Week 1 in the MTC

Kumusta! 

These first few days have been a little crazy! I got here and just kind got thrust into it. I know they do that on purpose but It was still a little crazy to have no time to be sad. It's still crazy to me that I am going on my mission but I knew that once I got going I would be fine. The first day I met my companion Elder Allen and he's pretty cool! He is from Orem as well and went to Mountain View but he was one of the people I didn't know before. As I was walking into the MTC, I met an Elder Jones and we clicked almost immediately! Turns out he is in my district and my room with his companion Elder Collinwood. We try to keep our room light so we all feel comfortable there. 

We have a really funny elder in our district named Elder Feletoa and his favorite line on the first day was welcome to the MTC hence the subject line. It was really funny to get the weird looks from others as they noticed our orange stickers and having us say that to them. The sisters are great! We have a few that are planning on playing rugby at BYU which is so cool but also kind of surprised me! I really like the SYL(speak your language) thing they do here. It's where you say the words you know in the language instead of in English and I think it would have helped me so much in French. That is like having kayo instead of you and ako instead of I. Yesterday, We got a lot of our supplies which was fun because that means I can send my Tagalog scriptures home! I saw Jamison Finch at lunch as well as Shawn Anderson and Billy Tenney which was so fun! I also saw President Webb which was kind of a surprise but a welcome one! We had a workshop that was centered on our purpose which was interesting because he stressed the importance of helping as well as inviting which was cool! He also stressed the importance of inviting to increase happiness instead of give them happiness because if you say that the Gospel will give you happiness it implies that you're not already happy. That's why we say it will add to their happiness they already have. That was good advise to get now as opposed to when I actually get in the field. I like the food here! I like the chocolate milk even more but I'm happy they have good food. I've heard so many horror stories that I didn't expect good food. The language is kind hard but I can feel the gift of tongues already because my kasama (companion) and I have been working hard on the language and we have been some of the best in our class. We try to help them every chance we get so we can all grow together which I feel helps us even more! I hope everything is going well at home and in the field!

Love you all!