Week One!

Family & Friends!!!

Ahhh my companion and I are so happy that it's P-day!! It's been such an insane, awesome nine days so far, but it's nice to have a chance to breathe a little bit. It's still super busy today though-- our day was packed before it even began. We're going to the temple right after I write this (YAY!), then to dinner and then to class. Welcome to life at the MTC!

Since this is my only email I'll be sending from the MTC, let me tell you a little of what it's like.

The church purchased the Raintree and Wyview apartment complexes just west of the Lavell Edwards stadium, and they are now the "West Campus" of the Provo MTC, where I am. It's basically an entirely different MTC because we don't go to the main campus at all, except for general conference this weekend. We live in the Wyview apartments (SUPER NICE, much better than what I've seen of the main campus apartments ;) ), and have classes over at the Raintree apartments. Yup, our classrooms are actually in what used to be college apartments! My district meets in a small used-to-be bedroom that has a whiteboard, computer desk, and eight desks in it. I wouldn't have thought of converting an apartment complex into MTC classrooms, but it works great.

Our cafeteria, bookstore, barbershop, and mail room are in two huge trailers adjacent to the apartments. They're actually quite nice. They feed us WELL. And by well, I mean they place donuts, cake, and cupcakes at the beginning and end of every food line (so you have to pass it up TWICE if you're trying to refrain from sugar), the meals are of a delicious variety, and there is cereal, juice, milk, soda, salad, ice cream, and toast available at every meal. Um. I think I may have gained like five pounds already. My companion and I ate like horses the first couple days, but we're doing better at trying to pass up sugar and five plates of food. (Emphasis on "trying".) 

We've quickly learned to love getting the mail twice a day. It's like Christmas EVERY day! P-Day is like an eternity of Christmases smushed into one day of the week. Cloud nine. Elder Anderson (an elder from my district) gets tons and tons of letters, so we've made a tally box on the whiteboard marking how many letters and packages he gets. It was something like nine letters in one day that got us tallying. I think he's up to about 20 letters and six packages. It makes mail time more entertaining, that's for sure! On Friday I got two care packages I wasn't expecting, from home ward members-- with homemade chocolate chip cookies and popcorn and chocolate and sweet notes. They totally made my day. I've gotten a couple letters too and the packages from home were MUCH appreciated! We are all so happy for each other when we get mail. Sometimes we basically open each other's packages because we're so excited. Hey. Mail is mail. 

I understand now what missionaries meant when they said you spend your whole day in the classroom...because you do. ALL DAY. I think yesterday we spent 11+ hours in our classroom. That's normal. But it's so fun and I learn so much. My district...I LOVE MY DISTRICT. They're like my new best friends. Hilarious things happen all the time. You get to know one another pretty well and pretty fast when you're in a tiny room together all day every day. The first couple days we were pretty quiet especially during study time, but we laugh and talk all the time now and it makes such a tight schedule much more enjoyable. :) Sometimes we talk too much and it digs into our study time, but we're working on being completely focused in the classroom and saving jokes etc for meal times and walking to classes. Allow me to briefly introduce you to my district:

Elder Black: First of all, he's actually dark-skinned, which makes it super cool that his last name is Black. He is SO FUNNY. I could probably say that about every person in my district. He makes classes fun, but he also has a very sincere, sweet testimony and he's a stellar missionary in the making. He feels the Spirit so strongly and brings it strongly to the lessons. He's a great example of the power of prayer. He makes sure to pray every time before he begins studying and before we do pretty much anything. Great elder.

Elder Jensen: He just graduated from high school and he's a really tall basketball player and car lover. He's from here in Provo. He's still young in a lot of ways, but when he and Elder Black taught me during a role play how to pray, he was very good at caring about me and my "family" as an investigator, and he was a good listener and brought the spirit. He'll be a good missionary.

Elder Anderson: Of the four elders in our district, he is the most quiet and pensive. He really takes the mission seriously and has great insights into the scriptures and principles we study. He's very humble and he's just a very real person. He's a sincere, mature missionary and really cares about his investigators.

Elder Durtschi: He's almost a bit of an oddball, but he fits right in. He has good insights and his goal for his mission is to just work as hard as he can.

Sister Anderson: Sweet sister, one of my roommates. She has a beautiful voice and she's very easy going. She's perfect for her companion.

Sister Perrins: She's from Vancouver Washington. She teaches well. Love her!

Sister Hulme: My COMPANION. LOVE HER. I am so grateful she is my companion, that was definitely inspired. We have similar temperaments in that we are both calm people, but we love to laugh and we get along well. She's from Bear Lake, Idaho and she loves to hunt and loves the cold and being outdoors. She worked for the Forest Fire Service over the summer, how cool is that?! And we both love to dance in the kitchen. Bam. Meant to be.

Being a Sister Training Leader has been wonderful-- mostly it means Sis. Hulme and I go to leadership and administrative meetings, take care of the sisters in our zone, and welcome the new sisters (who came last night!). We did the new missionary orientation for our zone last night with the Zone Leaders. It went well and they are such sweet missionaries. It's been a great opportunity for me to learn to lead with love and motivation to serve. 

I know I didn't get to share a lot of my spiritual experiences and teaching experiences, I'm so sorry I'm out of time! I will say though that there is an incredible spirit here at the MTC. The moment I started walking away from my family van with my luggage I didn't look back. The outside world literally disappeared from my mind. It took a few days for me to process and adjust because once I got here, all the issues, thoughts, circumstances, everything from before I left just left me. I felt like a blank slate. It was weird and confusing. I was trying to remember who I was before, but at the same time I didn't want to remember because I felt like I was being forged into a new, better person. I'm still the same person with the same weaknesses, but I'm learning how to overcome them from an entirely different perspective. It's been such a blessing to me. Once I understood better that I was focusing on others, not me, it got better. I'm definitely not perfect at it yet and I know I probably will never be, but I'm moving in that direction.

The first thing I noticed within the first few days was that my capacities in almost every aspect were increased exponentially--- it's incredible. We've been waking up at 5:30am, and that first morning I woke up entirely awake and with no need for sleep. It was so crazy! It's been like that every morning since. I get a little groggy but not tired. It's wonderful. And I can focus for hours at a time with studying and classes. Before I left, I was wondering how in the world I would fill an hour of studying every morning in the field...now I'm wondering how that could possibly be enough! I know this is God's work. I know I have a lot to learn, but when I've struggled this week with desiring to even be here or do the work, as soon as I pray for support I feel peace, a desire to work, and I'm put back on my feet again. He loves His children, and especially after that missionary-themed general conference I know that now is the time for His work to be done!

"A marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men..." Here goes to being a part of it!

Love you so much. I'll respond to individual emails next week. Please write me in Georgia, I fly out Tuesday! I'll send pics on my next P-Day whenever that is.

Love,

Sister Taylor

MOM

I fly out Tuesday morning and I can call you at the airport before I leave. Expect a call anytime between 4:30-6:30 am.

I don't know when my next p-day will be but it will probably be a week from Monday.

Love you lots! Thanks for the video of Truman, tell him happy birthday for me!