MTC: Week 4

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been so cool and so much fun! Last week on P-day my zone played volleyball for about 2 hours because we had extra time! It was so much fun! Also my new favorite thing to do at the MTC is the temple walk on Sunday! It is so relaxing and incredible to see all the missionaries walking around the temple. As one of the girls in my zone said, "We look like an army." And in a way we are. We are all gathered to go into the trenches and fight for the Lord. We defend Him, we recruit for Him, and we fight in His name. We really are as the Army of Helaman. If you think about that, it is really true. The stripling warriors were never defeated, but all of them were wounded. We as missionaries are all going to feel pain, disappointment, hurt, and broken on our missions. But we will win in the end. And if we are faithful we will come off stronger. 

 

​This is my zone! One district left this week and they were awesome! I learned so much from them! I am going to miss them a lot and I really hope that they keep in touch with all of us! And you can't see this, but in front of us there are about two hundred more missionaries milling around and even more behind us! So we really are an army! 

I have loved getting to know that new district as well. I really like one companionship in paricular. Hermana Frost and Hermana Staker are so cute and they are really fun to be around. They are going to California and New York! So that is really fun! It is so cool to see all the missionaries gathered from all over the world and going to all places in the world! I can't wait to actually get to Costa Rica! I know for a fact that my spanish is not yet ready, but I am so ready to just be there! I can't wait! 

This week I studied a lot about the Plan of Salvation and I urge everyone to also study it more. Try to really understand what the Plan truly is and how much God actually loves us. Because believe me, it is a lot. As I have been studying, it has felt like I am learning everything all over again and really feeling the joy of what it means to be followers of Christ and children of God. Even though I have read and understood what the Plan of Salvation was, it felt like learning it for the first time. And I can't wait to help others feel the excitement and joy that I have felt while learning about God's plan for us.

MCT Week 3

Dear Family and Friends,

Life has been good here at the MTC! I have been learning so much. We have been able to go to the Provo temple every Wednesday morning and it is wonderful. I love going there with all the missionaries. We literally fill the entire room (mostly with elders) and the spirit is so strong! I love it. I also love it when we go on walks to the temple on Sunday afternoons. We get to take pictures and just spend time there in the peace. It is lovely! Also, when we go to the temple on Wednesdays we get food there and it is so delicious that I barely want to eat anything else all day! 

I am now teaching three people. Miranda is so sweet and she is really opening up to us. I love teaching her, even though she sometimes won't follow through with commitments and I can't understand what she is saying. But it is good to connect with people and see how teaching someone about salvation can truly make you love them. I am also still teaching Jaquelin and now Juan. These investigators are actually our teachers Hermana Boza and Hermono Nordfelt. They are actually the hardest to teach but really fun as well. 

We said goodbye to a district from our zone this week. They were so nice to us and really helpful, even though I only knew them for two weeks I really felt like we became friends. But they are going to do great in Argentina, Panama, and Canada! Also one of them (Elder Pearson) is going to the St. George mission, Spanish speaking! So if you see him, tell him hello from Hermana Douglas in the MTC. I told him to watch out for you guys and that maybe he would be put in the apartment that Grandpa owns. So that would be really cool!

​(My District on our Sunday Temple Walk)

We are getting so much closer as a district! I think all the elders are hilarious and so nice! It is funny how well we get along. Elder Millet is our district leader, and he is the nicest guy. He is able to kindly tell us to stop doing something we shouldn't or to focus. His companions are Elder Winsor (who is a little strange and says the weirdest things but really wants to learn how to share the gospel with others.), and Elder Downing. Elder Downing doesn't talk much. His first companion, Elder Coronado just left on Tuesday for the Guatemala MTC so he is now companions with Elder Millet and Elder Winsor. Elder Jeppson and Elder Boardman are super funny and look alike so it is funny that they are companions. They look like they should be cousins, not companions. Elder Amundson and Elder McCay actually both played waterpolo and Elder Amundson swam. So that is pretty cool. Elder Amundson is probably the nicest elder in the district and says funny things. Elder Amundson, Hermana Waterlyn and I sit in the corner so when we have to stand up and move he always whispers, "And out of the cocoon." So fun! Hermana Allen and Hermana Laursen are so sweet and hilarious! Hermana Laursen is always full of energy! For example, here is a picture of her waiting on top of the closet to scare my companion when she came in from the bathroom.

My companion is still so sweet! She is older than all of us so sometimes I think she gets annoyed with how childish we are, but that is ok! Hermana Waterlyn loves to study! She is so focused and wants to learn it all right now! It is great, but sometimes I get discouraged because I don't think that I know as much as her or can do as well in lessons. Which leads me into my spiritual talk for the day.

 Hermano Nordfelt had us read in 1 Samuel Chapter 17 about David and Goliath. In verse 28, Daniel's older brother trys to tell him that he is foolish for asking why people should be afraid of Goliath. His name is Eliab. Hermano Nordfelt explained to us that in our missions we would have Eliabs who discouraged us. It could be a trainer who tells us to forget everything we learned in the MTC because they do it differently there. It could be a companion telling us that we probably won't have success and get as many baptisms as we would like. It can be anything in the world that is trying to tell us that we can't do it. But David has the answer. In verse 29 he says, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"  On our missions and in life we have a purpose to be excited about! We shouldn't let the Eliab's of the world try to tell us to now be excited or to get us discouraged! We are here to bring the best news in the entire world to people, that their Lord and Savior lives, his church is on the earth again, and that we can return to live with God! It is something to be so excited about. And with this cause the Lord has prepared us! In 1 Samuel 17:32, 34-35 David explains to Saul that he can defeat Goliath because he had already killed a bear and a lion. The Lord had prepared David for Goliath! And we are prepared for our lives. We learned in the premortal world what we needed to know, we just need to remember it! And not only are we prepared, but we are set apart as having the Lord's power to do his work! Missionaries are a part of the Lord's army in this very real battle against Satan. And if anyone needs any comfort in what that means, look up 1 Samuel 17:45-47. 

Another thing that I wanted to share with you was from a talk from Elder Holland to the MTC that we watched as a film on Sunday night. It was called "Open Your Mouth". Elder Holland quoted from Ephesians 6:11-17. He explained that the armor of God is mostly defensive. There is the breastplate of righteousness, loins girt about with truth, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, having the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. But there is only one offensive tool in the whole armour of God and that is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. In our fight against the advisary we must open our mouths and speak, because it is our most powerful weapon against Satan! When Joseph Smith prayed to God in the Sacred Grove, Satan could not kill him. He would have if he could! He would have done anything to stop the work of the Lord from happening! And so he did the next most powerful thing to stop the restoration. He bound Joseph's tongue. We need to open our mouths, even if we don't know what we are going to say, because the Lord will fill them and the work will go on. This gospel is the most powerful thing to have ever been on this planet. No nation, army, culture, or natural disaster can ever defeat the work of the Lord! I know that this is true. And so I encourage all of you to pray and find one missionary experience in your life this week. Open your mouth and speak about the truth of the Gospel. People are waiting to here it. That is my challenge to you.

Well now that I have ranted on and on about God's army and such, I will probably end my letter. I love it here at the MTC. We are all gathered for one purpose and are truly sheltered from the world. I love it! I have never gone through so much self reflection and so much frustration in my entire life, but I am truly growing out of this. It is great!

--

Hermana Rachel Douglas

MTC Week 2

Hola Mama!

So Wednesday is my P-day here in the MTC. Just so you aren't expecting emails on Monday or anything. When people say that the MTC is hard, they are not kidding!!! I know have a testimony about the gift of tongues or there is no way I would understand anything that my teacher, Hermano Nordfelt, tells us. He only speaks in Spanish to us. It is crazy. Wow. I don't even know where to begin. General Conference was great here in the MTC! It was amazing to gather as missionaries and listen to the prophet speak. It was really cool to sustain the new apostles in a large group like that! I think my favorite part about conference was actually when we all stood and sang How Firm a Foundation. I want everyone to go and look at those words and then imagine about 1000 missionaries standing and singing at the top of their lungs. It was so powerful! I love the music here. Maybe it is just because I am on a mission and I don't hear any other music, but every time we here music I get chills from the Spirit. It is awesome!

So I guess I will tell you a little about my district! They are awesome. We have 8 elders and 4 hermanas in our district! Out of the 12 missionaries, 7 of us are going to the Costa Rica San Jose West Mission! So we will be together for the rest of our missions basically! They are really cool.

Also my MTC mailing address is 

Sister Rachel Douglas

NOV10 CRA-SJOW

2009 N 900 E Unit 152

Provo, UT 84602

So I have already had the chance to teach three lessons in Spanish. We teach two more tonight! Crazy! The first lesson we taught went really well. The spirit was there as we testified about eternal families and that she(Jaquelin) could be with her family again. The next two lessons were hard though. We taught about the restoration (EEK!). We tried to mostly teach ourselves and didn't let the spirit do the work. Which we should have. Though the spirit was there as we testified of the truthfulness of prophets and the Book of Mormon, we could tell that it just confused them and they needed to hear something else at that point. We hope tonight goes better! We plan to teach about the Gospel of Christ (which we should have started with!). 

What to say about learning Spanish...It is so hard!!! I find it so hard when we are teaching because I want to jump in with my testimony or help out more, but I don't understand what they are saying. Hermana Waterlyn is pretty good and understands way more than me, so she is able to teach, but I feel just a little useless because I don't even know what they are saying or asking. It is frustrating. But I just try to smile and bring the spirit, even though I really have no idea about what is going on! But I am learning! Don't get me wrong! I can now pray, say my testimony, and I get by in the lessons. That is more than I ever could have a week ago! So the gift of tongues is so real!!!

We met with our branch president for the first time last night and he is awesome! President Doman has been a branch president at the MTC for the last 4 years and will actually probably get released around the same time we leave the MTC. So we could be his last batch of missionaries. I am positive I will cry when I leave. President and Sister Doman are sort of like parents to all of the missionaries in our Branch. They meet with us, Sister Doman hugs us, and they truly love us. We had a sort of testimony meeting last night with them and the spirit was so strong. I cried. Of course I cry anytime I bear my testimony or see someone cry or feel the spirit. (Great trait for a missionary, right?). 

I wanted to close this letter with an message for everyone. On Sunday night we watched an address that Elder Bednar gave to the MTC a few years ago. It was called Character of Christ. If you can find it, watch it! It will change your life! It was incredible! He spoke about how our purpose as missionaries, really as disciples of Christ, is not about us. It is about helping others around us. Jesus Christ was truly the most selfless person ever, and we are suppose to be like him! We need to be converted to him! And that does not just mean having a testimony! That is something that I have realized while I am here. A testimony will only get you so far. You truly have to love Jesus Christ with your whole heart and follow Him. Be converted unto him! Look out, not in! Don't be selfish, but seek to serve everyone around you. Conversion means consistently being true to what you know. Be converted to the Lord and always be true to Him! And the way to convert to the Lord is to turn away from the natural man. That scripture in Mosiah is indeed powerful, not just some scripture mastery that we are suppose to learn. Look in the scriptures often, not with yourself in mind, but with others and how you can help them! It will change your entire scripture study experience. I challenge everyone who reads this to evaluate their lives and ask God, "Am I on the right path? Do I want to follow the Lord's example and learn to love others before myself?" If you think you are, then just keep taking steps on the path. Becoming converted to the Lord doesn't happen over night. It is a long slow process over a lifetime. And that is why we must constantly be true to Him!

I love you all and I want you to know that deciding to serve a mission is truly the best, though hardest thing of my entire life. It has already changed me and made me truly be on the path to be converted to the Lord.

--

Hermana Rachel Douglas

Costa Rica San Jose West Mission

Week 1: MTC

Hola Mama!

The MTC is crazy!! I think that me and Jeff are going to have totally different MTC experiences. For one, when you learn a language they give you all of these books and then just sit you down in this classroom with your teacher. He then only speaks Spanish at you. No english at all. And everyone is just looking frazzled and you don't know what is going on. It was so crazy. But I am learning. Quite a bit of the stuff I learned in high school is coming back to me. My companion is Hermana Waterlyn. She is actually 24, graduated from Utah State University with an english teaching degree and is from Pleasant Grove. I really like her. We get along really well. This letter is pretty short because they are just giving us 10 minutes to write. I really like the MTC. I already feel like I am learning so much and that I can feel the spirit all the time. We learned about teaching by the spirit and we already taught 3 "investigators" yesterday as big groups. I think the hardest part here is going to be learning how to teach in Spanish. All I can really say is that it is so crazy but that I love it already. I love you guys and I will be honest, It hasn't really hit me that I won't see you in a long time yet! I will probably miss you more next week but for now I am good. I love you guys!