Week four: Choir and Countdown to Leave

Hola! 

This week has been relatively boring, since we haven't gotten any new districts, and we won't be getting anymore this week. 

 

But yeah, we've just been studying and learning Spanish. We're all getting excited to head off to the mission field. After being here for a month, we're all excited to teach actual people. And have a senior companion who knows what they're doing ;) At the MTC, you get to learn about two weeks after you've taught someone that you've just entirely screwed everything up. And neither you nor your companion know what you're doing. But it's an adventure. We get to kind of figure out how to do things just to be shot down by our trainer to be showed how it's actually done. I'm looking forward to that.

 

We've also had some pretty great devotionals this week. I love going and singing the prelude hymns and feeling the Spirit all the time. I know I won't be able to have that constant forced spiritual upliftment once I'm in the field, but hopefully I'll be well versed in how to always have it in my life no matter what happens.

 

Choir has been my life, basically. But the music is fantastic, and we sound amazing. We sing 4 songs over a period of 4 days, and all the arrangements are perfect. We even get to sing for the sacrament meeting that President Monson is speaking at. President Monson gets to watch me sing. People, this is real life. I'm singing for President Monson. 

 

I've now made a personal life goal to read or listen to every single general conference talk that's available on gospel library. Since I have access to gospel library right now, I'm getting a head start, and starting with the April 1971 session. It amuses me how many references to hippies there are. But I love how the doctrine remains the same, even though the focus and the specific inspiration and revelation is different depending on the needs of the members.

 

Yesterday, Hna Houghton found out that her grandfather died on Thursday, and she was really upset. All the sisters in our district decided to get together and have a mini devotional and just be there to support her. Some of the Elders in our zone were wondering what was wrong, so Elder Baxter drew us a picture of a heart with a ribbon wrapping around it saying "Smile"and quoted the scripture 3 Nephi 19:25, which I'll put right here for you all :)

"And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them, and behold they were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof."

He just wanted us to smile. It was so cute :) it was signed "Elder Baxter, Elder Wahlquist, and Elder Taylor." I have the best zone. We're all just best friends, and it's great. I really am sad to be leaving them all so soon. But we're all going to be doing great things on our missions, and I'm so excited to hear all their stories.

 

Today has been relatively boring. I wasn't able to go to the temple this morning because of choir practice, which was sad. Especially since the temple is closed next week on my last week that I could possibly go to the temple for the next year and a half. But we get to help do the cleaning that's happening for the next two weeks next pday, so I'm really excited for that :) But yeah, only one pday left. That's a little scary. But I'm so excited.

 

We also had to move today into the new renovated sister's residence. It was a pain, especially since we literally have only two weeks left here, but oh my goodness this building is so much nicer. It's huge. It's massive. And there's much more closet space and much bigger bathrooms. So even though I only get to enjoy it for a couple weeks, I'm going to enjoy it while I can :)

 

Thank you everyone for the emails and the love. I'm honestly loving every second here, and I can't wait until I get to go to Nicaragua. I didn't feel this way before, but now I know for sure that I'm not supposed to go anywhere else. Nicaragua is where I need to go. I've been waiting for this feeling the whole time I've been her, and I finally got it this week, and now I can't wait to get out there.

So yeah, thank you again for all the support and love, and I'll talk to you all again next week :)

Crazy Missionaries

Missionary Selfies

Silly Elders

iPad photo booth funny stuff

Super Missionary to the Rescue!

 

Semana 3

Hola everybody! It feels so weird that it's only been three weeks. I honestly feel like I've been here my whole life. I feel like I grew up here. But at the same time, it still feels like yesterday was when I got here. Time doesn't exist at the MTC...it's totally messing with my head.

Last Tuesday's devotional was really awesome, because we had Sister Linda K. Burton, the General Relief Society President, there to speak to us :) It was kind of fantastic, as all the devotionals are, and I'm so excited to see who today's speaker is. I also sing in the MTC choir during the devotionals, and during choir practice on Tuesday, they announced that, since all the new Mission Presidents were coming in a couple weeks, 40 people would get to sing a special musical number for the conference there, which includes singing for...wait for it...the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the First Presidency. So of course I'm all, "Yeah, sign me up!" So I filled out their survey that asked how good I was at singing and sight-reading and all my singing experience and such. I was honest, yet sure to highlight my perfection and expertise ;) Just kidding. But I really did want to get in so badly. As of last night, I thought I didn't get in because I heard that someone else in my zone got in. And then today, just as I'm getting ready to start emailing, E' Baxter comes with the mail and smiles at me and said I got in the choir and hands me my fancy envelope with my schedule and congratulations on it and everything and I screamed. Or squealed. Whichever you prefer. I'm so beyond excited that I was picked to sing for the first presidency. I'm just stoked. I'll let you all know how that goes :)

So lately in our district, we've been having problems focusing. It's kind of funny, but the reason why is that we're all such good friends that we keep getting distracted with each other. But we've had lots of talks about it as a district, and we've gotten it worked out. We'd noticed a decline in our ability to feel the Spirit in class, and we're taking steps to get better at focusing and respecting our teachers and taking advantage of our personal study time. It's been fantastic, and I can just feel us growing closer from this, especially after some awkward and unhappy conversations. 

Teaching in Spanish is hard, I'm not going to lie. I've only been doing this for three weeks, but I definitely feel much more confidence in speaking Spanish to others, and teaching a lesson to actual Spanish speakers. I'm still learning and growing, and I'm definitely utilizing HSI (Habla su idioma, or speak your language). I can't wait to be fluent. That day can't come soon enough.
Okay, we watched this video in class called The Atonement and Missionary Work. I'm pretty sure you can find it on youtube, and if you can, please watch it. Please I beg you all to watch it. It includes conference talks by President Eyring and Elder Holland, and it was the best thing I watched all week. Look it up.
So...story time. Some Elders who lived in our dorm/residence in November left us a present in our vents. We found it because some older sisters in our zone told us of that same thing happening to them, so we checked our vent and there it was :) We searched for four days for a screwdriver, because apparently no one has a screwdriver anywhere. But we finally found one and got in the vent, and there was free laundry detergent, some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle masks and a bunch of envelopes. Not bad. It was definitely exciting to watch me and Hna Warner try and get the screws off with pocket knives and tweezers and quarters and literally everything you can think of (there's a picture of that coming soon). 

We got a new district this week, and it was 4 new elders, which I'm including a picture of soon :) They're the sweetest. They're so fun, and I love having them in our zone. It feels weird to be the old ones in the zone...it's really weird, I'm not even going to lie. But I'm halfway through my stay at the MTC, and I still can't believe it. in less than a month, I'll be in Nicaragua, teaching actual people, and speaking actual Spanish all the time. I'm so excited, and I'm so glad I get to go to Nicaragua with my current companion. I know we won't be companions in the mission, at least not for a while, but I'm glad I'll be able to see here while we're there :)

I actually had my first experience talking with a native for a non-lesson last night. After Hna Walborn and I finished getting ready for bed, Hna Walborn (as Sister Training Leader) got a call from the front desk at 10 o'clock saying that we needed to get dressed and come down to the front desk immediately to help show an international sister to her room, since she just arrived. I threw on a dress, confused as to why on earth they needed us. Then Hna Walborn suggested that she probably speaks Spanish, and then it clicked. We get there, and there's an adorable new Sister missionary from Chihuahua, Mexico, who only spoke a little English. Hna Walborn and I could confidently communicate with her, and help her get to her room and help her feel a little more comfortable. I was confused at first, but I was so thrilled to see how far I'd come in my Spanish. I'm going to be doing that all the time soon! I love speaking Spanish so much. It's a beautiful language, and I just feel so privileged to be able to learn a gorgeous language that I'll be able to use for the rest of my life. 

Hna Walborn and I got the chance to teach Relief Society on Sunday. It's nothing special, per se, but I've never taught before, and it just went so smoothly. It was nice to be able to teach a lesson with her in English for once ;) Although it's almost awkward now to try and talk about gospel principles and pray in English. I'm just so used to Spanish. But even in English, I feel my testimony growing stronger. We had an excellent lesson on the Plan of Salvation this week, and I've never felt so sure of the divinity of this sacred Plan that has been created for us. I love the scriptures that talk about it, like D&C 76, and Moses 3-6, and I'm sure there are many others. Learning about the Plan of Salvation and feeling my testimony grow deeper in the gospel makes me want to visit the temple every day. It's so special in there, just to feel that peace and sacredness that can reside only in our Heavenly Father's house. If you haven't gone through yet, please make that a goal. And if you already have, go as much as you can. Nothing else, aside from constant prayer and study of the Book of Mormon, will help your testimony more, I promise you. I feel so happy here in a place where my testimony is always being tested and tried, and then strengthened again through the simple truths I've grown to have a testimony of, here in the MTC. I'm so glad I get to go to the temple often here, it truly is a blessing. And even though I won't get to go to the temple while I'm actually in Nicaragua, I'm definitely going to treasure every opportunity I have to go there once I get back.
To close, my favorite scripture this week is actually in the Bible Dictionary. If you haven't ever read the last two paragraphs (or, quite frankly, the whole thing) of the section about Prayer in the BD, go ahead and do that right now :) I just highlighted the whole thing. It's fantastic.
I'm using a computer now, so I won't close in Spanish, since I can't use accents and those are kind of important ;) But I just wanted to say that I know this gospel is true, and I know I'm supposed to be here. Nothing has made me feel happier with myself and with the direction my life is going than being here at the MTC, where I'm constantly being spiritually uplifted, and forgetting everything else and losing myself in the service of the Lord. I'm so grateful to all of you for all the wonderful things you've done for me, and for your support and love. It truly means a lot.
I love you all!
Love, Hermana Oliphant

Hello again!

Hello, everybody! Week 2 has gone so slowly and so quickly at the same time. I almost feel like I've plateaued in my learning Spanish. But it's definitely still coming. I said a prayer entirely in English last night, and the words "Dear Heavenly Father" literally felt wrong in my mouth. Now I feel like the only possible way to begin prayers is "Querido Padre Celestial" and I don't even know when that happened.

I understand it so well now, which is fantastic. I can understand almost everything someone says to me, but if I'm in a lesson I freeze up a little and have no idea how to phrase anything. I'm so glad that the Spirit is the main teacher and that as long as I keep bearing my testimony in Spanish, it'll all work out. I'd be struggling if I had to rely only on myself to teach these awesome people. My companion and I committed someone to baptism this week! I mean, he wasn't a real investigator. He was actually our teacher. But he was our first real investigator and looking back we did kind of horribly but we brought the Spirit and he said he'd be baptized :) It was definitely the best experience so far on my mission. It wasn't entirely real, but our teacher was pretending to be a real person from when he went on his mission. It was awesome, and it gave me so much love and motivation. I can't wait to help someone who is actually searching for the gospel the opportunity to see the beauty in the atonement and the plan of salvation. It just gives me so much peace to know that I will be that person for someone. I'm so excited :) 

But I'm definitely going to treasure every moment here in the MTC, because it's honestly been one of the best experiences of my entire life. It took me a while, but I'm now so close with my district, and we got a new district in our zone just before the old district left. I miss everyone in the old district, because they were amazing, but I know they'll all be amazing out in the field :) Our new district has two new sisters and six new elders. So now there's eight of both ;) We're actually getting another district this week, with six elders. I'm excited to meet them and wow them with my two weeks of knowledge of el CCM. I'm practically an expert. Just kidding. But my district is the oldest district in our zone now. Pretty crazy. And my companion is Sister Training Leader, which has honestly been the best blessing. Just her. She's been the best blessing in my life since being here. We had companionship inventory last night, and literally it was just us gushing about all the things we love about each other. Neither of us actually had any problems with each other, and we just had the Spirit with us the whole time and it was amazing. Yesterday was really hard for a lot of people. A couple people in our zone are struggling hardcore, and Hna Walborn really had a hard day yesterday. But everything just ended up working so well, and our companionship inventory was the icing on the cake. She was the perfect companion for me to have as I got used to being here. But both of us just get along so well, and I literally cannot even get over how perfect she is. She brings the spirit to our lessons, and she's so caring and loving and a perfect sister training leader. I could honestly talk about her all day. I'll probably have more to say next week, but I'll stop now ;) 

This week was definitely very spiritual. Sunday devotional was incredible. Absolutely incredible. It was President and Sister Tanner this week. President Tanner is about to be the new President of BYU-H, and Sister Tanner is the one who wrote Daughters in His Kingdom. The talks were incredible, and I'm so glad I was there. And on Tuesday we had Elder Christofferson come and speak, and he talked about questions missionaries had, such as their worries and their struggles and things. I really needed to hear it. And on Friday, we had the incredible experience of viewing Elder L. Tom Perry's funeral, which no one thought we'd be able to do. But it was incredible and I'm so glad I was able to view it. I have such a testimony of the plan of salvation, and something that Elder Hendrix said after the funeral last week really stuck with me. "I hate goodbyes, but it never really is goodbye. No matter what. It's always just 'See you later.'" I'm so grateful that I know it's true. I can't handle goodbyes either. But I'm definitely okay with see you later.

So yeah. This week was a success. My foot's healing, and everything is fun and awesome. I have had hard days and days where I feel discouraged and unmotivated. But the good days far outweigh the struggles. Our Sunday theme this week was about enduring to the end, and I wrote a talk on it in Spanish, and it definitely helped me out a lot. My favorite scripture this week regarding that is 2 Nephi 31: 13, 19-20. But I mean, just read all of 2 Nephi 31-32. Please. It's my favorite chapter and so incredible. 

I love you guys so much. Thank you for all the emails this week. I know I'm supposed to be here and I love every second. Yo sé que la iglesia de Jesucristo es verdadera. Yo sé que el Evangelio y la Expiación del Salvador es para nosotros, y yo sé que Dios es nuestro amoroso Padre Celestial. Si nosotros perseveramos hasta el fin, tendremos la vida eterna. Él ha me dio muchas bendiciones, y soy muy agradecido. Soy muy animada de cuando iré al campo de misión. Hay muchas personas que les ya encanto :) ¡Gracias por todas! En el nombre de Jesucristo, amén :)

I apologize for my poor Spanish. I didn't use google translate for this ;) I hope you all have an awesome week! ¡Les hablé luego!

(Note from Mom-- I put her testimony into Google Translate and this is what it said:

"I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is true. I know that the Gospel and the Atonement of the Savior is for us,and I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. I know if we persevere to the end, we will gain eternal life. He has given me many blessings, and I am so grateful. I am so excited to go to the mission field. There are many people that already charm. [She may have meant many people to encounter or meet.] Thank you for everything. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.")  

First Email from the MTC: HOLA!!!

Hola! And hello everybody :) I'm so excited to finally have my p-day. It's been a long week, but also a short one at the same time. Each day felt like an eternity, and I was always tired and hungry. But looking back, it feels like I was just dropped off yesterday, while I simultaneously feel like I've been here my whole life.

Mom, to answer your questions, my first few days have been crazy. The first day was a whirlwind. I got there and was plopped right into my Spanish class. It was crazy and hard, but I made it through. I feel so bad for the Hermanas who had literally no background in Spanish (two of them spent many years taking French), and the Elder who has been having a hard time. His name is Elder Baxter, and he got here a day late because he was supposed to go the Mexico MTC tomorrow, but he got a call last Tuesday night that said he was supposed to get to the Provo MTC the next day! How crazy. He wasn't even set apart until Thursday. But Spanish for me is going really well. I love the language, and I love the classes and mi maestro, Hermano Mace. It's honestly really great, and I've learned SO MUCH. I can now pray and bear my testimony semi-fluently in Spanish. And I've already taught 4 lessons to "investigators" since I've been here. It's really really hard not knowing how to express myself in the language I need to use. It's beyond frustrating, as I'm sure you can imagine, knowing how much of a perfectionist I am. I generally refuse to use a word unless I know exactly how to say it or conjugate it properly. But when I'm teaching lessons, I'm learning to get over it in order to at least get my general message across when I teach. But even though yo y mi compan~era struggle hard-core with teaching in Spanish, we always feel the Spirit so strongly in our lessons, and there have been so many tears from the wonderful truths we've taught. It's honestly been a magical experience, to know that it doesn't matter how much I suck at speaking Spanish; the Spirit does the work in the conversion process, I'm just the helper. I need to let go of my need to be perfect and good at everything in order to share the lovely truths I've been called to share. 

 

I actually really like wearing my skirts every day. I haven't disliked it at all :) I'm afraid of that moment when I realize I've run out of outfit combinations, but I think I'm good for now. It's only been a week but I practically feel like an MTC expert. My companion, Hermana Walborn, is so so so sweet. She and I get along so well, and I'm so grateful to have her as a companion. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to be my first companion. She's encouraging and hardworking and thoughtful, and she's just all around amazing. She's struggling with Spanish, or so she says. But honestly, considering the last time she took spanish was at the beginning of high school, she's doing so well. She's an awesome person to have in a lesson with me when I run out of things to say or I get stuck on a word, she'll just jump in and bear her testimony on what we're talking about, and it's fantastic.

And I have no problems with the schedule. I don't have a problem waking up early (yet), except for this morning. I slept in 15 minutes. Rebuke me. Haha I was just tired. But we went to the temple this morning at 7 am, so I kind of had to hurry. 

 

And about my shoes...
I wore each of my new pairs the first two days, and I got really bad blisters. so I decided to just wear my flats during the day because it honestly hurt too bad to walk in my new shoes. But my feet have also been swollen this week, mi companera says it's because of water retension, and it's just kind of common for missionaries feet to swell up with the flights and all the sitting. So as my feet kept swelling, even my loose-fitting flats started to rub against my blisters, and none of my bandaids would stay on. On Sunday, we walked up to the temple to take pictures, and my bandaids came off, and I was tired of the thousands of bandaids I was using, so I didn't worry about them for a few hours until I got home. As Sunday progressed, it got harder and harder to walk, and it was just painful to walk in my flats. I figured I'd put some more bandaids on when I got back and see how they were in the morning. So I get in my pajamas and my left foot was huge and swollen and red. It looked horrible. I knew I didn't break it or anything, but I figured one of my blisters gave me an infection. I waited until yesterday, and I went to the doctor, and he said that I got an infection from my blister (obviously) and prescribed me an antibiotic that I walked to the Student Health Center to get. The nurse came in and gave me the notorious "peanut butter shot" which was, as expected, not fun. the left side of my body ached all day, because she had to stick it in my hip. It wasn't pleasant. So yeah. My foot's still swollen, I have LOTS of good moleskin and huge bandaids from the doctor, and I'm taking an antibiotic 4 times a day. Hopefully the infection goes away soon, because my feet are honestly the only thing keeping me from having the best time of my life. I really do love it here :) So, lesson learned. BREAK IN YOUR SHOES BEFOREHAND.

So, on that lovely note. Here's a little on the rest of my district :) There's me and Hna Walborn, Hermanas Nicholls and Daniels, Hnas Houghton and Warner, and Elders Hendrix and Baxter. Elder Hendrix is a hoot. He's really sarcastic, and always says the dumbest randomest things that get everyone to laugh. Especially just his facial expressions and the way he says everything. It's hilarious. But none of us can ever tell when he's kidding or not. He's honestly already mostly fluent in Spanish. He was at the Mexico MTC for 3 weeks, but he got really sick and had to come home. Now he's back here, and he just turned 21 on the day we got here :) Apparently at the Mexico MTC, if you're not fluent by the end of the first day, you're going to have a hard time. So he knows it very well already, and helps us out.

 

Elder Baxter is Marshallese, so he's originally from the Marshall Islands, which are out by Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. He moved to NC a few years ago, and he's lived in Morganton and Raleigh and stuff like that. He's super funny, and is fun to be around. he had a really really hard time with Spanish, because English is already his second language, but he's doing so well. It's kind of inspiring :)

Hna Houghton is from Chicago. She's 6 ft tall, has super pale skin, and has the most ridiculously dark and curly hair. It's tight ringlets, and it's so gorgeous. She loves to laugh, and she's very thoughtful and sweet. Hna Warner is from Utah, and she is kind of quiet, but super sarcastic and apparently very good at Call of Duty. She's hilarious, and I love talking to her.

 

Hna Nicholls is really tall too, ginger, and has the best laugh. Super loud, but she's also very musical, and I love listening to her talk.

The hermanas in our zone that have been here for a month decorated our door :)

Me and Hna Walborn

Todas las Hnas in nuestro districto :) (All the Sisters in our district)

Our entire zone at our temple walk! From left to right, E' Deland, E' Crockett, E' Dobbins, Me, Hna Walborn, Hna Van der Toolen, Hna Gudmundson, Hna Snow, Hna Warner, Hna Houghton, Hna Daniels, Hna Nicholls, E' Baxter, E' Hendrix

Just the Hermanas in our zone :)

Top of the Provo Temple (for kicks)

Hna Houghton y Hna Warner. This is what language study at the MTC looks like.

This is right outside our room in the residence halls. Jose Smith is how we spell Joseph Smith in Spanish, and so whoever did this obviously must have taken Spanish ;) It's been here for forever. It's supposed to say Fire Hose. But Naw.

Me and Hna Walborn again

Hna Daniels is everything I aspire to be. Super athletic, super healthy, and so so so excited about the Gospel and missionary work. She went to BYU-H, and she inspires me every day.
And of course, Hna Walborn. She's the cutest and most adorable person I've ever met. She laughs loudly, and at everything, and she's just a light. Everyone is drawn to her. I'm so grateful to have her as my companion. She's caring and lovely, and I can't wait to get closer to her at the MTC.

On Sunday, we had a devotional with JANICE KAPP PERRY. That's all E' Hendrix would talk about. She kind of wrote every single one of my favorite children's songs. I got to take a picture with her and meet her and her husband. The devotional was about music, obviously, and was fantastic. Her husband is adorable. She told the story about how before they were dating, they were in band. She played the clarinet, and he never really talked to her. Until one day, he got her attention and said, "Those lips look like they were meant for something other than playing the clarinet" and everyone went CRAZY. It was hilarious! And then her husband got up and went over to her and grabbed her a face and kissed her right there over the pulpit. We lost it. Everyone was screaming and laughing and he was soaking up all the attention and it was adorable. I loved that so much.

We also watched Elder Bednar's talk in the MTC a few years ago called "The Character of Christ." If you can find it, I highly recommend you watch it. So so so good.

I gave my first sacrament meeting talk in Spanish! Everyone needs to prepare a talk during the week about a certain topic. In Spanish, and about 3-5 minutes long. No one knows who's speaking until they literally announce it over the pulpit. And I finished my talk in the 15 minutes we sat there before sacrament meeting started. And of course, I was the first one to speak. Of course. But I just read of my paper, but I made good eye contact, and I bore my testimony from the heart in Spanish, and it was really fun. I got so many compliments on my Spanish, and it made me feel pretty good ;)

So, I'm about out of time. Sorry this message was so long, but I just had so much to tell you guys! I hope you're having an awesome week, and I can't wait to talk to you all next week!

My favorite scripture this week (and always) is (I believe...I'm going off of memory here) 2 Nephi 2:11-13. Read them. So good.

Hasta luego! Les amo mucho!!