aka sister faldmo: The Bad, The Good, The Awesome, The Awkward August 16, 2013

My MTC Zone (Can you guess the 14 year old Elder?)

dear world,

mtc life is the bombbbb. i'm loving it. i am adjusting and doing my best to keep up with all that is expected of me. here are some things that you may enjoy :)

the bad, the good, the awesome, the awkward

the bad-

my companion has had a few doctors appointments already, and i've missed out on a lot of study and class time
you teach a lesson on your THIRD DAY. IN PORTUGUESE. these people are crazy.
our lesson on tuesday was reallllly bad. we tried to do it without notes and we crashed and burned. it was the hardest part of my mtc experience yet, and i walked out with tears in my eyes.
my companion has a bad health problem.. details to come in later weeks. we're keeping it on the dl.
after gym time we all showered. the door accidentally got completely shut and no one had their key. or anything but a towel. and we had to wait a while before anyone was in the halls because it was the middle of the day. #scandalous.

the good-

appointments break up the schedule and i've written a lot of letters while waiting
my companion is fluent in spanish which can be mistaken for portuguese sometimes. i just mooch off her language skills in lessons.
i bore my testimony and prayed in the first lesson (with notes.)
I LOVE MY DISTRICT. we have too much fun. the elders are like my little brothers and i have all the sisters in my room and it's so much fun.

the awesome-

our last lesson, on wednesday, no notes, all portuguese. AND WE COMMITED HIM (our fake investigator) TO BAPTISM.
i know that all of that ^^ isn't me. it's the spirit, the gift of tongues, and my heavenly father having my back.
after that lesson on tuesday, we had a devotional my elder richard g. scott, of the quorom of the 12 apostles. he seriously spoke straight to me i swear. it was EXACTLY what i needed after that miserable lesson. it was a really awesome experience.
my elders in my district gave my companion a really beautiful blessing. it has helped her so much and i'm so proud of them.
for one of our doctors appointments we went off campus!! we went to a clinic by the hospital. it was so weird. after trying to bribe our shuttle driver to take us to sonic, we found went into the pharmacy and i got a diet coke with lime. #winning.
my companion frequently reminds me of bon qui qui. it makes life reallll entertaining.

the awkward-

#mtcreallife

i think one of the elders is 14.
one elder didn't know where to put the stamp on a letter.
one elder got his letter returned because he just wrote his parent's names, not their address. #18yearoldmissionaryprobs.
what I've overheard in our district:

practicing knocking on the doors/ door approaches- 2 elders volunteer & say. "but who is going to open it?" "well who is the least mormon of us all?"

"after i opened my mission call i was just so grateful for everything. like i'd look at trees and just be so grateful for trees. or i was so thankful for the road. it was so cool."
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i don't know how to tell you all about all that has happened these last 10 days in my hour of email time. it has been great. we finally have a normal schedule, we all get along so great, i know more than one phrase in the portuguese (my name is sister faldmo), and i made it to p day!

my days are usually something like this:

wake up at 6:30, get ready, breakfast, personal study, language study with a teacher for THREE HOURS IN ONE ROOM, lunch, tall (technology assisted language learning), progressing investigator (teaching or preparing to teach), gym time, companionship study, mail time!!!, go home, shower, write letters, lights off at 10:30.

my favorite part of this weeks was most definitely devotional. it was right after a horrible lesson and richard g. scott knew how to let me know i was going to be just fine. he talked a lot about having faith in the gift of tongues. i think my faith in the gift of tongues was a bit confused. i think i thought either a pure miracle would happen and i would open my mouth and perfect portuguese would come out, or it would bring to remembrance everything that had been learned, but not for me. i am doing much better at believing that it can work for me too. he talked a lot about communication with God as well, and how you can't rush a good prayer, or conversation with God. he also told us God didn't call us to fail, he called us to succeed. and that's exactly what i'm going to do. he blessed us multiple times that we would learn all that we needed to and he told us that they pray for us each week with the quorum of the 12 apostles and the first presidency. and as he was walking out he yelled "be good!". it was very cute. he was so kind and loving and reminded me, as a first week missionary, that it was exactly that- my first week. i wrote in my journal that night "at the mtc our goal is to learn a language in 6 weeks, but this week i expected myself to learn it in 7 days." after tuesday i had my head and heart in a good place and i recovered quickly from the horrible lesson.

my companion is great. sister a is from texas, 24, and she is sassy but chill. during class she asks how to say things in portuguese like "mascara" or "pregnant" and we all can't quite figure out what she's thinking ever. i'm so grateful for how well we get along. it has made these first days so great.

i'm not sure what else you all want to know.. but i'm doing great and i'm so happy. i know i'm where i'm supposed to be. i feel so blessed and honored that i can dedicate 18 months to my heavenly father. you all should be jealous you're not doing the same because it is so great. i love my name tag. i love having my name next to my church's name with "JESUS CRISTO" large and in charge on there.

i love letters! don't forget about me, but i have definitely gotten my fair share this week. my district leader asked me yesterday who writes me because i get so many. apparently they don't think i have friends. shout out to rachel for sending the most dear elders, julia for the cupcakes (i need your address!!), and mom for all the packages.

i love you all! the church is true.

xoxo sister faldmo.

#contraban