Em and Comp at the MTC Map

The District

Beautiful companions!

Lessons from the MTC

Okay so now for a bit about my week. Like I said it was definitely hard. I had my first emotional breakdown on Thursday night. We were in class and we had three teachers in there all at once in this tiny classroom, pretty much shoving knowledge down our throat and giving us no time to breathe. It was a bit overwhelming. Then our boss teacher guy told us that we should be learning 50 vocab words a day, 15 phrases a day, at/and speaking at least 70% Tagalog at all times. WHAT?! Like I said, slightly overwhelming. I thought that I was doing really well with the language, studying hard, doing as much as I could and then for him to tell me that we're doing half as much as we should be, that was definitely a confidence KILLER. So class went on, I took deep breaths, I prayed so hard in my heart and in my mind, the teachers left, I held back tears, and we're all just trying to pick up our pieces of brain that had just exploded all over the floor when one of the Elders in my district asked if any of us needed a blessing...of course he was looking right at me and being the prideful, I-don't-need-help-from-anyone-person I am, I didn't say anything. Then he asked again. Still I said nothing. Then he looked straight at me and asked again, I started crying and he said, "Let's go ahead and do it Sister." Welp needless to say he gave me a blessing and I felt a lot better. It was a very tender, humbling experience for me and I realized that I most definitely cannot do this on my own. In the blessing he said something to the effect of, "Your Father in Heaven wants to help you and He is just waiting for you to call out to Him." BOOM. After that blessing I just couldn't believe how foolishly I have been acting. Of course I can't do it on my own! I do have a testimony that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know me personally and are always there to help, guide, support, and love me, but I really am trying to put my whole trust in them. I can accomplish nothing without the Spirit of the Lord as my constant companion. I still have a ton to learn, and I most definitely have not mastered this trust yet, but I am trying and every day I try harder to put my trust in my Father in Heaven, for He knows far more than I do. What a remarkable learning experience that was for me. 

Anyways, that's pretty much how my week has gone, exhaustion, studying, learning, teaching, exhaustion, more studying, learning, teaching, oh yeah and eating. I swear all we do is study and eat! It's so strange. With the beautiful exception of gym time. I LOVE GYM TIME. you guys would be so proud, I was ballin' it up the other day with some other missionaries. I haven't played basketball in a long time but it felt so good! Dad, you would be impressed, my foul shot is b-e-a-utiful! I was shooting with about 90% accuracy from the foul line. Yeah, I don't know how that happened either ;) hah OH! and this Elder saw me playing, came over and asked me to teach him how to shoot haha. I am definitely not the best teacher when it comes to basketball pero I had the best teacher in the whole entire world (that's you daddy) so I guess I did pretty well. He made multiple shots in a row for the first time in his life and he even made some 3-pointers. Yeah, he'll play for the NBA someday and pay me lots of money for teaching him..maybe. hopefully. ha!

Also! I went to my first MTC devotional this week. It was wonderful! The spirit is so strong with all those missionaries in one place, singing, listening, and learning together. What a cool experience. I got to sing in the MTC choir which was a really neat experience as well. The director is amazing! Anyways, my spiritual thought for today is from hi,, the choir director. We were practicing for the performance and in between us singing he would share little thoughts and stories to make things more meaningful and interesting. We were singing a rendition of the hymn Sweet Hour of Prayer. Beautiful by the way, I loved it. So he was talking about how sometimes we allow ourselves to get distracted when we pray and then we snap back into reality and think "Oh whoops, I'm praying, oh well, umm I don't remember what I was saying so I'll just end it." He went on to talk about how foolish we are in allowing our minds to wander. We are literally talking to GOD. God, our Father in Heaven has given us this amazing gift and opportunity to pray directly to Him and we so often let ourselves get distracted, don't think sincerely about what we are saying, and repeat the same old same old prayers we have said everyday for our whole life. One thing he said that moved me to change how I pray is something to the effect of this, "Prayer is a one-on-one, face-to-face conversation with our Father in Heaven, with simply a veil in between you two." Wow. I had never really thought of prayer that way before but it is so true. I know that God is there for us and He is just on the other side of the veil, listening, loving, helping, and encouraging. He wants more than anything for us to reach out to Him so that He can pour down blessings upon us. I hope you guys will learn as I did from this and really strive to make your prayers more meaningful. You can talk to God. Use this gift at all times, and in all things, and in all places. He wants to hear from you because He loves you and wants to help you. :) 

Last couple thoughts, Tagalog is coming along! I can now form my own sentences, pray more sincerely, and bear my testimony completely in Tagalog. Kaloob ng mga wika: Gift of tongues. Blessings from Heaven. Miracles are everywhere. Look for the good in every day. Be happy and smile LOTS! :) I love you all so much! 

Mahal Kita!

Sister Emily Roderick

Emily's first letter from the MTC!

Magandang Umaga! Kumusta Po Kayo?! Mahal Kita! I miss and love you guys lots! It is Day 4 in the MTC for me and all is well so far. First day was a bit rough and I was definitely a bit emotional going in to the MTC but my host was wonderful and gave me a big hug and really made me feel loads better. Within half an hour I was totally fine and well into my first language class. Just as everyone said, less than 30 minutes into the MTC I was in my first Tagalog class. They only spoke Tagalog. ONLY. Luckily I had RM's and other missionaries warn me about that but nonetheless it was still a bit overwhelming. There were multiple times my Guro/Teacher would ask me a question, or any of us really and we just kind of sat back and chuckled because we had NO IDEA what they were saying! BUT, believe it or not, I already know a ton of Tagalog! We pray in Tagalog now and use Tagalog in just about every sentence throughout the day so that is quite exciting! So Wednesday night was rough to say the least. I got maaaybe 30 minutes of sleep total. I think there was just so much swimming around in my head that I couldn't get to sleep, but since then I have slept a lot better so don't worry! :)

We have had quite a few workshop/class/orientation type experiences since it is only our first week and we are just getting a hang of all this stuff. So my kasama/companion is Sister Alatini. She is from Concord, California, very tall, Tongan Sister. We definitely have our differences and some of the cultural differences are a bit hard to understand but I love her and we're really getting along well. Get this, her name is actually Sister Foakimeilangi Beutrice Alatini. Quite the name she's got there eh? She actually wasn't feeling good yesterday and asked for a blessing from some Elders in our District, haha I wish you could have seen that Elder's face when she told him her full name. It was priceless! It went well though and she is feeling much better.

So I am in Zone 16, District E, and something that is pretty neat is that my whole district (4 sisters, 4 elders), is going to Naga! Apparently that very rarely happens that 1. the entire district is going to the same exact mission and 2. that there are only 2 companionships of elders and sisters in our district. Pretty cool. That means there are only 4 of us in our residency/room which is way nice. I love our zone leaders and our sister leaders as well, they are all really energetic and helpful to those of us that are new. My teachers are also great. It is truly a blessing to have such amazing teachers, especially when you are in the classroom with them for many hours at a time, multiple times a day. Yeah, it is a bit overwhelming but that's okay, we'll make it through. :)

Let's see, want to know what my typical day looks like??

Alrighty welp, I wake up at 6 to shower/get ready, leave our residency by 6:50 to get to class by 7 where we meet as a District to sing, pray, and study together before breakfast. It is nice to get a little bit of study in before breakfast but it does mean less sleep. Oh well, we like it so far. Breakfast at 7:30. Classroom Instruction/study/teach investigators from 8-11. Personal Study time from 11-12:10. Lunch at 12:10. More study or gym, it's a little different every day. Language study for about an hour, or more. Additional Study Time. Dinner at 5:10. Then classroom instruction (this is the instruction that KILLS me, it is just hard hitting, go,go,go language, only Tagalog, don't you dare get distracted time) from 5:55-8:55. then Daily Planning with my Kasama, personal time, companionship prayer (in Tagalog of course) then bedtime! Quite the jam packed day eh? It is going well though. I love Tagalog but it is definitely hard learning and studying and speaking Tagalog for so many hours each day. It is coming along though! Mabuti!

Oh! so right now my kasama and I are teaching an investigator Felix Castillo. (He is really an RM who puts on a show and pretends to be an investigator, not everyone here gets that but I thought I should clue you in) haha It is pretty cool though because we treat him as if he really were just investigating the church and our goal is to invite him to come unto Christ and be baptized. pretty cool. So yesterday (my 3rd day in the MTC, correction, only my 2nd full day in the MTC), we taught Felix, just my kasama and I, about God and our relationship with Him. We made some notes and kind of laid out how we wanted the lesson to go, but let me tell ya, we didn't follow that plan hardly at all! Did I mention the whole lesson was in Tagalog? It was, well actually it was more in Spagalog with all the spanish words I threw in there ha! It went surprisingly well though. My kasama kind of froze up when we went in so I just took over! Afterward she told me she had no idea what just happened haha girl, me neither! It was quite the experience and we definitely learned a lot from it. We actually are going back tonight to teach Felix again so hopefully that will go even better than yesterday!

I love you all lots and can't wait to hear from you! Although it is hard here and exhausting, I know I am supposed to be here. I have met some of the most wonderful people, learned some amazing things, and felt the spirit so strong, every single day! There is nothing quite like a mission, I can now say that for sure. I get the opportunity to pray many, many times a day, to study the gospel of Jesus Christ for hours on end, and to feel the Holy Spirit constantly. Always strive to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. That is our way to receive inspiration, revelation, and answers from God! Be good, choose the right always, stand up for that which is good and you will see blessings be poured out upon you for your obedience. 

Mahal Kita!

-Sister Emily Roderick

P.S. my address changed just a little bit, it is now Oct07, instead of Oct09...meaning they are estimating that my district will depart on October 7th! 2 whole days earlier than originally thought! haha we're excited here :) love you! Kita Kit!

Kasama (MTC Companion)

Em Entering the MTC

Em and her companion, Sister Foakimeilangi Beutrice Alatini