Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Week 2 at the MTC

Hola everyone!
Well ALOT has happened the two weeks I've been here and it has definitely gotten better. It's good to know that I'm surrounded by other missionaries that are going through the exact same things as I am. We help each other and encourage each other. If there's one thing that I've learned here it's how wonderful it feels to always have the spirit with you. Not that I didn't before, but here at the MTC you can feel it SOOOOO DANG STRONG! All the time too!! It's truly amazing the joy that comes out of living the gospel. It's really not just rules and do's and don'ts, but ways to help edify and strengthen our lives and family ties here on earth and have a happy and abundant life. PMG (preach my gospel) is amazing and gets better every time I read it. So I encourage ALL to read it and study it and mark it up! Just today I read a single sentence that spoke to me louder than anything out of the entire book. That is... "Remember, however, that your confidence and faith should be in Christ, not in yourself." pg 97. No matter how many times I told my self something similar to this sentence it never pierced me as much as it did today and totally made everything that I've been learning here make even more sense. And what I've learned, that as missionaries it doesn't matter what our strengths are or how good a lesson plan we have, but that the most important thing is to teach with the spirit and follow the spirit...even if it means throwing out your lesson plan in that very moment...because like recorded in D&C, it says to study the gospel and scriptures as often as possible and the Lord will tell us what to say in that very moment. Now don't get me wrong...self confidence is good and healthy and helpful...but not as important or crucial as having confidence in the Lord! He is our loving Heavenly Father! He loves us and we are literally his children! He is loving and forgiving and caring and is sad when we're sad and happy when we're happy. More importantly he wants the best for us and knows us better than we know ourselves. Our lives are in his hands and when we show our faith in him and our confidence in him and do what he asks and commands, he blesses us GREATLY for it! More than anyone can imagine. Showing our obedience to his plan shows our love for him. That's one thing that I've come to appreciate and learn, that when we are obedient , we are blessed with the spirit. I have definitely learned that I depend greatly on the Lord! That is why the MTC is so hard though, with all the doctrine and lessons to learn and how to talk to people and how to help people and then to learn a whole new language all in just 9 weeks!!! So little time.....it really is good though because like I say, we all depend on the Lord and sometimes forget just how much we really do. But I know that with his help and with our effort and sincere desire to learn and do....we can do anything with the Lord cause he is always by our side ready to help us when we ask.
It's amazing with how strong the spirit is here and how isolated and scheduled we are. I forget a lot about the outside world. I saw a friend of mine who works here, Kofi, and he called out my name...Tawny....and it was SO WIERD hearing it! I pretty much have forgotten my own name ha ha. I also saw Spike here one day! He volunteers to be "an investigator" that we practice teaching. I've also forgotten about music ha ha. Because they don't allow us to listen to it ....Mainly because the only time we are in our rooms is to sleep....but of course we still sing. Throughout the day I often have hymns stuck in my head but then occasionally a few songs from different musicals will pop into my head. ha ha Random I know but oh well.
My companion Hermana Papenfuss is from Fountain Green, UT and is really sweet! I've learned a lot from her including patience as I move a lot quicker than she does ha ha. I have definitely learned a lot about the scriptures and doctrine and whatnot just from her as well. She has a lot of great input and we get along really well. We balance each other out I think. The guys in my district (class) are awesome! Elder Bunnell is going to Las Vegas, Elder Obray going to Paraguay Asuncion, Elder Cathro Fort Lauterdale FL, Elder Johannsen Argentina Bahia Blanca, Elder Nelson Argentina Neuquen, Elder Edwards Eugene Oregon, Elder walker Carlsbad CA and Hermana Papenfuss Argentina Resistencia. I love them all.
For all you Dr's in the fam! Elder Cathro...yesterday just out of nowhere his right side of his face went paralyzed! but he's ok....He went to the hospital and it was NOT a stroke, but Bells Palsy. They don't know why or how he got it but he's been a good sport about it. It could last 2-6 weeks they say and he's taking Prednisone and Acyclovir. He can't shut his eye or raise his eyebrow and it's really funny to see him try to smile. So yeah it's a mystery why he got it but he's a good sport about it.
I only have 5 min left. Oh this is weird... I met an elder who looked really familiar and it turns out he went to Canfield middle school!!! He's a year younger so Emily look in the yearbook for me....his name is Phillip Mckay and his brother who's a year older is Matthew Mckay ha ha and get this!!! THEY WERE IN DALTON GARDENS WARD!!! only for middle school though...not high school. He's cute and looked so familiar but I don't recognize the name.
So love you all! Hope to hear from you by dearelder.com!
Love Hermana Dunn

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