Ah I have like no time to email!! I'll try to write as much as I can in twelve minutes...THANK YOU for the letters and the package!!! Seriously, you have no idea how much letters and packages mean to missionaries. It's like Christmas. People always told me that, but it's SO TRUE. WE LOVE MAIL!!! Hours go by like weeks here, so if someone doesn't get a letter one day they're super sad haha. But don't worry, I'm not expecting any letters ;) It is SO nice to get little snacks and pictures and stuff from home. The cafeteria food is great, but, well...it's cafeteria food :) The almond butter is my comfort food!!!
My companion is Sister Memmott from Pleasant Grove. She is awesome!! She's super sweet, and she is very sensitive to how people are feeling. She knows when I need a hug. I've been super happy this whole time, but we've all rotated having breakdowns haha. There are four sisters and six elders in our district, and we are all super close. Love them all. Sis. Memmott and I are so happy we are together. We have both opened up to each other and learned a lot about teaching, and we work together really well. She loves to read and take naps, but she's pretty willing to try anything! She came into the MTC with her brother on the same day! Crazy, right?? She's a lot like Sis. Tagg, another sister in our district. Sis. Gardiner is the other sister from Iowa. She's super funny and when she bears her testimony you could hear a pin drop. She's quirky and says hi to everyone. We jog together a lot. The six elders are awesome...lose focus a lot haha, but we all love each other so much! We're all like family. All the elders and Sis. Gardiner are going to Pocatello, Idaho, and us other three sisters are going to Indiana.
The food is good, a lot like the Cannon Center. Everyone says DON'T drink the orange juice. So I haven't. There are about 3000 missionaries here, probably 300 or 400 more got here today. So exciting! I can't believe we've only been here a week! Seriously I am shocked how much information we've crammed into our brains, it's amazing. The spirit is SO strong here and we get so excited to share the gospel! But we also don't feel prepared at all to actually go teach people!! It's all about LOVING the investigators and meeting their needs.
Us four sisters share a room, and we make sure to have lights out by 10:30! It's awesome. Except for when one of us decides to have a breakdown at 10:25...haha then we all just hug each other and say a prayer together and read some scriptures. Then we're all okay :)
We have 30 minutes each day to exercise, and a lot of times we wake up at 6am to go to a workout class. It's fun. Super nice to get moving when otherwise we're sitting in class all day. Basically we have 16 hour days where we study, eat, exercise, go to class (the classes are AWESOME and even though they're like 3 hours they fly by! Our teacher Bro. Grabau is AMAZING), study some more, and ya...basically study a lot. But no matter how much we study, there's still more to learn. It's kinda scary teaching "investigators" because it really feels real. At the beginning when our teachers told us we were going to teach, we were like, What??? We haven't even learned the lessons yet!! But the point was to get us to realize that we have to make sure we get to know the investigators first and meet their needs, and LOVE them, and follow the spirit! It has been a lot more helpful to actually know the lessons we are teaching and go in with a plan, but ultimately we have to love them. Our purpose is to "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." That is our purpose!!! If we leave a lesson without inviting them, we're just teaching a lesson with no action to follow!
Oh I almost forgot...on my second day I was called as the next Coordinating Sister, which means I kind of oversee all the sisters in our zone! The other CS left on Monday, so she gave me her binder and stuff, and basically I'm here to make sure everyone is okay and knows what they're doing and follows the rules. It's pretty exciting. I wasn't sure how I could add any more to my already CRAZY schedule, but it's been great and I've learned a lot! New missionaries are getting here today, so we'll have a total of 8 sisters in our zone!
I'm going to send a box home with stuff I don't need...but thank you so much for the package!
Could somebody send me Mike Pelo's address? Like his family's address? He told me to look for his friend Elder Moore who he knew on his mission in Florida, and guess what...Elder Moore is in my district!! He's a hilarious black kid from Florida. So will you tell Mike, and maybe give me his address so I can write him?
I've seen Elders Summers and Fiso who spoke with me on Sunday! They're doing great. Oh RACHEL--could you tell Bishop Hart that I saw his son and he's doing great?? We sat next to each other in a teaching experience thing on the first day. I haven't seen him a lot since, but I think he's doing well.
I saw Mrs. McCloskey and Crowther last week...and I've basically seen Mrs. Crowther every day since!! She teaches on the same floor as our classroom, so we always give each other a hug :)
MOM--when we went to the temple a lady working there told me she knew you, and she grew up with you I think! She's the same age as Liz...I think she said she'd call you :)
DAD--there are so many Russian speakers here! I tell them all "Goodbye" and "My name is Sister Allen" a lot...cuz that's all I know how to say. I would write it in Russian but I have no idea how :)
Oh my, I've written so much but this doesn't cover hardly any of what has happened here. Just know that I am so happy and just overwhelmed with the spirit. I am so excited to apply these true principles to the rest of my life!!! Family--this gospel is sooooo truuue!!! The promises are real, and you will receive so many blessings if you just keep the commandments!! Ah it is so true!!
Love you!!!!
Sister Allen :)
No comments:
Post a Comment