August 16, 2010

This is actually Aly's second email.

Hello my dear momma. Thank you so so so so much for writing me those DearElders. You have no idea how amazing it is to get mail every day and know that I am being thought of. Some days can be rough and the small reminder helps. I get them the day you send them usually, but I can't write back until Monday mornings. And I only have thirty minutes to write, so I'm always stressed out trying to fit everything in that I want to tell you. There's so much to tell that happens over a week long period.
Things at the MTC are still going really well. My companion and I have been working really hard to feel the spirit more in our lessons. We had kind of an amazing experience where we both studied about the Holy Ghost in our personal study, then had companionship study right after. We were talking about how you know if you have the spirit or not, and this Elder came up to our table. (Everyone is working on getting contacts here, so they'll just walk around and find a person to share a message with. People are usually pretty agreeable when it comes to hearing our message...Weirdddd) So this Elder came up, and he asked if he could share a message. We agreed and he said his message was from a devotional that Elder Bednar gave here at the MTC on the spirit. Sister Pence and I just looked at each other with open mouths. Then he said something like, "Don't worry about whether or not what you are thinking is from the spirit. If you are obedient and doing all you should, just go forward." It was the perfect thing we could be told, in the perfect moment. Later that night a group of 4 Elders came by and asked if they could share their testimonies. One of them was from the Philippines and learning English. He bore his testimony to us in English. Another bore his testimony in Samoan, another in Portuguese, and another in Korean. Then we bore our testimonies to them in Tagalog. It was a beautiful moment.

I think the most difficulty I am having is not with the language at all. It's with the teaching. Every lesson must be tailored to meet the needs of the people we teach. So we have to get a feel for who the people are and what God wants them to know and be taught. I have to remind myself that worrying about what I'm going to say is a completely selfish thing to do during a lesson. I have to focus on the person in front of me. I love teaching though. I feel like I am making progress. Sister Pence and I have a goal to hit 12 lessons this week. We already have about 7 scheduled.

Speaking of schedule. It changes every day. But a typical day would be: 6:00, wake up; 7:00 breakfast; 7:30 class; 10:15 gym; 11:30 lunch; 12:15 class; 6:00 fireside; 9:00 planning with comp; 9:30 back to residence; 10:30 lights out. It's a pretty jam-packed day. The days feel like weeks. I can hardly remember what I've done the day before half of the time. And the weeks feel like days. I can't believe I've been here for over two weeks already
I love you momma. God loves you.
Your little missionary, Sister Fort.