Hey Everyone!
Guess What? I MADE IT TO SUNDAY!!! ha, ha. Nah it really hasn't been that bad at all here. We are just busy a lot! But don't get me wrong, I'm so stoked to leave!!! ha ha. I couldn't imagine more than two weeks in the MTC and God must know that as well cause that's all I'm here for! YAY! We got all of our itineraries for when we leave and everything so I'm super pumped about that! We leave at 5am on Wednesday June 5th with all of the other Sisters and Elders leaving to Des Moines. We have a layover in Minneapolis so we are flying or sitting in an airport for most of the day that day. They said we couldn't prosylite in the Salt Lake Airport but as soon as we take off from there it's FREE GAME! ha ha. So Ima pack a bunch of BOM's in my carry on :)
Experiencing my first Sunday here was awesome! We had a lot to do but it was still freakin sweet. The best part was that we got to wake up at 6:30 and didn't have to be ready until 7:30 instead of 7! It was the greatest think ever cause I got to straighten my hair & stuff. I looked super cute, haha! So in the morning we had study time for awhile and then I had Branch Council. It's where the branch presidency meets with all the zone leaders, district leaders and sister training leader (Me) and talk about concerns in our districts and what we can do to be more of Exceptional Missionaries as opposed to average missionaries! And I'm pretty sure the Branch President loves me...just sayin :) So after my meetings I met back up with my comp and we went over to Relief Society. At the MTC the women all watch "Music & The Spoken Word" before we start Relief Society. It was so good! And at the beginning of RS all the sisters stood up (this place was PACKED) and sand a different version of "As Sisters In Zion" about being Sister Missionaries. It was so powerful! Definitely a tear jerker! ACtually the whole day was a tear jerker but I'll get around to that in a minute. So during RS one of the Sister Missionaries, who was a convert to the church, told the story of her conversion. It was so incredible to hear. Her mom had disowned her when she was like 16 because she was reading the BOM. So she picked up all of her stuff that her deeply southern Baptist mother had thrown out on their front lawn and put it in her car. She then lived out of her car and slept in a parking lot of Walmart for 2 weeks. One of her friends found out and took her in and adopted her and she continued to go to church and meet with the missionaries. On her baptismal day she got a text from her mom, who she hadn't heard from in a VERY long time, that said this: "It's your mom. I will take you back. I will take you back if you just don't get baptized." Can you imagine deciding between having your mom back and being baptized against your moms will? That must've been so extremely hard on her. After almost not getting baptized, this sister went ahead and was baptized. When she came up out of the water her mom was there. The mom said to her daughter, "It's okay. I'm your mom and I love you. And I will support you." It was one of the most powerful things to hear coming from that Sister and the spirit was so strong in that meeting. She is such and inspiration. The rest of the Relief Society went on and it was all so good. After RS, we had more study time and then headed to lunch. After lunch we had a District meeting with our Branch President. Then we had our temple walk with our zone! That was way fun and I'll be sending pictures on Friday! But guess who I ran into there? Nicole Koehler & Madi Packard from my team at Snow! It was so so so good to see them! It literally made my day. Ahhhh I'm getting so happy again just thinking about it!! Look for pics on friday with my email!!!
After the temple walk we had sacrament meeting. That was way good and we had to say goodbye to the departing district in our zone. So that was sad but they are all going to do so amazing in South Dakota! Seriously, they were awesome!
After sacrament meeting I had to go to a new Zone Leader/Sister Training Leaders meeting where basically we talked about our duties as Zone Leaders and how to be examples and stuff. We went through our schedule as Sister Training Leaders for next week! Basically I get to give a bunch of orientations to the new missionaries entering in on Wednesday. Also, we might get the chance to welcome an international missionary from Australia! I'm super stoked! Let's hope he's an Elder and he's good-looking and his Aussie accent makes him more good-looking!!! haha Nah, I'm just kidding, I'm not about that life! :) But I'm so so so excited to welcome these new missionaries in because I know that I looked up to my Sister Training Leader so much and she helped out a bunch! So I hope that I can be that to those incoming Sisters as well! Pray for me to be able to fulfill this assignment please! I'm probs going to need it!
After that awesome meeting I ate with Mindy Marsh from Mt. View and her companion for dinner. After dinner we had some more study time and then it was time for the Sunday Night MTC Devotional. Stephen A. Allen was speaking to us that night. So he gets up to speak to all the missionaries in the MTC and says, "I had everything planned out tonight that I was going to show you all some of the commercials the church has put out and make you all laugh and have a great time. But a few moments ago I found out that after this devotional you would all be watching Sister Monson's Funeral Service and I was prompted by the spirit to not teach what I had planned but through the power of the Holy Ghost prepare you all to watch this funeral service." He said that and we were all kinda just like, well that's sweet but good luck, you're one brave soul! ha ha. He then proceeded to tell us missionaries to say a quick little prayer in our minds with concerns, questions, and fears that we might have the he would like to address and that he would receive promptings from the Holy Ghost as to what he should speak to us about. I'm not going to go into detail as to what he spoke to us about, simply because I think it was so directed at us missionaries, but I will say this...It was one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had in my entire life. The spirit that was felt in that building was that of complete understanding and comfort towards us missionaries. There was not a dry eye in the building. What Brother Allen was prompted by the Holy Ghost to say that evening to us all was EXACTLY what every missionary in there needed to hear. He even at one point stopped mid-sentence and paused for a moment...After a few seconds of silence he looked up and said "Sorry, I just received another prompting." He then called up to the media booth to have them show us a video. It was one of the videos they show in the Mesa Temple Visitors Center. The ones that the little kids usually watch. It was entitled "Splash". I've seen that video probably 50 or so times and it has never hit me like that before. That experience in that devotional that evening is a true testament of how much God cares and loves us. So much that he gave on of his valued followers impressions from the Holy Ghost to serve as a mouthpiece. God knows us so intimately and knows of our deepest desire we hold in our hearts. He loves us more than we could ever comprehend here in this life. Revelations through the Holy Ghost is REAL. I've experienced it so many times here. This being the most profound time. I want you all to know how much our Father In Heaven loves us and how much He wants us to be happy. That's why I shared that story with you all because I know by reading it you guys can feel of that love that I am talking about. I love you guys!
After that incredible devotional, we proceeded to watch Sister Monson's funeral service. It was so touching to hear the kind words of her daughter and of Henry B. Eyring & Elder Uchtdorf. Frances Monson lived such an inspiring life. It breaks my heart to see President Monson without his eternal companion on this earth, but it is so comforting to know that everything has a purpose and Sister Monson's purpose on this earth had been fulfilled. I'm so grateful for those experiences that I was able to have that night.
So that was my first Sunday here! And dang did it set the bar high for next Sunday! But I guess that means it's just gonna be so incredible next week! Like mind-blowing stuff! In the words of Adam Sierra, "I'm gonna be so high on Jesus!" :)
Whoever said "make it to Sunday" is a liar...the Monday is rough! We had our first TRC today...which is where we get a real life investigator that is not our teacher. Well technically they are actors, but it gives such a real simulation of what our experience with investigators out in the field will be like. So before, all the zone leaders and people from the other districts were telling us about this one TRC investigator named Daniel. They were telling us how difficult he was and how they all had terrible experiences. He made like so many Sister companionships come out of their lessons crying. Some people didn't even get past the door approach when they were scheduled to meet 45 mintues with them. Well...guess who got assigned to Daniel for their first TRC? This freakin girl. YAY...not. As you could imagine I was terrified! So for a couple of days me and my comp are studying and praying to know what to teach him. We get a great lesson prepared and we are just so pumped to go teach him! So we head over to his door and knock. He opened and is just GLARING at us. We told him who we were and told him that his friend from college Jeremy referred him to us. Get this...HE DOESN'T EVEN LIKE THE GUY THAT REFERRED HIM!!!! So we started off pretty strong with that one. We asked if we could take a minute to share a message about Jesus Christ and he was all "No! I'm Catholic! I have my own beliefs! And I don't have time to meet with you!" So basically I was thinking in my head...well great, we aren't even gonna make it past the door! So I kinda just took the topic off of the church for a sec and started talking to him about his gamily and how exciting it is that he has another child on the way to kind soften him up a bit. It totes worked. He was like "how about you guys come in for a minutes....I don't want anyone to see me talking to you." So that wasn't really the reason we were hoping for...but I'll take what I can get! So we go in and sit down and he asks us where we are from. So we tell him we are both from Arizona, he got such a cold/harsh look on his face and pointed to the door and was like "Get out! Get out of my house!" Dead serious. I was so freakin terrified!!! So when I asked him why he told us that us Arizonans were all racist and hated Mexicans. And that we looked racist and sounded racist. I was like uhhhhh...dude I'm not racist. He's like seriously get out of my house now! He's like, prove to me that you aren't like the racist people in Arizona! So then we were trying to tell him that we aren't like that and that we love everyone! He then told us some stories about how him and his family have been discriminated against by the people in Arizona. And through all of this Daniel wouldn't even look at me. He kept his eyes on Sister Despain the whole time. Directed his questions to her and listened to her as she spoke. Every time I would go to say something he would pick up his phone and act disinterested. So in my head I'm thinking this is God telling me "Halee! Shut the heck up!" So that's what I did. I shut up. ha ha! But we listened to Daniel and grew to understand his situation a little more. We definitely turned the lesson around. We were able to talk about God's love for us and it turned out really good. Sister Despain did awesome in talking to him and relating to him. Before our 45 minutes were up he had asked some questions that we didn't really know the answers to. So I suggested to Daniel that we go home and study in our scriptures so that we could find an answer and come back and share what we learned with him. He agreed! So we totes got a return appointment which not a lot of companionships do with Daniel. So it started off so rough but turned out pretty dang decent! Let's hope everything goes better next time tho!
So guys, those are the experiences of the seek that I really wanted to share with you all! It's awesome here, but I also can't wait to get out! Probably the hardest thing for me so far is being with a companion 24/7...haha, Yah I mean I love my companion but I can only handle so much. Let's just say that I like to go to the bathroom a lot. But other than that things are going great! I love you all! :)
Love,
Sister Rogers
P.S. Please put these letters up on the blog for everyone to read!
P.P.S. This is a long letter, don't expect it every time!
P.P.P.S Please send me stamps :)
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