AMAZING THANKSGIVING!

Dear All,

     I got the boot off today! My right calf is a little smaller than the left, but I'll beef it up in no time. More excitingly, we just got a whole bunch of snow... 

Yay Snow!

...and it doesn't show
signs of stopping any
time soon. I didn't have
time to get a better
picture before email
time, so sorry. That
one's at 6:30 AM,
and it's got seven
hours of snow on
top of it!
Otimo (awesome!)!

Sweet Viviana Campbell

    So, do you want to know how Thanksgiving in the MTC is? It's amazing! Why? I'll tell you! First, the entire west campus walked up to main campus to join us. Our morning devotional was given by Elder Russel M. Nelson, one of the twelve apostles. He told us some things that will be very important to us as missionaries. He's a cool man. Second, we had a Thanksgiving fireside thing, and I expected for the musical numbers to be the usual hymns and spiritually uplifting music...well these songs were spiritually uplifting in a different way! Elder Shupe (who will be coming to serve in the Manchester, NH mission!!!) played the fiddle. That elder plays a mean fiddle. It was so cheerful and made me want to dance so bad. Another elder played an awesome rendition of "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter. To top it off, our Thanksgiving hymn was "Over the River and Through the Woods..." It was awesome. I was smiling so big I'm not sure the words really came out right. Also, I'm not sure if there are four real verses to that song or if they made them up, but it was buckets of fun! 

     Probably my favorite part was the humanitarian project! We

Sister Seal is Special

made (the whole MTC together) over 350,000 soup packets for children in need in Utah. It was so much fun! And I can't think of a better Thanksgiving activity. After that, we watched a pioneer movie called "Ephraim's Rescue." It is the true story of the Martin Willy handcart company crossing the plains to get to the Salt Lake Valley. It is a very awesome story. The faith of the early saints is incredible! We watched it in the gym, which transforms into a chapel for devotionals, and they gave us Junior Mints and Milk Duds! It was like being at the movies...well...almost! Long story short..ish.. Thanksgiving was amazing!

It was great to see Melanie Morales

     Our teachers went on vacation for a week and came back yesterday. We had some amazing substitutes, but man were we glad to see our own teachers again! Sister Seal and I basically attacked Irma when we saw her!


I hope Sherry knows how radiant and happy Melanie looks every time I see her. It must be hard to have her baby gone, but she is doing a great work, and she is loving it!

INSTITUTIONAL Mattress

     SO some people say the MTC is like a prison. When compared to the mission field, I suppose it is, because you just want to talk to people about the gospel, but maybe that's not it. Maybe that thought was procured from some of the finer details of life here....  -------> -------> ------>

     But in all honesty I love it here. It is a great place to learn and grow, but I am so ready for my reassignment on Thursday! Just to be clear, it is a temporary reassignment. I will be going to Brazil when I receive my visa.

I hope you are all well, and I will let you know what my reassignment is on my next P Day... unless I leave before Tuesday! Then it will be two days, but my parents will let you know after I email or call them!

Love,
Sister Arthur

 P.S. If anyone was wondering why "Come Thou Fount" is not in the LDS hymnal any more, it is because it was removed in the 90s following a survey of which hymns weren't very popular. Can you believe no one sang that? I guess getting kicked out of the hymnal made it really popular. Just in case you are wondering about the credibility of this statement... it came from the MTC choir director who knows the guy responsible for its banishment. He says we can be hopeful it will appear in a later addition of the hymn book.

I guess it happens as soon as Elders are set apart
...or are they Practicing for Elder's Quorum?