Last P-day in the MTC. Leaving for Canada on Monday!!

Hey everyone!

So I got my travel itinerary this week! It was so exciting. We were supposed to get them last Thursday, but hadn't, so on Monday Soeur Andrews and I went in to the travel office and asked. Turns out they hadn't gotten the memo that we were only supposed to be here 3 weeks, so they hadn't planned anything for us. Because I don't need a VISA, mine was settled that same day. I'm flying out Monday morning on Delta. We're leaving the MTC at 5 in the morning, and our plane leaves SLC at 8, we have a very brief layover in Cincinnati and then on to Montreal. It's so exciting. And one of the elders in my class, Elder Dautel, is leaving the same day for Wisconsin, and he'll be on the flight with me to Cincinnati, so that should be fun :) Sister Andrews' was a little more difficult to work out: the French consul sometimes takes awhile, so they asked for it to be rushed, but submitted her for a temporary assignment anyways. If the VISA takes less than 2 weeks, they usually just let you stay at the MTC, but if it takes more, they send you to a temporary assignment. So she was headed to the Washington DC South mission for a few weeks, but then the consul called and said her VISA would be active this Wednesday, so she's leaving sometime this week as well. So we're both SO excited..she was not looking forward to having a new companion at the MTC or having to stay here longer.

Other than that, nothing too thrilling has happened this week. Sister Reed (one of our teachers) was sick all week, so that kind of threw off our schedule. We ended up combining classes several days which made things a bit more interesting, but we ended up repeating several classes that we've already had, so it wasn't as beneficial as I was hoping. But that's OK; our other teacher, Brother Owens, asked me which classes I specifically wanted during the next few days and rearranged the schedule to teach me what I wanted, which was SO nice of him. I have wonderful teachers here :) Class has been a bit different this week though...Elder Boer and Elder Mourin both left on Monday, so we've only had 4 people in the class and it has been SO quiet. AND we got new zone leaders and several new missionaries, so it's been quite a change this week in our branch. The zone leaders are incredible though...Elder Valgren is from Denmark and he served there for 2 months before coming to the MTC and at first I was not impressed with him at all, but then I actually saw him in the leadership position and working hard and completely changed my mind. It's really interesting how some people change when they get put in a leadership position and can really step up to the responsibilities given to them.

Oh, also this week I found out that my old home teacher from sophomore year, Travis Hall, works at the MTC. It was SO crazy...I saw him come in and it was just such a shock and he didn't recognize me at first because he didn't even know I was serving a mission. But I talked to him for a bit and it was really fun to hear what he's been up to lately. I also ran into Michelle's friend, Jeff, which was a bit surprising; I'd forgotten he was here at all. And one of Tiffany's students works at the front desk and so I saw her the other day too. It's kind of strange to think that my life I used to live with all my friends is only about 5 minutes away instead of clear across the country.

Other than that, there's nothing really to say. I'm glad to hear that things are going well at home, and thank you SO much for the letters! It's always wonderful to hear from people and know what everyone is up to while I'm not around. And Aunt Jackie and Uncle Bryan sent me a Halloween package! It was SO exciting...I can't believe I'll be in Montreal in just a few days and I'll be celebrating Halloween there! I'm so excited :)

But anyways, I hope all is going well for everyone still and I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend! I love you all tons! :)

Soeur Nicole Lindsey