Sister Ogden's Missionary Blog: MTC

Showing posts with label MTC. Show all posts

Monday, March 4, 2013

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Canada-Bound Already!

A couple of things before I post Aerin's last letter.

First, I am on a learning curve re the World of Blogging. I finally figured out how to allow comments. So if you tried to comment in the past and had difficulty, it should be fixed now.
Second, Aerin leaves for Canada tomorrow (Monday). So crazy! She is arriving with a large group. The day that she arrives, the Toronto Mission will double their number of sister missionaries from somewhere around 30 to somewhere around 60! What an amazing time to be a missionary...

Here is a portion of her latest e-mail...

This week went super fast. Man days are going by quick here. I've kept plenty busy. I just can't believe that I'm going to be in Canada in 3 days! I'm super excited but I'm actually going to miss the MTC here. I have loved my teachers, companion, roommates, and district so much. Today we wrote a note to everyone in our district and told each person something that we admired about them. Going to miss being with everyone so much! By the way, I keep seeing friends here and it is awesome. I saw Elder Cluff yesterday and that was fun.

Yesterday we had an In-Field training so we were doing this training thing from 8am until 5 pm. It was pretty intense but it was fun learning about different things and it made me excited. It was kinda funny because they had some people that were on The District come and teach us there. I saw Elder Christensen and Elder Murray and it kinda threw me off. Haha. :)

I think I had two really amazing experiences...actually a lot more than that. I'll try to share as many as I can.

First we practiced teaching a man who was inactive and thought that God expected too much of us. For some reason that meeting I just didn't know what to say...I couldn't say anything. But, an amazing thing happened. My companion started bearing her testimony until it got to the point where she was crying. The spirit was so strong and she connected with the member in a way I've never seen before. I didn't have to say anything because I knew that she was the one who could relate and touch the man. He said he'd never heard such a bold testimony before. It taught me that certain missionaries are called to help certain people. It was a sweet experience.

Another time we taught a lady and we talked about having a prophet. I told her how I was on a mission and quit basketball because of the prophet and she was very interested and that felt really cool to bear my testimony on that. After that my companion invited her to be baptized and she said "No. No way. Not at all." I asked why and she talked about how she had lost a child who hadn't been baptized. We pulled out Moroni 8 (which we had studied like 2 days before) and bore testimony that her kids were going to be okay. She started crying and it was also an amazing experience.

Then yesterday at the training we watched this video on where you see the growth of stakes and temples from 1830 to 2011. (I think you've seen it before) But it was just amazing to be reminded how God's work cannot be stopped. I got the chills very intensely...it was like every inch of my body was wrapped in a fuzzy blanket. I've never felt that way before and I know that it was the Spirit testifying to me that this work will go forth and that I am supposed to be here at this time. After the movie we found out about all the new missions that have opened up. That is SO awesome! I'm so grateful for this and I can't wait to see how the work will continue to grow.

My companion is from Nebraska. She has taught me so much and I love her because she is a great example and leader.

Alright...so gym time was one of my favorite times here at the MTC. I remember the first day I told everyone that I liked basketball but that was it. Then they were playing lightning and I decided to join. I won and...I don't mean to brag but I made 5 three pointers in a row. I love lightning!! haha I also wanted to play pick-up but haven't had the chance. But lightning is still awesome and my favorite! It was actually a little bit embarrassing because after that day all the elders in my district call me "Sister Baller". It's a little embarrassing but it's fun getting elders out. haha :) But basketball is definitely an outlet for me and gym time has helped me get all of my stress out. I don't know what I'm going to do now that I probably won't be playing lightning as much. The other day when we didn't have gym time my roommates wanted me to give them a workout. So I led a Julian Michaels workout that I had typed up...it was a good workout and I actually loved being an exercise trainer...but we all died. haha. I was sore for the next three days!

Okay so I better go. But I hope everything is going well. Tell Morgan to have fun in Hawaii and that I miss it soooo much and that I pretty much talk about it every day.

Okay gotta go. Love you all! Always in my prayers.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Email 2/18 Loving the MTC!

Here is a portion of our first e-mail from Aerin:

Okay. The MTC. Well the first day was super crazy. I was working all day and I kept telling myself..."wow I am really here. I am at the MTC." I've had many great experiences. When I got here I had a humbling experience where I realized how much I didn't know how to teach...and I learned that I was thinking too much about ME and how I was teaching instead of focusing on the investigator and God. Already I've grown a love for others and for God. But I still have a long way to go. :) My companion is nice. We've had some amazing spiritual experiences together, and day by day I love her more and more. The last lesson that we taught an investigator (our MTC teacher) we actually did really well and we worked well together. Let's hope we keep it up! And I love love LOVE my district. The elders are going to Phoenix AZ and the sisters are all going to Toronto. We are really close and I think we have all grown to become a family.

So the MTC is amazing. I love the spirit that is ALWAYS here. I've never prayed and thought about the gospel so much but I absolutely love it. I think the most amazing experience was last Saturday. We had a Zone Meeting and the teacher told us to think about distractions or things that were preventing us from acting with faith or that were giving us discouraging feelings. All the things that had been discouraging me came up and I starting feeling sad. But then, the teacher challenged us to then use the next 40 minutes to ACT and DO something that we felt inspired to, whether it was to go out of the classroom and serve someone, etc. So, I turned to my companion and I just said that we needed to go into a classroom and pray. We went and had a powerful prayer. I just let go everything that was on my mind and I was SOBBING with my companion. After I was done she also gave a beautiful prayer. And all of my burdens were lifted. Then we returned to the classroom (1/3 of the people left to ACT but some wanted the teacher to still teach them) We had a wonderful lesson about how we shouldn't rely on teachers to solve our problems but we should first and foremost rely on the Lord. Then he read this poem about how when we are rejected as missionaries and face hard times, we should remember the Savior descended below all of us. And to remember that WE are experiencing just a little bit of what he suffered. The spirit was... a FOUNTAIN the rest of the day.

Anyways, I have done so much I don't know what to say. I've seen a lot of friends from high school and BYUH here at the MTC. It's kinda scary how many people I've seen. I've seen 2 people who were in my BYUH ward, Sister Stringham, Sister Ahlstrom, ....and a lot more people. It's fun to see so many familiar faces. Love it! I saw Sister Reeves speak yesterday and she did a beautiful job. And I saw her daughter and I waved. So we went to the temple today and I had a great time. The Provo temple is HUGE but it was super busy because of the holiday. Anyways guess who I saw as I entered the temple? Aunt Jimena! Wow tender mercies. It was so great to see her but at the same time it kinda made me miss everyone.