CCM Weeks 4 and 5

20 Nov 2008

Family!

I’m going to tell you all about my weeks here at the MTC!

I’m in Zone 20!! I’m in District A with Hermana Moemai, Hermana Griffiths, Hermana Demers (advanced because of previous Spanish experience), Elder Brailsford, Elder Mclean, Elder Hansen, Elder Barnwell, and Elder Turner! All of the Elders are going to go to Chile Santiago East with Hermana Griffiths; the other three of us sisters are going to Osorno Chile! My last letter gave you some detail on each person so please refer! District B is Elder Keeler Spanish wise, Elder McDonald sweetie, Elder Thatcher red head, Elder Jacoby has a great testimony, Elder Bedingfield thinks that I look like his sister, Elder Arthur says that he is my favorite, Elder Berry spoke in church this week and has a great testimony about rainy weather hard times and getting through them with hope in Christ, and Elder Barber has a great testimony! All are going to Riverside California! This district came in after us I especially love this district because they are so kind, they stick together all the time, they act like I’m there big sister and they are like my little brothers. District C is fun! There is Elder Ngatuvai our poly elder, Elder Parker short companion, Elder Avery gentleman, Elder Marcelino sweet heart and down to earth, Elder Demers proper and musical, Elder Redfurn dancer, and Elder Stout left to Peru, all the other missionaries are going to Tampico, Mexico! District D has our Zone leaders Elder Gunderson from Alberta Canada who is very good at volleyball, Elder Hrabar who has changed his handwriting just for his mission and is very good at drawing/ doodling, Elder Maddock is the gym man that is always doing weights during gym, Elder Hamm is from Arizona always competing with my companions to see who has the best agenda, Elder Geisler is always missing in action but when I do see him he is always making cool weight balancing objects out of tooth picks forks and salt shakers, Hermana Westwood previous coordinating sister with 11 kids in her family, Hermana Maple is our new coordinating sister. It was really cool to have all of the Hermanas in our zone sing the song “I Need Thee Every Hour”.

Sunday we go early to Relief Society to listen to the “Spoken Word” sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is so beautiful! I love listening to them tell stories before they sing the song. It is a time to distress and enjoy the Spirit through song. Then in Relief Society the sister missionaries have the privilege to here from known people in the church. My favorite was the primary presidency! I can’t wait to go to teach the little Primary kids in Chile that Jesus loves them so much and that even though some of there family doesn’t accept the gospel that they can strive to make there own family an eternal family as they strive to keep the commandments.
At 2pm we take a temple walk with our district and take pictures. I love going to the temple, it is so beautiful, and I know that the ordinances there are eternal and sacred! I can’t wait to start my family one day inside after I have served the Lord and His children on my first mission. Then we have Sacrament with our zone. Then we have choir practice for the Tuesday devotional with the choir director who is just as funny as Brian Regan, but of course he is a lot more spiritual all of the missionaries enjoy bring around him. Then after the fireside you have a choice of watching a couple of different church movies, but all of the poly sisters and elders with there companions get together and sing great church music. It was put together by my companions because all of us have a love for music! Hermana Griffiths is great on the piano and makes up her own rendition of all the hymns on the spot and Elder Pili (Hermana Moemai cousin) is a great singer because he was previously Baptist so he has that great soul sound to his voice. It is the Highlight of our week to sing and it is very uplifting and a great way of making friends.

Mondays are the days when we have Large Group Meetings. It is fun because we watch The District which is a movie that is put on by the church watching missionaries using Preach My Gospel. It is the MTC soap opera! It is great filled with insights, spiritual experiences, and it is an eye opener to what really happens out there in the mission field.

Tuesday we have our TRC were we actually teach the lessons to volunteers, and now we are teaching it in Spanish! Yay! My companions and I get better and better every week. Afterwards my teacher gives us feedback on how we did and he always talks about how my district blow him away every week with how much we improve. Then to end the day right we have Tuesday night devotional this past Tuesday Elder Jeffery R. Holland spoke to us and it was amazing! He has become one of my favorite speakers because he is so bold! He shared his love for me and my Saviors love for me. He told me that I need to become that missionary that I want my investigators to be! Ha it was really funny when he described us missionaries like superheroes flying in the air looking down at the world watching for evil and attacking and saying, “Oh, I see evil let me attack! I will save that soul!”

Wednesday we have our weekly planning, were we plan out everything we have to get done as a District. My favorite part of Wednesday is the new missionaries come in and I decided to make myself the official missionary welcomer! So for every missionary that has an orange dot to show that they are new I give them a big handshake and smile with a big welcome greeting saying “Welcome to the MTC!!” Wednesday is also great because we get ice cream for lunch and dinner with toppings from the BYU creamery! Yummy!

Thursday are Preparation day were we get to go to the Provo Temple! Last week was my first time doing Sealing’s, and this was my first week doing Initiatories at the Provo Temple. I love the temple! It is so important to go there often! After all we are ushering the second coming of Jesus Christ! Then we have till 6pm to do letter writing, laundry, and email.

Friday is the day when we speak only in Español! It really helps! Soon I’m just going to speak all the time in Spanish because according to the MTC, I’m on my 7th week and leaving to Chile on December 15th!

Saturday is fun because we have service at 6:30am and straiten chairs and clean the girls bathroom to get ready for Sunday!

Everyday we have personal study were we study the things we need to personally. We also have Companion study where we can study as a companionship to become closer and to focus our efforts on teaching better and studying. We also have Language Study Time were we have different ways of studying the language through a computer program called TALL. It helps a lot drilling the vocab into your head. I also like the flash cards and reading the scriptures in Spanish.
The MTC is filled with lots of good meals. Sometime that’s all I feel we do is study, listen to great talks, eat, study, have class, eat, study, go to the gym, and then eat and study and listen to a great talk. I really enjoy every bit of the MTC experience!

I love you! Talk to you later!