"I loved calling home to you guys! I know I was crying like a baby the entire time but it wasn't because I was sad. What set me off was hearing mom say my name, I forgot I had another name besides Sister Baker. But I loved hearing you guys, it made me so happy and I hope y'all know I'm super happy. I was going in all confident that I wasn't going to be the crier in our district but I know I failed the minute when the lady put the only box of tissues right next to me the first 3 minutes into the call.
Well as most of you know one of the four sisters left in our district to go home. It was sad but she had this experience that she shared with us that I thought was touching (although I wish she still stayed out) Her mom died awhile back and the night before she left she had a dream of her mom and she was telling her mom how rough the MTC experience has been for her. And I guess in the dream her mom told her it was okay to go home. And then the sister looked back and saw all of us, her entire district there, and she asked her mom ,"what about them?" referring to us and her mom said "Don't worry, I am going to watch over them." So she left for home and now they put us as a trio for the rest of the time here in the MTC. Sister Smith has been a nice addition to teaching and it takes some pressure off of me.
I recognized someone from BYU here at the MTC (she is a teacher here) and started talking to her (she was in one of my classes) and I told her where I was going and she got really excited because she served in the FTM as well and she was so happy to tell me all about it. She gave us advice like "wear flappy skirts to fan your legs". "ask the members to take food home (they love that), "President Smith is a jokester so don't fall for any of his pranks", and "you will love the people but do not Bible Bash." It was a really nice tender mercy I feel that helped me get a lot more excited to get to the field.
We have a new investigator this week, her name is Jessy and she is actually a nonmember (sometimes they have members pretend to be investigators) so it is really fun to talk to her. You know the saying some people are just prepared to hear the gospel, the seeds have been planted, well this is HER! She has had the discussions, has gotten answers to her prayers, and loves the scriptures and prayer, so we came in at the sweet time to get to talk to her through all of her questions. She grew up in the South so it hard for her to believe that God still speaks to us or that He would want to speak to her. So we testified to her of God and his loving reality and told her to not doubt those feelings but go forward with faith and look for God in her life. She might be the first person we all ask to get baptized because she is just so ready!
It is crazy that I have one week left here (thank heavens), I fly out Tuesday at like 6 or 7 in the morning so we are out of here at 3 in the morning. I can call home at the airport but it might be early for you guys so we will see!
Most of our zone left this week for their missions so it is just our district remaining. Today though we have a new district joining us so that will be fun to see and help out the new missionaries. They really stress the importance of being a good example of an obedient missionary because they will do what you do. So I am excited.
We had a devotional this week by Linda K. Burton, who essentially said the same exact thing I have been learning here in the MTC. It is not about me! Forget yourself! She said things like:
"What you take home with you is what you became those [18 months]."
and then a conversation she had with a missionary who did a 180 on his mission...
She asked him, "What changed?"
He replied, "I forgot myself and became a missionary."
So I was really inspired to try to stop thinking about what I want and about me and start thinking about the people around me. It is hard to change that mindset but I know it will come over time.
I love you guys so much! As always thanks for writing me!
Sister Baker"
No comments:
Post a Comment