December 27,2010
Merry Christmas! I hope your Christmas was as wonderful as mine! This Christmas really was amazing. I might have missed being away from home and such, but the MTC made sure to make it great. We had a fireside on Christmas eve which was followed by popcorn and the movie Mr. Kruger's Christmas. Then Christmas morning was a talent show, which ended up taking almost an hour longer than it was supposed to, but three elders in our zone performed and they were all really amazing. Then we had "Christmas dinner" at noon and made sack meals to eat for dinner so that no one had to work in the cafeteria. Following dinner we had an amazing devotional by Elder Nelson. He and his wife actually spent the entire weekend at the MTC, coming to the Christmas fireside that night and talking to us in Relief Society and Priesthood the next day. We then had time that was supposed to be set aside for writing families, but because we leave today we ended up spending it packing our suitcases and trying our hardest to figure out how to make things weigh less than they actually do. Finally- we had the Christmas Night Fireside- a presentation of A Christmas Carol by two performers, one playing scrooge and the other playing everything else. It was really neat!
Monday, December 27, 2010
My Christmas Miracle
December 27,2010
This Christmas was a little different from normal. I didn't get to spend it with my immediate family, I didn't open a million presents, I didn't sit around the house being unproductive. Instead I spent it with 5 sisters who have come to be my friends, with my district who I will miss greatly when we go our separate ways and get started on our own missions, and with Christ as I spent a Christmas truly focusing on him and on what this day represents.
Though I loved Christmas this year, I won't pretend it was easy. The differences, though wonderful, were difficult to deal with. The differences of the past nine weeks have been difficult to deal with. I've missed the freedom of my old life, especially the staying up late and staring at the night sky till the sun rays once again burst over the horizon and wash away the stars. I've really missed the stars. Through my whole life, the stars have always been one of those places that I felt at peace. When life got to hectic down on earth and I just didn't understand anything that was going on, I turned to the sky. The stars are understandable, peaceful, and still. The stars are always waiting for me, eternal celestial friends.
These past nine weeks have been particularly difficult, and the fact that I couldn't just turn to the sky made it more so. Even if I got a chance to step outside and glance up, the sky has been covered in clouds for nearly nine weeks straight. Even Christmas Day was mostly grey and cloudy. But miracles do happen...
Christmas night, after the last fireside ended and we were allowed to head back to our rooms for the night, I looked up. I didn't expect to see much other than clouds, but I was wrong. As I glanced up I saw Jupiter, hanging in the night sky like a diamond with the stars of heaven spread out around it. There were my stars, watching me like always. The clouds were gone, answering a silent prayer that had resided in my heart for days. I only had a few seconds before I was back in another building, but I got to see them anyways.
The next morning was once again clouded over, hardly a scrap of blue all day.
This Christmas was a little different from normal. I didn't get to spend it with my immediate family, I didn't open a million presents, I didn't sit around the house being unproductive. Instead I spent it with 5 sisters who have come to be my friends, with my district who I will miss greatly when we go our separate ways and get started on our own missions, and with Christ as I spent a Christmas truly focusing on him and on what this day represents.
Though I loved Christmas this year, I won't pretend it was easy. The differences, though wonderful, were difficult to deal with. The differences of the past nine weeks have been difficult to deal with. I've missed the freedom of my old life, especially the staying up late and staring at the night sky till the sun rays once again burst over the horizon and wash away the stars. I've really missed the stars. Through my whole life, the stars have always been one of those places that I felt at peace. When life got to hectic down on earth and I just didn't understand anything that was going on, I turned to the sky. The stars are understandable, peaceful, and still. The stars are always waiting for me, eternal celestial friends.
These past nine weeks have been particularly difficult, and the fact that I couldn't just turn to the sky made it more so. Even if I got a chance to step outside and glance up, the sky has been covered in clouds for nearly nine weeks straight. Even Christmas Day was mostly grey and cloudy. But miracles do happen...
Christmas night, after the last fireside ended and we were allowed to head back to our rooms for the night, I looked up. I didn't expect to see much other than clouds, but I was wrong. As I glanced up I saw Jupiter, hanging in the night sky like a diamond with the stars of heaven spread out around it. There were my stars, watching me like always. The clouds were gone, answering a silent prayer that had resided in my heart for days. I only had a few seconds before I was back in another building, but I got to see them anyways.
The next morning was once again clouded over, hardly a scrap of blue all day.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Last Week!
December 20,2010
Hey!
This past week has been so much fun, I've definitely been super busy. We only have one week left in the MTC, by this time next week I'll be in a shuttle driving to the airport to leave the country for the next 16 months- isn't that soooooo cool.
A few exciting things that happened this week- one of our teachers has already had his last day with us and is home for the Christmas season, so we are going to have a lot of subs in this next week. I have a feeling this will worsen the effects of declining focus as we prepare to leave. We took pictures and listened to him tell stories (in Tagalog) about his mission, it was really neat to realize just how much we were capable of understanding.
We've received a good bit of rain this week, and it finally resumed snowing today- so I'll be able to have a White Christmas before jumping in to a Filipino summer with temperatures in the high 90's and humidity levels in the same range (95%-99%). Speaking of Christmas, we are allowed to write home for Christmas day, though I won't be allowed to email. I might not be allowed to email next Monday either, sometimes the email program doesn't work on the very last p-day, it thinks you've left already. So- there is a chance that my next email will be from the Philippines, it might be really long.
Love you all! Miss you bunches! I'm soooooooooo excited!
Hey!
This past week has been so much fun, I've definitely been super busy. We only have one week left in the MTC, by this time next week I'll be in a shuttle driving to the airport to leave the country for the next 16 months- isn't that soooooo cool.
A few exciting things that happened this week- one of our teachers has already had his last day with us and is home for the Christmas season, so we are going to have a lot of subs in this next week. I have a feeling this will worsen the effects of declining focus as we prepare to leave. We took pictures and listened to him tell stories (in Tagalog) about his mission, it was really neat to realize just how much we were capable of understanding.
We've received a good bit of rain this week, and it finally resumed snowing today- so I'll be able to have a White Christmas before jumping in to a Filipino summer with temperatures in the high 90's and humidity levels in the same range (95%-99%). Speaking of Christmas, we are allowed to write home for Christmas day, though I won't be allowed to email. I might not be allowed to email next Monday either, sometimes the email program doesn't work on the very last p-day, it thinks you've left already. So- there is a chance that my next email will be from the Philippines, it might be really long.
Love you all! Miss you bunches! I'm soooooooooo excited!
Two Weeks Left
December 13, 2010
I would first like to apologize, this weeks blog post won't be very long. The weeks have become incredibly routine and I'm running out of things to talk about. I only have two weeks left here at the MTC and I'm definitely excited to leave, though I will miss the safety and control of the MTC lifestyle. Later this week I will receive my flight plans and begin to sort through the stuff I have to figure out what I'm going to send home and what I'm going to bring with me to the Philippines.
I almost feel bad that I have so little to talk about, but the days have become so similar that they begin to blur together and I feel like it was just yesterday that I last had the opportunity to email. The weeks are so quick, yet each day feels so long.
Oh and another quick fact about the Philippines that I forgot to mention in my last post- the total land area of the Philippines is about the same as Arizona. It has the same number of people as 1/3 of the total people in the US. Small, crowded, and consisting of 16 missions. I'm so excited!
Mahal Kita!
I would first like to apologize, this weeks blog post won't be very long. The weeks have become incredibly routine and I'm running out of things to talk about. I only have two weeks left here at the MTC and I'm definitely excited to leave, though I will miss the safety and control of the MTC lifestyle. Later this week I will receive my flight plans and begin to sort through the stuff I have to figure out what I'm going to send home and what I'm going to bring with me to the Philippines.
I almost feel bad that I have so little to talk about, but the days have become so similar that they begin to blur together and I feel like it was just yesterday that I last had the opportunity to email. The weeks are so quick, yet each day feels so long.
Oh and another quick fact about the Philippines that I forgot to mention in my last post- the total land area of the Philippines is about the same as Arizona. It has the same number of people as 1/3 of the total people in the US. Small, crowded, and consisting of 16 missions. I'm so excited!
Mahal Kita!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Additional Info
Hi, this is Elora's Mom. I mentioned to her that there were several items in her family emails that she should add to her blog. She agreed and asked me to post them for her, so here they are:
From Week 1:
My companions name is Sister McDonald and she is pretty amazing. She's my complete opposite, to the point where she wanted to take 5 minutes prior to computer time in order to make an outline of her email to her family. I just write. We are both slightly OCD but in totally different ways and hopefully we don't start to drive each other crazy because of it too soon. I already feel like I know so much more than I knew last week. I walked into class on the first day and was greeted by two teachers who refused to speak in English. I'm now to the point where I can understand nearly everything there are saying. The craziest part of Tagalog is the over-abundance of letters. For example- Hi is kamusta, Savior is tagapagligtos, and the word for faith (which I'm really good at forgetting) is 15 letters long. Every sentence is one long tongue twister.
Another exciting, and complicated, part of being at the MTC is the roommates. Each bedroom has 3 sets of bunks beds, 3 desks, and 6 tiny closets. We store anything we don't need on top of the closets. Right now (and probably for a while according to the older girls) we have 2 empty beds, so there are only 4 of us. The room still feels crowded though. It only matters in the morning and night, we aren't really supposed to be in there the rest of the day, but there are still a lot of people in a room maybe twice the size of the room in my old apartment.
From Week 2:
I've had to learn very quickly how to get over being shy and my dislike of asking questions. The first few times we had a practice teaching session, I was almost to scared to function. Now- at least I say something. It doesn't always have to do with what the lesson seems to be about. Yesterday I even asked a question that seemed to have nothing to do with what we were teaching. I'm really glad I did because the person I was practicing with later told me that I asked exactly the right question to make him feel like I actually cared about him. I feel like I'm really far behind in this aspect of missionary work. All the other people in my district can sit down and talk to anyone about anything. I, on the other hand, can't even think of what to say when the "investigator" asks me a direct question. Starting the conversation is even harder.
Fortunately, there have been several things that have helped me a great deal. One of those things is the sisters in my zone. They are always willing to listen to me and many of the ones who have been here longer have advice on how they dealt with similar problems. My teachers are also really great. One of them loves to say "We cannot measure what is most important, so we try to make most important what we can measure." This reminds me that I need to focus on the things that are more difficult to measure and remember that they are more important. I can't let myself think that what I can measure is more important than internal things like how hard I'm trying and reliance on the Lord.
I really love being here. I'm learning so much about myself and about the Gospel. It's not easy, but I have a feeling it wasn't meant to be. I put my trust in God, ask him to help in the areas I'm no good at, and then I try my hardest to do my best.
From Week 3:
I'm getting better at socializing with people, the weather is getting colder, and people in the zone today are leaving (along with getting a new district in our zone so we won't be the new-be's anymore) We are also getting more sisters in our room- this means there will be 6 people in a room only a little bigger than my bedroom back home. These sisters won't be in our zone, we've speculated that they will be english speaking missionaries. But I'm still a little apprehensive about how cramped the room will feel.
A note of disappointment- the MTC normally has pizza every Friday night, which has been a nice carry over from home. This week- with no warning at all- they had teriyaki stix instead, it was incredibly disappointing.
This weeks devotional was given by Elder Bednar. This makes 4 apostles speaking at a devotional in a row. Our branch president said that one normally only comes every other month. It's been really neat. My favorite part of his talk was when he stated "I know some of you are thinking 'I don't think I can do this'... or course you can't... alone" It really stuck out to me and has definitely been pushing me forward this week. I definitely don't think I can do this alone. Fortunately I don't have to.
From Week 4:
So, This week was Thanksgiving. As much as I love Thanksgiving with my family, I don't think I will ever have a thanksgiving quite like this one. It was way amazing!
Elder Holland came to speak and brought all his children and grandchildren with him. They were so cute. His grandkids even got up and sang a song. He spoke on gratitude, families, and the Savior. The devotional ended up going 30 minutes over the length it had been scheduled to be, which is pretty crazy when it was only meant to be an hour. That afternoon, the missionaries got to participate in a service project where we cut out the piece to make backpacks for needy children. The pieces will be shipped to wards that will construct them, fill them with school supplies, and send them back to the church for distribution. There are approximately 2000 missionaries at the MTC, we made over 33000 backpacks, including cutting out all the pieces, placing them in boxes of 25 and preparing the boxes for shipping. It was so cool!
I'm looking forward to a cold December with lotsa snow- I'm so glad next December will be warm!
From Week 5:
This week has been super fun, though for the most part, it hasn't been too different from any other week. The strangest thing is that the group of missionaries in our zone who came in right before us are leaving today. This means that I only have 3 weeks left at the MTC and that there will no longer be anyone here older than me to look up to. Kinda sad- but super exciting anyways. I'm kinda starting to stress a little because I still feel like I'm absolutely hopeless on the language, but my teachers tell me that I'm doing great and not to worry. That and everyone says it doesn't matter how well you think you know it in the MTC, you never know anything when you actually get to the field.
For the devotional last Tuesday, Julie B. Beck came to speak to us. The coolest thing about her talk was when she shared her experience when her parents were mission presidents of the only Brazil mission. In about 50 years this country has evolved from not having a single church building within it's borders, to having around 25 missions, isn't that insane! Thursday was interesting because it was the first time we taught volunteers in the TRC in Tagalog. It was definitely scary and the volunteer asked a lot of questions I was lacking the vocab to answer.
Yesterday, instead of having a regular fireside, we watched the Christmas devotional. It was really neat and I'm so excited for the Christmas season. If you didn't get a chance to see it, you should try to. The first presidency shared some beautiful stories of looking past the presents and decorations and really remembering what the Christmas season is about.
A quick word in Tagalog, just for fun. Alam ko po na sasagotin ng Diyos ang mga dasal natin. Mahal niya tayo and gusto niya para sa maging tayo masaya. Maganda po ba iyen?
From Week 1:
My companions name is Sister McDonald and she is pretty amazing. She's my complete opposite, to the point where she wanted to take 5 minutes prior to computer time in order to make an outline of her email to her family. I just write. We are both slightly OCD but in totally different ways and hopefully we don't start to drive each other crazy because of it too soon. I already feel like I know so much more than I knew last week. I walked into class on the first day and was greeted by two teachers who refused to speak in English. I'm now to the point where I can understand nearly everything there are saying. The craziest part of Tagalog is the over-abundance of letters. For example- Hi is kamusta, Savior is tagapagligtos, and the word for faith (which I'm really good at forgetting) is 15 letters long. Every sentence is one long tongue twister.
Another exciting, and complicated, part of being at the MTC is the roommates. Each bedroom has 3 sets of bunks beds, 3 desks, and 6 tiny closets. We store anything we don't need on top of the closets. Right now (and probably for a while according to the older girls) we have 2 empty beds, so there are only 4 of us. The room still feels crowded though. It only matters in the morning and night, we aren't really supposed to be in there the rest of the day, but there are still a lot of people in a room maybe twice the size of the room in my old apartment.
From Week 2:
I've had to learn very quickly how to get over being shy and my dislike of asking questions. The first few times we had a practice teaching session, I was almost to scared to function. Now- at least I say something. It doesn't always have to do with what the lesson seems to be about. Yesterday I even asked a question that seemed to have nothing to do with what we were teaching. I'm really glad I did because the person I was practicing with later told me that I asked exactly the right question to make him feel like I actually cared about him. I feel like I'm really far behind in this aspect of missionary work. All the other people in my district can sit down and talk to anyone about anything. I, on the other hand, can't even think of what to say when the "investigator" asks me a direct question. Starting the conversation is even harder.
Fortunately, there have been several things that have helped me a great deal. One of those things is the sisters in my zone. They are always willing to listen to me and many of the ones who have been here longer have advice on how they dealt with similar problems. My teachers are also really great. One of them loves to say "We cannot measure what is most important, so we try to make most important what we can measure." This reminds me that I need to focus on the things that are more difficult to measure and remember that they are more important. I can't let myself think that what I can measure is more important than internal things like how hard I'm trying and reliance on the Lord.
I really love being here. I'm learning so much about myself and about the Gospel. It's not easy, but I have a feeling it wasn't meant to be. I put my trust in God, ask him to help in the areas I'm no good at, and then I try my hardest to do my best.
From Week 3:
I'm getting better at socializing with people, the weather is getting colder, and people in the zone today are leaving (along with getting a new district in our zone so we won't be the new-be's anymore) We are also getting more sisters in our room- this means there will be 6 people in a room only a little bigger than my bedroom back home. These sisters won't be in our zone, we've speculated that they will be english speaking missionaries. But I'm still a little apprehensive about how cramped the room will feel.
A note of disappointment- the MTC normally has pizza every Friday night, which has been a nice carry over from home. This week- with no warning at all- they had teriyaki stix instead, it was incredibly disappointing.
This weeks devotional was given by Elder Bednar. This makes 4 apostles speaking at a devotional in a row. Our branch president said that one normally only comes every other month. It's been really neat. My favorite part of his talk was when he stated "I know some of you are thinking 'I don't think I can do this'... or course you can't... alone" It really stuck out to me and has definitely been pushing me forward this week. I definitely don't think I can do this alone. Fortunately I don't have to.
From Week 4:
So, This week was Thanksgiving. As much as I love Thanksgiving with my family, I don't think I will ever have a thanksgiving quite like this one. It was way amazing!
Elder Holland came to speak and brought all his children and grandchildren with him. They were so cute. His grandkids even got up and sang a song. He spoke on gratitude, families, and the Savior. The devotional ended up going 30 minutes over the length it had been scheduled to be, which is pretty crazy when it was only meant to be an hour. That afternoon, the missionaries got to participate in a service project where we cut out the piece to make backpacks for needy children. The pieces will be shipped to wards that will construct them, fill them with school supplies, and send them back to the church for distribution. There are approximately 2000 missionaries at the MTC, we made over 33000 backpacks, including cutting out all the pieces, placing them in boxes of 25 and preparing the boxes for shipping. It was so cool!
I'm looking forward to a cold December with lotsa snow- I'm so glad next December will be warm!
From Week 5:
This week has been super fun, though for the most part, it hasn't been too different from any other week. The strangest thing is that the group of missionaries in our zone who came in right before us are leaving today. This means that I only have 3 weeks left at the MTC and that there will no longer be anyone here older than me to look up to. Kinda sad- but super exciting anyways. I'm kinda starting to stress a little because I still feel like I'm absolutely hopeless on the language, but my teachers tell me that I'm doing great and not to worry. That and everyone says it doesn't matter how well you think you know it in the MTC, you never know anything when you actually get to the field.
For the devotional last Tuesday, Julie B. Beck came to speak to us. The coolest thing about her talk was when she shared her experience when her parents were mission presidents of the only Brazil mission. In about 50 years this country has evolved from not having a single church building within it's borders, to having around 25 missions, isn't that insane! Thursday was interesting because it was the first time we taught volunteers in the TRC in Tagalog. It was definitely scary and the volunteer asked a lot of questions I was lacking the vocab to answer.
Yesterday, instead of having a regular fireside, we watched the Christmas devotional. It was really neat and I'm so excited for the Christmas season. If you didn't get a chance to see it, you should try to. The first presidency shared some beautiful stories of looking past the presents and decorations and really remembering what the Christmas season is about.
A quick word in Tagalog, just for fun. Alam ko po na sasagotin ng Diyos ang mga dasal natin. Mahal niya tayo and gusto niya para sa maging tayo masaya. Maganda po ba iyen?
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Miracle of the Philippines
December 6, 2010
One of the neatest things we discussed in class was the mission field in the Philippines. The Filipino people are super nice and love to say yes in order to make someone happy. They will never say something to intentionally hurt another persons feelings and they are incredibly friendly. Because of all this, the First Presidency of the Church has instated several restrictions on who the church is able to baptize. They want to make sure an investigator is sincerely interested in the church, instead of saying yes because they want to make the missionaries happy. They are required to have all the lessons before baptism, attend church consecutively 4 times, and even a few other things. The exact requirements aren't that important.
These requirements have helped the Philippines become the country with the highest retention rate! (meaning that the people being baptized are actually remaining active in the church) The Philippines missions also have a really high number of baptisms each month. The Gospel is spreading so fast to so many people. To me, this demonstrates just how prepared the people in the Philippines are to have the gospel in their lives. The field really is white, the people are ready, they are just waiting to hear the fullness of the gospel. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to bring the message of the Restoration to them.
Mahal Kita!
One of the neatest things we discussed in class was the mission field in the Philippines. The Filipino people are super nice and love to say yes in order to make someone happy. They will never say something to intentionally hurt another persons feelings and they are incredibly friendly. Because of all this, the First Presidency of the Church has instated several restrictions on who the church is able to baptize. They want to make sure an investigator is sincerely interested in the church, instead of saying yes because they want to make the missionaries happy. They are required to have all the lessons before baptism, attend church consecutively 4 times, and even a few other things. The exact requirements aren't that important.
These requirements have helped the Philippines become the country with the highest retention rate! (meaning that the people being baptized are actually remaining active in the church) The Philippines missions also have a really high number of baptisms each month. The Gospel is spreading so fast to so many people. To me, this demonstrates just how prepared the people in the Philippines are to have the gospel in their lives. The field really is white, the people are ready, they are just waiting to hear the fullness of the gospel. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to bring the message of the Restoration to them.
Mahal Kita!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Gratitude
November 29, 2010
This Thursday was Thanksgiving. I had the opportunity to listen to several missionaries speak about what they are thankful for, and here are the two that stuck out to me most.
One elder who spoke is serving at the MTC mission. He has cystic fibrosis and didn't actually expect to live to the age where he could serve a mission. He spoke of how glad he was that he could wake up every morning, walk into a room, and spend the rest of the day on the telephone or chatting online with people who had questions about the church. His mission is so different from mine, and he had so much gratitude just that he could do it.
The other was a Sister from Asia, I'm not sure which country. She had written her testimony with the help of her companion, she gave it in broken English asking for help on how to pronounce words, and the spirit of her testimony was so strong. She spoke of how she knew God loved her because he sent his son to die for her. She knew that Christ suffered so that she could be clean. And she was so thankful for all of God's creations that make her happy. Her testimony was short and simple, it took her a long time to say it all, she stumbled over words I have long thought are simple. But she had such a strong desire to share her gratitude with us that it didn't matter what she sounded like.
I'm so thankful for these missionaries, who helped remind me of the blessings in my life.
Ingat
(Take Care!)
This Thursday was Thanksgiving. I had the opportunity to listen to several missionaries speak about what they are thankful for, and here are the two that stuck out to me most.
One elder who spoke is serving at the MTC mission. He has cystic fibrosis and didn't actually expect to live to the age where he could serve a mission. He spoke of how glad he was that he could wake up every morning, walk into a room, and spend the rest of the day on the telephone or chatting online with people who had questions about the church. His mission is so different from mine, and he had so much gratitude just that he could do it.
The other was a Sister from Asia, I'm not sure which country. She had written her testimony with the help of her companion, she gave it in broken English asking for help on how to pronounce words, and the spirit of her testimony was so strong. She spoke of how she knew God loved her because he sent his son to die for her. She knew that Christ suffered so that she could be clean. And she was so thankful for all of God's creations that make her happy. Her testimony was short and simple, it took her a long time to say it all, she stumbled over words I have long thought are simple. But she had such a strong desire to share her gratitude with us that it didn't matter what she sounded like.
I'm so thankful for these missionaries, who helped remind me of the blessings in my life.
Ingat
(Take Care!)
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