MTC Week 1

Hello everybody!! 

This has been a crazy week! Let's see, on Wednesday Kinsey and Ryan (my sister and brother in-law) dropped me off at the MTC. It was different than I had expected because I thought they would have me dropped off at the little drive way at the front of the MTC, but they had me be dropped off in the parking garage. So that was kind of weird. But then my "host" showed me where my room was and I got my name tag and a bunch of other things, then I met my companion!! Woohoo!! 

My companion Sis Taylor (the one with the long blond hair) is so nice and so cute! She is from Boise Idaho and runs on the track team for Boise State. It was kind of funny, because when we got here she found out about a mile record for the sisters and elders here at the MTC and she was so stressed about beating it, so for our exercise time one morning we went out to the field so she could try and beat it. She was so nervous, but then she totally beat it so easily!! The record was 5m40s and she did it in 5m31s. Anyways, I have an awesome companion and we get along super well :)

After meeting our companions and our district we went to the orientation thing for all the incoming missionaries. I was so tired that I could barely even pay attention, but that's okay haha. When we went on a tour of the MTC campus our zone leaders and our STL's told us we must always tap the fountain when we pass it because each time we tap it represents a baptism in the field. Oh! They also showed us this tree that smells like cream soda (it actually does haha, it's pretty cool) and made us all smell it. When we were starting to leave someone came up and asked us what we were doing, our STL was like "oh just smelling that tree" and the lady was like "okay, I just wanted to make ure you weren't trying to see into those offices" haha it was hilarious XD Oh also, sad day!! the Temple is going to be closed for the entire time I'm in the MTC!! :'( 

My district is awesome, but for the first few days we wouldn't talk to each other, so before class started we would just sit in silence and while we were all getting ready for bed we wouldn't talk to each other and it was so awkward, but we've all gotten a bit more comfortable and now actually speak to each other haha. One of the Elders in my district reminds me so much of my friend Justus King (if you know Justus you can probably guess which one haha), but they just have very similar mannerisms :)

Thursday was the busiest and longest day. We had a bunch of workshops and classes, and it was way good, just kind of exhausting. We taught our first "investigator" but it was actually our teacher role playing as an investigator, and it was SO HARD!! But I guess that's how we get better! We also met our Branch Presidency Thursday night. My branch president is almost exactly like my Uncle Bob! It's kinda crazy how similar they are. They seem like an awesome branch presidency! Sis Taylor and I were assigned to be the ward music specialists :) It seems like I do that everywhere I go! haha

Friday and Saturday were more or less the same as Thursday, busy busy busy. So nothing super exciting. Oh! On Saturday we invited our teacher/"investigator" to be baptized! He said no which is what we were expecting, but hey it never hurts to ask right? haha

Sunday was the worst day here for me. Turns out I get very sad, exhausted, and hopeless when I don't eat or drink anything for 20 hours. I had the worst headache all day long and I was also crying for the entire day (for no reason might I add). We woke up and went to church where we had relief society, then a district meeting, then sacrament/fast and testimony meeting. After that there was a mission conference, which was super good. Everyone talked about how to receive revelation which is kind of cool, because that's what I had been fasting about that day! Heavenly Father knows us!! After that we had a few more classes and then... choir practice. If you know me you know that I love to sing, but when you haven't eaten for 19 hours and going to choir practice means you won't get to eat for another hour or so, does not make for a happy Emily. But, being the saint that I am, I sacrificed myself for the choir (not that it made any difference haha, like 60% of the missionaries in the MTC were at choir practice). Turns out when your actually doing something instead of just listening to people talk it makes it easier to distract yourself. So anyways I survived! We made it to dinner, the food was sub par, but also amazing considering I was starving! haha 

Later that night we had a devotional and then we watched the MTC film "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. That was super good. 

Yesterday was a good day, we met our TRC Investigators who  may or may not be members, so that's pretty cool! That lesson went way better than the one with our teacher, and I am so excited to go out into the field!! I found out that I eave for New Hampshire on the 18th of July which I feel like is coming up pretty fast! I am so excited!!

To kind of end with a spiritual thought, in the Character of Christ film, Elder Bednar talked about what moral qualities defined Christ and the biggest thing he talked about was how Christ, when everyone else would turn inward towards themselves, would turn outward. For example, when he was in Gethsemane and his apostles would fall asleep, he was disappointed but told them to sleep a little longer. When Judas betrayed him and Peter cut off the guards ear Christ healed the guard. When Christ was on the cross he asked God to "forgive them, for they know not what they do." He made sure that his mother, Mary, would be taken care of. He taught the thieves who were on the cross' next to him! All in just those few hours when he was literally being tortured, mocked, and killed. Elder Bednar then told a story of a relief society president in his stake when he was a Stake President. This relief society pres called him early in the morning telling him of an accident of three young women in the stake. One of them had been pronounced dead, while the other two were severely injured. She asked Elder Bednar to go to the Hospital so he could identify the two that were still living in order to tell their mothers what had happened. While she was on the phone with him he overheard a nurse tell the relief society pres that the girl who had died was her daughter and the first thing she said was "We need to find out who the other two girls are as soon as possible so we can tell the other mothers." This relief society pres was a single mom and the girl who died was her only child. So she had just lost her only child and on the day before the funeral she called Elder Bednar and told him that she was sorry that he had to see her daughter so disfigured, and that the people who had prepared her daughter for burial had done a really good job and so she offered to have him and his wife come see her before the funeral because it was going to be closed casket. Then on the morning of her daughter's funeral, the relief society pres got a phone call from a woman in her ward who hadn't yet heard about the death of her daughter. The woman chewed the relief society pres out because the woman had a cold and no one had brought her a meal yet. So on the way to her daughter's funeral, the relief society pres dropped off a meal to this sister who had a cold. This is what having the character of Christ is like. Christ is the ultimate example of who we need to be and I hope that we can all strive to be a little bit more like Him by serving those around us even in just the smallest of ways.

I love y'all so much and I hope y'all all have a wonderful week!!

Much love,

Sister Warburton :D