This week is full of news! We got to talk to Mariah so much so there is a lot to talk about!
After Mariah's last P-Day her week started off with running in to Kayla's "really good friend" Kelson. He went in to the MTC on Nov 12th and they saw each other the first day! Before Mariah left to the MTC, she and Kelson knew that they would be in the MTC for 1 week together so they planned an "awkward" meeting/handshake. At first, the story was supposed to be that he was her boyfriend but then Mariah emailed him to let him know that that story wouldn't fly because she had gotten so close to the girls in her district and they knew everything about each other. So, they settled on the fact that he would be her crazy ex-boyfriend and the only people it would work for would be the elders in his district that he would just be getting to know.
So..this was how the meeting up was supposed to be..
And this is how it really was....
And then it turned out like this...
I think that they were both caught off guard seeing each other the first day he was there. When we talked to Riah on the phone she said that she was going in to have dinner and he was just finishing up so it was unexpected that she would see him. She said that she saw him a couple of times in passing after that because he was in her same building for classes, just on a different floor. But, then didn't see him again until the evening before she left. Small world! She was also able to see some other friends there and was able to get pictures with them before she left. She said that she will send those pics next P-Day.
On Wednesday the 12th, (that same day last week) I got a sweet surprise and received a text from one of Mariah's teachers at the MTC. He said they took a departing picture and said that all of the girls in her district were amazing and so ready to go to the field. He sent the picture below. All I can say is that it really made my day :)
Mariah mentioned in her email to us last week that on her next P-day she would be allowed to email back and forth to us so that we could make arrangements for the time when she would be able to call us from the airport. So, you better believe that we were watching for that first email to come through so we could chat with her. So..we got to chat a little in live time with her through email. Jared and I sent a picture to her saying.."this is what we look like right now while we are talking to you!" She sent us a picture as well and said "this is what I look like right now!" I love that she is wearing her missionary tag with her Dance Co jacket..haha..cute!! The picture is below. It was fun to see her in the email room with her (2) companions. (They put them in a threesome) because all of the other sisters in her district had already gone out to the field. These hermanas are the ones that are going to DC with her. So fun!!
Right in the middle of our email conversation Mariah said that they were having a fire drill and that she would be right back..haha:) When she got back inside they were told that it really was a fire and she said that the mail room smelled like smoke. She said that they have a bunch of construction going on because they are starting the MTC expansion and so she thinks that something happened there. She said they had to go outside with what they had on their backs and it was freezing. So..while they were outside waiting she decided to take an "in the moment selfie" which she said was the closest thing to a snapchat that we would be getting for the next 18 months. We keep telling her that it's 16 1/2 now:) Here is her "in the moment selfie".....
When Mariah called us from the airport at 4:15 AM on Wed, November 19th she said that she had been up all night. They had to report to the lobby at 2:30 AM. She was in good spirits nevertheless and was just so excited to be leaving out to the field. She said that the other hermanas in her district left on Monday and Tues morning and that she had gotten up with them to help them out to the buses and say goodbye. So, she didn't get that much sleep on those nights either. Needless to say, she was exhausted when she got to DC and she welcomed the fact that it was 2 hours later there because she got to go to bed 2 hours earlier than she would have here.
We talked to her while she was waiting for her plane at the Salt Lake Airport and then again when she had a layover in Minnesota, She got to speak to us in Spanish and she says that she feels comfortable communicating but of course still feels like there is more to learn. I have to say that she did a really good job speaking. Her mission mom let her call us one more time after she had eaten dinner at the mission home to let us know that she got there safe. She couldn't talk to us for very long because all of the sisters were waiting to use the phone. She said that they were taking all the sisters to a hotel to spend the night and that they would meet their companions the next day. (TODAY)
Here are some things that Mariah shared with us during our phone calls.
She said that West Campus was soooo much better than main campus and that they are designing the expanded part of the MTC to be similar to what West Campus was like. She said that the head of the cafeteria in West Campus just loved the sisters in Mariah's district and gave them all West Campus Snap-backs. (Hats) When West Campus closed the head of that cafeteria moved over to the Main Campus and the day before Riah left she took them in to a room to show them the actual model of what the new MTC will look like when it is done. She said it is going to be sooo nice with courtyards and everything. The plan is to change the capacity from 2000 missionaries to 5000 missionaries! She said that they were the first missionaries to be able to see the actual model. Wow! She felt special.
She mentioned that she receives around 30 emails a week from friends and family! Thank you all so much for being such a great support to her!! So..she wants everyone to know that if she hasn't gotten back to you that she will soon and if she hasn't emailed you back it's because she runs out of time on her email. She would love for you to give your home addresses to her if you can because she says that she can write letters in her downtime at night. Even though she is headed out to the field you can still send her letters on dearelder.com. It's the cost of a stamp but it is still just sitting down and typing a letter out and then dearelder mails the letter for you. It's sweet because you don't have to worry about getting a stamp, envelope and then making sure it gets out to the mail. So..that is an option for anyone of you and then her email won't get so tied up:)
She memorized the first vision in Spanish and repeated it to us on the phone. Awesome! Only I understood it but it was a sweet moment to hear her speaking the words that she will be sharing with the people that she teaches.
Mariah said that she loved all of the girls in her district so much and that they got so close. She is glad that every one of them live here in Utah, within 30 mins of one another so they all plan to get together after their missions. Some of them are planning on attending college together when they get back.
If any of you know Mariah really well you know that she loves to talk with the "Miranda" voice. We knew without a doubt that she wasn't going to be able to get through her mission without everyone around her knowing about her Miranda talk. She said that all of the girls in her district would talk to each other like Miranda and they had such a great time. I would love to hear how she uses her Miranda voice in Spanish. Hopefully she can be serious with her investigators. Haha:)
Her luggage made it through without an overcharge for weight! Her checked bags weighed 45 and 47 lbs, they couldn't be over 50 lbs.Yay! We were so worried about that because of all the things she needed to take. Girls just have to take more stuff than the guys do..its kind of not fair:) She did say though that she stuffed a bunch of heavy stuff in her carry on bags and that one of her carry ons weighed 43 lbs!! All her books and language materials combined with her diabetes supplies and such made for a heavy bag! Good thing she is buff! Haha.
Well, sorry for the long blog today. I wanted to mention all of this stuff for history so thanks for bearing with me. I can't wait to hear how her first day in the field went. I have been thinking and wondering what it is like for her today out in DC. I hope DC is ready for this fantastic missionary because I know that Hermana Riddle is ready for DC!!
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