5th and last MTC Email

Here is Anne's 5th and last MTC email.  Sorry this is late.  I was cooking for church girls' camp this past week and just got back.  Anne leaves next Weds to begin her service in California. I am not sure how soon we will hear from her there.

Querida familia y amigas.  This week has been quite a whirlwind!
 We taught Fabian on Thursday and realized that although we have been taking the lessons slowly with him, and maybe talking about 1 topic 3 times in a row. He has been trusting us more and more lately, and I think that is probably because we take the time to talk to him and Listen. I saw Sister Rachel Jensen I(a BYU roomates) on Thursday too! It was so good to see her. I still haven't seen Sister Emily Wilkins (another BYU roommate) , but I look for her whenever we have a devotional.

Thursday was also Elder Kane's (one of the elders in her district) birthday. We made him a homemade pinata of sorts out of a small box and random candy. We gave it to him at the end of the day (when it was personal time). It made his day! Oh how I love our district! We all are learning so much from each other!

I also received a package from Sister Wilkins (thank you!) and from Mom ( thank you too!).

We also received a new district (an organizational term for a unit of missionaries). They have 4 new hermanas and we get another district today.

On Friday we had all the new mission presidents come. 173 new mission presidents! Wow! (New Mission presidents and their wives are called for 3 years to oversee and help the missionaries throughout the world.  They start their term of service on July 1st to they came to the MTC for training and instruction.)

Sunday was a very special day. At Relief Society Sister Ana de Agostini spoke. At one point, she had all of the sisters that had been affected by the age change stand up. (last October the age for women to serve was lowered from 21 to 19 and there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women serving missions.) Nearly EVERY sister in the room stood up! Wow! What an inspired change! She spoke about the words of the Hymn "As Sisters in Zion".  It explains that the errand of angels has been given to women, and this is a gift that as sisters we claim. Whether we are serving missions or going to school or taking care of families, we are helping bring others unto Christ. This is the errand of angels.

Then we had an MTC wide sacrament meeting. It was huge and we had two sacrament meetings splitting the MTC in half. At the sacrament meeting President and Sister Priday (Some of the leaders of the Missionary Training Center) spoke about the Lord is in the details of our lives. He truly is! I know that He knows what we need and how to best help us learn and grow. But, they said, we need to have faith in Him and trust in Him.

Then we had the worldwide leadership training broadcast. It was a historic day! It was called "The Work of Salvation: Worldwide Leadership broadcast" They told us that there are over 70,000 missionaries around the world (either in the MTC or in the field). 173 new mission presidents and their wives were there too!As missionaries, we have been called to be disciples of Jesus Christ and to take the gospel to all the world and help people come closer to Christ. It is so exciting to see that missionary work is turning into a whole family affair!  I know these changes talked about at the broadcast were inspired of God. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, seer, and revelator. I know  that if we heed his counsel, we will be blessed.

We said goodbye to Eliana yesterday. :( Oh how I will miss teaching her! I love her so much! I dread the day I will have to say goodbye to investigators in Fresno!

Last night we also went to a devotional with Sister Janice Kapp Perry (She has composed hundreds of church hymns and childrens' songs)  I was in the choir and we sang "Like 10,000 Legions Marching."

She also said that hymns and children's songs bring the Spirit faster than anything else! She had us sing a medley of 6 songs: A child's prayer, I love to see the temple, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ, Army of Helaman(with we are Now the Lord's missionaries), and Love is Spoken here. She also sang her testimony (A song called "Like Jesus"). And then we sang the EFY Medley except it was rewritten for missionaries. It is called "The Sisters of Zion/ The Army of Helaman." Everyone stood and sang. What a wonderful Spirit was there! I love the power of songs!

I am so excited to go out to Fresno this week! Yo se que este evangelio es verdadero. Yo se que Dios nos ama. Yo se que Jesucristo es nuestro Salvador. Yo se que nuestros familias pueden vivir para siempre. (I know that the gospel is true.  I know that God loves us and that Jesus Christ is our Savior.  I know that families can be together forever.)

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana VanWie

Picture of MTC District and Branch presidency (adult leaders)