Wildbreeze in O-Town: Third Week in the MTC--Last MTC P-day

Mom and Dad!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW. I definitely didn't almost forget about that.

Thanks for the slips. I definitely needed more. Sister Page laughed so hard over the split slips. I haven't used them yet, but they'll definitely be useful. :) Oh, and the ink cartridges do work in my pen! I love the color and it actually bleeds less than the black.

Thanks for sparing me debate info, hah. Definitely haven't missed politics while being here.

Looove that picture of the Redlands temple. <3 The Provo temple is beautiful (and I have far too many pictures of it now), but that picture is just a perfect reminder of home.

And thanks for the notes from Stake Conference! I loved some of the thoughts in there. Also the news about the Englyngs! So exciting!

It's absolutely crazy to think that I'm flying to Florida in THREE DAYS. (I don't know yet when my P-day will be, but I know that I get to call from the airport on Monday, so keep your phone on. Flight leaves at 9:45, so it might be super early in CA time. I'll also email once I get to the mission home.) I'm going to miss everyone here so much. I love the fall weather here, but I certainly don't have super cold weather stuff. Walking to the temple at 7:30 today was freezing. We did initiatories, so we've done one of everything (that a missionary can do, at least). I love the temple so much. It's been awesome to go every week with people that I've come to see as family.

Saturday we taught the last lessons to our two investigators, and got new ones for this week. It's cool to see people's faith grow, awesome to hear them pray, and absolutely amazing to hear the words "I believe".

I caught a cold. It's not helping with how tired I've been. I would love an extra hour of sleep. We're planning on napping on the way to the airport/on the plane. :P Some Sisters are not obedient, and it's very hard to sleep when people are laughing/screaming in the halls. I've been trying to write in my journal throughout the day so I have a little more time to get ready for bed at night, but it doesn't help much. There's so much to do, so much to take in.

On Sundays, everyone is expected to prepare a talk. Then they pick a few of us to give them. (Thankfully, I wasn't chosen.) So Sunday mornings are basically District/companion/personal study time. In Relief Society we shared the ways we, individually, feel the Spirit. It's interesting to me how many different ways people feel the influence of the Holy Ghost.

Sister Sorensen and I taught District meeting. "Obedience: Doing the Will of the Father." The Mays (in our Branch Presidency) were in the meeting, and they love to talk, so they helped us along so much.

Sister May is still the sweetest human in existence. She held my hands and told me that I need to recognize how much value I have. The only thing about them is that neither of them have any sense of personal space.

I stumbled through "Come Thou Fount" for the special number in Sacrament meeting. I really didn't have much of a chance to practice, but the departing District was so grateful and sweet about it. I'm playing for Sacrament meeting this week, so I need to find some time to practice.

We tried to keep the Spirit on our temple walk more this week, by starting with a hymn and avoiding being silly on temple grounds. We also grouped up as a Zone and had a spiritual thought before we left.

Choir is the coolest, I wish I could participate in it again. :( Brother Eggett is the best, he tells hilarious stories and focuses on feeling the emotions of the song. (He was gone on Tuesday and we had someone who focused on technicalities.)Sunday devotional we heard from Via Sikahema (sp?) who talked about the power of our influence, and told us not to take notes. :P Tuesday devotional we heard from Elder Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy and his wife. He talked about how we need to choose love, that it shouldn't be something to "fall out of". I loved her talk though. She talked about how we sometimes feel inadequate and like we can't succeed. But we are representatives of Jesus Christ, we were called to serve, we are adequate, we are qualified, and Christ sees so much potential in us.

Our new investigators have been... interesting. They talk so much, and it's a bit of a challenge to redirect the conversation to the lesson sometimes. The first one, we're honestly not sure if he's an actual investigator. He'd heard about the Atonement, but had never heard about Christ suffering for us, taking our sicknesses and sadness upon Himself. It struck him so deeply, he thought it was absolutely astounding that someone would do that for us.

The second also loves to talk. But she also knows all the doctrine already, as she's gone to church with her husband since they were children. She just has some issues with little points of contention, which has led to some very interesting discussions. We've been working on building her actual faith, because she's so focused on the logical aspect of everything. She's starting to realize that she needs to learn these things for herself.

With both of them, though, a 45 minute lesson seems like nothing. In fact, we've often gone 10 minutes over.

I've sent out quite a few Bibles in the Referral Center here now. But on Wednesday I had the longest phone conversation with one lady in Tennessee. She was so happy to just have someone to talk to. She's a CNA and works with old patients. I could hear the woman whose home she was in yelling at her. ("She's 95, she has dementia. She's mean.") Eventually she said that she tries to go to church when she's not working, so I asked if she had heard about ours. She wanted to know more, and had heard about the Book of Mormon before. ("I had one of those! It was interesting. ...I want another one.") So I sent her one of those too. THEN she wanted to know if there was an LDS meetinghouse near her. :D She's going to email me after Sunday, since I won't be able to take phone calls anymore.

The only other call I took that night was from a man who wanted a Bible, but DID NOT WANT the missionaries to keep returning after delivering it. He said more than once, "I'm a CHRISTIAN. I got my OWN religion."

And then we were 15 minutes late to class because Sister Sorensen always gets the talkative people. It's good, though, because she's really good at it.

Sister Olsen (one of the teachers, but not one assigned to us) told me something that she learned on her mission. She said to preach the gospel with your eyes and your smile. "Smile and love people."

I hate waking up for exercise time at 6:40. It's the worst. But I've been trying to at least walk a mile on the track, if nothing else. It's just the last thing I want to do to wake myself up.

The one thing I love is that sometimes people harmonize while showering. It sounds super weird, but I actually find it fun. Mostly hymns. Sometimes Disney.

Yesterday was In-Field Orientation. Learning about tools to use in the field, like Key Indicators, basics of street contacting, working with members... Basically a very very long day.

It's really been so amazing here. I'm going to miss it (though we're ALL excited to have real food). My District is the best, my roommates are wonderful, I love my companion... I'm sad to leave it. But my testimony has grown so much here. I've learned so much about seeking the Spirit, about studying and planning effectively, and about just learning to love and work with people. It'll be cool to teach and help people in the real world.

I hope you've had a good week. I appreciate the Dear Elder letters, even though you send them in emails too. It's fun to get physical mail. Have a fantastic week, and I'll talk to you Monday. :)

Love,

Christine

Just finishing up laundry for the last time here in the MTC. Going to start trying to pack today. Talk to you soon!

It was Elder Merchen's birthday this week. Our teacher, Sister Brennan, wrote the main note and the balloon. Sister Christiansen did the penguin. And the note is a joke because our other teacher, Brother Droge, once asked how drawing on the board fulfills our purpose as missionaries.