Goodbye MTC, Hello Canada!

Today Allissa left the MTC for Canada! We got to speak to her over the phone for a beautiful five minutes; it was so GREAT! This is a snippet from her last letter sent from the MTC!

I've realized that bad or hard days really help us appreciate the good ones even more. After Tuesday, which you all know was hard for me and my companion, Wednesday ended up being just so great! I love our teachers so much; Sister Andersen is just so amazing and she really helped me and sister Mendoza on Tuesday. Since she is a sister we get to hug her and she gives us great hugs and we just feel so loved, it is great! Brother Rellaford is so funny and dorky but he is such a great teacher and he speaks French, so we are going to practice French today during class because everything is in English. It was so funny, the other day, Sister Mendoza and I couldn't find our way back to the MTC from the Temple so when we saw some Elders we asked them if we could follow them back. They were like, sure, but the funny part is that they asked where I was from and I was like,"oh, this is so embarrassing. I am form Utah!" They all had a good laugh and later when we saw them in the dining hall, they were like,"did you get lost again?" It was pretty funny. I was thinking the other day, when my companion did something that bothered me, that most companionships aren't ruined because of big things but because of little things that we LET get big. I really do love Sister Mendoza, though, and I am going to miss her so much!  I am going to do sister Mendoza's laundry with mine because we had a talk on Sunday about how we need to serve our companions. Also, I am the one here who brought the most stuff! I am just so thankful that I have you as my family, and I love you lots. The workouts Mom gave me are killer!! My companion can barely do them and I'm like,"you are so skinny, you should be able to do these better than me because you have less weight to be lifting!" I am really liking the MTC  and I am kind of sad that I have to leave but also so excited! Happy Valentines day! Give each other hugs and kisses on my behalf! I love you! The Lord truly loves his missionaries and I can feel it every day! I am so glad for all the things that brought me here, and I can see why the Lord wanted me to come at this time so I could have my sweet companion, my awesome district, and hear all these messages that feel like they were made just for me! 

(Here are some of the photos Allissa has sent us so far. Most of them are with her companion and their friends! As you can see, she is looking SO beautiful!)

This is Sister Teddy. Our mom got it for Allissa to be her companion throughout her mission!

This is her companion, Sister Mendoza

This is the latest email we received from Sister Gonzalez. She has now landed safe and sound in Montreal!

I am here in Canada! The flight was great. I tried to call in Atlanta but the phone wasn't working so I wasted $6 on trying to call. I heard dad and Allexis' voice and I was kind of frustrated, so I almost cried but I calmed down because I was able to call in SLC. I love you all so much! One of the Elders who was with us has a brother who was serving in Atlanta, so he escorted us around the airport, which was good because it is huge! I am so happy to be here and I will email on Monday! Also, there was a sister who was crying on phone who gave me a hug after I cried on the phone, which was really nice, especially since she looked like one of my friends. It made me feel a lot better! 

I love you all so much, 

Sister Gonzalez