Week Seven in the MTC

This week it really started to hit me how close my district is to leaving. Just to give you some perspective, I have 11 days left here in the MTC. We get our travel plans on Thursday! That is insane! I will let you know the details of my flights as soon as I can.

Tuesday was pretty awesome. After I emailed home, I went straight to Devotional. Guess who came? Richard G. Scott! It was amazing. He spoke all about prayer and the answers we can receive from sincere prayer. I copied my notes and I will send home a copy. It was amazing. He felt prompted to bestow an Apostolic blessing on us too! He specifically spoke to those learning a language, that's me haha. He promised that we will have an enriched and rewarding experience as we work hard to learn and teach. He promised us that as we grow through Him now and with our future family, we will have an enriched and enhanced life because of the peace that we will find in our Savior and His plan for us. I really enjoyed everything that Elder Scott had to say, but overall I could feel his love for me individually. He gave me comfort and confidence in knowing that I will master the language. All I need to do is put forth a sincere effort. I needed to hear that and the Lord knew that. I feel so blessed.

Wednesday is the day most missionaries enter the MTC. This week my zone was able to help Host. As a host you wait on the curb, help unload suitcases, show the missionary the campus, and get them settled in class. I had the privilege of helping two Sisters. One was an international missionary from the Philippines and the other was a darling girl from Alpine, Utah/Ohio.. Actually you might know her.. Her name is Anna-Jane Jenkins. It happened by chance but as I waited at my assigned slot, I say Porter and Anna-Jane hanging out the car window. I gave Mama Jenkins a big huge as well as Anna-Jane, Emma, and Sarah Baumbach. I also fist bumped Cary and Porter. I was so happy I was able to host someone I knew. However, shout out to Barbara for sending her daughter with the heaviest suitcases haha. Wheeling those up the hill to Sister Jenkins residence hall definitely put my CrossFit to the test! I took my time when I took Sister Jenkins through campus. She was so cute and so excited to be here. Some missionaries are freaked out but she was awesome. After we grabbed her books I dropped her off in class. I see her on campus all of the time. Passing on a note from her to her family, send DearElders! haha Also, I second that. We both only have a little while left here until we have to use real mail. For my letters will take about 9 days to get to Korea and about a month from Korea to the United States- CRAZY. Anyway! It was an awesome day.

Helping Sister AnneJane Jenkins

Thursday was normal. I still had not gone to take care of my finger that was crushed by a 50lb weight. My zone leader, Elder Lee would not let me stay in the classroom until I got it checked out. I was resistant, but finally went. Sister Stradling and I walked down to the Student Health Center where the urgent care was. They signed me in, charged me a co-pay to credit card (FYI Dad it was $10), and had me wait. While I was waiting, I started to look around. There were magazines laying on the table next to me, for a millisecond I forgot that that was against the rules. Instead of picking one up I looked up at the TV to see the weekly weather report then I just studied the vocabulary I brought with me. They only kept me waiting for a little while. They took me back to get an X-ray. The X-ray tech was a weirdy. We was telling me everything he knew about Monterey, CA and 17 mile drive since my chart mentioned that is where I was from. It was funny slash boring. Once he finished, he took me to the doctor where she pulled up the digital image for us to look at. I thought it was funny, because she asked my opinion on my finger before she told me hers.  I was thinking to myself, "well with my medical background, I would say, I have no idea!" Instead, I looked at her and said, "It looks like a finger." The doctor smiled, agreed, and said everything looked fine. Duh, it was just swollen, but at least I know for sure now that it is fine. When the Doctor was walking me out she raised her voice and said, for Sister Stradling to hear, "Well, we will schedule the amputation for tomorrow." I flashed her a fake smile, started for the door.  We walked back to the MTC.

You could say that my district was less then enthused when they heard that I was right and nothing was wrong. Brother Tanner was there too and he reminded me that I should be grateful to have a zone leader and district that cares about me. I am. I love them. It will be sad to leave them soon :(

On a more spiritual note.  In class I was reading Alma 5. I recommend everyone read it! I was reminded that "I am called" as one to help number and gather those that have a desire to follow "the good Shepard." It was an awesome chapter that reminded me about why I am here. So many times a day I read or hear things like that, that pump me up for teaching real people!! I am so excited to see the church grow in Korea!

Friday was fairly normal too. In class, Sister Stradling and I spend a lot of time planning for our progressing investigators. Of the three, we have committed one to baptism! The lesson we wanted to cover next back tracked a little bit, but we felt that it was important for us to talk more about Joseph Smith. As part of our lesson, we decided to read and try to memorize The First Vision. It isn't too long, but in Korean it is difficult. After practicing we got fairly fast at reading it. When it was time for our lesson we did a pretty awesome job at delivering it! Our investigator was totally feeling the Spirit, it was awesome!! Sister Stradling and I were very pleased with how it went.

After we taught, we took some time to talk to the new Korea-going missionaries. They are all so cute and scared. I remember sitting exactly where they are. I tried to keep the advice a minimum, but the encouragement to a maximum. That is what helped me the most. I have already made friends with a lot of the Elders and a few Sisters. A lot of them are pretty stoked about doing CrossFit with me. It is contagious and I am so excited to teach everyone!!

Saturdays are always great! We were blessed to have Brother Tanner for BOTH class periods today. I promise he is my favorite teacher that I have ever had. He is so talented, down to Earth, and WE ALL LOVE HIM. Anyway, today was TRC. We were required to prepare and teach one, 40 minute lesson. Sister Stradling and I decided to focus on serving others from lesson 5 of Preach My Gospel. We taught a mom, her daughter, and her friend. They helped us a lot with our pronunciation and delivery. It went well!

Later that night Sister Scott, Sister Cheney, and I decided to play the water game in the bathroom. You could say that we act 5 years old, but let me tell you this game is fun! Step one, everyone playing fills their mouths up to capacity with water. Step two, everyone faces each other. Third and final step, try to keep from laughing, because all the water in your mouth with spray everywhere! haha it was pretty awesome. I love Sister Scott and Sister Cheney, we have so much fun together!

Sunday was eventful. Like I have mentioned in previous emails, everyone in the branch is asked to prepare a five minute talk (2 minutes in Korean, 3 in English) about a specific topic. In the meeting two people are called on and asked to speak. This week the topic was the Book of Mormon. I felt like I had a pretty solid talk prepared so I was okay with being called on. UNTIL Elder Evans, of the Quorum of the Seventy walked in to preside over our meeting. That was a little nerve racking until the President of the MTC, President Nally and his wife walk in as well. You could say that everyone in the congregation was a little more nervous about doing a good job if they were called on. Thankfully I was safe. At the end, Elder Evans was given about 20 minutes to speak to us. He promised us missionaries that as we open our mouths and spare not, our mouths will me filled by the Lord with the words we need to teach His children in Korea. Pretty awesome! Also, he reminded us that we are learning Korean and because we have been called to do this it is a gift from our Heavenly Father. Korean is a gift the Lord has given me, it is my responsibility not to waste it but to use it!

Sunday is always a great way to recharge for the week! However Monday came and EVERYONE started dropping like flies! An Elder in my district has the flu and a Sister has mono that is flaring up. All of the Korean speaking missionaries are super paranoid, because we want to leave for Korea on time! Since half of the class was back in their residence halls, class didn't really happen. Instead Brother Tanner shared a pretty awesome story that changed his perspective on his mission. I will forward it to you when we sends it to me. Sister Wadsworth just had us sing the song, Army of Helamen in Korean a bunch of times. Other than that we just had companionship study to prepare for our upcoming lessons. It was overall a weird day. In honor of P-Day eve Sister Scott, Sister Cheney, and I went on a walk around the MTC campus until it was time for lights out. It is nice to be able to just talk among friends about real life for a change. They are amazing. I am so grateful for them, they have kept me sane through this whole process of learning how to teach and learning Korean.

Today is Pday, as you all know. After we went to the temple we had some special guests meet us! Brother Tanner brought his wife! They are so cute together and we have been begging him to bring her to class haha. We were all so glad we were able to finally meet her. Also Sister Cheney is from Salt Lake area so her mama came by for a little visit. She is so cute! After we talked for a little while, she asked us all what our Chick-fil-a orders were haha. About 30 minutes later we met her at the back of the MTC where she handed over two huge bags for Chick-fil-A goodness!! Best Pday ever! Anyway it is almost time to start lining up for devotional. I will finish writing letters tonight and send them off tomorrow morning. I love you!!

Overall, all is well! I am excited and happy. I struggle with being with my companion at all times, but we are still learning how to deal with how different our personalities are. Korean is still hard, but my district is learning 20 vocabualry words a day to try and help our understanding when we are actually emmursed in the country. Pray for me! I keep all of you in my prayers!

I love you ^^
Have a great week!