Well, I am officially Sister Daelemans now, name tag and all! I have been in the MTC for just over a week now, and I really don't even know how to express all the things that I have learned and felt here. It feels like I have learned more about the gospel here in the past week than I have in my entire life. There is a very strong spirit that resides in every inch of the MTC (even non-spiritual random places like the gym and cafeteria.)
I came into the MTC thinking that what I needed to know was the doctrines and the lessons in Preach My Gospel. I've since come to understand, through a lot of humbling, how much more there is to know in order to teach people. Being a missionary is learning to love people with God's love. Everyone I will be teaching has different needs, and I've learned that the most important thing to accomplish as a missionary is to show these people, these children of God, how the Gospel can help and bless them. We practice teaching "real" investigators (some of them are actors pretending to be investigators, but some of them are actually real, though we don't know which ones are which.) From the experiences I've had practicing teaching these investigators I can tell you this: teaching is hard. And teaching is even harder when you try to rely on yourself and your own knowledge and not the Spirit. When you let the Spirit take over, it ceases to be your lesson, and becomes his. It's a cool experience to know that what you're saying isn't coming from you. It hasn't happened every time that I have taught, but the times that it has were amazing, and truly humbling. My companion and I could feel the love that God has for these people, even though we had only met them a few times.
My companion's name is Sister Isom (pronounced like Awesome, but with an I. And she is pretty awesome!) We are both going to Bakersfield, and so are the two other sisters in our district, (our district is the group of missionaries that all have classes together.) There are also four elders in our district, who are going to serve in Roseville, California. We all get along pretty great and have helped each other to learn and grow together.
Besides teaching, we also have class. A lot of class. In fact, we probably spend 8-9 hours in our classroom each day, and sometimes we go stir-crazy. But our two teachers are amazing and we have learned so much from them.
This past weekend was general conference, and it was a really cool experience to be able to watch it with the hundreds of other missionaries at the MTC. We all sat in a giant auditorium (it was really just the gym) and watched conference together. It was kind of funny, because anytime one of the speakers would say something "quote-worthy" or specifically about missionary service, you could hear hundreds of pens clicking open so that the missionaries could all write down what was said. (We were told when we first got here that "A short pencil is better than a long memory," so I am constantly taking notes and writing things down.) I learned so much at General Conference! It seemed like every talk was about missionary service, but of course it wasn't. But it just goes to show that the messages shared are all inspired and you can find an answer or guidance so matter where you are in life. If any of you didn't get a chance to watch Conference last weekend, I invite you to still go and watch it! It should be on YouTube and on LDS.org. [Can you tell I'm a missionary?! I've already started committing people to do things ;) ]
Our district has already received our travel plans. We leave the MTC next Monday at 3 in the morning. For some reason we will be flying to Denver first (??? don't ask me why...) and then on to Bakersfield (I didn't even know there was an airport there.) It seems that I have been in the MTC for ages, but at the same time it feels like I just got here. When you hear from me next I will be out in the field teaching real people. I know that the Lord has called me to serve in Bakersfield for a reason. There are people there who are ready to hear the Gospel, who have been waiting for me to come knock on there door to share the glorious message of God's love for them. There is power in testifying of God's love for people, in telling them that God love's them, and that He is their Father. I cannot wait to continue serving him for the next 18 months with all of my heart and with all of my effort.
I love you all!
Sister Daelemans
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