It really is great here, especially my first few days, I was so worried I'd get depressed or miss some aspect of my regular life, but I haven't noticed anything. They say Oh just hold out til Sunday, but seriously there was no burden at all and I loved every aspect of it. That is until Monday which they didn't tell us until then that Monday makes or breaks you and it is SO true. I'll get into that later though.
I do get random songs stuck in my head. Like lots of Frozen songs and the theme from schindlers list even though I haven't seen that in forever. Also, that sister song from White Christmas whenever anyone says sister, so yeah a lot. One of my teachers (we have two (Bro.Christiensen and Bro Kezele ) plus our night teacher that helps with the TRC and our studies (sis Cole)) well he likes to say let's break this down and I always get that shark attack song by Grouplove in my head. I am in a trio with Sister Deppe who is 19 and Sister Palmer who is 22. All the elders in my district (there's 5) are 18, besides one is 21, but acts like an 18 year old. The elders are supremely immature and it takes every fiber in my being to not get annoyed by them. Such an example is when at night for some reason when us sisters leave to go to the bathroom (this new concept that isn't actually new that we have to go together, sight and sound or whatever) so when we leave the elders release all inner gases they apparently have been holding on to. So when we come back it hits you like a brick wall and we all have to wait outside til our small classroom airs itself out.
At first I thought trio's were going to be so easy, because they were. There's always a buffer girl if there's contention and you just learn more because there's another brain in the mix, but it actually is SO HARD. There's always three opinions and we talk over each other a lot just when we are together or when we are in a lesson with an investigator. I'm learning so much from it though.
My first few days were super easy to the point where it was too easy. The days were long, but I had no challenges and yesterday my perfect little world kind of fell apart. It started at 1 when we had our lesson with Scott (portrayed by our unfortunately attractive teacher Brother Christiensen (why don't they just hire ugly people at the MTC?)) He just was not getting it. We planned it all out, we already taught him to pray and he told us he felt a little ball in his heart when he did and we told him it was the HG and then the next lesson we taught him about Christ, but we just confused him. Remember it is hard bc there is three of us. We then decided for the third lesson we would teach him about Christ and then Joseph Smith and hopefully from gaining a testimony about JS he will connect with the church and then with Christ, because everything the missionaries teach always goes back to Christ. That was yesterday and it was such a flop both my sisters were crying afterwards.
One sister kept talking about Christ, but she talked in circles and he was frustrated and I started talking about the apostasy and restoration and then the sister kept going back to Christ and saying the same things and I was SOOOO frustrated. I hate when there is contention and we don't resolve it though, so we didn't go back to class and we just talked it out and I realized that I had some things that I didn't like but didn't really bother me before and I realized that I shouldn't just give hints about these things, because these sisters don't know me and I have to be bold and tell them my thoughts and not let them boil inside me. Doing that it benefits them and me. I realized that the sisters were doing the same thing I was and we talked it out. A teacher came and helped us finally with Scott and we came to the conclusion that we want to focus on Christ, but more on his atonement and how in the Garden of Gethsemane he got our sins and sufferings upon him and when we rely on him he knows what we are going through and how to help him. I should have realized that my sister was right about talking with Christ and tried to think of a different way of saying it like talking about his atonement, but I just didn't trust her and I'm realizing that is a personality flaw I have.
Let's talk about how weird it is for a teacher that you see in the classroom is your investigator. It's weird. It actually feels real though, we meet him in a different room and he's good at acting like some frat boy. It's weird because you can feel the spirit there (or not when you are not unified with your companions) just like a real investigator. Bro Kezele said that God teaches his missionaries through role play and it's so true. It was something that I was worried about having to do before I got into the MTC, but now that I've practiced it it's so essential. You realize what things you need to work on and how to say things in a way to personalize a lesson and make it real to them. It is so annoying though when he doesn't get what you teach him and you don't know how to help him and the way they teach you they pretend that Scott is a different person and because of that obviously Bro. Christiensen is not there. You just want to grab Bro. Christiensen by the shoulders and ask what does Scott need! That would be slightly inappropriate though...
Later on Monday, my companions and I talked for like a long time though, like all through our personal study time, and then the DL (District Leader (just an elder in our district)) told us he was canceling our companion study time for a district council and I was SO MAD and I let him have it. I was so stressed with what we were going to teach for the next lesson that I just didn't have time for that. I mean I told him we are stressed about it and we need time to study and I know he doesn't like personal study time, but to let us have it. He just was flustered and said well I'm DL and I can change the schedule and I will. Later we were talking about this schedule change with Sister Cole who was helping us with Scott and she was just so mad and saying he was abusing authority he doesn't even have.
When the district council actually happened he just talked about things like what we learned in lessons that day (such as committing investigators, how to deal with stress, how to teach to pray, etc. (they don't actually teach you how the doctrine in your lessons, just how to teach the lessons, and you have to study the lessons on your own)) I was mad that we were sacrificing imperative study time for that and finally he was like okay well the real reason why I called this council was to give the opportunity for the sisters to receive priesthood blessing from us if they wish. I felt SO BAD! He really reminded me of my brother at the moment, doing something that completely annoys me and then finally I realize it actually is sweet and completely for my benefit.
Before I entered the MTC I thought it was weird receiving blessings from the elders who you don't really know and for reasons you don't really NEED, but when I got one, I realized how much I actually did need to humble myself and receive one. I mean everything we study and do is the Lord's work here and it would make sense to get help from HIM when we are doing His work.
I just really know that this is where I'm supposed to be. I love the challenge of figuring out how investigators tick and in what ways we should focus on the gospel and how to get our message across. The schedule is hard especially for my companions, but I think it's really not as bad as being a music major and working at the same time. It is different, because you are focusing on the SAME thing for that long and not cello for the morning and classes in the afternoon and work at night, but it isn't too stressful and I know that's because I was prepared for this.
Oh also, I never got an email that some people in my district did from our mission home with forms for driving. I don't know if that means I'm biking, but it looks like it...yikes.
Love,
Sister Seymour
p.s. 197 is the unit number for dear elder.
No comments:
Post a Comment