Life is Good at the MTC!

Thursday, December 4, 2014

So this week isn't much compared to last week. But it has flown by. My 1 month point was yesterday.... I have 17 months of my mission left! And this first one has seriously flown by. But I have loved every second of it. So Sunday we went on our weekly temple walk to the Provo temple. Our temple walks are always way fun and relaxing. We don't get out of the MTC much so I love going on temple walks. Sundays in general tend to be the best days at the MTC. Anyway, while on our temple walk, about ten of us (2 sisters, 8 elders,) ran into some native Koreans. So of course, we tried out our Korean on them a little and then had a conversation in English. One of the members of our branch presidency, who happens to also be native Korean, saw us talking to this young Korean couple. So Brother Lee (the member of the branch presidency) walked over to us, looked at us, and said one word. "Yunsip." I still haven't figured out the Korean keyboard or I would write it in the Korean alphabet. Anyway, yunsip means "practice." So we ended up all bearing our testimonies in Korean to the young Korean couple we met at the temple. SO intimidating. But so cool, too. It definitely made it seem more real. And we didn't have our books with us, so it was all off of memory. It was definitely a learning experience. But I appreciated the opportunity, even though I definitely realized I have a lot left to learn here in the MTC. The next event worth mentioning happened on Tuesday. So our district is super close, and one of our goals this week as a district was to pick on person each day, and spend about 10 minutes of class telling them what Christlike attribute they show the most. Tuesday they chose me. Everyone chose charity and love for me. That is like... the biggest compliment anyone could give me. I was reading in the scriptures earlier this week... and I read about how he who has charity and love is well with God (or something like that... I don't remember exact wording or the reference... Mianhamnida, my bad). The compliments that stood out to me the most were about the love that I show to everyone, and how optimistic I am. One elder even said that if someone is having a bad day, I uplift them because of my happiness and big heart. Another said that I am one that tries everything I can to do all that I can, and that he admired my motivation. Ahh my heart grew like 20 sizes that day, just because everyone was so sincere with their compliments. I LOVE MY DISTRICT. We spend the entire day together every day, and we have become so close. Everyone knows everything about everyone. We don't judge. We work together. It's truly amazing. Knowing that I leave them MTC in a month... it makes me feel like I am leaving a second family! My district has helped fill the void of not having family here with me. Now Mom and Dad, of course no one can ever replace you or my family. My district has just helped me feel loved and helped me not be homesick. They have all become my best friends. Really, we are all best friends. I mean we spend every hour of the day which each other. Night time is the only time we are not all together. How could we not be best friends right? :) I love it so much. So yesterday, we hosted new missionaries. It was sooo fun!!! I hosted about 4 or 5 sisters in all. A few were crying yes, but I tried my best to make them feel comfortable and reassure them that while day one is the hardest, it only gets better from there. One girl had luggage as big as me, no joke. I had to carry her luggage all over the MTC campus, trying to show no weakness. Her luggage well exceeded 50 pounds. I have no doubt of that. Or I'm just a wimp... haha. We passed Sister Fuataga on the way to the new sister's room. She started laughing at me. It was definitley a challenge but it was so fun! And our district got chosen to help the early missionaries as well. So every time a car would pull up the curb before official drop off time, there would be fourteen of us waving and smiling and welcoming the new elder or sister. One mom was so thankful for us that she took a picture of us after she dropped her son off. So fun. I hope we get to host again before we leave. We should, because we are here the longest. 5 weeks left! :) Oh and I also had a bad experience on Monday. So... my turquoise and black and white striped dress got some red spots in the laundry. Nothing else got anything on it. I don't know how it happened, but that was the first week I was here. The laundry machines are crappy and so was the detergent they gave us our first pday. Don't worry, I have figured things out now and have not and will not ruin anything else. So... some of the sisters mentioned taking it to alterations to see if they could just put a new skirt on it. The turquoise part (the bottom half) is the only part that got red spots. The rest was untouched. So I figured it was worth a shot. We (me, my companion Sister Russell, Sister Fuataga and Sister Wijetunge) went up to alterations (Sister Fuataga had some dresses that needed altered too) to see if they could fix it. This old lady, a volunteer, came up to help us. This old lady was the meanest old lady I've ever met in my life. Now, keep in mind that being a CNA included being spanked by an old lady, having my earrings pulled out, being cornered in a bathroom and all sorts of fun things. But this old lady won the contest. First, she took Sister Fuataga's dresses and demanded she go put them on "right this instant." Fuatanga was about to ask her a question when she yelled "GO PUT THEM ON!" Then, she gave me a paper to fill out. I had light purple nail polish on at the time and my CTR ring. First, she flipped out on me for wearing nail polish. Then she saw my CTR ring and flipped out on me for wearing jewelry. "Sister missionaries should leave their worldy possessions at home. Go take off your nailpolish and send your jewelry home." And that is explaining it nicely. Anyway, remember that she is a volunteer. She doesn't work at the MTC. And I have a missionary handbook that has all the guidelines to what sisters can and cannot wear. Nail polish, as long as it is not neon or flashy, is totally fine, and some mission president's wives encourage it because it is professional. Jewelry is fine as long as it is not flashy either. Almost every missionary I know wears a CTR ring. I don't even care if she fixes my dress or not. She said she couldn't alter it but that she could try to get the stains out. By the time she said that I was fed up with her yelling at me. The spirit was long gone, and I was trying to keep my cool. So I let her take the dress, we walked to lunch. And then I fumed for a little while and let it go. That is the last time I take anything to alterations though. It was so ridiculous. But yeah, that's my last story. I just got back from playing volleyball with Sister Fuataga and the elders in my district while my companion, Sister Russell, ran on the track. It was SOOO fun. We were the only two sisters playing, but they totally set it for us and let us play just like they would with only elders. It's my favorite part of the day, playing volleyball during gym time. The week in all was a good one, and a fast one. I love this gospel and I know that it is true, without a doubt. I know that I am meant to serve in Korea, and that in order to be a missionary you must have charity and love. I hope you all had a fabulous thanksgiving! Love you so much! Miss you! Pray for snow! Sister Fuataga and Sister Wijetunge haven't seen much of it yet. Sister Russell wants to see more too! :) Love you, talk to you next Thursday! :)