Last Letter From the MTC (already!)

Hello World!

Being in the MTC is hard. There are many things I miss. I miss normal music. I miss t-shirts, shorts, and tennis shoes. I miss not waking up at 6:30. I miss Reginald. And other boys. And other people, too ;) I miss my first name.

But it really is worth it. My companion is really great. She is diligent, hardworking, organized, and determined. She loves the gospel and people and inspires me to do better. My district is wonderful. They all just want to be good missionaries. Our Elders are strong and our Sisters diligent.

So many great things happen here and I'm constantly inspired by every class and every devotional. Probably the biggest thing for me was the devotional last Sunday that Brother Allen spoke at (I have no idea who he is, but it was inspiring nonetheless. One of my greatest desires as a missionary stems from Helaman 10:4-5: 

"Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou has done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I haven given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in work and in deed, in faith and in works." 

I've always wanted that for myself, but have been doubtful in my abilities concerning "unwearyingness". Sometimes I just get so tired, or have motivational issues when it comes to good things. 

In the devotional he went over some of the lyrics to Come, Come Ye Saints. It goes "Come, come ye saints, no toil nor labor fear, but with joy wend your way. Though hard to you this journey may appear, grace shall be as your day." This really spoke to me. I've learned since being here that consistent optimism is one of my greatest strengths. And this just said to me that all I need to do is go day by day being happy and the grace (or divine enabling power) will allow me to follow in Nephi's footsteps if I am willing to put in my best effort. Purdy great, eh?

Another cool moment was when Elder Dyches (a newly called general authority) came to visit our little classroom to see what it was like. He talked to us and asked us where we were from. And he knew where Minden is!! And he asked me if I knew who the Keele's were :)

Last Sunday I got to see Sister Haley Beaudin. She was so happy to see me that she cried :) at least I'm assuming they were tears of joy ;) Then today I got to see Sisters Katelyn Rudy and Whitney Carlson (both from catering) who got here on Wednesday. I also saw Genevieve while leaving the temple last week. She makes me so happy.

Thank you to Courtney, Mom, and Dad for the letters, they were really great :D

I'm heading out to Indiana Tuesday morning, and I'm very excited to go, but a little nervous to go.

I'll hopefully be able to send some pictures next week.

~Sister Allie Bowen

First Letter

Hello!

Missioning is such a great adventure. And I learned right off that the Lord knows what we need. My friends pulled up to drop me off, and the first person I saw was Sister Natalie Martinez! I got to have her as my host missionary :D She's been in the MTC for 4 weeks and is learning French to serve in Vanuatu. She showed me to my place and then to my classroom and then said good-bye. It was really great to see her.

The work starts right away. And it's great. But it's A LOT of sitting. There's so much to learn though. I feel like everybody is chucking clay pidgeons (<-- is that the right kind of pidgeon?) in the air and I want to shoot all of them, but there's just too many O_o

The really push calling each other "Elder" and "Sister" instead of "guys" and it's a lot harder than I expected. I ran into a companionship that look like they could be related and I said, "You guys look like you could be sisters...oh wait...you sisters look like you could be sisters...sorry, that sounded super awkward."

The MTC is a strange, strange place. It's really great too. I didn't realize before that they purdy much take care of all of your needs so that you can focus on the work. And it is work. But not really the kind of work I'm used to I s'pose. I expected to have to sacrifice everything I had--time, friends, money, even my thoughts--to be a good missionary, but I didn't expect to at the same time if that makes sense. They really do ask for a lot, but I am prepared to give. It's kinda funny 'cause usually at night is when I'm much more likely to feel daunted and overwhelmed, and then feel better in the morning, but here it's the opposite. I feel really good about things when I go to bed, and then wake up thinkin' What've I gotten myself into! There's nothin' quite like waking up at 6:30 and thinking to yourself Self, you've only got to do this for 5 billion more days. And then you can sleep in. But I figure if I think it's 5 billion more days, I'll be pleasantly surprised when I get to sleep in after only like 500 and somethin' days ;)

My district is purdy great. There are six Sisters and 4 Elders. My companion is Sister Roundy from Aurora Utah. She knows AJ (as in Carrie's husband), or at least his family! She's really great and I really like her. Which is good, 'cause we're ALWAYS together :) Sisters Colten and McKendrick are also from Utah and are both going to Indiana with us. The other Sisters (Coons and Roseman) are also from Utah, but they are going to Arkansas. Sister Roseman was an RA in Wyview this past year, so she knows Jill and Matt :D The Elders are also going to Arkansas. Elders Matangi and Allred are both from Utah, and Elders Fredette (who is distantly related to Jimmer) and Udall are from Arizona. It's a good group of missionaries :)

I've been keeping an eye out for Ashley wherever I go, and I finally saw her last night! We didn't really have time to talk because my branch was taking a tour, but it was really great to see her.

The work is hard, actually maybe not hard so much as copious, but it really is sweet. And I hope I can keep it up for 18 months O_o 'cause I really want to be a great missionary. It'll be a good adventure for sure!

Love,

Sister Allie Bowen

22 May 2013