Also learns much. And cries much. Especially that last one.
There has been so much to process this week that there's no way I'm ever going to be able to get it all down, so hopefully I can hit some of the highlights here in the short time I have to write. This week has been the longest of my life, for sure.
The moment you get here, you're running. I was handed so many things in my first five minutes I'm still not sure I've been through it all. I met my district right after dropping off my stuff and they have very quickly become some of my favorite people. My companion (who is an actual angel) and I are the only two in our district going to North Dakota Bismarck; the other two sisters and the trio of Elders are all going to Kansas Wichita. I had no idea that I'd ever be able to love people as quickly as I have come to love these Elders and Sisters. They're seriously the greatest and I'm going to be so sad when we ship out. They're leaving a day before my companion and I, so we're going to have one very lonely day next week after saying goodbye to our little family. I can't even hug the Elders, which is maybe the worst rule of the MTC. I mean, I get it, but I love these silly Elders.
We've started working with investigators, which is really good practice even though it's been hard. Our teachers, Sister Smith and Brother Henson, are really great, but it's hard to know how well you're actually doing when neither you or your companion have any clue what's going on and "teach by the spirit" is kind of the only guidance you get from anyone. I've still got some serious studying to do so I can figure out how to give these lessons with a little bit more confidence. Most of it is just listening to the needs of your investigator, which is fine, but then you're supposed to respond with doctrine and that's something that I'm having a hard time with. Especially using the scriptures, because my ability to remember scripture references on the fly is pretty terrible.
Choir practice has been a definite highlight. If nothing else, I know that choir is TRUE. Brother Eggett is the funniest choir director I've ever had. We sang "Child's Prayer" for the Tuesday night devotional (which was with Sister Rosemary M. Wixom, who is maybe the sweetest woman alive) and learned some really cool things about how we are the literal children of Heavenly Father and what that means about who we are and who we can become. It's been stellar and I'm sad that I'm only going to get another week of it.
We got to go to the temple this morning and it was beautiful. I think the Provo celestial room is my favorite of all the temples I've visited so far. It was a great time to just have some peace and contemplate, since things have been a little rough for me lately.
I'm running short on time, so I'll try to wrap this up pretty quickly.
The MTC has been way harder than I thought it would, and I thought it would be really hard. It's hard in ways that I wasn't expecting and there's a lot I feel like I need to learn and work on before I'll even feel close to being an effective missionary. But I've only got one more week to get it figured out, so hopefully that'll be enough time to at least feel kind of capable. There's a whole lot of things to adjust to, and it's kind of rough. But everyone's super kind and great and the MTC is a really lovely place, actually, so I think things are going to be okay.
Thanks everyone for your support! I don't know that I'll have a chance to email again until I actually get to Bismarck, so until then, God loves you!
