Learning Lots at the MTC

Hi Family!

 

I LOVE ALL THOSE PICTURES OF YOU WITH THE CROATIAN GIRLS!!!!!! Seriously that's so awesome that you got to have them stay with you! Make sure you get their contact info for me so we can look them up when we get over there! Tell me all about their stay: Who are they, did you go to the Dance festival? Did you share some about the gospel with them? Tell me all about it!!!! That's so cool that they gave you all those gifts from Croatia too, including the Croatia map! Tender mercies. :)

 

Well, this week has been another great one! Sestra Compare and I are getting deeper into the language and learning a lot! I've been getting frustrated still because I don't know very much about English grammar to start with and trying to learn it in Croatian in very difficult for me. On the other hand Sestra Compare really gets grammar so she's excelling there. I am working hard to not compare myself to her, but just be glad for the progress that I'm making! One good thing is that I'm really good at memorizing words and what they mean. Together we're doing really well. She helps me with sentence arrangements and I put the correct words in. haha

 

 I'm loving being here. I'm getting used to the lifestyle and realizing that as much as I was trying to leave everything behind and go on my mission, things still follow you sometimes to the MTC. 

 

 Its nice being here and feeling like I know more missionaries here! When you have the same lunchtime and you see them at gym, you start to know people. Its sad to think that I will see most of them come and go, but at least we have friends here! haha

 

Sestra Compare and I have been really living by the schedule. In our very first meeting with our branch presidency Brother Hendersen said, " Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles!" This is something we really have seen the fruits of as we do what's right. It's fun being a missionary when you know that you are doing everything you can to get his blessings! One of these blessings is really being able to feel the spirit as we pray. We try to pray together often, pray for things that are really on our minds (no matter how lame we think they are) and not be afraid to pause and think during our prayers. I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers and that we can recieve answers to them through the Holy Ghost! I'm really getting a crash-course in the fundamental principles in the gospel and I love it!

 

Another thing that has really has blessed me is singing hymns! Adam Larsen suggested that when I get frustrated to sing hymns and it really has helped. We sing in Croatian and the beginning of every class and it helps me understand better becasue I understand music better than I understand sentence order, etc. It's also nice to sing becuase we aren't allowed to play music here. They didn't want to have problems so to avoid the problem all together we're not allowed to listen to it! Whenever we sing as a whole MTC (at firesides, at devotional, etc.) it is SO powerful. All that pent up energy goes to the best use possible and I'm pretty sure the spirit is about to blow the roof off the auditorium. I'm thankful for the Hymns and the power they bring!

 

 I've been feeling so blessed to get so much mail. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING! Sestra Compare and I used the Olympics package and its up on our wall, we LOVE IT! We set goals and look at them every day. We also named the mascots their real names and they're also named after our teachers too! 

 

 Anyway, I love you guys. I love this gospel and I know its true. I know that we can each strive to be a little better every day and thats all the Lord wants! He loves us and He wants us to be happy! I know the Atonement is real and that it wasn't just for our sins.

 

LOVE YOU!!!!

Sestra Giles.

 

Note from Mom: A few days ago a friend told me that she had seen on facebook that there was a group of dancers coming here from Croatia and that they needed families to host them, starting last Saturday.   I quickly volunteered.  We have two darling women from Croatia staying with us this week. They have been so amazing!  They don't know much about the church, but we have been sharing a lot with them.  They have been so interested in what McKenzie is doing  (going on a mission) and have been asking a lot of questions.  They really want to meet her.  They told us to be sure that she finds them in Croatia!  We will definitely make sure of that.  One of them said, "Do think it could be a coincidence that your daughter is going to be a missionary in Croatia and that we came to US and are staying with you?"  I said, "Absolutely not!  There has to have been some help from the Lord:)"  Just another tender mercy from the Lord:)