Hey Family!
Sorry, I''m sure you are all super
confused right now... my P-day is actually on Friday's. The first three days in
the MTC is kind of its own schedule so they gave us a half P-day on Saturday so
we could so some laundry. The schedule we will follow for the next 5 weeks
didn''t start until Monday. Its nice to finally feel like I know what is going
on here, it doesn''t stress me out quite as much and the days fly by. Before I
can even blink its time to crawl back in bed.
Some pretty amazing things have
happened this week. Guess who came for Tuesday Night Devotional! Elder Jeffrey
R. Holland. I don''t think anyone expected him to walk through the door because
he had spoken to the missionaries on Thanksgiving, some of the people in my
Zone had been able to be there for that but they left just hours before the
devotional for their various destinations so they missed him the second time.
That man is such an amazing representative of God. The moment he walked in the
room my eyes started tearing up. He has great love for the missionaries and
loves being at the MTC. He spoke about how this, what we are doing right now,
this is REAL LIFE. It doesn''t get anymore real then this. What we do now is
one of the more important things we may ever do, it starts now. He also talked
about how all of the dispensations of missionaries before this one, Nephi,
Moroni, and many of the Old and New Testament Prophets knew that they would
fail. They had seen the future, they knew that theirs people would reject the
Gospel and be destroyed. We are just the opposite, we know the future too. This
is it! We will not fail, we are apart of the dispensation that will welcome the
Son of God back to earth. This is it! We Can Not Fail! Isn't that amazing. But
of course with great power and knowledge comes great responsibility. He told us
that because of this we had to be better then any missionaries that ever came
before us. Its Humbling. Also, he talked a little bit about how Preach my
Gospel came into existence, did you know that it was written primarily for the
missionaries, not the investigators. It was written becase Pres. Gordon B.
Hinkley said one day, ""Brethren, there is something wrong with the
Missionary Program."" (here Elder Holland interceded that that is an
unnerving phrase when you (he) happen(ed) to be the one incharge of the
missionary program). He said the reason it wasn''t right was because
Missionaries were coming home and becoming inactive and that was just not
tollerable. It begs the question ""where were you?" It was
written to convert missionaries and then we''re sent out to figure out how to
teach and convert everyone else.
Tuesdays are probably going to be my
favorite days.
Lets, see what else? We just
finished teaching our First investigator David for the last time. It is a sad
thought, even though its "pretend" its hard not to love their
character and want so badly for them to accept the truth. He did want to get
baptized by the end so I hope we were doing something right. But guess what!
Now, he's going to be our teacher! Its kinda crazy. We know him as this person
and now he''s going to teach us as a completely different person. It should be
interesting but I think it will help us.
My companion and I have had our fair
share of challenges. We're a lot the same but also very different. We've gotten
really good at listening to each other and being there for each other and not
letting anything fester between us. I think that is really important in a
companionship. Often people can say something and we take is compeletely
different then how they mean it. Its important to talk about it because then
neither person is offended and we learn a little bit more about the other
person and how it is best to comunicate with them. I love her so much! It makes
me sad to know that we wont be companions once we get to New York, I think we would
do really well together. But there is so much more to learn and different
people that will be able to teach it to me.
There is another district that has
class around us that is also going to New York, when we fly out there will be
10-15 of us all going. Its crazy! Its like we''re going to flood New York with
a huge missionary force! I can''t wait to go.
The 6 week program moves fast. The
teachers are trying to learn how to handle the pace just as much as we are.
They''re a little more blundt with us because we dont have time to figure
it all out on our own.
Sorry, I can''t remember a lot of
the questions you asked.
O Mom! I got the boots! Thank you
thank you thank you so much! We did really well on shoes. My companion has some
flats that she can''t even wear because they give her blisters so bad. All my
shoes are extremly comfortable. I put them on in the morning and dont even have
to think about them until I take them off at night. Thank you SOOOOO much! A
lot of girls have problems here because of their shoes. Good footwear is key.
Also, the coat we got is AMAZING!!!! I froze the first few days because I was
trying to walk around in just a jacket like I normally would in Provo at this
time but even in class I would sit an shiver. I finally just started wearing my
big coat around and it does its job! Its going to work well in New York. The
Alarm Clock we got is a different story. Remember how it was a
""smart"" alarm clock and supposed to know where in the
country it was at...? Yeah it thought it was in california. It went off at the
wrong time every single morning! We finally just let it think it was in Cali
and set our alarm accordingly and then guess what!? It thought it was somewhere
else and our alarm went off at 4 in the morning. I finally decided after
that that we needed to break up and went and bought a new one from the
bookstore. It worked really well this morning.
Well I am almost out of time. I hope
this letter answers at least some of your questions... Isaac, Simeon, Jacob, Nathan....
TANIA!!! I'm still waiting to hear from you. Dear Elder is a great great
blessing. Hint Hint Hint. I know I''ll be writing a letter to Simeon and Jake
today and hopefully some others so look for those.
Okay I am really almost out of time.
Testimony Time.
This Gospel is AMAZING! There is
nothing in this world that can bring greater comfort and peace and blessings.
My # 1 goal is to be obedient because great blessings come through obedience.
Everyone''s favorite quote here is that Obedience brings blessings and Exact
obedience brings miracles. Its those miracles that I want not only for myself
but for you guys. (In case you didn''t know a lot of my blessings get sent home
to you because I dont have enough room for them in my suitcase). I think that
applies for non-missionaries just as much as it applies to missionaries. You
can be exactly obedient too and through that you will see great blessings and
even miracles in your life. Its a lot easier to be 100% obedient then it is to
be 80% obedient and have to even think about it. My companion has had to figure
that out and I have seen her life blessed as she has done things that she
didn''t want to, just really little things, but they have made a huge
difference in her attitude and countenance. Obedience is a blessing. It brings
us closer to our Father in Heaven and his son.
I love it here! I couldn''t ask to
be in a better place. Before you know it I''ll be in New York and I have a
feeling the obedience thing will be a little bit harder when Every Minute of my
day is not scheduled for me. It''ll be okay though. Good habits here will
transfer over there.
I hear you figured out how to blog!
I''m so glad. I think its cool that we all share a blog because I know that
people that Go to read my letter will also read Stephanie's. Double dose of
missionary experiences.
I love you all! I love getting
letters more than anything in the world. :D (<-- Subtle I know)
Until Next week
Hermana Hale.
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