I hope that you have all had awesome weeks! My week has been amazing, to say the least! It started last Wednesday, June 24, when I entered the Provo MTC to start my journey as a missionary!!!! From the first second I popped out of the car, there have been so many miracles and tender mercies! The first is that one of my very best friends, Sister Danielle LeFevre, was my "host." She greeted me as I got out of the car and then helped me check into the MTC, get my name tag, find my residence, and then find my classroom! My name tag is a magnet, which is awesome! I didn't know it would be! Also I have run into so many people I know, including my roommate from college! The first excitement came on day two. They had an emergency meeting for all of the Sisters. We were all wondering what it was about. They finally told us that the residence building I was in (which by the way had only opened 5 days previously) had bats in it, so for health and safety purposes we were all moving buildings. At that point I was wishing that I had been lazy the day before and not just unpacked my stuff. But it all worked out in the end and after some confusion they put me back in the same room as my companion.
Speaking of my companion, her name is Sister Esquerra!! She is from Arizona. She is so amazing! She loves to play sports, especially volleyball. She was at BYU for a year and is studying mechanical engineering. She also is a Disney fanatic! We get a long really great!! We have had so much fun together and also been able to work well with the Spirit!! I am so grateful for her! She is also has a much better sense of direction than I do, so she is also my compass. With out her I would be lost, in so many ways!
The Gluten Free food here is amazing!! Because of the new mission president seminar, we have been eating in the gym. Yesterday we went back into the cafeteria! The food has been delicious, and also very separated from everything else!!! It's the best!!!
My teachers are Sister Harrison, Brother Scherck (pronounced Shirk), and Brother Bennett. Funny enough, I actually am distantly related to Brother Bennett. Thank goodness they made me do the four generation family history chart!!!
We have investigators here at the MTC we practice teaching on. Some are members role playing, and some are actually investigators. We have Ryan (who is my teacher role playing), Ny (pronounced like the work knee) who is from Madagascar going to UVU, and Chevin. Chevin was at a doctors appointment when we were supposed to meet with her, so we haven't had the chance to teach her yet.
Ny is a really amazing woman. Like I said she is here for school. She has a roommate who is a member, but they never discussed religion. She had a lot of really great questions. The best part of that lesson was I really learned the importance of working together as a companionship. When Ny would ask questions, there were many that I didn't know the answer, or didn't know how to answer them. But Sister Esquerra was always prepared with an answer at the time. The same thing happened with her. The answers she didn't know, I did. The Spirit was able to put our strengths together because we have worked hard to get close as a companionship.
I'm going to include a little spiritual experience from each week. This week's is about role playing. I've never been a fan of role playing. I've always found them hard and some what annoying, so I was a little discouraged that as an English speaking missionary, basically all we do is role playing. But I soon learned that if I treat the role play as real, (such as I think of Ryan as a different person than Brother Scherck) the Spirit and the Lord will treat the role play real as well. Some of the moments that I have felt the Spirit the strongest have been during role plays with Ryan or with the other missionaries in my district! Also that enthusiasm makes all the difference, especially to a group of missionaries getting up at 6:30 every morning!
Oh I forgot to talk about my district! They are amazing!! Everyone is so humble and we are basically family now! My district has 4 sisters and 8 elders. The sad thing is that none of the Elders are going to South Carolina. The 4 sisters are, but 6 of the Elders are going to Alaska, and the other 2 are going to Washington D.C., North. But that hasn't kept us from working close together :) The other fun news about me is that Sister Esquerra and I are the Sister Training Leaders for our Zone! This means that we over see the Sisters in my district and a few other districts! We also help with the orientation of the new missionaries that are coming in tomorrow! I can't believe that was me only a week ago!!
I think that is is for this week!
I love you all so much and so does your Father in Heaven!
Love,
Sister Amy Bennett :)
