getting stronger everyday and it is just small little things I never thought I would have a testimony of. For example, this week my testimony really grew stronger on the importance of faithful church attendance. It is something I always knew was important and I never had a struggle with going to church, but I never fully appreciated or took advantage of the precious three hours a week we get to worship our Heavenly Father and the opportunity we have to be spiritually edified. I have learned that life is a constant battle and if we stop fighting (stop going to church, praying, reading our scriptures) Satan will eventually win no matter how strong we think our testimonies are.   I like to think of it as us in a boxing arena with Satan and if we stop training or weight lifting for each battle, Satan will be able to hurt us and maybe eventually win the battle. This is why it is so important to make sure we are "training" for those moments when Satan wants to fight us in the boxing arena. I know that if we are keeping ourselves spiritually edified through church, reading our scriptures and praying that our testimonies will be strong and we will be able to KO Satan when he comes to fight.

Love you all so much and I am keeping all of you in my prayers,

Hermana Ayre

 

Third Letter from the MTC 3/15/13

Hello Family, I miss you guys and your loving faces! This week at the MTC, or CCM in spanish, has been really good. This week we had to teach our investigator in Spanish without any notes or Spanish flip cards :/ The lessons have been pretty silent haha!! No just kidding, they have actually been pretty good considering I have only been here for two weeks! Last lesson my companion was at a loss for words so I had to choke out a 40 min lesson all on my own!

Kira has been asking for some more details about my companion, her name is Charley McNeill, sometimes I want to call her charlie dog haha, she is from Grantsville, UT and she is a hair stylest. Oh and yes Kira I have been playing Volleyball here. I love it, it is usually me and 11 Elders (haha) and I am taller then half of them. The Elders think I'm pretty ligit because of my mad skills. We were playing volleyball the other day and I spiked the ball and it totally hit an Elder in the face :() All the Elders laughed at him and he hasn't come back to play since that day. I feel pretty bad about it.

I am soooo excited for Amanda to go to the Valentines day Dance, you better send me pics and all the details ( I cant get pics through email so you will have to send them to me) Tell Alex congrats on getting a part in the talent show, I wish I could be there to see it :( I saw Sarah Nnah and her bedroom is three doors down from me! I was talking with her last night and she is already getting pretty weird, her district is very serious. I feel that they are sucking the fun out of her :/ and it also could be that it is the first few days in the MTC and those first days are way hard. I will update you if she is normal by next week. I haven't seen Jenni yet but I am keeping my eyes open. 

This week I found out that my Branch President served in the Vietnam War. I shared the story with him of when we were in "Nam" and how the bullet blew up in the gun I was shooting. He told me a story when he was in training for the War and that he saw a man lose his arm because a bullet miss fired in his gun.  It was a real amazing moment to realize how much God looks out for me and protects me in my life! I am so happy that I have made the decision to serve a mission. I have learned and grown so much in the past two weeks it is incredible. I feel like I am already going to be a better Mom and Wife because of the things I have learned here!  

Thanks everyone for the letters, I love hearing from you. I am trying as hard as I can to write everyone back. Oh and thanks T-Bug, Isabee, Jaci, Samantha and Jenna for the cute drawings and messages. 

Second letter from the MTC

Hello Family!!

The MTC has been AWESOME this week. The first few days here were really stressful and hard but things have really taken a turn for the best. This week we taught an investigator 6 lessons, IN SPANISH. It is quite the experience because we can't understand anything he says or any of the questions he asks haha it is pretty funny. You guys would laugh so hard if you were able to sit in our lessons. BUT on the up side he did commit to be baptized on April 6th. My companion and I are still getting along really well and we just laugh all the time.  I have learned a ton this week in Spanish and in the Gospel. IN Spanish I am starting to understand alot of what the teacher is saying and I can get the idea of what our investigator is asking me, It is truly a blessing! Thank you for all your prayers I know that they are helping me a ton! This week has been very spiritually uplifting, my president (President Tyler) has been such a light in my life. He always knows what I need to hear and tells amazing stories!! He is one of the most amazing persons I have ever met. He was a mission pres. in Texas and when he was pres there he brought 8 kids with him and he adopted two kids right before they went into the field!! I wish that you guys could meet him! Sorry my letters are so short I only get a small amount of time to email. Thanks for the Letters I love them! And dear elder is the best and fastest way to get ahold of me!!! LOVE YOU GUYS 

love, 

Sister Ayre

First letter from the MTC 3/2/13

Kenedi's first companion, Sister McNeill

The first missionary she sees when she walks into the cafeteria, her college roommate Sister Morgan Allred!  They were so excited to see each other.

Okay so I don't have much time but I will try to do my best to tell you my week events. First off, I love the MTC the days are CRAZY here!! I love my companion her name is Sister McNeill, she is super funny and easy to get along with!!  Yesterday I taught my first lesson with Sister McNeill in SPANISH! It went really, really bad (haha I know no Spanish  and if you can believe it my companion knows less then me. We planned a really good lesson, but when our investigator had questions I had no idea what he was saying so I would just say " Silencio Claudio, Escuchar el Espiritu" haha it didnt work out so well. The days here are really fun and busy. I feel overwhelmed at this time because I don't know any Spanish or how to teach a good lesson in English!! It is super frustrating when you have a desire to teach a good lesson, but you do not yet have the skills to teach one in Spanish. They really throw you into the fire here. BUT I know with time that the Spanish will come and I will be able to teach a good lesson. My companion and I are teaching our second lesson today and we have no idea what we are going to teach. I feel like I don't even have time to sleep here, I considered staying up all last night to study Spanish, but I am so tired (LIKE ALL THE TIME) that I knew if I stayed up I would only hurt myself and wreck the time the I have during the day to study. I am so grateful for the spirit that is here and the opportunity I have to serve a mission even tho it is REALLY REALLY MUCHO hard. I have learned the importance of listening to the spirit and that if I have faith and do my every best it will guide in me what I need to do and say. Please keep my in your prayers because I really need it at this time, it will be a miracle if I ever learn Spanish!! I love and miss you guys!! Oh and Kyle and Allee were the first two to write me letters, I really loved getting them!!!

Love, 

Sister Ayre