July 3, 2009

Sorry guys, I somehow missed blogging this letter from July 3rd. Here it is a little late!

Hey everybody!

Our schedule is different now, so our P-day is today...? I leave Wednesday morning! There are 16 of us that will be on the plane and apparently I'm in charge. Who knows? I can't wait to get out and start preachin' the word. It's hard to live at the MTC half of your life. I have SO much more respect and admiration for those people who stay her for like 12 weeks or even 8 or 9. I'm dying after 3 and a half!

VC training is really cool. It's like "Now that you've learned all this stuff, let's apply it to a visitors' center." Instead of praying at the start of a lesson, you just pray in your heart. Instead of 15 mins, you have like 2. It's so much harder!

Yesterday, we had our first practice. They set up a room like a pretend VC with pictures and displays (Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, Temples, etc.), and we took people on a mini "tour". It was SO beyond difficult! They are members of the community who volunteer to be nonmembers. How do you explain the purpose of Temples in 2 minutes instead of 2 hours? I have no idea. I had a rough time trying to transition from one topic to the next and I forgot pretty much everything they had taught us. At the end, we were able to talk with the person. My darling girl had actually served in Independence. What are the chances? I bet I slaughtered the part about Liberty Jail. She talked to each of us who are going to Missouri afterward. She got me so excited to leave!

We taught a second time. It went much better. I could feel the Spirit a lot stronger. I remembered to testify at each display. It was so awesome! She was able to share her feelings about the Atonement. It was so great! It was definitely one of those things where you are absolutely terrified at first, but by the end you do not want to end. The second volunteer actually served in the Temple Square mission. She gave me lots of feedback! She said she actually liked it when she would get all frazzled with her words, then she would say, "Did that make sense? No?" Then Heavenly Father would just take over. That gave me so much comfort. I am so scared of that. I have the hardest time making sentences make sense. You think you know the doctrine until you have to teach it. Cray-see.

Sis Mari Sasaki is one of my companions now. She is possibly the cutest girl I have ever met! I love Japanese people. She is just super petite and very animated- so funny, too! We are a tripanionship these days. It's weird, but cool. There's a "secret room" that only our class has access to. They have real kiosks inside and a fake christus statue thing and a plasma screen. All the church history books, DVDs, brochures and stuff are available to us. It's pretty much the coolest thing in the world!

For the 4th of July, we will be at temple square (Don't ANY of you DARE show up!). We will be paired up with a missionary there and then will proselyte all day! I can't wait. The real world! Then at night, they have a special presentation for all the MTC missionaries. My teacher gets to play Joseph Smith in the show. "Celestial Broadway" is what they're calling it. I can't wait! Then we watch the Stadium of Fire show. Yay!

It's been a weird week. Long and full of work. I have tons to learn! But I am pumped and ready. Bring it on. Thanks for your letters and packages, everyone. Love you!

-Sis Rooey