Dearest Family,
Ah, I have so much to tell you and only 28
minutes to do it in. First off I got the towel, bed sheets,
immunization records and all the wonderful letters. Thank you very
much. The MTC has been great. So much has happened in
just a short week and I hope I can fill you in with as many details in the time
that permits. Oh and mom they gave me an "MTC" card, it's what
we use to get in and out of every building and there is 8 dollars that they
give us every Wednesday night. We use it for meal and other
things. As far as shots, they haven't charged me for anything or
given me shot at all. At some point today I am going to go to the
office and check on what I need to do.
So Day 1:
As they hoisted me away from the curb, the
Elders brought me to 17M aka “my new home.” Sister Kent who is a
coordinating sister met me and she helped bring all my stuff to my room (333)
and showed me the ropes-ish. She is going to be serving in Korea
and she is super helpful and so nice. They brought me to the room
where we dropped off Travis 5 years ago and gave me my badge, :-) took a
picture and gave me my MTC card. I re-met Sister Kent, after which
we went to 2M aka the bookstore and got ... well books. They
weren't kidding--they really do give you 20 pounds of books. The
Elder in front of me was going to a English speaking mission and he got 2 or 3
books and then when they asked me where I was going, the response "Oh
Thailand!” (*Proceed to lift a HUGE blue bag with a multiplicity of
books!!) My eyes were probably the size of gumballs. I hope I have
time to send you some of those pictures. She dropped me off at my
classroom in 18M where I met my teacher, Brother McKonkie and basically just
threw us into the language. It wasn't too hard to understand since
before I left for the mission I had some people teach me Thai, etc.
Oh and my companions are Sister Rodriguez and Sister Stolworthy.
They are they best! We have so much in common, we laugh a lot but we also
work hard AND we all have a goal to be prompt. We wake up at 6:20
a.m. and we are early to every meeting/class by 5 minutes. So the first day wasn't too bad like everyone
said. In the evening, I felt really appreciated as a sister
missionary because we met with our zone leaders as a group.
Basically, at every meal they take our trays and are very considerate about
opening doors. The zone leaders just gave a little speal (sp?) about how
sister missionaries are awesome for choosing to serve a mission. Oh
yeah and earlier in the day, we watch “the district” videos. In that moment, because everything was such a whirlwind,
I truly felt that this is where I am suppose to be: serving a full-time mission.
It was just this amazing confirmation from the spirit and I was so grateful!
Day 2 was probably longer for me.
As I mentioned previously, I woke up with a sore neck as a result from
sleeping wrong. Definitely put a damper on my day but still doing
great and was happy all day. Class was fantastic learning how to
bear our testimonies in Thai. Then more technical things like
getting shots so on and so forth. We had a workshop on studying our
purpose as missionaries and guess who was the teacher? (Dad
probably know him) Brother Steinagel from our stake. It was nice to see a
familiar face. As a side note, for all those friends who said I
know everyone while walking on campus or things like that.... I will humbly
accept that now. I never thought I would know so many people here at the
MTC. It makes me feel comfortable here. Well I think the
Lord has much more for me to learn here at the MTC other than Thai.
In the evening, we met with our branch presidency and their wives and got to
know each other. Then we did personal interviews. The
branch president called me twice; I thought I was in for it because I wasn't
wearing stockings. Well it turns out he wants me to serve as a
coordinating sister for our zone. I was touch that he would extend
the calling to me because I think my companions are great and far more
qualified than I am. This week I've been trying to really
find ways to serve in my calling the most effectively while also balancing
study responsibilities but in my personal study the Lord is always sending
me little tender mercies reminding me that He will help me if I
ask. I read 2 Nephi 32:3 yesterday and just absolutely needed that because
it was a hard day. For the rest of the night we took a tour of the
MTC, which was interesting because while I was taking it, I was also giving it
as I was recently called as coordinating sister.
Day 3 and 4
(I'm running out of time) but lots of class
time and teaching our investigator Sister Soy. She is amazing and
her Thai is beautiful. She just has a soft voice and really listens
with her heart. I'm picking up the language and it's amazing what you can
do with the spirit. I am loving it!!
My district and district D ask me all sorts of questions cause from
learning Chinese, I find it easier to learn how to learn a new language.
Sometimes I just tell them, I honestly don't know. At other times I
want to answer in Chinese because we are on the same floor as all the other Asian
languages and other Elders will pop in sometimes to say hello. Anyways,
we did some service on Saturday.
Day 5: In one word: MEETINGS!! With this
new calling, I had a total of 4 1/2 hours of meetings on Sunday minus Sacrament
and Relief Society. It was rewarding because there's so much
spiritual power from our leaders. A talk was given my Brother Stephens at
the Sunday fireside and he talked about companionships. (They
stress it A LOT here at the MTC). He said, God knows me and God
knows my companion so there is a reason why we were put together. I
believe that because the more I spend with my sisters they more we find out how
much we have in common.
Well P-day was P-day not much to report other
than getting things ready and an awesome temple trip. I want to
send you some pictures so I will talk to you next week.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all and thank you for your
support. You are the best and I know I am blessed to have you
Love,
Sister Yeo
p.s. I sent a letter to the squirt I hope she
gets it soon and mom its funny typing your email address cause I think ... hey
that’s me too!
For the blog ... sorry to friends I didn't get
a chance to write back (yet) the MTC is busy and I don't have many
addresses. But still love you all.
--------------------
Well just kidding about the pictures, it won't
upload so I'll try to print some or ask my zone leaders how to use the desktop
function here.
Love you all!
Sister Yeo :)
