Our first missionary letter

Do not worry, I won't post every letter she send home, but this was the first and it was so good to hear from her. If you would like to get on her email list and get a letter from her once a week (like this one) Ill include her email address and a picture of her mailing address at the bottom!

Hello Everybody! I am at the MTC and everything is going swimmingly! 

Most of my days are spent speaking broken Spanish with a bunch of white kids and refraining from using the phrase "cold as balls" every time I go outside here. 

We spend a lot, a lot, a lot of time studying the language and The Gospel. It is exhausting and frustrating sometimes when you can't communicate everything you're thinking, but rest assured I am happier than I have been in a while and there is no where else on God's green earth I would rather be struggling. 

Of all the missionaries who have ever had a strange first week at the MTC, I am convinced mine has been the most unique. Please enjoy the following statistics:

-On the day I arrived, more sisters checked into the MTC than elders, this is really, really unusual and as a result, there are more Hermanas in our district than Elders. 

-In that district, there are 12 missionaries. Of the 12, 7 are from Mesa, Arizona, and one is headed there. 

-One of these missionaries is Elder Chappell who I took Mission Prep with last year and who is also headed to Santa Ana. 

-I am a 7 week missionary. What does that mean? It means there was a mistake in my call and they accidentally called me a week early. My district will leave a week earlier than me and I will be relocated to a new district and a new companion and have one extra week to work on the language with Elder Chappell. At first I was appalled. I could have spent an extra week in Italy! But as I have gotten to know my district I have come to find it was no accident. These missionaries are the cream of the crop and it is a huge privilege to struggle along side them. 

I also got to go on a field trip to the Provo Police Station in the back of a Police car! But I didn't get arrested ;) I just had to get finger printed with a couple other sisters to get our state wide clearances. We tried to bribe the officer to take us to in-and -out, but the only thing of value that we had was the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ....It didn't work out for us. 

I love the sisters in my district especially my companion, Hermana Schnebly. Most of us get to room together which has been a blast so far. One morning we all woke up and said we had heard someone crying in their sleep, another person laughing in their sleep and yet another one speaking Spanish. I said something to the affect of "Ya'll need to see someone about y'alls issues," because let's be real. That's a lot of sleep talking for one room. To which Hermana Stephens replied, "Hermana Strode, it was you speaking in Spanish."    Whoops. 

Thank you for the packages and gifts and letters! I am so loved! But if I could ask for one thing it would be a straw for Hermana Schnebly. She loves ice water but she hates when the ice touches her lips. 

Adios!

Hermana Strode

victoria.strode@myldsmail.net