1st P-Day at the MTC

Hola familia y amigos!

We made it to our first P day here at the MTC!  The MTC is quite the experience.  It's a wonderful place, there is definitely a different spirit here.  It is soooo crazy to be so close to BYU, I can literally see my apartment and all of campus from our classroom window.  I feel like I should be there!  The first day it was pretty trippy, but being in the MTC has begun to feel so comfortable to me.  The new building is absolutely gorgeous, and I love to study here.  What a blessing.

It's been a really cool feeling to wear the tag of a missionary, sometimes it doesn't even feel real!  When I got to the MTC, my host was Sister Muhlstein, who did theater with me at Woods Cross! Then I got to meet my companion, Hermana Clifford, who was in my mission prep class at BYU!  It is so crazy how things turned out, those were definitely tender mercies from the Lord.  I love my companion!  Hermana Clifford is awesome.  She is so sweet.  She studied spanish for 6 years before coming to the MTC, and I am basically a beginner, so the contrast is crazy!  She knows a ton, so it's great that I can ask her all my questions.  I learned very quickly that my 2 years of spanish did me no good, haha so I'm trying to make up for that.  I'm definitely wishing that I went to spanish class more, and I'm also wishing that my spanish teacher wasn't the footballl coach, haha.  

I have an awesome zone, but I've really only gotten to spend time with my district, who are super awesome!  It's a small district, but boy we have some cool Elders and Hermanas.  Pretty much all of the Elders are right out of high school, which is crazy!  I am glad I got to do some school before coming out here.  We had some free time yesterday before we went to watch President Monson's funeral, and we really got to know each other well, and I love them!  They are really great.  It was also a big blessing to get to watch the funeral.  It was really a sweet experience.  I know I already miss President Monson, I love his stories, his wit and his humor.  His life truly reflected love and service, and while he improved the church as a whole, his focus was always on the individual.  He was a great example of how by small and simple things great things are brought to pass, and I love that!  That is an example I will try to follow as a missionary, that's one of the most important things I can do to help others come to Christ.

On our first night at the MTC, we got to teach our first investigators!  We were able to go in big groups and teach three different investigators.  I absolutely loved that experience!  I loved hearing other people's answers to the investigator's questions, and I loved being able to answer them myself.  What an awesome thing that was!  I really found that I felt a lot of love for them, even though I had just met them.  Teaching the gospel is the best thing ever!

Speaking of teaching, we taught our first lesson yesterday to an investigator named Bruno - all in spanish!  Teaching a lesson in spanish on the third day of being here is definitely crazy.  I'm not sure if he even understood anything I said, ha

ha but I hope he understood the feelings of my heart!  That's most important.  He was very patient with us though, which is comforting because I'm pretty sure he's not even real, haha I think he's a teacher here.  Either way, it was a very challenging and good learning experience.  We get to teach him again tonight, which will be great!

The MTC is great.  All the food you could want, and I have the best roommates ever, four of us who are all going to McAllen.  They're a big blessing!  I know that these last few days have been absolutely filled with tender mercies from the Lord, from a great district to amazing STLs and a great companion.  I have been counting the tender mercies, and they really do pile up, even after just a few days!  Dios is good to me, and I am so grateful for it.

I hope everything is going well at home!  I want to know about everything that's going on and how everyone is!  Yo amo ustedes mucho!!!  

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Clarke

P.S.  There is only one picture because my camera can't upload pictures to the MTC computers.  From now on I will take pictures on my ipad and then I will be able to send them :)