Sister Brittany Ann Mecham : MTC Week 3

Kumusta!!!

Time is the most bizarre thing here. The days are SUPER long, but the weeks go by really fast. It's strange. But I still really like it. The schedule is super busy. We literally are going from 6:30 to 10:30 and I think I may be developing a few cavities from all the candy I have to eat to stay awake during the day. Ha but on the plus side, I am totally learning!!! I am getting super good at praying and we are learning a lot more vocab and conjugations, so I can kinda pretend to make sentences. Our teachers, Bro. Pearce and Bro. Nicholes want us to SYL (speak your language) as much as possible, and it has been super hard because I really don't know that many words...ha but it is still fun to try. I pretty much have a Spanish/English/Tagalog vocab (spangolish). If I don't know the word in Tagalog I throw out a Spanish word so at least it's not English...ha but I'm not really sure if that counts...

Fast Sundays here are madness. I have never been so hungry, and I am pretty sure every other missionary felt the same. The cafeteria was so chaotic and there were just lines of people everywhere. I am so glad I only have to live through one more of those. It was crazy.

Also you would all be shocked to know that I totally have woken up on time everyday. And today we got up at 5:30 and started our laundry then went to an exercise class, went back and finished laundry by 7 then ate and showered and had our personal study till about 9:30 and are now doing emails. I feel super productive. And last week we did the same thing and it felt so good to get everything done early so we just had time to focus on the temple in the afternoon.

Anyways. Dad asked me who some of our devotional speakers have been and we have had some really good ones. The first Sunday here we were supposed to have the 1st counselor of the General Relief society come and speak, but she never showed up, so the MTC Presidents wives all gave talks about Joseph Smith. Those ladies are so great and super classy and have really great testimonies, but one of them looks like Gammi Num-Num from Master of Disguise so it is kinda hard for me to focus on what she's saying when she talks cause I keep picturing that part of the movie... But then that night we had one of the managing directors from the MTC talk and it was AMAZING!!! He had prepared a talk but when he stood up he said that he wasn't going to use it and just went off what he was prompted to say. Holy cow. The spirit was so strong. In the middle of His talk, he had the tech people find the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing "Come, Come, Ye Saints" and then after we watched it one time, he had everyone sing it with them. It was the coolest thing ever. He called that song the "Missionary Anthem". It was so cool.

We also had Craig Zwick of the 70 speak to us last Tuesday with his wife. A few months ago he came to St. George, but it took a while for me to recognize him. He talked about the MTC and called it "The University of God's Kingdom" and talked about how we should become better disciples of Christ.

This Sunday we had Joseph Jenkins, the district president speak. He was like a main engineer for the Portland Temple and used the steps it took to build that temple and applied it to us and how to be better missionaries. Then on Tuesday night a guy came and kinda did a monologue sort of thing from the perspective of Willard Richards and told the story of Joseph Smith. It was really good.

I love being here and the devotionals really are so good! On June 23 we are singing in the choir for the new Mission presidents at the Marriott Center and it is going to be broad casted so be sure to watch it!!! Also, Sister Harris, Sister Wilkes and I were all on "TV" again for the choir on Tuesday. Ha we are getting pretty famous here ;)

Every day there is always something someone says or something I read that reminds me I am supposed to be here. It is so cool. The work is definitely hard and I am completely exhausted at the end of the day, but I love that I am here and surrounded by such good people. My Kasama, Sister (Kennedy) Wilkes and I have gotten really close and have lots of fun. Our district is also definitely opening up a lot more and getting to know each other better. One of the districts left for the Philippines this week, so it was sad saying goodbye to them, but it makes me excited that that will be me in just a few more weeks! It's crazy.

We have taught like 4 lessons to 2 investigators this week (who are just our teachers) and I feel pretty good about them. We were able to memorize some of our sentences and even could answer some of the questions they asked us. It was pretty cool. Tonight we have TRC that is where you have to teach just some volunteers who are just being themselves and practice what we know. I am a little bit nervous, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

One of the sisters in our district let me read this really great talk her mom sent her. It is by Sheri Dew called, " You were born to lead, you were born for glory." It is such a good talk, so I definitely encourage you all to read it, and It would be super great if you could send me my own copy. It pretty much is just a really good pep talk and she even mentions the Philippines in it!

I just really love you guys so much and again I love love love love love your DearElders! It is so fun to hear what you guys are up to and getting mail is just fun. Also thank you for sending me everything I ask for and for cleaning my room for me. You guys really are the best and I can feel your love and your prayers everyday. I am so grateful for everything you do and I am just SO happy. I am super stressed sometimes, but I just have to remind myself I have a lot to learn and I will be fluent eventually. I love being a missionary and I love that I am apart of something so amazing.

Mahal Kita!!!!!

Love,

Sister Mecham