Dear Family,
This week was filled with highs and lows. Last week I wrote about feeling a little better on Prep-day...but actually I still felt really sick later on in the day. But the really nice part about Prep-day was the temple. On our way up the mountain, Kuyr Jack and I ran into our teacher, Brother Carlson! He was just getting out of the temple and it was really weird to see him outside of the MTC. The temple was so nice and relaxing though. After the temple, we taught at the TRC and this week 8 people showed up to be taught. We taught four at a time and we taught about revelation through prayer. The first group we taught was impressed at our lesson and gave us great feedback with things we did well and what we can work on. The second group asked us how long we'd been in the MTC and was surprised when we said only a few weeks. They actually gave us a standing ovation haha. But they were just super nice and there is a lot that Kuyr Jack and I need to work on.
(outside Provo temple)
On Friday, Kuyr Jack and I taught Samvel. It wasn't as great of a lesson as we planned it to be. I was still feeling a little sick and Kuyr Jack and I just weren't on the same page. We weren't in sync and Samvel didn't seem to grasp what we were teaching. After we taught, Brother Carlson told us a little bit about what happened in Boston. How come no one from home told me?! What is going on with the situation now? Anyway, after finding all of that out...it was just a rough day. I think the highlight was when Brother White came to teach and we had to teach a lesson in 1 minute, then 30 seconds, then 15 seconds. It helped us to narrow down the important things we would say to an investigator or someone we just met if we only had a small amount of time. We ended up talking about the most important parts of the lessons we give and it showed us what we need to focus on when we teach others. Also, Brother White told us he loved us in Armenian. I think he knew that day was just a bummer and so it was awesome to have one of our teachers tell us that after a neat teaching experience.
On Saturday, nothing out of the ordinary really happened. I feel like things here at the MTC are starting to be very...repetitive...monotonous...etc... But we did have a cool lesson on the importance of the Book of Mormon. It is another testament of Jesus Christ. It is proof that Joseph Smith was the first latter-day prophet and that he restored the Christ's church on the earth today. I also studied Christlike attributes in my personal study and studied some things from my Patriarchal Blessing. I learned a lot!! I encourage anyone who has their Patriarchal Blessing to read it this week because you learn something new every time you read it :) On Saturday I also began memorize a few scriptures in Armenian and worked on them throughout the week.
Sunday was my favorite day this week. I felt completely better by Sunday and I was on a spiritual high. In the morning Kuyr Jack and I prepared our lesson for the district (basically like a Sunday School lesson since we don't have a Sunday School block here.) Then we went to Music and the Spoken Word and then Relief Society. Sister Cheryl Esplin of the Primary General Presidency spoke to us and talked about filling ourselves with the gospel and light of Christ. After Relief Society, we had sacrament and every week since we don't know how is going to get called to speak in Sacrament Meeting we always take guesses. Well we all basically guessed Elder Mead and Sister Ormsby and wouldn't you know it, they were both called to speak this Sunday haha. Our Branch Presidency couldn't believe that we guessed right haha. They spoke on the Holy Ghost...I just love hearing talks and testimonies from the missionaries in my zone. It's so powerful. After Sacrament Meeting, Kuyr Jack and I taught the District a lesson on revelation through the Holy Ghost. We got a lot of people to participate and share some awesome experiences. Brother Laney who was presiding the meeting also shared some insight on the Holy Ghost and how we need to "hearken" to promptings. After the lesson, we went on a temple walk in the afternoon and then made it back in time to join the choir and practice for Tuesday's devotional. Later that night, we went to a fireside by BYU's Men's Chorus. I saw Nathaniel from my Math 110 class at BYU and also Aaron (who comes for TRC and served in Armenia) in the chorus! It was pretty cool to hear them sing. Apparently, the chorus also just recorded a CD about missionary work that is free for all missionaries. So anyone preparing to serve a mission should definitely check it out. I loved all of their songs! Also, for the last song they sang they invited any missionaries who used to sing in the choir to come up and join in singing the last song. About four missionaries ran up to their spots on the stand where they used to sing and all of their buddies just gave them huge hugs and they got to sing with the m for the last song. It was really awesome to watch
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Monday, we continued learning more Armenian tenses with Brother Carlson. He's a linguist and so we usually study language with him. There are so many tenses and moods in Armenian. I can't remember but I think there's at least 10, probably more. It's crazy trying to remember them all! Reading the Book of Mormon in Armenian has helped though. I used to be so slow, but now I am getting faster at it. There are 39 letters in the Armenian alphabet and so knowing all of them in their capital and lower case forms was really hard at first. Also, they are different typed than they are hand written, so reading the Book of Mormon at first was really hard, but now it is getting easier. I used to only be able to read five verses in 30 minutes, but now I am averaging a chapter a day. The Lord is truly blessing me as I am trying to learn this language. Actually, the other day in class I was trying to write in English and I couldn't remember how to spell appreciate and I was getting frustrated, but Brother Carlson just said "That is awesome!" Later when Brother White taught, we practice street contacting and what we would say to people when we first meet them and share a little bit of our message about the church. We went outside and it was really fun! Pretty intimidating at first though. Monday was also the first day the field was open for gym so that was pretty sweet. We played volleyball and soccer. Gym is an awesome stress reliever (Not that I'm super stressed or anything here...just very busy...all of the time).
(with one of her instructors, Sister Crawford)
Tuesday, Kuyr Jack and I practiced SYLing for service. We also practiced bringing up the Book of Mormon in conversations with others. In class we went over the scriptures we have memorized with Sister Crawford. I know Moses 1:39, Moroni 10:4-5 and I am working on James 1:5 and JSH 1:16-17 in Armenian now. With Sister Crawford we talked about the atonement and the repentance process. We discussed Alma the younger and how when we repent of our sins we do not feel pain or sorrow anymore and are replaced with exceedingly great joy. I thought about how when we repent Christ forgives us and forgets the sins we committed. I thought about how He atoned for our sins and went through our pain and how he forgets our sins when we repent. So when we repent wouldn't the sins He atoned for all be replaced with exceedingly great joy too? Just something to think about. It made me realize how when I sin I want to repent not just for me, but so that Christ doesn't have to remember my sins and can feel great joy as well. Later after class, we sang in the choir for devotional. Elder David F. Evans of the Quorum of the Seventy and his wife, Mary, spoke on not being a distraction and repentance. The theme this week has just been repentance. After the devotional, we had a District meeting and discussed the devotional. Later before going to bed I received that bad news letter from home...sheesh, three things in one letter? I'm glad everyone in the family is okay though and I'm keeping everyone in my prayers.
Yesterday's letter from you all was much better haha. Thanks for the sweet letter, Mom! My day started off much better because of it. And guess what? I also ran into Jeff! I was on my way to dinner and he was preparing for a lesson. It brightened up my already awesome day. It was nice running into him. It reminded me that I have good friends supporting me as I serve a mission and also I thought about how he served a great mission and that I can do it too.
So how is everyone doing? Hopefully, Trevor and Asia are doing well. How are the cousins? I miss you all so much! I loved getting your letter Heffalump! And Trev and Dad I want to hear from you too!
Also, this is for Kendal: I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE GOING TO THE PHILIPPINES! YOU WILL LOVE IT! I know it seems scary at first (trust me, I was terrified about learning Armenian), but you can do it! Heavenly Father believes in you and your family and friends support you. You will love it and you will enjoy learning all about it here in the MTC! I love you!
I love you family and I can't wait to hear from you!! Yes seerum em dzez!
Ser,
Kuyr Morreall
**note from Mom""
Patriarchal Blessing? http://www.lds.org/topics/patriarchal-blessings?lang=eng
Music and the Spoken Word? http://www.musicandthespokenword.com/
Relief Society is the church's women's organization.
"SYL" means speak your language (the foreign language being studied).
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