I SURVIVED THE FIRST WEEK!!!!Thursday, July 1, 2010 11:48 AM

FAMILY!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH! Hello! Okay, this computer is such a piece of crap and it will not let me hit enter to start a new paragraph so I'm just going to type one big huge long paragraph. Alright, so day 1: It was good! I met my companions. Yes, plural. I have 2: Sister McAlister from Sisters, Oregon, going to Cleveland with me and Sister Rogers, from Kaysville, Utah going to Eugene, Oregon. (P.S. Also with this crap computer, its putting 2 periods every time I type one so that's just how its gonna have to be because I have so limited time..) So day 1 was great! I saw Lisa Stoddard's boyfriend Elder Payne, and Haley's boy Elder Erickson!! I also ran into Sis Ashley Dean, Sis Melanie Merrill, and Sis Suz Tutt from my old wards.. It was really fun to see people I know here!! Umm let's see I love my district! There are 9 of us......so its my companionship with 3 sets of elders.. Sister Rogers and all the elders are going to Eugene..The elders are so respectful! They let the sisters go first in line in the cafeteria, they stand up for us once we come to sit down and eat and they occasionally take our trays when we're finished eating.. It's so nice! I love love love my teachers- Brother Winder and Sister Thomas.. They are really insightful and have helped open my mind to a lot of new things.. On Friday, we gave our first lesson ever- Lesson 1.. It wasn't the best but for just being thrown in there ......it wasn't so bad.. We did speed teaching drills that day too where we had to teach one of the 8 principles from Lesson 1 in PMG in 60 seconds.. It was really fun actually! The elders thought I was on fire during those speed teaching drills so they named me & Sis.. McAlister the Cleveland Heat and they call themselves the Eugene Team.. So together our district is the Eugene Team + the Cleveland Heat.. They really are great.. Oh, also, PANTYHOSE SUCK.. Just in case you were wondering......Just 17 months 3 weeks left of wearing them.. WOOOOOO.. not! Friday night was way cool- we got to have Elder Oaks come and speak to us at a devotional.. It was about why the church is different/true and it was way good.. Um......On Saturday, we gave the 1st lesson for the 2nd time.. It was better.. I've learned there is a fine line between taking a break and wasting the Lord's time and its really hard to follow.. We sit in class for like 8-10 hours a day so I've learned to really appreciate gym after such a long time on my poor bum!!! On Sunday we had a phenomenal Relief Society lesson about becoming a Zion missionary (based off of Moses 7:18)....she talked about not having contention with your companions, becoming a holy person, and taking care of the porr in spirit.. She also challenged us to come up with a mission motto.. mine is ONLY 18 months.....DONT WASTE A MINUTE! I want to come home with NO REGRETS.. We had another fireside on Sunday night where they showed us these sweet training videos that followed around some missionaries in the San Diego mission that are good and bad examples of teaching.. They also told us that they are making this new mormon..org that is going to be kind of like Mormon facebook.. You can make a profile page and the tagline on everyone's profile is "....and I'm a Mormon.." Isn't that cool? So Mom, yours could be like "I'm Kara.. I'm a mother of 3.. I'm a dental hygienist.. and I'm a Mormon.." Or something like that and people can ask you questions that aren't members of thechurch.. It's launching this coming Wednesday.. SWEET!!! Oh, also it's really weird being here because when we're walking up to our residence hall, I see the Y out the window but it does not feel like Provo......it's like a bubble inside the Provo bubble! So strange to think that my friends live just a few blocks away.. Monday was really hard.. It was the hardest day I was here.. I cried in the MTC for the first time that day.. The schedule is just really rigorous and I was having some frustration towards one of my companions.. But it was such a good day because I got 4 letters (mom, Jamie Taylor, Kat Bennett (from byu) asnd Haley) and I got a package from Sister Armstrong!!!! What a sweetie! Can you please get me her address so I can send her a thank you note? Maybe you can write it to me in a dear elder because I only have 6 minutes 30 seconds left to email.. UGH! Mom, you should have the boys read "The Principle of Work" byF.. David Stanley.. It's really good.. Could you send me pics mom from my farewell? My roommates brought pictures to put up and I realized I dont have any of any of my family!!! LAME.. On Monday we listened to this super powerful talk by Elder Holland and basically I realized missionary work wasn't easy for Christ so why on earth would it be easy for me? I can already tell this is going to be harder than I thought but it is going well so far.. Ummm On Tuesday, my companions and I taught people who are not missionaries, just member volunteers for the first time.. It went really well.. They are golden and we are goign to invite them to be baptized the next time we teach them :) Too bad its only fake.. On Tuesday Sister Dalton came and spoke to us.. Her message was awesome.. I'll write more in an actual letter but the main part that struck me was that she told about a runner who was from Tanzania and he got hurt in the Olympics but he finsihed the marathon.. He said "My country didn't send me 5000 miles to start the race.. My country sent me 5000 miles to finsih the race.." That's how I feel about this mission! Don't worry, family, I WILL FINISH THIS RACE! I love you so much but my time is almost out and I don't want to lose this message! I will try to send both of you letters because I have a lot of time to write handwritten letters later today.. P.S i found an elder webb who is related to Edward Milo Webb and he is from New MExico and he is serving his mission in DALLAS TEXAS!!!! Mom, i told him to be on the lookout for Webbs in the 4th ward and told him you'd feed him if he came there.. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND I WILL WRITE TO YOU MORE WHEN I CAN!!! Thursdays are my pday.. Keep praying for me please! I need your help and the Lords!!! Love you......the church IS SO TRUE!!! ---Sister Webb