Sister Rose in the Land Down Under: The wonderful life of the MTC‏ *** Week 2

Hello Everyone!

I cannot begin to describe to you the week that I have had. I know I said that last week but this week I have had so many spiritual growing moments! The MTC is great and I love everything about this place! The Spirit is everywhere and it is so nice because everyone has either been on a mission or is preparing to serve! I love this place :)

So an exciting this happened this week...I got to have a wart zapped off!! #ouch. I had been trying to take care of it but it just wasn't getting better so I went to the podiatrist and he about got his head kicked off...hahaha I was so caught off guard by the zapping that I almost kicked him! It was quite the experience :) me and sister Bowen had a great time leaving campus too! We got to see the world again! How exciting!!

So many things have happened this week! Me and Sister Bowen got told that we had to readjust our way of thinking. How do you do that?? I had no idea. He told us that we had been taught the same way our entire lives that that was the way that we were just going to be teaching unless we changed. I struggled so hard. But with lots of practice me and Sister Bowen finally caught on to what he was saying! We were working our way up to Christ in our lessons rather than starting with Christ and working outward in our lessons. #mindblown I had never realized that that was the way that everyone had ever taught me. Ever since then I have felt like I can teach more with the Spirit with our Investigators!!

Another thing with the teaching! As I had just learned that I needed to change the way I thought to be able to teach better, we started teaching two new investigators this week and our first lesson we taught to a Girl named Ann, we followed the spirit and starting talking about Baptism and invited her to be baptized and she ACCEPTED!! What?! We were so in shock that we all just sat there for 10 seconds in silence before we said another thing! This was our first lesson with her and we applied what we had been taught in our lesson! The spirit is amazing!

We have had a very full week and a very VERY spiritual week but something that I have learned this week is that I can't do anything based on talent. Talent gets me no where in Missionary work. I have relied more on the Spirit so much this past week. I have had to learn and grow so much to be able to feel like I am teaching centered on Christ. Before I felt like I just knew what to teach because I had grown up learning about all of the church. NOPE. I can not do anything without being centered on Christ. I love being a missionary :)

So some more stories about my district....the farting, barfing, and explosions have ceased to stop. If anything they have gotten worse. I don't know why but Elders(boys) think it is so funny to fart. This last week our Elders got so comfortable with us Sisters that they would sometimes fart in class. #gross We all still get along really well but I have learned to be very blunt with Elders. :) Not like I'm not blunt already but when you are talking to Elders about that stuff you need to be blunt.

Another Exciting thing that happened this week was...us missionaries got to sign these beams that are going into the new missionary classrooms! Only the security guards will see it but that is still really cool! And I am actually not as white anymore! I have gotten sun burnt a couple of times but am tan within 2 hours. All the Elders don't understand the struggle of living in Idaho and seeing the sun. They all don't understand how I can get so sun burnt and then tan so fast. It is really easy especially if your skin loves the sun but never gets to see it :) I can't wait to get to Australia!

One last thing:

We had devotional last night and it was absolutely amazing!! It was exactly what I needed to hear. It was a member of the presiding bishopric Waddell is his last name. He talked about how the Lord has sent us to our specific mission because he knows all the experiences that we will have! We have covenanted with the Lord to serve and by doing so we are going to do it Heavenly Fathers way, not ours. I love that! This is not my mission but a mission for the Lord. I may be going to Australia but I am not there to go. I am going there to serve because Heavenly Father has prepared certain people that I will cross paths with that need to hear the word from me. I am serving the Lord and his people in Australia. Maybe someday I can return to Australia to go but for now I am going to serve. I fly out to Australia on Monday and will land on Wednesday! So expect my next letter to have a little more Aussie slang to it :)

Here is a little bit of advice; always follow a good thought you have. Anything that is good that you may be thinking is of the spirit! I have learned that so much this past week that I know the spirit works wonders!

NO MATTER WHAT you may be thinking....if it is good, it is from the spirit :) I love you all and can't wait to write you next week from the down under! With hopefully a little bit of accent :)

p.s. Don't forget about dearelder.com :) I have one more week so if you want to you can send me notes throughout the week! I will receive them daily but won't respond until next week but I love receiving them! :)

Love you all!!

~Sister Rose

p.p.s I also found out today that I am kinda related to my companion Sister Bowen!! How crazy is that!!