5 weeks

Actually, it's only four and a half because today is almost over. I'm getting anxious and excited. I cut five inches off my hair earlier this week. My hair was pretty long, so 5 inches didn't make as much of a dent as it sounds like it would (it still comes down to my shoulder blades). But it was the oddest thing. More than anything else I've done for mission prep, the hair cut got me the most excited. It wasn't even a big deal; no layers of anything. I just walked into Great Clips, showed her where to cut, and walked out not 15 minutes later. But it was my missionary hair cut and, for some reason, that made all the difference in the world :-)

About five minutes after coming out of Great Clips I had my language evaluation with the MTC. I'm not sure how I did. I understood all the questions asked, and I think I responded okay. The questions were mostly close-ended, so I didn't really know what else to say ("what's your favorite color?" that sort of thing). The most open-ended was the last one, "why do you want to serve a mission?" That one seemed the easiest of all to answer. It was exciting and thrilling to answer in Spanish. The lady didn't say how I did or how long I'd be in the MTC, only that she'd place me in a class. We'll see, I guess!

Wednesday I went to the Bountiful temple with my parents (Salt Lake is closed for cleaning). It was beautiful! The chandeliers are huge and, frankly, amazing. After the temple and a brief visit with my guelito and guelita (and a near death experience as some goon tried changing lanes INTO me on the freeway) I did some more mission shopping at The Gateway. I love that place. I also love the temple. Okay, so maybe as I'm writing this the whole daughters of Zion and tinkling ornaments comes to mind. At least I went to the temple first. Priorities, right?

I was meeting my brother, Pere, for lunch and had some time to kill so I spent a little while at Barnes and Noble and read these two adorable books by Patrick McDonnell:




They were delightful. The perfect read-aloud books. I also bought "Cranford" the first and second seasons. Mom and I have already finished the first and vowed to re-watch them after my mission. Joy!

After the bookstore I had a delicious lunch at Buca di Beppo with Pere. So good. Mmm, still thinking about it.

Off to do more productive things.