Tuesday night's devotional was amazing. As we were walking up to the building they had locked the main doors and Elder Wiest said he saw a lot of security out front so we assumed someone pretty important was coming to speak to us which is so exciting! During the prelude hymns the music director casually mentioned, just for the sake of knowing, that when an apostle enters the room we stand and remain standing until he says we may be seated. This casually placed bit of information got us all even more excited! That evening we had the privilege to hear from M. Russell Ballard, one of the Lord's twelve apostles, and some of the things he said were honestly life changing. He told us that we are building our lives. Every moment affects our destiny, so take control. We don't need to wait to be great; make righteous goals and go to work. As long as we have the drive and the faith to make it happen, we can do all things. Going along with that, he said, "Do not hesitate to press yourself a little bit to find out who you are." I'm realizing that I tend to stay in my comfort zone, but I will never improve unless I push myself. That is so applicable to my struggles with teaching right now. I love teaching and meeting people, it's just the opening my mouth and actually speaking that is the issue. But I just need to have faith to press myself and the Lord will take care of the rest. Everything he said that night was wonderful and impacted me so much, but there was one thing that has honestly changed my whole way of thinking. He said that if at the end of the day I can honestly say to my Heavenly Father that I have done the best I can then I am a great missionary. I think that is applicable to life in general, that if we do everything we can then we are doing alright. No one's perfect and sometimes the outcome isn't what we hope for, but it is so comforting that my Heavenly Father recognizes my efforts and what I did to get there and that's all that matters to Him.
We had our last lesson with Hely this last week which was really sad because we absolutely love her. But our lesson went very well and Sister Garza said my contribution to the lesson was 100% better and that makes me so excited. She said she almost didn't know what to do with me talking so much because the change was so huge and we are actually teaching as a companionship now. Let me tell you, the power of prayer is real. I have been praying to have the courage to follow the spirit and open my mouth and it has been amazing. So pray and have the faith to act and you will be blessed, I can promise you that.
Friday we had what's called In Field Orientation, which honestly was a huge reality check. I can't believe I leave the MTC tomorrow to face the real world! Look out Ohio, here we come. Sister Hansen and I are going to rock it. Something that really hit me from orientation was the fact that people should know my purpose when they interact with me. They should see Christ through me and know that I am His representative. Every moment counts and I'm not going to waste a minute of the Lord's time that He has so trustingly granted me.
I have had such an amazing experience here at the MTC. There has been so much growth since the first day I got here, it's crazy. I have become so close to my district. They are basically our little family here at the MTC, we do everything together. Goodbyes will be very hard, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. I also didn't realize how hard it was going to be to say goodbye to my teachers, Brother Anderson and Sister Petrie, but they are amazing and have influenced me so much. Despite all this, I am so ready to go! I love you all so much and can't wait to update you all next week from Ohio!!!
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| Our Zone |
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| Brother Anderson in front |
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| Sister Petrie in the middle |
