Craziest Week Yet!

Savannah with Sister Erikson last week outside the Provo Temple

Hello Everyone,

 

So Monday night I went to bed fairly satisfied feeling like I had gotten a lot done for P-Day that day. Then in the middle of the night I was woken up as Sister Hughes and Sister Roberts packed up some stuff to take with them to the ER as that was the only place open at 3 AM. I was still half asleep but I do remember sister Erickson telling them to take pictures. There were in fact many pictures taken. That is definitely a day that we will not be forgetting anytime soon. So 6:30 comes and the day starts and we are missing our room mates and I'm getting really worried about the fact that they aren't back yet. Within the hour sister Erickson and I were called to the front desk to head to the hospital because Sister Roberts would need a companion while Sister Hughes was in surgery to take out her appendix. So after leaving a brief note to our Elders about where we were going and picking up some food for Sister Roberts we were put into a van and taken to the Hospital. (If any of my BYU friends felt their ears burning on Tuesday it was because I was telling my companions about you in an effort to lighten the mood.) 

 

President Newell was out of town for the day but we did manage to call Brother Averett and he was able to come in and give Sister Hughes a blessing before he surgery so it was all good. She had caught the pain pretty early so her appendix hadn't burst yet and she was a little lower on the priority list so she didn't get into surgery until almost 11 We got to spend this time in the waiting room talking to some amazing people. It was actually one of the best experiences I had that day. A woman actually bought us lunch from the Hospital Cafeteria, her exact words were "Please let me buy lunch for you. I need the blessings." What can you do in that situation but nod and let her do it. It really drove home the point that was told us this week before we entered the cafeteria: That a food offering to us while being called as missionaries is an offering to God. She said those words with such conviction that I knew the meal I was about to eat was going to bless her Family... I didn't think I would ever say anything like that but this week has been one of the most interesting of my life and I really hope I'm able to get everything down today. 

 

Anyways, while eating there were other things I noticed about being outside of the MTC. The first being is that the Black Badge really is the most noticeable thing about me right now. As long as I have that on I will be seen. I could feel eyes on me constantly and it made me realize how much of a representative I really did pledge to be when I sent in my papers. For as long as I wear that tag I will be seen and known as a representative of God and at least in Utah that means that people will just feel comfortable just coming up and talking to me and my companion like they've known us for years. The other thing that really stuck out to me was the fact that I could see the difference between the people who had the gospel in their life and the people who didn't. The contrast was probably made much more apparent by the fact that we were in a hospital, a place of extreme emotion and feelings. But there was something there. While the woman and her family who fed us and talked to us about their Brother/Son/Husband/Father who had accidentally shot himself in the foot and was getting it amputated the same time that Sister Hughes was getting her appendix out She told us about the miracles that had brought them all to the hospital, for the blessings that she could see in her life. About how the spirit was speaking to them as a family and the power of the promptings it gives. We had a fantastic testimony sharing experience in that cafeteria that day. Anyways after Sister Hughes got out of surgery we found out that we could get her out of the hospital in a couple of hours and we were back at the MTC by 4 o'clock that afternoon just in time to see the Elders and make sure sister Hughes got to the room safely before getting dinner and heading to choir practice. This was a significant decision as both Sister Erickson and I were exhausted and we would have liked nothing better to join Sister Hughes and Sister Roberts in going back to the dorm and going to bed several hours early. However the night before, during planing, I had felt a strong impression that I needed to go to choir. The choir teacher here is a really cool guy and going to choir is often like going to a secondary devotional. So sitting at the dinner table with sister Erickson looking at me with exhausted eyes I got the impression again that we needed to go to choir. So we did. 

 

To be honest I didn't feel that spirit that I was expecting to feel from such a clear prompting but hey we were there so we might as well stay for devotional... I am so grateful that we did. Elder Hugo Montoya spoke to us and that was the strong spiritual experience I had been waiting for. He spoke with much power and told some fantastic stories. By the end of it I felt spiritually edified and fed. And then we went to the district review where I got some powerful insights from Elder Welch, Elder Joly, and Elder Ramanlal all of which I would have missed if Sister Erickson and I had decided to head back to the dorms and sleep. Promptings are important and what I just wrote wasn't even half of what really happened that day. But the rest of the week was also busy so I'm forced to move on. 

 

The next day our district was called out to host the new incoming missionaries for three hours. This was also a great experience as it kind of marked our half way point. Watching the families come in and helping the new sisters feel more comfortable was a great experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again this coming week. 

 

Thursday Wu LaoShi had us go out side in search of leaves to write get well notes on to Sister Hughes. I also got some good lessons on teaching from one of the younger districts. Speaking of districts the oldest Mandarin learning district. (Also known as the Boy band) are heading out this week. I'm going to miss those Elders they had some great lessons to share with us and some hilarious stories to tell But the Liss twins, Elder Anthony, Elder Holybrook, and Elder Hales are going to do great in their missions and I'm grateful for the leadership they were able to give our zone. 

 

I don't remember Friday... Saturday we had TRC and another outside hunt to find a rock to write a number on in order to see who had the closest number to Wu LaoShi's and whoever did got to sing the class a solo. (These activities really do make class much more exciting.) I also ran into a wall on Saturday but both the wall and I were okay. 

 

Sunday started out like it normally would. A bit more time getting ready in the morning. Long enough that I was shaping my eyebrows. (As my family knows I like to do) it was early enough that morning that as I was doing them I got nervous about plucking a certain hair so in my mildly sleepy state and with all the faith that being a month out into the MTC brings I prayed about how I should do my eyebrows that morning. Anyways after that little adventure we had breakfast, and then headed to class so Sister Erickson could go to her 'council' meeting. While I sat in the classroom and wrote my talk for church. Elder Welch got called as our new district leader last week and so he was gone too which left me with Sisters Roberts and Hughes, and then with Elders Ramanlal and Joly we all kind of knew what was coming. Being in the MTC means switching around callings a lot so that everyone can have the experience of leading and with the Boy Band leaving that was going to make our district the most experienced district in the MTC learning Mandarin right now. Sister Erickson has also been in her calling as Sister Training leader for longer than expected. So it was of no surprise to us when near the end of the meeting, President Newell walked in and asked Sister Hughes and Sister Roberts to come in and then asked Elder Ramanlal and Elder Joly to come in as well, then he looked over at me and said "Oh, we can't leave you in here alone can we? Well you can come along too, that'll be just fine." Like I said we all knew what was coming. Even though only Sister Erickson had been called as the Sister Training leader usually they call companionships. (They didn't because when she was called there really was just us four sisters in the Zone, but by the end of this week there will be 11 so calling a companionship this second time around would make more sense.) Also because I am Sister Erickson's companion I went around helping her with a lot of the duties that she had been called to do so I we all really knew that Sister Hughes and Sister Roberts were going to be called. So we walked into the room, it was really crowded but we managed to all find seats. Brother Averett handed out the leaders binders to Sister Roberts, Sister Hughes, Elder Joly, and Elder Ramanlal and the meeting commenced and then just after President Newell announced that Elder Joly and Elder Ramanlal were going to be called as the new Zone leaders he looked over at the Sisters side of the room and very simply said. "And we will be blessed by the leadership of these fine three sisters." Now, I thought he had misspoke. (He does that from time to time.) and so I didn't say anything, but then he looked me in the eye and said. "You weren't going to be called, but as I saw you walking into the room, just like the Lord was speaking right next to me, I heard a voice say, 'She will lead.'" 

 

Well, this next part is going to be odd but my very first thought was. 'This is because I prayed about my eyebrows this morning.' and suddenly the spirit was testifying to me that if I wanted to become the leader that president Newell had just prophesied I'd be I needed to keep praying about all the decisions in my life including praying about my eyebrows. Now here's another sentence I never thought I'd say. I got called to be a sister training leader because of my eyebrows. And so President Newell bore a powerful testimony about the Lord calling who he needed to call and I just sat there in mildly stunned silence as the spirit told me about the power of prayer and how I was going to do a great job if I kept praying sincerely to the Lord. 

 

So after that, meeting there was a sister's conference that was another powerful witness about prayer and about how faith brings miracles, and a question about whether or not we are holding on to our weapons of rebellion without realizing it. We then went to relief society and then to Sacrament meeting where everything was on the power of faith. There were some great analogies about how faith works and I wish I had more time to tell you about this but there is still more to tell. After dinner I went to choir again this time on splits with the newer district Sisters Bello, Greenhaugh, Hendrix and  I enjoyed choir and for devotional we got to see a seek peak of the Church's Christmas campaign this year. And then we went to the after movies. I got to see one of Bednar's first devotionals to the MTC and holy cow that was such a powerful and amazing experience for me. I could really feel the spirit and by the end of his "Becoming a Missionary I was on such a spiritual high that I sang for the rest of the night. 

 

This email only covers a few of the life changing and growing lessons I've learned this week. I've been feeling so blessed and so loved. I also wanted to include my letter I sent to President Newell this week so you all can get a feel for what's been going on in my head this week. So this is where I'm going to end. I love you all and I hope you all have great weeks. The lessons are there for us every day we just have to look for them.

I'm not sure how to start this. I'm never sure how to start a story when I'm not sure where the end is yet. But these scenes will start up in my head. A moment where something inside of me says 'that was significant' and suddenly I can see my life down on a page. Words flowing into images and bringing out life to someone who wasn't there in that exact slice of time. Yet now there is something there, something shared. We are made out of parts and pieces and we grow when we share those parts with other and they share their pieces with us. Elder Montoya said something that really stuck with me this week. "Love the people who change you life." If that statement is to truly be followed then I must follow the saviors advice and love everyone because every new person I meet changes me in some way.

This week I have truly grown to love the people who are currently in my life I pray for them daily and have learned to have supreme patience when dealing with the pieces of them that don't quite fit into the collage that is my ever changing self. My spiritual fast is reaching a point of fatigue I don't always have the strength to go on. And then someone else needs my strength and suddenly I realize that I can make my strength last out for them. In giving away of my pieces I gain the strength needed to keep moving forward. 

God is the author of my story, and though I stumble and feel inadequate, He sends me reassurance from time to time that I am playing my part. That I am giving when needed and overcoming when not. I still make mistakes, my lines are not always the ones that he would have me say, but I am trying. Trying to overcome my self-centeredness, trying to let that still small voice be my prompter and my muse. My story is far from over and starting up a new every day will get me no where. I must build on what is given me and reach out from there. God created the book, we choose our own subplots, and he makes sure that in the end we will all be able to reach that final happily ever after. The pieces will eventually fit. I can learn to be kind and gentle and patient with those of whom I associate and by so doing will be able to become a great author of my own part in the Great Writer's story. 

I have learned much. 

I am grateful for your advice. 

I pray for those in my district that are afflicted and hope that you can comfort them in ways I can not.

God is my author, and I can live up to the vision he has for me.

Thanks for everything,

Sister Skinner,

Ran JieMei