Sunday, June 22, 2014

First letter from the MTC

June 20, 2014

Wow. It is only Friday and I feel like I have already been here for a week! When I was dropped off I was kind of nervous and scared but everyone was so nice and I felt sooo welcomed as I walked to my room and got my things. Eveyone is so happy here its awesome!! My Companions name is Sister Reeves and she is from Houston, TX. We've been able to become pretty close in the last couple days and she is pretty amazing! She is 19 and goes to BYU and is majoring in chemical engineering! She loves to workout so I was so excited when I found that out! Its funny though because she is going to the Detroit, Michigan but the other two sisters in our district our going to New Hampshire too. There names are Sister Gillies and Sister Keown, they're both amazing too! We all get along really well and are all well motivated so I'm excited for the next week with them!  Well after we got all squared away in our room we got to meet our teachers, Brother Pliler and Brother Davies. They are both really great and I'm so excited to be taught by them! I have already learned ALOT. So much that I'm trying to no be overwhelmed. We had a new missionary orientation and the MTC Pesidency spoke to us. They are all very kind and very close to the spirit. It was an awesome meeting! We then had a meeting where we had about 50 missionaries and we all had to try and teach 1 investigator. We got to do this with 3 different people and wow was it HARD. If anything it made me realize how crucial it is to have and teach by the spirit and also that we need to show the investigator that we truly do care about them, and that we also need to teach in a way so that the understand. That first night was horrible. I didn't sleep at all. I talked to alot of missionaries and they said thats how their first night was too. Last night I slept MUCH better! Maybe because I used my doterra oils. :) Yesterday was probably the LONGEST day yet! Sister Reeves woke up not feeling good after throwing up in the middle of the night so after waking up late because our alarm didnt go off we tried to go to the health clinic but it wasnt open until 8 AM so we got sack lunches and had to hurry and get ready in order to make it to class by 7:40. We were five minutes late because we thought it started at 7:45...but we were still the first companionship to the classroom. Ha! Us newbies are still learning the ropes :) but the rest of the day was way better! We learned about weekly and daily planning, personal study, companion study, and how crucial those are to teaching by the spirit.  We had another meeting on investigators and it was sooo good. I felt like I finally starting to understand what they meant when they say, "What do you think God wants for them? Once again I cannot know what God wants for my investigator if I do not have the spirit with me and also learn to see these people as Heavenly Father sees him. After that we had study time and wow I found out very quickly how bad I am at studying. I could not concetrate for more than an 20 minutes. I was kind of feelin down on myself but then had to remind myself it was only my second day. We finally had gym time and all the sisters in my district played basketball and foursquare (we heard you arent a real missionary until you play foursquare so we thought we would try it out:) We had some Tongan sisters play with us and they were so funny and hilarious! Then we had 3 more hours of class. I know sounds really long, but class goes by so fast. Brother Pliler asked us if we had any concerns and I said I was worried that I wouldn't be able to teach by the spirit and he asked me why and I told him that I think I lack faith. He gave us some awesome scriptures, my favorite one was Alma 32:27 and it talks about having a desire to believe. Since then I have been praying for a desire to believe and a strengthened faith in my Heavenly Father and the faith that he will show me and teach me the things He would have me say and do. Last night we got to meet our branch presidency while were here and they are so amazing and so loving and kind! We got to know eachother better and then we had personal interviews. Our President is President Washburn and then his counselors Brother Hall and Brother McClay. Brother McClay is out of town so we didnt get to meet him yet but I hear he is pretty awesome too. My interivew was with President Hall and it was just what I needed. He was so kind and gave me some great inspiration. He asked me my concerns and he let me know that I wouldnt be a perfect missionary when I left the MTC but that I should be focusing on my 6th month mark. He said until then I should look at everything as a learning and growing process. He asked me what I cherished most and I told him my family, and he told me that my blessing for going on a mission would be my relationship with my Savior, and thats what I would cherish most when I got home. And that relationship will help me in all aspects of my life. I was told by somebody yesterday that serving a mission is showing your Heavenly Father unconditional love. I know there are SO MANY things I have to learn and work on. And wow this is not easy but I love it here already. I love this gospel, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve and experiences I am having! Thanks for all the love and support. I love you all!!

Sister Innes

PS I couldnt figure out how to upload pictures so hopefully I can send some next week!






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