Just got this email from Terilyn today. She also sent pictures. I will attempt to add those too.
Dear family, you suck at writing me.
Dear friends, I'd love to hear from you! Haha, okay, rant over. Just so you all
know, my P-days are on Saturday while I'm at the MTC! I'll be having one more
Pday before I leave to Maryland. We just got our travel info yesterday, so it's
coming fast! Only 10 more days at the MTC!! Crazy!
So, missionary time is really
strange. The days seem to drag on, but the week goes by so fast! All of the
days seem to blend together, so it's hard to remember what day I did certain
things. We are in a classroom most of the day and have little to no time to do
anything for ourselves, including shower. My companion and I have been waking
up early to exercise, which is great, because we don't have much gym time. Even
on Pdays. I did have gym time yesterday and that was a blast! We got to play
Volleyball and I just found out that there are high records for certain
conditioning exercises including pull-ups. For those of you who know me, I can
pop out 20 pull ups in no time and the record for the girls is only 11, so,
Whitney, when you come to the MTC, look for my name on the record board!!
Okay, so the first day of the MTC
was a bunch of running around and talking. I met my companion, who, by the way,
is the coolest person ever. You know how you can give really good friends
"The Look" after hearing something and it's just awesome because you
both know what the other person is thinking? (Alexis and Leah, if you don't
know what this is, then I've been giving you crazy looks our entire friendship)
Anyway, within three hours of meeting Sister Hart, she and I shared
"The Look" and we've been best friends ever since. I seriously feel
like I have separation anxiety whenever we're apart! We've been told that we
are "eternal friends" by our branch president and we definitely feel
that way. I love her so much! And, I have so much that I can learn from her.
She's just awesome.
Our entire district is going to
Maryland, so that's something new. Most districts have people serving in
different areas, but not us! During our orientation on our first night, we were
told that we were part of more than 600 missionaries entering the MTC on June
10th and that it was the biggest group of missionaries our presidency has ever
had (but not a record at the MTC). So that's cool.
Another cool thing! So, my companion
and I have been called as Sister Training Leaders! When I first entered the
MTC, I had no desire to be a missionary leader. None. But when we were in our
Branch meeting, I just had the biggest desire to serve these Sisters! Luckily
our Branch Presidency felt that and asked us to this calling. I love it! I get
to love these sisters and serve them more than ever. My companion is great at
it, too! We get to welcome the new missionaries next week and give them a tour
of the MTC (which will be my companions job because I'm directionally
challenged in that area). I'm so excited! My comp and I are like big sisters to
all these sisters and it's just awesome!
The food is yummy and it's hard to
eat very healthy here, but my appetite is still small like usual, so I guess
that's good. I get to go to the temple today, which is great! it's going to be
so nice to get out of the MTC for a while. And tomorrow my companion and I are
going to start MTC choir! We'll only be in it for two Sundays because we leave
on June 23rd, but that's okay.
Something that I learned while at
the MTC, for those of you who know physiology and how the human body works,
you'll know what a positive feedback system is. THE GOSPEL IS A POSITIVE
FEEDBACK SYSTEM! If you don't know what that is, then you'll have no idea what
I'm talking about, but if you do, IT MAKES SENSE! The more we put into the
gospel and learning and trying, the more blessings we receive and the happier
we feel. When we feel happier, we are more likely to serve and share our
happiness with others, which is how we learn and try and serve; therefore, we
receive even more blessings for the additional work we do. Isn't that awesome!
It totally makes sense :) Oh, and Whitney! When you come to the MTC, pay
attention to one of the videos during your first three days about Fundamentals.
It shows Gymnastics! A certain gymnast whom I LOVE that hurt her ankle during
the Olympics and competed on the vault anyway (and landed on one foot) (I hope
you know who I mean! If not, I'll tell you next week) is shown in this video
and it made my day!
I have so much to learn here! It's
crazy! We've been teaching some "investigators" and one of them is
really hard to connect with. She's very disinterested in everything and Sis
Hart and I have struggled finding ways to teach her and help her feel of
Heavenly Father's love for us. Yesterday was our first time teaching her and it
definitely wasn't easy. My companion and I struggled for the longest time to
feel the spirit directing us. We had no idea where to go with her after our
lesson. Yesterday was definitely a learning experience. We were taught more
about prayer and how we can teach and invite others to come unto Christ by
helping them feel His love for us. We have done SO many role plays to learn how
to teach better and be directed by the Spirit. After our lesson, our teacher
asked us (as companions) to go into empty rooms with just our companion and do
some individual prayer. We were able to kneel down and just pray, pour our
hearts out to God, and listen to what He had to say to us. I think I prayed for
about 20 minutes and when my companion and I looked up, we were both bawling.
It was a hard day and we needed to feel of our Father's love and we needed to
know that He's proud of us for what we are trying to do. I can testify to you
that as long as you try, even though you will fail, your Father in Heaven is
proud of you. He loves you and He wants you to be happy. That is the greatest
message I can tell you right now. The Atonement is real and our Father loves us
SO MUCH that He provided a way back to Him despite our imperfections. I just
can't stress this enough. OUR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES US! We should be jumping
for joy! Ah, just such an amazing feeling.
Although I still have so much to
learn, I know the Spirit will be able to teach through me and my investigators
will be able to feel the Hope and Happiness that comes with growing in the
Gospel. Seeing this change in people is exactly why I left.
Well, I will end with a quote I
heard while in the MTC because quotes are what I'm all about!
"Everything in this conversion
process must happen to you before it can happen to them." - Elder Holland.
If you can become truly converted, then you can teach. Before that conversion
happens, your investigators won't be able to feel the spirit. Pressure! But
it's good. Okay, I love you all! I hope you have an amazing week and I hope I
get to hear from you next week! Seriously! I'm desperate ;) OH! And if you know
anything about DearElder.com (or not) please use it! Mess around with it,
because I can get your letter the very next day at the MTC and it'd be nice to
have something handed to me while the rest of my district gets their letters.
Thanks guys! I love you all!
Love,
Sister Humphrey
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