Wow. What a week. And it hasn't even been a week, just six days. I'm exhausted! Wheew. Even now isn't a break, I have laundry in the washer and lots of things to study and do. I hope that I can get to all of it. If there is one thing I have learned about Missions it is that you never have enough time for anything! Just do what you can and you'll probably be okay. So here I am Sister Smith, which is totally normal but also weird. My companion is Sister Lybbert from Edmonton Canada and the two other girls in my district are Sister Donelly (from springville) and Sister Hughes. We all get along well which is nice. I am by far the weirdest/craziest sister though, which is fun but also embarrassing haha. The Elders in my district are Elder Dowdle and Elder Norton. They are good brothers to us and look out for us. Definitely straight arrows, totally dedicated which is great.
Wednesday was mostly getting to know everyone, having big introduction things and class, we barely had any time to get settled in our room before it was quiet time at 10:15 and we got to pray and ponder and have personal devotionals with the Lord. I still need to work on praying better. It's hard when I'm tired to think clearly or be as sincere as I want. But I'm working on it. They say that in the MTC you are shown all of your weaknesses. That is true. I have learned more about myself than ever before. And at times it is really discouraging but at the end of each day I am strengthened and renewed with a new dedication to try harder tomorrow, and to start to correct some of the bad habits I have. Sleep is the one thing I miss most. I have a super creaky bed and we're worn out all of the time. It's hard to focus during personal study because every time I feel like I am going to fall asleep! My companion is really good and similar to me in that she understand and also gets tired. So when we're not being very productive we'll take a turn around the hall or get a drink or talk just to get our minds reactivated so we wont waste time reading the same sentence a million times.
Thursday... All I can say is class time. Lots of classtime!
Friday Sister Lybbert and I taught our first lesson! our "investigator" David, (our teacher role-playing an investigator he had had on his mission) was hard to reach! That combined with my companion and I having like no idea what to do made the lesson okay...but not great. It was a bit of a downer, but I realized I needed to rely on the Lord more and just focus on loving David. We also got our first period of gym time on Friday, it was really good to get active again.
Saturday our lesson with David was only 10 minutes long. But it was awesome! Brother Lester told us he had definitely felt the Spirit. Ah! At last!! We were finally getting somewhere :D It was awesome. I love that feeling. But as usually happens after you have a strong spiritual experience Satan tried really hard to bring us down. The second part of the afternoon was distracting and unreverent and it was no bueno. We also hadn't figured out how to go back and forth between studying and taking effective break. So we all as a district committed to being better in the future! It is a big adjustment to go from being at home with all of the time in the world to this sort of a lifestyle. But we're trying our best.
Sunday Just as busy as any other day. Sister Lybbert and I got assigned as Zone Sister Training Leaders. Which means basically all of our four hours of study time went to meetings. that's boring :P But it was good. and the devotional and relief society was awesome!!! Sister Oscarson the Young Women General President talked at relief society, and Sister Lybbert and I met her in the Bathroom! President Holland (not Elder Holland) spoke to us Elder Holland was there though and he introduced his son. He said this, "to people in the Church, members of the Presidency might seem unreal. Like we're from a different planet, traveling from temple to temple in a single bound who dont have to eat their vegetables...." Hahaha it was So funny!
And that brings us to today. I left out a lot of stories and so much is going on. But I want you to know that I'm alive and well. Which is good. :D Best wishes to everyone.
Love Sister Smith