Dear Family,
Hey y'all! I hope you all are doing well. Let me know how you
are. I'd love to hear from you all. Here in the MTC I have an iPad, so in my
free time (which is like 10 seconds a day) I am able to look at the emails you
guys send me. So shoot me one when you can and let me know how everything is
going. As for me, I'm doing great honestly, this has already been the hardest
thing I have ever done. I'm learning so much here and making progress everyday.
I still have a LONG way to go, and so much to do, but one day at a time. The
days here are very long. We wake up at 6:30 am on the DOT, not 6:31, not 6:35 but
6:30 and wake up eat breakfast, workout, get ready and have classes, personal
study, companion study, workshops, and then two 3 hour classes back to back and
meals throughout the day. And then finally shower and bed time and lights out
at 10:30pm. My roomies love sleep time so we never stay up past 10:30pm because we
are all so tired. This work is so mentally, spiritually,and emotionally
exhausting. I'm still getting adjusted and I'm sure it will still take a lot of
time to, but just in this one week I am already able to see the great joy that
this work brings. Here I am learning my purpose as a missionary and how to
teach people. We do this thing called TRC and its when members and non members
come to the MTC to learn lessons from us missionaries. And our teachers don't
tell us if they are a member or not so we treat everyone like they are a non
member and we teach them. My girl that me and my companions (i'm in a trio) are
teaching her name is Taryn. I'm really not sure if she is a member or not because I can't
tell... but teaching her the first couple lessons has been amazing! She's so sweet
and I just love getting to know her and help her with what she needs as much as I can. In one of our devotionals they told us "As you listen to the people
you are teaching with love, you will never have to guess what to say next to
them" and that is so true! Just genuinely listening to Taryn, I've come to
love her already and I'm so happy I'm able to help her.
Like I said, I'm in a trio companionship. My companions are Sister Reed and
Sister Palmer. They are so great and we all work together so well. It's still
taking some adjusting to get used to having someone with me literally EVERY
hour of the day. Ha ha. The only time I'm "alone" is in the shower and
bathroom stall. And not really even then because Sister Reed sometimes stands
right outside our stalls and waits for us. Me and Sister Palmer have to
tell her it's okay to not do that. Ha ha. She is interesting. She's actually 30 so
maybe it's a motherly instinct thing? Who knows, but were all helping
each other and I'm learning that we are all one, with one purpose and its
important for us to be united. The first couple nights were hard for Sister Palmer though. I absolutely love Sister Palmer, she's amazing and we are so much
alike so we are able to get along so well. The first night was rough though.
Sister Palmer was really homesick and I'm on the bunk bed above her and I could
hear her crying when we crawled into bed and I felt so bad because she was trying
not to be loud. So I went down there and just hugged her until she stopped
crying. After that we talked it out and she is doing a lot better. No more crying (at least that I've seen). But last night I think I did hear Sister Crawford crying a little bit I couldn't really tell though. (Shes one of my roomies,
in my district). But anyway, this has been really tough, and we all get really
discouraged because its a huge responsibility and it's hard not to think "can I really do this?". We watched a devotional on Sunday from Elder Bednar that was so good,
and he just talked about how our missions are not about us and they never will
be. It is about helping all of God's children come unto Christ, so forget
ourselves, and stop thinking "poor me, this is hard!" , "I can't do this!", etc. If we
forget ourselves, lose ourselves in the service of others, and focus on our
purpose and use the atonement of Jesus Christ everyday, then it is there we will
find ourselves. I am confident that I can have a happy and successful mission! I just have to do it right.
Also, I joined the choir here! Not my thing if you know me
but my companions are these musical, Broadway lovers and they sing their
hearts out and it’s so pretty. So it’s out of my comfort zone but Sunday we had
our first practice and it was great! There are over 600 missionaries joining
together singing “The First Noel” (little background, it means “happy
birthday” in French) so we were all singing “happy birthday, happy birthday,
the Savior is born ! Let’s us all sing with one accord!” And it is
amazing and the spirit is so strong. We get to sing for a General Authority today so I’m pretty pumped about that. Today I’m also going to the
temple with my District. I absolutely love my District. On Friday I think was
that first snowfall here and Elder Aldopho from Hawaii and Elder Duncan from
Florida had never seen the snow before so we were in class and they saw it in
they got soooo excited so we went outside and enjoyed it for a minute. It was
fun!
Also something super funny, Elder Aldopho apparently has an eye for me
and he kind of got in trouble for it! On Sunday we had a Christmas Devotional
and we sat with our District and he sat next to me and he didn’t see this
senior couple that was sitting right behind us. They were teachers or a Branch President or something, but Elder Aldopho was flirting up a storm and at the end
he grabbed Elder Aldopho and pulled him aside and asked where he was from and
asked if he had known me before the mission. Elder Aldopho said "No" and then he told Elder Aldopho to pretty much knock it off and stay focused on the purpose. It was awkward
and he’s focused now (fingers crossed) but it was weird and it made all our
other activities we do together as a district weirdish! It’s funny though. I
just laughed it off, and our district gives him crap for it... but it’s funny.
Ha-ha. Anyway I love you guys and I’m so busy and I’m learning a ton which
keeps me from being homesick. There’s a scripture we read about that with our Branch President that really gave me comfort about homesickness. It’s in
D&C 100. Go read it it’s amazing. I’ll share a couple versus that I just
love and I think it’d be great for you guys to hear too!
“Verily, thus saith the Lord
unto you, my friends Sidney (Sister Wilson) and Joseph, your families are well;
they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me
there is all power.
Therefore, follow me, and listen to
the counsel which I shall give unto you. Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered
you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation
of souls.
Therefore, verily I say unto you,
lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into
your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men; For it shall be given
you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.”
I know you guys will be watched over as well as I am away. I
love you all so much and I’d love to hear from you so let me know how u all are
and how things are going on at home!
Until next week. Hugs from the MTC! ❤️
Love,
Sister Wilson
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