Sister Burton Takes on Anaheim!: MTC Week 2

MY LAST FEW DAYS IN THE MTC! WHAT! Time has flown by! This was a great week! I'm going to keep my emails simple because that last one was all over the place.

Funnies:
- You'll never guess who spoke in our Devotional on Sunday night?! DONNY OSMOND! I knew Mom would love that. We were singing some prelude and in walks Donny and everyone starts whispering and going crazy! He was a funny guy and gave us some encouraging thoughts.

-Oh, and because of the Mission Presidents Training starting soon, they shut down the cafeteria and have a makeshift cafeteria in the new building foyer. It's SO WEIRD! Also, it really has cut down on the options(meaning, I really miss those dang good salad bars), so you really only have 1 or 2 options for a meal. soooo, I guess you could say I'm really excited to leave so that I can eat real food, that I actually enjoy eating.

-I'm getting tan! I don't have a super solid farmers tan line, but I'm definitely getting a little more color. Maybe I'll sorta fit in when I get to California...although I still have a ways to go!

- When we taught our TRC Jess last week, it was a super spiritual moment we were having and she said something hilarious. She was praying and the Spirit was SO there and then after she closed, she said, "Man, I could go for some meatballs right now". Sister Brooks and I just laughed. Jess speaks her mind and we love it. She is a girl from Texas and she is completely relaxed, it's great!

Spiritual Goodies:
- Well, Sister Brooks and I were called as Sister Training Leaders last week! That was a little unexpected. We officially started last Sunday so we'll only been doing it for a week because we leave Tuesday! But, we love it! We got a new district Wednesday and they're adorable.

-TRCS have been amazing this week! Last week, we invited Jess to be baptized. She was our TRC that seemed really disinterested at the beginning of the week and we felt we weren't going anywhere with her. But she really pulled through. At the last lesson, I invited her to be baptized and she said YES! We felt the Spirit so strong as she ended our lesson with her humble, sweet prayer. We also invited our other TRC Sarah to baptism and she said yes! I wish we could have these TRCs for another week because they're great.

- This week, we have a TRC, Katerina Sanders, from MD and she knows Reagan Norcross!! She didn't say how, but that was super cool! Anyways, she is so solid and has great questions for us. We talked about trials and blessings and we just chatted together. I shared 1 Nephi 17 and how Lehi's family was in the wilderness for a looong time, but they had what they needed: they were healthy and happy. It all depends on how you look at trials, because they truly are all blessings. Kat really grasped that concept last night and came to understand that this is what life is about. We're here to be tested, but when we know it's for a purpose, we can better handle those trials. She had a great analogy for life. Life is like a test. If you know you have a test, you're going to prepare for it. If you don't have a test, then what's the point in preparing for one? SAME THING WITH LIFE. Our minds were blown when Kat told us that. Solid gold right there. We are inviting her to baptism tonight!

-OH and MACK! We've been teaching him a lot this week. We struggled teaching him because he was so depressed and we just kept going in circles with him. This week, we spent a lot of time preparing and thinking about Mack and what he needs, not what we THINK we need to teach. That lesson took a complete 180. We focused on him and what he needs, what is important to him, etc. We could totally feel the spirit as we talked with him and we knew we were teaching by the spirit! Sometimes that's the hardest part of being a missionary and is truly just turning it over to the Spirit.

Testimony
- I learned a lot this week on how repentance is just CHANGING. Changing to come closer to God. It's the small steps and turns towards Heavenly Father that bring us closer to Him. I loved being able to share that with our TRCS this week.

-Also, fave scripture of the week that I really studied. 2 Nephi 2:5. At the beginning it says, "And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil". It totally hit me that we are ALL born with that strong knowledge of right and wrong. We know what is right and wrong. It's the choices in our lives that can change our views of what we might think is right or wrong. It was just a cool realization this week.

-1 Nephi 1:1. If you look at the footnote for "afflictions" it says "blessings". Just like I talked about earlier, it's all about how we look at it!

This gospel is so true! My love for the Savior continues to deepen each day as I'm here, studying more about Him. He is everything. Without Him, there would be no hope. We are given a second chance, because He loved us enough to take upon Himself our infirmities. He will always remember us, because of the scars on His hands, side, and feet. Doesn't that make sense that we should always remember Him?

I love my district! I'm sad to have to part ways this week, but its been real! Love these elders and sisters and can't wait to see what they do in their fields of labor.

I ship out early Tuesday and I can't wait to get to California. In our orientation we talked about how members REALLY help accelerate missionary work. I'm excited to get out there and meet the members and get to work. Next Sunday I'll be in a new ward, with new friends, learning new things. I've loved learning at the MTC and I've been trying to soak it up as best I can! But I'm also stoked to get out there and be with the people!
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Sister Burton