Home MTC: Week 2

Hello everyone! This has been a good week! It was less busy than last week which was nice. On Monday me and my companion had our second lesson with the college student we were teaching, and unfortunately it did not go as well as the first one. She still gave us good reviews, but I think she was just being nice cause it was pretty cringy :) But lessons learned!

We also had another lesson on Saturday, with a guy that we had never taught before. This one was a little difficult to plan because the guy we were teaching is paralyzed from the waist down, and since we had never met him and were just going off his bio, it was hard to know if he wanted comfort from his injury or just in life in general. This lesson flowed smoothly though! I don't know how much he is willing to change because of our message, but he seemed to enjoy it so that's good.

I really don't know what else happened this week. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun! I didn't have classes, so it was nice to just chill with my family. On Saturday we had our afternoon class in Chinese. Not gonna lie, it was a little exhausting, but according to Brother Ensign that means the gift of tongues is working! So, I guess I gotta get used to being exhausted 6 hours a day for 7 weeks straight! No, I’m actually so excited, I head to the Provo MTC this Wednesday and I can't wait!  

Spiritual thought for the week: I have studied a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ recently. It is such a powerful topic to me, and I know that through Him and His incredible sacrifice we can be healed! Take your weaknesses to the Lord and He will strengthen you. Although I haven't really seen magnificent results in my own growth as of right now, I know that Jesus Christ can make my weakness in Chinese and teaching strong, and I promise that He can for you too!!!

I would invite you all to study Ether 12:27 and the doctrine of Christ's Atonement and take it to the Lord in prayer with a desire to internalize this message and learn what to change in your life to become a more effective servant. He will answer you. Take time to be still and know that He is God.  Anyway, I love you all and want to hear from you if you got this far!

Pictured: 1. Chopstick mugs that we planned to have during a lesson. 2. Sister de la Guardia's (a sister who would sometimes join our classes) last lesson with us.  

Home MTC Week 1

Hello everyone! Welcome to my email list :) I would like to start by sharing a quote by my wise afternoon teacher Brother Truman. "English speaking missionaries go to the MTC for three weeks so that they can learn to teach. Spanish speaking missionaries go to the MTC for six weeks so that they can learn Spanish. And Mandarin speaking missionaries go to the MTC for nine weeks so that they can learn to be humble." Wise words Brother Truman :)

Online MTC took a bit of getting used to at first, but it's been really good so far! My district is so fun and I'm so excited to meet them in person. It kind of gives me EFY vibes with how fast we've gotten close without even meeting each other in person! But it's seriously been so good. The spirit can be felt over zoom in case you were wondering. We've had some fun classes and activities to help us with our teaching, and I had my first helping others lesson on Saturday! It was short and sweet but actually went pretty well so that was nice! 

Oh, by the way my companion is named Sister Conder, she's super fun! The schedule is very busy but I mean I don't have anything else going on, so it's been good. Since it's all just zoom classes there isn't too much to talk about...but email me back with any questions you might have! Spiritual thought for the week: we had a super awesome devotional by Elder Christofferson and his wife, and in her talk, she emphasized the importance of "unpacking your bags" and "unpacking your heart." If you refuse to unpack your bags and make a home of wherever you are, you will be miserable. In this way she compared it to unpacking your heart, and that only by unpacking our hearts and letting ourselves connect with people will their hearts open enough to be touched by the spirit. 

Elder Christofferson talked about how Christ will call us in His name, and we need to internalize Him in ourselves as His disciples if we are to hear Him. He then went through five ways the Book of Mormon can help you be a disciple of Christ. I won't really get into those, but it was a super good talk and I highly recommend watching it :) Anyway I hope you all have a good week! 

Janelle's Setting Apart

Sunday night Janelle got set apart at the church. We had all of our immediate family members (except for Janika and Brandon who had already headed back to Pleasant Grove) and Grandma and Grandpa Westra were also able to come since they were not going home until the next morning. 

President Nadauld had everyone share some thoughts and advice for Janelle (so that was emotional!) and then he set her apart. Her blessing was SO incredible and powerful and she was given some amazing blessings!!! 

We got some teary eyed pictures after we got back home! 

Missionary Farewell

Janelle had her missionary farewell today! When I found out (a few days ago) that there was no musical number planned we hurried and threw one together. I found a pretty arrangement of "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" and we asked a few of Janelle and Jaiden's friends to sing it (Clay McFadden, Jaiden, Emily Williams, Alex Merdes, and Trina Lang). They did a great job! 

Janelle had worked hard on her talk and did a great job. We had a lot of family who came to support her (Grandma and Grandpa Westra, Chris and Kim and Camden and Cayson, Shane and Alicia's family, Derek and Danielle's family, Janika and Brandon, Jase and Ellen, Jared, Jaiden, Josh, Jenna, and of course me and Rick)! She also had LOTS of friends who came to support her! ) This picture was taking at Jaiden's play the night before, but I am including it here since all of these same family members were also at Janelle's farewell! 

We had a little luncheon at our house afterwards for our immediate family and also for our family members who were in town and for Janelle's friends. I also invited a few of our friends (the Williams, Phillips, Wildes, and Amy Ences family). 

We had a variety of soups (taco, white chicken chili, vegetable, broccoli cheese and potato) and desserts. I wish I had thought to get a picture of Janelle with Grandma and Grandpa Westra! Brandon helped us with the MTC door poster and it turned out really nice! 

Missionary Photoshoot