October 12, 2016

Dear family and friends,

I'm so excited that I finally get to email you all! Here in the MTC my P-days are on Wednesdays so I had to wait a whole week before sending anything. It's been agony because so much has happened that I want to talk about!

First off, I just wanted to say that I am so excited to get out of here and go to Ghana so I can be less likely to get sick.  Also, life here is just really busy and filled with the anxiety and desire to get to where I was called. When I think that I have been here for a full week my first thought is, "That's so crazy!" because it just seems impossible that I could have already been here for that long. On the other hand my whole MTC experience so far has felt like one LONG ETERNAL DAY. But that's not to say that some pretty amazing stuff has happened.

My first day here was actually very stressful, mostly because nobody tells you what to do. You are given absolutely no briefings on what to expect. They just throw you into the lions den and say, "Don't leave, no high-fiving the sisters, be in bed by 10:00." The first few days were really a lot to take in. I'm so grateful for it all though because by Sunday my drive was totally restored and now I feel invigorated to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone I meet. I met my companion, Elder Guevara on my way into the MTC. Very first thing I said to him, "Hey! My mom facebook stalked your mom!" #awesomefirstimpressions But it's cool because we are tight now and he has a really strong testimony of Jesus Christ. When we teach our investigators and he gets off about his own self conversion and starts teaching by the spirit... It's truly amazing everyone! 

I also met our roommates Elder Stirling and Elder Banta, who are the only other Elders going to Kumasi with us in two weeks. In our District we also have Elder Callister and Elder Griener who are going to Rochester, New York, and Sisters Mathias, Brandt, Stevenson, and Mitchell, who are all going to Spokane.

The food here is terrible by the way. I'm taking it as preparation for Ghana... My first meal was delicious and everything after that has been sorely disappointing.

I also love our teacher Sister Greenall, she got back from her mission in Dallas, Texas four months ago and she is so good at getting all of us to dig deep and teach by the spirit. When I heard she went to Dallas I was like, "No way! Do you know Sister Klinkowski?" and she was like, "Yeah I know Sister Klinkowski!" So... shout out to you Kendra!

Also last night we had our first "Devo" and Elder Bednar came! He taught an amazing lesson on how we should learn and apply the lessons we are taught by the prophets because whether it be by the mouths of the prophets or the direct word of the Lord, it is the same. I learned a lot from Elder Bednar, but honestly I was mostly excited that I got to sing to him as a part of the MTC Choir! And in the choir I sat next to none other than the great Elder Leach himself! It was so fun. He seems to be doing really well. If only I could read his name tag... (It's in Croatian and/or Serbian, depending on how he feels that day.) #perksofspeakingenglish I also found Sister Camilla Morley walking into the MTC today. I gave her a nice warm welcome the MTC veteran way. #weekoldveteran

I love the emails I've been getting from my family and friends and I want more! Please guys feel free to send me pictures, spiritual thoughts, or even just let me know what is going on. I'm doing great and I want to know that you all are too!

You guys, this is the true church of Jesus Christ! After the first few days here, (which were pretty rough) I really felt my faith being tested. But on Sunday I had the opportunity to watch a talk by Elder Bednar that is only available to Missionaries in Training. I learned that mere faith and a testimony isn't enough to experience conversion, and that is so true. In order to experience true conversion we must first inhabit the character of Christ by turning outward to others when we would normally turn inward selfishly. If we can accomplish this, our faith, will become knowledge. Truly an amazing principle.

I love you all! I look forward to getting more emails! ​​​​