FTF (Free the Fish)

My district has three teachers: Hermano Litznberger, Hermano Monroe, and Hermano Barfuss. Each teach at a different time during the day. We usually have Hermano Litznberger on Monday and Wednesday mornings. He is like a breath of fresh air. The reason for this is because he'll tell personal stories about himself in ENGLISH! It nice sometimes to actually understand everything he says. However, he still teaches in Spanish. Well on Wednesday we were discussing fishing and Hermana Snow (my companion) is very opinionated especially when it comes to feminism, the earth and animals. (You could call her a hipster/hippie because we do ;)) She made a comment that she liked fishing because most fish live in a nice pond and are free most of their lives. Then an Elder made a comment saying there are places where they are kept in a big tank all squished together. So her and Hermana Felt who kinda has the same opinions decided that they would be Free The Fish. Thus FTF came to be. They plan on making big once they get off their missions! Hahaha We have some fun times in the MTC.

One thing I miss is things being clean. The MTC is great when in comes to spiritually learning however I wish they would understand that, "Cleanliness is close to Godliness." There is hair everywhere in the showers, and the place we dump our trays at in the cafeteria makes me sick because of how awfull it smells. I find myself taking a big breath before I enter. In fact it is so gross I have a crazy story to tell. I believe it was Tuesday night. A girl had thrown up in the sink. Now that itself isn't bad. Most of us understand if you can't make it to the toilet then the sink is the second best place... HOWEVER, she didn't clean up... in fact no one did. Then Hermana Moore became the hero. She cleaned the sink herself! She's amazing at Spanish and amazing at kindness. In fact she reminds me a lot like Britt.

Speaking about puking... There was epidemic on Tuesday - Wednesday. The MTC said it was the flu but all of us (even the victims) think differently. It was right after the devotional on Tuesday night. (The speaker was amazing by the way) The zone gathered together with the branch presidency to discuss their thoughts. We all went around sharing. We were almost done when Elder Cockriel (an elder from my district) rushed out of the room and never came back. No one knew why. My guess it was that he had to throw up because it made the most sense. It turned out I was right. When we were all back in our dorm we were discussing how bad we felt for him. Then Hermana Moore made a comment. She was apologizing in advance if she left the room a lot during the night because she had terrible diarrhea. We all said that it wasn't a big deal and go to bed. around 1 in the morning I woke up to Hermana Moore going out of the room and didn't think twice about it. We wake up and find out that she had been puking during the night. My companion and I went to breakfast (to get the other two some as well) and find out that 3 elders and another sister in our zone also were puking during the night. I was/am convinced it was food poisoning and I'll tell you why. If you have the flu you feel sick even before you puke. None of the victims even felt sick they all felt fine right up to the time they knew they were going to vomit. AND they all got sick the same night. And it wasn't just my zone. I heard of at least 40 other cases of sickness and the MTC had fed the staff as well and some of the staff got sick. The MTC told all those who went to the health clinic that it was the flu. Flu my butt! However, the only reason I would doubt my theory would be because I would hope the MTC is honest. But I am still not really convinced. All of the "flu" victims were better by the next day and have been able to function properly. You don't have to worry about me. I am now all healthy and I didn't get whatever they had(:

Another crazy thing! Hermana Snow ran into her boyfriend last Friday (after I had already written you)! We walked into the cafeteria and a teacher stands up and calls out, "Alison?!" (that is Hermana Snow's real name) and she turns and puts both of her hands to her face in shock. I felt so awkward so I just walked away leaving her to deal with the problem. (You can separate while in the cafeteria) It was a while and I had already started eating my food when I felt like I should go find her and make sure she's okay. So I headed towards the wrap bar where she was headed for before the encounter. I found her almost in tears. She never did cry (not until bed time) and the whole zone had to be very sensitive while around her. She was ready to break at any time. As we headed out of the cafeteria and headed for class we ran into him again! Again I felt awkward so I kinda just back off. I don't know how she is handling this and I am so grateful that I don't have a distraction like that! Heavenly Father really blessed me!

One sad thing that happen this week is that the old district left. It is crazy to think that my district is now the oldest and that we are going on our fourth week here. I am going to miss them so much. Though, my district might be able to study better now that our main distraction has left. Since the old district is gone that means all the branch responsibilities fall on my district. However, my companion and I got lucky. Some how we missed getting a calling! hahaha. I am so grateful that I don't have more responsibility on my shoulders, it is already hard without a calling.

Since I've kinda shared some negative stuff I think I should share some fun and happy stuff. I hope it doesn't look like I am having a horrible time here in the MTC, in fact that is totally false. I am having a great time and learning so much!

Okay so few funny things. #1. Grant decided to send me pictures of his dream bike (bike meaning crotch rocket). So now I have two pictures of crotch rockets in my photo album and I already have an explanation if people ask why those are there. "OH! Well those are pictures of my friend's dream bike. I am not sure why he sent them but I figured I would keep them." It so funny that he would send those to me only because that morning my teacher, Hermano Monroe showed us a picture of HIS new crotch rocket. I like his better only because Hermano Monroe's bike is blue and Grant's dream bike is yellow. >.< I hate yellow. hahaha #2. On Sunday the whole zone is suppose to write a talk. The reason for this is because we don't know who will be picked to talk and it has to be in Spanish. Its a surprise. It's kinda scary but its also hilarious to hear the sighs of relief when you know that you don't have to talk. I have been lucky, I haven't been picked yet!

My Spanish is improving, though slowly, it is defiantly getting better. In fact I'll end with a story about our investigator Israel (who really is Hermano Barfuss, one of my teachers). Now Israel is a complicated situation. He has been attend the Church for SIX YEARS. His wife is a member and he has had several sets of missionaries. On Saturday we were preparing for our second lesson with him when... I wouldn't call it a vision but I closed my eyes to say a prayer and I saw, my companion and I teaching Israel and I saw and heard someone baring testimony and the spirit was so strong that there was tears. It happened just like that! Hermana Snow bore her testimony and it was so powerful! She was crying, I was tearing up and so was Israel! The amazing progress that we had in that lesson didn't stop there. The next lesson was just as powerful! And my Spanish came so easily to me! So it is definitely getting better.

I also want to apologize if you have wrote me a letter and I haven't responded. I am getting better at it now that I don't have to sleep during my free time. Also during the broadcast look for a girl wearing a blue shirt with gold buttons and straight hair(: that's me!

Love you guys so much!

Hermana Durfee

PS. Picture 1: Is the first walk back from the Marriot Center

Picture 2: That is my zone. It's not a perfect picture of all of us but pretty much as good as you're going to get haha

Picture 3: That is me and Elder Wyckoff. He was my favorite Elder in the old district and I am going to miss them so much!