Crazy Busy

hey how are you all! i miss you all like crazy and look forward to talking to you in the next few weeks. this past week has been crazy busy and lots going on. i'm doing exchanges and going with a sister up to kendell. i need the recepit from the ihome ipod thing i bought nov 26 from sears- there should be the guranettee thing on it warranty and its kinda being dumb so i want to return it there is a sears right by us so if you could send that sometime thatd be good. we had 2 fun things this week. zone conference and a day of service. i got to see all my favorite elders at zone conf.. e baggley holloway robinson johns oh man it was just super fun. they announced that a few days before leaving the mish we you get to go on a temple trip up to orlando. allsoo they have been talking about cuba a lot. and everyone thinks we are going there. they announced that since boarders have now been opened we are trying to get in. so i might need my passport.. we'll see. we'll see. i dont know much yet. i'm sure you can get some good gossip from MM on it. at zone conf h fiala and i sang a duet it was pretty bad on my part ahaha it was embarassing but ok. then at the end i got randomly called on to bear my testimony. there have been cocroaches in our cereal boxes gross huh. and last week it was earth day so we walked everywhere we went. i got mega sun that day and now have some pretty sweet downeast shirt lines. thanks for getting my translator. they can only send stuff from the mission home to me if it is trough us mail. not ups or anything. so hopefully it comes that way. well we had 4 new investigators at church yesterdya. on satuday we met a family of 7 and they are awesome i loove them they made us dinner and are way cool! so 3 of them came and 1 other guy who i think is named geearnmo and he has a bap date for mothers day. i am not sure what time that will be at so i'll let you know next mon what time i'll call. roberto is de-gressing. he works as a truck driver for a flower company and has been busy for mothers day so he hasnt been able to come to church excpept that one time. and they have to come 2 times to be bapt. so after m day hopefully he'll come. but he has been avoiding our calls and texts. did i ever tell you presdient hale loves texting. ha. ok umm i dont know what else happened this week... oh ya! my new 3 fave invest are seniors at hialeah high. they are ronny luis and joel. they speak fluent english and spanish. we teach them english though. none came to church yet. but they are so so cool and keeping commmitments even though they havent received any answers to prayers. but they are super funny. i am doing ok here and i miss you lots.. spanish is still no bueno but i'm working on it. oh on sat we did this huge day of service-i'll tell you about it later gootaa go love you love you so sos ososo muhc! hermana call

Hey

hey fam how is eveyone doin? sorry i never get this email thing figured out so this may be another shortie. thanks for the letters and the easter package this past week. it is fun to get mail!! definitely a highlight of my day but it stresses me a little on p-days cause i have so many letters i still need to reply to. i love love the mini spanish PMG thank you so much! i wanted one of those! so h. fiala i have decided is crazy. she told me that she has been slacking and that we aren't working hard enough soo now she says no more lunch at home. we are packing lunches and eating them on the go. we arent doing our language study hour cause she says the best way for me to learn will be out with the people. we have appointments later today..yes on p-day.. its a good and bad thing that she is the way she is. well with all our work we had ZERO investigators come to church yesterday which was really sad for me cause so many said they'd come. we had 15 new investigators and none came! ugh. you have to come twice to get baptized. robertos baptism was for the 25-this sat but since he didnt come we will have to push his date back. also we did get another baptism date for like the second week of may i think his name is jose agular but i dont feel like its my number because he was taught all the lessons before i got here. all he has to do is go to church twice and he can be baptized. my new favorite poeple are all the young women in the ward. most of the speak fluent enlgish and spanish so i talk to them and a few come on exchanges with us weekly. they are really cute and i love them. i have no idea who that was that called dad last week. i didnt give anyone his number. this past week was hma fiala's bday so i bought her what she wanted......a $17 cheesecake... so much for eating anything this next week there went all my funds. ha jk i'll be fine. roberto and this lady he lives with, her name is yorhina shes like 60 and like a mom to him. roberto is like 40 and yorhina's husband died a few years ago so roberto takes care of her. well they took us out to eat on her bday and i had real latin food it was pretty good but a little strange. then we got a ice cream cake so that was fun. yorhina asked us a few questions about the church that night and we shared with her the restoration lesson so that was neat, usually when we go over to teach roberto she leaves as soon as we start teaching. this friday is zone conference and h. fiala signed us up to do a duet.. remember i dont sing? and now i'm singing in front of 50 missionaries. how embarrassing. i will bring my tape recordeer so you can all get a kick out of it. well all latin people do that kiss on the cheek thing you know like the girls do it to the girls so we always have to do that and its always the right side of the cheek so my right cheek is totally broken out from touching so many faces its kind of gross.. ok so something the rain here is so random. all the sudden huge rain storms come out of nowhere and they last 5-10 min then stop. and the whole time its hot out. oh it hasnt been too hot, just perfect and not humid yet. right now we are working to do member referrals cause the members in our area are poopie and never give us referrals. but the members in the elders area do. so we are working on that and hopefully they will tell their friends. oh a few days ago at this house this lady made us coconut water it was SO gross there were chuncks of slimey coconut flaoting around in it.. we drank all the water then put the coconut in our mouths then wiped our faces/spit it in the napkin and threw the napkin away. we have been eating at memebrs houses but its weird, they dont eat. they serve us huge plates then just watch us eat and sit there. i had fish once and another time to this day i dont know what i ate but i couldn;t finish it and the lady got really mad and is offended now. it was sick and at least i tried. the food is just weird. dont send the yellow skirt. only the brown and black ones but no rush. have fun in moab.. im super jealous. well spanish is still hard but i'm trying. thanks for all the prayers. i need them. hope all is well. love you all.
xoxoxo
hermana meryl call

In Florida

remember how i used to get stressed with 30 mintes? well i only have 14 left out of an hour. i had to do stuff with email accounts and write a letter to my president that didnt end up working. so long story short i will write quick as i can! i'm sure mom told you all i made it to florida and live in hialeah east spanish speaking. i basically live in cuba now. thats were most everyone is from, but i do meet people from EVERYWHERE. my comp is hermana fiala. she is pretty nice but she is kind of nuts. she's obsessed with spanish which is good but kind of gives me a headache when i dont know what she's saying! we drive a 09 toyota corolla. she work is super good here. my first day we taught roberto and i asked him to be baptized. he is golden and his service will be next saturday :) we rarely have to tract because our day is full of appointments. we have dinnner appointments all this week but last week i survved on PB&J and cereal. it hasnt been too hot and no humid at all. we are also teaching a few other people.. if you could pray for them thatd be great their names are pretty much the same as everyone here... roberto or juan or jesus or fernando or nelson. church was good yesterday. ya it was a good easter. i had a easter basket h fiala's mom sent me and i got the fun package from mom and mer thank you! and a letter from steve thank you! i will try to write today with more info about the mission. everyday at 9 my time(7 yours) our mission all says a prayer and the parents of lots of missionaries pray at that time too for our mission that day! that'd be cool if you could pray too. hopefully next mon i will have this more figured out and be able to send more details. sorry! i think it takes 5-6 days to get mail here. i do not have my apt address with me. sorry. next week i'll tell it. oh there are cops everywhere alll the time and there was a shooting 2 blocks from my house the other day. agh. ok love you love you
hermana meryl call

Flight Plans

what the crap. i was just writing an email and it disappeared. i am sorry... i will have to update you more later but i will write what i can in 14 min. i cant wait to leave this place.. got flight plans last thurs i report to the travel office tues morning at 4am. my flight 1586 slc to atlanta leaves 7:15-12:50 so i will prob call home around 6. then 1:35-3:25 atlanta to ft lauderdale. if you havent sent my package i want brand five gum in the green package. and some forever stamps since the price is going up. i'm sending steve a tape my district sings the efy medley in spanish on. steve please go share it with my family!! thanks for all the letters and cards this week :) dad... you have a calling as a bishop coming up i can just feel it. thanks for cleaning my room for marci sorry i didnt leave it cleaner. there is a girl going to fl english that will be my comp. glad to hear about tammy. i'm excited for conf but not because they said no pj's pillows or blankets. i have lots to do this week so i didnt get many letters written but i will write as soon as i can. if you want me to call you at the airport please get my your #. i ran over 20 miles in my gym class this past week. last sat we had a zone olympics it was fun practiving the gospel and spanish in games. spanish has gotten a little better but still is hard. we have had 2 departure meetings that make me more excited to get out of here. hope everyone is going well. i love you and miss you and really look forward to talk to you next tuesday morning. sorry again about the short email
xoxoxoxoxo
hermana call

2 Weeks Left

hi did you know in 2 weeks from right now i will be in florida. that is the best thing that has happened in a long time. i am so excited. i get my flight plans this friday!! sweeeet!! i will let you know the itinerary next tuesday. i have had some memory loss.. i need your phone numbers, send them to me in a Dear E so i can call you from the airport! they have some serivice i can drop off stuff at here and they call you to pick it up so mer i may have you come get some stuff i dont take. we'll see. last tues for devo it was L Tom Perry i sang in the choir it was awweessooome he talked about companionshships and how importatnt they are. well i am trying so hard to love hermana b but i am really looking forward to getting someone new in 2 weeks. the nurse popped my blister and the other one we are just going to leave alone for my mission cause it got a big calus over it and wont pop. on wed we got a new district in our zone they are all going to argentina and they are so good at spanish already it blows my mind. i've tried hard in class all week but this whole subjunctive thing is wayyy hard- do you get it marci or landon? last week i read a talk that really helped it was from last general conference called "you know enough" and i have used that idea whenever i get scared that i wont know enough spanish by the time i get there.. because i will know enough and the Lord will help me with the rest :) we have weekly interviews with our teachers and last week my teacher hermano peterson told me he was proud cause i have been a lot happier and he's seen an inprovement also beaucse i work my butt off when we go to the RC. on thursday i think it was way hot outside and so i sat ourside to study and got sunburned haha my face hurt way bad. i am sending a package today or tomorrow mom and dad watch for it. a few days ago in gym i decided to do a 5 miler in 45 min it was thurs night and i didnt make it. i only got 4.5 so fri morning right after breakfast i had gym again and decided to try harder so i did... then right after my watch said 5 miles i ran to the gargaabge and puked marshmellow mateys and bananas all over the place.. well it was the best tasting barf i'd had in awhile and it has happened a few times since then. but yesterday at gym i ran 5.1 miles in 42 min i am so proud! also at gym my thighs are chaffing i hate that so thats been gross but then i remembered i have spandex bikers so i've worn those and it helps. on sat we went to the RC and i mostly did a chat the whole time with someone from the check republic it was cool but hard cause of the language they didnt know english well but wont meet with missionaries there. i got a really really bad cold on saturday i sneezed about a million times and i prayed so hard that night and you know what. i have not sneezed twice since that day. it is a miracle and i am so happy. the Draper temple house was awesome i am so glad i got to go..even though i may or may not have fallen asleep during that prayer.. yes thank you i know elder w spoke.. yestrday the oldest disctct went ot mexico so we are the oldest in our zone now and i dont feel like we that old but i am so glad! i got that package yesterday thanks for sending it that was really fun especaiallly the tape. oh a few things i need before going to Fl. i love my shade/downeast shirts i esp want my brown green and pink one i cant remember if i have any other colors but send all those shirts please. also my stretchy reebock and adasia headbands i wear they are in my second drawer down in my bathroom send those please. any in that drawer. also in my big bathroom cupboard send 2 bars of the dove soap, and in one of my cubes in my room the blue long biker shorts. i will be buying some things in the bookstore before i leave because missionaries get 40% off so i'll buy a few jornamls and batteries and stuff.. it'll be on my visa so dad you might see a chrage come through on there. well sorry this week wasnt so eventful but i love you all and hope you are doing well. i love you so much. thanks for the letters and support . xoxoxoxo hermana meryl

Life at the MTC

hola!! como esta familia... i hope you are all doing well! it was finally P day and i am so glad! the weeks are getting longer but days are going by shorter. strange how that happens. a few personal notes- marci: thank you for the talk, i got in the mail today. it got way beat up by the postal service though. ouch. thanks for the fun pics- looks like you're livin the dream girl. just send elder pace a letter to the same that you send mine but put his mish in and leave the mailbox # blank. they can fill it out no problem. i loved the postcard from mom and marci that was fun to get..you must;ve had a good trip! mom: i will send you a longer tape next time so you dont have to listen to it 3 times doing your stretches. i already started making yall a new tape i will prob send it in about a week. it has an interesting story on it so be excited! why didnt dad get to talk on it? too busy? the amount of letters i get is perfect.. i am kind of used to getting mail daily so if i dont it kind of makes me bummed but if i dont then its ok! but just keep writing however often you are. how is your back mom? i noticed the email you sent taylor and the DE you sent me were QUITE similar.. hah... haha.. taylor send me those pics of us from our last evening. i'll look for that poem but if they dont have it here i know they sell it at DB. your service sounds siiickk.. i do an hour of service every week here its basically slave labor. but we get to put up the flags all around from different countries its pretty fun. the mtc is doing alright, same old same old. spanish still is poopie but coming along none the less. i think owen needs a puppy so merideth can get more done. someone buy him one. i got the package, thanks for sending it. and everything in it was just what i asked for. i just started reading the miracle of forgiveness have any of you read it? can someone please send me some Rio just do it same day delivery and send it UPS or someting ahh i crave it like a pregnant woman!! the elders in my district going to my mish is E holloway, barrington, lowder, and jones. i love elder holloway. he and i made an alliance.. because we just started this game i cant explain it'll take too long but its a spanish thing and ugh never mind i will write it to someone in a letter. sister minetto is sitll my favorite sister i just love her to death we get along so well. she is super super cute. i met an elder from ft lauderdale on sunday he told me about the mish and the president and the langugage he said cubans there will bend over backwards to help me learn spanish and that people are so nice, he said the work is hard but coming along and that there are branches there for spanish. its gonna be so hot when i get there. on friday i had a hard night so this security guy gave me a blessing and i talked to him after and he said i am not here to learn spanish. i can learn it when i get there. but while i am here i need to learn how to learn spanish! i think that is true and that helps me a lot. i am glad to hear tammy is doing better. tell her i send my love. can you please send my address for FL? running has been AWESOME and i love it so much. i got to run outside with a sister yesterday. but that was good cause i get in trouble allll the time for running with elders. no sisters run except me and the elders help pace me but then i get in trouble its lllaamme. the TRC yesterday in spanish was good but i had to leave early to go to the ortho. my new retainer ruined my bite a little so i had to have it adjusted and its a little loose now but it'll work. my toe blister is ssick. they want me to go to a pediatrist to get it cut off but i told them no. that is a waste of money. i can live with it. it doesnt hurt just looks gross. i will send pictures home later this week you can all look at! there are usually 5 companionships per distruict. oh happy st patricks day!!! i sing in the choir and i'm allways on the screen during firesides singing it is awesome!! i gave the lesson on sunday that went really well and the spirit was strong. on sunday we get to go to the draper temple dedication i bought a white hankie so that will be good! anything new on the mazda? on fri i got to go to a glasses strore to get sister b new glasses and they have a a randy jackson brand hahah ok i gotta go but i love you all so much and thanks to all for the nice fun notes. big hugs and kisses to each of you..
hermana meryl

Quick Update

if you have ever heard complaints about this mtc email they are true! i hate this email system! it deletes everything. ugh. i will give you a quick update in the time i have left. the mtc is going ok..not great but not bad. its getting old and repetitive. i am trying to make it fun but i am counting down the 28 days til i leave to the sunshine state :) spanish class is still super hard but i am trying. it makes me frusterated a lot. especially grammer and the conjugations. there is so much to memorize and my brain had a red flashing FULL light going on all the time so i dont know what to do. we have this thing called SYL.. landon did you do that? it means speak your language. we have to rate ourselves 3 times a day on how well we are doing speaking. my favorite is going to the TALL computer lab doing activities on there. it was fun reading tay's 20 quiestions..how come i dont get questionaries? tay is such a big boy! how is tammy o. doing? any better? dad have you had a chance to work on the mazda? are you finished with the house in denver? where is my tape hellooo. i am in love with sister minetto. we have so much fun together. i wish she was my companion or every just going to my mission. my favorites are still personal study and preach my gospel time and gym time. i ran 5 miles last thurs in 40 min and this saturday i am going to race my mile time. dad the girls here snore worse than you! and i dont dare kiss them and tell them to roll over.. mom you asked if people talk to each other here YES it is nuts. the kids learning japanese or something bow to me all the time. its weird. it is so fun i have 7 friends here and i feel so popular.. haha.. my friend austin made me this sweet present last week he is the coolest. in the cafetria there is this elder i dont know his name but he ALWAYS takes my tray for me he is so nice. and the elders always stand up for the sisters when we are walking by about to sit down. dad do you miss taylor smooching on you. last thurs for service we got to put up all the flags outside the mtc it was cool! we got to pick what ones we wanted. daylight savings time drained me and i'm sure it did all of you. on satuday in the RC i decided to make as many calls as possible cause we weren't getting any chats. i made 76 calls and think i talked to 4 or 5 people. it was really neat, one lady i had an AWESOME conversation with and she committed to going to church on sunday. on sunday elaine dalton (general yw pres) spoke at relief society and talked alot about running.. and how it is like a mission with running hills. it was a great talk! that night we watched joseph smith prophet of the restoration. man i just LOVE joseph smith! he is so great!! i want to be just like Emma. we took some neat pics at the temple on sunday but my camera wont hook up to the comp so i will get them developed and send to mom and dad. mom and dad-bryant came to visit a few weeks ago, said you weren't home and he wants to talk to you.. a little weird but whatever. i gave him your numbers so he might call. yesterday i went to the ortho it was way high class with playstains and massage chairs and stuff.. i got a new retainer blue with a utah jazz sticker and glitter! way cool! dad i used my visa. i get to leave again tomorrow to pick it up. what is the american idol update? i am teaching a 35 min in english on sunday about the restoration and finding people to teach any ideas? i got a huge blood blister on my toe they said i have to go to an optomidrrist if it isnt gone next monday.. sorry.. its gross. please write i love hearing from you all. sorry i gotta go but i will write as soon as i can. hope all is well. mer send me some office quotes and updates on march madness please. the stanley pretzel day one. ok
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
hermana meryl call