Hello!!!

Hey! It's P-day again! Thank you so much for all of your letters/emails! Thank you Lisa for the adorable package with the tangelos with faces on them. Hehehe! that made me crack up so much :) ooh and also thank you for the banana bread and treats and everything! I feel spoiled! This week I also got a letter from Alex, the Balinskis, Allen, Grandma and Grandpa Chipman, and Elyse! (Thank you so much!!) Getting letters really does brighten up my whole day. Well, let me tell you something: P-days at the MTC are definitely NOT a day of rest :) in fact, they can be quite stressful trying to get everything done, but oh well, that's okay! I hope I can get to writing all the letters I would like to--if not, know that they will soon be coming.

This week was great! I love Tagalog. Everytime we speak it, it makes me giggle because it's such a fun language! Want to learn a sentence? Bababa ba? That means "are you getting down?" Isn't that awesome? Hehe! "Mag-CR" is how they say "go to the bathroom" - CR is short for "comfort room." We are supposed to be SYLing (Speak your language) as much as possible in and out of class. We are learning how to conjugate verbs now, which involves a lot of repeating of the root--which is part of the reason it's so fun! I love my companions! Sister Young has been sick with the cold this week but she has a good attitude. Sister Parks found out this week that her sweetheart on a mission has to come home for colon surgery (apparently it's pretty serious), so that has been really hard on her and we are praying for her. Hopefully he'll be able to go back to the mission field in a couple of months.

I have really enjoyed a lot of the meetings and firesides this week. In one meeting, the speaker talked about our purpose as missionaries. We are not here to simply help people live better lives. You don't have to be set apart to do that. Anyone can do that. We are not here simply to help others come unto Christ either --Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel through faith, repentance, baptism, recieiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Our ulimate focus should be to help our brothers and sisters make sacred covenants through baptism. I love this gospel! One thing he pointed out was that the scriptures do NOT say "The field is brown and all ready to plant seeds." It says, "The field is white and all ready to harvest!" Everywhere we go, there are people who are ready and prepared to recieve the restored gospel. We can plant seeds in people's hearts too, but that is not our main purpose. Anyways, that just made me excited. I'm so grateful to have this experience of serving a mission. I know that there isn't anything else in this world that can bring people more happiness than by living the gospel. This week my teachers have had us practice teaching the first lesson A LOT. The more I teach, the more comforable it gets. Yay!

Okay so I only have 7 minutes but I'll try to give you an idea of my schedule since you've been asking for it. It changes everyday, but a typical day is like this: 5:45 get up, 6:00 exercise class (sisters only). 7:00 breakfast, 7:30 personal study, 8:30 Companionship study, 9:30 Wika study (language), 10:30 MDT (missionary directed time) where we can study whatever we feel we need to, 11:30 lunch, 12:15 Class (learning the language), 4:30 Dinner, 5:15 -9:00 Class (part language, part doctrine), 9-9:25 daily planning and then go back to your apartment and get ready for the next day. 10:30 lights out!!

Well, my time is up! I love you and miss you. I hope you are having a great day today. Thanks for the emails! Also please continue to send most of the letters in dearelder because I can only be logged on for 30 minutes, including reading emails.

Take care! Love, Rebecca
P.S. Thank you for sending me a copy of Alex's email!

I love the MTC!

Dearest Mommy, Daddy, Lisa, Jennifer, and Jessica - Hello Family!!! I love you! I am writing this email while doing laundry. Today is my P-day! Ok, I only have 30 minutes so I'm going to just cut to the quick and give you all the info-- here we go. I love my two companions, Sister Young and Sister Parks! They are sweethearts! I am feeling very blessed because I've found out that I have some unique things in common with them both. Sister Young is from Georgia and was homeschooled all the way up until College. She loves horsebackriding, ASL, writing, and reading. She has a fun personality and is very talkative. Sister Parks is 25, and guess what -- she and I are in the same situation--we are both waiting for our missionaries who are currently serving. He is serving in Wash. DC and they are planning to get married when they both get back. How cool is that? I really feel like this companionship was inspired. I've learned so much from both of them already. Okay, moving on-- Oh! THANK YOU SOOOOO much for the flowers and chocolate! What a surprise! How did you manage to get them into my room. That brightened my day.

Ever since I got here, it has been go-go-go busy. But it's so much fun. I can now bear my testimony, introduce myself, and pray in Tagalog. One fun exercise me and my companions like to do in "Nga, Nge, Ngi, Ngo, Ngu" -- it makes us laugh at how funny we sound. In class, we are learning to "speak like Yoda" because that is how Tagalog sentences are formed. Instead of we are happy, it's happy are we--Masaya Tayo! My teachers, Brother Doria and Sister Leatham, are amazing. Brother Doria is Filipino but was born/raised in the US (He is also abnormally tall for a Filipino. And he served in Baguio! Sister Laetham is so sweet--she is very good at teachign concepts and getting us involved in our learning. Our district has a goal to bear our testimony is Tagalog to 2 random people every day. My companions and I are trying to pray in Tagalog every time we pray. It is hard, but I know that the Lord is happy that we are trying and he will help us more if we show him our efforts. I feel so grateful because I've really been able to understand what we have learned so far. The language is coming pretty easy for me so far. I think all the studying beforehand really has paid off. I hope I can continue to be blessed in that regard. Thanks for sending up the CD and speakers. Unfortunately there's a NO MUSIC rule here at the MTC, so I'll just save it for when I get out in the field. I've seen James Lambson here several times, usually in the cafeteria--which, speaking of-the food is so yummy! But poor Sister Parks has some stomach problems and needs a special diet. Luckily we talked to the dietician today and they are going to make special sack lunches for her from now on. Oh yes another thing-- We share a room with another set of sisters, Sister Woodward and Sister Adams - they are going to the Philippines and have been here 3 weeks. Yikes, I think I'm out of time. I love you all so much. I'll try to finish up in a letter!

Oh never mind, I guess I had a couple more minutes.

That's awesome about Christian's mission call. I met a sister the other day who is going to Fresno, Spanish speaking as well!

Yesterday I got a calling in my branch as the music coordinator. I am excited because I get to choose the hymns and arrange for special numbers and so on. Yay! I'm also the senior companion for the first few weeks--we'll switch off every few weeks. Oh and another thing--I LOVE companionship study! It is so awesome! Oh and I got a Tagalog Hymnbook!

I love you all. I hope you're having a happy day. I miss you, but know that I am being good and staying busy in Heavenly Father's work. I'm so joyful today! I love this gospel!

Love, Sister Rebecca Boekweg

"A Window to His Love" by Julie de Azevedo

I want to be a window to His love,
so when you look at me you will see Him.
I want to be so pure and clear that you won't even know I'm here,
'cause His love will shine brightly through me.

I want to be a doorway to the truth,
so when you walk beyond you will find Him.
I want to stand so straight and tall, that you won't notice me at all.
But through my open door He will be seen.

A window to His love.
A doorway to the truth.
A bearer of the message He'd have me bring to you
And with each passing day
I want to fade away.
'Till only He can be seen, And I become a window to His love.

I want to be a window to His love,
so you can look through me and you'll see Him.
And some day shining through my face, you'll see His loving countenance,
'cause I will have become like He is

A window to His love.
A doorway to the truth.
A bearer of the message He'd have me bring to you
And with each passing day
I want to fade away,
'Till only He can be seen, And I've become a window to His love.