done with week 3! cant believe it!

Hey there Everyone!!!

Holy Smokes I cant believe I've been here 3 weeks! It's insane.
So this past week as been waaaay awesome. I've learned so so much everyday. Well to start of the greatest part is that I dont have to blow my nose anymore! I was so sick of that. Blowing your nose a million times a day is not my favorite thing. So thankful that's over :)
This week with my companions has been great. We're growing a lot together but still having some rough times. There's always more to learn.
So Hermana Tyson (friend from Hawaii going to Florida) left yesterday morning at 4am! She is so cute. She was way excited to get out there and serve. She was so sweet and gave me a ton of clothes that she couldn't take with here. It was like Christmas!
Oh I wanted to mention that I play volleyball every single day at gym. It's rad! I love it. There are a few kids...I mean Elders y Hermanas that are really fun to play with so its way fun. They also offer a 6am class every morning for the sisters. They have different things every morning like yoga, step aerobics ect. So I went a few times last week after I was feeling better and it was a great way to start the day.
On Sunday we had a great District Meeting after Sacrament and me and my comps got to teach the Plan of Salvation. It was amazing. We were prepared but the Spirit totally took over and taught the lesson for us. My testimony of the Holy Ghost has been strenghtened so much since I've been here because the only way to truly teach is to follow the Spirit and rely on it's promptings. Only then will the people we teach be able to feel the Spirit and know that what we teach is true. "we aren't teaching lessons, we are teaching investigators" So this lesson really strengthened my testimony of this because we evaluated our lesson afterwards and our Branch Pres was there. The first evaluation question was  "What did we do well?" This is a great way to keep the spirit and recognize (and write down) those things that we did well on and that worked. Then we asked the question "What could we do EVEN better?" Still keeping the evaluation positive but with the motivation of improvement still there. It was a great thing and we learned so much about how to teach. The Elders in our District really loved our lesson and gave us some great feedback. We really grew in unity so it was an amazing day.
Another day we had something called companion inventory. So during this time, which we have at least once a week if not more, we talk to each other and ask those questions I mentioned before. We basically talk about ways that we are doing well, things that we could be doing better, and goals that we can set to get there. It's also a great thing because we take turns saying things that we learned from each other or respect and admire about each other. This is crucial to our companionship because we can learn to love each other and become more united. So for our inventory this week we took some advice from some Elders to write out lists for each other of things that we know about them that they have told us and also things that we know about them that we know, that they don't know haha :) if that makes sense. It was the most amazing thing! We already know so much about each other only after 3 weeks! We laughed a lot and grew much closer. It was a turning point for our companionship.
There have still been hard times though...we're girls hahah it happens. But I know that if we continue to rely on the Spirit then we will be ok.
In our district we set some goals and it was awesome because it makes this work seem so much more real. I suggested we set a goal to only speak Spanish at every meal of the day. It's super tough! But i know that we are going to learn a lot and our skills will improve so much more.
I miss you all so much and wish I had more time to write but I dont....please please please write met!!! Send me a letter on dearelder.com to my mtc mailbox...#233

love you all!!

Hermana Winchell

ONE WEEK DOWN...8 MORE TO GO!

Hey There Everyone!
Wow I've already been here one whole week! I can't believe it! I don't even know what exactly I want to say in this email. The MTC is truly an amazing place. The Spirit is here every minute of every single day. It's in every inch of every building. I am learning more than I ever thought was possible. I am learning that this mission is so different than I expected it would be. I always knew how important it was to share the gospel with others but I never thought about how I would do it. It all comes down to the Spirit. I've learned that it's not my words that will help someone realized the truth of the gosepl. It's the Spirit that comes through me and speaks to them. I'm learning how to recognize it and how to invite it whenever I speak to someone so that they can feel it too. The Holy Ghost testifies of truth. If we ask, are open to its promptings and impressions of the Spirit, and have a desire to receive an answer, then we will. It's that simple. But it requires faith and a sincere desire.
I am so grateful that I took the opportunity to serve this mission and learn and grow. My testimony is strenghtened everyday. I have 2 companions Hermana Russell from Florida and Hermana Jordan from Laguna Beach. Heremana Russell is going to Carlsbad!! When I heard that I was like that's my home!!!!!! I told her to look you guys up if she is assigned to ramona. And Hermana Jordan is serving in Nashville. We are all speaking spanish. They are awesome Sisters! So strong and great examples to me. I started out with just one companion, Hermana Graves. But turns out that she is basically fluent so she got moved up to an intermediate class after a few days. So it's just us 3 in our room now. It's a small room kind of like a dorm with a big bathroom and showers that everyone uses. Kinda with because we're never really alone but I'm getting used to it already.
Oh so one the way here from the airport we stopped and ate at Ihop....bad bad idea. I go so sick! For the first 3 days I was here I was having terrible stomach problems and it was just not fun at all. But I got over it and I'm all good now!
We have class time all day every day and parts of that time we have teachers. We have Hermano (Brother) Rupper and Hermana (Sister) Baum. They are both younger and really energetic about missionary work. I'm learning so much from them! Also in our class which is our districto (district) we have us 3 Hermanas- I companionship and 3 other Elderes (Elders) that are also a triple. So we only have 2 companionships which is pretty rare for a district. We are all newbees and got here on the same day but we're learning together. Everyone here is so nice and friendly it's great!
Spanish is coming along and I'm really remembering a lot from High School so it's great. We'll see how this week goes! We teach the first lesson this Friday! Nervous but I know the Spirit will guide us with what to say :)

I miss you all so much! Thank you for the letters and dearelders. Keep em comin please! I need to hear from you all. Sorry I couldnt write more.

LOVE,
HERMANA WINCHELL!!!!

P.S. the food here is...interesting. Sometimes it's good and sometimes I just don't want to eat at all....but somehow I end up doing it hahah....and that's how people get chubby here! But I eat tons of salads.

First Blog Ever!

Well it's official...I've come over to the dark side. But I think this will make things a little easier for people to view my mission emails and pictures. I hope so at least!