MTC- Week 8

Greetings All!

I hope you all have had a wonderful week, as I definitely have here at the MTC. As always, I don't know where to start.

I guess I'll tell you all the fun stuff first. We are all set for Christmas here and have decorated our room for the festive season. I hung up the cute Christmas decorations that Audrey and Brock made and we also ended up with some lights for our bedroom. Also Sister Peatross's mother sent a little Christmas tree which Sister Steck decorated will all her dangly earlings for ornaments. It actually looks super cute!

Also, in the Christmas Spirit Sister Yourstone and I have been providing a little entertainment for our district. Some people might consider us as pranksters, but Missionaries are too mature and focused to engage in such affairs. But we did somehow get our hands on Elder Moyse's extra name tag and it somehow found its way to the huge MTC Christmas Tree that decorates the Front Desk here. It is full of ornaments and fake name tags that have been turned into ornaments, so his tag fit right in. We sent him on a little scavenger hunt to find it. It was quite entertaining.

Don't worry though, we aren't wasting the Lord's time. We also have had a very productive week with ALbanian and learning the Gospel. Today was our last time going to the Temple for the next year and a half, so it was kinda sad but I learned a lot, so it was great!

The other exciting thing this week is that Thursday night the Fire Alarm in our building went off around midnight. Of course that doesn't sound late, but we were all dreaming of sugar plums and such by that time of the night, so it was a surprise. My roommates were all a little slow to rise, so I ran out into the hall to check the situation. It smelled kinda funny, so I told all the girls to grab coats and shoes (cause it was snowing outside) and that we were going to evacuate. While they were gathering their stuff, I somehow kicked into leadership mode and started knocking doors and waking sisters up to have them hurry and evacuate. It was cool though, because I was really calm the whole time and I just did what needed to be done, which was truly a blessing. I felt bad though because the foreign sisters who are learning english were scared because the only thing they understood me say was "Fire." Anyway, we all got out and into the warm gym and within twenty minutes we were back in bed because there had just been some problem in the basement, but everything was okay. We thought it was a fun little adventure though.

We had lots of great speakers and devotionals this week. Sunday in Relief Society we had Sister Elain Dalton, the Young Women General President and then last night we had Elder Richard Maynes from the first Quorum of the Seventy. They gave great talks. And we had a special fireside Sunday night which was the BYU Men's Chorus. I had never heard them before, and I have to admit even though it was BYU they sounded really amazing. And we learned an interesting fact, that between the 150-200men in the choir they go on 999 dates a month. Random, but that is what they shared at the fireside and we thought it was funny.

I am so glad to hear the Buddy and Mariah are all right. It sounds like you had a scary accident, but you are so blessed. We are told time and time again here that while we are serving missions the Lord will watch over and bless our families. I know that it is true and I pray for you all everyday. I am so grateful to be serving the Lord and know that we are all in his gentle hands.

On a sadder note, Sister Yourstone got a random call to go to the front office this week. It was because her Grandmother passed away. She has been so strong though, and I am pretty sure I have cried more about it than she has (I guess it is that Gift of Weeping that Rachael also says I have). Anyway, we have talked about it a lot, and I especially am able to relate fairly well with her right now since Grandpa passed away right before I came. We all agreed that we are so blessed to have the Gospel and know that our families can be together forever. There is nowhere else we would rather be right now than serving missions so that we can share this knowledge with everyone. I can't imagine not knowing this. As Elder Holland said when he was here for Thanksgiving, "If I knew nothing else about the Church, I would be baptized on the doctrine alone of Eternal Families. Heaven would not be Heaven without our families." I know this is true and I know that Sister Yourstone will see her Grandmother again and that we will see Grandpa again. Sometimes it is hard to know that our loved ones are kinda gone for the moment, but I know that they love us and are waiting for us in the Spirit World, and they are probably up there doing lots of missionary work and keeping busy. I promise that if we live righteously that we all can be together again after this life!

I know that this Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Our Heavenly Father lives and he loves us! I know that he will answer our prayers if we go to him with faith. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and suffered the Atonement for each of us so that we can return to live with God. We are so blessed the Christmas Season to be able to reflect on the life and love our Jesus Christ. I pray that you all will feel the love of the Savior, Family, and Friends at this special time of the year, and not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. I love you all and am so grateful to be here serving the Lord!

Love,
Motra Hall