Pamilya at kahibeigan ako!!!!
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT IS MY
SECOND WEEK AT THE MTC!!! Days are weeks here and weeks are days!!! I
love it more and more every day though. I have grown so close to my
district. We are all best friends. We have so much fun together and
laugh and cry and laugh more and cry more. We all love eachother so
much! My zone is also amazing. Our Tagalog zone is known as the fun,
loud zone. We are constantly being told to be quiet, but who cares. We
have fun, but we also do work. Everyone says we are learning the
language so fast because we talk so much. I LOVE OUR ZONE! Our teachers
are also amazing. I know I will cry my eyes out when I have to leave
the MTC. I would love to serve here when I am done with my mission. We
have gym time each day and our whole zone plays volley-ball every day.
It is such a good time! I suck, but we have a lot of fun! To answer
your question mom, no our investigators at the MTC aren't actual
investigators. They are teachers that our acting, but they take on the
role of actual people they knew in the Philippines. It really is a real
experience. Julio, my first investigator became our teacher this
week. His name is Brother Covach, but I call him Julio. He served in
Manila and knows Dewey Graham. One of my other teachers also knows
Dewey Graham, Brother Kaka. I love making all the connections from just
going to the Philippines for 2 weeks. Ah I can't wait to get there!
And pretty much my whole district is going to Legaspi, which is a HUGE
comfort! Me and my Kasama, Sister Christensen taught Julio 5 times. I
am surpised at how well most of the lessons went considering our limited
Tagalog and lack of notes. One lesson in particular stands out in my
mind. It was our fourth lesson, so we could speak enough Tagalog to say
what we wanted to say. Instead of spitting memorized phrases at
Julio, everything we said came from the heart. We listened to the
spirit and the feeling was amazing. We learned that silence is okay.
We read a scripture with Julio and after he sat and stared at the page
for a minute strait. I have never felt the spirit so strong. Later
when he became our teacher he talked about the power of that moment.
During that lesson we had not planned on teaching him to pray, but we
ended up doing so. His prayer was so sweet! After we left the room me
and Sister Christensen were on top of the world! We skipped and were all smiles! We told our district about our experience and it helped them
push Julio in thier lessons with him. Teaching is so hard, but I am
learning to love it! I really am starting to lose myself as I think of
the needs of investigators and the missionaries around me. Last night
we worked on teaching the Restoration. In English thank goodness, just
to see what it is like. We watched videos about peoples life stories in
New York (Made me miss it). We then had to pretend we were
missionaries and a person on the street had just told us all those
things about them. We had to find a way to teach them about the ENTIRE
restoration in 5 minutes in a way that would relate to them. It was SO
HARD! I got a little discouraged after about whether I could do this,
but I know I can. "Those whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." It
wasn't too bad to find a way to relate the gospel to their life because I
think the gospel relates to EVERYONES lifes. No matter what. But it
was hard to teach all this information in a way that would make sense to
someone who knows nothing about our church. The MTC definitely pushes
me. I grow everyday and everyday I realize how much the Lord loves me
and has blessed me. I COULD NOT do this without the Lord on my side.
I still haven't seen Zach. I look for him all the time! I'm sure I will see him soon!
We
have had some pretty funny things happen here within our district and
zone. 1. Sister Morris (She is in my room and zone) has been having to
go to physical therapy because she pulled ligaments in her neck and
can't move it. Because....she SNEEZED!!! hahahahahahahahahaha. And the
best part is her sneezes are the most baby sneezed you have every
heard. 2. In class Brother Trebas asked Elder Packard, May po ba kayong
asawa? (Do you have a spouse?) and he answered, Walo po, Walong asawa
ako. That means 8, I have 8 wives. Walo is 8. He meant to say Wala,
which means none. We all died. 3. We learned the longest word in
Tagalog...lets see if I can remember how to spell it.
Nagsisipagsisnungaliningatong.
To answer some of your questions- YES MOM! there are definitely
people in my district that could use letters. None of the boys get
them! The girls all do. Their names are Elder Packard, Finneman,
Manning, Wilcox, Benson, and Joseph. With the same address as me below
the name! Oh I forgot to tell you! Me
and Elder Wilcox are related. Archibald Gardner is also his great,
great grandpa? Is that the right number of greats? But our charts don't
go back that far so we can't figure it out! There are 5 people in our
room. Me and my Kasama and then 3 other girls that are a trio from our
zone. They are awesome! It's easy to sleep. I'm
so tired that I can fall asleep fast and if I wear earplugs I
don't wake up until my alarm goes off. We go to the temple every saturday
on our P-day and then we do the temple walk. Those are both awesome
times. I see friends all the time! It's so fun! I have seen everyone
that I know here and then I see people I had no idea were here! I see
James and Christian the most, which is a huge comfort! It is so hard not
to give them both a big hug! They are doing awesome and are so nice to
me! I had no idea President Monson was speaking dad? There is a big
conference next week for missionaries and they won't tell us who is
speaking, but keep saying it's a big deal. I wonder if it is him???!!!
They also said there is a big missionary announcement being made! I
wonder what is it?
Thanks for all the updates dad! I look forward to reading your
letters every day. Thanks for all the packages and sweet notes mom!
Everyone here loves your treats. They are a good break from the NASTY
MTC food. I am already so sick of it! Hannah thanks for the package! I
wrote you a note about it, but seriously it made my day! Sarah the
cookies were a hit! Sooooo good! Thanks! Livs thanks for the package
also! You and Missy are the sweetest! Also expect a letter! I have so
many yummy treats to eat! All the support means the world to me! It gets
me through happily each day! I pray for every one of my friends and
family every morning and night!
Oh and I am so happy that I am owning on my Bachelorette Bracket!! Chris for the win!!!!!
Mahal Kita! Kitakits!
-Sister Gardner
P.S. I hope that my pictures work! I can only send a few at a time so look for a bunch of emails with pictures
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