Letter #2

(Natalie & Sister Chord. Sister Chord was in Natalie's zone, and is going to Mesa, Arizona. She was in the same district as Debbie Pilcher, Justin Doyle's sister-in-law!)

Hey Family! How are you all doing?? Dad, I did get both of your emails, just so you know. :) Thanks so much for them!

Well, I've finished week 2 of the MTC! I can hardly believe it... the days go by slow but the weeks fly by! The MTC this week was unreal. My love for missionary has never, ever been this strong! I want to share with you the experiences I had. Hopefully I'll get through all of them! (we only get 30 min for email).

(Natalie & Sister Diejnste)

So, we've been teaching some "investigators" (none of them real, 2 of them are our teachers). We have progressively been getting better. But my companion and I really hit a stride this week. We had a lesson about Conversion though the Holy Ghost this week, all talking about how we need to use the Holy Ghost in our lessons... in fact, it's THE most important part of teaching! It was hard to remember that as the first week went by, because I was SO overwhelmed with all of the information that was being thrown at me (they refer to it as drinking from a firehose... no exaggeration there!) that I forgot I needed to listen for the spirit's whisperings as I was teaching. So after the lesson, we had to teach our investigator Robbie. He's only looking into religion because he wants to see if it'll make his family happier or not. But he's had a good life, not necessarily hard, until his parents' recent divorce which really shook him up. He's been hard to teach because we've needed to find out why he needs the gospel in his life. We FINALLY got somewhere in the previous lesson, explaining that this gospel is the ONLY way he can be with his family for eternity. That really made him interested, and he even accepted baptism!

So we get into the room Saturday night to teach him, and the first thing he says is that he has news for us... he talked to his dad on the phone about how he was going to be baptized into the church, etc and his dad told him that if he did, he would disown him. Robbie said, "Why would something good cause such a negative thing to happen to me? If I do this, it seems like I'll lose everything. I just can't be baptized." Sis Brickley and I were seriously shocked. We had NO idea what to do. And then sis brickley, having no other family members that are active in the church right now, told him a little about it, but how the gospel changes her and makes her a better person, why she needs it, and that she knows her family will eventually come to know the truth. Then there was a pause. I sat there for what seemed like hours thinking about what I could say that would change his mind. but then I was completely filled with love for Robbie, so much so that I could hardly bear the thought of him not coming to Christ. I've never felt like that for another person before. And then I was completely overwhelmed with the feeling that I needed to bear my testimony of the Savior. So I started talking about him and what he did for us, and how the Savior himself, the one who died so we sinners might live, lost EVERYTHING. I told him that he might lose a lot of friends, maybe even family members, but I knew that this is what the Lord wanted for him, because he wants him back SO badly that he would do all that, just for him! i honestly don't remember all that I said. I literally felt like the spirit was speaking the words, not me. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I don't remember another time where I fellt like the spirit was completely taking over, and I was just the mouthpiece. My comp and I were crying our eyes out by the end of it, lol. It was truly amazing.

Another experience we had was with our "less active," Sue. She was baptized in to the church, but because of her hard life she fell away. She talked about how as a teenager she had to work to help provide for her family. I was able to share how I startedd to teach piano when I was 15 years old, and shared when I gave mom some of my money to help buy groceries one summer, and our finanical trials as a family... she totally related to that, it was so cool! And then I was able to tell her that if my family hadn't been active in the church and relied on the Lord to help us through, we would've never learned what we needed to. The spirit was so strong! My companion did an AWESOME job sharing how her dad left her family (Sue's father left her family too) and how she prayed to her Heavenly Father for help and strength, and how she knew He was watching over her. We were able to soften Sue's heart because we actaully listened to the spirit! It was sooo cool.

I have a strong testimony in missionary work. It is SO real! and SO important. I feel like I understand why I'm out here now, because of these experiences. And these aren't even real people!! I'm SO thankful for the gospel in my life. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to be here in the MTC, to be learning and growing... even when it hurts a little. ;) My comp has improved a lot at teaching. We had a slight set-back this week, (she's not very confident in her teaching) but we're working on building her up. :) I love my district. We're like a big family now. It's so fun! I'm playing the piano for Sacrament meeting on Sundays which has been fun. We were able to go to the temple again today!! I love the temple. It is sooo peaceful. I always feel like a part of it comes back with me. It's really rejuvenating.

Elder Russell M. Nelson gave the Devotional last week!! It was sooo awesome, all about the gathering of Israel in these latter-days. He showed us tons of scriptures that say latter-days in them and then said, "Ever wondered why we're called the Latter-day saints? Well now you know why." It was so cool! He also showed us some scriptures that prophesy of the BOM in the Bible. Such cool stuff I'm learning here!!

The food's not that great... haha. It's BYU catering. I've eaten at least one salad everyday since I've been here. Sister Nixon's a health nut so it's helped me out! ;) (sis Brickley isn't so much... ha).

Thank you ALL for your emails and letters. I love you all so much and miss you every day! We have in-field trainig on Friday so I'll let you know how that goes!! I'll try and send you pics next week!