Richard in the MTC

For those of you who didn't know, Richard went to the MTC on the 13th. He's been there almost 2 weeks. I was bummed cause I hadn't gotten any letters from him yet, but today I got two! It was a very happy moment to say the least.

So here's an update about Richard in the MTC.

He really likes the MTC so far. He says that his companion is a cool guy, and his teachers are nice and are really trying to prepare them for the field. He gets to go to the temple every Friday, but his first week they were only able to look around the grounds. His ward has about 30 people in at and they are all going to Portuguese speaking countries. Last week on Tuesday they had a devotional and Dennis B. Nuenschwander spoke to them. Unfortunately he didn't get to shake his hand. He is having fun in all of his classes but he is getting a little discouraged with Portuguese. He can also send email on his p-days so if you want to I can give him your email address and he can email you.

That's about it for now. I will update soon about my internship. I will learn more about my nuclear projects on Thursday.

Love,
Nyssa

Bacteria: the only culture some people have

Pocatello is pretty cool. I must say that it is actually a very pretty place. If I wasn't going to BYU-I I might attend ISU. They have an awesome microbiology program.

I started my first real research day here. I learned how to use a micropipetter--which is a device that sucks up stuff so you can put it in little test tubes. I also learned how to make the stuff on the dishes that becteria like to eat. It is easier than mixing a solution in chemistry! I also learned how to dilute bacteria samples and put them onto dishes so that they can grow big and strong and have bacteria families of their own :)

So it was mostly preliminary stuff but soon I will be doing research on bacteria that are very radiation resistant. Dr. De Veaux, a microbiology professor at ISU, and her team discovered the most radiation resistant bacteria ever known. We will be trying to figure out exactly why it is so radiation resistant, and also if there is a way to make other things radiation resistant. Pretty cool huh? It makes me kinda want to switch my major to microbiology. Instead I might just have to engineer better lab equipment for microbiologists.

All in all it was a very brain-rocking day. I learned a lot, and I finally got internet access!

Temple :)

Richard and Zac went through the temple last Wednesday night. I was able to wait in the lobby while my parents went with them. It was a good experience for me even though I really wish I could have gone through myself. Afterward, we went to Applebee's to celebrate. It was yummy.

I can't wait until I can go through the temple myself. You could tell when they got out how happy they were and I knew that the temple is a place we all should strive to go.