Thanks for the letter Mom and Dad. I love you both lots! I was at the temple this morning and I was thinking about how incredibly lucky I am to be on a mission and to have been raised by loving parents like you. This time in the world for missionaires is a BIG DEAL. They tell us here we will probably have 6 or 12 weeks in the mission of being a 'green' missionairy and right after that we will go right into training the other missionaires that come in! Crazy! I could be teaching another Sister things I know sooner that I even thought. There are so many things happening here that make me know that the prophets decision to change the age for missionaries is truly inspired of God.
Sister Andersen and I have some amazing investigators we are working with. (K they are just actors, but we love them just like the real thing!!!) One of my favorites, her name is Haly, is the sweetest lady in the world. During our first meet I mentioned how I loved art and how I was studing Art History before coming on the mission. The next time I saw her she had printed me out 3 beautiful pictures - 2 of different churches with beautiful ar chitecture and 1 of a fresco of the child christ with child John the Baptist and angels and their mothers and such. I was so touched that she would do something like that for me! I love these investigators SOO much already! I just can not wait to get out there and love the people of Arizona even more!
We learned soo much this week I don't even know where to start! The bigest thing I learned was how teaching with the spirit means teaching with understanding. We do a lot of role plays here at the MTC - one of the companion pretending to be an investigator. During one role play Sister Andersen invited me to be baptized. The purpose was to say no and have the misisonairy and investigator listen to the spirit and know how to continue the talk and find out their concerns and such. . SO She assked me to be baptized and I said NO. We stopped talking for a second and both just listened to the spirit. When we finally looked up from our desks we were both balling like babies (this was my first TRUE cry of the MTC. I've been pretty emotionally stedy until then!) Continuing the lesson Sister Andersen asked why and we discussed and my problems were solved and I decided to become a member of the church. What made this sooo impactful was that the thought of teaching by the Holy Ghost finally clicked 100%. For me saying NO was so difficult because I realized that there will be those I teach that may say no, they will run away from their promptings and that broke my heart. I know that all I can do is invite them to Christ, I can not force them (which at times seems like it would be nice...) but I must do ALL I CAN to have them understand the Spirit and allow it to testify that the things that I am speaking of are true, that God loves them, and that the way to return to him is by coming unto Christ and being baptized.
This church is soo incredibly important to me! I have loved every second of the MTC. Don't get me wrong, it is hard work... I feel as if I havent slept for a year... but everytime I get into a lesson with an investigator or I learn something in my personal study I get a surge of extra energy to help me keep going! I am amazed at Matthew and his ability to be at the MTC for so long learning a whole new language and all the docterine that I have learned. Make sure Jamesie knows that it will be hard, but it will be completely worth it. James- the only person that can make this MTC stay fun or horrible is yourself! Go into the MTC with a positive outlook! Make sure you are 100% obedient or else you may go crazy! OH... and don't drink the Orange Juice ;) (there is some rumor that it does stuff to the insides and causes many bathroom breaks.... I haven't tried it. I am scared!) I know Jamesie will be an excelent missionary! He is already 10times more ready then some Elders here (no offence to them of course...)
Family. Read your scriptures every day! A true conversion to the gospel does NOT come all at once and you can always, ALWAYS, learn more. Here are some of my favorite chapters this week - 2Ne 31 talks of the Docterine of Christ. . . Alma 32- Faith!
I know that I am growing each and every day closer to Christ. I want to say thank you for all the prayers. I can feel them! I love being a missionary and I strongly urge ANY of my friends -girl or boy- to serve a mission! I have only been out 2 weeks and I am already a thousand times happier with my life than I have ever been!
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