Mission President

We recieved a letter from Pres. Sexton yesterday, he told us the light that Steph brought with her is so great! Just look at that smile. YAY! for Long Beach!

Non MTC Mission!

We heard from Steph yesterday saying she made it to Long Beach, she thinks that her companion and her will get along.  When she got there the Mission President, his wife, and assistants were all there to greet them.  They feed them lunch and gave them the low down.  The Mission Pres, said that the area she is serving in she will use her spanish about 40%.  Which makes her a little nervous.   She and her companion went and taught a lady where they talked Spanglish.  The lady asked if she understand her, Steph's response, "a poco" meaning a little, they spoke english the rest of the time.  They then went to a guy, who had just lost his wife about a month ago, they taught him about the first principle and the Atonement, he told them that they really lifted his spirits.  She is excited to see him grow.  

She also told us that only family is suppose to email. She wants to be obedient.   So here is her address of her apartment.  She would love to hear from you all.  

3647 Lewis Ave

Long Beach, Ca 90807 

Headed to Long Beach

We got a call early this morning from Steph, Mom could hear her but Steph couldn't hear mom, so Steph had to call back a couple of times, but we finally talked to her. Mom and I ( Meagan) were the only ones home. It was so GREAT to hear her voice.  She is excited and nervous.  The unknown make us all very anxious.  She's excited though for the next chapter.  She was telling us about her spanish, and one day she forgot how to say good.  This is what she said "Ah, Como se dice good?" She said that she felt silly.  Good is Bueno.  She would also answer us in spanish, and that sometimes she forgets how who to spell in english.  She said that her Spanglish will be so great when she comes home.  All in all she is good, and we loved hearing her voice.  She will be in Long Beach by 1100am. WE are so proud of her!  

MTC Pictures

Cousin Drake( Elder Munns) and I. He is in Baton Rouge now
Cousin Darin(Elder Toone) and I.  He is in Jackson Mississippi. 
Sister Toronto (Jennie) and I, she is Meagan's age, and is in our home stake. She is serving in Korea.  I have been able to see a lot of friends from all over in the MTC with me.  
Hermana Hatch, Talivakala and I 
Hermana Hatch, Na'a and I
The crew! 
The boys
Some of the Girls

Week 8

Well can you believe it is my last P Day in the MTC? I can't! I received my flight plans on Friday and I fly out next Tuesday! I have to be at the travel office at 5. My flight leaves at 830 and I arrive in Long Beach at 1030 Utah time. I can hardly believe that it has been 2 months and that I am actually going to be in the field! It makes me nervous sometimes but I am so anxious and know that the Lord will bless me if I am faithful and humble. It has been a great week! We got some new sisters last week and it has been fun to be with them and get to know them. I am sad that we have to leave them when we are just starting a relationship. All is well though! Last night we had Elder Richard G. Hinckley come and speak. It was really great! At times I could hear President Hinckley's voice. He gave us the 9 Be's of missionary work. Some of them were the same as the original 6 Be's. I really have been humbled this week. As I look back on my experience here at the MTC I am amazed at what has happened. It was definitely not like anything I expected but I wouldn't change it for the world! I have felt my testimony grow and I know that is because of the experiences I have had. It is great to see the change in the elders. They are quite different than they were and they will continue to grow. Friday I was way excited to go when I got my flight plans but Saturday I was scared and not feeling ready. We had our TRC that night and it was a great experience for me. When I taught that night I felt the spirit so strongly. I then started thinking about how I get to do that everyday several times a day. I then realized that my Heavenly Father was telling me that it would be ok. My spanish may not be perfect but I know that He is there. I know that if I do everything that I can I can't mess up. He will touch their heart and whatever is supposed to happen will. I am so grateful for His faith in me! Yesterday we went to the referral center for the last time. I wasn't too excited to go but I changed my attitude. I received a chat from this lady and it was so cool. She asked why we had trials and I sent her a scripture in 2 Ne about needing opposion in all things. She said she liked it but said she couldn't find it the bible. I told her about the Book of Mormon and testified of it. She asked about it and I sent her a scripture about sheep in another fold and she said those are the people in the Book of Mormon. She then asked me how I knew it was true and if anyone could have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was so great! Right after I talked to her I got an inbound call. This man wanted finding faith in Christ and I got his information and asked if the missionaries could bring it over. He said yes and then asked if there was a church he could attend. I found the closest chapel and gave him the info. I then told him the missionaries would come over and share a message with him. He was very excited and told me that some missionaries had come over years back but he was a drinker then and didn't remember much. I asked if he had a copy of the book of mormon and invited him to read 3 Ne 11. I told him the missionaries would bring him one if he couldn't find the one he received years ago. He said no longer drank and was looking for the truth. I prayed for both of them last night and hope they will both receive the gospel. It was great precursor to going into the field. I am so grateful for my testimony and the opportunity I have to dedicate my life for the next 16 months to sharing that message! I love you all and miss you! I pray for you daily and know that you pray for me too. I don't know when my pday is in the field so I don't know when I will email again.

Week 7

Hello to everyone! This week has been great but also hard. There always seems to be at least one challenge every week no matter what. Hermana Na'a wrote me and Hermana Hactch letters one morning and told us that she didn't want to go to class. We woke up and she wasn't in our room and she wasn't with her cousin. We had no idea what to do and were of course very concerned. She had gone to the temple with her cousin but didn't tell us so as soon as she got back to MTC we went and got her. We knew something was wrong but she would never tell us anything. Come to find out she didn't understand english well enough to learn spanish from an english teacher. So she was transferred to another district that got here about 3 weeks ago and has some tongan sisters. It will be easier for her so she can catch up and understand more. It was hard for us to see her struggle and not know what we could do to help her. Hermana Hatch was very upset about it but I told her there was nothing more we could do. We did the best we could. Always a lesson to learn somewhere. So last night we had our General Authority devotional and we had a wonderful surprise. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf came with his sweet wife. It was a real treat! His wife talked about how we don't need to worry about how broken our language sounds because no one cares. She said listen to me, my english is no good, I am speaking a foreign language. It was very humbling. President Uchtdorf said any language is easy because the children speak it. They have so much faith in us which is very helpful. He talked about how if at the end of the day we ask our heavenly father to accept the work that we have done for the day he will bless it and it will be good enough. We always worry about being perfect and not being enough but he reminded us that we are perfected through Christ. We can't be without Him and we will be good enough if we do all things through him. It was a great message. He left us with an apostalic blessing and in it he said that he would bless our families at home if we diligently work and give it our all. I will give it my best so that that blessing can be fulfilled for you! Yesterday in class my teacher Hermana Law shared a scripture with us D&C 60:2-3 and said that we need to have faith that we can speak. She then asked everyone if we would agree to only speaking spanish for the time we have left. I agreed so now I am only speaking spanish for the last 2 weeks in the MTC. Can you believe I only have 2 weeks left? I can't! I have a note on my tag that says sorry I can't speak english. It is quite entertaining to try and speak to everyone who doesn't speak spanish. I talked with a sister going to cambodia. She spoke Cambodian to me and I spoke spanish to her. It was pretty interesting. Let's see what else happened this week. Oh Darin left this morning. I am sad I won't see him but I am excited for him and we promised to write. It will be fun for us to share this experience together. On sunday at our fireside the speaker talked about 8 missionaries departing for Baton Rouge. He said that they all fasted that they would be able to leave Thursday instead of the following week so they could start their missions by serving the people and helping them. One hour after the mission president had called and said that he wouldn't be able to take them he called back and said I don't know why but I need them here now. How soon can you get them here? There were miracously 8 seats on 2 flights and they were sent. The mission president said they would sleep on air mattresses at the mission home with 17 other missionaries and 4 senior couples. He didn't know when they would have power or a bed to sleep in. All were anxious. I am so grateful that Drake was among those 8 and had the faith to ask his heavenly father to bless him that he might be able to do his work. It is so great to see the change of heart take place in these young men and in myself. The gospel is true and the work will go forth! I love you all and I miss you! Thanks for your love and support!


*we did get an email from Drake and he is in Louisana and doing well, they have done some service and have started teaching.

Week 6

Hello! It is so great to hear from you! I love reading emails Wednesday morning! Well I will tell you that Drake was delayed yesterday. I think he is scheduled to leave thursday but he may be delayed again. I didn't talk to him but I know someone in his zone and she told me yesterday. I'm glad he didn't leave and then have the hurricane hit. It's much safer here in the MTC. I talked to him on Sunday and gave him a big hug. We talked for awhile and he is going to be a great missionary! I can already see a change in him and his desire to serve the Lord! Mike and Annette you have a done a great job at raising a wonderful young man! We shed some tears and promised to write. I love being able to share this with my family! Well this week has definitely been another adventure! We went to the doctor Friday morning with Hermana Na'a and she was fine. During class she got light headed and dizzy and we took her to the clinic to rest for the day so we could go to classes. When we picked her up at 430 she still didn't feel well. She started throwing up and not doing well at dinner. So I got our zone leaders who went to get help and we ended up taking her to the ER again. I don't think that we really needed to but no one really listened to me. Anyway we were there until 1130 and the doctor just said your tests are negative and go to the doctor on Tuesday for your scheduled appointment. It was a long day. Saturday she rested all day so Hermana Hatch and I switched off going to class. Just a side note we went to her appointment yesterday and found out that she has to stay here for another month until she is better. I think we will be going to the doctor every week. Darin is always asking how I am because he knows that is stressful for me to leave. It is so wonderful to have a friendly family face who really knows me. Anyway, I went to class at 6 and just studied all day. I read the entire first lesson in Spanish and only had to refer to the english for a couple of words. Who knew? When I went to class I had to teach in Spanish. We teach every Saturday. I taught with some of the elders and it was very nerve racking but I did it. I didn't even struggle. The spirit was so strong and it was a testimony to me that you can teach anything if you have the spirit. It doesn't matter who you are teaching with or what language, He will make it happen if you have prepared. It felt way good and gave me confidence that I can do this. Sunday was a wonderful day! The sisters here are really lucky because get amazing speakers for relief society. This week we had one of the presidents of the districts wife come and speak. She talked about the power of music and it was really great. I love it when they focus on music because it I feel the spirit strongly through music. Hilary Weeks and Janice Kapp Perry came. Hilary sang and Janice had us sing a medley of her songs. It was so wonderful! I just loved it! After sacrament we went to the temple and took some pictures. It was fun. Monday was uneventful. It was very cold though. It is weird when the weather changes because it is about the only thing that does change here. Last night we had the opportunity of having another apostle come. It was Elder Quentin L. Cook. It was great to listen to him. The spirit is always strong when they come. He rejuvenated my desire to be here. It is sometimes hard to stay focused but last night I really felt that he was talking to me. The whole time he was talking the spirit was witnessing to me that I HAVE been called of God to represent Jesus Christ and His church. I have been trusted to carry His spirit and His message. It is no small thing and I feel honored to be His representative. I just love this work. I love it here and I love being surrounded by the spirit always. I know that this gospel is true and I am so thrilled to be a part of it and to share this wonderful truth with everyone! It is so important for us to share what we have. Well I look forward to your letters! Thanks for your letter aunt Connie it was great to hear from you! Darin and I are having a great time here together! I love you and miss you!