Kumusta magandang pamilya!

Kumusta magandang pamilya! So, you know that investigator I told you we were teaching last week? We found out on Friday that he’s actually our other teacher, but he was just pretending to be an investigator for the first week. Apparently they do that to all the new districts. His name is Brother Ward, and he’s a really good teacher. He’s really good at teaching us grammar, and he’s really laid back and goofy, but in a good way that is really motivating. Yesterday he talked to us about SYL (speak your language), which is what they really want us to do in the MTC. We have to speak Tagalog as much as possible, and use all the Tagalog we know at all times with our teachers, and companions, and district. Our “MTC Experience” book says that if we do this, we will qualify for the gift of tongues, which is really cool. After he talked to us about that, we were really excited to speak more Tagalog, and my whole district is trying to speak it as much as possible now. It’s amazing how much we’ve been able to learn in the short time we’ve been here. We still have a ton to learn, but I feel like I can kind of communicate in Tagalog now, to an extent.

Every Sunday there is a Fireside for the whole MTC. This week’s fireside was awesome. I can’t remember who spoke (it probably wasn’t anyone any of you would know), but he talked to us about obeying with exactness, and really applying the principles in “Preach My Gospel” to our lives. It was really inspiring. We also have a devotional every Tuesday night. I’m excited for the one tonight. Apparently the Tuesday one is usually someone really awesome. Last Tuesday we had Elder Rasband, and the week before I came in I think it was Elder Perry, so I’m excited to find out who it is today.

After the Fireside on Sunday, we were able to watch “Legacy.” It was really entertaining to watch it in an auditorium with lots of missionaries. I didn’t realize how funny that movie is in parts, until I saw the reactions from all the other missionaries. It was really fun.

So, I haven’t even made it two weeks, and I have already won the reputation in my district as the one who eats french fries with a fork. I suppose that is a little odd.

I love the MTC. It feels like I’ve been here for about 2 months, and it’s only been two weeks. I’m not even joking.

This morning I went with my district to the temple. It was so wonderful. I love the temple so much.

Tomorrow we will start teaching at the TRC. Up until this point, we’ve been able to use notes and grammar books, and other such resources when we teach, but from here on out we have to use only the Tagalog in our brains, pamphlets in Tagalog, and scriptures (although we can bring both Tagalog and English ones). It’s a little intimidating. When we were teaching Brother Ward last week (before we knew he was Brother Ward), we just wrote down what we wanted to say, and then just read it while we were teaching him, but now we have to memorize what we want to say. I think it will be really good though. We are still going to be teaching investigators every day. They’ll just be Brother Langer and Brother Ward pretending to be investigators, but we’re supposed to treat it like it’s totally real. We have to teach completely in Tagalog.

Life is so great! The gospel is true!

Love, Lisa

P.S. I found my theme scripture today during personal study. It’s somewhere in D&C 46 (or some section close to that). It says “Let all things be done in cleanliness before me.” I definitely endorse that scripture. Hehe.