One Month and almost halfway done!!!

Ok,

Before i get to the real letter (it's a good one too) i need some stuff!
1. i need my camera charger. it should be in one of those blue boxes marked "michayla 2009".
2. i need my mission call and packet--this should be in one of those two boxes as well.
3. i need some better quality full-length (and horrendously restricting panty hose).
4.i would LOVE some soft insole thingies for my shoes
5. this is a want, most deffinately--it would be cool to get some postage.
6. Plan ahead now, though i will know more later--i will fly into Florida on August 11--i will try to call you at home at that time, whenever i am in the airport. i just want you to write on the calender now so that i am not calling an empty house (plus i don't know any cell phone numbers if you are out of the house).

ok, now the fun stuff--

Thanks for the letters. we didn't get mail at all on the 3rd or 4th, everythying came in on the 6th. i got 9 letters and a very large package! everyone was really jealous, i was quite excited to hunker down and drink my milk, eat some cookies and read everyone's letters. it was like chrsitmas for me! so thank you. i love hearing from you. sadly, my p-days are getting busier and busier (the Temple has reopened) so not everyone is going to get a personal note this week in snail mail, but i hope that if you don't that you don't also think that i don't love you (So many negatives in there--did it work? i think in spanish it would've worked--ahhhh, the ease of the spanish language!)

I wanted to tell you about my 4th of july. it started out like any other day, going to class and trying not to fall asleep during MDT. During lunch we had the mission presidency and some volunteers walk around in costume of people who appeared to Wilford Woodruff and were baptized. some of them i did not believe were there, they just were in the cafeteria becuase they had appropriate costumes for those characters (like Jane Austin and Charlotte Bronte). The wigs were highly ridiculous--i was pretty amused. Plus there was a rumor flying around that there was going to be a play for us that night--YAY entertainment! Then, after lunch, my companion and i had MDT again. we found a nice shady bench and studied. i fell asleep for a couple of minutes. it was the perfect holiday nap. but, later, to my chagrin, i discovered that the bench was not as shaded as i thought because i got sunburned. i was pretty happy though--it seemed appropriate for the 4th.

Then, our teacher let us out early after dinner (which consisted of red, white, and blue jello and rice krispie treats) so that we could watch a play put on by the mission presidency and the senior couples that are here for a couple of weeks. (PS, the senior couples are so cute and fun! they walk around smiling all the time and saying hello and everything else. we feel really blessed to have them, our little grandmas and grandpas with us on campus for a while!)

the play was kinda--not professional and the subject matter was way too broad. i mean, they tried to represent the whole first lesson (The Restoration) starting with the creation, including Jesus' time, the early Restorers (John Tyndale and Wycliff and Calvin) to Benjamin Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, to Joseph Smith. The wigs were absolutely ridiculous--very very very entertaining. Ben Franklin's hiar was more horizontal than vertical. and the hairsprayer had way too much fun (appropriate for UTAH). It was entertaining. John the Baptist, or the guy playing him, looked like the uni-bomber. and Ben Franklin (poor guy) was way too skinny. All in all, it was fun and funny and good to get out of our little classroom for a while.

then we got to go out into the parking lont and watch the fireworks from stadium of fire. it was so cool. it was fun to watch the fireworks with so many homesick elders. we all cheered, even though they weren't that great, because we got to stay up late and go outside and feel like it was really a holiday! Freedom meant something new to us all there (except those English speaking Missionaries--3 weeks is not forever when compared to the slavish 9 of even 12 weeks).

Fast sunday was good except there is a thing called Mission Conference which is right after sacrament meeting and lasts for two hours--a trial of my faith. sitting down and actively listening for so long is sooo hard and exhausting. but, at dinner we had roast beef and zanahorias and papas y HELADO!!! it was good!

anyway-time's up.
Love you all,
Give the misionaries refferals
Pray and Study and Listen the Holy Ghost

Hermana Barros