Thursday, October 24, 2013

Sister Oliphant's First Week in the MTC

Written by Sister Justyce Oliphant, training at the Provo Missionary Training Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When her training is complete, she will serve in the Mexico Tuxtla-Gutierrez Mission, speaking Spanish.

Hola!!!!! Wow...I just don't know where to begin! This last week has been so fantastic! It was kind of hard to wait over a week for our first P-day (Preparation Day) though.

So, I am on the MTC West Campus. My companion is Hermana Taylor from Alpine, Utah. She is 6 feet 2 inches tall, and so adorable. I just love her. She is so sweet, and our personalities work out awesome together. You know me, I'm pretty loud and crazy, and she is quiet and soft spoken. So she helps calm me down when I get crazy!

We have two other Hermanas in our district, Hermana Park from Korea and Hermana Davidson from Arizona. We are only the second group of Sisters to be heading to Mexico. Our Branch President said that it was nice to finally have Sisters at church on Sunday.

The picture I've included is our District, just after we went to the Provo Temple this morning. This temple is so awesome!! We missed the bus after our session, so we all just walked back to the west campus.

We are living on the west side of the football stadium, and so we walked all around that and up to the main campus. Our Zone was also invited to attend the devotionals Sunday and Tuesday up on the main campus, so we walked up there those days as well. I guess it's just good practice for when we get to Mexico!!!

SO neat thing, all of the Sisters in my district are going to Tuxtla-Gutierrez, Mexico as well!! I love how much we have all been able to bond!

Yesterday, Wednesday, we went to the Mexico consulate in Salt Lake City. We rode the Front Runner and then took Trax. It was so great to be up in my normal neck of the woods even just for a few hours!! We we able to talk to some neat people while we were on the train, and had some pretty cool conversations.We have been learning about connecting, not contacting, meaning to connect with the people and not just trying to get the numbers.

Hermana Taylor and I have been teaching lessons to an investigator named Javier. It has been difficult to try to communicate with him, especially since he doesn't even know any English!! My espanol is definitely improving. I can´t wait to get home and talk to all of my Chick-fil-a friends in Spanish!!!

Us apartment pals (the girls in my district) sang in the MTC choir at the Tuesday fireside! We got some sweet camera time because we were in the front row! AND! Sunday I saw Makenzie Brown! She left Monday morning for the Philippines!

Well I don't have much time, but I do want you all to know how much I love you!!! I have been having an awesome time here, and I hope that you are all having a good time at home!

USE DEAR ELDER TO WRITE TO ME!!! We get them the same day, and it's easier for me to read your letters and take time to write hand written letters to reply! I have sent you a few letters already. I hope you got them!!

Give everyone hugs from me!! I love you all!!! And hope to hear from you this week!!

A Peak into my Life at the Provo MTC

My district at the MTC. The Sisters from left are Hermanas Davidson
(Arizona), Park (Korea), Oliphant (me!), and Taylor (Alpine, Utah).