Bonjour mes amis!!
My very first 'week' has gone by in the HMTC! So much has happened that this email could be hours long to read so I'm sorry if that is the case...
I was set apart on Tuesday night by my Stake President with my parents and grandparents. It was such an amazing experience, and I can't lie I definitely did shed a couple tears. It was such a wild experience for me, I grew up waiting until the day I would be serving a mission and thought it was in forever and I had so much time. But here I am, and listen up kids time goes faster than you think. I couldn't sleep that first night thinking about my first day of the MTC. We went through our class and I love everyone in my district! We have a Sœur from New Zealand in our class which makes our schedule a little funky but not as weird for her, as you can imagine, being 12 hours ahead of Utah time.
I love my collègue Elder Anderson! He is the youngest of 4 with three older sisters, he loves singing, playing the trumpet, and I can tell he has a strong desire to help others come to Christ. We've had many discussions and he has lots of ideas and thoughts that help me learn. Super grateful for that.
Learning french is hard. I've got a lot of the basics down and conversational words and pieces from speaking it at home, but I am completely new to learning gospel related words in french. I'm getting there though, and I'm super impressed with my district and how well they are receiving the instruction from our teachers, Frère Sebra and Sœur Corrigan. I LOVE THEM BOTH! They both served in the Lyon, France mission so they both speak french I'm more familiar with. They both go to BYU, but Sœur Corrigan just moved from Scotland 3 weeks ago. I absolutely love her accent. LOVE IT.
We have made plans to leave for San Francisco in a couple weeks in an attempt to get my french passport to allow me to go to Tahiti sooner! We really really hope it works and that everything works smoothly, we'll be praying hard. Something else that's new in life is now we have a puppy!!! His name is Toby, and he's an adorable little white Pyrenees puppy.
I feel like I've changed since I've started the MTC, I definitely feel like I'm happier inside even if I look and feel tired from all the zoom calls. The gospel of Jesus Christ is really starting to change me and I can't even really tell you what it is specifically. Through reading the scriptures, praying, and talking more about the steps people have to take to make it back into God's presence makes me feel happy, and more eager to teach and tell others about it! It's incredible, and I can't wait for the MTC to be done so I can be out there caring for people and loving them. We had a workshop on Thursday where one of the presenters brought up Moana (the Disney movie that takes place in my islands!!), and a song they sing called, "We Know The Way". In 2 Nephi 31:21 we read, " And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ ."
The doctrine of Christ is the only way we can return to live with our father in Heaven. He is the only way. If we know the way, we should proclaim to others that we do, just like the people of Motunui in Moana proclaimed, We know where we are. We know who we are. We know the way. I wish you all a good week, and remember who you are! A child of God :)
Nānā mes amis!!
PS: BIG THANK YOU to Brother Chad Bailey who made this cake for me!