My "Finest Hour"

August 5, 2013

Hello Family! And everyone else!

So I tried to attach some pictures but I am horrible at computers and couldn't make it work...so I will have to get one of the elders to help me next week because I don't want to run out of time for the actual emailing!  Anyway, I forgot to explain my title last week, it was a quote from one of the devotionals, as is this week's title!  But I'll talk about that more later.

So last week might have been the most interesting email from the MTC, because not much has changed, but I do have a couple more things to explain about how the MTC works! Sundays are very different. The day starts out normal with study time and breakfast, but then we have Relief Society which is a huge group of all the sisters here. It's not regular RS because it's more like a devotional, they just get someone to speak to us. But we get to watch Music and the Spoken Word if we get there early :) The elders don't ever get to watch it haha. But then we have more district meetings and lunch and stuff, and then we have Sacrament Meeting with our zone. Our zone has 4 districts in it, all Spanish speaking and going to lots of different missions. One of the districts is leaving tomorrow and we get a new district in our zone on Weds so we won't feel like the newbies anymore! Sacrament Meeting is mostly like normal except for every missionary has to prepare a talk in Spanish and then you find out if you're speaking when they announce it after  the Sacrament is passed. It's quite amusing, especially because our district was told that none of us would be chosen for our first week here, so we got to watch everyone else. and of course, that led to me telling my companion some Hunger Games jokes, "It's only your first week, Hermana, they're not going to pick you!" and then someone else said that if it wasn't Sacrament Meeting someone should yell after the speakers are announced, "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" Unfortunately that would be rather unreverent. I think it would be hilarious though! And then after that we get to walk around the temple for a while and then have dinner and go to choir and listen to the Sunday night devotional. then they show movies/old amazing talks given by Apostles at the MTC and you can choose which one you want to watch. By movies, I mean Legacy and the Joseph Smith movie. However, it's funny how excited we get even over a Church movie! The MTC is a weird place haha. But yesterday was Fast Sunday. So we didn't get breakfast or lunch, only dinner, so it was a 24 hour fast, but it actually was one of the easiest fasts I've ever had. I attributed it to feeling spiritually full but then realized that every other fast Sunday I'm just at home usually around my kitchen where the food is. But here we are only around food in the cafeteria and we didn't go in the cafeteria at all until dinner, so that's probably why it was easier...but last night was an amazing Sunday devotional given by Jenny Oaks Baker, daughter of Elder Oaks and famous violinist. She did speak about spiritual gifts, but she played tons of musical numbers for us and had her 4 children all under the age of 12 play for us too (SO cute!). Kelly and Aaron, I couldn't help but think of how you both would have loved it, she is an AMAZING violin player! It was so relaxing to just be able to sit and listen to some music after a week of long days and lots of classes.

The other thing I realized about the MTC this week is that they lied to me! They said that if you make it past the first Sunday it gets easier. Well, I must just be really backwards from most people because after that first Sunday all the initial excitement had wore off and we were getting used to the schedule and it was easier to be annoyed with my comp after a whole week and it was easier to just get more frustrated in general about planning lessons and whatnot. I actually had a really hard day on Wednesday. However, we have incredible teachers who answer all my prayers and a loving Heavenly Father who is not leaving me alone in this! So after Weds it got a lot better again and I had a great few days, I just love it here. :)

So Elder Ridd left for Spain, so we thought we would be even, but we got a new elder in our district! He was brought in from one of the beginning Spanish classes. He was too advanced so they put him with us in intermediate. His name is Elder Patey. He's honestly one of the most interesting people I've ever met. Everything he says surprises me. For example, he also speaks Portuguese because as a teenager his family lived in Portugal for 4 years, he's been spear fishing in Africa where they almost ran into this huge whale which would have destroyed their boat, he's ridden on other whales on the beach of the Portugal islands he lived on, he lived in Costa Rica for a couple months for a study abroad, his family now lives in Utah and they live in Elder Holland's home ward (Elder Holland was literally at his farewell talk--talk about pressure!!!) and he also used to live on the same street as President Monson. He has also visited a ton of other countries, but seriously, every time that elder opens his mouth my life seems more and more boring! Haha just kidding, I love my life. But wow...some people have definitely had some interesting experiences. I also am loving the other elders in my district. They feel like my brothers and since we all spend all our time together, we're all super close! Elder Olsen is absolutely hilarious! For example, he let me go first at the drinking fountain and so I tried to think of the Spanish word for "polite" so I could call him that but couldn't remember and so he said, "I'm pretty sure it's guapo." If you don't know what guapo means, go look it up and then you'll understand why it's funny. And there have been so many other funny moments that I would try to explain but it probably wouldn't come off as funny since I'd guess it's a "you'd have to be there" kind of thing. Also, Elder Conklin is seriously coming out of his quiet shell. and literally EVERYthing he says makes me laugh. Mostly because he says it with such a straight face. Very dry sense of humor. For example, our teacher was asking us questions like pretending to have problems that regular people might ask the missionaries. He asked something like "what can I do to fix the problems in my family?" and Elder Conklin said, "Tiene que ser perfecto." (You have to be perfect). We about died of laughter and now that's the joke, that we have to be perfect and we are always throwing that back in his face and it's great. Also, Elder Neddo's sister gets married next week and so Elder Conklin wrote her a letter asking her to wait for him (totally just being funny since he doesn't know her at all) and she actually wrote back to him and it was hilarious! She's obviously not waiting for him, so I jokingly suggested that I had a sister getting married, but not for a few months so he might would have more time to convince her and he said he couldn't take anymore rejection. It was great hahahaha.

The MTC is a time warp. Seriously. Time has no meaning to me anymore. Weekends have no meaning to me anymore since our schedule is no different than the week. It's so hard to remember the day of the week or the date. I was thinking about my time in the MTC and thinking wow, it's almost over but then I realized we've only been here a week and half...and I was shocked because I thought we'd been here forever! Being in Ohio seems a lifetime away. Being at BYU seems a lifetime away! I thought it would be weird being so close to BYU but the MTC is a bubble so I don't think about it very much. Literally every minute of every day is scheduled for us, so everything seems like one long day! Also I never got the chance to reread my last email, so I apologize if I repeat anything. I honestly don't remember much of what I said last week...

So, we had an amazing devotional last Tuesday! It was by Elder Richards, former member of the Seventy. I'll just type up a few of the notes I took: "What you will do in the next 18 months will echo through the eternities." Preach My Gospel was designed behind the veil and put together here. Satan does NOT want me in Spain (so I'm going to do my best to make him very angry! haha). Video clip from Elder Holland: missionary work is so hard because salvation isn't cheap!!! Why should it be easy for us when it was never easy for Him?? The Atonement might help us more on our missions than it helps our investigators. Winston Churchill quote (go look it up!!!) about our "finest hour" and how we'd better be prepared and qualified. (obviously this quote was not about missionaries but change some words and it totally applies!) We can't have Jesus's name only on our nametags, it has to be on our hearts. Also, he said how cool would it be if someday we filled the ENTIRE Marriot Center. And I personally thought, what if they're already filled? There is so much missionary work going on in the Spirit World that I would argue that we are a VERY small portion of the missionary force. That thought is SO cool.

Well, I'm almost out of time, so I guess that's all for this week. Thank everyone SO much for any letters! They are great! Dearelders and snail mail we get to read every day and emails only once a week with very limited time so send letters if you can!

Les quiero mucho!

Hermana Andrew