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