Another week in...Paradise?

Dear Family, et al
Hey everyone! It's email time! Yes!

This week, like every other week here, has been a blur. I guess I should start to get used to it. I can't even remember what week this is but I know that I'm almost at the halfway point for my MTC stay. almost...
The District (I really need to come up with a cooler name for us, any suggestions?) has been slowly recovering from the loss of Elder Meiling. But no one has gotten lost or missed a meeting since he left so I guess we're doing better than we thought. We're all getting a little stir crazy just want to get out of here! I'm willing to carry all of my bags to the Salt Lake City Airport tonight and buy my own ticket to Prague. Only 5 more weeks....

This week I'm trying to not stress out so much. Our Branch President chastised us a little for being so worried about our performance. He assured us that we are all doing fine and reminded us that this work is the Lord's and it should be performed with love and patience. And then we watched a talk by Elder Holland titled "Miracle of a Mission" and it really hit home to me how important this is and that I need to be putting my focus on the people. Not the lessons or the language. If I put my efforts in communicating by the spirit the rest will come. One day I'll get it....

I should tell you that I'm still loving it here. I wish I was able to describe the amount of fun I'm having with my district. No matter what it is that we're doing; be it during gym, meal time, or cleaning our classrooms, we are just always in good spirits and enjoying ourselves. Whenever someone is struggling or having a bad day it's great to have 5 other people standing by to lend a hand. I just wish we could all serve together in Slovakia.

Here's a funny story that happened this past week: On either Wednesday or Thursday (they all just blur together) Elder Freeman and Nichol were both called to the front desk during a meal. When they returned, extremely seriously, they said they had talked to President Smith (the President of the MTC) and that they weren't able to tell us what it was about until Sunday. Then they went to talk to some District leaders-still in serious mode. Sister Anderson, Bartholomew, Elder Bacon and I were going CRAZY wanting to know what it was going on. I was convinced that the Prophet or someone was coming and they were going to administer the sacrament to him (It happens sometimes). On Sunday the Sisters, Elder Bacon and I waited for them to get out of their Zone Leader meeting and they stood on the picnic tables to announce that the secret was that there was no secret! They only saw President Smith in the hall. It took us a minute for it to sink in that they were serious that there was really nothing going on. So now the rest of us are trying to come up with something to trick them... (okay, I promise that this story is really funny. I guess you had to be there?) Our new favorite thing to do as a district is come up with the dumbest jokes. So far its Elder Bacon's tie joke. (It's one of those visual jokes that are always super lame)

Oh! Before I forget, I saw Matt Bird (my cousin) at the Temple this morning! How wild is that? He's doing good, working at the MTC actually, but mostly with the senior couples so I won't really see him. But I'll have to keep an eye out for him.

To answer your questions mom (sorry they are a week late) I'm warm enough at night, but I still want that long underwear before I leave for Prague. My p days are on Tuesdays and we don't have a set time to check our email, mostly whenever we get a chance. We tend check it around 3:00-3:30. I don't really need anything right now. Some good food would be nice. I'm starting to see why some people hate the food....

Well, I will write you all again in a week!

Starsi Williams


ps Some people have written me and said to forward thanks to whoever updates the blog, they're liking it. So... THANKS MOM! :)