Week 1: HOLA!!!
Life is so structured here. I absolutely am LOVING it. I admit, before coming to the MTC, I always perceived it as a weird convent place,but it's.... magical? that sounds so odd to say.
The days have lit'rally flown by from that day of grabbing "froyo" at Yogurtland and almost forgetting that wretched typhoid as you drove off. Good times.
Mi companera es Hermana Tolliver. She's been a nurse at Primary Children's Hospital for the last 4 years with babies under 3 years. Such a cool girl. I am seriously in awe how inspired companionships are. Our class forms a "district," in which there are 8 elders and we started with 4 sisters. The other hermanas (sisters) were really good at spanish, so transferred to an intermediate class, leaving Hna (hermana/sister--ha ha I'm already so used to the different ways of writing it) to laugh with our hilarious elders. I forget how funny 19-year-olds are. Gosh, I've gotten so old and boring in the 2 years since being that age. I love our elders; they have some form of ADD, or just complete inability to focus more than 5 minutes, but at least that leaves Hna Tolliver and I feeling pretty good about ourselves.
I love the feeling here at the MTC; you can pray reading your prayer from a notebook (en espanol, o' course) and it's completely normal.
I never understood how SIMPLE the gospel is. I always saw the "gospel" and "church" as one & the same--- being Young Womens, girls camp, modesty, purity, language, (aka "Strength of Youth"). And while yes, those are part of the gospel, I'm learning and realizing how SIMPLE and BASIC the gospel is-- faith. repentance. baptism. receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. enduring to the end by keeping his commandments. I feel like I'm starting to come alive in the gospel. All my live, I had a testimony, but I see now I was just beginning to touch the tip of the iceberg. Gah, I love it!
This last week was the craziest week of the MTC all year--training 110 new mission presidents and their wives before they go out this week to their respective missions for the next 3 years. MTC "campus" as it is called, was just swarming with general authorities. President Monson and the First Presidency were here for trainings. insane.
This last week was the craziest week of the MTC all year--training 110 new mission presidents and their wives before they go out this week to their respective missions for the next 3 years. MTC "campus" as it is called, was just swarming with general authorities. President Monson and the First Presidency were here for trainings. insane.
Tuesday night Elder L. Tom Perry gave a fireside, and 7 Apostles were present. Yeah, we're kind of a big deal over here. :) ha ha
It was definitely not what anyone expected--y'know, we thought it would be a usual fireside about a principle of the gospel and be a POWERHOUSE. You have 7 Apostles in the room.
Rather, it was a Public Affairs report on the Church--the external effects of being an active church member, like volunteerism, church attendance, charitable donations, humanitarian work, etc. Lots of facts and figures. While the elders of our district fell asleep (one of them really did.... oh, wonderful elders. ha ha), I saw how this gospel--the basics of faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end through keeping his commandments (which is the umbrella under which the Church programs, etc fall)---that this gospel is led by Jesus Christ.
Led by Jesus Christ.
That deserves a moment to stop and think about.
He knows what this world needs to prepare it for His Second Coming. As He establishes the programs of Young Womens, girls camp; and principles of modesty, purity, language, (AKA "Strength of Youth"); or as He teaches us to be charitable, give humanitarian work, "sacrifice" our time by attending church and volunteering---all these are bringing us closer to Him.
I love being part of this work. As the new wave of missionaries came yesterday, I made sure to give them an extra big smile--the first couple days were hard. Day one, no time to even think about anything. It was go-go-go, meet teacher, do a group teaching exercise, smile shyly at your companion, sing hymns with the other new deer-in-the-headlight-faces...
Day 2 or 3, I don't even remember which (and I don't want to stop to think about it because the clock is ticking ticking ticking, making me nervous on this sticky keyboard) anyway--day 2 or 3 I may or may not have had a little crying fest. It's just one of those things. Where I would normally just go to my own room, take a nap, go for a run, turn on mind-numbing music or show, I had to instead face it--with a companion by my side. Part of me wished I could just break the rule of always-staying-with-your-
Comments