Hola mi familia!!!
How are you all? I'm typing furiously in hopes of getting to
tell you all about this crazy week so please forgive any weird grammar or
spelling. Just remember I do know how to talk. Although right now I seem to be
in a weird state of not really being able to speak either Spanish or English.
My companion and I just mess it all up!
First of all thank you
SOOOOO much for all the letters! I never understood how wonderful they are but
now they are what save me! The first day we got mail (Friday I think) my whole district was jealous of
me because I had so many. Thank you! I love dearelder. Even if you can only
type up a paragraph or two please send it! There is nothing better than getting
letters. I also LOVED the package! My blankets are so warm and fuzzy and remind
me of home. And the pictures are wonderful! I couldn't wait to show you all off
to the hermanas. And the SD card, and the brownies and everything! You are so
great! Aunt Nancy and Sharon also sent me some cookies from dearelder. They were
wonderful and they made my day! Thank you! My district thanks you too haha I
shared them and the elders were so happy. I also got a letter from Bryon, Tad
Garland, Aunt Kathy and some anonymous letter which was kind of strange. THANK
YOU SO MUCH THOUGH! I love you!
As I told you, the
first day was crazy. It's gotten better and better each day though. Spanish is
really difficult. I don't think I really understood how they teach it to you in
the MTC. Most of the time, I am just studying on my own. We have class for 3
hours a day but not all of that is Spanish lessons. The rest of the day we are
in charge of our own learning and study. On Friday we taught our first investigator in Spanish.
It was terrifying! I couldn't understand a lot of it but luckily Hermana
Gardner could. I just tried to testify as much as I could using the phrases I
had memorized. That day I got pretty discouraged with the language. I felt like
everyone else was understanding and I wasn't. I have never really felt like I
just didn't get it in school but on Friday I totally understood how it might be for
someone who really just doesn't understand the concepts. It was pretty
discouraging and I was working pretty hard not to cry or give up. That night I
prayed fervently for faith because I knew if I had enough faith God would bless
me. The next day during personal study I found lots of wonderful scriptures
from 1 Nephi all about faith and that day things went so much better! Hermana
Gardner and I taught a lesson for over 50 minutes! We didn't even realize so
much time had gone by until we walked back into the classroom and looked at the
clock. It definitely wasn't a perfect lesson, and technically the lessons
should be shorter than that, but I couldn't believe I had (sort of) held up a
conversation in Spanish for so long. The Lord definitely answered my prayers.
That experience has given me confidence that learning the language is
hard, it won't come right away, and it will take a lot of work, but I can do
it.
Our lessons with
Gregorio (our investigator) are very challenging and very fun. We have really
been working on following the Spirit and focusing on his needs not on an
outlined plan. It really helps when we trust God and our focus is on loving the
investigator. Hermana Gardner and I always sing a hymn to bring the Spirit
which totally works and then we just talk. Lately I haven't even really had
notes. Just a few points or words I might forget. It's terrifying, but I am
trying to rely on the Spirit, not myself (duh, why would I ever want to rely on
someone who can't speak Spanish when I have the Spirit of God on my side
right?) and that seems to work better. Tomorrow we are teaching him about the atonement and
how it can help his family and how baptism is the first step to helping him
live with them forever. He really loves his family and I think knowing that he
can live with them forever will really help him. We also really want him to
commit to baptism because he's so ready. I know, weird, I'm talking like this
about a fake investigator, oh well :).
My district has 10
people in it. I've already told you about Hermana Gardner.
She is great and is
so patient to help me with my Spanish. She is kind of like Starr, my roommate
from college. Hermana Redford and Hermana Alley are the other two sisters in
our district. We all get along so well. Hermana Redford is 21 and from Denver
Colorado. Hermana Ally is 19 and from Holliday Utah. We love rooming with each other
and hanging out together all day. The elders are Elder Ringwood from Brighton High
School area, Elder Brown from Arizona, Elder Cline from Brighton area as well
(he and Elder Ringwood went to school together), Elder Pederson from
Springville, Elder Danielson Jensen (elder DJ for short) from Australia
and Elder Kelly from Arizona. They are all 19 except for Elder Kelly, who is 20
and Elder DJ who is 18. Elder DJ and Elder Pederson just graduated High School.
They are great. There is definitely a difference between the Hermanas and the
Elders in our study habits and focus but they all have wonderful testimonies
and they keep us laughing. Elder Pederson and Elder Cline are particularly
hilarious.
Our zone is great too.
I love all the sisters we have gotten to know. The other night we had a girl’s
night and talked all about our lives and boys etc. It was a lot of fun. We have
two sister training leaders (Hermana Johnson from Logan and Hermana Guzy from
Brighton area). They are hilarious and so sweet. They leave next week though so
we'll have new ones soon. They have been very helpful in answering our
questions and letting us in on all the tips and tricks of the MTC.
This week has been a
little different with the Mission President Training going on down here. We
haven't eaten in the cafeteria since Thursday afternoon. I really enjoyed the food in the
cafeteria (just to clarify for Aunt Kathy, the first night I just didn't choose
something good because I didn't really understand how it all worked). I do love
the chocolate milk. We have been eating in the gym this week though so we
haven't been able to use the gym to work out and we all have to eat the same
thing. For the first few days they didn't have enough food and since we eat at
the end of the schedule sometimes we got leftovers or didn't get part of the
meal. They've improved it though and it's all been pretty good. I haven't been
able to make quiet has healthy choices because we just have to eat what we're
given. I love meal times though. It feels like all we do here is study and eat
haha!
My basic schedule goes
something like this: 6:30 (or 6:00 when we have gym in the morning) wake up. Some
days we have assigned gym time and play volleyball outside in the sand or in
the gym (I am terrible but it is still fun.)
If we don't get to use those facilities we run around the MTC (we're not
allowed to run around the temple David :( ) and do lunges, ab work outs, etc.
We were pretty sore the other day. On Friday we made a rule that if we say guys (in the MTC
we have to call each other Elders and Sisters, not guys-it's a big deal) we had
to do 5 stair laps. Within the 30 minutes of our workout we had to do 15! We
found a pretty small staircase haha. Anyway, then we are usually in class by
about 7:30 were we have personal study until breakfast at 8:30 or so. Then we come back in and study while we
all take turns teaching our investigator Gregorio for 30 minutes. We teach him
every day and tomorrow we will be getting two new investigators.
Then we have lunch and
after that we have 3 hours of class with our teacher Hermano Lunt. He is
AWESOME! I want to be just like him someday. He pretty much just talks in Spanish,
except to occasionally clarify when we all give him blank stares (which, to be
honest, is pretty much all the time in my case). He served in El Salvador and
has been home for about 3 years I think. He gives us Spanish lessons as well as
lessons about the foundations of teaching (I think they're pretty new if you
haven't heard of them). He is super spiritual and always has awesome insights.
It's also nice to have him in there to control our Elders who don't tend to
study unless a teacher is there.
Then after that we
have TALL (language study on the computer) dinner and then we come back for a
few hours of language study on our own and planning. That's a rough outline
although each day is a little different. We keep the same schedule for the rest
of the MTC though.
On Fridays we get to
play volleyball outside after dinner for our gym time. It's wonderful because
it's warm and sunny, and we don't have to study after dinner haha! It totally
made my week last week. And as you know now Wednesday is my P-day. We have to clean the English
study building at 6:00 (which
FYI is WAAAY nicer than ours haha, although I guess they're just getting us
used to what we will be living and working in in the field) and then we studied
and went to the temple. Unfortunately it is closing for cleaning so today was
our first and last time to go, but at least we got to go once! We went
with most of our zone and ate breakfast there beforehand which was delicious. I
got a giant waffle with strawberries and blueberries YUM! Then we have to do
laundry, study some more and after dinner we go back to our regular class
schedule.
Wasn't the broadcast on Sunday awesome! I LOVED it! We were speculating all
week about what the announcement would be and we talked about technology and
member missionary work. I love how the church isn't afraid to embrace change
and use it for good. I think it will really help to open a lot of doors. I loved
all the videos (especially the ones with the cute kids-you know me). I don't
want to sound like a preachy missionary already but I'm so excited to see
member missionary work because I really think it can help! Maybe some people just
need to know that they are needed in the church. I don't know. I will be so
happy to hear about your own missionary efforts. We constantly stress here that
our purpose is to help others come unto Christ and receive the blessings of the
atonement and his gospel. So why shouldn't we share it with everyone! It's SO
important.
BTW Some elders who
sat behind us told me I was so old I was about to turn into dust when they
heard my age haha! Story of my life haha!
Our Sunday was very different than what it normally is
because of the broadcast. We had one big Relief Society (that's normal) which
was totally cool. Everyone says it's the best part of Sunday. Normally we would have Sacrament meeting
just with our Branch (aka our zone) but last Sunday we had two big Sacrament
meetings with half of the MTC in each one. It was very different. We didn't do
a lot else because we had to be at the broadcast by two. Afterward we had a
little meeting with our district about the broadcast, which we will do after
ever devotional.
My whole district
loves that I've been a kindergarten teacher and I talk about my sweet kids all
the time. I hope I get pictures from them soon that I can show off because they
are so cute! They have also figured out what a nerd I am. They asked if I am a straight
A student because I study so hard and I like the book work so much haha. I'm
trying not to be a mom too much and get after the elders though haha. I totally
understand why they have some of the rules now; you wouldn't imagine what the
elders can come up with to do. But they make it fun and they really do have
awesome testimonies.
For our Tuesday night devotional we went to the Marriott
Center and heard from Janice Kapp Perry. It was pretty cool. Her husband was
HILARIOUS! He talked about his mission for just a minute and then she got up
and talked to us about our missions and a lot about her music. We got to sing
some of her songs all together and it was so powerful. She has written some new
words to "As Sisters In Zion" that you should look up. They are
awesome and we sang them in a medley with Armies of Helaman and it was SO
powerful! It is such an awesome time to be a missionary. And to see us all
singing primary songs together was awesome. It was such an incredible moment to
hear 4000 missionaries singing about how we've been taught and now we are going
out to teach others the truth.
During her talk,
Sister Perry told us about her husband's first line to her. She was warming up
for a clarinet midterm at BYU and he said, "Those lips look like they were
made for something better!" Then right in the middle of her talk he walked
up, bent her over and gave this long not-so-Disney kiss haha. It was hilarious
and the whole auditorium exploded in cheers. She also sang her "family song"
that she wrote that was super cute. It was wonderful. I think I'm going to like Tuesday nights because of the devotional and because
the next day is P-day and I get to write you. I have been looking forward to
this for a week now! I love you all so much and I miss you like crazy but I am
so happy to be here. It goes by sooo slowly but on the other hand I can't
believe I only have 5 more weeks left.
I'll try to answer
your questions and send it in a letter because I'm about up on my computer time.
Love you!
Hermana Millet
PS I totally say all
my prayers in Spanish although I pray for the same things every day haha.
PPS I saw Tisha
Santana and Brad Forsyth. J
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