November 23, 2009

Hi family! Cookies are good, except the ones here at the MTC.  I've been too spoiled with home-made.
I finally got the package.  It was amazing!  I now have stickers, chocolate, and bubble wrap.  What else could I hope for? :-) And I love all the pictures.  (Clark, your Halloween costume was hysterical.)   I'm happy to see my jeans again too.  Thank you, mom!
I'm so glad your jobs are going well.  Hard work brings happiness, I believe.  I'm so grateful that I'm sealed to my family for time and all eternity! I am so blessed!

Hi friends and family!  Another good week.  Ok, something I forgot to say last week, we got to go into the “real world.”  My companion is allergic to all the laundry detergent they sell in the bookstore here so we got to go to Macey's grocery store and get some that wouldn't give her a rash.  It was weird. Every time we see people from not-in the MTC, I think, "Strangers! From the outside! Oooooooh!" My district is probably tired of hearing me say that.
Thank you everyone for sending me letters! I am truly grateful!  I'm sorry if I don't answer everybody individually but I figure that everything I'd tell you is probably in the e-mail and I don't have enough time to write things twice.
So my companion used to be bipolar and depressed so she's going to see the on-site psychiatrist here every week.  This last week after she came out, the doctor asked to see me too.  Apparently the branch president was worried that my companion might be "wearing me down."  I'll admit, it's been stressful but I'm doing ok.  I'm learning how to not let it get to me.  She's just different from me. It's especially hard later in the week when I'm tired, but we're getting along.  Most of our study is individual and that's helped.  She has gone through some really difficult things and has come through with a strong testimony.  There will be a lot of people she will be able to help.
I figured there's a good way to try to get along with anyone:
1. put their preferences before your own
2. eliminate "I" from your vocabulary (excepting "I love you" and "I like it when you...")
If you can still say "I don't like this person" after doing that, well you've got one too many "I"'s still in your vocabulary. There are lots more things you could do but those are two that I thought of.
We taught the first lesson completely in Spanish for the first time on Saturday to a volunteer.  It was cool.  I understood more than I thought I would. I was pretty nervous for it, I admit.
Something funny I've learned:  potato = papa, the Pope = el Pápa. They´re pronounced the same.
I thought of a good analogy this week.  When you´re putting together a puzzle, it´s a lot easier if you have the edge pieces put together first.  That way you know the bounds and it´s easier to find where the rest of the pieces go.  It´s even easier if you have the big picture to look at.  It´s even EASIER if you have someone who knows the puzzle who you can ask for help.  We have the big picture. We have the plan of salvation. We have the commandments which give us the bounds of our lives so we can fit everything else in and be happy.  We have a prophet who guides us in where to put pieces we´re unsure of.
We were studying yesterday morning when my companion said, "Hey, Hermanas!"  By the way she said it I thought she had a cool spiritual thought to say.  Instead she said, "The sun came up!"  Indeed, the sun was just beginning to peek over the mountain and it was very beautiful.  I started to wonder how many people take it for granted that the sun rises every day.  That's amazing! It's a great blessing! Then I thought of a different rise that many people take for granted or don't even know about.  It's the "Son-rise."  The resurrection of our Savior.  He rose after three days so everyone on this earth can be resurrected too.  That's a free gift to everyone and it's one that a lot of people either take for granted or don't even know it exists.  How many people go through each day without even consciously noticing that the sun came up and remember to be grateful for it? How many people go through each day and take for granted God's hand in their life? We need to GIVE thanks, not TAKE things for granted.   Thanksgiving thought for the week I guess.
I don't get very many specific answers from the Spirit. The most frustrating thing is that I keep getting the impression, "you figure it out."  I guess I'll learn the best by learning to make my own decisions.
The people that are the most happy are the ones that are the most grateful.
There are pictures all up and down the hallway in the main building.  They're all of missionary things.  One picture I especially like is of a baptism in a frozen lake.  There's a hole cut out of at least 2 feet of ice.  The girl getting baptized is standing in the water and the elder is lowering himself in.  There are a bunch of pictures like that of baptisms in different places of the world.  There's paintings too.
In interviews yesterday, we were asked to share our favorite scripture.  I don't really have a favorite scripture but one that I've liked the longest that I can remember is Mosiah 13:3.  That's Abinadi saying "touch me not!" Abinadi was my childhood Book of Mormon hero.  He's not talked about much, but I've always admired how brave he was.  He had to stand by himself in front of people who wanted to kill him and teach.  He might not even have known what he did made any difference.  He didn't live to see the fruits of his labors but he did make a huge difference.
Do you need help ASAP?  Then just Always Say A Prayer. :-)
Last night we watched a devotional by President Uchtdorf.  It was really good.  He talked about our call and how much of a difference we can make.  It was great.
Then last night I dreamed that President Uchtdorf was helping me escape to Narnia.  That was random.
I've got two minutes left.
My brain always leaves me when I write these.  Afterwards I think of everything I should have said.  I hope some things I share help someone.  I've got three weeks left here. That's not that long but I want to go now.  You don't really learn the language till you're out in the field anyway, so can I just go? Please?
I love you all! Thanks for all your continued prayers and support.  It means everything to me! The gospel means everything to me!
     TTFN
         H. Evans

November 16, 2009

Hi family! First of all, I LOVE YOU!!!! Just in case there was any doubt.  I look forward every week to hear how everybody is doing.  I brag to everybody about my "big brothers" and my amazing sisters. And my dad who bikes up and down a mountain for exercise and a mom who takes care of 6 kids and does a million other things.  I have the most amazing family ever. I am so incredibly blessed. I just wanted you to know that.

Mom, I still haven't gotten the package. Don't know what's up with that. As I understand you mailed it 2 weeks ago.  Oh well. I was really glad to hear about your jobs.  I can already see the blessings from this mission.  It sounds like everyone's happy and healthy. Thanks mom and dad for the letters. I loved the jokes. :-)

Hi everybody! I am so glad I get P-day the day after Sunday because I'm always on a spiritual high. Yesterday was pretty much the best Sunday ever.  First of all, the conversion spotlight always makes me cry. (The conversion spotlight is just someone they pick each week to tell their conversion story and their testimony.)  This week it was a girl from China.  Her testimony in broken English was so sincere and beautiful.  She's gone through a lot to come on a mission. She worked for five years in Cambodia where she learned about and accepted the gospel. We had Sister Oaks speak in relief society. She’s the wife of the apostle Dallin H. Oaks.  She gave us all "testimony gloves" which are white gloves with Velcro on the fingers to which you stick pictures of the 5 things you need a testimony of before you get baptized: Heavenly Father is our Father, Jesus Christ is my Savior, The Church is true, the Book of Mormon is the word of God and Thomas S. Monson is a prophet.  It works with investigators because it shows them that a testimony doesn't have to be complicated at all.  Sister Oaks brought up a friend of hers which was a girl with Down syndrome.  She had one of the gloves and bore her testimony with it. She pointed to each picture as she explained with a stutter her testimony.  Then some music came on and she sang a little song about the importance of gaining her own testimony.  I think it's called "my own little lamp".  It was probably the best musical number I've heard here yet.  She even had to start her song over because she was touched by the Spirit.  She didn't use eloquent words for her testimony.   Heavenly Father only cares about your heart.

Aaaaaand, to top Sunday off, we had Sheri Dew give the Sunday night fireside. It was pretty much amazing. She’s a great speaker! One thing she said was she figured out what she would do to wreck our lives as a missionary if she was the adversary.  Three things: 1. confuse us as to who we are

2. keep us from understanding the atonement and what Christ did for us

3. make sure we never learn how to receive personal revelation

So if we want to combat Satan and make sure he doesn't have any power over us, we need to do the opposite: learn that we are children of God, understand what the Savior actually did for each of us, and learn how to hear the voice of the Lord and receive personal revelation.  Each of us receives guidance from our Heavenly Father differently so we need to figure out what works for us.  She challenged us to pray and receive confirmation as to who we are and how Heavenly Father feels about us and ask God to help you learn how to hear His voice.  When you learn a new language, it takes practice.  You learn a little bit and just practice until it becomes natural.  It's the same way with personal revelation.  It takes practice to learn the language of God but He will help us if we really want the guidance.

So yeah, that was amazing. Other things that happened this week: I bought a new set of scriptures on Monday because a missionary just can't survive without them.  Tuesday my old ones turned up in the lost and found. I guess I'm just meant to have a new set.  I was able to get "Hermana Evans" engraved on them for free so that will be cool to have a set I got on my mission.  Likewise, everything else that went missing has turned up.  Yay.

It's getting colder here. It snowed a lot yesterday but it's all melted now.  Still cold.

A thought:  if you're flexible, you can never be bent out of shape.

Something our teacher challenged us to do to be better: ask God every night something you should stop doing then wait for ideas and write one down to work on.  Do the same thing asking for something you can start doing and write it down.  Keep working on those ideas.  It's really cool how it can help you.

Never take things for granted.

I have a request if anyone wants to take the time to write me. Something I'd like is to have everyone's testimonies.  Also, if you could answer two questions for me: How do you know God loves you, and how are you showing God and Jesus Christ that you love them?  Those are some questions that I've tried to answer this week and I'd like to know how other people answer.  Other things to write to me about in case you're wondering: I just want to know how you're doing.  Spiritual thoughts are good too but I do want to know things that are going on in your lives and how you feel about them.  I'll really try hard to answer if you write.

Life is glorious.  Men are that they might have joy (2 Nephi 2:25).  That doesn't mean that we're meant to idle our time away being lazy.  That's not joy.  When the Nephites in the Book of Mormon were the happiest, they were busy building cities and prospering in the land.

Thanks for everyone who has sent me letters and words of encouragement. It is hard sometimes to get through the week.  I really appreciate anyone who takes the time.  I know everyone's busy.  I appreciate each and every single one of you who read my e-mails. I am so blessed to have so many people who care about me.  I can feel the influence of your prayers and I am very grateful.  Just FYI, don't feel pressure to write me.  I understand if you don't have time. I don't have very much either.  Just know I love you all!

         TTFN till next week

              Hermana Sarah Evans

November 9, 2009

FAMILY!!!! Hi! Mom, I didn't get the package yet but I'm sure I'll get it soon.  The mail comes twice a day here so maybe it'll be in this afternoon.  It'd be nice if e-mails could get to me by Monday morning because we get on real quick and print the e-mails off so we can read them when we're not on the clock.  Then we get back on later and use the rest of the time to write. I'd like as much time as possible to read your letters and not be rushed. That way I can respond.  James, keep working hard! You're doing great! Fast food is not fun. Clark, you're a musical genius and congrats on the Eagle Scout! That's so exciting.  Lila and Michael you're both sports maniacs.  Lila, keep standing up for what you believe in! Little things like not playing on Sunday add up and make it easier to keep the harder commandments.  Brian and Natalie, by the way I vote Nashville for medical school.  I would LOVE to come visit you there ;-) Congrats on the car too.  Mom, it's great that you're teaching! It sounds like you're having fun.

Hi friends and family!

Oh, the things that excite Elders. There was a crowd around the vending machine just now yelling "Double hot pockets! Yeah!"

So I must be doing ok in Spanish because my English spelling is going down the drain.  Oh well.  All in a good cause I guess.

Thanks for everyone who sent me a letter this week. I'll respond as soon as I can. Don't be afraid to ask questions because I like to have some direction in my letters. It gives me ideas on what to write. Time blurs together here.

I've been able to play the piano a lot.  When we're early to group meetings, I just start playing prelude and then they ask me to play the opening hymn. I've played for sacrament meeting the past two weeks as well.  They also have a violin you can check out that you can use for musical numbers.  I'm going to audition to do a musical number for one of the big missionary meetings.  I'm also doing another musical number with my companion.  Our accompaniest (spelling?) is an elder going to the Ukraine.

Things hate me this week.  My scriptures ran away on Thursday and I'm just about dying.  I might have to get a new set.  That makes me sad.  That quad and I have been together for a long time. We graduated seminary together.  I'm hoping it returns soon.  I've just started misplacing things. Argh! Not good.

I did find one thing that I hoped I would never find in my stay here: the scale. I found it by mistake. Haven't weighed myself though so I'm still not sure what effect that food's had on me.  I've been trying to choose healthy stuff though.

I found some native Spanish-speakers on my floor from Peru and they're learning English. I'm trying to go talk to them for a few minutes every night. They help me with Spanish and I help them with English.  They're really nice. One sister was practicing English questions on me.  She asked me about love and how do you know when someone loves you.  That's something that I wasn't really sure how to explain actually.  A lot of times you just know.  I think the best thing I could say though is that I know when someone loves me when they spend their time with me.  Where your time is spent, there your heart will be also, I believe.  I'm giving my heart to the Lord for 18 months.

Still trying to understand my companion.  I think the only way I'll fully get along with her is completely putting away pride.  I didn't think I had a huge problem with pride but I think I need to be rid of it completely. I'm working on it.  We're just different.  I'm a morning person, she's not. We both don't do well when we're tired and stressed.  But she's fun. She knows a lot and when she sees someone she can help, she WILL help them or die trying.  She notices people easily.  I can learn a lot from her.

We had Elder Ronald A. Rasband from the quorum of the 70 as our devotional speaker this week.  He's awesome! He emphasized being bold.  That's something that a lot of us needed to hear, I think.

The most powerful teaching experiences I've had are when I'm teaching for the person.  A lot of times we role-play but this week we taught a lesson to a few of the newest elders in our zone, just as them, so as missionaries.  It makes a difference when you're teaching for their needs.  Even when we've role-played before, if the teacher is listening to the Spirit, whoever is listening hears something that they need to hear.  That's something they emphasize here.  The invitation to come unto Christ is not a flyer passed out on the street. It is an engraved invitation.  I'm delivering those right now.

Trials are insignificant when you're looking at eternity.  One of the reasons I love going to the temple is to get that eternal view back.  When you know what's really important, you realize what you don't need to stress over.

How do you explain the feeling the Holy Ghost gives to you? There really are no words.  You can say "joy", "peace", etc.  But I don't think you really say how the spirit makes you feel.  You show it.  With that confidence you receive, you get up and do something.  You find someone who needs help and become an answer to their prayer.  There are no words good enough, only works.

I'm here for a reason.  I'm hoping there's someone that I'm meant to help. Hopefully a lot of people I will be able to help.  I'm here because the Lord wants me here. It is constantly being confirmed to me.  I'm not sure if I would have decided to come on a mission completely on my own, but the Lord told me to come, so I did.  And I'm stubborn so as long as I'm in the right place, I'm going to do my best.  That's all anyone can ask of me.

Sometimes I feel bad because I don't cry often when I feel the Spirit.  But I realized it's not a bad thing.  Everyone feels the Spirit differently.  Some it speaks to their tear ducts.  Me, it usually speaks to my dimples.

Me and my companion taught the Sunday school lesson on the Holy Ghost yesterday.  We did an activity I thought was fun.  We blindfolded a sister and told her to find the door.  I put my hand on her shoulder and removed it when she was going in the wrong direction.  I didn't vocalize any directions.  That's the way the Spirit speaks sometimes.  He lets you make a decision on where to step and he'll let you know if it's not the right step.  You just need to pay attention to what he's telling you.  It might even just be a feeling without a specific voice.

I'm SO excited to be out in the field! I want to go now. I don't know Spanish yet but you don't really learn the language till you're out in the field anyway right? I wanna help people now!

Missions are amazing! My enthusiasm grows every day.

I <3 you all! Thanks for all your friendship and love.

Sorry if I forget to write things or it's just random. I'm down to the wire every week and I'm just spilling my thoughts out.

         TTFN

          Hermana Evans

November 2, 2009

Hi Family! How is everybody! I'm doing well.  Still healthy. Oh! Dad, I had an idea. Would it be possible to get an extra memory card for my camera? That way I could just send one card home at a time and you could get the pictures off of it and send it back.  I'm mailing you some pictures today but I think the memory card would be an easier mode of transportation.  Oh, and Mom, if you see nylons on sale, could you snag them for me?  I have a feeling mine will run out quickly (literally-run) and the ones in the bookstore here are expensive.  Thanks for sending me that package. I will enjoy the jeans on preparation day.

Well, James! I’m looking forward to that bodacious pebble! Sorry, I don't have time to write one for you this week, but I'll think of a good one.

First of all, everybody, I only have half an hour timed to write so a lot of things slip my mind. I basically have to type as fast as I can whatever comes to my head.  So, sorry if I jump around and I miss some things.  Thanks for the letters Aunt Julie, Lila, Grandma Darlene and Grandma Oldham!  And thanks for e-mails family! It was great to hear from everybody.  Letters really do make a missionary happy.

So I think I said before with study time we have personal, companion, language and MDT which is a combination.  We typically have 1-1.5 hours of each every day but it switches.  They have a computer program to help learn languages that can be helpful but also quite annoying at times.  Several questions have wrong answers.  Argh!  Oh well.  The language is doing well though.  Saturdays we have our Teaching Appointments where we practice on volunteers that come to the MTC. Every week we have a specific task.  This last week we did a door approach/get to know someone/set up an appointment to come back and teach all in Spanish.  I was excited to practice.  My companion was nervous.  I actually understood most of what the fluent volunteers were saying.  Then we came back and taught the first lesson in English.  The Spirit was really strong.  We both bore our testimonies as often as we could. We also asked the "investigator" what he believed Christ did for him. Cue testimony! Since we all bore our testimonies, we all felt the Spirit easier.  I came out of that so happy! I wanted to jump up and down. I think I actually might have. :-)

Oh! The devotional speaker this last week was L. Tom Perry, the apostle! We were there early for missionary choir practice and they were checking under all the seats for bombs, so we knew it would be someone important.  He was a great speaker.  He gave us really good advice on how to teach people. One of the things was let the person who's being taught talk just as much as you.  That way you're teaching, not just presenting.  I hope everybody had a happy Halloween. It was crazy here.  Well as crazy as you can get at the MTC. I actually got away with a costume.  My companion and I dressed as “elders” just with black skirts and shoes and white button-up blouses.  We even took some of her scarves and tied them like ties.  No one made us take them off.  One of the mothers of an elder in our district sent us all fake teeth.  We only wore them in our dorms though.  Up until quiet time was a party in the dorms, let me tell you.  I'll send pictures.  A lot of things made me laugh. It reminded me of going crazy in college.

During the past few weeks, I've been practicing juggling basketballs during gym and I finally learned how to do one behind my back.  I was happy.

I've been learning new words in languages other than Spanish too.  Tagali for "good" is "Mabuti" and "yes" is "o-o".  Spanish for "Bring it" is "Traigalo".  That reminded me of "Trogdor". Just thought that was cool.  Still a Strong Bad fan.

I'll be right back.

 

Sorry, my companion got called to the front desk so I had to come back.

Anyway, it's been getting colder.  It snowed twice this week.  Didn't stick, but still, snow! The past few days have been gorgeous though.  When the days are nice we go outside to play sand volleyball. It's quite hilarious. We just all get silly because none of us are very good.

We had a zone conference this week and the teachers spoke about things they thought our zone needed.  Two things they hit on are diligence and pride.  The diligence part hit me hard.  I can't afford to waste any time here! I want to do my best and learn as much as I can!  My companion likes gym time because she can give her mind a break, but after that meeting, I want to get to the point where I don't want a break! I know this gospel is true! I know the truth and I want to spread it along! My life is not my own right now. It belongs to the Lord 100%.  Thanks everybody for supporting me in it.   I can truly feel my Savior's love.  He is real.  He died for us and is just waiting for us to decide to come back to him.  He is our Savior and Redeemer.   Through Him and only Him, we can be saved.

 Satan is striking at my district.  We had one sister quarantined for swine flu, my companion has had ankle problems and one elder found out this week that he has to have his gall bladder removed.  Not good.  He’s a good elder.  I seriously believe he's going to be a general authority someday by the way he bears testimony of the Book of Mormon and the gospel.

 I'm trying to be patient with myself and not worry.  Faith and fear cannot coexist.  At first I was nervous about teaching the volunteers.  But I can't afford to be nervous.  I mean, whose side am I on anyway? The winning one, that's right!  I can't wait to get out in the field and help real people! I'm not afraid of failure.  I'm just going to do my best.

 I bore my testimony in fast and testimony meeting on Sunday.  We were encouraged to do as much as we could in the language of our labors.  I got away with only one word in English.

 The MTC is awesome. The church is true.  Chocolate is good for the soul. Laugh and sing as much as you can.  And come unto Christ!

        TTFN

       Sister Evans

26 October, 2009

Hi family! First of all, James: adjective:_______ noun:_______

I absolutely LOVED the Halloween card! It fits our family perfectly!  James, why thank you! I did have quite a Stinky Saint Snowflake's Day! You'd better send me a (insert adjective) (Insert noun) soon otherwise I might not make it through to the next one though.  I'm running low.  Tell me how that turns out.  Thanks, mom for sending the laundry bag thingy.  I'm impressed you sent that in a letter.  What a surprise!  Michael, you rock at basketball! Keep it up, buddy! Clark, you're amazing. Lila, you're the most adorable little sister ever! Tell Jason that "Sesa" says hi. :-)  I love you all so much and miss you so much too! I'm doing good though.  I'll try and send pictures soon.

Hi, friends and family!

First of all, thanks to everyone who's written me so far!  Thanks for the e-mails Aunt Bonnie and Christy and Uncle David!  Thanks for the letters Grandma, Natalie, Mark, Kat, Lila, and family!  Your support and love means the world! I'm so blessed!  The Sunday fireside last night featured a family with 6 children and 24 grandchildren doing a musical number together.  It reminded me of all my family.  I felt warm and fuzzy.  I haven't really been homesick even though I miss all of you very much.  I'm doing the right thing in the right place.  Malorie, congrats on your engagement! I'm sorry I can't be there for the wedding but I wish you all the best! I'm so happy for you!!!!  Thank you everyone who contributed to my mission fund too!

So the MTC is amazing.  I don't know if I’ve gained weight with the cafeteria food or not.  I don't know where a scale is and I'm perfectly happy if I never find one. My companion is very fun.  We've been getting used to each other. One rough spot this week, but we're good now.  We were actually in a threesome for a few days because one sister in our district came down with the flu and was quarantined so her companion was with us.  (They're really paranoid about the spread of germs around this time of year.  We can't shake hands and sisters give each other "illegal hugs" all the time.) The rest of us are on Tama flu now.  I love the other sister who was with us.  She has been a good influence. Spanish is coming along well.  Some people that I’ve talked to think I’m in intermediate.  I'm learning slowly but surely.

 I'm sorry all you elders out there but you never got to experience the best part of the MTC which is Relief Society (the meeting for women on Sundays). Last week the speaker was the first counselor in the primary presidency. This week we had the second counselor.  She was amazing. She taught us a primary song as if we were primary children and it was great.  I felt the Spirit so strongly when we started singing "I know He lives!"  I really do know my Savior Jesus Christ lives! He is real and He loves us more than we can possibly imagine and He always knows what we're going through and how to help us. We are never alone.

As a sister missionary, you learn to miss the simple things of life, namely pockets and socks.  Elders don't have to worry about leaving those behind.  My blouses that have pockets have become my favorite.  I feel like Corduroy.

Every Preparation Day we get to go to the temple.  It’s amazing.  I love the temple!

I get excited every time I think of Fresno.  Sometimes I get distracted with what is happening here at the MTC but once I think of being out in the field, I get motivated again.

The first thing they focus on at the MTC is your purpose as a missionary.  We are out to bring people to Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.  We focus on helping the people we're teaching and meeting their needs.  We don't just spout off sermons to them.  We need to get to know them and find out what they need in their life and then serve them.   That makes the biggest difference.  That is why they shifted to Preach My Gospel instead of the memorized lessons.  It's easier to teach how the Spirit prompts you to.  (Read about Ammon in the Book of Mormon.  He's a good example.  He pretty much teaches the first lesson to King Lamoni.)

 I wish I could write more, but I'm running out of time.   Thank you all again for being so amazing at helping me!

      TTFN

         Hermana Evans

19 October, 2009

Hi family!  Thanks for the card. I got it on the first day and it would have made me cry if I had opened it in class right then.  Mom, I have a request.  I need a small mesh laundry bag that I can put my nylons in to wash.  That way they won't snag. Thanks for your e-mail too mom! I loved hearing about what everyone's doing. I laughed out loud at one part.  I loved the random jokes too! They made me laugh. Lilly, I'm so happy for you in Soccer! You're such an amazing athlete! I got you letter today and the stickers made me very happy! :-) :-) :-)  Sorry if I jump around but I want to write as much as possible before time's up.  I'll do two sections of my e-mails.  The first one will be just to you at home and the next one you can forward to everyone? Roger? Ok, we're good.  Here goes.

Hi everybody!  My thoughts are always random so that's probably how most of my letters are going to be.  You'll get used to it.

To start off, the tree here at the MTC that allegedly smells like cream soda/bubblegum is roped off so I can't find out if these rumors are true.  I am sharing a room with 5 other Sisters, 3 of which are in my district. (“Districts” are just what they call the individual groups that we are in during the day.)  I don't think 6 young-adult women could coexist in such small quarters anywhere but the MTC.  I'm still getting everything organized.

One sister in my district, decided that a mission is like going to Narnia.  You're only gone a few days but it feels like forever to you.  And when you go back, you're like an adult in a child's body like I DON'T KNOW HOW TO LIVE!!!!! I think that's an accurate description.  That makes it frustrating and hard to be patient because it feels like it's been forever.  Even though you learn a lot you feel like you should know more.

They told us day two that all prayers should be in Spanish.  We are to “contact” at least 2 people per day and testify in Spanish. (That just means you find any random person in the MTC and share your testimony with them.)  On Sunday I wrote my first church talk in Spanish because, in our branch at least, the branch president announces at the beginning of sacrament meeting a few missionaries who will speak.  You don't know ahead of time so everyone prepares a talk every week.  I don't know how good mine was but I got it written at least.   Everyone practices on each other here.  My companion and I were outside studying and two different groups of elders came up and asked if they could share a message with us.  One was in French the other Spanish so I understood part of it.

Study time is divided up into companion study, personal study, language study and Missionary Directed Time which is whatever you as a companionship need.  There isn't much checking-up-on-us so you really do get out of the MTC what you put into it.

I love my district!  There are 6 elders and 4 sisters.  My companion is energetic and kind of silly and she knows the MTC really well since she volunteered here every day for a few months.  Our district already feels like brothers and sisters to each other.  Thursday the sisters coordinated outfits within companionships and Friday our entire district wore blue.  Yesterday each companionship had a "power-ranger color".  We were yellow.  That was the elders’ idea.   Today is the first preparation day for me.  It will be on Mondays so that's when everyone will hear from me.

The food is good and luckily the desserts do not tempt me as much as I thought they would.  I've been spoiled too much with desserts from scratch my whole life thanks to an amazing mother, brother and grandma! :-)

The Spirit is here but only if you look for it and ask for it.  I've been recognizing it as an outside force more.  I can tell it's not a feeling from my imagination but a confirmation of truth from my Heavenly Father. If I get too distracted with little things then I don't notice it as much.

There's so much going on here, I’m not going to get in everything but I’ll try as much as possible.

In class we've been learning a lot of Spanish phrases and practicing teaching each other.  Sometimes we pair with more experienced missionaries and they help us and we give each other feedback.

I met an Elder Evans in our district yesterday but he left today for the field.  I did get a picture with him.

We got to go to the temple today.  It was amazing! I love the feeling there! I always feel God's love for me and everyone else there.

I feel inadequate to be Christ's representative but I keep getting impressions that my weak state doesn't matter.  Heavenly Father will help.  As my companion pointed out, Noah's ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic by professionals!

The Church is true! Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and there is a living prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson! The Book of Mormon is the word of God!

Out of time!

    Till next week!

    TTFN (ta-ta-for-now)

        Hermana Evans :-)

14 October, 2009

Hi Family! So, I had no idea what to expect when I got here to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) since I’m here way before my check-in time.  Chris thought that they would just send me to my room and unpack, maybe have a chance for a nap, etc.  I was hoping he was right because I am tired but somehow I doubted that the MTC would be that laid-back.  And, yup, they do have a procedure for early arrivals.  I got my name tag.  It's got an orange sticker on it so everyone knows I'm new.  As if they wouldn't figure that out already. They stashed my luggage in the hallway somewhere to pick up later, then put me in a room with all the incoming early arrival missionaries, most of which were from Russia.  The sister sitting on my right was from Mongolia and the sister on my left was from France and the one next to her was from Denmark.  After a few minutes they weeded out the American missionaries (Me and two elders. I don't have a companion yet. I'm the only American sister who arrived early so far.) and took us to a different room where we met our teacher for the morning.  He gave us a list of things to do until about 11:15 when we will go and have lunch.  One of the things was to set up e-mail so here I am. Checking in and letting you know I arrived safely. After singing "the Spirit of God", the teacher asked us each to share our thoughts about why we're on a mission, what we hope to accomplish, etc.  One of the elders with me said that he's on a mission mostly for self-investment, to learn more about the gospel and also because it's "taboo" in the church for a boy not to go on a mission.  He said he expects it to be easy for him even though everyone says it's hard.  I was laughing on the inside.  I on the other hand am expecting it to be hard.  I'm not afraid of hard things. I like challenges.  It's the best way to learn, to stretch yourself.  A mission is, I think, where the Lord will stretch you to your limit.  I'm interested to know what that will be for me.  And I hope that elder finds out in a way that won't be too hard on him. :-)

So yeah, that's the day so far but it's only 10:00 a.m.  I hope I get a sister companion soon, I feel like I’m with two little brothers, though they don't seem nearly as awesome as my "little" brothers. :-)  

I Love you all! Thanks for all your support! Write me! My 30-minute time limit is nearly up. 

Hermana Evans