Week 2- Elder J is my sister
This week's subject is brought to you by a great thing that happened the other day. Brother Elg (teacher) picked high on the mountaintop for the opening hymn, and so I told the district that Joel Johnson is my ancestor, and Elder J got like unreasonably happy and was like, "we could be related!" And holds out his hand for me to go shake it. And as we shook hands, he gets this very celestial expression in his eyes and whispers, "we're sisters" and that was the last thing I heard before I died.
This week's subject is brought to you by a great thing that happened the other day. Brother Elg (teacher) picked high on the mountaintop for the opening hymn, and so I told the district that Joel Johnson is my ancestor, and Elder J got like unreasonably happy and was like, "we could be related!" And holds out his hand for me to go shake it. And as we shook hands, he gets this very celestial expression in his eyes and whispers, "we're sisters" and that was the last thing I heard before I died.
Anywayyyy....
Hey there my lovelies!
I hope Christmas was amazing! From what I heard it was super good. I'm curious though: what the heck do you mean when you say that I sound like a missionary? I sound like I smoke a pack a day. Despite all that, though, I am so happy to be here in the MTC. It's so much fun, every single day. I mean it.
I hope Christmas was amazing! From what I heard it was super good. I'm curious though: what the heck do you mean when you say that I sound like a missionary? I sound like I smoke a pack a day. Despite all that, though, I am so happy to be here in the MTC. It's so much fun, every single day. I mean it.
My cold is tons better now, mostly because of some stuff that happened this week, plus I've been taking my meds and such, so there we go. I am good on probiotics and I will call home on Tuesday before boarding one of my flights. I fly to Atlanta first and then to South Carolina.
This week has been full of miracles! Wednesday we did laundry and stuff, just kind of hung out, studied, and in the evening we taught Jayson again. Ugh, it was so great. Side note - our teacher Brother Elg plays Jayson, who is his real dad, who is really a nonmember, and it's so wonderful because we teach Jayson and it helps Brother Elg know how to help his dad. How sweet is that? It's really touching for Brother Elg; he cries a lot in the lessons. So anyways, we taught Jayson about the plan of Salvation and I basically cried through the whole thing. I bore my testimony that the plan is the reason for everything, (in a whisper because I STILL COULDN'T TALK) and my companions nailed the rest of the lesson with little help from me because my voice was gone. That night I had a little mental breakdown because I was frustrated by my inability to talk but also my "weakness in speaking". I talked with Brother Elg about it and he told me that I shouldn't be frustrated with myself and shared Ether 12:27. So hopefully someday, God will help me arrange the words coming out of my mouth into an order that is powerful and eloquent.
Thursday we had class on teaching people, not lessons. That's a forte of mine, mostly because they say that we should be bold in telling people what they need. There is a plus side to my bluntness! Wahoo! Just need to find my balance there. But it was a fabulous lesson. We taught Kurt for the last time, and we did what we should've done first, and invited him to be baptized. He slammed us. He said noooooooo. Which was fine and we addressed it but still. We did not do a great job of explaining to him the need to be baptized and commit...ah, well.
Friday was great. We cleaned the bathrooms, round 2. I guess I need to build character or something. After that we went to the weight room and worked out to a movie about Joseph Smith; appropriate, because it was his birthday. We had our last lesson with Jayson. It was unreal. We told him that we wanted him to pray at the end of the lesson, and I remember so clearly the feeling in the room as I testified, "Jayson, God is telling me to tell you that He loves you and He wants to hear from you." It was palpable. I am glad to say that I was made worthy by God to be his mouthpiece in that moment. It was truly powerful.
Saturday was Christmas Eve! My voice got lots better, but I felt just awful. Like, all day. Brother Elg is a saint and came and taught us that afternoon, plus gave us all treats and a note (that he stayed up until 4 am putting together) AND since Elder P hadn't received a single package from home, he brought him a Christmas package with cool socks and food and stuff. Sister Jacobsmeyer (other teacher) also got us all gifts too, lotions for the sisters and candy for the elders, but she gave those to us on Thursday because she went out of town Friday. We are seriously blessed with the best teachers in the whole MTC. They are so wonderful. Brother Elg got his dad a set of scriptures engraved with his name and gave them to him when he went home that night. His dad promised to read them, so hoorah! That night we had a devotional but I was so sick that I coughed through most of it. I asked Elder C for a blessing and he very kindly obliged, blessing me that I would be patient and that my mind would be calm so that I could be able to sleep. I really needed to hear everything he said, it was so awesome. It was also his very first blessing! He's so cool. And the blessing totally worked. I slept so good.
This week has been full of miracles! Wednesday we did laundry and stuff, just kind of hung out, studied, and in the evening we taught Jayson again. Ugh, it was so great. Side note - our teacher Brother Elg plays Jayson, who is his real dad, who is really a nonmember, and it's so wonderful because we teach Jayson and it helps Brother Elg know how to help his dad. How sweet is that? It's really touching for Brother Elg; he cries a lot in the lessons. So anyways, we taught Jayson about the plan of Salvation and I basically cried through the whole thing. I bore my testimony that the plan is the reason for everything, (in a whisper because I STILL COULDN'T TALK) and my companions nailed the rest of the lesson with little help from me because my voice was gone. That night I had a little mental breakdown because I was frustrated by my inability to talk but also my "weakness in speaking". I talked with Brother Elg about it and he told me that I shouldn't be frustrated with myself and shared Ether 12:27. So hopefully someday, God will help me arrange the words coming out of my mouth into an order that is powerful and eloquent.
Thursday we had class on teaching people, not lessons. That's a forte of mine, mostly because they say that we should be bold in telling people what they need. There is a plus side to my bluntness! Wahoo! Just need to find my balance there. But it was a fabulous lesson. We taught Kurt for the last time, and we did what we should've done first, and invited him to be baptized. He slammed us. He said noooooooo. Which was fine and we addressed it but still. We did not do a great job of explaining to him the need to be baptized and commit...ah, well.
Friday was great. We cleaned the bathrooms, round 2. I guess I need to build character or something. After that we went to the weight room and worked out to a movie about Joseph Smith; appropriate, because it was his birthday. We had our last lesson with Jayson. It was unreal. We told him that we wanted him to pray at the end of the lesson, and I remember so clearly the feeling in the room as I testified, "Jayson, God is telling me to tell you that He loves you and He wants to hear from you." It was palpable. I am glad to say that I was made worthy by God to be his mouthpiece in that moment. It was truly powerful.
Saturday was Christmas Eve! My voice got lots better, but I felt just awful. Like, all day. Brother Elg is a saint and came and taught us that afternoon, plus gave us all treats and a note (that he stayed up until 4 am putting together) AND since Elder P hadn't received a single package from home, he brought him a Christmas package with cool socks and food and stuff. Sister Jacobsmeyer (other teacher) also got us all gifts too, lotions for the sisters and candy for the elders, but she gave those to us on Thursday because she went out of town Friday. We are seriously blessed with the best teachers in the whole MTC. They are so wonderful. Brother Elg got his dad a set of scriptures engraved with his name and gave them to him when he went home that night. His dad promised to read them, so hoorah! That night we had a devotional but I was so sick that I coughed through most of it. I asked Elder C for a blessing and he very kindly obliged, blessing me that I would be patient and that my mind would be calm so that I could be able to sleep. I really needed to hear everything he said, it was so awesome. It was also his very first blessing! He's so cool. And the blessing totally worked. I slept so good.
Christmas day was great.
I did tell you most of what went on. I think my favorite part was Sacrament meeting. We had it all combined with Elder Oaks and his wife. It was so peaceful and the sacrament itself felt so sacred. Elder Oaks was so cute and grandfatherly and he spoke so well. After I called, we had a devotional with *drum roll* David Archuleta! Ha. All the sisters and Elder J screamed. He was really good and very human. He didn't really follow any script or anything, he just talked to us. And Elder J had a great moment after the devotional was over. David wanted to be able to greet the missionaries, so there was this huge line that I didn't want to wait in, and neither did Sister Janke and Sister Cordon, so we didn't, but Elder J did. He and Elder C2 went down to shake his hand, and when he actually made it up to David, he said, and I quote, "oh my gosh, you're David Archuleta, oh my gosh, I'm so honored to meet you!" And he apparently wouldn't let go of his hand, so someone had to sort of drag him away, and as he was leaving, he yelled back to David, "I LOVE YOU! YOU'RE MY DAD!" And that is the story of how Elder J told David Archuleta that he's his dad. We took some photos of our Christmas look which I will send in a separate email.
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| Christmas Eve PJs |
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| Christmas morning |
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| Socks Sister Pew's family gave the sisters. |
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| This elder is sporting the tie Sister Pew's Granny gave him--she gave each of them a tie but he wanted to show that he wore it on Christmas. |
Monday Monday Monday! Sister Jacobsmeyer and Brother Elg returned and we had class. We learned a lot about using the scriptures to help investigators, and we got to make up our own investigator for the others to teach. My investigator is Saren and she's a hairdresser who grew up here after spending the first 6 years of her life in Florida. She's pregnant. It's pretty fun to play her. That night, I had a very spiritual experience just reading the Book of Mormon. My desires literally changed and I felt it. I realized that the only thing that really matters is a relationship with God and with Christ, and as long as you focus on those relationships, everything else comes naturally and how it's supposed to. It was awesome. I loved that change. We also started teaching TRCS which are the real investigators here at the MTC. We taught Jessica, who is way fun and wants a relationship with God. We taught her the first lesson.
Yesterday was great too. We had a greaaaaat lesson with a different TRC investigator named Melissa who is so cute. We explained to her how the spirit works, which was good. She also committed to baptism, so yay! Brother Elg was watching and he said we did really well. A cool thing from yesterday: I had to be put in the hot seat and Elder C, Elder P, and Sister Cordon helped me to overcome a lot of negative stuff I was feeling by using the scriptures. Right after that, I felt very strongly to just grab a pen and paper and start writing. I did, and what should come out but a detailed list of spiritual gifts for each member of the district. It was so cool because then that night Elder Arnold of the seventy came and talked to us about figuring out our spiritual gifts. He was so funny and awesome.
Today we are giving the elders facials. Hopefully we get pictures of this experience, because yeaaahhh...
Also today we get 4 new sisters and 8 new elders in our zone and ... I'M A SISTER TRAINING LEADER WAHOO! So my "priestly duties" start today. We already put a note and a bunch of those star sticky notes you sent me, mom, with cute things like "Heavenly Father loves you!" Written on them. And we left them a bunch of extra candy from Christmas. It was fun, and I hope that they like it and that they feel welcome here. We (meaning my companions and Elder C2 + Elder P (who are the zone leaders)) have to do orientation tonight instead of class, which I'm a little mad about because class helps me a ton, but it is my duty! So I shall do it! And I shall do it with cheer!
Some quotes from District Kun Long this week:
"I don't want to be musty asparagus!" -Me
"I don't have beans!" -Sister Cordon, after being told to calm her beans.
"Calm your kid's knees!" -Sister Janke (she was trying to say kidneys, which also doesn't make any more sense than kid's knees. it was a really weird night)
"I am Elder Swaggy Noodle, and this is my companion Elder Lit Cookie" -Either Elder B or Elder C at any given time of the day, usually to the tune of Called to Serve or Make a Man Out of You from Mulan. Gosh, these two.
"I get darker, but I don't tan" -Elder B, who 1) is black, and 2) has a fundamental misunderstanding of what getting tan is
A quick testimony: I invite you all to commit to reading the Book of Mormon and applying what you learn every night. We are promised in 1 Nephi 15 that if we do so, we shall have eternal life, and that the fiery darts of the adversary will have no power on us. What an excellent promise! I am also committed to making 2017 the most Christlike, most loving, most diligent year of my life so far. I hope you'll join me in that. I know the reason it doesn't really feel very hard here is because the Gospel brings so much happiness to life. It provides clarity and purpose. Wearing this nametag is so special. I feel the prayers and the blessings. I know I am a disciple of Christ, set apart from the world to preach His gospel. I love Him, more than anything. And I just really want to be like Him.
I love you all! Don't let the muggles get you down!
Sister Musty Asparagus, AKA Sister Janke Chicken Cordon Pew, AKA Sister Pew, who loves you all very much and hopes your new year is the best year yet.
More photos:
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| Doing laundry, dramatically |
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| Sister Janke and a Sister MTC teacher who was filling in that day. |
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| Christmas at the MTC |
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| Sister Pew and her companions, aren't they darling? |
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| The district Kun Long |
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| Sister Pew's brother sent her mud mask from NuSkin and her whole district tried it out! |
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