Sister Eveland...Week 5 in 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.

First of all Mom, I want to tell you Happy Mother's day!! I hope that you had the best day ever. From your e-mail this morning it sounded like you all had a long but very fun weekend. I bet the kids had a blast at the baseball game on Saturday, especially Espn! I can't wait to see pictures. I want you to know though that I love you, I am so grateful for you and for the love and support that you have always had for me!! Thanks for being the BEST mom EVER!!!


I cannot believe that another week in the MTC has come and gone. Three weeks from today we leave!! It is going to be a bitter sweet day, I can tell you that much. I am not sure I am ready to be summerged in the language quite yet, I feel like there is some much more I need to learn, and it going to be hard saying goodbye to everyone in my district and the other district that came in with us. We have become like a family! However, I am excited to meet the people in the Philippines and share the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. I am excited to become part of the Philippino culture. From the e-mails we have gotten from the Elder's who left the MTC three weeks ago, things there are a lot different, such as no toliet paper in some areas, and showers taken with buckets of water!! As weird as the food and the everything may be I am excited to experience it!

Okay well, back to life in the MTC, District B leaves today and tomorrow. It's so crazy, we aren't getting a new district either so we will be down to three districts until we leave. Next sunday we will be the missionaries who have to translate during sacrament and everything, it's going to be weird, but it will be good for all of us! This last week we taught in Tagalog for the first time. I am not going to lie I was a bit nervous, actually a lot. But as I began to teach I realized that I know more than I think I do, and even if mess up and use the wrong pronoun type with the wrong verb type they are still going to understand what I am trying to say. Besides, I know that D&C 100 is true, and the Lord will get me the very words that I need at the very hour in which I need them. I know that it is not what I say or how I say it that will affect someone, but rather it is the Spirit that testifies to them. It is my job to make sure that I am teaching with Spirit and after that it is the investigator who can choose to let it touch them!!

I am not going to lie, missionary work is not the easiest thing I have ever done, having a companion is not my favorite thing, but learning the gospel and having the Spirit with me all the time IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!! This week was another rough one, but we made it through, Sister Brown and I are learning everyday. I have come to find that being patient, having love, and the real desire to help someone is the most important thing I can do for myself and for others around me.

I have a confession, so last week I said that a few of the sisters and I were getting up every morning and working out and watching what we are eating.. WELL....about that.. we haven't done as good this week. All of us have let ourselves slip. It was just a bit rough this week with things that are going on in zone, with compainons, and then trying to learn how to teach in Taglog. Besides we have decided that maybe we are quite ready to give up on all the good sweets, since in the next few weeks we will be without choice really!!!
Well I should get going, but I love you all. Thank you for being so great!
Alam ko na nabubuhay ang Diyos at Jesucristo. Nagpanumbalik ang Diyos ng ebanghelyo ni Jesucristo pamamaitan kay Joseph Smith. Alam ko na totoong propeta si Jospeh Smith at nagsalin siya ng Aklat ni Mormon pamamagitan ng kapanyarihan ng Dioys. Mahal ko kayo!!

Love,

Sister Eveland!!