First day in the MTC...check (check mark)!
Surprisingly this day has been great. A lot of sitting and listening. There are 12 people in my district. 7 of whom are going to my mission, 3 going to Rancagua, chile, adn 2 to Guatemala.
There is an Elder Egan-odd (haven't had a chance to ask him if he's related to Drew) and Elder Gregory (smiley face) and an Elder Tingey (grandson of Earl C Tingey).
There are 4 girls in my district adn with whom i am sharing a room. Sister Hathaway (from Ogden) and Hansen (Boise) going to Rancagua, and my companion, Sister Kemp (Ogden) who is super nice but is having a bad bout of home sickness (sad face).
I'm sure I'll email soon, but out MTC Pres encouraged us to send a letter home saying we are fed, clothes, sheltered and happy. Walking around the MTC with a little red dot on my name tag meaning "I'm new" gives everyone the chance to say "Hola" "Hello" "Welcome to the MTC Sister" and everyone does, random people everywhere!
I'm just in the habit (after 1 day) of saying Hello and Hola and thank you if I hear anything close to "welcome".
Also being a sister in the MTC makes you famous practically. Elders are always saying "Hola Sisters" or "Hello Sisters". Tonight some elders were walking toward is and we heard one say "look the sisters! Lets say good night to them!", so they did.
And I definitely packed light compared to some other sisters! But I'm glad-less baggage to worry about.
Sorry..no ubber de dubber spiritual experiences yet…We had a “teaching experience” where we pretty much watched what I did at the TRC (missionaries teach the first discussion) and the Spirit was definitely there! We taught the investigator as a group of like 200 though!
And I felt like the investigator was a target that we were trying to take a shot at-trying to hit that thing that would touch their heart and invite then to/or make them want to learn more about the Gospel. Sometimes people were successful at bearing testimony about just the thing that person needed.
Next day..
So now it’s the nest day and what I was afraid of happening happened! Got all ready for bed-laid down about 10:35pm and lay there for an hour! Arggg. My eyes were wide open-not sleepy at all! So at 11:30pm I got up, went to the bathroom, ate my fortune cookie (the only food I had) and lay back down and was asleep in 15 min. Why is my body so crazy? IDK
Woke up at 6:20am..i think for the first couple of days I’ll get up easy, but it’ll get harder as I get more used to being here.
We had a presentation today about our purpose as missionaries and watched the Mormon Message “Lifting burdens”. SO GOOD! My favorite parts are when it says the Gospel transforms people and that we must be firmly attached to Jesus Christ because we cannot do anything without Him.
There is a place for Jesus Christ in everyone’s life…we all need him. And as a missionary, I need to work with Heavenly Father, being in tune and respecting all that Heavenly father has done to prepare people to relieve the message of Jesus Christ.
One Elder in this meeting shared an equation that he and his dad made up:
Belief + Action = (Faith)Squared = Trust/Strength = Hope
(I added the Strength, although strength is more a bu-product of Trust rather that dividing it, but…math isn’t my forte (smiley face). Anyway, thought that was neat!
I have already seen 3 sisters that I know. I ran into my friend, Krisana Finlay, who came the same day as me, and in the bathroom last night I ran into 2 girls from FFP!! (FFP is the Flourishing Family Project Diane worked in Seattle). So exciting and happy.
I just passed my immunizations-hallelujah-I was worried I’d missed some! Whew. And ..uh..nothing else much has happened..so…maybe someone can type this up and put it on the blog (and maybe post the Mormon Message too!), since this is the only letter I’m sending out so far.
I love you all! I know it’s weird to be away from each other, but I feel good being here. I feel like I’ve been being prepared for this my whole life!
XOXO
Diane
(Hermana Bowns)
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