So the first couple days of the MTC have been so crazy, and I learned it's all about the little things. I think most of the first day I was using 75% of my energy not to burst into tears. When we pulled up to the MTC there was a huge line of Elders and Sisters there waving, smiling and welcoming everyone. When they were helping me out of the car a sister asked if I had keys or my cell phone, and that's when I realized my phone was gonna be severely missed! Then we went in to get our name tags. One of the first people I saw in the room was my Bishop's wife from my freshman ward and she came to give me a hug. It was so nice to see a familiar face! I was then escorted to my room to drop off my luggage and then straight to the classroom. Where I was also surprised to see a familiar face...one of my teachers is Brother Derenthal, otherwise known as Christian, who was in my ward this past year! As the rest of my district came in, there are 6 elders and 6 sisters all going to Tempe, everyone had a familiar look about them. I'm pretty sure I've never met any of them, besides Sister Walker, but I think it was a way to help me feel more comfortable.
We then went to a welcome from the MTC President, which was super good, and realized there was tons of people from ALL over the world. Our first meal here was SO GOOD...we had steak. It was disgusting so I ate green beans and pineapple. Whoever said that the MTC food was really good is a liar because so far it has been disturbing at every meal. But I do eat pineapple. After supper, we had our first teaching experience. There was one investigator verses a whole room full of new missionaries. We met with three different people. Sometimes people would say things that really shouldn't have been said. One Elder invited this really sassy, snappy girl to pray and she asked why. He responded with, "Humor me." It went way downhill from there. The last guy we visited was probably the best, you could tell that the Spirit was working on more than just the things we were saying. I thought that they would just pound Preach My Gospel and Scriptures into your head, but really they just want you to be guided by the Spirit. Which is good and bad. There are so many unknowns and you just have to say what you think the investigator needs. The more you know about the investigator, and the more love you develop for them, the more you will be able to meet their needs when you are teaching.
My companion is Sister Eldredge. She is from Hawaii. She's almost 22. She's a female wrestler...so that's interesting. But we get along really well and we are mostly always with all the other sisters in our district so it's pretty fun. It is weird basically having to ask to go anywhere instead of just going.
On the first day literally everyone you walk by welcomes you to the MTC. Some Elders pretend to run into all these poles around the MTC and it's super convincing and all the sisters always freak out thinking that they're hurt. It's super duper weird being called Sister Adams, or having to introduce myself that way. SO STRANGE. One thing I've realized is that when I think about the 18 months I'm going to be gone, all that I'm going to miss, and all the people that I love, I just wanna cry. But I just have to look at it one day at a time, and right now the days go by so slow. The rumor is that by Sunday it gets much easier. So we'll see how well that goes.
The second day was so LONG. Long classes. Long study times. More long classes. More long study times. Short breakfast. Short lunch. No time to relax. No time to do anything but focus on the Lord's work. I hear my phone vibrate ALL the time. When a class is over, I reach for my phone. When I wake up, I reach for my phone. When I lay down in bed, I reach for my phone. I miss my phone. But I mainly miss the things that it connects me with. I miss talking to you. I miss talking to Dallan. I miss Instagram. I miss Facebook. But I have come to realize that it is necessary to give all of it up in order to be an effective disciple and servant of Christ. But I really really look forward to letters and such. We got to check mail last night, and I had a slip to turn in for a package...I'm pretty sure that's from Dallan. And a letter through DearElder from my Bishop of my freshman ward. So if anyone wants to write, I would love it... since I won't be able to get on to email until next Friday.
We met our branch presidency last night and they're super nice. I got assigned as senior companion, which is odd since we've been here the same amount of time. I also saw a few other familiar faces from my BYU ward this past year, it's cool to see so many people serving. On that note, there were 900+ missionaries that reported the same day that I did, which is a RECORD. I like holding records. Although, I'm sure bigger groups are right behind us. I'm going to get on a little later and try to send pictures. It's proving to be a little difficult.
So we only had half a P-Day today, and it's kinda weird, but the rest of the day we don't have classes which is really nice. The pictures are of my companion, the girls in my district, and the entire district. Our room is tiny. It's only meant for 4 people but we have 6 living in there. So it's crowded to say the least.
Earlier today we taught our first investigator. They told us we would on Saturday, but surprise it got switched to today. I was surprised at how well it went, but it could have gone better at the same time. We only had a limited amount of time and we ran out so that kinda sucked. We also learned some really cool things about baptism, and how you can invite someone to get baptized even on the first lesson. All it is, is their promise to dedicate themselves to Christ, their life doesn't have to be perfectly in line with the gospel at that point.
Someone that gave a talk mentioned how when you get your call everyone is always super excited to see where you're going and when you read it everyone is pumped. And later when people ask they respond as either Wow! or Oh.. She promised us that each of us would have a WOW mission regardless of where we are serving. That as you come to love the people and the work that you will be doing, you will be wowed. So that was a pretty cool promise to have.
We also learned about the Doctrine of Christ. Which is the process by which we apply the Atonement to become like He is. And this is the only true doctrine. Every other doctrine ties back into this. And if how we teach other things such as Baptism, Faith, Enduring to the End, the Word of Wisdom...anything really...doesn't tie back into the Doctrine of Christ then we're doing it wrong. It was also talked about how we are Christ's investigators and our own first convert. We have to fully convert ourselves before we can be convert anyone else. Well I'm out of time.
I love you so much and I'll probably just write to you and then you can show everyone...I am missing lots of emails. But I'm doing pretty good. I've gotten a package both from Dallan and Taylor/Erica now so that's been fun! But know that I am doing well, and that I am learning lots. I can't wait to get to Arizona to serve the people there. I'm running out of time right now. So I will get back on later. I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad. I love all you siblings!
Love,
Sister Adams
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