Ok, so I know that last week was a little short and didn't have too many details so I wrote a list of funny things (to me) that were said or happened at the MTC:
- The first day we were there, Sister Berrett and her comp Sister Logsdon were in our room when we got there. Sister Berrett's mattress had huge yellow spots on it and so she was kinda freaking out. Before the other two Sister's (that we didn't know yet) came up, we quickly switched the mattresses! We didn't tell Sister Forsgren and Sister Burns until the night before Sister Burge and I left!
- We all called each other "Seeesteerrss"
- We ate plums off a tree during kickball with half our zone and we talked about how the fruit was from "the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." Elder Smith took a bite and said, "Am I going home now?"
- Sunday morning we were using two different plugs to blow dry hair and blew a fuse for our room and the two rooms next to us.. We were already running late for meetings so that was fun!
- The first morning the alarm went off and, half asleep, I rolled over to pray. Sister Berrett announced that it went off an hour early so I instantly fell on my pillow and silently said, "I'll finish my prayer later Heavenly Father, I promise."
- Everyone ALWAYS had pen marks all over themselves and tide pens were always in use.
- Being on the top bunk without a ladder and trying to make my bed as I was laying in it. I almost fell off the bed so many times.
- Saturday, we cleaned showers for service. You could hear my room of Sisters harmonizing to hymns while we scrubbed mold off the walls with toothbrushes. Best service project to date. (and yes, we sounded awesome)
- As we were studying outside one day, a baby bird fell out of the nest in the tree next to us and our teacher laughed so hard when we described the slight thud we heard.
The night before I left the MTC, we had some devotionals that really talked about being legendary missionaries and inviting others to come unto Christ at all opportunities. I prayed that night that I would have an opportunity to do so at the airport or on the plane. Well, no such luck. I got seated in between Elder Petterson (Kyler Leavitt look alike) and Elder Willie. I love them, but they aren't really investigators. I felt a little disappointed but then the flight attendant came by with coffee. She glanced at us and then turned her back to offer some to the people sitting across from us. We all started laughing because it was obvious she knew who we are. She turned to us and joined our laughter and then asked," why can't you drink coffee but you can drink coke?" I instantly started talking about the Word of Wisdom and invited her to pray about it if she still had questions. She then asked how Sisters stay safe on our missions and I told her that we are on the Lord's errand so we believe that He will protect us if that is His will. I looked directly at her and simply said, "I have faith." She looked at me and said, "I believe you do. I can see it in your eyes. You Elders BETTER take care of her." and then walked away only to rejoin us a few minutes later to reiterate what she had already said. When we walked off the plane, she told me that I was going to do great as a missionary and wished me luck. I would say my prayers were answered.
The MTC ended up being so great and I really didn't want to leave my companion, district, zone or room buddies. I miss them all so much! BUT I am here in Oregon now! We woke up at 2:50 in the am and got here at 9:30. Our mission president and family took us to the temple and then we had a little training at the stake center. I was so nervous to find out who my companion was and knowing I would immediately go out to work made me real nervous. My companions name is Sister Abplanalp (Sister A) and she is AWESOME! She has only been out for 3 months and is already training which is so cool. She is so sweet and I instantly felt so much better, even though Sister Burge and I finally had to say goodbye to each other. So, I am in Tigard, Oregon right now and we are in charge of 2 wards and they already have 4 investigators with baptismal dates! She said that they get so many referrals and rarely go tracting because they are so busy teaching!
This morning, as we were studying, we got a knock on the door from Drew (skinny santa) and he was bringing us a "care package." Apparently he is the neighbor downstairs who the Sisters were always just nice to but never taught. He calls us "Sisters of the Faith" and he knocked like two more times after dropping of the package to give us more stuff. The last time he came, he looked at us and said," Can you teach me about Jesus?" I almost fell to the floor! Sister A said that he was never interested and that she never did anything different but he just needed someone to be nice to him I guess. Of course we said," Yes, we would LOVE to teach you." Little does he know that those are the words every missionary wants to hear. So that was pretty amazing.
Today is my p-day and next week it will be on Monday. Sister Eddy, the ward mission leader's wife, and her little boys took us to a berry farm today where we picked blueberries and raspberries and it was SO FUN! The fruit was amazing and we ate so much of it! I already got some Oregon experience done. She fed us lunch and we went on our way. I have already been treated so well and have had such cool experiences already! The members here are great and feed us every night and do so much missionary work themselves. I love it!
ELDER BALLARD is coming to speak to us on Friday! It really is so cool to have his son as our Mission President and his daughters kept saying," yeah, my grandpa, Elder Ballard, the apostle...." which was just so weird to think about. I am so excited to be here in Oregon and can tell that I will want to move back here when I got off my mission. IT IS BEAUTIFUL.
I love and miss you all and am so grateful for the support. Keeping doing amazing things and amazing things will happen to you!
Love,
Sister Waite
P.S. everyone lied. It has been so sunny here and Sister A says that it has been this way this whole time she has been here.
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