Allyson with Sister and President Balledos

Hello everybody!

So our new apartment is nice! There are ten million bugs, but it's manageable. It's in our area so it's convenient. Also, we each have a bathroom because the new people [another set of sister missionaries] don't move in for 3 more weeks.

So yesterday we went to a huge Filipino birthday party. Everyone in the ward always invites all 6 of the missionaries to birthday parties and other events so that's nice! I ate goat, liver, and tiny little whole fish that look like minnows. Just put a spoonful on some rice-- yum. Then yesterday we were trying to find this less active in Santiago Sur (that's the mountainous part of our area). He told us he lived really far away and he was right. We hiked for at least 1.5 miles maybe 2 miles in a rainstorm through the jungle. There was just this little dirt path that was soooo slippery because it was raining so hard. So we had to go so slow because we were sliding all over the place. Then we had to go down a mountain that was so steep to get to his hut. The only thing I can compare it to is our fishing hole at the outlet….Except steeper and muddier and about 10 times as long. So his house was in sight and I thought to myself "wow, this is miraculous that I haven't fallen yet" then bam. I hit the ground and literally slid down the mountain on my butt. I was already soaking wet and now I was completely covered in mud (Oh, and Caribou [water buffalo] poop too was mixed in there). So we taught the family a good lesson then hiked back to the road in the rain... that sure was an adventure! I hope next time we go to that family it's not raining! Haha, we tell all our investigators that story and they think it is so funny though.

On Saturday, I witnessed probably the grossest thing ever. We were visiting a less active and it was dark outside and they live in this creepy little dark place where we have to walk in the alley for a long ways and climb over all sorts of junk to get to. And everyone is just squatting on the side of the alley doing laundry or cooking and they just stare at me. So all of the sudden I see this giant heap of feathers that is moving blocking the alley. Then I realized that is was probably 10 or 15 chickens. They were about to kill them, so they crippled them. Their feathers and heads were all at weird angles and they were just slowly moving waiting to die. Oh my gosh! It was so gross. So we had to squeeze through this heap of almost dead chickens to get through. It was so awful.

So our lessons are going pretty well! We have a family that is really progressing and I like teaching them because they understand English really well. Haha. We taught the 84 year old woman again and had a great lesson. I had a million more things to tell you, but I'm almost out of time and I still need to send pictures.[which never came!] I got Gr. Tell's package! Thank you so much! All those snacks are the best! So I think it took a month from the date.

You might get a fb message from someone named Rose Salvatera. She said she wanted to message our moms. We always go to her house and she feeds us delicious food and gives us wisdom and she just takes good care of us. She reminds me so much of Gr. Tell. She has a daughter that lives with her (she's less active and we've been teaching her).

I love you all very much and thank you for everything! Have a great week!

Love, Sis. Mortell

PS. The rumor that there are no good toiletries here is a lie. I bought some Irish Spring soap and some Secret deodorant. They also have Colgate toothpaste.

 

[Thank you to the Dinkels for these pictures]

I'm in San Fernando Zone, in the Sevilla Ward. We are Sevilla C. Sis Ackerman and Dial are Sevilla A and B so I get to see them a couple times a week. They get to live together and I am very jealous. We are still living with the Sister Training Leaders, right by the mission office. It takes us 30 min to get to our area every day but apparently we're moving this week.

We had dinner last night at the Dinkels. It was so good to have some American things and talk to some Americans and not be expected to speak Tagalog.

Our ward is good. There are quite a few strong members and we have church in the stake center so it's actually really nice. Last night we were having MCM and it was supposed to start at 5:30... 6:15 came around and the Bishop finally showed up! And we had dinner at 7 and everyone was like "oh, we'll just be late" but the Americans insisted that we call Sis. Dinkel and tell her we would be late because they were American and she was so grateful. They tell me how organized and functional the Sevilla ward is. There are bottles of coke in the mission office and church.

Yes, we are teaching some people. We found 10 or something new investigators last week so now we have a total of 12 or 14 or something. One day we didn’t find any investigators and my companion told me it was because we had broken the Word of Wisdom the day before because we ate cheese puffs. Anyway, we've had some really good lessons! My Tagalog is really bad. I taught a really good lesson to this really hard-core Catholic lady yesterday. We were trying to visit one of our investigators, but they weren't there so we taught this lady. She was basically debating with us but then I just felt like I should show her Ether 12:27. It wasn't really related to what we were talking about but I showed it to her and she burst out in tears and started to ask how we could have known to show that to her because it was an answer to her prayers. So we tried to testify that we knew to show it to her because we were representatives of Jesus Christ and the Spirit told us. She kept crying throughout the lesson and she said she wants us to come back. But she is really set in her ways... We'll see how that goes. It was really cool to be led by the Spirit like that in a lesson though. Also, it was great because she works for a call center so she spoke great English :)

The other day, I was sitting in a broken chair in a shack in the jungle. I was eating a fish ball (nasty) and there were ducks and roosters running around my legs. There was also a partially clothed man getting a massage right behind me. And I had just finished teaching two drag queens how to pray. I just thought to myself-- what a weird situation! How did a girl from Idaho get here? Anyways, the drag queens were so fascinated with my eyes! I kept looking up and they were staring at my eyes. People here love blue eyes! Also, I almost died laughing when I saw one of them running in a towel because he just showered. His towel was so so short and he had it pulled up to his shoulders like a girl! We felt like telling him that even though he thinks he's a girl he's really not and he needs to be concerned about his lower half, not upper half. He tried to leap into the house before we saw him, but it was unsuccessful.

I was talking to a lady yesterday and then I noticed there was a picture of Idaho on her shirt and it said "Capitol Soccer" or something. I asked her where she got it and she said she didn't know. There are so many random American things that have made their way to the Philippines. For example, there are signs for Avon and Kumon learning center everywhere. Weird.

Our area is partly in the city (really crappy tiny houses all squished together), partly in the hills (it is very beautiful and I have some great pics I'll send next week), and partly jungle. Our area is really beautiful. Also, it's nice because the place where we switch from a jeepney to trike every day has a McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, and some Filipino fast food places. McDonalds has never tasted so good. I swear it's better here. I have no idea what our address is. I don't even think our street has a name. Most streets don't have names. Also, there are no traffic laws. No stop lights, no stop signs, people just go whenever they feel like it.

So, Brother Goff was right. Every day is an adventure in the Philippines! I still don't understand what's happening most of the time. People do the weirdest things and they don't even care. It rains really hard. Ok, my time is almost done but I might be able to send pictures.. hold on.....

This is how they drink soda....just pour it in a plastic bag and use a straw.

Ally's grandma with the Elder from the Philippines whose mother fed Ally her first night in the Philippines. He is serving in Idaho Falls.

The Sevilla Sisters having dinner at the Dinkels. Sister Dinkel assures the moms that the girls are doing well! (photos from bradvalarie.blogspot.com).

[The editor of this blog is so grateful for the Dinkels!]

 

 

Hello!!!!!!  So, I'm in the Philippines. Crazy! The past few days I have basically had no idea what's going on. Haha. So, we flew to Hong Kong... the flight was a breeze. I probably slept for 12 hours. We got some McDonalds for breakfast and then got on our flight to Manila! When we got to Manila, we finally found the person that was waiting for us after we went through customs and all that. Anyway, we found the guy in Manila and then we took a van to the bus station. We were all just staring out the window. It was so shocking. There were people everywhere, everything was so loud, we saw a dead dog laying on a table, and tons and tons of slums. We all felt extremely humbled after only being there for 2 minutes. So then we had to figure out how to get the bus to San Fernando. Luckily Sister Ackerman's Tagalog is fantastic. I used a bathroom for the first time in the Philippines. Good thing I had my little toilet paper roll with me! The toilets flushed, but the stalls were so short that if you stood up you could see into the other stall, haha. So, we were not prepared for how terrible the bus ride would be. So so long. It took 8 hours. And it’s not 8 hours of smooth sailing on the freeway... It's go 90 mph, slow down, dodge some children, dodge a cow, etc. There was also movie after movie blasting in our faces.... but we had to do our best to ignore it since we're missionaries. So the ride was a little rough, but it was really cool to look at the window and see everything. It helped me get a little more used to the Philippines.

We got to San Fernando at 8:30 at night and then we met the mission president and had dinner. This very sweet member had a big meal for us. Guess what? Her son is on a mission in Idaho Falls right now. I told her my grandparents live there and she asked for their addresses, so a Filipino elder and his companion might show up at Gr. Tell's or Papa and Ronda's house. It's crazy how small the world can be!

So Thursday and Friday we stayed with the sister training leaders. We had some activities-- we had a little scavenger hunt thing where we had to take jeepneys to different places. We learned how to wash our clothes, go to the market, and cook some Filipino food. It was really fun! We went to the mission home and it was beautiful!

Friday morning I got my new companion. Her name is Sister La Torre and she is from the Philippines (Bicol). She is basically fluent in English, which is very useful! She has been on her mission for 5 months. This is her third transfer and I am her second trainee. It's normal here to be a trainer right after you get done being trained. Hope that doesn't happen to me! She is very sweet and I like her a lot.

So, we're opening our area. Apparently our area used to be part of another area, but it was so far away that no one bothered to go to it. So there is one strong member family in our district, one pretty active family, and a handful of less-actives. We really struggled to find these people. Our area book was totally empty.

Apparently there is something wrong with the water in our apartment so we're living with the sister training leaders right now. It's nice because their apartment is nice-- there's even a shower (but no hot water) and a washing machine! It's inconvenient though because it's pretty far from our area. We're moving either tomorrow or Wednesday. We don't know. Everyone has a different version of what's happening.

I met the Dinkels! She gave me a big hug when I got there! They are very nice. There's another office couple and she gave us the name of her blog so you could look at it, haha. I think it is myronandfaylenesmission.blogspot.com.

I just can't even believe how different the Philippines is from anywhere I've ever been. Probably the closest thing I have to compare it to is Adventure Land at Disneyland, haha. On Saturday, we were trying to track down this less active member. We were in a super sketchy area...Tiny little alleys with people doing their laundry just staring at you (especially me because I'm a giant American). We had to climb over like a million roosters and cats and trash and whatnot. Then we finally found this man's house and he didn't answer and then his neighbor came out. He was super big and grungy with a big beard and was only wearing basketball shorts. He said he would go see if he could find the man and when he turned around he had a gun in his shorts! I nudged my companion then we started to be a little scared... Luckily he couldn't find the guy so we high tailed it out of there! The next day we saw that man tinkling in a bush, haha.

On Saturday, we were trying to visit the member family but they weren't there so we taught their neighbors. It was an 84 year old woman and her 13 and 15 year old granddaughters. They were really interested which was really cool!

Every day I just keep seeing more and more things that are so crazy! Ah! I'm running out of time on the computer. Yesterday, I trudged through water mid-calf through the jungle to teach a family under a little tin roof, I ate a whole fried fish (everything but the bones and fins), and hiked through rice fields in a rain storm in the dark.

There are a million more things I wanted to tell you but there's no time! Thank you so much! Love you all! Thanks for the scripture dad--I actually read it this morning and thought "what a good scripture!"

[It's 2 Nephi 31:19-20 And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save. Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.]

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Mortell

 

 

This picture and the two that follow are from Brad and Valarie's blog.  Sisters Dial, Ackerman and Mortell from the MTC in Provo.   Brad and Valarie Dinkel are missionaries and do a great blog.  See this link http://bradvalarie.blogspot.com/

 

This photo also includes the four new sisters that came from the Manilla missionary training center.  Sister Dinkel is on the right.



 

All the new missionaries arriving in the Baguio mission, September, 2013.  Seven from the MTC in Provo, the rest from the Manilla MTC.

I'm excited to talk to all of you! We have to be at the travel office at 12:30 then we take the front runner to Salt Lake then the tracks to the airport. Then our flight is at six. I guess they really want to make sure we're there on time! It's pretty intense-- we even have a travel leader haha (Sister Ackerman is in charge of our group). So, if we end up stuck in Hong Kong or something, it's her fault.

Well, we had in field-orientation all day Friday---It was so long! Also, most of the people from “The District” teach at the MTC in in-field orientation. I was taught by Elder Christensen (the one from Florida who was in a band). Weird. There's also Elder Murray and some other people that I can't remember. Also, we found out that they were selected for “The District” before their missions and they were specifically trained for it! That kind of ruins it because we all thought it was just a normal district. By the way, Elder Christensen is the biggest goofball I've ever met. In-field orientation was exactly like efy, except more intense.

We had our last gym time-- it was very sad. The elders in my district and I have become addicted to four square. We're really going to miss it! My clothes have now been washed in a washing machine for the last time in 18 months. I can't believe I'm going to the Philippines so soon! We are all so excited.

Haha, so last night we were in class and all of the sudden we smelled the most foul smell I've ever smelled. It smelled like a combination of eggs, sewage, and the paint pots at Yellowstone. We thought Sis. Titabu had pulled out one of her eggs (We have hard boiled eggs almost every day at breakfast and almost every day, Sis. Titabu pulls one out of nowhere at like 7 at night or something. She just keeps it in her pocket all day and pulls it out for a little snack haha). Anyway, she didn't have any eggs so we tried to figure out what the smell was. We couldn't find anything but all of us were starting to get light headed and we all had our noses plugged. It was so awful. Elder Eagar actually went back to his residence because it was making him sick. Sister Cope just laughed and laughed and told us that we better get used to it because it constantly smells awful in the Philippines. She said that the Philippines basically made her immune to bad smells-- she could hardly smell it. We walked outside and it smelled even worse! So pungent! The only thing we can think of is that there was some sort of sewage backup problem. Thankfully it has somewhat subsided today.

Thank you so much for the package for the plane! You thought of everything. You're the best! That story about the kid serving in Boise is funny. Glad I dodged that! I will definitely be having the experience he hoped for. Last week, Brother Ward [teacher from Boise] and I talked about Boise for like 20 minutes. We pretty much have our district convinced that Boise is the best place ever. He loves it so much too!

Gr. Tell told me in her letter that she was very touched by Maddy's testimony. I'm so proud of Maddy. She's such a good example to everyone.

Good news. This week I found a list of Tagalog proverbs in the back of one of my books. Here are some of my favorites:

He who is accustomed to a loincloth will never be comfortable in pants.

A piece of meat that has been carried away by a dog will forever be defiled by its saliva.

A man cannot maintain his dignity once he is caught defecating.

After the suns sets, there will be no colored iguana (At night all cats are grey).

This week, Brother Ward let us ask him some questions about the Philippines and he told us stories and stuff. It made me very excited! He told us that it so overwhelming at first though. He said he got there and all of his senses were confused-- the food was totally foreign, so were the smells, he said he had never knew what it was like to never be dry-- either drenched in your sweat or rain. He also said he would see people and be like "what are you doing? I know you're doing an action, but I have no idea what action that is." Sounds pretty crazy! Can't wait.

Oh my gosh, some in the room next door is playing "you've got a friend in me" from Toy Story on the piano. So magical! They better hurry up before someone tells them to stop playing worldly music.

Here's one of the funniest moments this week. So Sister Cope [MTC teacher] is very quiet and reserved and very strict about rules and things. She also has the habit of constantly reminding all of the sisters in our district to maintain our "quiet dignity". If we ever laugh too loud she just says "quiet dignity sisters, quiet dignity". Haha, so during class she kept saying this word when something bad happened that sounded like "crape!" (accent on the e). So we all just thought it was a fancy Tagalog way of saying crap. So I raise my hand and ask her about it and she says "Ano??!" ("What?!") She looked so offended that we would ever say that. So I explained to her that that's what we thought she was saying, then she told us it was actually "grabe". We asked for an example of when to use it and she says in Tagalog "Like oh my brother was just shot. Grabe!" We were all just busting up laughing and I asked why that was the example she just happened to have on the top of her head. Then she realized that it was funny too and we have been laughing about it for days. Ok, I just typed it and it didn't sound that funny. But it is super hilarious when it is in Tagalog and if you knew Sister Cope.

So I thought I would be pretty much fluent in Tagalog by the time I left the MTC. Not even close. I really hope I have a good trainer, because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be able to understand most things when I get there. Hopefully I can start picking it up really fast when I get there!

Well, I will talk to you in two days! Then next time you get an email from me I'll be in the Philippines! Can't believe it. Thank you all for your letters and package and things! I really appreciate it. Your notes in the plane package were very sweet. I’ve received a lot of letters from people. I really appreciate them!

Thanks for everything! I love you all! Talk to you soon!

Love, Sister Mortell

August 31, 2013

I'm very happy that BYU football is starting. Every P-day I wear my “Loyal Strong and True” shirt and the guy at the breakfast place always tells me that I'm going to miss a great season of football.

I got my travel plans yesterday! I am flying with everyone in our district except for Elder Peck and Wetterstrand. Our flight is Monday at 6 pm. We fly from SLC to LAX and then I think we have a 5 hour layover. Then LAX to Hong Kong (2 hour layover or something) and Hong Kong to Manila. So we leave Sep 9 at 6 pm and get to Manila Sep 11 at 9 am or something. Weird.

Our devotional this week was Neil L. Anderson. Here's a funny story. Elder Wetterstrand was talking to this kid before the devotional in the cafeteria. "Why are you here?" "We're visiting our grandpa, Elder Anderson!" "Oh, I think you mean President Anderson! He's my branch president. Please tell him Elder John Wetterstrand would like to be zone leader" Then he got to the devotional and realized that that kids grandpa was Neil Anderson. Anyway, the devotional was pretty good. After the devotional, we had to stay in the Marriot Center and sing hymns for a long time because there was a huge thunderstorm. So Elder Anderson shook a few hands and we have not heard the end of it from Elder Eagar. "I'm never washing this hand! It has been touched by an apostle of the Lord!" Oh brother. Then they finally let us leave but it was still pouring rain. Good thing we had our crocs! They worked about perfectly. Also, Sister Titabu's cousin is in Manila right now. She sent a picture of them standing in flood water. They were next to a car and the water was almost up to the side mirror. Sister Ackerman's friend is in Quezon City right now and almost all of the missionaries’ apartments are flooded and they aren't allowed to leave their apartment and they ran out of food! Crazy.

Yes, I watched the mormon message. [featuring Allyson's mission president; see this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ogs4k7c_kY] We thought it was so cute! They seem very kind. Haha, President Balledos emailed Sister Ackerman and said that Sister Balledos would like her to please pick up some down east xs undershirts at the bookstore for her. I'm glad I can buy dr pepper!

Dad, remember how you told me that the sisters would always cause so much drama? Incorrect! We are totally fine. It is 100% the elders.

Please let me know who wins the US Open! I'm predicting Djokovic will play Murray in the finals and Djokovic will win.

So you asked what else we do at the MTC besides learn Tagalog... basically just eat, sleep, learn tagalog, learn how to teach, study, go to devotionals twice a week, plan every little thing. They are big into planning here at the MTC. And on P days we just scramble to email, do laundry, go to the temple, do an hour of personal study, breakfast, lunch, and write letters all before class starts at 5:55. I thought p day would be so relaxing and nice-- false!

I am getting so excited to go to the Philippines. I am going to miss my district a lot though, especially Sister Ackerman and Dial and Titabu! Hopefully we'll see each other in Baguio! I will also miss my teacher, Brother Ward! He is the wisest person I've ever met and he's a pro at Tagalog.

I am so ready to be rid of this food. I've started to basically just have little salad or cereal for my meals, because everything makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. Maybe I'll miss the yucky MTC food when I'm eating rice for days, though!

I can't believe I only have a little more than a week left! I feel like I just barely got here! I wish I knew a lot more Tagalog, but I'm really excited to go the Philippines! Thanks for everything! Love you all!

Love, Sister Mortell

Elder Marchant (Brazil) and Sister Mortell

The Trio

Drenched after running from the Marriott Center

 



Good thing we had our crocs!

Flight Plans! 

 The Original District

 Tagalog CTR rings

 

August 24, 2013

Kamusta pamilya!

It's weird to me that BYU fall semester is starting really soon. So close, yet so far away...

I love the MTC choir. We have choir practice before the Sunday devotional and before the Tuesday devotional then we sing at the Tuesday devotional. Last Sunday's devotional was [Editor’s note: name omitted but a former college and professional football player from Tonga who is now a prominent news anchor in Philadelphia]. Biggest brag fest I've ever witnessed in my life. Haha, it was so funny. He kept saying things like this "I was the star of the BYU football team, I did this and that, I wore a Packer's helmet, something about the miracle bowl, now I'm an incredibly successful news anchor, and I have been sent to Greece and Paris and whatever and I will continue to be sent to exotic places, but nothing compares to my mission in the SDRCM (South Dakota Rapid City Mission). It was hilarious. It was a good devotional, but he was basically just bragging about himself for an hour. [Editors note: Who knows where this general attitude of disrespect towards BYU football comes from??]

I have a Tagalog Book of Mormon. There are so many words in each verse compared to English. My Tagalog Book of Mormon is about the size of my English Bible. Tagalog is going pretty well. It's a little frustrating, but it's okay. It freaks me out that I am more than halfway done with the MTC. I definitely do not know half of Tagalog. Last Saturday in the TRC we taught someone that was from the Philippines, but now she lives in Orem. It actually went pretty well! Mostly because she just talked for pretty much the whole time, haha. Church is in Tagalog. We all have to prepare a five minute talk every Sunday then during Sacrament Meeting they call on two people to give it. Hasn't happened to me yet. Then the branch president or a counselor speaks. They just speak in English because they don't know Tagalog.

 
This week, we realized that when Elder R [full name omitted] eats an apple, he eats the entire apple. Core, seeds, everything (except the stem. Too stringy apparently). I asked him why. He said that the core of an apple has trace amounts of arsenic in it. He is determined to slowly build up his immunity to arsenic, in case someone poisons him. That's all I have to say about that.

My district loved seeing the pictures of that mission home they're renting! It's beautiful! I'm starting to feel like I'm a bit cooped up in the MTC, so I'm really excited to get to the Philippines, except I'm a bit scared because I don't know as much Tagalog as I would like. I'm going to miss my district though! Sadly Elder Wetterstrand and Elder Peck are not going to Baguio.

 
The choir director's last name is "Eggit" and he said someone named their baby after him on his mission. They thought it was a really cool American name, haha.

Thank you for everything! I love you all very much. Have a great week!
 
Love, Sister Mortell

August 17, 2013

This week was really good. On Sunday the general primary president spoke at our "relief society" meeting with all the sisters at the MTC. It was really good. Then we had to have a meeting for the new sisters... We learned all about how to be ladylike. We had to practice bending over to pick something up (use your knees so your skirt won't fly up in the back, use your left hand on your chest to make sure your shirt doesn't fall down, and pick up the object with your right hand." It's a real ordeal. I felt like I was on the Princess Diaries. On Tuesday, Richard G. Scott spoke at the devotional. It was awesome. I was kind of frustrated that day with the language and he said exactly what I needed to hear. Also, I kept thinking in my head "If you have not eaten a reeses peanut butter cup, I plead with you, eat one now."

I've been doing the MTC choir... It's actually really great. Singing at the MTC has probably been one of my favorite things. Gym time is probably my favorite haha. This week I've been having super intense games of four square. I hadn't played it since 5th grade. It's usually with the boys in my district and I'm usually the only girl playing.

Yesterday we met this Sister from the Philippines who is going to New York. She was probably the smallest person I've ever seen. One of our teachers who is 4'11 towered over her. She was probably 4'5 and maybe 75 pounds. We were all so huge compared to her! She was very nice though, except when she was sort of laughing at our Tagalog.

We basically just spent this week cramming Tagalog into our heads! I really like both of our teachers-- Guro (Guro means teacher) Ward and Sister Cope. Here's some fun Tagalog words I learned yesterday. Keyk=cake, Tsip=chip, papkorn=popcorn. Mahal kita means I love you. So does pag-ibig. We always have to teach our teachers and they pretend to be investigators. Our lessons are improving a lot! My kasama saw this document on the computer that was a message between our two teachers about our lessons. It said "Sisters A and M did well." We felt very pleased. Guro is very into growing his own basil and making pesto. I told him that my mom loved that too. It is such a relief to email in English! We're supposed to speak our mission language all the time, and I'm getting really sick of translating everything into Tagalog.

Could you make sure and tell Bevy that I say thank you so much for the cupcakes! They were so delicious and we loved them. Also, can you tell Todd and Angie thanks for the notes and that it was very sweet and tell Mimi thanks for the note too? Thank you. Hahaha, I got the family newsletter from the John Grobergs... The people in my district saw who it was from and they were like "Elder John H. Groberg??? From the Other Side of Heaven???" They couldn't believe that I don't introduce myself as "Sister Mortell, I'm from Boise, Idaho, and my great uncle is John H. Groberg."

Thank you for everything! I love you all very much. I feel like my email was just random little things that popped into my head. Sorry. I'm going to the Provo temple in a couple hours. This week was really good! It's hard, but I'm learning a lot and having fun! I'm getting excited to go to the Philippines!

Love,

Sister Mortell

In this pictures of our district, from left to right Elder Wetterstrand, Peck, Manning, Eagar, and Rivera. Me, Sister Ackerman, Titabu, Dial.