MTC: Week 5

From e-mail dated 4 March, 2009

While I'm in the field, I will probably send email more often than I have been. While in the MTC, we only have about 25 minutes on the computer - so I'll try just sending an email this week (because I can type a lot faster than I can write), and then we'll see how things go after that. Like you said, dad, I do like getting letters in the mailbox as well though because I only get to check email once a week - so I have more time to read letters than I do email. Oh, and thanks for the sweet rolls--my Elders and teacher basically love you! :)...

This week we learned how to talk about food. Yummy! Or, I guess I should say, "heel lekker!" It has been fun to be able to use our vocabulary as we have been at meals. We are really trying to speak more Dutch outside of class--meal times, gym, etc. so it has helped with that. We are doing a complete English fast on Friday--no speaking English from when we wake up in the morning until we go to bed at night. It will be intense, I'll let you know how it goes.

This week, Elder Kramer and I taught some of our best lessons yet! We are really getting used to teaching together, studying for the needs of our investigators, and focusing on bringing the spirit to the lessons. Elder Kramer is a really good example for me. As you know, I can be really hard on myself at times--I am very goal oriented and forget to look at how far we have already come. He pointed that out to me and encouraged me to look at what improvements have already been made. Really, we have come such a long way since we entered the MTC 5 weeks ago! 5 weeks ago I had spoken maybe 5 words in Dutch, and now I am teaching entire lessons in Dutch! We are teaching in unity, focusing on the spirit, able to teach to needs, using the scriptures effectively, and improving every time we teach. It is amazing how the Lord works!

Sunday was an awesome fast Sunday. We had mission conference and I learned a lot about being able to constantly improve in being a missionary. Also, the Branch President has called me to be the Relief Society coordination Sister--which basically means I watch out for the needs of the sisters in the branch and help them live the rules 100%.

In our TRC appointment this week we taught the entire first lesson in Dutch--this is the first time we've taught anyone besides our classmates or teachers in Dutch--and we were able to express ourselves and bring the spirit. It is only through the power of God that we have been able to do this!

We've also been able to spend a lot of time outside this week--and it has been BEAUTIFUL!!! I love it! We have studied outside and really enjoyed the beautiful weather--it is SO nice to break away from the classroom for a bit (as much as I love those brick walls...)Okay, well, I don't have a ton of time left, so I want to share something I've been thinking about a lot this week--the atonement. The atonement is SO amazing! ... one thing I've realized is that none of us really understand everything about Christ and the atonement! But what I do know it that it is REAL! I know this because I've prayed about it and received that witness for myself! That is the only way to know if anything in the church is true--to pray--and Heavenly Father will let you know of the truth through the Holy Ghost. There are SO many promises in the scriptures about that! Elder Kramer and I were talking, and he made a great analogy--the atonement is kind of like a TV remote--as a regular person who doesn't study remotes every day of my life, I don't really understand how a remote works, but I do know that it does--and that is enough for me. I know that the atonement is real. I know that Christ lives. I know that he loves each of us. I know that through Him we can live together forever as a family. I know that he can make us clean--He can restore us to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Another quick thought - hopefully I'll get it all out before my next 2 minutes is up - just as the church couldn't be reformed--it had to be restored in it's fullness in order to have the priesthood and all of the everlasting truths--we cannot just be reformed, we must be restored. We must be made new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 talks about becoming a new creature in Christ. And just as Christ was the only one who could restore the Church, he is the only one that can restore us. Okay, I have to go or I'll lose this email! I love you!

met liefde!

Zuster Fowler