MTC

MTC District (probably)

It's been a crazy, wonderful week here at the MTC. The first day is so overwhelming. Your family drops you off and then you're almost immediately whisked away and thrown right into the middle of everything. My companion is Sister Anderson, she's from Alpine, Utah, she's turning 20 next week, she's a hairstylist and I love her. She and I are pretty much exact opposites when it comes to appearance, but we get along really well.

We spend most of the day in class or studying with our district. In my district there are 12 people, 6 elders and 6 sisters. All the sisters are going to South Carolina like me, and all the elders are going to San Antonio. All of us sisters also share a room so we've become super close. I'm so glad we're all going to the same mission so we'll be able to see each other after the MTC. Speaking of after the MTC, we found out on Friday that we'll be leaving for South Carolina next Monday, June 10 at 1:00 AM! We're all so excited to get out there. 

I'll admit, at first I was really worried about being in the MTC for such a short amount of time, I felt like there wouldn't be enough time for me to learn and prepare, but now that I'm here so ready to just get out there are start teaching people. Not that I don't love it here, but I'm just so excited to be a missionary and I want to start sharing my message as soon as I can. Being in the MTC this week I've really learned that to be a successful missionary you have to teach by the spirit. You really have to be so reliant on the spirit to help you know what your investigator needs to hear. I knew that the spirit was important to missionary work before I came on my mission, but now I know that the spirit is everything. It's the difference between a good lesson and an amazing lesson. And if you don't have the spirit with you while you teach, the people you're teaching aren't going to be converted.

I've been trying so hard this last week to stop paying attention to my thoughts and what I want to teach the investigator and instead really listen to what the spirit is telling me to say. I can tell I'm going to need a lot more practice, but I'm getting better already. I can't believe how much I've learned in the last six days.

I've seen a lot of friends while I've been here, which has made me so happy. Sister Whitney Carlson is around a lot, I get to see her every day and she seems to be doing really well. I also frequently see Elder John Oldroyd. He speaks to me in Russian and I pretend to understand. I've also seen Sister Eliza Handley, who is also speaking Russian. And just half an hour ago I saw my wonderful ballet teacher Phyllis Whitaker in the temple when we went up there to do a session. It was so wonderful to see her. 

Everyone here says that time flies once you make it past Sunday and I'm beginning to believe that that's true. I'm so excited to go to South Carolina next week, and I'm so excited for the rest of my week here at the MTC. I have a lot left to learn. I hope it all goes well. I miss you all, but I know I'm where I need to be. I can honestly say that I'm happier than I've ever been before in my life. I love you all.