Week 2

Dear family and friends,
My week has been pretty insane, but also awesome. I still love the MTC. My teachers are phenomenal and my district is super awesome. I leave tomorrow morning to go to my mission home in Sandy and I am both sad and super excited. I am sad because I love all the people here at the MTC so much and I don't want to leave them behind and never see them again, but I am super excited because I know that serving the Lord in Utah is going to be even more amazing. Guess who I saw last night? Sister Jesse Ellsworth! I'd been looking for her this whole time, but she's at main campus and I'm at West so we have no opportunity to even be in the same part of the MTC ever. But, last night my zone walked over to Main campus to watch a devotional and among the hundreds of missionaries, we found each other, so we were both pretty psyched about that.

This week has been a lot like last week. Spending time with my district learning about Heavenly Father and how much He loves us. It seriously never fails to amaze me how lucky we all are. We have been given so much and He asks for so little in return. I can't wait to leave tomorrow morning to share with all who I can, the love of their Father in Heaven and His plan to get us all back and for us to be happy. I am so excited to be where I am right now.

Week 1

The MTC has been super awesome I have been praying so much and feeling so much love from our Heavenly Father. This morning I was able to go to the temple with my branch and it was amazing, as always. Afterwards my roommates and I saw this girl and she was just sitting outside the temple crying so I went over and started talking to her. I was so glad that I decided we should because she really needed the talk, and so did we. She's supposed to get her call this week and she has just been freaking out and being totally stressed. So, we decided to pray with her and talked to her about the mission so far. It was seriously such a powerful experience. I know this is where I need to be. I am so glad I made the choice to come.

This is It!

Ah! I leave tomorrow! That's completely insane. I feel like I just turned in my papers. I at once feel completely unprepared and totally ready to get out there and do this. I am so excited for this opportunity to go teach people about something that means so much to me. I think a lot of the way I feel is summed up by Henry B. Eyring, an apostle of the Church:

"I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tinted visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, positions, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am lifted up in prayer, and labor with power.
My face is set, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or delayed, will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table with the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.
I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, and paid up for the case of Christ.
I must go until He comes, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He stops me and when He returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.”

I'm ready for this next step. It's going to be amazing!