Hey, guys! This week has felt so long but it's gone by so fast! Don't know if that makes sense haha. Sunday was pretty rough for all the sisters in my room. It was fast Sunday and we had been late to dinner the night before, so we didn't eat much and all felt nauseous. Also Sundays are the busiest of them all so it was pretty tiring, but good. We watched a talk by Elder Bednar that night, I think it's called the Character of Christ, and it improved my mood so much. If you guys have a chance to watch it I would highly recommend it. Elder Bednar gave it on Christmas a few years ago in the MTC, but it totally applies to more people than just missionaries. We also had a devotional that night and we went back to our classes to discuss it with our branch president. He went around the room and had us comment on what our favorite part was, and when he answered us, he stared into our eyes and it felt like he was reading my thoughts. Super spiritual man. This whole week we've been going through the lessons in Preach My Gospel and practicing teaching them to each other, our teachers, and the TRC's (the people who come to the MTC to be taught). It's become so much more clear to me that you can't teach without having the Spirit with you, because then you're just telling people cool stories and facts that won't mean much to them in the end. It's also so important that we address the needs of each individual, which sounds like it should be easy, but we've spent so long during classes talking about what doctrines will help people most in their life and how we can tell what each person needs to hear first. We taught 3 people this week, each of them twice, and I can't believe how much I care for these people already. I just pray that they are able to feel the Spirit when we teach them and that they follow through with the commitments we give them because that is the only way they'll know what we are teaching is true. I've also been learning to not stress so much when we teach people because you never know what questions you'll be asked, and if you're stressed it will be harder to feel the Spirit and let it help you know what to say. For each person we've taught, we've come it with a lesson plan and thrown it to the wind after we realized that what the thought they needed to hear is not what Heavenly Father knows they need to hear. One of the girls we've taught is Connie, and she is a college student who lives with members but doesn't know much about the church. We asked her to start reading the Book of Mormon and she's doing so well! She came with so many awesome questions for us and we know that she is eager to learn more. She keeps telling us she wants to be as happy as all of her roommates and she knows that they are happy because of the gospel.
With as much awesome stuff that has happened this week, it has been so hard. One of the sisters in my room got extremely depressed and homesick this week, plus she tore ligaments in her foot a week before coming out, so she was really struggling, and that kind of negative energy effected the other 3 of us so much. We were all trying to help her, but she just wasn't getting any better, and last night she went home. So now, I'm in a trio and our room is down to 3 people. It's a lot different without her here, but I'm glad that she is somewhere where she will be able to heal properly and get the help she needs to hopefully be happier. She has such a strong testimony and wants to share it so badly that I know she'll touch people's lives whether she serves a mission or not. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us, and that even when we are lost and confused, He is still watching over us and guiding us. She also got 8 packages from her family while she was here because they knew she was having a hard time, and they're all stuffed full with candy. She left them here so now we have a table full of candy and we're going to give a bunch of it to the elders in our district. They can put down so much food it's insane. We already gave them two pounds worth of Reese's cups and they ate them in one night haha.
Last night after we our exercise time was over, we were walking back to our rooms with the elders in our district and we were all talking about how hard and frozen the snow looked, so I decided to test it out. I walked over to a bush with a bunch of snow on it and poked it, and it felt pretty solid, so I was like sweet, this bush will hold my weight. So, I leaned over on it and I guess the snow actually wasn't that frozen solid because I fell into the bush. Haha oops. Kinda embarassing but I'm just glad I was wearing my gym clothes so I didn't flash anyone.
Oh also I had to buy sweats and the missionary store because I wasn't aware we weren't allowed to wear leggings for workout time, and they didn't have my size, so I've been wearing Steve Urkle sweats to the gym that I have to roll up and pull up to like my armpits. I guess I'll have to buy some better ones to workout in once I get to Ohio.
I got my itinerary to fly to Ohio, and I'll be leaving at 3:45 am on December 17th, with about a half our layover in Minneapolis, so I'll try my best to call home sometime while I'm at the airport. I'm hoping I'll be able to call during the layover because I don't want to wake y'all up calling so early from the Salt Lake airport.
Sorry if there's a lot to cut out from this email and it's not very detailed, but I love all you guys so much! I'm having a great time, but it's not without its challenges. Love you!!!
Christmas lights at the MTC:
Sister Priest, Sister Sclafani, Sister Paletta, Sister McCullough
Sister McCullough and Sister Priest
Temple day with the district: Elder Moore, Elder Smith, Elder Barth, Elder Crider, Sister McCullough, Sister Sclafani, Elder Schrider, Sister Priest, Elder Hoffman, Elder Theodore, Elder Merril
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