Saludos do CTM

Hello my dear family! So I think I'm liking this Provo MTC thing......I'm hardly even gone! :D That's so neat that you saw me running on Saturday, Dad! That definitely was me if it was at the time you said :) I thought that was pretty incredible........until this morning when I literally ran into Mom on her morning jog!! Haha......that really made my whole day Mom! I've been smiling ever since :) It's nice to be so close to home that I don't really feel like I'm away! I think you all should keep coming around the MTC as much as you can and maybe we can keep being lucky!

So life at the MTC is super fun! I love my companion Sister Robson and all of the elders in my district. I forgot how crazy 19 year old boys can be....it definitely does keep things fun though. Portuguese is coming along and I'm really learning to love it! It is very much like Spanish....in fact so close that at first it was really confusing me! But I can tell that I'm quickly adjusting, because yesterday when I was trying to help some elders with their Spanish I could hardly speak anymore without throwing in Portuguese pronunciations! Oh well, hopefully I'll still be able to get Spanish back when I come home in 18 months........

So, not to sound pessimistic or anything, but I don't think that Dad has to worry about me heading to Brazil anytime soon...... The visa situation is very messy and more and more Brazilian missionaries are being reassigned to US missions! I met an elder yesterday who has been here for 20 weeks and still waiting for word! And he applied for his visa in January! But no matter what happens, I'm just going to take each day a day at a time......and just remember to love where I am and love everyone that I'm with! :) The Lord can make anything happen, so if he wants me in Brazil I'll be there......and if he wants me somewhere else, I hope I can still do what he wants me to do there!!

So this week has been pretty exciting........Mission President Seminar Week at the MTC! Tonight there is a special devotional and most likely a member of the Quorum of the Twelve will be speaking!! I'm pretty excited! We've also been on the lookout for general authorities this week....haha, it's funny, there is an Elder Parry in our zone, and so this week whenever Sister Robson mentions something like "I saw Elder Parry this morning......or "Look there's Elder Parry!" I assume she's talking about Elder L. Tom Perry and get all excited! haha it's happened twice now :)

So here is a typical day in the MTC: Wake up at 5:30 am......read scriptures for 15 minutes and then head to the gym for Sister Missionary Yoga/Pilates (it's great!) Then usually we have gym time or personal study time until breakfast. After breakfast we have class for 4-6 hours and then have companionship study and some free time to practice the language, teach a lesson, or practice contacting.. Really, most of our time is self-directed, which makes it great because you really can get as much out of it as you want! Sister Robson is very motivated and we've been working hard..

Lately we've been trying to practice teaching by finding missionaries, getting to know them and then sharing our testimonies with them.. It is a lot of fun and it makes me realize that if you're trying to be a friend and work on loving every one you meet, you can really make a difference in people's lives.. And everyone has a need that you can fill........even other missionaries. It just takes being bold and following the spirit.. That's really why we are all here on earth........to help each other come closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ :)

I am so excited to share the gospel and I'm so glad I'm a missionary! I love you all!!!

Love, Sister Jamie Gee

In the MTC and "so happy"

Dear family,

Hello from the MTC!! :D That makes me so happy to say...it's wonderful to be doing something that I've been dreaming about for so long! The MTC is wonderful!! I love life here...I will admit the first day was difficult and I had to fight back tears several times throughout the day and especially that night when I was going to sleep, but since Thursday morning I've been amazing wonderful and so so happy! The spirit here is amazing and everyone here is so excited about missionary work...the teachers, the missionaries, the leaders...it's very contagious!

So there are about 20 other missionaries here that are waiting for visas to Brazil. My district has 12 missionaries in it and we're all Brazil-bound :) My companion, Sister Robson from Mesa, Arizona is so wonderful. We are the only sister missionaries in our district so we're getting very close. Sister Robson has a strong testimony that she shares with me often and she is so sweet and fun. We are loving being companions! I believe she is a big part of the reason that it was so easy to transition to MTC life...I'm so grateful that Heavenly Father loves us and knows us and send us just the people that we need...at every time in our lives! We run together and do yoga every morning with all the other sister missionaries...it's been so fun!

Back to the visa situation...the other 8 Brazilian missionaries, outside of my district, have been here at the Provo MTC for 6 weeks. Their district also had 12 at the beginning, but their visas came and they left the next day. Yup! We were wrong about me being here for 8 weeks...apparently your flight to Brazil is scheduled the morning after your visa arrives! One sister was telling me that her companion got notice that her visa had come just 2 days after she had arrived to the MTC and she was on a plane to Brazil 8 hours later!!! Crazy... But there is also another story about an Elder who waited here in the Provo MTC for 15 weeks with no word of his visa...and then was finally reassigned to Atlanta, Georgia. So basically I have no idea what will happen the next 8 weeks...but I know the Lord does and I'm sure it will be wonderful! That's the cool thing about the Elder that I was telling you about, that was here for 15 weeks.... I've heard from Everyone that he was such a good example to all the new missionaries and really changed the MTC experience for a lot of them. So I think it was part of his mission to be here, and he was a great missionary no matter where he was...that is cool to me. So wherever I am I know it's where the Lord wants me to be and I can make a difference anywhere. As President Mckay loved to say "Where'er thou art, act well thy part!"

Well family I love you all and have so much to say but time is running out! I love you all so very much and I miss you. Thank you for the letters...reading them yesterday made my whole day and it made me so happy. Thank you for always being loving and showing your support for me. I will write more in a letter later today! Keep reading the Book of Mormon as a family and individually! Love you!!

Love,

Sister Jamie Gee

PS... For my plaque scripture I would like D&C 123:17. LOVE YOU!

D&C 123:17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.