Pictures!!

Hermana Hendrix's MTC District

Hermana Hendrix's MTC Companions

February 19, 2010

i have been able to see holt every day since he got here. He seems way happy and i think he is enjoying it. i saw jared wadsworth too but he didn't recognize me. Also, Nephi Farr is here right now. I talk to him almost every day. I have also seen James Stubbs a couple times. He teaches an Italian district here. I also see Sydni at least a couple of times a day. I am so jealous that you got to talk to Sami! I miss her but her letters are amazing. She always knows exactly what i need to hear. She is always following the spirit. Take good care of her while i'm gone! Niki- I'm sorry about the car. Thats really gross. You can beat me up for it in 16 months. We are told that we leave for Florida on March 9th and we get our travel plans next Friday. SO CRAZY! i don't feel ready to leave here but at the same time i wish i could leave today. 6 out of our district are going to Florida and 2 are going to Nashville, TN. Pretty sure we'll all cry our eyes out when they leave. We got three new hermanas in our zone this week so its a little different but its nice. We're hoping the relief society coordinating sister calling will get moved into their companionship soon so Hermana Hebdon doesn't have to attend meetings all the time. I'm still the zone music coordinator and senior companion. I was only supposed to be senior comp for 3 weeks and they've never changed it because of everything that has been going on. Mom- you would have loved it... yesterday i was sitting in class and a mouse went running by our desks into the corner of the room. it went behind a cupboard that is screwed into the wall. one elder was on a chair freaking out and the other one was terrified all night because we never found it. Us hermanas sit right where it was and we weren't scared at all. so funny. The elders crack me up. The district calls me the prodigy because in the meeting we had with our teacher thats what he told my companions and they got REALLY mad at me over it but once we talked about things it turned into a joke. The elders also call me Jefe which means boss. Its hilarious. They all come to me for how to organize, what things in the bookstore they should buy, all kinds of stuff. We're really close and its been tons of fun. I'm so glad most of us are going to Florida together. I also made the error of teaching one of the elders how to brag about himself righteously... that was definitely a mistake haha (Alma 10:4). Thank you for all of the dear elders this week. I definitely needed them. Things get hard but your words of encouragement definitely help me through. I'm going to send home more pictures this week that we took when i send my letter. I'm almost out of time already. Also, I would really like to read those Robert Gardner stories if i could get them. Also i need primer for my makeup... i'm completely out. Tell Elaine thank you SO much for her note! I love her and i'm so excited for Garrett. This week i am reading in Helaman about living up to our names and the name of Christ I bear. Because of my given name i have been studying about angels and their purpose in life. In alma it says it is to declare the word of God to all the nations. Hopefully i'm living up to my name... oh no out of time! LOVE YOU TONS AND TONS and tell courtney bug thanks for her note and Niki quit sucking your thumb (don't worry- it was for a game I was playing with the little ones) :)
-Hermana Hendrix
Duermen con los angelitos todas noches

February 12, 2010

so i just wrote a whole e-mail and the program deleted it so i'm going to have to hurry and then just write you a letter for the rest. Thank you SO much for the treats! it totally made my week. you always know when i'm having a hard day because that is always the days i get a letter and in this case the package from you. this week has been another really crazy week just like the rest. right now with meetings and appointments we miss on average 3 hours of study time a day which includes personal and comp time but not language because that was the time she (her companion is struggling a bit and has lots of doctors appointments) felt she needed the most which was difficult for me because i felt like thats what i needed the least. so i figured out how to solve that problem and relieve a lot of stress in my life. i switched my language and personal time. we were told when we got here that we should focus on the gospel and learn the doctrine and the language would come naturally. i have definitely been blessed in that because on average i only spend 1 hour a week on the language and everyone else has 8 or more. i haven't even noticed though. i have been able to learn very quickly and the lord has blessed me so much. we are also teaching in all spanish right now which isn't easy but i love it! its been a great challenge. i just have a hard time remembering all of the irregulars in all of their tenses but its coming. something else that really helped me this week was my meeting with a member of the branch presidency. i have met with the branch president and he gave good council but i just didn't want to hear it at the time and it just didn't seem to help, but this week i met with the 1st counselor and it was SO much better. he was much more understanding of my feelings and opinion of how things are going. he told me that my aggressiveness and desire to learn and set goals is a blessing from my heavenly father and that i should be grateful for it. everyone else has said that it is a problem in my companionship and i need to slow down. Brother robinson said the lord would never give me that blessing and then expect me to stop my progression because of other people. he told me to focus it in areas where no one would see and he recommended using it in my prayers to improve them. he told me to pray to know what to pray for and then wait for the answers and that would make huge difference in how things go. he was so right! i can't believe the difference it has made in my attitude and reactions to the way things are going right now. He told me "blessed are the flexible". thats something i've really been trying to work on this week. The lord blesses me so much. I can't believe the power of the gift of tongues and my ability to learn the language without being able to study it. The lord is so mindful of each one of us and our individual needs. love you tons!
hermana hendrix
Amanda-the young womens program is an inspired program that helps us come unto christ. it teaches us the importance of our worth and our abilities in this life. it reminds us of the love our heavenly father has for us and prepares us for our futures as mothers and leaders in zion. God knows us each individually and wants us to know that. He wants us to know that we are of divine worth.

February 5, 2010

I'm so glad the show went well! I've been praying for things to go well for the business
and for dad especially. How is Elaine doing without Garrett?? He will be such a great
missionary. I'm so jealous you got to listen to my cds. They have made it so music isn't
allowed here at the MTC but it is allowed in the field so I haven't heard any music
since I got here. It's crazy.
I'm being so blessed every day I'm here. We had the opportunity to go to the temple this
morning and I love it. Our session is so early in the morning that it's always the same
workers and the same people attending. We have had the opportunity to get to know a few
of the sisters that attend and they are just amazing. One of the sisters is from price
and her husband is in a rest home in Salt Lake. She goes to the temple every Friday
morning and then goes to spend time with her husband. He suffers from parkinsons.
She is always so positive and happy and it just really puts the important things of life
into perspective. We have also been trying to get to know more of the senior couples here
at the MTC and help them. The elders help us so much that our opportunity to serve is
with the older couples and the single sister missionaries. We love it! They have the
greatest stories and it's just like having our parents here. They are only here for one
week and then go to the field so there are always new people here. Although things
haven't been easy this week the Lord has really blessed me. I was reading D&C 80
remembering why I was here and I looked at the word know in verse 4 (I think). The
footnote reminds us of the things that we should know and have to share with others.
I then looked at the other side of the page and read D&C 78 v17-19. The Lord knew I
couldn't bear all things at that time but if I was willing to do my best and have a
positive attitude He would lead me along and continually bless me. The Lord is so aware
of me and my weaknesses and my need for his help. I'm realizing that as long as I have
the Spirit things are going good. We all know I hate confrontation and we had a huge
misunderstanding this week where our teacher tried to help our companionship and pretty
much made everyone really upset about things that weren't true and I was really
worried about it because confrontation kills me. But the spirit told me to just shut
my mouth, take it, and fix it later. I did just that and we were able to fix everything
and in a calm manner without any hard feelings. If we wouldn't have had the Spirit it
would have been a disaster.  Something else that has really helped me this week is a
quote from Orson F. Whitney. He said "no pain that we suffer, no trial that we
experience is wasted. It ministers to our education,... builds up our characters,
purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable; more
worthy to be called the children of God..." I'm so blessed to be where I am right now.
I just needed to change my attitude and perspective. Our teaching has improved SO much.
We no longer have parts or prepared topics. We take in our scriptures, start with a
prayer, and rely on the Spirit. We have been so blessed to know the needs of those we
teach and the words that they need to hear. Starting Saturday all teaching is in
Spanish. i know it won't be as easy but it will work out. Also, I'm so glad you found
those phone numbers for Hermana P, she is AMAZING. She is serving in the LA
visitors center once it opens in July and is proselyting until then. She took referrals
from all of us and called our friends to share a message with them. She left this week.
We walked a bunch of the sisters to the bus this week to go to the airport at 5am.
It's so hard. I never thought I would come to love people so fast and it would be so
hard to watch them go. A few other girls I have come to love leave this next week.
Everyone leaves us. The girls leaving this week are from Tonga and Tahiti. They learned
English when they got here and they are amazing. I love them. Our sisters in our room
also leave in a week. It's just amazing how much you can love people you just met.
yo se que dios vive y nos ama. sabe cada persona y su corazon. yo se que jesucristo
sufrio para nuestras pecados y es el hijo de dios. yo se que jose smith fue un profeta
de dios. yo se que el libro mormon es verdadero. en el nombre de Jesucristo amen.
I love you all!
Hermana Hendrix