Kumusta pamilya!!!
Okay, so maybe that's a really cheesy line from a missionary I overhead. But. That is so true. I have never had more fun and felt more fufilled in my life. Wierd that I would ever say that about reading scriptures all day and planning lessons, but for some reason it is so so so great. To begin, there was that suuuuper amazing broadcast on Sunday for the mission presidents, missionaries, and some other random people, AND I WAS THERE!!! I was so close to all the apostles and I know from watching them and feeling their spirit that they are 100% called by God to lead and guide us. Even though we didn't see the prophet during the devotional, my distrcit was walking up the stairs to class when WE SAW THE ACTUAL PROPHET GETTING INTO HIS CAR OUTSIDE THE BUILDING!! Crazy stuff, and so many bodygaurds, and like 5 metallic, mercedes cars around him too. Anyway. NBD. And no, I wasn't on the screen because I wasn't in the choir and those are the only people they showed (I was jusssst to the right of the Elders singing) BUT (as crazy as this sounds) my kasama and I joined the choir last week (MY IDEA, and not even so we can get on TV)!! And anyone that knows me knows I. Do. Not. Sing. But it's funny now that there is absolutely no music to listen to, singing is the only way to hear it. And a choir of missionaries sound amazing. As you heard on Sunday obvi.
More details on the MTC here. It's packed. So many misisonaries and a really little campus. There are 6 girls in my dorm and that's not even that many. Just so many people wanted to serve Heavenly Father I guess. Sacrement meetings are almost funny. There are 2 meeting times, 2 chapels for each, and for each meeting in each chapel, they have like 6 tables and 50 missionaries to pass out the sacrement so it goes semi-fast. SOoo crazy. But it also means that we have the best people come and speak. Sacrement meeting included the general RS board and presidency and the MTC presidency. Their talks were so amazing, maybe when things slow down and I'm not so new here, I can expound. Be excited. Then on Tuesday for devotional (at the mariott center, BTW, think of almost 5000 missionaries walking there from both wywiew and the mtc, funny) Janice Kapp Perry came to speak to us, if there's any way to find that devotional, look it up! Everyone was saying it was one of the best devotionals they had seen in months. We sang some of here songs and she said amazing things. Amazing. Did I mention I love being a missionary. Special benefits for the winnn. But I do have to include, she changed the words to one of the songs she wrote when we sang it on Tuesday:
We have been born as Nephi as old
to goodly parents who love the Lord
We have been taught and we understand
that we must do as the Lord commands
We are as the Army of Helaman
we have been taught in our youth
and we are now the Lord's missionaries
to bring the world His truth
I bawled. Because that song talks about me. And everyone going out to serve Heavenly Father out of pure love for Him and His gospel.
Some more funny things here. I teach yoga now. HAHA. What started as me doing it in the hallway of our dorm during gym time one day has turned into about 10 of us who I now direct outside on the grass. It's hilarous. Everyday now during gym time we all meet on the grass and it's like old people areobics class. I'm famous for more than my aerobics though. Yesterday I was walking to class and these girls behind me start talking really quietly about me. "Hey, that's the girl with those shoes that Sis. --- was talking about. Those are the jelly shoes. Where do you think she got them? I don't know you ask. That would be wierd..." And then we walked into our building. YOU GUYS!!! Me and my jelly shoes are famous in the MTC! Haha random people search the campus to see them. Joke'lang, joke'lang. But my kasama and I laughed about it for awhile. And then the next day a girl in my distrct told me her mom bought some for her and asked me if that was okay. Then I really died, in a good, really funny way.
My class. My teacher- Brother Cook. Hands down the best teacher here in the MTC (and that is coming from everyone, not just me). He's patient, taught for like 4 years, just so awesome and so nice and so humble, and on and on. I love him. He is the reason I can speak Tagalog and feel like I actually have a grasp on the language. We finished teaching our first investigator on Tuesday, and SUPRISE, she turned out to be our other teacher. Haha so what started out as us teaching her to pray has now switched to her teaching us pretty much how to be missionaries. And she knows how bad it all was. After our first lesson was a wreck, as mga kasama we definitely stepped it up and our lessons are the bomb.com. The spirit is there, we pray about what to teach, and we aren't trying to just shove information down here throat. Our last lesson we had to try to commit her to baptism and she said yes (it actually isn't that hard to do). We taught 4 lessons total to her and learned so much. Next week we start teaching 2 investigators (that are people played by our teachers, it's going to be trippppy!) and I am soexcited. I love the spirit that comes from teaching people the doctrines of Christ. We continue to learn and teach in Tagalog, and I love this language. Our companionship goal for this week's lessons is to only take english notes with us to teach and try to use only our brains to come up with sentences in Tagalog. Watsup crazy foreign language.
Funny story of the week (they just get more awkard every time): The bathroom in Tagalog is called the CR. And ako means I. So everytime I leave to use the bathroom, I always just tell my kasama or teacher, CR ako, which until barely I thought meant "I'm going to the bathroom." But my teacher told me yesterday that this whole time I've have actually been saying "I'm the bathroom....." Nope, I am definitely not the bathroom. I now say, "ako si Sister Taylor" AND "mag CR ako." Yep definitely a difference....
Well, I hope everyone is having a fantastic week. Thanks so so so much for the letters, prayers, and support. I couldn't do it without that and am so blessed to be surrounded with so many amazing people! Until next week!
Kapaypaan,
SISTER TAYLOR