Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Last Letter from MTC

The time is finally here! Missionaries really do actually leave the MTC, I thought that it was just a rumor I had heard around campus! I am so excited to be leaving and kind of sad at the same time. The MTC has been great, and I love my teachers and especially my District, we have gotten really close! We got our travel plans last week and it was so exciting!! I really wish I could see the look on your faces, especially Grandma's, when I tell you where we are flying.
This past week has been really great, and just has flown bye! This week will go fast as well, I am sure. Last Wednesday we had the opportunity to host, and it was really fun! Brought me back to the day when I first came to the MTC (*tear), I got to host 3 girls. They now let the sister missionaries host from the curb, which is really fun, but hard. We have to watch and help as they all say good bye to their families, it was still a fun experience though. I hosted one girl, got everything in order and walked her to class. She was so sweet, but in tears, she didn't want me to leave her. I felt so bad, the poor thing! I am pretty sure that she is doing great now. We get to host this week as well, so I will keep my eyes out for Trevan Cottle, I will see if I get a glimpse of him while he is here.
The weeks are all starting to blend together, so if I share a repeat of stories, I am very sorry! Sunday was a really good day, our branch has gotten so big that we have added a new counselor in the Branch Presidency. They are so great! I love them both, and Brother Adamson gave me my final MTC interview and throughout the course I found out that he is in Caitlin Bengtzen's home ward, her dad and brother are actually their home teachers!!! I was so excited when they said that, I told them that they need to tell the Bengtzen's, especially Caitlin that I want to hear from them. After the interview Elder Peterson and I were looking online at our genealogy charts and stuff, for some reason the Elder's are on this "Spirit of Elijah" kick, and they have found some really cool things out about their ancestory. Anyway, he and I were on the computer looking at my chart and Brother Adamson walked in and we got to talking. He apparently knows grandpa. I guess that he lived on the same street that grandma and grandpa live on now. How cool is that? I don't know if you will remember them or if they will, but I just thought that it was cool that we had that connection.
We are starting to have our last lessons, which is kind of sad. Yesterday was our last lesson with Svetlana, and it was a challenge, but it went SO well! All 6 of us had to teach together, which at first was a bit rocky. We pulled it together, with the help of the Spirit. Our teacher, or rather "Svitlana" said that she was super impressed with us and felt the Spirit really strongly. She started crying because she thought that we did so well AND felt like we really addressed the needs of Svetlana at that time. It was a really cool experience. On Friday Sister Garrett said that she will tell us her story and everything about Svitlana, I am really excited to hear the full story because up until this point we have only gotten bits and pieces of the story. We teach our last lesson on Saturday, because tomorrow we are hosting again, then TRC and on Friday we have "In Field Orientation" all day. It is so weird to think that this time next week I will be on a plane flying to a foreign country for 18 months.... No big deal!
The time here at the MTC has been great, but I am really excited to get out and teach real people. Yesterday our teachers were telling us that they feel so great about sending us off and that they don't really feel needed anymore, it was really comforting to hear because I feel as though I know nothing. The Lord is on my side though and I will just rely on him. We have been playing a lot of teaching games in class and going over some little grammar tweaks here and there, a lot of the time is just for us to study more and more. I never thought there would be a time in my life that I would be disappointed when scripture study had to end, but it has come to that point. I am thoroughly enjoying the time I have to read over scriptures, talks, especially Jefferey R. Holland, him and I are like BFF's now, pretty much, and getting able to read Jesus the Christ. It has just been a great time!
Now that I have kept you waiting long enough, we leave the MTC on the 28th at 4 in the morning. We head to Salt Lake and our plane departs at 7:50 a.m. and lands in Washington D.C. at 2:00 p.m., so keep your phones on you that day, I can call at any point after we have found our gates for departing flights. From Washinton D.C. we fly to.... Vienna, Austria! No joke! I am like freaking out over it! How cool is that?! And I have to say it, just for Uncle Colby, that is where the Sound of Music was filmed, pretty sure when I read that it was one of the best moments of my life! Just saying... Then from Vienna we fly into Kiev!
It is so weird to look at these plans, the pictures from our teachers and hear the stories of the people and then to think that I will be there... in like a week! It is so crazy, and I am so excited! P.S. the easiest way to communicate after I leave is going to be through email, and just send things to this email!
I love you all and I get to talk to you soon! :)


1 comment:

  1. Rinda, I don't have Karissa's email can I get that from you?

    Teresa

    ReplyDelete