It has been a great week! The time is flying by, and I'm not sure how I feel about that...I'm excited that Albania is coming up quick, but SOOO nervous at the same time! I am not ready yet. I don't think I will be anytime soon, but that's ok. I will have to be as ready as I can be! So on Friday, I memorized the First Vision in ALBANIAN!! It was so cool! I tried to say it in one of our lessons, and I freaked out and couldn't do it. It reminded me of the story of Christ walking on water, when one of his apostles wanted to join him. He got nervous and started to sink, calling for the Savior's help. So many times in life, we get scared, when we need to just be strong and courageous. I know I could have recited the First Vision, and should not have freaked myself out. I will try again next time, and will fight the temptation to just read it.
So last Sunday, there were 890 missionaries in the MTC. 52% of them were Sister Missionaries! For the first time ever, there were more Sister missionaries than Elders in the MTC! So awesome!
Also, besides the Asian languages, the hardest language to learn is Finnish. Tied for 2nd is Albanian and Hungarian. That is our branch right there! I definitely understand that Albanian is one of the hardest to learn. It is difficult, but is coming along. We had another SYL day on Wednesday, and it went pretty well! We may not be grammatically correct 99% of the time, but we are improving more and more every day. I can't wait until I feel more confident speaking the language! But that won't be for quite awhile.
On monday, I had a cool experience! It was the afternoon, we were sitting in class, and I could not stay awake. My eyes would not stay open. Every time I tried to keep them open, my vision would blur, and I felt like my eyes were crossing! I got to the point where I knew that I couldn't stay awake for another second. I said a quick prayer in my head, asking Heavenly Father to help me stay awake. As soon as I asked for help, my vision stopped blurring, and I was wide awake. Not even just awake enough to make it through the class, but I felt like I could stay awake for hours. I hadn't even finished my prayer when the Lord stepped in and helped me. I know that all we need to do is ask, and the Lord will help us. The power of Prayer and of asking truly is amazing!!
So, if you read the subject of my email, you know that Elder Holland spoke at the MTC!! It was amazing! The Spirit was so strong as we sang the prelude hymns, before the Devotional. As soon as he walked in, everyone stood up, and the Spirit was amazing!!! He talked about the importance of being your first conversion and about opening your mouth and speaking by the Spirit. It was amazing, and such a cool experience. We had known for a few days that someone special was going to speak, but we didn't know who. We were all putting in our guesses, and were so excited to hear that it was one of the Apostles. It shows just how important missionaries and missionary work is!
We hosted yesterday!! On Wednesdays, new missionaries come to the MTC. We wait for them to pull up, and give them time to say goodbye to their families. After a couple minutes, we grab them and their bags and pull them through the MTC! We help them get their keys and nametag, drop their luggage off in their rooms, and take them to their classrooms. I was hosting my last sister missionary, and I looked at her information so see where her classroom was. I glanced at her companion's names, and one of the names looked familiar! It was Ashley McBride, a girl I met at EA, and who was also in my ward up there. I took my sister missionary to her classroom, and Sister McBride was already there. She saw me, and was so surprised! I think it was nice for both of us to see a familiar face, even though, we weren't super close up at school. It was a cool experience!
I think that's about it for this week. It has been a good week! On Monday, the Huns leave, and we are getting new Huns on Wednesday. We have gotten pretty close to them, so it will be weird to say goodbye. But we are excited for the new group to come!
Thank you everyone for the emails, love, prayers, and support! I am so grateful for you guys!!
Love,
Motra Bennett