The flight and shuttle went flawlessly! I got right on my
plane and then I only had to wait for about 10 minutes for my shuttle. As soon
as I got to the MTC I had absolutely no time to be nervous. There were about a
million missionaries waiting to welcome us! Right off the bat I saw Meg Wright!
She's doing very well!! I have pretty much seen everyone that I know here,
minus Leisl...sorry Neilsens...
Anyway! I got here and got all checked in and got my
missionary name badge! Then I went straight over to my class. There I found out
that I had been put in the advanced language program and would only be here for
2 weeks. I would also not speak a single word of French while in the
MTC. Hearing this, I almost broke down in tears, but my teachers were
so kind and had so much confidence in me even though they had never met me, or
ever heard me speak French! All of the people in my district are from foreign
countries and speak English (the language that they will be serving with)
FLUENTLY. The only other girl at least sort of in my situation is in my zone
(which is composed of 3 districts from my branch). She is American
and grew up speaking English, but she lived in Korea for like 8
or 10 years or something...so she's most likely fluent as well.
I was feeling EXTREMELY inadequate. I actually thought maybe they had put me in
the wrong group. So I went and talked with the front desk, and sure enough,
they think that my French is good enough to be in the advanced class! It really
is crazy, especially since I will be in France in about a week and half...but
the Lord will provide!
Just when I thought that I was swimming in this fast track
and not knowing even knowing how I would handle it, the Lord decided to humble
me more and called me to be a Sister Training Leader (kind of the equivalent of
a Zone leader). So next week I will be in charge of the new missionaries coming
into our branch! It's going to be very hard, so please pray for me!! But I have
to have faith that I can do this!
The spirit in the MTC is INCREDIBLE. I feel the spirit all
the time and I know that everyone else does too! It's amazing to see all of
these missionaries together, all of us having the same beliefs and desires to
serve the Lord!
I am pretty confident that I was blessed with the best
district EVER. We have 2 elders, Elder Huhane (from Tonga) and Elder Gledhill
(from Ukraine). My companions are Sister Quiroz (from Mexico) and
Sister Liza (from Peru) (TRIO COMPANIONSHIP! I absolutely love being in a
trio actually!). And the other 2 sisters are Sister Oliveira (from
Brazil) and Sister Rios (from Peru)! I get a heck of a lot of sarcastic American
jokes from my district...but I just love them! Our elders are pretty much the
funniest people I've met in my entire life and they have such strong
testimonies! And neither of them are afraid to cry in front of us! Our teachers
are amazing as well! I am SO blessed! We have Brother Matthews, Brother Smith,
and Brother Palmer (although I think he was just filling in for Brother Smith
yesterday).
It is true what people say that the days here feel like they
are two days! The time really does slow down so that the spirit can teach you
everything that you need to know! I have had incredible experiences with
teaching already. I have been extremely humbled as the teachers have counseled
us to follow the spirit and not try to teach everything WE want to. Brother
Palmer gave us this amazing advice from Elder Nelson: "If you don't focus
on the spirit while you're teaching, you will be giving them information rather
than offering them salvation." How cool is that!?!? Although I have only
had one full day here at the MTC, I have learned so much about myself and about
teaching! This isn't about teaching the perfect lesson, it's about following
the spirit and trying to get the investigator to feel the spirit as well.
I am doing all I can do to be the best missionary I can be,
but I need your prayers!! The Lord has placed a LOT of confidence in me (way
more than I ever expected) and I need His help if I'm going to do this!
I love you all and I do miss you, but I have a greater work
that I am called to France to do! We are promised as missionaries that our
families will be protected and I pray for you!
Je t'aime ma famille!
Soeur Everett
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