Week 4 -This Week On Holiday MTC

Amazing things happening out here! We're halfway through French now, and I'm not fluent for the life of me. But everything's fine - ca va is our anthem out here. ("It goes")

So basically half of our huge French-speaking zone left on Monday, but we also got about that half back in newbies this past week. So my district has been here for about three and a half weeks, and we're like the Seniors of the zone. Everyone else there is newer than us, and even though we don't really know what we're doing, we pretend we do for the sake of the balance of the universe.

Everybody managed to get sick in one way or another this week - I'm recovering from a minor cold while Soeur Allen is recovering from pinkeye. A bunch of the Elders got "achey", whatever that means... Basically we all ended up missing some class or study time throughout the week, which has made this week very relaxed, especially considering that we had Thanksgiving.

This has pretty much nothing to do with what I just said. It’s just so pretty out here

On Tuesday, Elder Ringwood gave an amazing devotional about 2 Kings 4. I felt the Spirit so strong as he testified of the way that God is in the details of our lives, and how important it is that we know where to go when we have trouble in our lives. He said that, as missionaries, these moments often include somebody else, along with the Lord's timing. I can't wait to go and teach in Tahiti!

We also sang in the choir on Tuesday, and we sang More Holiness Give Me. It was the first time the choir sang quietly instead of everyone trying to sing really loud solos at the same time, and the Spirit was so strong. I love that song - Elder Ringwood's wife (who also happens to be President Nelson's daughter) spoke about how that entire song was her New Year's resolution one year. If you haven't listened to or read through it recently, you totally should.

The power also went out last night for about five hours, which meant we just continued life as normal but with half the lighting. Let me be the first to tell you, the MTC cafeteria is really weird when it’s dark. However, it gave me an excuse to eat only cereal and ice cream for dinner. 

This isn't even our entire district. We’re missing four

NOW. THANKSGIVING.

Guys, Thanksgiving at the MTC is crazy!! We started off the day with a devotional, where the choir sang Let Zion in her Beauty Rise. That one was loud, but a lot better than the other loud songs we've sung so far. Also, we sang it for DIETER F. UCHTDORF. MY FAVORITE APOSTLE CAME TO THE PROVO MTC ON THANKSGIVING, AND WE WERE IN THE SAME ROOM. It was pretty cool, I guess. (It was literally an experience I'll never forget.) He spoke about gratitude, of course, but shared how important it is to give thanks in everything that we do - being grateful for the blessings is a great start to an attitude of gratitude, but seeing everything as a blessing, whether it's good or bad, is what he called the "higher law of gratitude". This is so important, especially at the MTC! When you give up so much, it's easy to get homesick or bitter about the things you don't have in your life. And it's okay to focus on other things - but when you can turn the things you're sad about into something that you appreciate and find joy in, your "mourning [can be] turned to joy, and [your] lamentations into the praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord Jesus Christ, their redeemer." (3 Nephi 10:10. This study time is paying off so hard)

After Elder Uchtdorf finished speaking, he came around to most of the room and shook as many hands as he could. We're supposed to stand when he enters the room, sit when he sits, and then stand as he leaves the room out of respect for him. But when he came around to shake hands, we all stood up and ended up standing for about 25 minutes. He made sure to try and look everyone in the eye, and when he came around to my section in the choir, he thanked us for our work as missionaries and his wife blew a kiss to us. Every time he waved in our direction, I waved back as hard as I could. I cried when he came over to our section, and couldn't stop smiling for an hour afterwards.

The biggest thing I learned from watching a devout disciple of Christ speak and shake hands was that I want to be more like him, because I want to be more like Jesus Christ. I want to have that kind of love and gratitude and Spirit around me all the time, with that kind of strength, so that I hardly have to say something for people to know that God loves them. Because that's how it was - Elder Uchtdorf would just look at you, and you'd know that that's how Jesus would look at you, and you'd feel that God loved you. I want to be like that.

Thanksgiving was awesome for a lot of other reasons, too. We had a pretty decent Thanksgiving lunch with turkey and mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes... They even had eggnog (I didn't have any because I didn't want to chance it. Sorry, Livvy), and the most amazing pound cake that I've ever had in my life. 

After eating, we went and got to watch The Other Side of Heaven! It was really weird to just sit down and watch a movie without having to learn anything from it. My brain was just allowed to float for awhile. We don't get those kinds of breaks a lot here... We're always studying for the next thing, trying to get ready for the next day. It was also really great to watch because it has Anne Hathaway and a couple scenes with swing music. So, we've gotten our entertainment for our nine weeks - from here on out, it's all work and no play. (Of course that's not really true, I'm just being dramatic.) I wonder if we'll get to watch a movie for Christmas?

We then did a service project that evening, making breakfast meals for Utah food banks. Over four hours, the entire MTC made 350,000 meals! Picture this: long tables set up in a parking garage. About a thousand missionaries in their thanksgiving outfits and hairnets, scooping bags, sealing bags, taping and saran wrapping boxes. Christmas music playing loud enough for everyone to hear, from Frank Sinatra to that weird rock version of Carol of the Bells that plays way too often on the radio. It was an absolute blast. We had so much fun!

We ended the day with a music devotional from two musicians who are members of the Church of Christ - Tanner James and Michael Dowel. One of them was on the Voice and sang and played piano for us, while the other played AMAZING guitar. The music really pulled the night together, and we went outside to find out that they'd turned on all the Christmas lights outside! The trees were all lit up with different colors, and everyone was so excited!

Again, we're missing four. A different four, but still four

My companion is the best, truly

Anyway, holidays at the MTC are the best. I'm missing everyone, but TOTALLY being taken care of out here - and I couldn't have asked for a better time to be training for my mission.

Toutes de l'amour,

Soeur Sperry

Sœur Sperry