Hola Familia!

  Este es mi ultimo dia en America! Estoy tan emocionada por que ya quiero estar alli! Pero estoy triste de salir de el MTC por que hize muchos amigos, especialmente en mi zona! Ya me siento tan cerca con las otras hermanas que van para Portugal. 

  Back to english...

  I am SSSOOO EXCITED. But also nervous... AH!

  Today we were having interviews with our teachers, and he told me something really cool. He said "I feel like I need to tell you this, but: The more difficulties you face on your mission, the more the Lord trusts you." And just a couple of days ago, he told us that one thing we should do is that when we pray that night, ask for the Lord to give us all of the hardest trials, investigators, companions, etc. that the Lord thinks we need, so that we can align His will with our will and be the missionary He wants us to be.

  Soooooo... Looks like my mission is not gonna be easy... But then again, I didn't give up 18 months of my life to waste the Lord's time. I went on a mission because I know that's what the Lord wants of me, and it's not gonna be easy, but it will be worth it.

  That's one thing I've learned about being in the MTC: We need to align our will with the will of the Lord, His love needs to be our love, and His needs need to be our needs. Heavenly Father is in control, and as the scriptures say, His ways are higher than our ways. He knows what I need more than I do myself. He knows how much I can handle.

  So yesterday, our devotional speaker was Jenny Oaks Baker (an AMAZING famous violinist, who also happens to be the daughter of Apostle Dallin H. Oaks!!!! BTW, I was sitting like 10 feet away from Elder Oak's wife... Yeah. Crazy.). She was so amazing. After the devotional, I came up to her telling her what an inspiration she was and all of a sudden started crying (and you know how hard it is for me to cry) and telling her about how hard the past few weeks have been and how one of the only things that has helped me get through it was music. Then she hugged me. But really though, music has helped me so much. I find myself recalling songs that I used to sing, or beautiful hymns, and I've realized how much more I love music since I got here. I think that's because since I don't have the distractions of the world, I can just focus on the things I really love. Music has helped me to come closer to Christ and to the Lord. I've realized that since I have a talent, I have to nurture it and really develop it so I can be the best I can be.

  I also watched this AMAZING talk by David A. Bednar called "Character of Christ"! It's not readily available because it's an MTC devotional, but it is SSOO GOOD!!!!!!! It talks about how it was in the Savior's nature to turn outward and be selfless in times when the natural man would turn inward and be selfish. It really inspired me to be better. 

  What else? Well, I love you! Please keep writing me emails frequently, even though I only read them once a week.

  I love you!!!!!!!

-Victoria