Dear family,

My P-day is today!!  On Tuesdays!  In the MTC, at least.  Thank you so very very much for the emails and the love--I get a little homesick every time I read one of your letters or silly cards, but I think that's a good thing. :)  Oh, Christie?  Thank Corky for the letter, will you?  And give him a few pets for me.

It turns out that the email program thing on the MTC computers only allow you 30 mins a week to do emailing, and I already logged in so I could print your emails, construct appropriate replies, and then hop back on to email them to you in a timely manner.  However, that has proven to be a bit difficult, because the program continues to count down my emailing time even when I log out and exit out of the program.  So...This will be a crazy and probably lame email/letter.  Don't worry, I'll just hand write a better one later on today. 

Sister Horne and I will be going to the New York Utica Mission together, but Sister Waterworth is going to the Georgia Atlanta North Mission along with the elders in our district.  There are only 9 of us in the district, and things started out kind of stilted because the new elders were nervous about interacting with sisters...Hahaha.  I understand the need to be careful, it has just been quite an experience letting them know that they can talk with us and eat with us without putting themselves or us in danger.  Life is quite different in the MTC, but I like the difference.  I have been adapting well to the schedule, even though I am like a hibernating bear every night, as you very well know.  The first night in the MTC, it took me about an hour to fall asleep, I think, so I was EXHAUSTED when the 6:20 am alarm blasted through the "residence" (that's what they call our little apartments on "campus").  But the inability to fall asleep hasn't really lasted because I am just s'dang tired when I lay my head to rest at the end of a constantly scheduled day--I'm not sure if that is an accurate phrase, but please, my mind is trying to move fast. 

I saw Sister Mckell Forbes on the second day I was here!!  She is Sorella Forbes, because she's Italian-speaking, and she is super happy and energetic and optimistic as always; this place hasn't beaten her down. :)  I see her basically every day now in the cafeteria for our meals.  It's lovely.  Oh, speaking of the cafeteria and meals...yes, I have had the runs a few days ago, and I'm fairly certain it was due to the food I'd eaten; though, I can't remember what it was that I'd eaten to make my stomach rebel,so it will be shoot-and-miss figuring out what not to eat.  Mostly I just eat what sounds good and deal with the consequences later.  Last night, for instance, I ate black beans, rice, chocolate cake, and salad.  Yes, I wrote beans.  So toward the latter end of the night I needed to visit the restroom every so often to appease my rumbling tummy.  Will this deter me in the future from eating beans as I was so wont to do before?  Eh...maybe.  But I doubt it.

Walking into the MTC...Well...the elders taking me to a sister who'd show me my room were really nice and talked to me, so I had to keep my descending tears in check.  You didn''t see me cry, I don't think, Mom, but I was.  Don't worry, I pulled myself together, and all is well now.  Actually, all had to be well in a matter of about 30 minutes, because a sister from Pakistan was taking me to my room and having a hard time finding my building, and then I was with my new district and everything has been in hyper drive since then.  The MTC...Not another place in the world like it.  Except maybe the MTCs around the world...

Let me quickly tell you a funny story about two elders in our district before I finish this, and I'll tell you other things when I write that letter later on...Elder McGary is from Idaho and his companion, Elder Christensen is from AZ.  Yesterday Elder M and Elder C were talking at dinner (we were all there, eating together as a district--there's strength in numbers) and Elder C told Elder M that he was a hick.  Elder M was all offended and said, "What?  I'm a farmer, not a hick!  I have all my teeth!  I have clothes!"  It was really funny.  Hahaha.  Oh...the elders in our district are peaches.  Absolute peaches, with a few sour strands that you just learn to eat through.  Bad analogy.  Anyway, that's the story.  Okay, I'm going to leave some time for later in case this decides to actually close down and stop my emailing time.  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!  Oh, and Christie, thank you for your email, really!  I will try to email you back later, but as I said, it may be tricky.  If I can't, you can look to the mailman for the deliverance of personal correspondence. :)

I LOVE YOU!
Sister Smith II