I. Just. Don't. Even. Know. Where. To. Begin.
AHHHHH.
I'll just start out with saying “Hi! I am alive!!” And doing well! SO WELL. Obviously my P-day is on a Wednesday so sorry I haven't gotten to you sooner. Was the suspense killing you?? It was killing me. That's for sure. OKAY. Um. Wow. Where to begin. Well, Let me just start with day 1!!! WOOO.
Day 1:
My lovely friend Teagan received me at the front which was SUPER AWESOME. It was really nice to see her there and to have someone that I already knew.. And yeah. She whisked me around the whole MTC and got me all checked in and I got my room and all the little knick knacks I needed to survive here at the MTC. I said bye to her because I was assigned to go to West Campus!!! Because there are so many missionaries they actually had to create another campus and I ended up on that one! SO... I've been to the MTC campus like... twice.. When I watched general conference (which was amazing...am I right?!) So I'm over on the oh so humble west campus. But I love it! It's little and it really pretty. After that I watched a terrible orientation about the Gym (which we didn't even need to know because West Campus doesn't have a gym... haha) Then I Met my companion!!! The lovely Sister Waite!! And I absolutely love her to death. She is SOOO loving to everyone and so nice and so freaking funny and weird. Which is nice. Cause I’m weird. She's weird.. We get to be weird together and it's wonderful. We have the same sense of humor which is great and we are actually a lot alike! I know we were put together in a companionship for a reason. We work so great together!!! We have grown so close together and I just love having a companion. She is my other half and it's so weird when she isn't around me. (is that weird? haha) Afterwards we met one of our teachers Bro. Gleason... Bro. Gleason looks like a taller version of Darrin Landroche and has the same personality as Kyle.. Hahaha. So he is SUPER AWESOME. I freaking love him so much. He is so sincere and you can tell he really cares about us. He is so good at bringing the spirit into the classroom and has such good insights and and and and an d askldjfalsdkjfa;ldskjf ;ald... He is just great. The other day he was doing a demo role playing doo dah where he recited the fist vision (I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head..etc.) and it was AMAZING. And yeah, so I'm super grateful to have him as a teacher. After that we met the MTC presidency and the Branch Presidency and our Zone leaders and ALL THE LEADERS. Twas great fun and super exhausting. Luckily I had lots of adrenalin keeping me alive throughout the day! I LOVE my district!!!! We are so awesome!!! We have 8 people in our district and we are all going to Jacksonville, FL! Which is great!!!! We are seriously like family. And I love them so much and I am going to miss the crap out of them when we go off to Florida. (which is in a week.... AHHHH) The Elders are suupppperrr funny and are so weird and so different... but it just works and we all help each other out so much and laugh all the laughs and cry all the cries together!!! (good cry) Elder Henshew from our district actually went home because he needed to take care of some stuff. I am soooo proud of him for doing it. I can't even imagine how hard that would be!! I'm gonna miss him a bunch but I know he is making the right decision. I am the only sister from Utah in my district. Which is funny. Sister Mcphee (from Texas) calls me a Utard sometimes. hahaha. Sister Blotter is from Michigan!!! Super cool, huh dad?? :) And my companion is from Northern California! Woo! Yay for districts!!! My goodness... I still have so much to tell you.....
Okay. So that was the first day and since then the days have all just blurred together like one big SUPERDAY. :D The second day was by far the hardest day for me. I was so stressed and overwhelmed and I felt inadequate and that I just had SOOO much to learn and I didn't know what I was doing here and I was just struggling. Luckily... everyone else was struggling too. So we were able to help each other out! (another great thing about districts!!) I can tell you... I've never prayed so much IN MY LIFE. haha. That night I prayed so hard. I realized there was no way on earth I could do this alone. I needed my Heavenly Father's help. (it was then I realized I needed a good dose of humility) But obviously I am still here and am still alive and well so my prayer was answered!! In fact, it was more than answered! It's a freaking miracle how much I've grown this past week. Like... I don't even know how to explain to you..... haha. So yeah.
Good glory.. missions are HARD!!!! So hard! I have never focused on something so much IN MY LIFE!!!! My brain is like "whaaaaaaaaaaat are you doing to meeee!!! I want to be A.D.D.!!!!" Haha. We have 16 hour days where all we do is study and learn and teach and eat. I swear. I am going to get fat. I sit at leeaaast 8 hours a day and eat. It's been really hard to sit so much. The first couple of days I had like bed sores from sitting so much. Bahaha. Hi Dad. So that’s been fun! So we teach 2 investigators. One (being our teacher acting as a good friend as his) and Two our TRC investigator which is somebody that volunteers to be an investigator!! I looove teaching!! BUT IT'S SO STRESSFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha. Jordan is my first investigator. He is great. He is also a space cadet. LOL. It's really hard to get him to concentrate on what we are teaching but I love it. We are also teaching Sydney. She is the cutest old lady that you have ever met and has soooo many cool stories! She already has such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ that it's amazing!!! !:) BAHHH!! I JUST HAVE SO MUCH TO TELL YOU AND TIME IS RUNNNING OUUUUTTT!!!!!! Okay. Ummm ummm ummm...... MOM! I got your letter. I found it on the second day when I was dying of stress... and it was amazing and it helped me so much! So thank you!!! OH! So the second day I feel like I forgot to have fun and smile and laugh and have fun and so-s did everyone around me so day 3 was awesome because we laughed and smiled and had fun and STILL FELT THE SPIRIT AND IT WAS GREAT!!!! Ok.
I LOVE THE MTC SO MUCH I COULD DIE. BUT I WON'T CAUSE FLORIDA NEEDS GOSPEL GOODNESS.
I have felt the spirit SO strongly and I wish you could all feel it so you could understand!! It is so tangible and it's EVERYWHERE!!! I can't even believe how much I'm learning. I'm learning so much about how to be self-less. I thought I was generally self-less when I first came out here... Ohh boy was I wrong. Good glory. It took a while to adjust my focus away from me and to this wonderful wonderful great AMAZING WORK!!!! I think I am getting there. Granted... I still have a looong way to go! But it's so awesome to like... not think about you. haha. I looove losing myself in the service of others. I really only think about my investigators and what they need and how I can serve my companion! So when I lay down in bed at night I just take a deep breath and think "ahhhhhhhhhhhh....I am still here right??? Alyssa is still here? Yes? K good." Then I pass out because of how exhausted I am. AND IT LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! I love that feeling. And honestly... I haven't been homesick... really at all..... Is that terrible??? I mean... Of course I think about you guys sometimes... but I find when I do it just strengthens me even more!!! It's great. I love being on a mission and I love learning all of these wonderful things. This gospel is soooo beautiful. And it's even more amazing than I have ever imagined. I have learned a lot about how to rely on the spirit. K, the spirit is so freaking cool. And revelation is so freaking cool. And faith is so freaking cool. I loooove all of it!!!! I KNOW that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. He has answered sooo many of mine in that past week. I know he is there and is watching over all of us. Our Savior will always be here for us. I have loved learning about how we can all come unto Christ. Cause really... That’s what it is all about!! ALSO! I love singing here!!! It's great!! THE SPIRIT IS SO COOL. Ok. Sorry for the a.d.d. and for the information overload but I just want to tell you so many wonderful things. haha. WASN'T CONFERENCE AMAZING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!
Man oh man if you didn't listen to alllll of the sessions... DO IT. They are great and I want to hear which talks stuck out to you. I personally liked Elder Hollands and President Uchtdorfs, and President Monsons, and Elder Scotts, and President Eyrings, and Elder Dube!!! hahaha. All of them. I liked all of them and being at the MTC made it that much more awesome. (I’m super good at grammar)
The food is good. ish. haha. It's good. Sis Waite is like... super healthy and eats salads and runs and I’m like... mmm....dooonutssss...... hahaha
Elder Stallard is really funny and makes me laugh so hard. Elder Weller is super logical. But funny. And Elder Neilson is such a sweetheart and does theatre!! Which is great! I have found my improv skills come in handy when teaching!!! ! YAAAY FOR IMPROV!!!! Have I mentioned how much I love the spirit????
This is for Dad:
Hahahaha. The MTC is funny. All the guys DO try and out alpha each other!! And the girls are just girls and have to be super cute all the time. And they all feel like they need to go running... and I'm sitting here like... "umm.... who wants to like... not run?? " and they all eat salads and it's just hilarious. I feel like I’m the weirdest one here. Which is fine. It took a l’il to get over that the first couple of days but now... i just don't even care if I eat donuts and throw footballs cause it's not about that it's about missionary work!!! :)
The mission scripture is Alma 26:12. And that has basically summed up my week. Read it. It's great. I hope you are all praying your little hearts out and reading your scriptures!!!
oh! I love “Preach my Gospel”. It is basically the best book in the world. Next to the Book of Mormon. Haha.
I loove this gospel SO MUCH. And I know that it is true!!! I know that Christ will take our burdens if we come unto him. I know that prayer works!!! IT LIKE SERIOUSLY WORKS SO IF YOU HAVEN'T TRIED IT DO IT CAUSE IT'S AWESOME. Sorry for the caps.... I just get really excited. hahaha. I just love Christ with my whole being. I'm so excited to be out here. I love learning and I love the exhaustion that comes from working all day. I hope all is going super well out there!!!
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!
I can feel your prayers and thank you so so so so much for your loves and support!!
OH! I should be calling around 5ish AM on Tuesday morning. hahaha. GOOD LUCK! And you better answer!!!! Umm.. I hope that’s all I have to say. Haha.
Haha. I got my district to say "Bakaka" hahahaha. IT's the best. Ok. I'm done. K.
I love you all so much!!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! WOOOOO!! :)
Love, Sister Chamberlain :)
