This letter was written by Mandy on August 7th.  We received it August 13th, but were out of town.

Keyora,

I’m excited that they’ve allowed for us to write a letter home!!! There’s been so much going on I’m lucky if I have time for a bathroom break, but you all know what being busy is like. ;)

New Zealand is beautiful (from what I’ve seen so far).  The trip from the airport to the MTC was only about 15 minutes, so I didn’t get to see much, but it’s all so green and is surrounded by water.  These last couple days have actually been a bit chilly (then again, I’m ALWAYS cold), but luckily we spend all of our time indoors and the floors in my room are heated. ☺

The food is great!  There’s always plenty to go around and there’s usually some variety to choose from.  It may not be as yummy as the food provided at the Provo MTC, but I’ve never been there, so I wouldn’t know.;)

It’s actually pretty easy for me to wake up in the morning (since my inner clock is still kind of on Utah time) but when it gets to about 7 pm, I’m done and want to crawl in bed.

My companion, Sister Petty (pet-ee), is amazing!  She’s from Australia and is the 5th of 6 children.  She was born and raised in the church.  She’s going to serve in the Auckland New Zealand mission, and we’ve both been called to be Sister Training Leaders.  Two seconds after I walk into the MTC and I’m asked to be a leader (let’s just pray and hope I don’t lead anyone astray).  Sister Petty and I get along very well.  I loved her from the 1st time I met her, but now we can’t go even a couple of minutes without smiling or laughing.  She has a HUGE heart, she’s got her own kind of quirk, and loves to get to know as many people as she can.  She also loves BB/basketball, and jelly (but we call it jello).

The hardest thing for me to adjust to is referring to myself as Sister Welker, not Mandy.  I’ve made the habit of stretching the elastic on my wrist every time I call myself Mandy.  The other hard thing is not being able to take pictures.  There’s a rule at the MTC that you can’t take pictures unless it’s one of the 5 times they’ve allowed for pictures to be taken.  Don’t worry though, when they way you can take a photo I might have 10 photos instead.

It’s been fun to compare cultures and languages.  We have lots of Elders and sisters from Tonga and Samoa here as well.  Instead of garbage, we call it rubbish; instead of bathroom, we say toilet; instead of 70º F, it’s like 45º C; instead of August 5, 2016, we write 5 August 2016; instead of fries, we say chips; instead of sweatshirt, we say jumper.  You’ll all be proud to know that I’m already picking up an accent!  It helps when your companion is from Australia.:)

I miss you all SO MUCH! I hope everything is going well.  I know life is busy, but just know I’ve been thinking about you.  I’m jealous that you all get to spend some time in Vegas with Mimi soon.  Be sure to have tons of FUN!!!  I love you and I’ll write to you again soon.

Sister Welker