Dad and I dropped Leah off at the MTC on Wednesday, September 30. We were really feeling quite emotional and expected to have a teary farewell, but we drove into the parking lot and Elders lined the sidewalk to welcome everyone. Two handsome Elders came to the car, began chatting with Leah , grabbed her bags and said she's in good hands Mom and Dad. We gave farewell hugs and she walked away, laughing and chatting.
Excerpts from her first email:
“I have a wonderful companion… Sister Westover (Nikelle) from Saratoga Springs. She's 6ft tall and it's nice having a companion taller than me! A few people have asked if we're real sisters, so I guess we look a little alike (she has dimples too). We've already become great friends.
It has been really fun running into all the people I know, one of my old roommates from the Muir house, another girl and three other guys (or I should say another sister and 3 other elders). I love my other roommates as well! Sister Allan is going to the Mesa visiter’s center and two other sisters are going to temple square--one is from Argentina, Sister Salinas and the other is from Peru, Sister Barona. Sister Salinas is 27 and a really amazing sister. It was neat talking to all of the sister's about how they came upon the decision to serve a mission. I've heard so many people (especially cynical boys) say sisters serve just because they couldn't get married. Just listening to the story of these sisters and many others, this couldn't be farther from the truth! I am especially impressed by the sisters from other countries. Many of the sisters on my floor are going to temple square, so there are a lot of sisters from all over (Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, many Asian countries, etc.).
This work is so amazing and I feel so honored to be able to go out and teach. Love Leah”
(2nd email)
So some of the elders in my distric started making up a new version of Nephi's courage using some of their own names in the song. I thought it'd be funny if we made up a version to tease the elders with. So on Sunday, our last day all together, we sang this to the elders in our district ( to the theme of Nephi's courage):
The Lord calls missionaries to go and preach his word.
To the unbelievers all around the world.
All of the elders were just to immature,
So he called the sisters, He knew they would endure.
So you'll be happy to know I haven't lost my sense of humor or my teasing nature. I thankfully attribute this attitude to many years of being the baby of the family.
We watched a really wonderful and powerful talk Elder Holland gave at the MTC in 2001 titled The Miracle of a Mission. One of the things he reminded us all of is that "salvation isn't cheap. It was never meant to be and never will be easy." Anyway, the whole talk is great.
I leave tomorrow at 6am so I've been washing laundry and trying to get packed today. My entire district left yesterday, so I am all alone! Well actually I am with a solo sister who is going to Cambodia Vietnemese speaking and a sister that was supposed to leave this morning to Tempe, but injured her knee and now has to spend the next week going to physical therapy.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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