WEEK 1 AT THE MTC
Ole familia y amigos!-
Como estas? I am doing well. I have been a missionary at the MTC for ONE week now! I am doing well and enjoying it here. I have to admit that the first few days were tough- for some reason, it's like that for all new missionaries- at least that's what everyone says. They say if you can make it til Wed (P-day), then you are golden. I guess I've made it =D I think the time when I really felt a sigh of relief, was when I practiced teaching and testifying of Jesus Christ on Tuesday night. It made me remember how much I love teaching the Gospel and the Spirit that is there when we teach church principles. I feel very prepared to be here through EFY (teaching by the Spirit) and BYU (learning how to study- honestly, I haven't studied this hard since Anatomy) and working at the candy counter (kind of like contacting- talking with strangers). Lol. Those are just a few of the ways I feel the Lord has prepared me for my mission.
Thank you so much for your love and support. I love getting letters and emails from family and friends. I never realized how encouraging it is to missionaries to receive mail from home until now. And thank you for the packages! It's so fun getting mail and packages and I love the valentines you guys made for me. I only get 30 mins every P-day Wed to write so you can expect to hear from me then. I can also only write letters on P-day as well. I get dearelders everyday and it's great to see a letter on my desk when I get back from lunch or dinner. Aunt Cindy- thanks so much for the dress. It is perfect and I can't wait to wear it.
I have two companeros (companions)- Hermana Peel from Mesa, AZ who was a student at ASU and Hermana Van Dusen (from SoCal who was a student at BYU-I). They are great- we laugh and have fun together and we are still trying to figure out how to do this whole mission thing together. Two days after I arrived, they made me senior companion! Haha as if I have any more of a clue what is going on. But it is nice that I have lived in Provo previously and worked at the MTC- I see friends from BYU everywhere- it is so great! At the temple, in the cafeteria- so much so, that my companions are like, "who don't you know?" I see Sister Pitchforth (my old roommate who is going to Russia) practically every day in the cafeteria. It is fun. My companions have also given me the nickname of "Hermana Long Legs" because I always go up the stairs and walk so much faster than them. Lol.
Let me give you a run-down of what it's like here- We wake up at 6- go to gym =), eat, study, go to Spanish/gospel classes eat, study more, eat, study more, go to bed. Haha. It's like a mix of EFY and BYU and I am rather fond of both so I like it. The first day, we learned to pray in Spanish and bear our testimonies. I can now successfully do both and now we are learning to contact in Spanish (go up to someone on the street and share a message of the Gospel). It is a lot of work but I love Spanish and I can't wait until I am fluent. And I hear the other missionaries on my floor who are learning to speak Mandarin or Hmong and I feel very blessed =) We have 5 elders who are in our district as well, so there are just 8 of us in all of the classes. We have fun together and help each other and I know we will be very close by the time we leave. 7 of the 8 are all going to Paraguay Asuncion North so we will be with each other our whole missions- including my companions. What a blessing to already know some missionaries when I go to Paraguay! We have two teachers- one is from Argentina- her entire class she speaks Spanish- it's great- and we have another teacher who served in Mexico. We have an Elder Labra from Austrailia from Victoria (dad, send me the names of the places you served) and he is pretty entertaining. For the first few days, our teacher couldn't understand him because of his accent.
The food here is good. I am well taken care of. I get to go to gym everyday and I am almost completely recovered from my sickness. I still have a cough but I hope it goes away soon.
I am so happy to be here- even though it's a lot of work and dedication. Last night we had a speaker from the 70 come- Elder Pearson and he admonished us to become disciples of Christ- not just missionaries. He said that we need to give up the character traits that are holding us back from becoming more like Christ and give ourselves fully to the Lord. I know it was an inspired message. I want to do everything I can to be the best missionary I can be and represent my Savior as I try to bring others to Him. It's so important to have faith in our Savior through our trials. All of the missionaries in my class hardly spoke Spanish when they came in and I know that by the time we leave we will be practically fluent. It is through hard work and faith in our Father in Heaven.
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