Two Weeks Left

thanks to pa, ma, jmag (loved the photos), gee, sam, rachel, aunt karen, jen u (THANKS for the goodies!!!) and jen w for all the love this week! feliz cumpleanos to renee last week (didja have meatloaf?) and rachel this week. yay for my birthday sisters!

holy smokes, only two weeks left! i think we get our travel plans today (flight itineraries, etc). i'll let you know what they are in my snail mail letter. i don't feel ready, language-wise. i still can't speak enough spanish, but i know that will come with more time and immersion. i definitely need to speak more here--that's the goal for this week. classes and lessons with investigators are totally in spanish, as always, but i need to be better about speaking the language during the everyday stuff--in the cafeteria, gym, bedroom...dah.

general conference was fabulous, yes? we had no classes at all on saturday, so that made it like a holiday. we watched conference in the gym, which is where all our firesides/devotionals are held. not too comfy in the hard chairs, but it reminded me of my college days because i was able to focus better. it seemed like all the talks were about things we focus on all the time as missionaries--sharing the gospel, reading the scriptures, receiving revelation, repentance, the atonement, families, covenants...so great! hopefully we get the liahona sent to us, because i can't wait to read them all. we also watched the general relief society broadcast while the elders were at priesthood. man, i love elder uchtdorf. so great.

sunday night, our fireside speaker was chad lewis, the NFL ambassador to china and part of byu's athletics staff (but you already knew that--right, sam??) he shared a lot of interesting missionary experiences he had in the NFL--all because he served a mission. it was pretty rah-rah (but good), and all the elders were eating it up.

speaking of football, there's a video on the lds.org youth page. the title is "sanctify yourselves." it's really good--a true story about a little boy that was struck by lightening during football practice and he received a blessing. the coach is the dad of one of the elders in my district (elder johnson, from pocatello, ID). you should watch it! (especially sam)

the weather turned super cold overnight. i had to bust out my tights and pj pants. it's been raining for two days. the weather had been great--cool in the morning, warm in the afternoons. i LOVE the fall colors on the mountains. it will be weird to go to argentina and have another summer.

i saw the grimnes' in the cafeteria last night. (they were on our church history tour, from uncle d's stake, going to cambodia.) they got here on monday. you'll have to tell uncle d i saw them.

the other hermanas in our zone (there were four) left this week. we were roommates with two of them, so our bedroom is extra quiet in the mornings and nights now. they went to riverside, ventura, seattle, and tempe AZ.

the church is true. heavenly father loves us and is mindful of our needs! it's so great that we have a prophet on the earth today. and i love reading the words of the prophets in the scriptures.

love, hermana magnusson