Week Six in the MTC

Hello everyone! Today is another wonderful P-day. This past week was pretty awesome. The MTC has the potential to be really boring but I have a pretty solid district and zone that make it all worth it. ^^ (That is an the Asian smiley face they use in emails and texting. You might as well start getting used to it because I like using it haha)

Tuesday last week was fun. My district hung out while the Elders laundry was finishing. Us Sisters are much smarter and come early so we don't have to wait. I feel like the Sisters have much more productive days when we do that, so now it's a habit. Anyway while we were hanging out we were talking about my nasty crushed finger. They made me go to the nurse. She was the opposite of helpful and just gave me a pass to go see the BYU urgent care. It doesn't have a date on it so I am calling it my, 'Get out of Jail free pass' haha. I was going to use it the other day but a couple of Sister have to go there tomorrow so Sister Stradling and I will go with them. Besides that we had Devotional from a Gerald N. Lund. He spoke on personal revelation. From the hour he taught, I got a lot of really awesome scriptures out of it as well as a good reminder that all things happen on our Heavenly Fathers time- it is His will and His time. Oh! Also, one thing I just remembered that he said was, "It matters more what you do with [answers to prayers or personal revelation] then how you receive it." To me that means God doesn't have to give you some huge elaborate answer, we need to be responsive to the still (you feel it, not hear it), small, whispers of the Spirit. Overall it was pretty awesome.

Wednesday started just like any other. The black trend is starting to spread to our whole zone. I was flattered that so many people thought it was funny haha. I mean it's not like a huge deal but some might venture to say that I am a trend setter. ^^

Anyway, before class started Elder Sorensen showed us this cool Chinese game. This is what you do: Take your right hand and hold your left ear lobe, take your left arm and but it through the loop you just created with your right arm. Make sure your elbow is completely through the loop. Now bend over to a 90 degree angle. Last, stare at the ground and spin for 30+ seconds. HAHA It is so awesome. I recommend if you are trying this at home, make sure there are no sharp corners that you'll run into. When you stand up your whole world is sideways and it is hilarious to watch people do it. I am proud to say that I successfully did it. Along with me most of our district took turns doing it. By the time Brother Tanner got to the classroom we are all pretty tired from all the spinning and laughing. He wasn't aware of the game yet so we decided he wanted to play a game to wake us up... Don't worry I recommended he try the Chinese game in the classroom. He did it and it was AWESOME! We were all wide-awake and ready to go after that.

After our productive day all the Sisters retired to our room. But just before bed we decided to play our new favorite game one more time. So we all lined up in the hallway of our residence hall. We attracted quite a crowd by the time we stood up and were stumbling everywhere haha. It was awesome. I was so dizzy that falling asleep was the opposite of a problem.

Thursday started kind of weird. Elder Lee came to class and was acting kind of off. I asked him why and he told the class that earlier that morning he had dropped his toothbrush on the ground and when we bent over to pick it up, someone opened a drawer above him on accident and he banged his head on the corner of it. Sister Wadsworth sent him to the doctors on campus. Turns out he has a concussion. He is out until Saturday. The doctor didn't want him using his brain so he lucked out and was able to sit out of a couple classes. He did come back for the end of the day to see Brother Tanner however. He is by far our favorite teacher! He had been telling us that he was stressed about finals, so us Sisters took it upon ourselves to make him the best finals survival kit we could create. He was so grateful. Along with all of the goodies and school supplies we included a mini Korean Hymnal which we all signed. It was so tender. I am pretty sure we are his favorite district! ^^

Friday... there is not too much to report on but I did have the weirdest daja-vu moment! It was kind of a comforting feeling as opposed to just a confusing moment like it normally is. When it happened, I was in the classroom with my whole district doing pattern practice repeating Korean phrases after our teacher. I took my eyed off of the paper we were reading and looked at my awesome district. Even though we do this all day it has daja-vu. I had dreamed or that our that moment before for some reason. Somewhere at sometime I knew I was going to be here. I felt like I was reassured in that moment that I was where I was supposed to be. I just smiled and looked back down at my paper and continued to repeat after our teacher. I know that it was a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father. Some days are really tough here. I was pretty discouraged Friday morning but after this I was fine. It might sound weird but I needed that moment and my Heavenly Father knew it.

Saturday was the best day! Both class blocks were taught by Brother Tanner!! He is such a great teacher. He can read people so well and he teaches to our needs on a personal level while he is teaching the class. That might not make sense but he is very talented. To end the day we had TRC. This week was our last week to teach two 20 minute lessons. Next week we are get to teach one 40 minute lesson. That will be interesting. But this week Sister Stradling and I taught about how to identify the spirit as an individual and we invited out two volunteers to attend church on Sunday. The first lesson was awesome! I really felt guided by the Spirit in what I needed to say. I felt like I was fulfilling my purpose as a missionary while I was speaking in that lesson. I love this gospel and I love teaching it in Korean.

Now on to something funny, in Elder Sorensen and Elder Lee's lesson they were asking their volunteer to ready Moroni 9:8. BUT since our Book of Mormon is in Korean they accidently had her read Doctrine and Covenants 9:8... After the volunteer read it out loud she said, "I feel scared" HAHAHA it was awesome! Awful mix up but really funny. Same story with the mix up or 1 Nephi 3:7 and 3 Nephi 3:7.

Sunday was a good day. In Relief Society we had the privilege of hearing from a Mary Edmonds. Please look her up and read/listen to all of the things she has said. She is hilarious! ...I see a lor of myself in her ^^ just kidding. She was just giving us advise about how to go about our missions. At one point she got off topic and said, "Do not touch the Elders; don't poke them, don't punch them. But keep a list of the ones you do what to touch for after your mission." Haha it was so funny. She had the perfect balance of being funny and spiritual. I learned a lot from her. The one thing I enjoyed hearing the most was, "All I can do, is all I can do." Sounds redundant but it is so true. I cannot expect too much out of myself. If I feel discouraged I can ask my Savior how I am doing and I know he will help me see what more I can do and what all I have accomplished. SO AWESOME.

Next was Sacrament meeting. If you recall the Branch Presidency decides who speaks that day when they get up to the pulpit. Fortunately, I was blessed to have a cough attack at the end of taking the sacrament. I needed to get water so bad. Sister Stradling and I stepped out for a moment and took our seats quickly when we returned. By the time we got back all of the speakers had been chosen. Bullet=Dodged ^^ ...or at least for now haha. It was a great meeting regardless.

After Sacrament I was able to take a temple walk with my district. It just so happens I ran into a few people I knew!! My older brother, Derek, his twin and my older sister Alise, AND the one and only Andrea Marks! JaNae came too! ^^ You could say I was beyond excited to see all of them. I loved talking to them and catching up. I also loved being able to introduce them to my favorite district! It made me so incredibly happy.

Temple walks are only an  hour but it was perfect. At dinner I was able to find the Finnish Zone. It was their last day we Elder Kiuttu and Elder Gustofson joined the Korean table for dinner. It was fun being able to catch up and listen to how excited they were about leaving and finally being able to be in the field teaching! I cannot wait until that is me! Korean is tough but I already love the Korean people so much and I can't wait to meet them!!

Monday, back to the grind.

The whole MTC is changing the schedule for all of the teachers and missionaries. For me and my district that means that we will only be effected for the last week that we are here. Brother Tanner had already set up his school schedule to work with the old class times. He was at risk for loosing his job but don't worry, he was promoted because he is amazing! I promise he is the best teacher that works here at the MTC. If they got rid of him they would all be idiots. But they knew what was best for them and kept him. Also, since I have been teaching CrossFit to my district, we promised Brother Tanner  that we would show them a thing of two if they ever changed their minds about him. haha kind of joking but mostly serious.

Today we are heading out to help this new Korean girl around campus. She speaks no English and is being send to serve in Taiwan. The poor girls in her district cannot communicate with her so we volunteer as a district to help! This will bee good practice! Once we found her it was so fun to talk to her. She is so cute!! I love all Koreans! I felt so awesome being able to understand and communicate with her. When it was time to take our trays to throw things away she looked so confused and I just turned around and said, "follow me" in Korean. She smiled. We had a moment ^^ haha it was the greatest.

Next we went to the temple where I see my Favorite Andrea again. I love her and loved being able to talk to her.

My time in up but I love you all!! Thank you for all of the letters. I still have so many to reply to but be patient with me.

Much love,

Sister Sloan

PS. Follow Brother Tanner on Twitter, his name is DHBACH :) That is a phonetic for incredible in Korean! The poor guy doesn't have any followers. Also see if he talks about his favorite district :)



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