Feliz dia del amor y amistad!!! This week has been awesome. In sacrament meeting on sunday I was talking to Hermana Goodfellow, saying she was going to get called on to speak, but nope, immediately after the sacrament they called an elder, and then when they normally call a sister, they call me. I guess I should take that as a compliment, like maybe I'm more mature or something? So I stood up, gave a three minute talk in spanish, and sat down. Apparently it sounded like good spanish because I was speaking fast. I guess being nervous helps when it's not english. Sunday night we got to watch a recording of Elder Bednar speaking to the missionaries at Christmas. It was a phenomonal talk, one of the best I've ever heard, about the character of Christ. He wasn't afraid to be candid, and spoke directly to us, but there were some incredible things he spoke about. I don't know if people can look that one up because it was here, but if they can, it's well worth the time. Valentines day in the MTC is an interesting experience. It starts with people getting down and realizing they're away from friends or special friends on valentines day, then people get mail or packages and are happy, and then some people end up looking up scriptures to send home. the best one we found was Genesis 29:20. Something like seven years seemed but a few days because of his love for Rachel. Sometime during this week I was a little down, and after reading 2 Nephi 29:7, I decided God is just, I don't have anything to complain about, and when I really worked as hard as I could, things got a lot better. God helps you when you really try. It's kind of funny for me. We have the exact same schedule pretty much every day, but somehow there's always so much that happens. I feel like I've learned so much more. Another cool thing to see is how our perception of letters has changed. Rather than thinking about home and being sad that we're not there, we get really excited to hear about people's lives, and if things aren't going so well we do our best to help them and really pray for them. It really shows you how much you care about these people, and makes you want to work harder as a missionary because of it. There's another thing. The MTC really builds your testimony of prayer. I can't wait to see what happens in the mission field. A funny quote by Elder Clark, a 70 I think, said, "A cold in Bolivia is a death in the US." aka don't complain home. I'm glad I don't have to worry about that. While there are always rough spots, there's nowhere better for me to be right now than here. It rocks to really be able to feel the spirit so often, so strong. Love you all, keep me updated!

Elder West