Sister Brianna Barnes: MTC - Week #4

Week 4 down??

Hola familia!

I'm already done with week 4? Month 1? What?! I only have one more p-day after this at the MTC! The concept of time at the MTC, and probably on a mission in general, is totally warped. It's crazy. Anyway, this week was absolutely wonderful. It sounds like it was a good week for everyone else as well. Thanks for the package with everything I needed! You are gems.

Well, I did sealings at the temple for the first time this week (p-day last week) and it was such a beautiful experience. The temple is the most beautiful place in the world! I absolutely love it. The next day a General Authority, Elder Stephen Allen, came in to observe my class and that was way cool. He is the managing director of the missionary department so he had a lot of good things to say. And it turned out that he was the Sunday Devotional speaker this week as well! So it was really cool to meet and shake his hand one day and then listen and watch him speak to the whole MTC a few days later! He is a powerful speaker. He had prepared a lot of different things to show us a speak to us about, but then he had a strong impression that he shouldn't share anything he prepared, so his whole talk was just him going off of the spirit and it was awesome because it was exactly what we all needed to hear. Man, I love General Authorities. They are all spiritual GIANTS. It was also good to have the spirit really strong so we could be prepared to watch President Monson's wife's funeral. My heart goes out to the Prophet and his family. Don't forget to keep him and his family in your prayers!

My companion, Hermana Nielsen, and I are rocking it here at the MTC! Haha, we have committed 3 investigators to baptism this week! That's 3 more than I anticipated for this week so that was super exciting. And let me tell you, it was not easy at all. Sheesh, some investigators have a lot to sacrifice in order to get baptized. We definitely couldn't do anything without the spirit though... I'm learning that more and more every day. When I don't have the spirit, I definitely can't speak and understand Spanish as well. It's neat but really weird to have such a strong contrast. Something really cool that one of my teachers said was that all of the trials and experiences we've gone through before our mission prepared us to teach the exact people we are going to teach in San Diego or whatever mission we are sent to. The experiences that we've had prepared us to be able to relate to the people and help very specific people. Our trials were not for nothing, they were to help us grow and be prepared to bring others to Christ as Christ's angels. How cool is that?! I feel like I get spiritually inspired every 5 minutes here at the MTC. This is such a special place.

Another thing I've learned this month? Exact obedience is to success. Literally. I'm sure you've heard the quote, "Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles." It's so true. Even if I go to bed one minute late, it makes a huge difference the next day. Being exactly obedient is being Christ like when it all comes down to it. And it's actually more fun than not being exactly obedient because it's a challenge. Some mornings, me and my companion and the other hermanas in my district find ourselves sprinting to our classroom or sprinting to the light switch at night right before 10:30 so that we are exactly on time. If people saw us they would probably think we were freaks, but we made it a goal to be exactly obedient so... challenge accepted. :)

So our musical number in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday went really well! We conquered our fears! We sang, "Nearer My God to Thee" and we sang part of it acapella. I know you all have kept telling me that I need to sing more and share my talents so I finally listened to you. Haha it was good though, I don't know why I was so scared before. I'm singing in sacrament meeting again with my whole district this time in two more Sundays since it will be our last Sunday here. Can you believe that?! I can't. Two weeks from today I will be in SAN DIEGO!! WAHOO!! I will miss my district and my zone a lot though. Did I ever mention that we are Branch 1 District A? I don't know if you'll understand how crazy it is until you realize that there are hundreds of districts and almost 100 branches, and out of all of those we are district 1A!! Pretty cool I thought. Sign?... probably not. Haha.

Well, I love you all dearly and I will continue to pray for you every day! I hope you have an awesome week this week. Love you!! Nos vemos!

Cone amor de CCM,

Hermana Barnes