First Week in the MTC!

你好我的家庭和朋友们!!

 

Hello my family and friends!!!

 

I can't believe I have been in the MTC for one whole week already! First things first! I found out today I will be singing in the MTC Choir that will be singing in one session of General Conference!!! I don't know yet which session, but hopefully I'll know for next preparation day (which is Tuesday, FYI!)!! I can so excited! My companions are singing with me as well, and so are two elders from our district.

 

So my companions are Sister Walbrecht and Sister Tiu (yes I have two!) Sis. W is from Virginina and we actually had found each other on facebook before the mission, so we knew each other, and we are going to the same mission. Sister Tiu is from San Jose, CA and she is going to Vancouver, Canada. I love them both and we are having a great time together! My district consists of me and my companions, and four elders: Elder Terry (our current District Leader, from Utah, going to my mission), Elder Burdick (from Draper, going to New Zealand Aukland Mission, Chinese), Elder Plate (from Washington state, going to my mission) and Elder Buckwalter (from Orem, going to my mission; his dad works in the MTC health center and the BYU healthcenter, so he is known around here =] ) I love my district! Our elders are so amazing and we learn a lot from them. All of us in my district have experience with Chinese, so we are able to move pretty fast. Our teacher is Bro. Nightingale, who I actually know from Hong Kong, so that was a fun surprise to see that he is our teacher! He is fantastic, and I am loving our class times! I've also seen some friends so far: Elder Austin (longtime friend), Elder Kent (from my AF ward), Sister Doying (freshman roommate) and Sis. Romanello (she's going to my mission =] )

 

The first day we got to the MTC we started speaking Chinese right away! We had two hours of class time, and then some more orientation stuff. The first day was great, but it was long! The second day we really dove into Chinese, learning how to introduce ourselves and the gospel. That was fun! We also had some more orientation type meetings. Friday, we met our first investigator, Cai4 Pei4 Fen1 (the numbers are tones). She is 24, from Taiwan, and a college graduate. So if you are paying attention, this is our second full day in the MTC, and we are teaching an investigator, IN CHINESE!! It actually went really well, we got our point across, were able to mostly understand her, and we spent a good 25 minutes with her as well! Since them, we have met with her two other times, and will meet with her again tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday. She is "going back to Taiwan" on Friday, so I guess we only have two more lessons with her. Saturday we had service in the morning (cleaning our floor and the floor below us) and then gym, so we didn't have to wear missionary clothes till noon that day! That was super nice. We also got to class at 12:35 on Saturday to a note that said, don't forget your investigator is going to be here again at 12:35...uh...we didn't know she was coming! So one set of elders went right away to teach on the fly, while the rest of us prepared (we all have the same investigator, and she listens to us all right in a row). That was fun =] Sunday was great! It kind of felt long, since it felt like church went on all day (sacrament and relief society are not right next to each other; we don't have Sunday School). There is a lot of personal study time. We had a fireside that night with a member of our mission presidency and then got to choose a film to watch. We chose to go watch Elder Bednar's devotional from Christmas Day 2011. WOW! That was an amazing devotional! The main thing I want to share with you guys from that is that we need to become more like Christ, and turn outward like he did (meaning, become more selfless!).

 

Monday began our first full week. We had class in the morning, and met with our investigator in the afternoon. We were well refreshed and ready for the week! We (our whole district) had to go to the BYU health center for chest x-rays for our visas, so that was super nice to get to leave the MTC (and we just walked there which was awesome too). Today is preparation day! We were up at 5:40 so we could go to the temple, then had breakfast at the temple, and came back to get ready for another medical appt at 10 AM. This time we had to have blood drawn. That was fun. After, we went back to our su she (apt) for personal study, then lunch, laundry and now we are here writting emails!!!

 

Well, thats the basic jist of what I've been up to! The spirit here in the MTC is amazing and I'm really loving being here. People say the food is horrible, but it really isn't too bad at all. OH! So something exciting. My mission is really big on running, so my goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes while I"m here in the MTC so I'm ready for my mission. So our first gym time, my companion, Sis. W and I made a goal to do some running. So 10 laps around the track is a mile. We ran 2 laps, and then walked a lap. We made a goal to run 4, then walk one, but we ran 7! So I ran 9/10ths of a mile. And then, we walked a lap and ran for 5 more, so then I did 1/2 a mile without walking! This is huge for me. I don't run...at al. Then yesterday I ran for a mile without walking! It may not have been fast, but I did it!!!

 

Quick spiritual message: I read this week in 2 Nephi 25-27 and love what it says! It talks about how we "talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies". This is what I'm doing as a misisonary and I love it!!!

 

Well, I don't want to run out of time! I wanted to send some pictures, but the MTC computer won't let me put my pictures on the computer, so I'll get some printed and send them home so you guys can see my companions and district.

 

Thank you all for the love, support and letters! I forgot to mention about dearelder.com

 

Go to dearelder.com and click on the button that says to send a letter to a missionary at the MTC. It is like writing an email, but they will print it out and give it to me. It doesn't cost anything while I'm at the MTC. So please, write me!!!

 

My full address is:

Sister Andrea Busath

MTC Mailbox #107

TAIW-TCG 0517

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604

 

Love you all!!!

 

-Sis. Busath