Buenos
dias!
Let me
just say, time is going by so fast....I feel like I just emailed you yesterday.
This week has been going great. Sister Dalton (General President of the Young
Woman's program) came and spoke on Sunday during Relief Society...it was the
best talk I've heard so far in the MTC. She was definitely the answer to
my prayer and I'm grateful for her faithful example. We celebrated (as
much as we could) halloween on Monday. All the sisters in my district
wore ties (that we borrowed from the Elders) and we were Elders.
Creative, right? Except I like to think I looked like the 5th member of The
Beatles (with my haircut). Anywho we went "dressed up" until
after lunch where Brother Heaton (the adminstrator of the MTC or some important
guy like that) told us it wasnt appropriate to wear ties on Halloween but we
can wear ties any other days. WHAT?!? Why would we wear ties on an other
day other than halloween?? We were all confused so we just took them off.
We did get alot of compliments though so I guess that's good. I don't
have much to write since my days here are pretty repetitive and it's hard to
remember what I did because I forgot to bring my journal with me. I do
have my schedule though and I wanted to share it just so you know what I do on
a daily basis because not alot of people know what goes on at the MTC (unless
you're an RM). A regular day is as followed:
6:30-
Arise and prepare (except I get up at 6 because theres a billion girls in the
morning trying to take showers)
7:00-7:40-
Personal Study Time (we can study the scriptures, preach my gospel, etc. in the
classroom)
7:40-
Breakfast
8:10-9:10-
Personal Study Time (again)
9:15-12:15-
Classroom instruction (This is where one of our teacher comes in for three
hours...either Hermana De Leon or Hermano Tidwell. This is the time we
teach our "investigators" for an hour, then the second hour we
usually do grammar or learning a specific skill that would help our
investigators progress or we read the Book of Mormon outloud as a class.
It varies each class time)
12:15-
Lunch
1:00-4:00-
Classroom Instruction (another 3 hours with our teacher)
4:00-5:00-
Language Study (pretty self explanatory, no?)
5:15-
Dinner
6:20-7:10-
GYM time
7:45-8:45-
TALL (a computer program that helps us with our language study)
9:00-9:30-
Daily Planning Session (we plan for the next day as a companionship and discuss
the things we need to work on etc)
9:30-10:30-
Personal time (to prepare for bed), Companionship Prayer and Bedtime!
The
days vary...sometimes we have gym time in the morning or in the afternoon and
Tuesdays we have devotional and Thursdays are our pdays so we only have one
class those days. Then Sunday is a completely different schedule since
it's the Sabbath. So as you can see, they keep us pretty busy but you are
constantly reminded how important the work is and what a privilege it is to be
at the MTC, and it definitely is. We're still adjusting to being a trio,
it's a little harder to teach with 2 companions but it's okay, we're working at
it. Sister Dalton said "If you're not being tried, then you aren't
progressing" It was something I really needed to hear because it can get
difficult at times but you also have to remind yourself that trials are a part
of life and they're blessings in disguise. I promise I'll write more next
week. Szandra Boleska, I am getting your letters and thank you sooo much! I
just don't know how much postage costs for Switzerland or where ever you are.
Jacko, thank you so much for your letters...I am getting them, I'm just so busy
on Pdays but I hope you got the ones I wrote last week. Cam, thank you so
much for the halloween card! I'll write you. Mole, I'll write you
too...tell deegs thanks for the orange drawing! Everyone else, I'll write
back to you today! I promise. Thank you all for your letters.
Mail really does brighten up a missionaries day. Sorry to all your RM's
that I never wrote back to....totally know how it feels now. My bad.
Oh! and Tia Mary!! The pumpkin bread was THE BEST!!!! I LOVED it! Thank you so
much...I love my little zelayas. Tell Nana that I did get her letters!
They were an answer to my prayer. Tell her I love and miss her and I'll
write her today too. I miss San Diego weather right now....forreals I'm
freezing here and it hasn't even snowed yet. My companion (since she's
from Colorado) told me that her Dad said they just had 8 inches of snow.
NOOOOOO. Dang it. It's okay because I know there's people out there
waiting for me there and apparently need to hear my testimony in Spanish.
Well I love you all and you're all in my prayers. I leave here in 3
weeks...I'm gonna be a real missionary in 3 weeks (sometimes I feel like I'm
not a missionary since it's the MTC) but I'm excited! Till next week, adios!
Con amor,
Hola!
So I
didn't know I was going to email at this time but there was last minute changes
so I don't have any of my notes (again) with me so this might seem like a
random email. I've been doing great here at the good ol' MTC. I'm
an old timer here...it's weird to see the new missionaries come in every
Wednesday. They look so fresh and eager when they get out of the
car....little do they know that they're going to have the longest day of their
life. You really don't have any idea what you're getting yourself into.
I've been told it's like drinking water from a fire hose and it's totally true.
It's so overwhelming at first but as the weeks go by, it doesn't neccessarily
get easier, you just realize that you can do it with the Lord's help.
It's getting easier to teach as a trio. Companionship Inventory is SO
essential...it helps us so much. We've been teaching more united and we
can see our progress because our investigators are progressing as well.
We just commited our third investigator for baptism yesterday (yay)! Our
other investigator is a little bit more complicated. I extended the
invitation to be baptized and he replied "Oh, I've already been baptized
in my church....but thanks."
My companions told me that my face was
priceless....I mean I was not expecting that reply at all so I was kind of
shocked and didn't know what to say. It doesn't help that we were 5
minutes over our time limit so we just said we'll discuss it in our next
lesson. I told you that our "investigators" are our
teachers....well they investigators that they act as are their own
investigators/ converts when they served a mission so they know exactly their
needs. We as missionaries just need to find it. Everything we do
here in the MTC is focused on the needs of God's children. The
Gospel truly is for everyone. I can feel the spirit through me as I
testify of it's truthfulness in our lessons. It's weird to think that you
can feel the spirit so strongly in a role playing activity. My testimony
does strength every day. I've thought alot about the promptings of the
Holy Ghost this week. Whenever you receive a prompting, PLEASE just
follow it. You NEVER know what the outcome is going to be and sometimes
you don't even know you're being prompted but I promise you the Holy Ghost will
give you comfort and peace when you follow them. Listen closely, we live
in a world where theres so much noise but I know if you pay attention to the
voice of the spirit, you will be blessed. I read something in Preach my
Gospel that I really liked it and it says " A teacher of gospel truths is
not planting something foreign or even new into an adult or child.
Rather, the missionary or teacher is making contact with the Spirit of Christ
already there. The Gospel will have a familiar 'ring' to them."
I love that. We are all children of our Heavenly Father and he has given
us a light within us. We are His light and His light is in us. That
didn't make sense but it did in my head so go with it. Anyways, it's
starting to get freezing here. Can't feel my face or hands half the time
but it's okay, I don't need to feel them anyways. I finally saw Dillon or
I mean, Elder Doria last week and today at the temple. I get my
flight plans next week, I can't wait to go to Colorado! I love the MTC,
but I'm ready to meet the people I made covenants with in the premortal
existence. I love and miss you all and write me on dear elder.
I was popular the first week here and that's pretty much it. Til'
next week, amo!
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