Sister Wilwand: Hamburgers, chocolate cake & pizza...and oh yes, she's a STL!

Dear Family and Friends,

I am so sorry if I don't email you all individually!! But seeing as I got 17 emails this week, I don't have tons and tons of time to write.

So let me start out by saying that I love the MTC!! And I love being a missionary. I have had some amazing experiences here. One of which, as you can see by the title, was getting to eat a hamburger, chocolate cake, and some pizza. Let's just say it was one of our better meals. But really though, we've had some super spiritual experiences here.

(No rice!!)

Let's see, a couple of things I forgot to mention last email. I watched General Conference all over again last week. It was good, but it was interesting to see it all again, but the missionaries here hadn't seen it yet. I was also called with my kasama (companion) to be a Sister Training Leader. We go to leadership meetings and things like that, but we're really only in charge of 2 other girls. They are ones that came in at the same time as we did. The other Sister Training Leaders are over lots more girls. But it's fun. We get to go around and talk to all of the new missionaries that came in today (!!!). We'll just see how they're doing, and see if they need anything. It was really fun today to see all the new missionaries come in. Most of them looked totally lost. It's hilarious. It's also fun to talk to all of the American's in the little Tagalog that we know. They can't understand a word. (A note for Grandpa... I met Elder Westover today! He's really cool. I also have an Elder Elms who is in my district. He lived in Tri-Cities for a while, but I'm not sure if Grandpa knew him or his dad? His dad was a seminary teacher). So anyways, it's really fun to have the new missionaries here, but I'm sure that the hallways are going to be really loud soon.

Last Friday was P-day, and was today. We get to go to the temple every Friday, and it's awesome!!

We also get to go to the store that's just down the street, so that's always fun too. We met a lady yesterday who customized rings. She has ones with CTR on them, and your mission on them. So I got one that say Philippines Quezon City North on it. It's sweet!! P-day is a lot of fun. We kind of just do what we want, but we also have some things that are scheduled. So tonight, we're teaching our investigator Ana.

This week we got 3 new investigators; 2 are investigators, and 1 is a less-active. The investigators are named Roy and Ana. My kasama and I have had some really amazing experiences with each of them. It was a little hard to get to know them at first, but after a while, it's not too bad. We thought that Roy would be hard to teach since he didn't really believe that God loved him, but we're doing better with him than with Ana. We also taught a less-active this week, but that was a strange lesson. 2 girls that are going to Filipino missions have been with other Pakistani missionaries for the past two weeks. So they haven't been learning Tagalog. Since those other 2 missionaries left with the older batch on Wednesday, these 2 Sister joined out district for a couple days. When we were teaching the less-actives, my kasama and I did a companion exchange with these two sisters. They're both great, but it was hard because my kasama and I had to teach our lessons in Tagalog, basically by ourselves. That was a challenge. But we think they went ok. But back to Roy, his lessons are amazing. Like my kasama and I have cried more than once during the lessons that we've had with him because they have been so dang spiritual. And I think we might have gotten our teacher to cry too. (Our teachers are the ones that role play our investigators...)

What else... Gym is fun. My kasama and I will run around for a while, and then play basketball or badminton or ping-pong. We usually play ping-pong with some of the elders, so that's always really fun. I really love my district. I love that we can be joking around and teasing each other in one class, and then turn around and be totally spiritual in the next lesson. It's great. They make life at the MTC really easy to enjoy.

And of course, my kasama is amazing. She had the best testimony of anyone I've ever met, and I feel like we make a really great team. I will truly miss her when I get out in the field.

I love you all!! And I miss you all a lot. Just a quick spiritual thought today. 2 Nephi 1:15. It is a fantastic scripture. It talks about how the Lord will redeem our souls from hell, and encircle us eternally in his arms of love. How great is that?? Hell doesn't necessarily mean hell here. It could mean absolutely anything that you are struggling. Heavenly Father knows each one of us individually, and he knows what we are struggling with. The Atonement is real. So real. It does not only cleanse you from your sins, but it can help with sorrow and trials and despair, and anything else. The Atonement is individualized. It is for each and everyone of us. Take advantage of it.

Paalam!

Sister Wilwand