Sister Carlson in Chesapeake (and/or North Carolina)

THIS IS SISTER CARLSON REPORTING LIVE FROM THE MTC

Well SUPRISE it is already p-day! Did you guys miss me during the 24 hours that you didn't hear from me?!? Hahahah. Wow the MTC... What a place! This is just incredible. Like how could the church not be true with all of these people everywhere! I don't think I have ever seen so many people in my life! Things are going so great.

As far as learning/teaching I am not very stressed. I prayed a lot before coming on my mission that I would be ready for the work load and the spiritual load that I would have to bear as I prepare to go into the field but emailing right now and trying to compose all of my thoughts is like the most stressful thing I have done since I have been here!!

My companion is Sister Fife and she is from Heber Utah. She is really nice. I got very lucky with her and we teach really well together! We are getting along great which is awesome because she is also going to Chesapeake! There are 8 people in my district. 5 are going to Chesapeake and 3 are going to Fort Collins, Colorado. Me and Sister Fife are the only Sisters in our district and we definitely do most of the talking in class ha, ha! The room that we are in has 3 bunk beds so there is room for 6 Sisters but we are the only ones in there so that is WAY NICE.  We are loving that. We might get more sisters next week though...we don't really know! 

I want you to know that I am healthy, safe, and loving every minute of my mission already! I know this is what I am supposed to do and I am so grateful to have such an amazing support system!

I have seen so many people that I know just in the 2 days that I have been here it's so crazy!! I saw Dekker, Colton Chronister, a friend from high school named Elder Ulrich who is going to like Taiwan…and KC Christofferson! It's a small world here. My Residence hall where I live is way nicer than I was expecting! The only complaint that I have is that it smells like hamsters hahahah!!!! Literally like we have a pet hamster! Something to remember I guess :)

The bathroom situation is good, everyone on the same floor shares the same one and it's really clean and nice. I took my first shower last night and the water pressure is so strong it left red marks like all over my body hahahah! The beds are great, a lot better than I was expecting. Everyone says that they just re-did all of the sister residence halls though so I think the boys still have bad beds haha! 

Class time is awesome. Sometimes it can get really long but the material and salvation of souls is so important it’s impossible to not pay attention because the spirit is helping you so much. I have great teachers too so that helps. They both served in California. I haven't been too sleepy at all!

I don't think I will be able to get a pic with Colt because he is at the West campus he was just here for p-day so I am sorry!! I should have thought of that. My typical day...wake up, pray, get ready, breakfast, class for like 4 1/2 hours, lunch, more class with our district…then we will have workshops on teaching and stuff with everyone that just got to the MTC and stuff! 

I am really trying to be patient and love everyone and see them as God sees them. That's something that I have really been praying for especially with my comp before I came and Heavenly Father is definitely helping me out with that! On my first night we had our first lesson. Like, HI--welcome to the MTC!!!! They just throw you right in--but it was such an amazing experience. 

Yesterday we had our second lesson with the same investigator and then today we had a 3rd lesson and we are feeling good about the place that our investigator is in. FYI the investigator is just a MTC teacher that they have act like an investigator and that is going really well. I never thought about how hard it would be to put all my thoughts together about the gospel and tell them to someone on the spot and have them make sense...let me just say right now that is hard.

People told me the mission is hard and I didn't really know what they meant by that but now I do. It is mentally exhausting. I am constantly thinking about how I can better myself so that I can better my comp, those around me, and my investigators.

Since I have gotten here it has been all about converting ourselves before we go out and try to convert others and I would just like to share something that was so profound to me.

Yesterday…or whenever that was, we watched a video and Elder Holland was the one narrating it and something that he said really struck me. Me and my comp were kind of having a hard time teaching our investigator because he wouldn't really commit to anything we would ask him to do and then right after that happened we watched this video and Elder Holland said: 

'You may want your Investigator to try harder...well, Heavenly Father wants you to try harder. You may want your investigator to pray more or read their scriptures more..Heavenly Father wants you to pray more and read your scriptures more. You must fully convert yourself before you can convert anyone else."

I loved this. My district teachers are incredible and every time I come to them with a question they will never answer it because they want me to learn it for myself rather than just telling me and giving me the easy way out. I am so grateful for that. I have done so much growing and I am so grateful for this gospel in my life. I know that I am fully converted and that this is the most important work on earth. THIS GOSPEL IS BEYOND TRUE. Last night we met our branch presidency- our president is President Mangum and his wife and then Brother and Sister Ogden and Brother and Sister Jackson. My comp and I were also made Sister Trainer Leaders last night which was an unexpected honor! We are excited about that. I hope you all have the best week! I only have one more p-day before I am tearin’ it up in VA so I will talk to you guys next week!

 I found out that I will fly out to Virginia on July 23rd. That is a Wednesday.

Love you all SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!

XOXO, Sister C :)