Tuesday, June 14, 2016

No more dork dot!

June 7, 2016
Almost done with my first week at the MTC! Wow has a lot happened! Everyday is a busy schedule from 6:30 am to the time I close my eyes at 10:30 at night (give or take a few minutes). :) It took me a while to become adjusted to the schedule, and at first it was a lot to take in, but I love it now! My companion Sister Wall from Farmington, UT is so sweet and funny! We work really well together, joke around, and laugh at the elders a ton because they're still very much goofy, immature teenage boys. For example, they were complaining about one of the elder's annoying alarm clocks and laughed about it for about ten minutes straight. :) We find lots of interesting things to laugh about here at the MTC! Much of my time is spent in a classroom with my "district," or the group of missionaries that I basically do everything with. There are six elders going to Texas and the four sisters going to Tallahassee in my district. There are several districts in a branch, and we're all either going to Texas, Arizona, or Florida. My district is such a hoot! Even though we're in class for a lot of time, I'm learning so much about how to be an effective missionary and how to invite and help others to come unto Christ. We study in Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon a lot, which is great! My faith has been so strengthened in just the six days that I've been here! My teachers are fairly recently returned missionaries, and they're awesome! For the past several days, we've done role playing in which our teacher acts as an investigator based off of someone they know or their own conversion story, then the companionships teach them one lesson each day. It's so neat how the Spirit is present and teaches in even role playing lessons! Like one teacher said, the MTC is the Lord's way of training His missionaries. Sister Wall and I are also teaching a real investigator named Olivia who is the sweetest and desires so much to have a relationship with God and learn about Him! She has so much faith and the spirit was so present as we were teaching her! 

The food here is pretty good, and there's a lot of variety. Every day we also have an hour for exercise, which is so nice! We've played volleyball with the elders a couple time and had a blast! There is a sister from Trinidad in my district who hadn't received her endowment yet, so today a bunch of us went to the temple with her for her first time. It was so special! Tomorrow, the new missionaries are coming in and I can't wait to say "Welcome to the mtc!" to every new missionary I see, just like I heard a billion times on my first day. :) New missionaries get an orange dot sticker (called the dork dot) on their name badge for the day so everyone who sees them can help them find their way and understand their bewildered faces. :) Sister Wall and I are the Sister Training Leaders for our Branch, so we get to meet the greenies tomorrow and help them feel welcome. I can't wait!

On Sunday, Sister Sheri Dew who is an awesome female LDS speaker gave a devotional to all the missionaries. She talked about the importance of asking questions in the gospel and seeing them as opportunities for growth rather than doubts, as long as they're 1) inspired, 2) asked in faith, and 3) if you go to the right sources seeking the answers. It was so powerful and answered so many of my questions! I invite you to ponder the questions you have about the gospel, pray about them, and search with all your might, mind and strength to find the answers in the scriptures. I promise God will answer your questions from the heart! He is answering mine. Have a great week!

P.S. I took lots of pictures, but the computer is being dumb and not letting me upload. Hopefully next week!

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