First Letter

Hey!!
I got dad's letter. Thanks for the bonus =], I bought breakfast at thetemple this morning with it. So my first week has been amazing! It was sooootiring at first, but everyone kept saying "just make it to Sunday, it getsbetter". Saturday was an extremely long day, but we all made it through, andSunday did come. We actually had a little time to take a small nap and hadtime for ourselves to study and write in our journals. My companions aregreat! I love them so much. We get along really well. I'm in a 3-some. Oneis Sister Grover from Idaho, she's 20 but her birthday is next week. Shewent to BYU this last year and worked in the MTC cafeteria so she runs intopeople she knows all the time, it's kinda funny. She's going to New YorkSouth ASL. The other is sister Myers. She's from Utah, and is going toPortland Oregon ASL. I have 4 teachers here. 2 are hearing and 2 are deaf. One of the deafteachers (Bro. Montgomery) I know from Tucson. He served his mission thereand we met in the deaf branch. Crazy! It's a small world when you're deafand mormon =]. One of my other teachers is a sister that went to DC so she'sbeen telling me some things to expect. Although, her president is beingreleased in July, so by the time I go out there it will be a new presidentand new rules, so the mission may be totally different. Everyday I get up between 5:45 and 6:00, depending on which day it is cuzI have study at 7am with my district. We eat breakfast after that and haveclass. That's pretty much it! I have 5 gym periods each week and all of themare right after a meal, so it's hard to work out while you're full of food.I like the food here. Everyone keeps telling me to wait another week thenI'll hate it, but I basically have unlimited whatever is there, what morecould you ask for?!? I've been feeling a little sick the last couple days soI've been downing a lot of orange joice at every meal, and drinking thoseemergen-C packets. I'm feeling a little better, but it's still clinging onto me. I have the most experience out of my district, so I haven't learned anysign whatsoever, but I did voice for the first couple days when it was justthe two deaf teachers and that has helped me. One of our elders (Elder Carn)is hard of hearing and doesn't know many signs...so it's difficult for him,but he's picking it up quickly. There are 12 of us in the district. 3sisters, and 9 Elders. 4 are going to NY North, 1 to San Jose Cali, 1 toHouston texas, and I can't remember where the other 3 are gonig at themoment, but as you can see we're pretty well spread over the US. My Branchpres told us that there are 72 ASL missionaries in the states (plus a fewthat have been transfered from English programs). Think about that! 50,000missionaries in the world, at the most 100 ASL missionaries and I'm in thatgroup. It pretty amazing. I'm pretty sure I answered all your questions, but if I haven't just lemmeknow and I'll try to answer them next week. I'm so busy here! There's notime for anything except work. I love learning how to teach, and having timeto study the scriptures and make my own lesson plans. It's so fun! There'snothing better than serving the Lord. This really is a great work, and I'mgrateful to be a part of it. I hope all is well in Arizona! Tell the fam towrite me at this email address. I might send a bunch of letters to you andhave you forward them cuz I don't have everyone's address.Thanks for the door hanger =]. It's way cool. I'm out of time, so I'll writea letter and send it later. Love ya!

~Sister Witbeck~