Sister Eveland...Halfway through the MTC

I have neglected to put any of Sister Eveland's emails up recently. I am so behind, but am going to put them all up now. Bear with me and read as you please. There are a bunch. You can also just look up the label Sister Eveland and her letters will be there as well.

Kumusta!!


This week has been the best one so far in the MTC. Everything that has happened or that I was working with my companion on the past four weeks has been totally worth. I have seen a huge change in her and in our companionship. We had an awesome TA on Thursday night. Even though it was just practice the spirit was so strong and I think that if it were a nonmember we had been teaching I am pretty sure they would have felt it. I love my companion!! She is great. She has been good for me, and has taught me a lot about patience and has made me realize that everything I have been taught here about how we are not only missionaries to those we teach but we are even greater missionaries and teachers to our companions, this is true!!

I cannot believe I hit my half way point in the MTC this week. It is so crazy to think about that in in four weeks from today I will be making the 34+ hour trip to the Philippines and I will be thrown into the language 100%. Right now I don't think I am ready for that. We start teaching lesson one: The Restoration in Tagalog this week. My companinon and I are pushing ourselves to learn the verbs/congugations/vocab everything so that we will be prepared. We are also trying to memorize the First the Vision sa Tagalog. I am almost half way there!! Next week the districts that came in 3 weeks before we did leave and we will now be the "oldest" district here. I wish our whole zone were going to the same mission! We have all gotten really close since being here. I am still having dreams in Tagalog. I just wish that they would make more sense, and I wish that in them I were actually in the Philippines because then I think it would make the fact that I will be there soon a little more real than it seems right now.

This week two of the other sisters in my zone Sister Bruington (she is from Virgina, hiliarious, and goes to BYU-Idaho), and Sister Jensen (she is from Canada and she is in the district that leaves next week), neither one of them are going to my mission. But anyway we decided that we were going to cut back on sweets, which is hard when they always have desserts at every meal, and we have been getting up and going to the gym every morning at 5:55. It has been so much fun. We do circuts were one runs two laps while the other two are working on arms or legs, it depends on the day, and then we do ab workouts for like 10 minutes. I have seen a big difference since Weds. I feel like I have so much more energy throughout the day and on Sunday when we decided to have ice cream since we fasted for two meals, I couldn't even eat it all. I just feel healthier and happier!!

The weather here has been so weird. I think it has snowed or rained at least once a day. Which means gym time has been spent running around the residence hall or doing some kind of exercise in our rooms, or some days in the actual gym when it is opened. I am hoping that this week it stays nice so we can go out more!! I feel like when we don't have gym outside we are locked up and can't get out!

What else.. Oh yeah, L. Tom Perry came and spoke at Devotional on Tuesday. It was pretty cool. He talked about the book. I love hearing from general authorities every week.

Everything is going really well though. Thank you for the letters and everything!! I love being a missionary. I know that the gospel is true. Last night we watched Joseph Smith a Prophet of the Restoration again and I do not know how someone can deny it. I know that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. That this is Christ's church restored on the earth today. I am grateful for this knowledge. And for a loving Heavenly Father who blessed me with such a great family who I can be with forever, and friends who have supported me and have been examples to me!

I love you all, thanks for everything! Keep the letters coming. I promise I am writting letters but I haven't had much time the last two mondays, but they are coming!!

Love,
Sister Eveland

p.s. Alisha, will you let me know if you are forwarding these e-mails on yet. Thank you, love you!!