Another "Amazing Week" in the MTC



Sister Layton & Ricky Pullan (cousin)

It´s been another amazing week. The temple was great, like always! We woke up at five this morning to do laundry so that we have more time to write during our free time. Hopefully I will have time to write everyone back. Thank for all of the letters!!

It was so awesome seeing Ricky yesterday! I´m glad he sent you a picture. Now that I know where he works I will definitely go visit more often when I have time.

I got a new companion this week. again... haha! She is my 6th one!! I didn´t know I was that hard to live with but hopefully this one sticks around longer.

Mom you asked about the investigators. They are our teachers role playing investigators so no they are not real. Thank goodness because I´ve said some really weird things on accident. Haha!

The lessons have been hard since I have had so many companions. We keep starting over with new investigators so that we can both know what is going on in the lesson. Spanish is hard but I do feel like it is coming. I can understand quite a bit.

There was a fireside the other night and the first talk was in Spanish. It was so cool! I could understand most of what she said. It is definitely harder speaking though.

Sisters Layton and Hunter (First Companion)

MTC District In Front of Provo Temple

That is so cool that Chanel got called into the nursery! She is so lucky. I miss those kids soooo much! Well, I am about out of time. I am so grateful to be here at the MTC. The church is true, I know it! Love ya´ll!
(It was short but we also got snail mail letters last week. She's doing great!)

I Just Stare At Them With a Confused Look

Hola! We went to the temple again this morning. What a great way to start the day!! This week we have two new investigators that we are teaching. This time they are our teachers. I'm glad they are not real investigators, because sometimes I just stare at them with a confused look when they are trying to tell me something.

My companion Hermana Andreason leaves this Tuesday for the Guatemala MTC! She had a hard week because she doesn't want to leave. She will be great though!

Dad in your letter you asked what my favorite part of the MTC is. It is definitely the spirit I feel here. It is so amazing! I love the devotionals and the music. My least favorite part... well when I read that I sat there for a while trying to come up with something and I couldn't. Haha.

I know I have said this before, but I have amazing teachers. Spanish can be hard sometimes but Heavenly Father knows that we can do it and he trusts me. I just have to do my best, and he does the rest.

Grandma Layton I love your letters every week! You asked a few questions. When the general authorities come they talk to all the missionaries together. Also there is a temple in my mission, it's the Newport beach temple (picture is on the Blog header) and I do think that we will get to go often which I am excited for. There is no place I would rather be right now. I have learned that Heavenly Father knows me more than I know myself and I need to trust Him. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. He lives, and I know that without a doubt. I am on a mission because I know that they Gospel can bring so much joy into our lives. I know it is true and I love it! Thank you everyone for the letters and all of the support! I love you all! :)

I get plenty of rest but usually it takes me about 30 min to fall asleep because my brain wont be quiet with all the spanish sentences going through my head! Haha! Curtis, mom said you wrote me a letter, I cant wait to get it!!  Please tell Brother Bone thank you!

I love you all so much. Tell Sean that I am writing him soon and that I really miss him. Eric, prepare now for your mission. Read your scriptures every day and pray. Adios!

Called to Be a Representative of Jesus Christ

This week has been so great! Hermana Hunter moved up to the advanced class and now my companion is Hermana Andreason. She leaves in 3 weeks for Guatemala so I am going to get two new companions. Hermana Andreason is a lot of fun. She reminds me so much of Erica Marley!! They have the exact same personality, it's so funny!

This week for devotional Elder Nelson came. It was awesome! Our district president said that it was probably a rumor that the prophet was coming which was too bad.

This week we continued to teach our investigator Martin. He accepted a date to be baptized finally and we are teaching him again tonight. We are getting new investigators soon.

Spanish is hard but it is slowly coming. On Sunday we walked to the temple and this morning we got to go through. I love the temple so much and am so happy that we get to go each week.

The food here was really good the first week but it gets old pretty fast. We get gym time almost every day. The soccer fields are closed so we are supposed to stay in the gym. I played basketball one day but usually end up playing volleyball. I always accidentally kick it though.

Haha! I really like my district, we do almost everything together. The two sisters that I will be companions with when Hermana Andreason leaves are headed to Arizona and I will be with them the rest of the time. Most of the Elders in our district are going to Anaheim. I think there are at least 5 of them. It will be nice to know people on the plane ride over there. I love being here SO much! I am probably going to live here forever if they let me. But seriously I am so happy and I love the spirit here. I am so grateful that that I have been called to be a representative of Jesus Christ and wear his name wherever I go.

Please tell the Hallmans that I love the bracelet so much! And mom, I wear the watch every day. They don't really have clocks around.

Thank you sooooo much for the package!! We have dinner at 4:30 every day and sometimes I get get pretty hungry at night so the candy was great. Feel free to send more! ;) Thank you for all of the letters! I am going to try and write back to everyone soon! Tell Sean that he is in trouble because he said that he was going to write more than anyone and I haven't heard from him at all. Curtis and Eric write too! How about for FHE? Miss you all so much, love you!

First Letter

Hola mi famila. I dont have a lot of time to write. My P day will usually be on Thursdays. I seriously love it here at the MTC! It is crazy how much I learn each day. It feels like I have been here for a long time and it hasn't even been a week.

The very first night I got here I was sent with the first group of girls that walked by. They were from Thailand. We went to a devotional that night and then I went to class with them. I could not understand anything! It was pretty funny.
The first day that I went to my spanish class, the teachers wouldnt say anything in english. I didn't understand most of what he was talking about but it is getting a lot easier to understand now. When we told him we couldnt understand, he said that we were called by God and He wouldnt send us here if we couldnt do it. I have already learned that I have to be patient and I know that it will come.

My companion is awesome. She has taken four years of spanish at BYU Idaho so she knows everything that is going on in class. Today we found out that she is moving up to the advanced spanish class here and she will be leaving the MTC in three weeks instead of nine. I will find out who my new companion is soon.

The prophet is coming to the MTC January 31st!!! I am so excited!

Friday was our first day teaching our investigator in espanol. I was so glad to have a companion who knew what she was talking about. Haha! Today we taught him again and he said he would commit to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. He also said he would come to church and he wants to bring his kids. Anyways I am almost out of time. I know I am supposed to be here. I love and miss you.

Dad thank you for the letter. Tell everyone to send more letters!!!!!! Adios

To the MTC

 We dropped Briana off at the Redmond airport yesterday morning just after 11:00 AM. Briana's good friend Kelsey Briggs and her parents were there. Kelsey's on her way back to BYU Provo and they were able to travel together. After spending some time in the lobby, it was time for her to move through security and on to the plane. So she and Kelsey went through while Brenda and I stayed in the lobby. That was our "goodbye".

Below is a picture I snapped as she made her way through the security area.

Kelsey was so considerate. She texted Brenda when they arrived in Salt Lake City, and then from Salt Lake City to Provo as they continued on the shuttle. We knew where she at just about every point. We were even able to talk with Briana on the phone one more time.

Later that evening we received a text message from Ricky Pullan, Briana's cousin who is an instructor at the MTC and a BYU student. He sent the picture below. They are with Alexa Pullan and Chris Layton, also BYU students. We also heard that Briana was going to be able to listen to Elder Uchtdorf speak later that evening. Pretty good first day, huh?

Set Apart

Briana was set apart tonight to serve as a missionary by President Steve Rau. People keep asking me how I'm doing - if I'm sad. I know it's going to be hard saying goodbye tomorrow, but I'm really okay. I know she's going to be blessed, that she's going to be a very good missionary and that the Lord will magnify her. I believe very specific blessings will come because of her service too.

After the blessing, we returned home, had a nice family scripture study from D&C 20. The Lord calls the testimony of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon proof. He says that the witnesses are "proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true" by their testimony.

Ineteresting enough, earlier in the day I had watched a video by William Hamblin on the Witnesses. Here it is.



Dr. Hamblin provides an powerful argument that their testimony really is proof of the truth of the restoration.
Tomorrow we set out for the Redmond airport at about 11:00 AM to drop her off. We'll miss her of course, but this is going to be really good. It's exciting.