Happy 21st Birthday!

(Note from Lexi's mom:  No pictures today, so enjoy some of my favorite Lexi pics as she grew up!)

HOLY MOLY!
ARE YOU GUYS KIDDING ME?
HOW DID I GET SO LUCKY!
73 NEW EMAILS.
73!
HOW WILL I EVER HAVE TIME TO WRITE BACK? Answer- I don’t. I only get 50 more minutes. But EVERYONE who took the time to write me an email for my birthday. THANK YOU SO MUCH! I am printing them all out and reading them all one by one. You are all so amazing to me! 

Can you believe I am 21? Doesn’t that seem old?  To me, it totally does. I am no longer a minor everyone. AN ADULT. LEGALLY. Weird.
Today, I couldn’t help but reflect on the last couple of birthdays.
The year I turned 18- Me and the rest of the SRVHS choir gang on a bus to Santa Monica. I bought my poncho that trip, so I will call that a success.
19- Just returned from living in Florida and working for Disney. I just started my semester with the “moms” and me and Kayle Searle drove down to Utah for my “Good Luck Doug” cake.
20- Just finished spending week to remember in NYC. That trip was well needed fun. After 4 crappy months of winter and post david dying that trip was the first really good thing to happen in a while. We saw Newsies, spent some quality time with the extended fam, and had an awesome time.
21- Living in Costa Rica. Are you kidding me? WHO DOES THAT
We started out the day early because we had a 2 hour bus ride to Cartago. Why would we do this you ask? Because…. CARTAGO HAS A WALMART. 

 This is legitimally the only thing I wanted to do for my birthday. My poor companion rolled her eyes the WHOLE time. But she was such a sport. There are many products and things that NECESSARY that apparently Costa Rica just doesn’t understand.
The sad news was that Walmart didn’t sell HALF the things I was hoping they would. The things I did get were CRAZY expensive…. Sigh. But now I know. And I won’t constantly be thinking to myself “If only I can get to Walmart…”.
Because Walmart was kind of a bust (but I am still glad we did it)  we finished up SUPER early, and had time for a little birthday treat. 

And now, some questions from our readers.
do her (companion) feet smell? Haha. No.
Does she cook broccoli at midnight? Again no, but apparently one time she took a shower in the middle of the night because she had insomnia. I didn´t wake up so it was fine.
Does she cover her mouth when she sneezes? I actually have never heard her sneeze now that I think about it….. she´s a robot!
How's the weather¨;Its starting to get rainy and I LOVE IT! For two reasons: 1- its BEAUTIFUL when it rains all over the grean. 2- It’s not burning hot like the first week.
 and your shoes?: Good….. and always muddy now that it’s raining.
 and your investigators?: So many got cold feet his week. Lets pray more are excited about baptism this week.
and your ward?:Good. I still don’t communicate too much with the members because they speak so freaking fast.

How is your companion? Awesome. I got so lucky. She thinks Im funny even though my Spanish is horrendous. Also, she takes me to Walmart for my birthday.

How is the sick elder? Great. But we think he will probably be made an assistant and work in the office because he apparently has a “heart condition”. Sad.

How long has your companion been out? Only 3 months before me! She literally finished being trained herself the day that she started training me. But she is awesome, and knows how these new emotions feel.

Is her family LDS? Yes, all her life.

Do they support her with letters? Yes. They are VERY supportive.
  Life member or convert? MEMBER FOR LIIIIIIFE.
Are you sunburned yet? Nope! But getting more tan EVERY day. AWWWW YEA.

Hey kids! Good news! I have a FAST (Okay…. Not fast at all, but faster) address for you people to send me “small” mail to (Meaning letters, not packages)
Sister Alexis Patterson
Mision Costa Rica, San Jose
Apartado Postal #249-2010
San Jose, Costa Rica C.A.
Apparently this address gets to the misión home in about 15 days instead of 30! QUALITY.
Congrats Alex and Cindy on the BABY! She is adorable! I wish I could hold her! Can’t wait to meet her! 16 months and counting!
Sorry that I don’t have much missionary work updates. The good news: I’m learning to loose myself in this work. Such a good thing. Time is picking up, and I am not homesick. The bad news: MANY (and I mean almost everyone) that we were progressing with, have started (for various reasons) started having cold feet about baptism. Satan is working hard on them. If you wouldn’t mind, please keep Hermana Pattersons investigators in your prayers, they all need a little extra spiritual boost right now. It’s the craziest thing. But we aren’t about to give up! Nothing can stop the work from progressing!  

Sorry no pictures this week! The internet is being AWFUL!

Love you all!
Thanks for the birthday wishes!
Hermana Patterson

Swimming Pool Baptism

Hola friends and family!

It was such a fun surprise to open up my inbox and have so many fun emails! What a blessing! Thank you to everyone who has ever taken the time to send me emails or letters!! They mean the wooooorld to me. 

What an interesting week it has been. Each day gets better and better.

First thing- We had a baptism this week. Okay, thats not exactly fair. It wasn't exactly OUR baptism. But a baptism none the less. His name is Michael, and he has been working with the Elders in our area (How lucky are we to have FOUR missionaries in our area? It's awesome) since before I arrived. Apparently it took a lot of work to get him to baptism. He was a drinker, smoker and all the works, and has TOTALLY changed his life to become a member of the church.

 

 The first time I met Michael was waiting for the bus. Hna. Hernandez told me that he had a baptismal date, and he looked so HAPPY. HAPPY AND CLEAN. It's amazing what the gospel does for people! This is why I am here! 

I am not joking you guys. The baptism was in our small meeting house, IN A SWIMMING POOL! I love it! It was soooo much work! First of all, the Elders blew up the top part WITH THEIR MOUTHS because the pump broke. 

 

That alone took around 2 hours. THEN! It had holes. seriously. Then we filled it with water. Then the water spilled out ALL OVER THE ROOM. So we drained it, swept all the water out of the room, mopped it up, and tried again (no joke 4 hours). Lucky this time it worked. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The morning of the Baptism, we got a frantic call from the Elders. Elder Morales has suuuuuper sick, having heart problems, and couldn't breathe. The missionary nurse told the Elders to take a taxi to San Jose (2 hours by bus, about 1:30 in a taxi) to the Hospital that the insurance covered. The porbositos missed their own baptism! You could tell MIchael was pretty disappointed (can you blame him?) But none the less, it was a great baptism. We were worried at first, because it was only us two hermanas, Michael, the ward mission leader, and the guy doing the baptism (branch presidency) when it started, but buy the end, about 15 members of the branch showed up. It was great! 

 

 

This week we worked hard with Rosa and Bernal. Yesterday we had a scare that they wanted to "break up" with us because bernal wanted to "talk". Luckily he was just wanting to complain about Hma Lopez leaving some more. Although he says he is very greatful to have a new mission daughter (Me). He even wrote Pres. Wilkinson a letter he wanted us to give to him (which we will not, because we are sure it is full of rude things and words). 

We had a great week with Annabell, Thomas and Victoria this week. We only had one lesson with them this week, but I thought it was awesome. Annabell and Thomas both speak spanish (Thomas more than Annabell). I felt prompted to share my testimony with them in english about eternal families. I went with it. It was very powerful, and the three of us were in tears. I hope it helped them. My companion was not very happy, because she is worried that as my trainer she will get in trouble for not stopping me. I am trying not to feel bad because I really think it was effective. Gotta do what ya gotta do! Annabell and Victoria even came to church with us yesterday! Hurrah!

Things are going well with Marifer, Selena, and Diana. I love them so much! We got word today that if Jose Jaquin (Diana's boyfriend) does all the right things he can receive the priesthood soon enough to baptize them! Hopefully all works out! 

We also taught Emilia for the first time since I have been here. 

 

Emilia and Maximo are from an indigenous tribe on panama and VERY poor. There house is basically a steel shack and they speak an indigenous language. So many things about them remind me of the people of Chitiquixac Guatemala. Emilia can not read or write, so we cut out pictures from the Liahona to teach her. It will take time, but she seems very accepting and came to church yesterday as well. She is only 19, has a 2 year old and one more baby on the way. I couldn't help but ponder how easy my life is when I went to visit them. 

And NOW: a special segment- Questions from our readers! (Haha)

How many members in your ward/branch?: Branch. We are DEFINITELY a branch. I would guess around 50 people, including the primary. We are very small and everyone has to be involved. 

What was church like?  This week was testimony meeting. It was very interesting. Through out "Relief Society" we could here the kids yelling the primary songs and often kids would just leave to come sit in their mom's laps.

Did you participate? Does introducing myself and baring my testimony in front of the Branch count? I think so. So yes. 

 What is the town like? 

 

  I live in what is called "El campo" (The fields). So Its kind of a small town. Our area has 4 small towns (Think Orderville sized) That we are over and take buses to each one. There are small shops and stores, but nothing big. The biggest building in the town in the Catholic Church in the middle.

Rural, small town, small city med. city large city?  Small town to Medium town

What does the area look like?  flat? rolling hills?  a lot of trees? ROLLING mountains, that we hike every day. When we went to visit Emilia it was we took a 15 minute bus ride up, and walked down (Because there is only one bus that goes up that mountain a day) and it took us about 90 minutes to walk down. I better have a rockin body by the end of this. 

 How hot is it?  Hot, but luckily not as hot as I pictured. Its actually quite pleasant most of the time. The biggest thing is the humidity, which again, is not as bad as I pictured. 

How often does it rain? Again, not as much as I thought. As I write this, we actually have the most rain I have seen since being here. That being said, May is the start of the rainy season.... so..... I am basically digging my grave right here.

How do you do your laundry?

 

 We clean our garments by hand in the sink. It's awesome. 

If you would like to participate in next weeks addition of "Questions from our readers" Comments below or send an email to alexis.patterson@myldsmail.net

I love you all! Thank to everyone who has taken the time to send me letters, Dear elders, packages and emails! They mean so much to me! Keep them coming!

First Impressions

HERE I AM! I can't believe it! So much to say, and I don't even know where to start! 

1st of all- My companion is Hermana Hernandez. 

She is from El Salvador and it is great because she knows about 2 words in English. I got so lucky. First of all, she is SOOOO patient with my crumby spanish. She tries to help me out the best she can, and she never gets frustrated. I love her so much. She is only 19! She was actually the first 19 year old missionary in the Guatemala MTC! She has only been here 3 months, and just finished training herself! Now she is training me! The first day you could tell she was sooo nervous but she is so great. And she totally knows what it feels like to be overwhellmed just getting started. The other day I was telling her how homesick I was feeling, and how hard it is to not understand what people are saying to you, and not being about to respond and she knew JUST what to say to make me feel better. We really bonded over that conversation, and now we are the best of friends. We laugh together, work well together, and she helps "translate" when I try to speak spanish to other people and they don't know what I am saying! haha! She is a great example to me, and is already a steller missionary. I am very lucky to have her. 

My mission President is President Wilkenson

Holy cow I love the Wilkinson family. They are from Saratoga Springs, so they "understand my pain"(culture shocks). It was so nice that they could speak english to us newbies. This picture was litterally right after we left the airport. The first place they took us was to the temple. He told us that the temple is the goal of missionary work, not baptism. That we are trying to convert people, not just baptize them. The spirit was so strong and I knew that a mission was the right choice for me. They are amazing people. 

The area I am living in is called San Marco (Norte 100 M Oeste 150 M Norte 400 M

SAN JOSECOSTA RICA)
This is a picture of me in front of the meeting house. 

Its a converted house. It's so cute! We have yet to have an actual church service there since I got here, because of conference. Conference was great. Since Costa Rica is on the same time as Utah, we were watching in almost live. I couldn't help but think the whole time: "Holy cow, my family is watching this exact thing RIGHT now!". Considering we are not in the big city, we had a pretty decent connection. The problem is, the first 3 sessions, I had NO idea what was going on because the interpretures for spanish talk SO FAST! By the last session, we realized we could listen in spanish, but have english subtitles going. So I read the entire last session. HEY! I was so grateful to know what was going on. There are 4 of us missionaries in our area. Me, my companion, and two elders, E. Morales from Panama and E. Roberts from Missouri. It's nice to not be the only "gringo" in town. Haha. 
Investigators:

We actually have a lot of investigators right now, But I will only talk about two families that we really worked with the most this week:

Rosa and Bernal:

I had a very rocky start with these two. They were devistated to hear that Hna Hernandez had a new companion and that her old companion (Hna Lopez) had been transfered. They wanted NOTHING to do with me. Bernal has a mental illness and well as depression and he wouldn't even come out to meet me the first time we went over to their house. Rosa basically had a "break up" talk with Hna Hernandez saying that they didn't want to have us come over anymore because they were so upset. This was heartbreaking for Hna Hernandez because she felt very close to them and they were about to be baptized. She even started crying. I felt HORRIBLE, even though I had done nothing wrong. After we left for the first time, we talked about how we needed to make sure that our investigators were converted to the LORD, not us. We worked hard to get them to like me so they would let us come back and teach. The second time we went to their house, it was actually to teach someone else, but I had the "hijas de dios" (child of god) Stickers that mom sent me for Saint Patricks day and gave them to the little girl who was over. I  then showed the little girl my photo album of pictures of my family and we looked at it so much that the little girl had our entire family's names memorized. This won over Rosa and Bernal! They invited us over Sunday for Atol. I was soooo happy! Yesterday (sunday) was the icing on the cake. Bernal even called us his "missionary daughters" and they agreed to let us come back. 

I am grateful that the Lord softened their hearts and they are letting us come back! TENDER MERCY!

Maryfer, Selena, and Diana:

They are a part member family. The brothers Freddie, Andres, and Jaquin are all new and struggling converts. Maryfer and Selena are their sisters, and Diana is Jaquin's girlfriend and mother of his child. Maryfer is Libby's age, and is SOOOO darling.

 I told her all about my blonde haired, blue eyed baby sister and showed her pictures. She thinks libby is so pretty! Maryfer has some sort of disability, but I have yet to figure out what it is. Both her and Selena say they want to be missionaries like us one day. I love them so much! They came to two sessions of conference with us and love the gospel! I hope their mom lets them become baptised! 

Diana is a very young mom. The first time I met her, she was crying because she had just been in a fight with Jaquin. We convinced her to come to conference. She seemed to like it, but was very distracted by her baby David. That night, we taughter her the first lesson. I tried my best to recite the memorized "first vision". I am sure I totally screwed it up, but she was CAPTIVATED. The spirit was soooo strong. At the end we testified that God loves her, and she began to cry! THE GOSPEL IS AMAZING and we plan on inviting her to baptism this week! Can't wait! 

General Conference:

Here is a picture of the people who came to watch conference,  we actually had a pretty good turn out! 

To find where I live:

Google maps:

Los Santos - San José, 226, San Marcos, San José, Costa Rica

Here is my house. Cold showers (luckily, not freezing), a mini fridge, and the hot plate is it! (but its not as bad as it sounds) we walk, taxi, and bus everywhere. There are bugs, but not as bad in my area. luckily, I live in one of the cooler areas in CR, so it hasn't been miserably hot. we have lighting and our house is one of the nicests in the mission. Its very cute and quaint. 

Here is my kitchen! hot plate and all! 

Here is my bedroom

people can Dear elder me here, or email me at alexis.patterson@myldsmail.net

These are the best two options. We get no mail directly to the house. All of it goes to the mission office. So send anything there. We get mail whenever someone stops by the office, sooooooo who knows how long. Thus, email is the best. But I still expect mail! ;) 

TE AMO!

Estoy Aqui!!

Hola amigos y familia!

I am here in COSTA RICA! i can´t believe it! Yesterday was a very long travel day that started at 2 a.m. and didn't end until 11 p.m. 

I am so happy to be here! I am already in love with this place. When we got off the plane I couldn't stop grinning. We all made each of our flights (which was a bit of a miracle in it self) AND our luggage made it in one peace as well. What a blessing! 

We loved talking to people in the Airports and the planes about the church. I even got a guys card so  I could send him a copy of the BOM because I didn't have one in Spanish on hand. What a thrill!

Costa Rica is beautiful. I have struggling to think how I could describe it to you all, and this is the best I could come up with (or at least of what I have seen in the only 4 hours of daylight I have been able to see).

Ive decided it is the perfect mix between Guatemala and Chile. The architecture of the city and the streets, stores and products look very chilean but with the tropical humidity of Guatemala. LEARNING TO DEAL WITH THE HUMIDITY. We are all sweating like CRAZY. But hey, i will take the heat over the cold ANY DAY. 

I don't have much time to write, because they just wanted us to send a short note saying we were here, happy and in one piece  I will include more details in my first official email. Let me know if there are any specific questions you want answered. 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Patterson 

**Note from Lexi's mom.  As of right now, the best way to write her is through dearelder.com.  She will get a delivery from them once a week.  I have heard a rumor that she may be able to email everyone now, but until I know for sure do the dearelder.  I'll also let you know when I have a physical mailing address.

MTC pictures finally!!

Hola familia y amigos!

Santo Vaca. Is this really my last P-day before I leave for Costa Rica?!?!?!?! I JUST GOT HERE!

I am definitely feeling a little bit of the jitters. I am SOOOOO excited, but I feel a little nervous at the same time!

I leave the MTC bright and early next Tuesday at 3 am! (YIKES!) We fly from SLC, to dallas, to miami, and finally to Costa Rica. It's going to be a long travel day but I can't wait.

Hopefully my mom is able to post some of the pictures I send on this blog along with this email. They are kind of some of the random pictures because the computer got messed up.... so.... hopefully they are fun.

What a crazy week in the MTC for me and Hma. Law. Last week I said she broke her foot. She did. The probrosita has been on crutches all week and she is A BOSS. I feel like I have to run to keep up with her. We have left the MTC campus a couple of times to see specialists and such. Sadly, she is her departure date has been delayed. She is supposed to leave next week with the rest of our district, but instead, she is getting surgery on her foot and then leaving as soon as she is recovered. She is super bummed to not be leaving with us, but is grateful for the extra time to study Spanish. Her mom is flying in from Arizona tomorrow to spend the week with her and figure all the surgery stuff out.

While H. Law is getting surgery, I will be in a trio with H. Thompson (below) and H. Fredrickson, who I loooove.

Our district is officially the oldest in our zone. It's crazy. I JUST GOT HERE! We sent off a district yesterday to Chile (mostly) and I already miss them so much! I can't believe that will be me this next week.(Picture of district to right:

Top: E. Sorenson, E. Barnes, E. white, E. Whitaker Bottom: H. Law, Me, H. Fredrickson, H. Thompson)

For those of you who like to write me letters. This is your last chance to send things through Dear Elder or to the MTC. I wouldn't send anything in the mail later than Friday with the fear that I won't get it before I leave. I have heard a rumor going around that we are allowed to email who ever we want now (not just family) but I also heard it might be up to our Mission Presidents- so I will let you all know if that is confirmed and give out my email.

I still love it here. I will honestly be a little sad to leave. I feel like I have known these people my whole lives, and I am only taking one of them (E. White on left) to Costa Rica with me. (And I probably will only see him occasionally).




I can't believe how quickly the MTC experience has FLOWN by. So much happens every single day that it all becomes a blur.

I wish I had more time to write. Sadly, it took so much time to figure the picture thing out that this email is going to have to be a little short.

I love you all. Hope all is well!

Next time you hear from me will be my first email from COSTA RICA!!

The church is true, the book is blue!

Jesus Christ is my Savior.

Love- Hma. Patterson

 (This is a picture of Hermana Thompson and I eat Coco Bean from Lauren! Thanks boo)



Favorite people of the week:

-Emma Whipple

-Lindsey Whipple

-Megan Straw- *The astric is a thank you for the LBD goodness

-Grandma Kenney (someone please make sure she is reading my emails! ... and g. bodell tambien)

-Kaylie Crowley

-My Mejor Mama (Thanks for the packages mom! I love you guys!)

Loved seeing Sister Peterson!

 

 

Hermana Lloyd headed to Chile!

Sister Wyatt/ RAE from RFG. 

Basically my favorite picture. E. Sorenson is my Mejor Amigo (Best friend) 

My teacher, Hmo. Osuna from Mexico

-Hopefully I am not forgetting anyone because I left my list at my residence.... dang it. If I did... your the best. And I love you.

Cough... Haven't heard from any of my siblings other than libby in a while.... cough cough.

Esta Serio?!?!?!?!

This was the week I was DETERMINED to send photos home.

 

Aparently, that went well....

But I have a good excuse.

 

MY COMPANION BROKE HER FOOT LAST NIGHT. (Esta Serio?!?!?!? MUY serio.....) We were walking down the stairs to go to dinner, she missed a step, and she landed on her foot wrong. It was too late for to go to the Health Clinic, so we had to do that today and its basically sucked up our entire P-day. So... no pictures this week. I'm sorrry!  She has been on crutches since last night, we have been icing and wrapping her foot. This morning we LEFT the MTC (into the big bad world...) and got an X-ray done. When we came back to the MTC, they checked out the X-ray, and sure enough- it's broken. We go see a foot specialist tomorrow, and she might have to get surgrey, and her departure date might be delayed because of it. ISN'T THAT AWFUL! My poor compinera! She is being so brave. She hasn't even cried! You can tell that it is harder on her then she lets on, but she is a tough girl! I think this is the Lords way of forcing her to let people serve her. She doesn't let anyone help her with anything! She is too nice, always saying that's she is fine and doesn't need anyone's help. Keep her in your prayers and hopefully it will heal quickly.

 

This week definitely feels like a day. So much always happens, but then when it's time for me to sit down and think about it, I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING GOOD TO SHARE!

 

This week, Hermana Natilee Allen, Sister Kalli Wyatt, and Hermana Veronica Rohsdaal joined the MTC. It really just makes my day when I get to see "home" friends in the MTC.  We laughed together, we scream with joy when we run into eachother, and often, we cry together. Sister Missionaries cry a lot at the MTC. We cry with joy, we cry with frustration. We cry when we feel the spirit, we cry when we are homesick. We cry when the advesary is attacking us, we cry when the Lord blesses us. We cry for the good, we cry for the bad. Sometimes you just need a friend from home, who KNOWS you to cry with (good and bad).

I had been counting down the days for Sister Wyatt to come. We have always been good friends since we have meet, but we grew through preparing for missions at the same time. I was struggeling, and I just needed her so badly. Wednesday finally came, and I could feel her near. I finally did see her that night, but we were both rushing around and could barely get "hello"s out before we had to leave. Just seeing her made me happy. The next day, (still struggeling) we saw eachother from across the cafeteria. I bolted to her, and immidetaly said that I needed her help. As we began to talk, I was overcome with joy that she was there, frustration with myself, and in general, just too many emotions. I was right. She knew EXACTLY what to say. She clicked into "Retreat for Girls Counselor Mode" and let the lord use her as a tool to tell me exactly what I needed to hear. It was hard for her to get her call back in October, and not go into the MTC until march, but during that lunch, I knew part of the reason why was because the Lord knew I needed her. Right then, Right there in the cafeteria of the MTC I needed her.

Gah. Friends are the best.

 

Some of you may or may not know what "snailing" is. I don't exactly want to get into the most embarrassing story OF MY LIFE, but I will use this story as bait to get letters. I don't want to post this story on the internet for all too see. But, it's a good one that should be shared. If you know what snailing is, and want to here the story, write me a letter. If you don't know what snailing is, but you still want to hear the story, write me a letter. I will tell you allllllll about it.

 

Did you know I get travel plans for COSTA RICA ON THURSDAY! Es verdad! I do! Can you believe I only have 2 more weeks (as of today) in the MTC? ESTA SERIO? I JUST GOT HERE! I'm scared to death/ so excited I can barely stand it to get to Costa Rica.

 

Sigh.... Our time has sadly come to an end my friends. It's been a good week. Probably the best week in the MTC thus far (minus the broken foot). If the mission seriously goes by as quickly as it does here in the MTC, I will be home in no time.

 

I love being on a mission. I love this gospel. I love Jesus Christ! I love my companion! I love spanish! I love my District! I love the temple! I love this entire thing. So far, it's the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I am only 4 weeks in!

 

For those who want to send me letters:

Try to do so before I leave the MTC (april 2nd) so I can get them. Once I am in Costa Rica, it will take a  significant amount of time for me to get letters, so lets make the most of our time here shall we?

 

Thanks to those who took time to write this week:

-Emma Whipple

-Alyssa Whipple

-Megan Straw*

-Mom

-Dad

-Shauntel Reeve (congrats on your call girl! BRAAAAZIIIIIILLLL!)

-Grandma Kenney (and you are so tricky! You had me fooled for a while! HAHAHA!)

- Libby

 

Wow. This is always the shortest 30 minutes of my life. BUT! I heard a rumor that they might start letting missionaries email longer soon.... so..... stay tuned for that? (HOPEFULLY!)

Love,
Hermana Patterson

 

**Note from Lexi's mom:  She sent a private message asking for the following...so if you want to send her a package before she goes this is what she loves: 

PLEASE. I AM BEGGING YOU.

Send me Costco sized cheese-its, goldfish, and chocolate covered raisens (KIRKLAND brand), cadburry eggs

PLEASE! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Leave your comments here and I'll paste them into a "Dear Elder" for her.  You can write her for free here and she'll get it the same day or the day after depending on when you submit the letter.  http://www.dearelder.com/index/inc_name/home

Half-way to Costa Rica!

Hola Familia y Amigos!

Can you believe that I have been in the MTC for 3 weeks now? I AM HALFWAY DONE! I leave for Costa Rica on April 2nd!

On one hand, I feel like I just got here, and on the other, I feel like I was born in the MTC and know no other life. Haha. The MTC is kind of a weird time warp like that. So crazy that I will be on my way to Costa Rica in just 3 short weeks. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days at the MTC.

I was another really great week for me. After the initial wave of feeling overwhelmed, you fall into place at the MTC and feel much more secure. Those first few days are brutal because you have NO idea what is going on, but once you figure it all out it's smooth sailing from there.

I was hoping to upload pictures today because my mom sent me a tool that will connect to the computer to upload pictures, but as it turns out, most of the computers don't even have the normal software that you can just connect your camera to. I will have to wait until next week and see if I can upload pictures in the laundry room (groan....).

My Spanish is improving. I wish that we (those in our district) were better at communicating only in spanish when it is not absolutely required, and we are hoping to work on that, but we are definitely comfortable for the most part teaching in spanish. We all have very basic vocabulary and can usually understand what is going on, what is required, and what our investigators are trying to say. We are by no means close to being done. We have WORDS, but we are still learning to congigate, and piece sentences together without sounding like complete fools.  Also, my english is suffering big time. Because all of my time and effort goes into Spanish, I often forget how to spell english words, so please forgive me if this email is horrific. (By the way Rick, we were discussing our English spelling suffering and now we always feel better as soon as someone asks us how many L's are in both...;) )

We have many jokes as a district in "spanish" (meaning we use english phrases and directly translate them into spanish, so they probably don't make sense.

For example:

- Sorry not sorry (Lo ciento, pero, no lo ciento)

- ARE YOU SERIOUS? (ESTA SERIO?!?!?!?)

- Pues, pues, pues, que tenemos aqui? (well well well, what do we have here?)

- QUE ES ESTO?!?!? What is this?

- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the ever popular Lexi Patterson favorite: "Esta Bien" (it's fine)

We think we are all so clever and we often break into hysterical laughter. We like eachother. It's such a blessing to have such a funny/ silly district that can laugh one second and turn around and talk about the Savoir and teach lessons with the spirit the next. The MTC is AWESOME!

The hardest thing about the MTC is making sure that you always have the spirit with you and that you have faith in yourself. Learning a new language can really slam your confidence in a lesson, but we are trying to stay positive, and have faith that el don de lenguas will kick in (and if we think that it willl... it totally does.) Patience with ourselves  and humility is also a big deal.

The biggest suprise to me has been how normal the MTC feels now. I feel like I am just at school learning the gospel of Jesus Christ and Spanish ALL day long (litterally). We eat in the cafeteria, sit in classes, have roommates, and it kind of feels just like being in college minus all the facebook, texting, computers etc.

The best part is how much I am learning. Seriously. I learn something new every hour. I learn something about spanish, about the scriptures, about Jesus Christ, about the gospel, about my companion, about MYSELF all the time. Probably more than just once an hour. It's a constant waterfall of knowledge  that you try and cram in your head at all times.

For those who care, here is a typical schedule:

5:50-6:00 Wake up

7:00 personal study

8:00 Breakfast

8:30-9:59 GYM and getting ready

10-12 Usually class time. Our teachers are Brother Osuna (from Mexico) and Hermana Bryan (just got back from serving in Ecuador) and we are so blessed to have them. They love us so much and they really care about us as people and as missionaries.

12-12:30 Companionship study

12:30 Lunch

1:15-3 More companionship study/ prep for lessons/ try not to freak out/ try to focus

3- TALL time. Tall is the computer program for missionaries to learn the language. Try not to fall asleep (this is where life savers and jolly ranchers come in handy)

4- Additional study time

5:30 - Dinner

6:30-9:30 Class

9:30 get ready for bed/ journal/ help companioin with her calling/ yata yata

10:30-In bed lights out

Next morning, go back to the class room and feel like you never left (hense the time warp... you never know what day it is really.... )

I'm basically out of time, but hopefully this lengthy email makes up for the lack of pictures again! :( Lo ciento.... pero no lo ciento. HA.... we are clever, clever, clever. Once again. Sorry about the english- english is hard.

Also- DIDN'T GET MANY LETTERS THIS WEEK.

Thanks for the letters to the following:

Alyssa Whipple

Libby

My mom- BEST PACKAGE EVER

Jessica Svendsguard

Alex and Cindy

Okay, that was a lot of people.... but still. Also- I'm losing track of people that I did and didn't respond to yet, so let me know if you don't get a letter from me by next week. Mmmmmkay great!

Love you all.

Le quiero!

Hermana Patterson 

Lexi's mom here.  The best way to write Lexi is free at this website: 

http://www.dearelder.com/index/inc_name/letter_sender/mission/Provo%20MTC/

Her Mailbox is 330 and her departure date is 4/2

Leave comments here, and I'll copy and paste them into my next "dear elder" to her.

Lexi runs into some old friends!

CRAZY!

So crazy!

Two weeks down at the MTC!

The first week was sooooooo looooooooong. But I am not even sure where this last week went! (And I hear that it just gets faster from here!)

I am not even sure what to write about because I feel like I just wrote this email! HA! (If you have anything specific you would like to hear about let me know!)

This week was so much easier for everyone in my district. We finished teacher "Ariana" and that went well, and now we have to more investigators that we just met named "Carlos" and "Julia" (All three investigators are our teachers) and we are just getting to know them.

We got a new district under us this last wednesday and it feels so good not to be the "youngest" anymore! We really like to think that we have our act together! ;) It helps that my district leader (Elder Sorenson) and his Companion (Elder Barnes) got called to be Zone leaders this last week and my companion (Hermana Law) was called as Coordinating Sister (think RS pres.) so they are forced to be in the know and let us all know what is supposed to be happening. It's crazy when they all leave for their branch meetings because we were a small district to start with- 9, then Elder Cloward went home (sad- 8), then when those three leave we only have 5 of us around. Our district loves eachother so much. We have so much fun, but also feel the spirit together so nicely. We get along great and it makes it easier to not feel homesick or discouraged.

But guess who is in the new district in my zone?!?!?!? (This question is directed at you Erin Packard, any anyone else who might know her from Rexburg) Rachel Garlitz! So crazy when I realized who she was! Okay, and she is so DARLING! Love her already so much. We took a cute picture to send you, but still haven't figured out how to do that....

I also ran in Sister Lauren Peterson more than once this week. She is looking so great and happy! She will be here for 3 weeks because she has "visitor center training" so I get a little more time with her than normal english speaking missionaries.

To anyone entering the MTC soon- when will you be here? I know that Rae (Kalli..... wierd), Natilee and Veronica R. will all be in here before I leave, anyone else? I can't wait to see more familiar faces! It truely is a reunion at the MTC every day! Before you come in to the MTC, watch a video on youtube called 'missionary work and the atonement". IT WILL CHANGE YOU. We were crying our eyeballs out when our teacher showed it to us! It's from a talk elder holland gave to new mission presidents with a little bit of President Eyering as well. Of coarse. Those men are awesome!

Also- (And everyone should read this) try to find a talk by Elder Bednar that he gave on Christmas day (year?) at the MTC called "the Character of Christ". It's  made a big impact on my this week!

My favorite people of the week are:

Jacob Patterson

Libby Patterson

Alyssa Whipple

Erin Packard

Brianne Kirkby

Megan Straw

Emmalee Vanorman
Katie Smith
Veronica Rosedahl

and obviously- My mom and dad!

Thanks for all the letters, Dear Elders, and packages. You might not ever know how much it means to me! As for the rest of you.... I expect to have my mailbox full by morning! ;) Just kidding... But seriously.

The two weeks at the MTC might just be the best of my life!

Hope everyone is doing well!

(Lexi's mom here-feel free to leave a comment and I'll copy and paste them into a "Dear Elder" for her.)