LAST P-DAY IN AMERICA

August 31, 2018

Holy how the time flies!! This Monday I leave for the Manila MTC where I'll stay for 12 days! Not really looking forward to a flight to LAX, followed by an 8 hour layover, then followed by a 17 hour flight, that will put my in a country where their timezone is 14 hours ahead. If I did the math correctly, I should arrive around 7am in the morning in Manila. If I know the MTC, rather than having time to unpack and settle in, they will most likely just throw me into some more classes when I get there.

With that being said... I COULDN'T BE MORE EXCITED!! I am so ready to go to the Philippines!!!

It seems like every single time I lie in bed I think to myself, "Wow that was a long day", but then it also seems like every time I go to write my weekly email I think to myself, "Wow this week went by fast!" so I guess that's the MTC for you! Crazy that I've been here a month!! 

For me, I think I get mad at myself when I'm not good at something. If any of you know me well, then you know that I like to be good at the things I do. Tagalog is a difficult language and sometimes I get mad at myself when I can't remember things or I don't know what to say. I definitely feel like I've been making some really good progress with the language, but I also maybe thought I should be at a better level by now. UNTIL... one day in class, my companion and I gave a lesson. This was the first "no notes" lesson that we did, and we just went in with a few memorized phrases, a handful of words, and a reliance on the Spirit. Our  lesson flowed so well and it was crazy how I was able to form sentences and bear my testimony in Tagalog, in ways that I hadn't studied before or planned to do in the lesson. When the lesson was over my teacher got wide eyed and said, "That was one of the best lessons I have ever heard at the MTC." She said she didn't want to puff us up, because there is always room for improvement, but that she was so impressed with our progression in the language. This was such a self-esteem booster for me and put me on a "spiritual high". BUT obviously this was not just Elder Wolferts and his little training, but rather The Holy Ghost guiding me with what to say. The gift of tongues is real, but it requires work and faith to become apparent.

Also, my love for The Book of Mormon has become so so real over this past month! If there is one thing that I regret not doing before the mission, it's reading The Book of Mormon without complete real intent. I read it daily, but often times it was a right before I fell asleep kind of a thing, where I only read 20 or so verses and have about a 10% retention rate of what I had just read. As I've studied it for around an hour each day while I'm wide awake, beginning with a prayer, a highlighter in my hand, and a desire to learn, I have leaned to love The Book of Mormon so much. It is incredible. Everyday I look forward to the time where I get to read it. If you are not reading it right now with real intent, please do. I promise you will be blessed and be happier every time you read it.

Wow -- sorry for the long email filled with no funny experiences!! I guess I just felt like sharing spiritual experiences this time!!!

Also, Mom and company, don't hate me because I took ZERO pics this week haha! I promise I'll have some pics in Manila next week!

Love you all!!